1992: May 17-23

Wandin Valley’s new breed takes over!
The arrival of new cast members Gavin Harrison and Kym Wilson (both pictured) in A Country Practice signals a new era for the series which has in the last few months lost many of its established and popular cast – including Syd Heylen, Gordon Piper, Georgie Parker, John Tarrant, Matt Day, and soon to join them will be Lorrae Desmond.  But Wilson says that despite the cast upheaval there is a positive feeling around the set.  “There are good vibes going around the Seven Network,” she told TV Week.  “It was a bit of a shock – not so much for Gavin and me – for people who have been in the show for a long time; fixtures like Gordon and Syd.  And now with Georgie, John, Matt and Lorrae, of course it’s a bit sad.  But everyone said when Molly (Anne Tenney) and Brendan (Shane Withington) left – then Vicki (Penny Cook) and Simon (Grant Dodwell) – that the show was over.”

Drama touches on a grave concern
Former Australian actor John Bluthal has returned from the UK to play the part of a Jewish father in the black comedy Death Duties, the fourth feature in the SBS drama series Six Pack. For Bluthal, the character is almost a mirror image of himself. “He’s probably the nearest person to myself I’ve ever had to play, as far as I’m concerned,” he told TV Week. “Like me, he’s a Pole, he’s Jewish and he grew up in Melbourne.” Death Duties, which tells a story spanned over several years during which a father and son’s stormy relationship mellows into something more agreeable, also stars Anna Volska, Nancye Hayes and Lloyd Morris.

More Sex for Sophie
The Nine Network this week launches a weekly series spin-off from the recent documentary Sex.  The new series, screening on Thursday nights, sees host Sophie Lee joined by a team ready to cover every aspect of sex and sexuality – Dr Kerryn Phelps, family therapist Brian Cade and reporters Darren McDonald, Sallianne Deckert and Patrick Lindsay.  Although the series will tackle the topic of sex in a serious manner, Lee says the show will maintain a sense of humour.  “In the Nineties it is important that people are educated about sexual matters, but it’s important not to take yourself so seriously that you alienate humour from anything,” she said.

Briefly…
Former Prisoner star Maggie Kirkpatrick makes a guest appearance as a nun in this week’s episode of Hey Dad!  It is Kirkpatrick’s first TV role since returning from two months in the United Kingdom where she is still a popular figure due to her role as prison officer Joan “The Freak” Ferguson in the former prison drama.  “It might look as if I’m hanging on to a relic from the past (but) Joan Ferguson is certainly not a relic of the past for viewers in England,” Kirkpatrick told TV Week.  In Hey Dad!, Kirkpatrick plays the part of Sister Maureen, a former teacher of Betty’s (Julie McGregor) back in Walgett who comes to the city to see how Betty is getting on in life.

The Nine Network has given the green light to a second series of murder-themed game show Cluedo before the first series has even debuted.  The thirteen episodes of the first series are to begin screening next month.  Cluedo will feature the show’s producer Ian McFadyen as host, joined by the characters of the popular board game of the same name, played by Andrew Daddo, Joy Westmore, Nicola Paull, Jane Badler, George Mallaby, Peter Sumner and Frank Gallacher.

Seven Network drama Home And Away has celebrated its 1000th episode with past and present cast members gathered for a party at a Bondi Beach restaurant. 

The team from the D-Generation are set to return to the ABC, where they launched their television career in 1985, for a weekly series of one-hour programs to commence in July.

Lawrie Masterson: The View From Here
”Television producers don’t get heaps of kudos for their efforts at being socially responsible, but here are a few words of praise for those at the helm of the ABC’s pleasant little sitcom Dearest Enemy.  A scene in a recent episode showed a Liberal politician whose arrogance obviously did not exceed his ignorance – he actually pulled over to the side of the road to make a call on his car phone.  If it gets the message through to at least one of that increasing bunch of morons on the motorways – you’ve seen them… left hand on the receiver, right hand on the steering wheel, mind on who knows what – then we should all have cause to be thankful.”

Program Highlights (Melbourne, May 17-23):
Sunday:  Seven’s Sunday afternoon and early evening is dominated by AFL, with live coverage of the Brisbane Bears versus Footscray match from Carrara, Queensland, followed by live coverage of the Adelaide Crows versus Collingwood from Football Park, Adelaide.  New Zealand actor Jay Laga’aia guest stars as a physical education teacher in the comedy series Late For School (Ten).  Sunday night movies are The January Man (Seven), Sarah, Plain And Tall (Nine) and Field Of Dreams (Ten).

Monday:  In Home And Away (Seven), Sophie’s (Rebekah Elmaloglou) unborn baby is in serious danger as Sophie starts haemorrhaging after her accident on the beach.

Tuesday:  Tony Llewellyn-Jones, Tony Sheldon and Norman Kaye are guest stars in this week’s GP (ABC).  In Chances (Nine), plans hot up for Bambi Shute (Abigail) and her new sex show.  ABC presents a Big Gig special, hosted by air-headed fitness fanatic Candida (Jean Kittson, pictured) and featuring Denise Scott, Wendy Harmer and Phil Scott.

Wednesday:  Nine presents live coverage from Brisbane of the second game in the rugby league State Of Origin series, followed by overnight coverage of One Day International cricket, England versus Pakistan, from England.

Thursday:  In the series return of Embassy (ABC), the new Australian Ambassador to Ragaan, Katherine Jensen (played by Catherine Wilkin) arrives to find the Embassy in upheaval.  The Nine Network debuts its new magazine-style series Sex, hosted by Sophie Lee.

Friday:  Seven crosses to the WACA, Perth, for live coverage of the AFL match between West Coast Eagles and Adelaide Crows.  Nine has live coverage of One Day International cricket from London, and Ten has late-night delayed coverage of the NBL Mitsubishi Challenge basketball.

Saturday:  SBS debuts a new documentary series Across The Red Unknown, featuring George Negus and his crew setting out in August and September last year on a 13,000 kilometre trek through parts of eastern Russia from the Sea of Japan, through the wilds of eastern Siberia, across the steppes of southern Russia and the Ural Mountains.  Meanwhile, viewers can also see Negus as host of ABC’s Foreign Correspondent.

Source: TV Week (Melbourne edition), incorporating TV Times and TV Guide.  16 May 1992.  Southdown Press.

1992: May 10-16

‘I want to go home!’
Neighbours star Melissa Bell has said there was one simple reason for her controversial move from Melbourne to Network Ten’s other soap E Street, which is based in Sydney.  “The main reason I am going home is to be close to my family,” she told TV Week.  “I’ve missed them so much.  My last phone bill was more than $1000.. Telecom must love me!”  Moving to Sydney will also bring Bell (pictured with new co-star Bruce Samazan) closer to Jason Redlich, son of E Street producer Forrest Redlich, although she stresses that while they are good friends they are not romantically linked as previous reports have suggested.  “He is a special friend and I missed him, too.”  Her pending departure from Neighbours has thrown storylines into a spin, particularly as producers had planned a major romance between her character Lucy Robinson and Brad Willis (Scott Michaelson).  But despite feeling homesick in Melbourne, Bell has acknowledged her time in Neighbours as a very positive experience.  “If it wasn’t for Neighbours, I wouldn’t be where I am and have the exposure it’s given me.  Everyone made me feel so welcome.  I’ve really loved working with Anne Haddy and Alan Dale especially.  I’m going back to Sydney with so much experience, work-wise and personally.  Moving to Melbourne has made me a better, stronger person.”

Rachel gets a taste of the outback
British-born actress Rachel Ward, wife of Australian actor Bryan Brown, is a special guest reporter in this week’s debut of Nine’s new travel show Getaway.  Ward and her two children, Matilda and Rosie, embarked on a two-day trek in the Alice Springs area as a feature report on the new series.  “The idea of the harsh, red centre full of rock and desert seems so much part of the Australian tradition.  I wanted the girls to experience it,” said Ward, who also found she didn’t mind eating witchetty grubs but wasn’t so keen on the kangaroo tail. 

Hey, happy birthday!
Seven Network sitcom Hey Dad! is celebrating a milestone 200 episodes, but one of the show’s original cast members, teenager Sarah Monahan (pictured) admits there has been a downside.  “It was hard to keep friends at school.  They seemed to have the attitude, ‘Hey you weren’t here’, so you can get left out of everything.  In years five and six, I was going to school only two-and-a-half days a week, so the kids would really hassle me,” she said.

Briefly…
ABC’s travel series Holiday, which gained a popular following on Saturday nights up against ratings giant Hey Hey It’s Saturday, is now set to take on the even more competitive Sunday 7.30pm timeslot, up against 60 Minutes, Full House, Dinosaurs, The Simpsons and Late For School.

Home And Away star Bruce Roberts (pictured) is believed to be planning to quit the series when his contract runs out later this year.  The young star, who plays policeman Nick Parrish, isn’t happy working on the show and is keen to move on.

Speculation continues that former Good Morning Australia co-host Kerri-Anne Kennerley could be set to jump ship from Network Ten to either the Seven or Nine networks.  Network executives David Leckie from Nine and Glen Kinging from Seven are said to have been trying to contact Kennerley while she was overseas recently.

Play School’s popular characters Bananas In Pyjamas have been given their own series.  The bananas, B1 and B2, will soon feature in a series of 40 five-minute episodes to screen in the 3.55pm weekday timeslot (between Sesame Street and Play School) from July.

Lawrie Masterson: The View From Here:
”I have seen only one program in the series, but congratulations to the Australian Children’s Television Foundation on Lift Off, now screening on ABC.  This is dazzling kids’ entertainment centred on many an educational and environmental message, and the sheer creativity behind it all is – to use a word popular among the age group at which it is aimed – awesome.  If you don’t get a chance to watch it with your kids – or anyone’s kids – first time around, it is to be rescheduled later in a timeslot more accessible to more people.”

”Having bleated last week about the fragmented scheduling of the British series The Darling Buds Of May, it is now my duty to report that the series will be seen on HSV7 in Melbourne on Saturday nights from this week.  The series is already screening in Sydney, Brisbane and Perth.”

Program Highlights (Melbourne, May 10-16):
Sunday:  ABC presents early morning coverage (from 4.45am) of the first race in the America’s Cup, live from San Diego, USA – with subsequent races covered early on Monday, Wednesday and Friday mornings.  Sunday night movies are Driving Miss Daisy (Seven), See No Evil, Hear No Evil (Nine) and Lock Up (Ten), up against SBS’ delayed telecast of the Eurovision Song Contest from Malmo, Sweden.

Monday:  This week’s Six Pack (SBS) feature is Piccolo Mondo – starring Peta Toppano, Victoria Longley, Denise Scott and Angelo D’Angelo – a comedy drama about three women who meet for lunch at an upmarket Italian restaurant to talk about marriage, infidelity and betrayal.

Tuesday:  In GP (ABC), William (Michael Craig) and Nick (guest star Paul Chubb, pictured), a morgue attendant, play a trick on a brash young medical student – but Nick is a little on edge and confides to William that he’s preoccupied with a personal problem – he’s impotent – but his girlfriend Alice (Wendy Strehlow, pictured) can’t understand why he won’t spend the night with her.  On Nine’s Chances, ‘70s sex symbol Abigail makes her series debut as outrageous sex therapist Bambi Shute, who enlists the help of advertising executive Angela (Patsy Stephen) to help her launch a new TV show, The Sex Show.  Logie-winning actress Tracy Mann guest stars in Nine’s All Together Now, appearing as an ex-girlfriend and singer from Bobby’s (Jon English) wild past.

Wednesday:  ABC presents the first instalment of two-part mini-series Children Of The Dragon – starring Bob Peck, Linda Cropper (pictured), Gary Sweet, Lily Chen and Wan Thye Leiw – set against the tumultuous events of China’s Tiananmen Square massacre of 1989.

Thursday:  In Acropolis Now (Seven), pretending to be deaf, Jim (Nick Giannopoulos) overhears the others plotting to kill him.  Nine debuts its new travel series Getaway, featuring reporters Jeff Watson (formerly of Beyond 2000), David Reyne (The Flying Doctors), Anna McMahon (Eyewitness News, Brisbane With Anna McMahon) and Rebecca Harris with guest reporter, actress Rachel Ward.

Friday:  Late night sports coverage includes delayed coverage of the Winfield Cup (Nine) and the NBL Mitsubishi Challenge (Ten).

Saturday:  Ten crosses to the Melbourne Glasshouse for live coverage of the NBL Mitsubishi Challenge match between the North Melbourne Giants and the Canberra Cannons.

Source: TV Week (Melbourne edition), incorporating TV Times and TV Guide.  9 May 1992.  Southdown Press.

1992: April 26-May 2

Sale stars in sitcom
Sale Of The Century’s Glenn Ridge and Jo Bailey are soon to be seen as guest stars in the Nine Network sitcom All Together Now. In the episode to screen this week, Anna (Jane Hall, pictured with Bailey) wins a spot on the popular quiz show. But Bailey is playing down her acting debut. “I wouldn’t exactly classify this as an acting debut,” she told TV Week. “When you see me on screen you’ll understand why. It wasn’t that much different to doing a show of Sale. And somehow I doubt the talent scouts will come chasing after me.”

Back out in the outback!
Some new faces and controversial storylines are set to feature in the revamped The Flying Doctors.  Heading the new cast list is Peter Phelps, taking on his first regular TV role in Australia for seven years.  Phelps, who recently had a stint in the US series Baywatch, plays the role of senior nurse Dennis Taylor, a former drug addict obsessed with helping others affected by narcotics.  “I have a few ex-junkie friends, so this is an important issue for me,” he told TV Week.  “I know people who have been through rehabilitation and I want to make this character real.”  Also joining the series when it returns to screens later this year are former Neighbours star Elaine Smith, Simone Buchanan (Hey Dad!), Belinda Davey (Prisoner), Lewis Fitz-Gerald, Lydia Miller, Marieke Hardy, Simon Grey and Steve Jacobs.

‘We’ll miss Lorrae dreadfully’
Shane Porteous, the ‘elder statesman’ of A Country Practice, is fairly philosophical about the recent cast changes which saw long-serving colleagues Gordon Piper and Syd Heylen leave the series.  “The departure of (characters) Bob and Cookie is, I guess, a matter of artistic decision,” he told TV Week.  “It is up to the people who look at demographic surveys and say these characters are working, those characters aren’t, but I know we will miss them a lot.”  Meanwhile another original ACP cast member, Lorrae Desmond (pictured), is also about to leave the long-running series.  “We’ll miss Lorrae dreadfully, but it’s her decision.  Good luck to her – she has so many other things to do as an entertainer,” Porteous said. 

Briefly…
Her character may have recently passed away in Home And Away, but that hasn’t stopped producers approaching Cathy Godbold about the possibility of a return to the series.  The former Chances star’s role as leukaemia-stricken Meg Bowman gave the series a ratings boost and producers are considering bringing her back to play another character.

The producers of Hey Dad! have been given the green light by the Nine Network for a new sitcom.  My Two Wives, starring Peter Fisher (Kingswood Country), Linda Newton, Morna Seres, Brett Blewitt, Patrick Ward and Kym Valentine, will begin production in Sydney in May and is expected to debut on Nine late in the year.

The battle between Network Ten soaps E Street and Neighbours for the services of Melissa Bell (pictured) has been won by E Street.  Bell, who had a brief role in E Street before moving to Melbourne-based Neighbours, is now returning to Sydney to play a new romantic interest for Bruce Samazan’s character Max.

Former Good Morning Australia host Kerri-Anne Kennerley is still on the Network Ten payroll although she has no on-air role at the present time – although she may soon be back on TV screens in a new show modelled on the popular US talk show hosted by Oprah Winfrey.  TV Week also hears that Kennerley is also potentially looking at a new project for the Seven Network.

Lawrie Masterson: The View From Here
”First-run locally-produced drama on SBS is notable, if only for the fact that it is so rare.  By nature, the genre of program and the network don’t necessarily go together, although past associations have resulted in some pleasing success.  Still, it’s four years since SBS screened its previous effort, David Stevens’ mini-series Always Afternoon.  It is a decade since Bob Weis’ Women Of The Sun swept all before it, including the United Nations Media Peace Prize.  After all that time, Weis and SBS have joined forces again.  Six Pack is the label name they have given half a dozen self-contained dramas.  Each runs an hour, a format which, in itself, is fairly rare in an industry which leans towards open-ended soaps or four-hour “television events”, which used to be called mini-series.  Weis has done a commendable job drawing together fine casts to work with a mix of experienced and up-and-coming scriptwriters and directors.”

Program Highlights (Melbourne, April 26-May 2):
Sunday:  Sunday night movies are Repossessed (Seven), The Hunt For Red October (Nine) and Parenthood (Ten).

Monday:  In A Country Practice (Seven), Bob (Gordon Piper) and Cookie (Syd Heylen) return to Wandin Valley.  Seven presents the debut of two-part mini-series Heroes II – The Return, starring Craig McLachlan (pictured), John Bach, Christopher Morsley and Miranda Otto.  SBS debuts new drama series Six Pack, a series of six self-contained dramas.  The first Six Pack feature is Mimi Goes To The Analyst, the story of a sexually inhibited young woman who shares a flat with her sister and regularly visits an analyst to try and help her over her problems with the opposite sex.

Tuesday:  Showbiz veteran Hazel Phillips is a guest star in this week’s GP (ABC).  In A Country Practice (Seven), Terence (Shane Porteous) fears that Cookie (Syd Heylen) will die after an argument with Bob (Gordon Piper), but Bob has a surprise for Cookie.  In Chances (Nine), Alex’s (Jeremy Sims) life is in chaos when billionaire Crowley Lander (Barry Hill) offers him his empire and his daughter – while Jack (Tim Robertson) takes drastic steps to ensure Alex refuses. In Beyond 2000 (Seven), Amanda Keller tries out the musical instruments of the future, Dr John D’Arcy tests the robot that will guard a house, and Simon Reeve looks at the latest methods of earthquake prediction.

Wednesday:  In Hey Dad! (Seven), Sam (Rachael Beck) becomes the talk of the town when she wins a local shopping centre contest.  In E Street (Ten), Penny (Josephine Mitchell), CJ (Adrian Lee) and Jamie (Scott McRae) are caught in a love triangle.

Thursday:  Seven’s popular comedy show Fast Forward is back with new episodes, followed by a concert special featuring Kylie Minogue in Dublin.  In the series final of Phoenix (ABC), Jock (Paul Sonkkila) and his officers have only six hours to question their suspects and charge them.

Friday:  The final episode of afternoon game show Supermarket Sweep (Nine), hosted by Ian Turpie. 

Saturday:  Ten crosses to Sydney for live prime-time coverage of NBL Mitsubishi Challenge – Sydney Kings versus Gold Coast Rollers.

Source: TV Week (Melbourne edition), incorporating TV Times and TV Guide.  25 April 1992.  Southdown Press.

1992: March 1-7

State of shock!
Unlike most young Australian actors, E Street star Bruce Samazan (pictured) is in no hurry to work in the US – in fact he has no plans to ever visit there again.  Making his first trip to the US, staying with friends in Texas during a production break for E Street, Samazan cut short his two-week visit and made a dash back to Sydney, admitting that the place “freaked” him out.  “There’s gang warfare over there that I can’t grab a hold of… it’s chaotic,” he told TV Week.  “It’s totally unnatural for an Australian to go over there and adjust to the fact that if you wear the wrong coloured baseball cap or T-shirt, you might be shot at.”  On one occasion he went to put on a Los Angeles Raiders cap but was advised by his local friend, “Bruce I wouldn’t wear that.  You could get yourself into trouble – you might get shot at”.  Then, two days later, a local newspaper carried the headline ‘Two Youths Shot Dead Outside Nightclub’… for wearing LA Raiders outfits.  “That was pretty scary stuff,” Samazan said.

It’s goodbye to the Valley!
A Country Practice viewers will soon bid farewell to three of the show’s most popular characters.  Gordon Piper (who plays Bob Hatfield), Syd Heylen (Cookie) and Matt Day (Luke) will be making their final appearances on screen in the coming weeks.  For Day, leaving the series has come at the right time.  “The character is now rounded off and I feel he has gone as far as he can for me,” he told TV Week.  “Theatre is the next avenue I wish to explore.  I want to steer clear of TV for a while.”  Showbiz veteran Heylen leaves the show with happy memories.  “I’ve made a lot of good friends,” he said.  “The series kept me before a broad audience, which you don’t get to cover doing live work.  It has been a happy period.”  And although Piper is adamant that he won’t be returning to A Country Practice, he and Heylen (both pictured) will be making a guest appearance in two episodes later in the year in a storyline which sees Cookie return to hospital. 

New doctors set for take-off
The Nine Network drama The Flying Doctors is set for a major revamp as production starts soon on its tenth series.  In a major shake-up for the series, the series will now be based in Broken Hill (the real-life base of the Royal Flying Doctor Service) rather than the fictional Coopers Crossing, and the only familiar cast members making the move to the new location will be husband-and-wife team Maurie Fields and Val Jellay (pictured) and Sophie Lee.  And joining the new-look series will be Simone Buchanan (Hey Dad!), Peter Phelps (who has just returned from the US where he featured in Baywatch), Steve Jacobs (Rose Against The Odds) and Lydia Miller.  The new-look series is scheduled to debut on Nine around mid-year.

Briefly…
Neighbours’ Blakeney twins, Gayle and Gillian, are about to ‘split up’.  Gillian, who plays Caroline Alessi, will be taping her final scenes in the Network Ten series this week.  “While I love the character and I have thoroughly enjoyed myself on the show, I feel it is time to move on as an actor,” she told TV Week.  Meanwhile, Gayle is contracted to the show until July and will then assess her options before making any decision about her future.  But while the pair will no longer be working together on Neighbours, they will be working together again in London next month as they record their next single which is due for release in Australia later this year. 

Sydney’s Botanic Gardens, with views of the Sydney Opera House and Harbour Bridge, is the location for the latest TV soapie wedding – but it is unlikely to ever appear on Australian screens.  The British TV series Families, which stars Briony Behets (the British-born actress best known for her roles in Aussie dramas Number 96 and The Box), is filmed between Manchester and Sydney… but so far the series is yet to be sold to an Australian network.  The series’ wedding is between Behets’ character Diana Stephens and cafe owner Anton Vaughn (Rhett Walton).

The patchy relationship between the local producers of the Network Ten tabloid current affairs show Hard Copy and Paramount, who own the US-based format, continues.  But executive producer Peter Sutton isn’t concerned as he said there are plenty of other sources for content if the plug is pulled on being able to grab stories from the US version, but concedes that the show may have to change its name – with Fast Copy or Australia’s Hard Copy cited as possibilities.

Actress Melissa Bell (pictured) is currently caught in a battle between Network Ten’s two soapies.  Melbourne-based Neighbours’ producers are keen to renew Bell’s contract when it expires mid-year, but Bell wants to move back to Sydney-based E Street where she once had a brief role – due in part to her current off-screen interstate relationship with the son of E Street producer Forrest Redlich.

Lawrie Masterson: The View From Here
”Fat Cat has been banished from our screens in one of the most profound decisions made in the history of the Australian Broadcasting Tribunal.  The tubby tom’s character was deemed “still not clearly defined” and his show was accused of having “still generally poor” direction.  It took 15 years for someone to reach this momentous decision, years in which the lives of whole generations of Australian children must have been corrupted irreparably.”

Program Highlights (Melbourne, March 1-7):
Sunday:  Nine crosses to Brisbane for the Benson And Hedges World Cup match between Australia and India.  Seven has motor racing with coverage of the Nascar/Auscar Nationals from Calder Park, Melbourne.  Meanwhile, ABC’s Sunday Afternoon With Peter Ross is back with a collection of arts-themed programming and interviews.  Sunday night movies are Shirley Valentine (Nine), Die Hard 2: Die Harder (Ten) and the Japanese comedy Tampopo (SBS), up against Seven’s debut of mini-series Prime Suspect.

Monday:  In A Country Practice (Seven), Luke (Matt Day) and Darcy (Kym Wilson) meet Douglas ‘Simmo’ Simmonds (Richard Moir), a crippled Vietnam pilot who revives Luke’s dreams of flying.  In Neighbours (Ten), an accident puts Helen’s (Anne Haddy) life at risk – while in Mother And Son (ABC), Maggie (Ruth Cracknell) remembers a clock that her late husband Leo gave her on their 25th wedding anniversary as she takes one from the house across the street.

Tuesday:  In GP (ABC), Robert (John McTernan) is acting strangely and decides to be a medico on an Antarctic expedition – until he reveals he has a tragic illness.  Beyond 2000 (Seven) reports on mankind’s most ambitious project yet – human habitation on Mars, while reporter Tracey Curro test drives the world’s first car in a suitcase.

Wednesday:  ABC presents a one-hour special, Cop It Sweet, taking a look at Sydney’s inner-city Redfern Police Station, in an area with a history of clashes between police and Aborigines, making it one of the most controversial police districts in the country.  Nine crosses to the Sydney Cricket Ground for day-night coverage of the Benson And Hedges World Cup match between India and Pakistan.

Thursday:  More World Cup cricket from Sydney on Nine, this time the match between Australia and England.  In Acropolis Now (Seven), Effie (Mary Coustas) arranges a party for Sophie’s (Sheryl Munks) 21st birthday at Vibrations Disco. 

Friday:  Seven presents live coverage of the semi-final of the AFL Foster’s Cup, with commentators Bruce McAvaney, Peter McKenna, Don Scott, Gerard Healy and Bernie Quinlan.  The ARIA Awards (Nine) are telecast for the first time, live from Melbourne’s World Congress Centre, and hosted by Richard Wilkins and Julian Lennon, with appearances by John Farnham, Jimmy Barnes, Jenny Morris, Noiseworks, Diesel, Wendy Matthews, Margaret Urlich, Rockmelons, Sophie Lee, Craig McLachlan, Dannii Minogue and international artists Diana Ross, Rod Stewart and Harry Connick Jnr. 

Saturday:  The Seven Network presents an all-day telethon to raise financial support for the Australian team to compete at the upcoming Summer Olympic Games in Barcelona, Spain.  The Olympathon starts at 7.00am, including special editions of Saturday Disney and Video Smash Hits, followed by live crosses around Australia for interviews with some of Australia’s Olympic hopefuls.  The evening telecast includes a night of entertainment featuring the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, Phantom Of The Opera stars Marina Prior and Rob Guest (both pictured with Seven’s Bruce McAvaney), Julie Anthony, Grace Knight, Craig McLachlan, Vanetta Fields, Judith Durham, Simon Gallaher, Don Burrows and Peter Cupples.  The telethon concludes at midnight.  Nine presents all-day coverage of the Benson And Hedges World Cup cricket from Adelaide. 

Source: TV Week (Melbourne edition), incorporating TV Times and TV Guide.  29 February 1992.  Southdown Press

1992: February 8-14

‘Don’t call me Betty!’
While Hey Dad! star Julie McGregor (pictured, centre, with co-star Rachael Beck) loves playing the role of ditzy secretary Betty Wilson in the long-running sitcom (“I’m not sure that there is anything around that would be as rewarding to do,” she says) don’t ask her to “do a Betty” when she’s not working.  When McGregor leaves the studio after a taping, she leaves Betty behind in the prop cupboard.  “You just shut off, put the toys away, and you come home,” she told TV Week.  “Of course, every now and then you say something and you think, ‘Oh gosh, that sounded like Betty’.”  In the series’ return to air this week, Betty’s old boyfriend Stan (Bill Young) is looking for work, but his potential new employer sparks a brawl when he makes some less than polite remarks about Betty.  The punch-up is not shown on screen, but it’s the talk of the Hey Dad! household.

Gay murder rocks GP
ABC’s medical drama GP makes a controversial return to screens this week with scenes depicting graphic violence and a storyline surrounding a gay bashing and murder.  Simon Radley (Felix Nobis) joins the Ross Street practice as a locum and possible replacement for Dr Nicola Tanner (Judy McIntosh) – but after work hours he frequents gay bars looking for sex, while his partner David Robinson (Scott Burgess) is keeping the home fires burning.  A vicious assault on Dr Radley is witnessed by Dr William Sharp (Michael Craig), who identifies one of the culprits in a police line-up.  A second attack on Dr Radley leaves him beaten to death.  “It’s pretty heavy stuff,” Burgess told TV Week.  “Simon and David share a house, but while Simon is driven by his urges to seek clandestine sex, David is settled and stable.  The story is as much about their private dilemma as it is about the prejudice that gay people who live in the city have to face – being supposedly different from everybody else.” 

When will the killings stop?
Has E Street’s serial killer storyline gone too far?  While insiders at the Ten Network claims that the ongoing storyline has boosted ratings, what effect does having a sustained storyline based on murder and having a deranged killer as the focal point have on the viewer – and is it appropriate for a 7.30pm timeslot?  Although the actor who plays the character of serial killer Steven Richardson, Vince Martin (pictured), is concerned that “there was perhaps too much killing… and I still feel this is the case because there are more deaths to go to air”, the show’s producer Forrest Redlich defends the storyline as “just storytelling”.  “I’ve got the Australian Broadcasting Tribunal’s code on violence,” he says.  “We have to stick to the letter of the law and we are doing that.  When you look at how the story is presented, it isn’t a violent storyline.  You don’t see a lot of violence in it when the murders are taking place.  I just think it’s basically about storytelling and working within the tribunal guidelines.”   Pat Manser of the Australian Broadcasting Tribunal has expressed concern over the material being depicted but stresses that viewers do not have to just accept what is presented to them.  “The best method of attack is to go straight to the station, because the stations are quite sensitive to public criticism,” she says.  “If they get more criticism than pats on the back, they will do something about it.”

Briefly…
Jacki MacDonald (pictured) has described her new Network Ten show Healthy Wealthy And Wise as “a show that’s not really like anything else” and, after a decade as the funny girl on Hey Hey It’s Saturday and a year as host of Australia’s Funniest Home Video Show, is excited at the prospect at doing “something serious” for a change.  “In this show I’m not zany, silly or crazy,” she said.  “We all enjoy ourselves, laugh and have a good time – but it’s not a format for outrageous antics.”  Healthy Wealthy And Wise, which also features Ronnie Burns as co-host, is produced by former Hey Hey It’s Saturday co-producer Gavan Disney.  Although the show has only just debuted on Network Ten, it has already been sold for screening in New Zealand, Singapore and Papua New Guinea.

After six years of reading the news for ABC in Victoria, Mary Delahunty (pictured) is returning to current affairs television as she takes over as host of the Victorian edition of The 7.30 Report – replacing John Jost who has left the ABC to join the Nine Network as host of its new Melbourne Extra current affairs program.  Ian Henderson, a former European correspondent for the ABC, has taken over as newsreader for the 7.00pm ABC News in Victoria.

Mike Hammond, the former host of Ten’s Star Search and now the sole host of Good Morning Australia, is enthusiastic about the breakfast show’s new format.  “It has a totally new look, and a new format which is a world first.  Breakfast television has never before recognised the fact that daily routines don’t allow you extended periods of time to sit in front of the box watching long interviews.  Our new program informs you while you get ready to start your day.  If you want to compare us to Today, we still offer more news and weather, more financial news, more politics and sport, and more relevant stories.  And in what is probably a television first, there is up-to-the-minute traffic information as well.”

Former Quantum reporter Andrew Waterworth (pictured) has moved to the Seven Network as a reporter for Beyond 2000.  “I was with Quantum for five years and I put a lot into the show,” he told TV Week.  “But you get to a point in your life where you feel you would like a change.”

John Laws says…
”Whether Seven’s Real Life is going to offer any serious long-term problems to Jana Wendt’s A Current Affair on Nine is yet to be assessed, though the early signs are that ACA will be the toughest of nuts to crack.  Real Life’s problem may be that it has hyped itself up as being completely different to the current affairs shows we have become accustomed to – and this, as any viewer will tell (producer) Gerald Stone, is a load of old cobblers.  Real Life is a mixture of everything – a sort of mini-version of 60 Minutes, with shades of ACA and The 7.30 Report thrown in for good measure.  It really can’t be anything else.”

Program Highlights (Melbourne, February 8-14):
Saturday:  Nine presents a two-hour preview of the upcoming Winter Olympic Games, hosted by Ken Sutcliffe, taking a look at the behind-the-scenes preparations and focusing on the Games venues and competitions as well as the Australian team.  On Seven, AFL is back for the new year with its pre-season competition, the Foster’s Cup, live from AFL Park, Waverley.

Sunday:  The first day of ratings for 1992 – and Nine’s current affairs line-up of Business Sunday, Sunday and the evening 60 Minutes are back for another year.  Seven crosses to Darwin for live coverage of the afternoon match between Collingwood and the West Coast Eagles for the AFL Foster’s Cup.  Sunday night movies are Air America (Seven) and The ‘Burbs (Ten), while Nine presents live coverage of the Opening Ceremony of the Winter Olympic Games from Albertville, France.

Monday:  Nine’s regular daytime line-up is back for the new year – with In Melbourne Today, What’s Cooking and Midday With Ray Martin all returning.  At 5.00pm, Nine launches its new game show Supermarket Sweep, hosted by Ian Turpie, followed by the debut of Melbourne Extra, with John Jost (pictured) presenting local current affairs as the lead-in to National Nine News.  Sale Of The Century (Nine) returns for another year at 7.00pm, while ABC launches a new series of comedy Mother And Son at 8.00pm.  Stuart Littlemore’s Media Watch is also back for the new year, at 9.15pm on ABC.  Nine starts its routine coverage of the Winter Olympic Games, hosted by Ken Sutcliffe, with over four hours of coverage each night from 8.30pm.

Tuesday:  The return of ABC’s medical drama GP focuses on the gay bashing of the new doctor at the Ross Street surgery.

Wednesday:  Seven presents live coverage of the AFL Foster’s Cup match between Geelong and St Kilda from AFL Park, Waverley.  In E Street (Ten), Alice (Marianne Howard) and Penny (Josephine Mitchell) try to cope with their new business venture – meanwhile someone else in the neighbourhood receives a surprise visit from Steven Richardson (Vince Martin).

Thursday:  Seven begins four days of coverage of the Australian Masters golf, live from Huntingdale, Melbourne.  In the evening, sitcom Acropolis Now (Seven) returns, while ABC presents a movie-length debut of its new police drama Phoenix, starring Paul Sonkkila, Simon Westaway, Nell Feeney, Sean Scully and Andy Anderson.

Friday:  Burke’s Backyard (Nine) is back for another year, hosted by Don Burke with presenters Peter Harris, Dr Harry Cooper and Densey Clyne.

Source: TV Week (Victoria edition), incorporating TV Times and TV Guide.  8 February 1992.  Southdown Press

1992: January 11-17

There’s nothing psycho about this shower scene
E Street star Kate Raison shares her thoughts on the steamy closed-set shower scene that marks a turning point in the relationship of her character Sheridan Sturgess to Wheels (Marcus Graham).  Although Raison describes the steamy scene as not so much raunchy but “more your first kiss”, it is apparent that the scene – which lasts for two minutes – is a lot more than that.  But she points out that in reality neither actor was nude for filming of the scene and that it was nowhere near as romantic as the end product appears.  “I don’t want to take the romance out of it for people, but it’s not romantic at all,” she told TV Week.  “It’s very technical and difficult to film.  We had two cameras and we were trying to pivot in a baby’s bath… it took about three or four hours to film.  It’s one of the worst things you could ever imagine.  They were very difficult scenes to create and it’s a very technical thing in the end.  Hopefully, it will look romantic to the audience.  We want to make it look, and be, as real for the audience as possible.”

Luck of the draw!
Although he has appeared in commercials and occasionally gets caught on camera on Hey Hey It’s Saturday, the show’s resident cartoonist Andrew Fyfe is about to take on a new challenge as he faces the cameras in the new children’s show, Guess What?  Despite the challenge of a prominent role in a new show, Fyfe – who also produced the former Ossie Ostrich cartoon strip in TV Week and had been a cartoonist for satirical magazine Mad – has a positive outlook.  “The first thing I like about this is that it’s great fun.  The second thing I like is that it’s great fun.  And thirdly, I like it because it’s great fun,” he said.  Guess What?, which also stars Alison Brahe (recently Mrs Cameron Daddo), is being taped in Adelaide and debuts on Nine in February.

Red-hot for Silver!
TV Week takes a look at who could be strong contenders for this year’s Silver Logies for most popular actor and actress at the TV Week Logie Awards.  Neighbours stars Mark Little, Richard Huggett, Gayle and Gillian Blakeney and Melissa Bell are listed as potential nominees – while E Street also boasts a strong field, including Tony Martin, Marcus Graham, Kate Raison, Bruce Samazan, Alyssa-Jane Cook, Toni Pearen and Melissa Tkautz.  Home And Away has popular cast members including Les Hill, Rebekah Elmaloglou, Mat Stevenson, Nicolle Dickson and Emily Symons.  A Country Practice’s Georgie Parker and Shane Porteous have both won Silver Logies in the past and may do so again this year, but TV Week reminds readers not to underestimate other favourites such as John Tarrant, Matt Day and Joyce Jacobs.  Former The Flying Doctors star Rebecca Gibney now has new fans with her role in All Together Now, and Col’n Carpenter stars Kim Gyngell and Anne Phelan and Hey Dad!’s Julie McGregor are also listed as potential contenders.  TV Week also reminds readers of cast members of other series Chances, GP, Embassy, Police Rescue and The Flying Doctors that could also be worthy of votes.

Briefly…
Home And Away star Rebekah Elmaloglou talks about her teenage character Sophie coping with falling pregnant – and with the baby’s father David (Guy Pearce) now dead, she fears that she will lose custody of the child to her parents.  “Sophie’s got no husband or boyfriend, no money and not a happy future,” she told TV Week.  “Sophie starts to think that the only way she is going to be able to keep David’s child is by running away.  Her hormones are clouding her better judgment.”

It was a lavish event on the grounds of the Royal Sydney Yacht Squadron in Kirribilli as former ‘Til Ten host Joan McInnes married Sir James Hardy just before Christmas.  The wedding was attended by many TV and showbiz identities, including Midday’s Ray Martin and Geoff Harvey and Wheel Of Fortune hostess Adriana Xenides. 

Home And Away star Dee Smart’s recent outburst in TV Week about how unhappy she is about being in the show has caused quite a stir at Seven.  The network is now believed to be trying to release her from her contract to appease her, but this is proving difficult with planned storylines for the show written well in advance – so she may be in Summer Bay still for some time yet.

Lawrie Masterson’s Sound Off
”It is inevitable that Australia – already overserviced by television networks, in my opinion – will now get a Pay TV system.  How it is implemented, the number of licences to be granted and who gets them, and some guidelines on content, are among the contentious issues still to be ironed out.”

John Laws says…
”What is it about A Current Affair that grabs the imagination of the nation?  In my view it’s because the program has become the evening newspaper that modern Australians don’t buy any more.  Combine 30 minutes of news and 30 minutes of A Current Affair and you have all the elements of what evening newspapers used to be about.”

Program Highlights (Melbourne/Regional Victoria, January 11-17):
Saturday: Summer sport continues with tennis (NSW Open and the Rio International Challenge) on Seven/Prime, golf (Sanctuary Cove Classic) on ABC and cricket (Benson And Hedges World Series Cricket) on Nine/VIC TV.

Sunday:  Sunday night movies are Inspector Morse: The Ghost In The Machine (Seven/Prime) and Buster (Ten/SCN), while Nine/VIC TV presents the first instalment in the re-run of mini-series Ellis Island.

Monday:  The Australian Open, the premier Australian tennis event of the year, begins its two-week competition today at Melbourne’s National Tennis Centre – with live coverage throughout the day and evening on Seven and Prime.  Nine/VIC TV begins a daytime re-run of the landmark 1970s US mini-series Roots.

Tuesday:  Australian Open on Seven/Prime and World Series Cricket on Nine/VIC TV are the only real highlights today, with both events taking up most of the afternoon and evening timeslots.

Wednesday:  E Street (Ten/SCN) returns for its fourth year.  Wheels (Marcus Graham) moves in with Sheridan (Kate Raison) to protect her from serial killer Steven “Mr Bad” Richardson (Vince Martin), but it doesn’t take long for their attraction for each other to become apparent.

Thursday:  ABC begins four days of coverage of golf with the Palm Meadows Cup, live from the Gold Coast.

Source: TV Week (Victoria Country edition), incorporating TV Times and TV Guide.  11 January 1992.  Southdown Press

1991: November 30-December 6

An old affair rekindled
In a surprising move, the Nine Network has announced that former A Current Affair and Willesee host Mike Willesee will be hosting A Current Affair for three weeks in January while regular host Jana Wendt (pictured with Willesee) takes a break over the summer non-ratings period.  The move is surprising given that Willesee’s last appearance as a fill in host on the program two years ago was marked by controversy when he was caught stumbling on his words and had to apologise for giggling and “attempts to be humourous”.  The incident saw Nine and the Australian Broadcasting Tribunal inundated with complaints about his behaviour – and rival current affairs host Derryn Hinch opened his show the following night by saying, “I’m Derryn Hinch… and I’m sober”.  But Willesee, who claimed at the time that his behaviour was a result of “something he ate or drank”, is no longer keen to discuss the incident (“You’ve got to understand how often I’ve been asked about that.  There’s got to be a limit to how often I answer it.”) and is enthusiastic about his upcoming return to the program.

The eyes have it!
Actor and comedian Mark Mitchell could be forgiven for having a split personality after working on children’s series Lift Off.  In the multi-million dollar production Mitchell plays 19 characters, including an apartment caretaker, a farmer, a school principal and a geriatric legionnaire.  “I’m principally cast as Mr Fish (pictured), the caretaker, and represent the adult bureaucracy the kids have to deal with,” he told TV Week.  “He was made to look at flawed as possible, which is why he is fat, bad-tempered and wears glasses which make him look like a puff fish.  The show allows me to dress up and be silly, which is one of the reasons I’m doing it.”  Lift Off is expected to screen on ABC around mid-1992.

They’re sold on Alyce
When Alyce Platt (pictured) made a sudden exit from Sale Of The Century earlier this year, her television future appeared grim.  But apart from an appendix operation that saw her have to withdraw from a planned guest appearance in All Together Now, she has been almost in constant work since leaving Sale, with a guest appearance on Fast Forward and a role in the Seven Network’s new children’s series Animal Park.  She is also starring in stage production Torch Song Trilogy at Melbourne’s Universal Theatre.  “I enjoyed working on Sale for as long as I was there,” she told TV Week.  “But getting the part in Animal Park was the best thing that could have happened.”

Briefly…
Former Hey Dad! star Christopher Truswell, former Neighbours star Ian Williams and performer Maria Mercedes are set to star in a Nineties revival of the acclaimed rock musical Godspell which is scheduled to open at the Sydney Opera House early in 1992.

Some surprising announcements from the Ten Network with news that Australia’s Funniest Home Video Show host Jacki MacDonald (pictured) is to make a sudden shift from Nine to Ten to co-host a new lifestyle show to be produced by former Hey Hey It’s Saturday co-producer Gavan Disney.  “I’m very excited about moving on to a different style of program,” MacDonald told TV Week.  Disney is also tipped to be working on a revival of variety show Young Talent Time for the network.  Meanwhile, Bert Newton is making a regular TV comeback to host a new mid-morning talk show for Ten starting in the new year.  The program, tentatively titled This Morning, is tipped to also feature Kerri-Anne Kennerley from Good Morning Australia. 

Chances star Jeremy Sims and new A Country Practice star Kym Wilson have become TV’s hottest young couple despite them each living in separate cities.  Sims is based in Melbourne and Wilson is in Sydney, leading to regular weekend commutes and many long-distance telephone calls.

John Laws says…
”We’ve been fortunate in Australia to have a healthy history of satire on TV, going back as far as the ground-breaking The Mavis Bramston Show (pictured) in the Sixties.  Australians like to laugh at themselves – it’s probably one of our better human traits – and the success of programs such as Fast Forward and The Comedy Company are evidence of the presence of this self-depreciating sense of humour.  Fast Forward’s major attribute is its talented young cast.  Magda Szubanski is surely one of the finest comedy talents to have emerged for a long, long time.  Her Pixie-Anne Wheatley character is a classic.”

Program Highlights (Melbourne, November 30-December 6):
Saturday:  The final day of TV ratings for the year.  Hey Hey It’s Saturday (Nine) presents a special three-hour show for its 1991 finale with guest appearances by John Farnham, Jimmy Barnes, Marina Prior, Johnny Diesel and Rhonda Burchmore.  This week’s contestants on Celebrity Wheel Of Fortune (Seven) are swimmer Kieren Perkins, singer Venetta Fields and comedian Anthony Ackroyd.  Ten presents a re-run of mini-series The Heroes as a four-hour telemovie, starring Jason Donovan and Cameron Daddo.

Sunday: ABC presents the final episode of 1920s mini-series The River Kings.  Sunday night movies are Splash (Seven), Merry Christmas Mr Lawrence (Nine) and Bat 21 (Ten), up against the Australian Opera production of Don Giovanni on ABC.

Monday:  Repeats of early episodes Hey Dad! are the summer replacement for Home And Away on Seven, while Peter Luck hosts Summertime, replacing Derryn Hinch’s current affairs program.  Helen Dalley hosts the summer edition of A Current Affair (Nine).  Neighbours star Richard Huggett guest stars in Col’n Carpenter (Ten).

Tuesday:  Beyond 2000 (Seven) and Embassy (ABC) are presented in repeats for the summer season.

Wednesday:  In E Street (Ten), Sheridan (Kate Raison) has a taste of the working-class life, and Lisa (Alyssa-Jane Cook) has some exciting news.

Thursday:  Debbie Byrne guest stars in this week’s episode of The Flying Doctors (Nine), playing the part of a TV reporter who is stranded in Coopers Crossing due to a faulty plane.  To pass the time she prepares a “day in the life of the Royal Flying Doctor Service” report, but a plane crash forces her to understand the other side of a news story.

Friday:  Nine crosses to Perth for the Benson And Hedges World Series Cricket day/night match between India and the West Indies.

Source: TV Week (Victoria edition), incorporating TV Times and TV Guide.  30 November 1991.  Southdown Press

1991: November 23-29

Melissa’s shock exit!
E Street star Melissa Tkautz has made a sudden exit from the Network Ten soap, halfway through a three-year contract, after an apparent rift developed between herself and the show’s producers.  It is not known exactly what problems have arisen although it is suspected that Tkautz’s pop star commitments – such as preparing to tour with C&C Music Factory next month – have conflicted with her filming commitments to the series.  Producer Forrest Redlich told TV Week that “the official line is, ‘She’s leaving to pursue musical interests’.”  He also said that Tkautz’s pop career almost came about by accident as the pop songs were intended to promote the show and Tkautz was chosen from the show’s cast as the best match for the proposed first single, Read My Lips (“I thought it was too raunchy for Toni Pearen and too teeny-bopper for Alyssa-Jane Cook.”)  The debut single hit the top of the charts as did the follow up single, Sexy (Is The Word), and suddenly Tkautz has become a big pop star.  “She was a successful marketing exercise for us,” Redlich said.  “I don’t know if this will hurt the show.  She had fans.”  Tkautz’s sudden departure will see her character Nikki sent off to New Zealand.

New series woos John
John Waters is tipped for the lead role in a new weekly drama series to be filmed in Brisbane next year.  The new series, Darling And Partners, is to be set in a law firm and according to producer Phillip Bowman is hoped to demystify the process of law.  “It is not an expose of the Australian legal system,” Bowman told TV Week.  “Lawyers I have spoken to see this series as having positive potential.”  The pilot for Darling And Partners will begin filming early in 1992.

‘The worst year of my life…’
For Wheel Of Fortune’s Adriana Xenides it has been a traumatic year, with an increase in work commitments, being plagued by illness for months, and the breakdown of her two-year marriage.  She also became the target of a hate-mail campaign where an anonymous writer had contacted many media outlets, including TV Week, with some very personal details and her personal telephone number.  “Initially it hurt, but that didn’t last very long,” she told TV Week.  “When I thought about it, I felt very sorry for whoever took the time to write a note like that to the press.  I feel whoever did that must be a lonely person or terribly bored.”  Apart from the marriage breakdown, she was hit by a “mystery” illness which turned out to be a combination of glandular fever and viral pneumonia.  “I’ve had the worst year of my life with sickness,” she said.  “I usually have the odd cold or whatever, but I’ve never been this sick.”  The year has ended on a highlight, however, with her visit to Disney World as part of the international 20th anniversary celebration of Wheel Of Fortune. 

Briefly…
Live And Sweaty host Andrew Denton is to start work soon on a pilot for a proposed interview series for ABC.  With the working title One On One, it will feature Denton interviewing a single guest.  “(One On One) will either be one of the greatest moments in modern television or a complete failure,” he told TV Week.  Production is due to start next month.

Home And Away is set to end the year where the sudden return of Frank (Alex Papps) after the collapse of his marriage to Roo (Justine Clarke) sees him make a beeline for former wife Bobby (Nicolle Dickson), claiming that he is sorry that he divorced her and is still in love with her.

Fast Forward stars Glenn Robbins and Michael Veitch have been criticised for glamorising alcohol use with their “yuppie drunk” characters that appear in the sketch comedy show.  ABC’s Media Watch and the spokesman for the Drug Offensive campaign have slammed the sketches as trivialising alcohol abuse.  But Robbins has defended the sketches.  ”The drink gives them the confidence to say the things they want to say.  They are ‘blokes’ and they find it hard to do this otherwise.  It’s tragic that they need alcohol to be able to say these things,” he said.  “So we don’t believe it’s glamorising alcohol use at all… it’s showing the reality of a bad situation.”  Veitch also notes that it is significant that their characters fail in their romantic pursuits as a result of drinking.  “It’s obvious they are not attractive people,” he said.  “They talk to girls but they never get any.  They lead pretty sad lives.”

Alison Brahe, the host of Nine’s upcoming children’s quiz show Guess What?, has no intention of using her married name after she marries actor Cameron Daddo next month.  “We will have Seven, Nine and Ten covered by the Daddos so I’m just going to stick to Brahe,” she told TV Week.  “I don’t think television is ready for another Daddo just yet.”  Production on Guess What?, which will also feature Hey Hey It’s Saturday cartoonist Andrew Fyfe, will commence at the studios of NWS9 in Adelaide in January.

John Laws says…
”After the coarse humour of Married… With Children, the bitchery of The Golden Girls and the cloying cuteness of The Cosby Show, the consistent freshness and vitality of Australia’s Hey Dad! comes as a welcome relief.  So it’s nice to know that as the TV year grinds to a conclusion – leaving behind the usual clutch of falling stars and ratings bombs – Hey Dad! is comfortably maintaining its bright and appealing honest approach.”

Program Highlights (Melbourne, November 23-29):
Saturday:  That’s Dancin’ (ABC) presents its series semi-final.  This week’s contestants on Celebrity Wheel Of Fortune (Seven) are Stuart Wagstaff, Rachael Beck and Maynard F. Sharp Crabbes.  The main event of the night is the first annual presentation of the Australian Music Awards (Ten), from Melbourne’s World Congress Centre, a three-hour celebration of Australian music with awards in 20 categories. The AMAs feature guests including John Farnham, Jimmy Barnes, Kate Ceberano, Grace Knight, Craig McLachlan, Jo Beth Taylor, Jack Jones, James Blundell, Melissa Tkautz, Johnny Diesel, Boom Crash Opera, Ratcat, David Reyne, Juno, Roxus, Indecent Obsession and Glenn Shorrock.

Sunday:  The beginning of the final week of official ratings surveys for the year sees the final editions of Wide World Of Sports (Nine), Sports Sunday (Nine) and 60 Minutes (Nine) for 1991.  Sunday night movies are The Presidio (Seven), National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation (Nine) and Out Of Africa (Ten) – while ABC presents the Australian Opera production of Puccini’s last opera, Turandot.

Monday:  Ten debuts a new children’s series, The Miraculous Mellops.  ABC presents a one-hour special, Sex, taking a comic approach to a serious topic in discussing questions and attitudes about sexual activity, safe sex and sexually-transmitted diseases amongst young adults.

Tuesday:  In the season final of A Country Practice (Seven), romance is in the air after Darcy (Kym Wilson) and Luke (Matt Day) get their HSC results.  And in the series final of All Together Now (Nine), while planning a traditional Christmas celebration the Rivers household is visited by a very pregnant woman and her husband (played by Maryanne Fahey and husband Ian McFadyen) on Christmas Eve who are stranded with no accommodation – a coincidence not lost on Bobby (Jon English).  The episode also features a guest appearance by Robert Grubb (The Flying Doctors).

Wednesday:  In the lead up to World AIDS Day, Ita Buttrose introduces the US special Common Threads – Stories From The Quilt (ABC), the story of five people who have died from AIDS.  Their names have been commemorated in five panels of an ever-growing quilt that now covers 14 acres.

Thursday:  Seven begins four days of coverage of the Australian Open golf, with commentators Sandy Roberts, Jack Newton and Pat Welsh.  Nine’s Midday With Ray Martin presents its final episode for 1991 with a two-hour special.  In The Flying Doctors (Nine), a bus load of Japanese tourists arrive in Coopers Crossing and the locals’ reaction varies from enthusiastic to racist.

Friday:  Nine’s daytime is dominated by the first day of the cricket First Test between Australia and India, live from the Gabba in Brisbane.  In the evening, Burke’s Backyard (Nine) presents its final edition for 1991.  Ten debuts US youth drama Beverly Hills 90210.

Source: TV Week (Victoria edition), incorporating TV Times and TV Guide.  23 November 1991.  Southdown Press

1991: November 2-8

Hey, Ben’s a dad!
It might be a shock to some to realise that Ben Oxenbould, the newcomer to the cast of Hey Dad!, is himself a dad.  The 22-year-old, who got his big break at the age of seven in the film Fatty Finn, has a one-year-old son but is very protective of him and won’t have him photographed by the media.  “He keeps me very busy when he’s with me,” Oxenbould (pictured with co-star Rachael Beck) told TV Week.  “He’s a classic combination of his mother – with whom he lives – and myself.  And, thankfully, I think he got everything good from us.  So that’s something.”  The Hey Dad! role is Adelaide-born Oxenbould’s first comedy role, having previously appeared in E Street and GP and will star in the upcoming SBS series Six Pack.

No naked ambition!
Former The Flying Doctors star Liz Burch (pictured) is no stranger to nudity, having starred in the controversial stage production Steaming, but when speaking of her upcoming role in Nine’s Chances she says the producers wouldn’t dare.  “They wouldn’t dream of asking me to take my clothes off… the ratings would plummet!  I did Steaming, but that was very different.  We rehearsed that for four weeks, the show was well-written and there was justification for it.  With Chances, the issue of nudity never comes into it,” she said.  In Chances, Burch plays a chemist, Sally Kirk, who is involved in a relationship with Jack Taylor (Tim Robertson) – but Alex (Jeremy Sims) plots to steal her away from Jack after realising she has information that could earn him millions. 

‘I was moved to tears…’
Maryanne Fahey, best known from The Comedy Company, is about to tackle one of the most demanding roles in her career – portraying the life of one of Australia’s most controversial and amusing personalities, Mary Hardy (pictured), in the upcoming play Mary Lives.  Hardy, who committed suicide in 1985, was well-known to Melbourne radio and television audiences in the 1960s and 1970s, in particular as presenter on the long-running variety show The Penthouse Club and on radio 3AW.  She also won a number of TV Week Logies for her popularity with Victorian audiences.  “I was moved to tears when I first read the play,” Fahey told TV Week.  “It was something I really wanted to do.  Mary was one of the real forerunners of women’s comedy in this country.  Hopefully, I will do her justice.  She was outrageous and prepared to cop the flak because she was an idealist, and I admire that more than someone who just goes out there to be funny.”

Briefly…
Hard Copy reporter Jane Hansen (pictured) has confirmed reports that she has been approached by former 60 Minutes producer Gerald Stone to join his new current affairs venture for the Seven Network, though stresses that nothing has been signed or agreed to as yet.  The new program, yet to be named, may potentially be slotted against Nine’s ratings giant 60 Minutes.

Joan McInnes, the host of Network Ten’s morning program ‘Til Ten, has announced her engagement to winemaker and yachtsman James Hardy.  The pair have known each other for more than five years but began seeing each other seriously two years ago and are expected to wed in December.

New Zealand actress Catherine Wilkin (Cop Shop, Rafferty’s Rules) is set to return to Australia after three years, starring as an ambassador in the next series of ABC’s Embassy.  “I’ve played a lot of strong-minded career women but never an ambassador,” she said.  “I’ll have to pay the Australian ambassador a visit here and do a crash course in diplomacy before I leave New Zealand!”

John Laws says…
”Who was it, I wonder, who allowed the Beyond 2000 format to slip from the clutches of the ABC and into the hands of the Seven Network all those years ago?  Those responsible must still be suffering recurring bouts of programmers’ guilt – as must be those misguided Seven executives who elected to give up on Neighbours and meekly hand it to Ten, where it was transformed into a long-running international smash-hit worth millions.  Watching Beyond 2000 the other night – and admiring its bright, informative segments on everything from eatable potato-chip containers to sonar fences to stop whales beaching themselves – only reinforced my long-held belief that it is one of Australia’s best programs.”

Program Highlights (Melbourne, November 2-8):
Saturday:  Network Ten’s coverage of the Melbourne Cup Carnival kicks off with all-day coverage of Derby Day, live from Flemington Racecourse, presented by Tim Webster with racecaller Dan Mielicki.  This week’s contestants on Celebrity Wheel Of Fortune (Seven) are Rod Marsh, Lynda Stoner and Larry Pickering.  ABC presents live coverage overnight of the Rugby World Cup final from Twickenham, United Kingdom.

Sunday:  Nine’s crosses to Adelaide for its all-day coverage of the Australian Grand Prix, hosted by Ken Sutcliffe with commentators Alan Jones, Jackie Stewart, Murray Walker, Darrell Eastlake and Barry Sheene.  Author Colleen McCullough is this week’s guest on ABC’s Sunday Afternoon With Peter Ross.  Sunday night movies are Sex, Lies And Videotape (Nine) and The Great Outdoors (Ten), up against the debut of two-part mini-series Love And Hate (Seven).

Monday:  In A Country Practice (Seven), Matt (John Tarrant) admits he has had enough of marriage to Lucy (Georgie Parker).  Ben Mendelsohn guest stars in Col’n Carpenter (Ten).

Tuesday:  Melbourne Cup Day, and Network Ten presents live coverage of the highlight of the Australian racing calendar, starting at 9.30am and continuing through to 5.30pm, hosted by Tim Webster.  In GP (ABC), the sudden return of Dr Nicola Tanner’s (Judy McIntosh, pictured) wild brother Danny (Brett Climo) leads to the uncovering of a dark secret in the Tanner family.  In Beyond 2000 (Seven), Simon Reeve reports from the UK on the Weatherall racetrack, made up of granulated rubber from old car tyres. 

Wednesday:  In E Street (Ten), Lisa (Alyssa-Jane Cook) tries to find the answer to Michael’s (Graham Harvey) death.  In Hey Dad! (Seven), Simon (Chris Mayer) is panic stricken with the fear of incipient baldness while Betty (Julie McGregor) solves the problems of the ozone layer.

Thursday:  Former Prisoner star Betty Bobbitt guest stars in The Flying Doctors (Nine).  ABC’s documentary series Wildscreen looks at the camel as a wild animal, detailing its fascinating and complex social behaviour.

Friday:  Talent quest series Star Search (Ten) presents its series semi-final, hosted by Mike Hammond.

Source: TV Week (Victoria edition), incorporating TV Times and TV Guide.  2 November 1991.  Southdown Press