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.

1991: March 23-29

Off to a flying start!
”The best in a decade!”  That’s how one high-ranked television executive – not connected to host broadcaster the Nine Network – described the 33rd annual TV Week Logie Awards.  And the night got off to a flying start, with host Daryl Somers making his spectacular entrance from high up in the ceiling of the World Congress Centre, Melbourne, on a flying fox.  The opening of the Logie Awards presentation also included a performance by Debbie Byrne and the Electric Legs dancers.  Somers, hosting the event for the second time, says he was “very happy” with his job as host.  “It was a great team effort all around.  It was a real buzz for me.  I felt comfortable and relaxed.  I really enjoyed it.”  Overseas guests attending the Logies included actress Angie Dickinson and Twin Peaks stars Peggy Lipton and Michael Ontkean.  The awards presentation ended with Tonight Live host and producer Steve Vizard (pictured with fellow award winners Rebecca Gibney and Georgie Parker) being awarded the Gold Logie for most popular television personality in Australia.

TV Week Logie Winners 1991: Publicly-voted categories
Gold Logie – Most Popular Personality On Australian TV: Steve Vizard
Silver Logie – Most Popular Actor On Australian TV: Craig McLachlan
Silver Logie – Most Popular Actress On Australian TV: Georgie Parker
Most Popular Series: Home And Away
Most Popular Light Entertainment/Comedy Program: Fast Forward
Most Popular Lifestyle Information Program: Burke’s Backyard
Most Popular Telemovie or Mini-Series: Jackaroo
Most Popular Light Entertainment/Comedy Male Personality: Steve Vizard
Most Popular Light Entertainment/Comedy Female Personality: Magda Szubanski
Most Popular Sports Coverage: Cricket
Most Popular Actor in a Telemovie or Mini-Series: David McCubbin (pictured)
Most Popular Actress in a Telemovie or Mini-Series: Annie Jones (pictured)
Most Popular Children’s Program: Agro’s Cartoon Connection
Most Popular Music Video: Chain Reaction (John Farnham)
Most Popular Public Affairs Program: A Current Affair
Most Popular New Talent: Richard Huggett

TV Week Logie Winners 1991: Industry-voted categories
Gold Logie – Hall Of Fame: James Davern
Most Outstanding Actor: Michael Craig
Most Outstanding Actress: Rebecca Gibney (pictured) 
Most Outstanding Single Drama or Mini-Series: Come In Spinner
Most Outstanding Achievement in Public Affairs: Other People’s Money (4 Corners, ABC)
Most Outstanding Achievement in News: John Lombard (ABC)
Most Outstanding Single Documentary or Series: The Chelmsford Scream
Most Outstanding Achievement by Regional Television: No Fixed Address (WIN)

TV Week Logie Winners 1991: State-based categories (Most Popular Personality, Most Popular Program):
New South Wales: Ray Martin, Home And Away.
Victoria: Daryl Somers, Neighbours
Queensland: Rob Brough, Family Feud
South Australia: Anne Wills, Wheel Of Fortune
Western Australia: Rick Ardon, Seven Nightly News
Tasmania: Robyn Martin, Tasmania Today

Briefly…
Good Morning Australia’s Kerri-Anne Kennerley (pictured with co-host Tim Webster), now in her tenth year as co-host of Ten’s breakfast program and about to clock up her 2500th episode, says she couldn’t have reached such a milestone without a stable home life.  “Thank goodness I have a fantastic husband who has put up with the lifestyle all this time,” she told TV Week.  “If I didn’t have my stability at home it would lead to tensions, as it would for anyone.”  The show has had a revamp this year, including the return of Ten newsreader Webster as co-host after a break of around three years from the program.

Award-winning actor Shane Connor is about to join the cast of Neighbours as baddie Phil Hoffman, who meets Carolyn Alessi (Gillian Blakeney) as she is about to give evidence in a murder trial which Hoffman is connected to.  With a background in stage and film roles, it is Connors’ first ongoing role in a TV series following a guest appearance in The Flying Doctors and a role in the mini-series Poor Man’s Orange.

Chances star Natalie McCurry admits that she dislikes the nude scenes which are commonplace in the Nine Network series.  “I’m not happy about doing nude shots but it’s part of the job,” she told TV Week.  “I’m very careful about what I do and how I portray my character.  As long as it isn’t gratuitous, and is done with some class, it’s all right.  But if it’s nudity for its own sake then it really degrades the show.”

John Laws says…
”All Together Now is one of the new breed of locally-made TV comedy series which seem to be hauling high enough ratings for everyone to be confident about their long-term prospects.  Eggshells, which I’ve already praised in this column, is doing well for ABC, and Hey Dad! is proving a most consistent winner for Seven.  Ten has got into the act, too, with repeats of Mother And Son pulling in higher ratings than Eggshells (by the same writer, Geoffrey Atherden, and also starring Garry McDonald) on the same night.  The lesson, of course, is that viewers are keen to watch Australian comedy – especially when it’s got a bit of zing and life about it.”

Program Highlights (Melbourne: March 23-29):
Saturday:  AFL’s first round for 1991 continues with Seven’s Saturday night highlights package of St Kilda versus Richmond.  ABC launches a new travel series Holiday, presented by David De Vos, Eric Campbell, Bob La Castra and former Network Ten newsreader Katrina Lee.

Sunday:  Seven’s afternoon of sport includes the final of the NBL KMart Classic, from Homebush, Sydney, and live coverage of AFL from Perth featuring West Coast Eagles versus Melbourne.  Seven also presents afternoon highlights of the match between Footscray and Collingwood.  Sunday night movies are Assassin (Seven), Acceptable Risks (Nine) and House (Ten).  Ten then presents Sportsweek with Eddie McGuire and Steve Quartermain followed by a delayed telecast of the Rugby League match of the day between Canberra and Parramatta.

Monday:  Ten presents a two-hour Eyewitness News special, War In The Gulf.

Tuesday:  In Chances (Nine), as Chris (Mark Kounnas) becomes more and more confused about his sexuality, Sarah’s (Anne Grigg) solution is set to rock the Taylor family.  Nine then presents a delayed telecast of the 63rd annual Academy Awards from the Shrine Auditorium, Hollywood.  Nominated for Best Picture are Awakenings, Dances With Wolves, Ghost, The Godfather III and Goodfellas.

Good Friday:  Seven devotes the day to the traditional Royal Children’s Hospital Good Friday Appeal.  The telethon starts at 9.00am, with a break for Seven News with Peter Mitchell at midday, and continuing through to 6.00pm.  The telethon’s evening session starts at 7.30pm with a variety special hosted by Jennifer Keyte, Derryn Hinch and Steve Vizard and featuring performances by Tina Arena, Paul Norton, the cast of The Phantom Of The Opera and The Seekers.  The appeal closes with the announcement of the grand total at midnight.  ABC commemorates Good Friday with a special screening of UK series Songs Of Praise and World Of Worship presents a Good Friday Service from Perth.  Nine presents a special, The Jerusalem Passion, and an Easter edition of Turn Round Australia.

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

TV names battle it out in federal election

Last night’s Federal Election might not have returned a clear result but there were some familiar faces along the way.

Sarah Henderson (pictured), representing the Liberal Party, had contested the Victorian marginal seat of Corangamite, including areas surrounding Geelong.  Henderson will be familiar to television viewers from her work as a newsreader and reporter at Network Ten in Melbourne as well as appearing on ABC programs The Investigators, The 7.30 Report and Holiday.  She has also worked at radio 3AW and has worked in management roles at Network Ten and National Indigenous Television (NITV).  At the time of writing the result for Corangamite was still inconclusive with a narrow margin between Henderson and the ALP’s incumbent, Darren Cheeseman, but ABC has this afternoon predicted a narrow ALP win.

Former ABC journalist and presenter Maxine McKew (pictured), who famously snatched the Sydney seat of Bennelong for the ALP from former prime minister John Howard in 2007, lost out last night against the Liberal Party’s John Alexander, former tennis star and commentator for the Seven Network.  McKew has since lashed out at the ALP, saying the ALP’s campaign lacked clarity and that the recent dismissal of prime minister Kevin Rudd has had to have had an impact on the public vote.

Steve Titmus (pictured), a former newsreader for Southern Cross Television in Tasmania and representing the Liberal Party, was unsuccessful last night in his bid for the northern Tasmanian seat of Bass.

Meanwhile, the campaign for the attention of viewers last night was won by ABC with its marathon coverage headed by Kerry O’Brien returning a rating of 28.0 per cent (combining ABC1 and ABC News 24 which were in simulcast).  Nine came second on 20.3 per cent, followed by Seven (16.8), Ten (10.5) and SBS1 (3.3 per cent).  Viewers also demonstrated a definite appetite for alternative programming, with digital channels 7TWO scoring 8.1 per cent, GO! 6.9 per cent and even SBS2 getting a higher than usual 1.2 per cent.

Source: Geelong Advertiser, Wikipedia, Sydney Morning Herald, The Examiner, ABC, TV Tonight

1979: December 15-21

Cover: William Shatner, Leonard Nimoy (Star Trek)

Countdown to the ‘80s
Countdown’s Ian ‘Molly’ Meldrum and producer Ted Emery have travelled the world to compile a 90-minute special edition of the show to signal the end of the 1970s.  The pair interviewed more than 100 pop stars across Australia, the US, UK and Europe for the special which will air on ABC this weekend.  “The program is still being sorted out but we plan to present a variety of top world stars of the decade talking about the music of the ‘70s,” Emery told TV Times.  The program will also discuss the future and who is likely to be a dominant force in the 1980s.  Some of the interviewed pop stars include David Bowie, Rod Stewart, Stevie Wonder, Elton John, ABBA, the Rolling Stones, the Doobie Brothers, the Boomtown Rats, Alice Cooper, Bryan Ferry, Fleetwood Mac and Australians Olivia Newton-John, Daryl Braithwaite and Glenn Shorrock.

Ilona Rodgers’ private battle
It has been a tough year for actress Ilona Rodgers, the newcomer to the cast of The Sullivans.  For the New Zealand actress there was enough pressure coming into the popular series, with producers’ hopes of her taking on the high-profile star status in the wake of losing Lorraine Bayly, but Rodgers was also seven months pregnant when she took on the role. She was also tending her mother who was dying of cancer, and supporting her husband, who has stayed in NZ, trying to start up a new farming venture.  But Rodgers is happy with the role in The Sullivans:  “The first three months were really tough, but now I think I’m on top of it.  My only complaint is that I haven’t had a good game of snooker since John Waters (pictured, with Rodgers) finished working on the show.”  Her husband, David Warren, has made frequent visits to Australia since the birth of son Mischa, who has also made several trips across the Tasman to spend time with his father.  “I had him with me for a long time, but it’s unfair that I should have the only benefit of watching him grow up,” Rodgers told TV Times.

TV star ‘back from the grave’
Film actor Bryan Brown has been signed up for the upcoming mini-series A Town Like Alice to play the role of Joe Harmon – a role made famous in film by Peter Finch.  The mini-series, based on Nevil Shute’s novel, will go into production for the Seven Network early next year.  In charge of production will be Henry Crawford, producer of Seven’s earlier success story Against The Wind.  For actor Brown, his only other TV appearance has been in Against The Wind, as the Irish boyfriend of Mary Mulvane (Mary Larkin), killed in the first episode.

Those restless colonial years
When Jeff Archer of The Restless Years goes off on an overseas trip, actor Noel Trevarthen will be going back in time to play Judge Advocate Captain Collins in ABC’s eight-part drama, The Timeless Land.  Trevarthen will appear in the series’ first two episodes, covering the four years from 1788 when the British landed and Captain Collins read out the proclamation claiming Australia for the Crown.  “Collins is an interesting character.  He was a court favourite of George III, and, as a reward for his services, the King made him judge advocate of NSW.  But he was one of the few people at the time who believed in the future of NSW.  A lot of his contemporaries were only interested in grabbing the land.” 

Briefly…
The town of Echuca, on the Murray River, will be the star of a new mini-series adapted from Nancy Cato’s best-selling book, All The Rivers Run. Producer Hector Crawford (pictured) is currently negotiating with American interests for financial backing for the series, which is expected to be made as 10 or 12 one-hour episodes.  Production is likely to start later next year.

Actress Liddy Clark (Ride On Stranger) has won the award for Best New Talent at the recent annual Penguin Awards, held in Melbourne.  Other winners on the night included NWS9’s Ian Fairweather, for his contribution to children’s television, Cop Shop’s Peter Adams as Best Actor and Prisoner’s Carol Burns for Best Actress.

Janet Kingsbury has left her job as a reporter for the travel show, Bill Peach’s Holiday, to return to acting.  The parting from the ABC series has been amicable, and stories featuring Kingsbury that have already been completed will go to air during 1980.  Kingsbury, whose last acting job was four years ago in the movie Let The Balloon Go, has started a new role as Anne Hunter in the series The Restless Years.

Anne Sneddon (pictured), the 1979 Miss Australia, has entered TV current affairs as a reporter and co-host on BTQ7’s Haydn Sargent’s Brisbane:  “I like journalism and I’d like to be the best on TV.  I can wait 15 years, as long as I keep getting better.  With the help I’m getting from the whole team here, I should.  If I don’t, I need a hard kick.” 

 

Viewpoint: Letters to the Editor:
”I really have to laugh at the ad asking private motorists to save petrol!  Why isn’t the ad directed more towards those who race cars?  Don’t they waste more petrol than the private motorist?” R. Goodwin, NSW.

“Isn’t it about time women had a go where nudity on TV is concerned?  How about the men getting more of their gear off?  Put men in see-through baths etc.  So come on and give us women something to watch on TV.  After all, women watch more TV than men.  There is enough of the female body being exposed, so come on men, have a go.” L. Davies, NSW.

“I have read where the Australian series Skyways has not been getting good ratings and may be axed.  Why, oh why, are we subjected to such insults to our intelligence as CHiPs and Lucan?  The storylines are weak, the direction terrible and the acting second-rate.  Yet the Australian show is good.  Myself, my family and friends have lived almost every story in real life.  The acting is really first-rate and the direction is excellent.  I can watch Prisoner, Cop Shop and Skyways frequently, but the above-mentioned American shows only get one or two viewings because they are appalling!” M. Arnett, NSW.

What’s On (December 15-21):
HSV7’s summer of tennis continues with the South Australian Open on Saturday and Sunday, live from Memorial Drive, Adelaide, and the New South Wales Open from Monday to Friday.

On Saturday, Sunday, Tuesday and Wednesday, GTV9 crosses to Perth for the World Series Cup cricket between Australia and England.  Then on Friday, the World Series Cup moves to Sydney for Australia versus the West Indies.

Paul Griffiths (pictured), Patrick O’Neill, Mark Hamlyn and Dale Sinclair are the team presenting Line-Up, a new weekly magazine-style program on ABC, starting Saturday night in the timeslot normally occupied by Four Corners.

In Cop Shop (HSV7, Monday), Danni (Paula Duncan) has a surprise visitor who has managed to pull a few strings to obtain her address.  Meanwhile, Liz (Liz Burch) and Baker (Gil Tucker) seem to be sharing many precious moments together.

Friday night on HSV7, Shirley Strachan and the gang from Shirl’s Neighbourhood appear in a one-hour special, Christmas In The Neighbourhood, featuring guest appearances by Jo Jo Zep and the Falcons.  Later in the evening, ATV0 crosses to Sydney Festival Of Carols, held at the Domain and hosted by John McNally with performances by June Bronhill, Helen Zerefos, Steve Watson, Sandy Scott, Suzanne Steele, the Claire Poole Singers and the Crusade and St. Mary’s Cathedral Choirs.

Other Christmas specials to appear during the week include Bing Crosby’s Merry Olde Christmas, Bob Hope’s All-Star Christmas Show and Laugh-In’s Christmas.

Sunday night movies: Amelia Earhart (HSV7), The Entertainer (GTV9), Zandy’s Bride (ATV0).  ABC presents the Australian Opera production of Norma, featuring Joan Sutherland and the Elizabethan Sydney Orchestra conducted by Richard Bonynge.

Source: TV Times (Melbourne edition), 15 December 1979.  ABC/ACP

1979: May 5-11

Cover: Robin Williams, Pam Dawber (Mork And Mindy) 

Bid to help Australia’s deaf fully ‘receive’ TV
A new non-profit organisation, Australian Centre for Visual Television (ACVT), aims to provide television programming to the estimated five per cent of Australians suffering hearing loss.  ACVT’s producers, actor Adam Salzer and actress Alexandra Hynes, have been involved with Sydney’s Theatre for the Deaf for four years and will soon visit Europe and the US to learn what is being done there for deaf viewers.  The group hopes to have a program pilot developed, produced and sold to a network by 1981 – which, co-incidentally, is to be the International Year of the Disabled Person – and is encouraging Australian networks to follow the US in the captioning of television programs.  ACVT has, however, already scored one achievement by persuading a clothing store chain to include sign language in its commercials

Inside story
The stories, characters and scenarios depicted on the new series Prisoner, although they are fictional, are the result of painstaking research.  Peita Letchford, a former high school teacher and graduate of the Australian Film and TV School, was employed by the Reg Grundy Organisation, when it was developing the new series, to research the prison system and just what happens to the inmates from the time they first step off the paddy wagon.  Letchford interviewed several former inmates and prison officers and toured a women’s prison to get an insider’s perspective.  One vivid experience was when she was being guided through a prison hospital and saw, through an open door, in a small room was an inmate just sitting on a bed, with a dazed look on her face, just staring into space.  "And as we walked past the assistant superintendent said she had murdered someone last night and that when someone murders they’re put in these observation cells for three days.  It was just incredible that she had murdered the night before.  She was very young.”

Life wasn’t meant to be easy when your partner’s an ostrich
Daryl Somers’ professional partnership with Ossie Ostrich has taken on human proportions: “I could never think of Ossie being shoved into a suitcase or left lying around the studio like a prop.  He’s very much a character that lives.  When I work on Hey Hey It’s Saturday, I always talk to Ossie, I never think of anyone else.”  Ossie’s human alter-ego Ernie Carroll agrees: “It’s Daryl and Ossie that have that smart repartee.  I know for a fact that I could never compete.”  Carroll is fortunate, in that regard, that he can leave Ossie at work: “No one ever sees me on TV so I don’t get stopped in the streets by curious viewers.”  For Somers, even when working away from the show, he can’t leave Ossie behind: “I work interstate at a lot in the clubs and cabaret rooms.  Most of the people who go to the clubs have children who watch TV and those kids will ask me about Ossie.”

So you want to be in TV?
Television is often seen to be an exciting and lucrative industry to get involved in.  The problem is that available positions are rarely advertised and when they are there is an avalanche of applications.   For instance, BTQ7 Brisbane recently received 450 responses to a job advertisement for a camera operator.  But television does offer a range of jobs for those looking for a break in the industry.  A make-up artist, with qualifications in cosmetics and hairdressing, could earn anything from $170 a week.   A qualified graphic designer could expect around $250 a week, and trainee lighting technicians start at $81 a week, if under the age of 17.  Trainee sound technicians start at around $80 a week and trainee video technicians can expect a starting wage of $100 a week.  Wardrobe assistants, film editing assistants, researchers, set builders and designers and camera assistants are also positions that can give newcomers a break into the industry.

Briefly…
Michael Parkinson is rarely lost for words on screen, but a recent studio interview with wildlife expert Harry Butler, who had bought in a python for the segment, did leave Parky rather speechless.

Actors in upcoming episodes of The Sullivans are taking a three-week course in prisoner behaviour before joining the show.  They are being taught how genuine prisoners behaved in Singapore’s Changi Prison during World War II, and to talk a smattering of Malay.

Prisoner star Val Lehman is lobbying producers to write a Christmas-time pantomime into the series.

Viewpoint: Letters to the Editor:
”I am terribly upset that TCN9 continually allows The Mike Walsh Show to run overtime and then cuts five or ten minutes of Days Of Our Lives to make up!  I can prove this because I live in the viewing area for Newcastle as well as Sydney.  I am always seeing parts of Days on NBN3 that have been cut out of TCN9.  I urge all Days fans to watch their clocks and when The Mike Walsh Show goes overtime get on your phones and jam the Nine switchboard.  Maybe then something will be done.” A. Brennan, NSW.  (TV Times responds:  “TCN9 denies Days Of Our Lives has ever been cut.  Nine sends Days Of Our Lives by cable to Newcastle.”)

“In Europe, show-jumping commands a large audience on TV.  Last year an Australian rider won the prestigious trophy at Wembley Stadium in London, the King George V Cup, yet nobody saw or heard of it here.” C. O’Brien, NSW.

“Despite the popularity and general acceptance of The Sullivans by a younger generation, I suggest some glaring examples of incorrect detail must be apparent to veterans of World War II.” C. Casten. VIC

What’s On (May 5-11):
The Victorian State Election is held on Saturday – with varying levels of results coverage across all four Melbourne channels.  ABC presents a one-hour coverage at 7.30pm with Ralphe Neill and Barrie Cassidy, then returns for another hour at 9.35pm.  HSV7 has election updates throughout the evening, hosted by Dan Webb, and a 30-minute wrap-up at 11.00pm.  GTV9’s Brian Naylor presents updates through the evening, and ATV0’s Michael Schildberger is joined by ACTU president Bob Hawke and former premier Sir Henry Bolte for a half-hour special report at 7.30pm.

Former TV Week Gold Logie winner Lorrae Desmond and athlete Raelene Boyle are among the guests, appearing between live crosses to harness racing at Moonee Valley and the Tattslotto draw, on HSV7’s Saturday Night Live.

This Fabulous Century (HSV7, Sunday) looks at plague and pestilence in Australia’s recent history, such as rabbits, prickly pear, sharks and the blow-fly.

Sigrid Thornton, Michael Long and Mercia Deane-Johns are guest stars in Cop Shop (HSV7, Monday and Thursday).

ABC’s travel series Holiday visits Thevenard, a remote island off north-west Australia, Phillip Island and the Victorian coastal town of Mallacoota.

Sunday night movies: Pete ‘n’ Tillie (HSV7), Gambit (GTV9), Women In Love (ATV0).

Source: TV Times (Melbourne edition), 5 May 1979.  ABC/ACP

1979: April 14-20

Handling success like a Sullivan
TV Times talked to The Sullivans stars Richard Morgan and Jamie Higgins (pictured, with co-star Paul Cronin) about their roles and success in one of Australia’s most popular TV dramas.  “I’m amazed at how many people cannot tell me from my character.  So many of them want to talk to Terry.  Off camera I’m not Terry,” Morgan told TV Times.  Born in Tasmania, Morgan was studying to be a schoolteacher when he auditioned for the role in The Sullivans:  “I thought it would run for 13 weeks and that would be it and I would go back to teaching.  But the show went on and I’m still here.”  For Jamie Higgins, playing someone considerably younger than himself, there is frustration that he tends to be regarded as a child.  Reporters tend to ask him kid-style questions and fans tend to believe that he is really only 14 years old.  But, for the former New Zealander with experience in amateur theatre and professional roles in two telemovies, starring in the top-rating series brought some tough lessons:  “When I arrived I thought I had done so much and that I was pretty good at it but it didn’t take me long with some of the experienced actors in the series to find out that really I had done very little.”

Julie Anthony and US stars team up for the kids
Singer Julie Anthony will join US stars including Helen Reddy, Bob Hope, Diahann Carroll, Peggy Lee and Miss Piggy in a TV special being produced for the International Year of the Child.  The program, I Am A Child, will include segments recorded in Australia, the US and Europe.

They’re off!
Some of Australia’s most familiar TV faces will appear in Born To Run, the second Walt Disney production to be made in Australia in three years.  The movie, set in the Hunter Valley in 1911, includes John Meillon, Julieanne Newbould, Andrew McFarlane and Mary Ward.

Elizabeth’s golden opportunity
Feeling typecast as a “period” actress after her roles in Seven Little Australians,  Ben Hall and the movie The Chant Of Jimmie Blacksmith, actress Elizabeth Alexander (pictured) was looking forward to her role in ABC’s new series Golden Soak and the chance to wear jeans and shirts for her role as outback girl Janet Garrety.  But now that production has finished it is back to period costume with a contract to appear in four plays for the Melbourne Theatre Company – and they’re all period pieces.

Briefly…
With Rowena Wallace and George Mallaby leaving the popular Seven Network series Cop Shop, their on-screen daughter, played by Jo-Anne Moore, is also to be written out.  The 20-year-old is hopeful of some stage work or other TV roles.

ABC’s rural affairs program Countrywide is to discuss the future of Australia’s railway network following predictions that the system will report a $1 billion loss in three years time.

There’s a surprising new recruit on Adelaide NWS9’s Sunday football show.  Model Francine Shearman, with a husband and son both involved in Aussie Rules, intends on shattering the myth that women should be seen and not heard when it comes to football analysis. 

Viewpoint: Letters to the Editor
”Why is it that a program such as Match Of The Day on ABC has to suffer from the ratings game, which is such an obvious game to the commercial channels?  This program is so tremendously popular with tens of thousands of fans, but is now placed in a timeslot which makes it very difficult for younger fans to see it.  It started off at the reasonable time of 9.10pm but has been gradually put back to the present timeslot of 10.20pm.”  J. Zeeman, NSW.

“”I’ve just seen Robin Williams on Mork And Mindy.  All you Mork fans out there might like to know that BBC’s original Goons made exactly the same noises 25 years ago.” T. Robinson, VIC.

What’s On (April 14-20):
Saturday afternoon sport includes 3 hours coverage of the heats of the Stawell Gift on ABC, leading up to the final race on Monday afternoon.

This weekend’s guests on ABC’s Parkinson In Australia are Kerry Packer, Jack Thompson, Don Burrows and George Golla.  Later in the evening, guests to appear on HSV7’s Saturday Night Live include Tony Pantano, Rosie Sturgess, Father Harry of the God Squad and Lou Richards.

HSV7 presents a direct telecast of the Easter Sunrise service at 7am Sunday morning.

Sunday afternoon football fans have the choice of The Commodore Cup on HSV7, live from South Melbourne, and VFA on ATV0.

ABC’s Holiday takes a look at the current popular destination for Australian tourists – the West Coast of America.

There must be an election looming – the Liberal Party has its half-hour policy speech telecast on Tuesday night simultaneously on ABC, HSV7, GTV9 and ATV0.  The Labor Party has its turn on Thursday night.

Sunday night movies: Story Of David (HSV7), Mr Quilp (GTV9), A Man Called Peter (ATV0).

Source: TV Times (Melbourne edition), 14 April 1979.  ABC/ACP

1979: March 10-16

Instant stardom, and how they handle it
With TV soap operas turning young, unknown actors into national celebrities overnight, it is easy for these young stars to let their newfound fame get to their head.   But some of these young actors - including The Restless Years' Victoria Nicolls, Julieanne Newbould and Michael Smith (pictured) - do manage to get through the heady period of stardom to emerge as proven talents.  Nicolls acknowledged the support and guidance of experienced performers such as colleague June Salter: "If you ask her something, she's so helpful.  She made me aware of camera techniques.  Helped with scenes, comedy - she has such wonderful comic timing."  Even though she grew up in showbusiness, Newbould still found the sudden overnight fame to be a shock: "For five years I'd done things like Matlock Police and Division Four.  People would say 'Oh, I saw you on TV last night,' but nothing like this.  People come up and cuddle me.  Big Italian mamas pinch my cheeks.  Some want you to come home and marry their sons."  Smith said that family and friends helped keep him down to earth: "They'd say 'Aw, shut up, we don't want to hear about The Restless Years anymore!'  Smith has also had the discipline of learning music from his mother, a piano teacher, and studying acting at Sydney's Ensemble Theatre under Hayes Gordon.  Producer of The Restless Years, Don Battye, said with established actors on the series such as June Salter, John Hamblin and Noel Trevarthen, they do offer help to the younger stars but, "of course with some kids you can't give them advice.  The only way they're going to learn is to get into trouble and learn from experience."

On your Marque!
Peter Wherrett's documentary series, Marque: 100 Years Of Motoring, has taken over eighteen months and visits to eight countries to complete.  The new series, beginning this week on ABC, looks at the development of the motor car as well as the industry's future.  "I'm quite confident that cars as we know them will be around until well into the next century," Wherrett (pictured) told TV Times.  "The industry is already planning the cars we will be driving then." 

Nude pin-up star on Hogan show
Former Miss World finalist and magazine centrefold Karen Pini (pictured) is one of the girls chosen for the first Paul Hogan show for 1979.  Pini, who is also soon to appear in The Young Doctors, is a replacement for Delvene Delaney who has left the show as she and husband, producer John Cornell, are expecting their first baby. 

It doesn't 'ad' up for Johnny
Johnny Farnham isn't too happy that he keeps hearing what sounds like himself doing commercials that he doesn't remember doing.  Farnham's producer Danny Finley said: "The situation is very embarrassing.  We have done a commercial for a bank.  We tried to make it very selective by doing only one.  Now we start hearing other commercials which sound like John and I suppose they sound that way to other people."  When asked if he thought the situation might be deliberate, Finley replied: "It is some coincidence!"

Briefly...
Mike McCarthy, host of ATV0's Early Bird Show, and his wife Caroline have just welcomed the arrival of twins, Ryan and Bridie.  The couple already have three other children, twins Damien and Emily, 8, and Benjamin, 6.

Production has started on a new ABC drama series, based on Kylie Tennant's novel, Ride On Stranger.  The series features Liddy Clark, Warwick Sims (Against The Wind), Michael Aitkens (The Truckies) and Noni Hazelhurst (The Sullivans). 

British actor Harry Corbett is to star in the new ABC children's series Earth Patrol.  The new series, being produced as part of the International Year Of The Child, will also star actor Gus Mercurio.  Meanwhile, producers are on the hunt for a 16 to 18-year-old boy to feature in the series.  Already cast in the series are 11-year-old twins Gayle and Gillian Blakeney and Darren Ormsby, 12.

Viewpoint: Letters to the Editor
"All you people harping on the recent preponderance of sport on our TV - has it ever occurred to you that you don't have to watch it?  Can't you make your own entertainment?  Go for a walk instead of sitting passively in front of a TV set and waiting to be entertained."  M. Ryan, NSW.

"Three cheers for TEN10 Sydney for the new mini-series they have just screened on Friday nights.  I am talking about Sugartime, produced in the US and starring Barbi Benton and Didi Carr.  It is a refreshing change from the glamour drivel of Charlie's Angels, where all the pretty faces can do is hurtle 16-stone gangsters across rooms and run down Lincoln Continentals with nothing but their tricycles."  D. Ehrlich, NSW.

"Come on all you sports lovers, get up on your hind legs and be counted, otherwise the vocal minority may succeed by catching TV channel policymakers' ears and curtailing some of our precious sports telecasts."  A. Hartwig, QLD.

What's On (March 10-16):
Saturday afternoon sport includes Australia versus Pakistan in First Test cricket on ABC, live from Melbourne.  HSV7 has the Moomba Masters International Waterski Tournament from the Yarra River.  ATV0 goes to the races at Flemington with Newmarket Stakes Day, hosted by Michael Schildberger and racecaller Clem Dimsey.

Sunday afternoon on HSV7 includes a one-hour live telecast of Music For The People from the Myer Music Bowl in Melbourne.  Hosted by Dan Webb, the telecast includes the Australian Symphony Orchestra conducted by Hector Crawford.

This Fabulous Century (HSV7, Sunday) looks at Australian humour from the early days of Dad and Dave, Roy Rene and George Wallace through to current-day performers Paul Hogan, Barry Humphries, Garry McDonald and Ron Shand.

ABC starts its new 7.30pm line-up this week with new series of Are You Being Served? and George And Mildred, magazine program Holiday With Bill Peach, documentary series Marque: 100 Years Of Motoring, and on Friday night, The Two Ronnies.  ABC also launches new drama at 8.30pm with The Oracle on Monday night, starring John Gregg (pictured), Pamela Gibbons, Julie Hamilton and Danny Adcock, and Golden Soak on Tuesday, with Ray Barrett, Ruth Cracknell and Bill Hunter.

Friday night is highlighted by GTV9's presentation of the 1979 TV Week Logie Awards, hosted by Bert Newton and telecast live from the Hilton Hotel in Melbourne.  Special overseas guests include Robin Williams (Mork And Mindy), Susan Seaforth and Bill Hayes (Days Of Our Lives), Lauren Tewes (The Love Boat), Yootha Joyce and Brian Murphy (George And Mildred) and championship boxer Muhammad Ali.  Meanwhile, HSV7 has St Kilda versus Fremantle in the Australian Football Championships.

Sunday night movies are Mad Dog Morgan (HSV7), The Users (GTV9) and Funny Lady (ATV0).

Source: TV Times (Melbourne edition), 10 March 1979.  ABC/ACP

1978: December 2-8

The Sullivans' amazing Grace...
Actress Lorraine Bayly is made to look considerably older than her 36 years when playing the motherly Grace Sullivan in The Sullivans - with make-up applied to add wrinkles and darken her cheeks, having her hair tied back and wearing loose-fitting dresses.  In fact, when she is not in Grace Sullivan mode, she is barely recognised in public.  But when asked how long we can expect to see Grace on screen: "Well, we are negotiating at the moment and I've signed to continue to next year.  There's a strong possibility that Grace will be there when the war ends in 1945."

...is also TV's golden girl
The Sullivans' Lorraine Bayly (pictured, with co-stars Richard Morgan and Steven Tandy) has become the highest-paid series actress in the history of Australian TV.  The actress, who recently won Best TV Actress at the 1978 Sammy Awards, is not saying exactly what she is being paid but it is reported to be more than $1000 a week.  Meanwhile, the cast of The Sullivans are about to take a four-week break over Christmas and Bayly will also be taking an extended break during  1979 for a trip to Brazil. 

American TV accents ousting the ocker!
A survey of Australian TV commercials has found that almost one in three are using American-accented dialogue.  This compares to around ten per cent of commercials shown on British television.  The study, carried out by the University of Melbourne, showed that the ocker Aussie accent was rarely used in prestige commercials and that, except for big names like Paul Hogan, it was used more in program content rather than commercials.

Buddha's golden ransom
The telemovie Puzzle, one of a series of telemovies made between Australia's ABC and international Trans-Atlantic Enterprises, was originally to feature American actress Tina Louise.  A last minute withdrawal by Louise saw the role of glamorous Claudine Cunningham played by Australian actress Wendy Hughes.   To screen on ABC this week, Puzzle also features Robert Helpmann, Kerry McGuire (pictured) and US actor James Franciscus.

Briefly:
Colleen Hewett and Michael Aitken played husband and wife in ABC's The Truckies, and now have again been cast as partners for an upcoming guest appearance in Seven's Cop Shop.

Robert Coleby, one of the cast of ABC's new series Patrol Boat, will be joined in one episode by seven-year-old daughter Anja.  The young actress also appeared in an episode of Coleby's previous series Chopper Squad.

Viewpoint: Letters to the Editor
"I would very much like to congratulate anyone who had anything to do with Against The Wind.  It is a great pity that there aren't more shows like it." N Webster, QLD.

"I would like to add my voice to the many praising The Truckies.  With a bit of luck we may have another series.  Our family always enjoys the Gilbert and Sullivan operettas which ABC has occasionally shown, and hope for more." J Williams, VIC.

"As Countdown is primarily for teens and pre-teens, it should be more selective with the film clips chosen to be featured.  One in particular is Deadlock Holiday by 10cc, which in my opinion was very suggestive.  Film clips of this nature should only be shown to mature audiences.  Countdown viewers are at a very impressionable age and could be influenced in the wrong way."  B Baker, SA.

"I would like to congratulate Neil Inall and his excellent team of reporters on Horizon 5.  It is a pleasure to be able, daily, to view this program which is very interesting and informative." H Kerns, QLD.

What's On (December 2-8):
HSV7's summer tennis coverage continues with all-day coverage, from 11.00am to 6.00pm each day, of the women's Federation Cup from Melbourne and the Toyota Women's Classic from Sydney.

ABC has live coverage from Brisbane of the cricket First Test on Saturday, Sunday, Tuesday and Wednesday, from 11.55am to 7.00pm.

Wednesday night includes the series final of The Inventors on ABC, with the announcement of the winner of The Inventors Award selected from the 72 who have featured on the show during the year.  Presenting the award will be David Port, son of panelist Leo Port who passed away earlier in the year. Later in the evening, a Holiday special, Bill Peach In China, takes a rare look at life and tourism in China.

The Mike Walsh Show finishes up for 1978, ending its second year at the Nine Network after moving across from the 0-10 Network.

Sunday night movies are Dirty Weekend (HSV7), Goodbye Columbus (GTV9) and The Hornet's Nest (ATV0).

Source: TV Times (Melbourne edition), 2 December 1978.  ABC/ACP

1978: April 15-21

Holiday's new Bill of fare:TV Times previews the new series of ABC's Holiday, hosted by Bill Peach (pictured) with reporters Jan Kingsbury and Jeff Watson. The new series covers destinations across Australia, New Zealand, France, Greece and the Pacific region.
No blankety rift with channel, says Harry M:Harry M Miller, manager for Graham Kennedy, denies rumours that he will be seeking to move Kennedy's Blankety Blanks to another Melbourne channel following public criticism of Melbourne's ATV0 by Kennedy. "That's ridiculous," Miller told TV Times, "after all, we do have a contract with them and we're in no position to be talking about going somewhere else." Now in its second year, Blankety Blanks continues to win the important 7.00pm timeslot in Sydney but struggles in Melbourne. Both Miller and an ATV0 spokesman confirmed that there had been criticism over the channel's lead-in program to Blankety Blanks, the lower-rating game show $30,000 Treasure Hunt, but this situation had been rectified with the recent expansion of the local Eyewitness News to a one-hour format.
Gunston in harness with Ben Hur! Norman Gunston (Garry McDonald) interviewed Hollywood great Charlton Heston for his Hollywood special to air on the Seven Network: "Did you ever run across my Aunt Naomi, Ben.. sorry Mr Heston. She and Uncle Remo live in Malta, which can't be that far from your old stomping ground." (A rather timely interview, given that Heston passed away this same week, thirty years later.)
Mary takes a risky trip:
Ernie Sigley, who recently filled in for Mary Hardy (pictured) on HSV7's Penthouse '78 while she was covering the Academy Awards for radio 3AW, could be a regular co-host with Hardy on the Saturday night variety show. However, this week's co-host for Penthouse '78 is Willesee At Seven reporter Paul Makin which could be interesting as after the last time Makin appeared on the program, Hardy was quoted that he would be back "over my dead body."
Philip Brady's wild party:It was a reunion of many of Melbourne's radio and TV personalities when Philip Brady (pictured) celebrated his 20th year in the business. Among the celebrities gathered at the party were Joff Ellen, Happy Hammond, Jack Little, Evie Hayes, Tommy Hanlon Jnr, interstate guests Mike Walsh and Jimmy Hannan, and GTV9 personalities Eric Pearce, Vi Greenhalf and Pete Smith.
Viewpoint: Letters to the Editor:"Thank goodness Graham Kennedy lost his voice on Blankety Blanks! The show, such as it is, was much better without him acting the ass. The gentleman who took his place was a great improvement." E. Allen, NSW.
"I thought Marcia Hines' Music was great. It was really good to see our queen of pop doing a show such as that. She is a fantastic singer and feeds good publicity. I hope she will be coming to Brisbane soon." C. Close, QLD.
"There's this commercial for a well-known brand of fly spray: a father and son come inside for lunch. The father spots a fly, which is quickly dispatched with the aid of the fly spray. Then follows a homily, from the father, about dirty disease-carrying flies, following which both father and son sit down to eat without washing their hands!" A. Dickens, NSW.
What's On (April 15-21):ABC presents the final episode of Marcia Hines' Music, featuring guest stars Johnny Farnham and Linda George.
Weekend sport includes Saturday night VFL replays on ABC and HSV7, Sunday afternoon VFA Football on ATV0, and Australian Sports Sedans on ABC.
GTV9 presents the British Film And TV Awards to be hosted by Susannah York and Andrew Gardner with an appearance by the president of the British Academy of Film and TV Arts, Princess Anne.
Sunday night movies are Street People (HSV7), Once Upon A Time In The West (GTV9) and The Last Summer (ATV0) up against another episode of I Claudius on ABC, followed by The Tinder Box, a ballet based on the story by Hans Christian Andersen.
Source: TV Times (Melbourne edition), 15 April 1978. ABC/ACP