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.

1991: March 16-22

Will Daryl grab the Gold again?
The host of the 33rd annual TV Week Logie Awards, Daryl Somers, has never forgotten the night he won his first TV Week Gold Logie.  “It was in 1983.  After the show I went upstairs  at the hotel and had a few drinks  with Graham Kennedy and Bert Newton,” he told TV Week.  “I was obviously pretty happy and we had a long night chatting away, as I discovered when I left the session with them and saw that it was starting to get light outside.  And there was the limo.  It was still waiting for me!  I’d forgotten to send him home.  So I got in and went straight to work, because in those days we did Hey Hey It’s Saturday from eight on Saturday mornings.  We started the show with a bed on set, and I got in, still in my dinner suit, with the Gold Logie and a big grin.”  Somers is one of the four nominees for the Gold Logie for most popular television personality in the year 1990.

TV Week Logie Awards nominations (Publicly voted categories):
Gold Logie: Ray Martin, Daryl Somers, Jana Wendt, Steve Vizard (Previous year’s winner: Craig McLachlan)

Most Popular Actor: Richard Huggett, Tony Martin, Craig McLachlan, Shane Porteous.  (Previous year’s winner: Craig McLachlan)

Most Popular Actress: Penny Cook, Nicolle Dickson, Georgie Parker, Lenore Smith  (Previous year’s winner: Rachel Friend)

Most Popular Series:  A Country Practice, E Street (pictured), Home And Away, Neighbours  (Previous year’s winner: Neighbours)

Most Popular Light Entertainment/Comedy Program:  Fast Forward, Hey Dad!, Hey Hey It’s Saturday  (Previous year’s winner:  The Comedy Company)

Most Popular Sports Coverage:  Commonwealth Games, Cricket, Tennis  (Previous year’s winner: Cricket)

Most Popular Telemovie or Mini-Series:  Come In Spinner, Jackaroo (pictured), Shadows Of The Heart  (Previous year’s winner: Bangkok Hilton)

Most Popular Light Entertainment/Comedy Male Personality:  Kim Gyngell, Daryl Somers, Steve Vizard (New category)

Most Popular Light Entertainment/Comedy Female Personality:  Jean Kittson, Julie McGregor, Magda Szubanski (New category)

Most Popular Public Affairs Program: A Current Affair, Hinch, 60 Minutes  (Previous year’s winner: A Current Affair)

Most Popular Children’s Program:  Cartoon Connection, Double Dare, Play School  (Previous year’s winner: Wombat)

Most Popular New Talent:  Rebekah Elmaloglou, Sophie Heathcote, Richard Huggett, Sophie Lee (pictured).  (Previous year’s winner: Georgie Parker)

Other public-voted awards: Most Popular Music Video, Most Popular Actor and Actress in a Telemovie or Mini-series, Most Popular Program (for each state) and Most Popular Personality (for each state).

200 up… and there’s dancing in the street!
The recent murder of four characters – and the suicide of another – still torments the mind of E Street producer Forrest Redlich (pictured).  “I am sorry.  But I had to kill them,” he says.  But Redlich is more upbeat about E Street reaching its 200 episode milestone this week – a significant achievement given that few were willing to give the show a chance.  And when the show was faced with budget cuts, the critics thought that E Street would just fade away, but it is now a ratings hit for the Ten Network.  “We have a lot to thank for the commitment and loyalty of the fans.  For them, it seems one of the dramatic highlights was the bathtub scene with Wheels (Marcus Graham) and Lisa (Alyssa-Jane Cook).  We still get letters about it.  But it has been satisfying for me to know that E Street has given a start to a whole lot of untried actors such as Marcus, Richard Huggett, Alyssa-Jane and Paul Kelman.  It’s funny to remember them as shy young people no-one had heard of and now see them as major players in television drama.”

Tania eyes a sitcom
Comedienne Tania Lacy (pictured) is anxiously waiting the go-ahead from the Nine Network for a Denise Drysdale sitcom in which she would co-star.  Lacy, formerly of ABC programs The Factory and Countdown Revolution, returned from a three-month stint in London to do a “read through” for Nine executives.  The proposed series is also set to star Drysdale along with Noeline Brown and Hazel Phillips. 

Briefly…
In-demand actress Naomi Watts is joining the cast of Home And Away, playing the role of paraplegic Julie Gibson.  In preparing for the role, Watts spent weeks before joining the series confined to a wheelchair.  Watts will also soon be appearing in the ABC mini-series Brides Of Christ.

Neighbours star Beth Buchanan has decided to leave the series when her contract expires in June.  She is keen to travel overseas and is also believed to be pursuing a movie role.

Former E Street star Marcus Graham (pictured), currently appearing in Seven’s Ratbag Hero, could be returning to the Network Ten series.  The actor is in negotiations with producers over reprising his “Wheels” character.  And rumours that he could be taking on a guest role in Chances – after playing the role of scheming Alex in the pilot – have been denied.

ABC mini-series The Paper Man has been making its mark on the international market.  The series has so far been sold to Saudi Arabia, Brunei, Singapore, Poland, Greece, Cyprus, Thailand, Turkey, Bulgaria, Namibia, Malta, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Jordan, Israel, Bahrain and Iceland.  Most significantly, the series has been sold to the American Arts & Entertainment cable network, Canada’s CTV and Britain’s Granada International.

John Laws says…
”Police Rescue (featuring Sonia Todd and Gary Sweet, pictured) is what Australian TV has been a long time in creating – a realistic, drama-packed production with a first-class script and excellent performances from a fine cast.  I thought the original pilot episode, where members of the squad searched for a little boy lost in Sydney’s massive underground sewer complex, was excellent.”

Program Highlights (March 16-22):
Saturday:  Seven presents the Grand Final of the AFL pre-season Foster’s Cup, live from AFL Park, Waverley.

Sunday:  ABC debuts a new Sunday morning children’s program, Couch Potato With Grant Piro.  Afternoon sport includes the NBL K-Mart Classic (Seven) and live coverage of the Gold Coast Indy Grand Prix (Nine).  Seven presents the second and final part of mini-series Ratbag Hero.  Sunday night movies are Perry Mason: Case Of The Musical Murder (Seven), Minnamurra (Nine) and Dirty Rotten Scoundrels (Ten).  ABC’s late-night religious series Compass presents A Question Of Sex, a documentary about transsexuals.

Tuesday:  In Beyond 2000 (Seven), Andrew Carroll tests a navigation system that works out the shortest, fastest route to take when driving and which also helps with safe driving – and Amanda Keller finds out the real reason why women feel the affects of alcohol faster than men.

Wednesday/Thursday:  Australia’s Tom Burlinson stars in the mini-series Piece Of Cake (Seven), the story of 12 young RAF fighter pilots during the first year of World War II.

Friday:  AFL’s Season 1991 starts with Adelaide versus Hawthorn, live on Seven from Football Park, Adelaide.  Andrew Denton’s new late-night sports chat show Live And Sweaty debuts on ABC.

Source: TV Week (Victoria edition), incorporating TV Times and TV Guide.  16 March 1991.  Southdown Press.

1991: January 26-February 1

Cover: Nicole Kidman

Here comes the bride…
Many soaps have given their ratings a boost by holding a wedding.  The Nine Network’s new series Chances is starting with one!  The adults-only drama kicks off with a wedding between David Young (Rodney Bell) and Rebecca Taylor (Natalie McCurry).  “Chances has great possibilities,” Bell told TV Week.  “It’s aimed at a more mature audience and packs a good punch!”  Bell is no newcomer to television, having started in showbiz at the age of four and later appearing in TV soaps The Restless Years and The Young Doctors.  McCurry, 24, began modelling at 14 and later appeared in TV and film roles before coming fifth in the Miss World contest, winning the Miss Oceania title.  Chances, which debuts this week on Nine, also stars John Sheerin, Brenda Addie, Jeremy Sims, Cathy Godbold, Rhys Muldoon, Simon Grey, Tim Robertson, Deborah Kennedy, Marcia Deane-Johns, Anne Grigg and Leverne McDonnell.

Andrew graduates to Wandin Valley
NIDA graduate Andrew Blackman has joined the cast of A Country Practice as Wandin Valley’s new doctor, Dr Harry Morrison.  “I am very excited and looking forward to working with one of the most experienced casts in TV today.  As yet I know little about the character, except that he comes from the Queensland bush.  However, being a country boy myself from Queensland, I don’t feel that Harry is too far away from myself,” Blackman told TV Week.  He will make his on screen debut in April.

Mighty minis
Voting continues for the 1991 TV Week Logie Awards.  Which mini-series or telemovies of 1990 will viewers vote for Most Popular Mini-Series?  ABC presented the popular Come In Spinner, starring Kerry Armstrong, Lisa Harrow and Rebecca Gibney, and The Paper Man, starring John Bach, Peta Toppano and Rebecca Gilling.  Network Ten’s Shadows Of The Heart, starring Marcus Graham, Jason Donovan, Colleen Hewett and Robyn Nevin, was a ratings winner.  Nine presented the action-filled Ring Of Scorpio and bawdy The Private War Of Lucinda Smith (starring Linda Cropper and Nigel Havers, pictured).  Seven produced the controversial Jackaroo, starring former Neighbours star Annie Jones, telling the story of a relationship between a part-Aboriginal man and a spoilt white girl from the city.  Seven also produced All The Rivers Run II, starring John Waters and Nikki Coghill.

Briefly…
Newlywed Aussie actor Peter O’Brien has had to leave his bride, actress Jo Riding, in the UK as he has returned home to discuss future work projects.  The pair met when they were starring in the stage production of The Wizard Of Oz.  O’Brien is set to appear in a new Australian-US film production, The Diamond Triad, while Riding is currently on stage in Around The World In Eighty Days.

Lawrie Masterson’s Sound Off
”For someone who used to have such a high profile, Don Lane’s comeback to television last year was low key to the point of being almost unheralded.  The man who once was undisputed king of prime-time variety (remember prime-time variety?) turned up without fanfare on the ABC, hosting replays of American football in a late-night slot which could hardly be called prime.”

Program Highlights (January 26-February 1):
Saturday:  Australia Day is commemorated with golf (The Vines Classic) on ABC, tennis (Ford Australian Open) on Seven, and cricket (Fourth Test) on Nine.  Although Nine had earlier crossed to Admiralty House for the presentation of Australia Day Honours and an address by Prime Minister Bob Hawke.  After ABC News, the national broadcaster presented the Governor-General’s Australia Day Message followed by The Very Best Of Aunty Jack, the mockumentary Barbakiueria and the 1940 Australian movie classic Dad Rudd MP.  Seven presents live coverage of the Australasian Country Music Awards.

Sunday:  The Women’s Doubles Final and Men’s Singles Final mark the final day of the Ford Australian Open on Seven.  Sunday night movies are Barracuda (Seven), Murphy’s Romance (Nine) and Attack Force Z (Ten).  ABC presents the Bolshoi Ballet as its Sunday Stereo Special, followed by highlights of the annual Montsalvat Jazz Festival held in Melbourne.

Monday:  Don Lane presents ABC’s live coverage of the 25th NFL Superbowl, played in Tampa, Florida. 

Tuesday:  The premiere of Nine’s new adults-only drama Chances (starring Natalie McCurry, pictured), telling the story of an ordinary suburban family whose lives are changed when they win a lottery.  ABC’s Lateline with Kerry O’Brien returns for 1991, followed by a repeat screening of the NFL Superbowl from the previous day.

Friday:  Seven crosses to Perth for live coverage of the Davis Cup, Australia versus Belgium.  Also in Perth is the cricket Fifth Test which begins today on Nine.  Nine’s late-night MTV, hosted by Richard Wilkins, returns for 1991.

Source: TV Week (Victoria edition), incorporating TV Times and TV Guide. 26 January 1991. Southdown Press.

1990: October 6-12

‘It’s like losing part of the family!’
Hey Dad! star Simone Buchanan has confirmed that she has left the long-running comedy series.  “I haven’t re-signed,” she told TV Week.  “We filmed the last episode this week and I still have no idea what they are going to do with (character) Debbie.” For co-star Chris Truswell (pictured, with Buchanan), who plays Nudge in the series, has told TV Week that after six years it is hard to see her go.  “It’s like losing part of the family,” he said.  “I can tell Simone all my problems.  She is my sanity, in a way.  She is so intuitive.”

A couple of high-flyers!
It’s no wonder Steve Vizard’s and Michael Veitch’s Fast Forward flight attendant characters Daryl and Wayne (pictured, below left) are so funny – they started as a joke between the two actors.  “Steve and I used to do poncey voices in the corridors at Seven whenever we bumped into each other,” Veitch tells TV Week.  “Someone said, ‘You sound like two airline stewards’, and we thought it was a good idea for a skit!  They’re like comic book characters because they’re so unreal.  A lot of gay people get offended by them, which I think is fair enough.” Veitch stresses that the characters were never meant to be anti-gay.  “They are dreadful stereotypes,” he says.  “But then, so are a lot of the characters we do.”

‘This means I exist!’
When Fast Forward’s Jane Turner started sending up Alison Drower (pictured, above right), the MTV co-host took it all in her stride – though it presented a shock to her hairdresser.  “My hairdresser was horrified,” Drower told TV Week.  “She was more offended than me.  She said ‘My God, I hope people don’t see your hair like that!’”  But Drower takes the parody as a compliment. “I think it’s very flattering, particularly because it is a continual thing now, rather than just a one-off.  It’s for the show, too, and, hey, this means I exist!” 

Briefly…
On the eve of the debut of mini-series Shadows Of The Heart, star Jason Donovan (pictured, with co-star Sherrie Krenn) says the audience will see a new side to him:  “My role as a singer, and what I’ve done with Neighbours before, has always been fresh and wholesome.  This is certainly not the boy next door!”  Shadows Of The Heart also stars Jerome Ehlers, Josephine Byrnes and Marcus Graham.

James Valentine, host of ABC’s The Afternoon Show, has been given the green light to develop a new weekly “music program for adults.”  ABC currently has two rock music programs on air – Rage and Countdown Revolution – but the new project aims to appeal to the 25 to 40-year-old age group.

A busload of TV personalities took to the NSW Hunter Valley to propose a toast to the success of the upcoming Sprite TV Celebrity Dance Party, to be held later this month.  Among the stars to lunch at the the Victorian-style Kirkton Park guesthouse, near Cessnock, and then attending a wine tasting at the McWilliams Estate were stars Judy Nunn (Home And Away), John Orcsik (formerly of Number 96 and Cop Shop), Paula Duncan (Number 96, Cop Shop, Prisoner, Richmond Hill) and Bunney Brooke (Number 96, E Street).

John Laws says…
”It saddens me to report that the new series Embassy is close to being a second-class dud.  We’ve never been good at portraying our international neighbours on TV, and in Embassy the fictional country where our earnest-faced diplomats seems to be a laughable cross between Indonesia and Sri Lanka, with a trace of Fiji thrown in for good measure.  Unfortunately, it took only two episodes for Embassy to degenerate into the froth and bubble of an upmarket soapie.  What was obviously a bright idea has languished for want of a sharp-edged script and a bigger budget.”

Program Highlights (October 6-12):
Saturday:  HSV7’s day is dominated by football on the day of the AFL Grand Final.  After the overnight Football Marathon, at 8am HSV7 crosses to the traditional North Melbourne Football Club Grand Final Breakfast – followed by the Under 19s Grand Final at 9am and the Reserve Grade Grand Final at 11am.  At 2pm it’s the main event – the AFL Grand Final between Collingwood and Essendon, live from the MCG, to an estimate worldwide audience of over eight million viewers.  Coverage continues until 6pm, with a replay of the game at 9.30pm.

Sunday: Sunday night movies are Sudden Impact (GTV9) and Wall Street (ATV10).  HSV7 presents the first instalment of mini-series Jackaroo, starring Annie Jones and David McCubbin (pictured), and ABC presents Esso Night At The Opera, featuring Les Huguenots, the final performance of Dame Joan Sutherland.

Monday:  The second and final instalment of mini-series Jackaroo (HSV7).

Tuesday:  Brad Robinson presents a one-hour special, Torn Apart (ATV10), looking at the relationship bond between a mother and child and the systems that have been created by bureaucrats, the church, the law and the medical profession that have promoted systems which destroy this relationship – such as adoption, sperm donation, egg donation and surrogacy.  The special is followed by the first of the two-part mini-series Shadows Of The Heart, starring Jason Donovan, Sherrie Krenn, Marcus Graham, Josephine Byrnes, Barry Otto and Robyn Nevin.

Wednesday:  ABC presents the Australian Film Industry’s annual AFI Awards, from the World Congress Centre in Melbourne.  Films nominated in the awards include Blood Oath, The Big Steal, Flirting and Golden Braid.  ATV10 presents the second and final instalment of Shadows Of The Heart.

Source: TV Week (Victoria edition), incorporating TV Times and TV Guide.  6 October 1990.  Southdown Press.

1990: March 24-30

Kate bows out on a high
A fear of heights and a brewing thunderstorm ensured that Kate Raison’s final scenes in A Country Practice would be her most terrifying.  The wedding between Raison’s character, Cathy Hayden, and new love John Freeman (William McInnes) was filmed on a clifftop with a wild storm headed its way.  Producers almost had to abandon the wedding scenes as the storm hampered progress with filming.  “It certainly wasn’t a glamorous ending for my days on A Country Practice,” Raison (pictured, with co-star Georgie Parker)told TV Week.

Annie’s left holding the baby!
TV Week has a sneak peek at the upcoming Seven Network mini-series Jackaroo, starring former Neighbours star Annie Jones.  Jones plays Clare Mallory, a spoilt, rich, city kid who falls for Jack Simmonds (David McCubbin), the overseer of her family’s property, and the couple have a child.  The romance is a controversial one, as Simmonds’ indigenous heritage puts him at odds with Clare’s conservative parents who are against their daughter having a mixed-race marriage.  Simmonds is thrown off the family property and Clare, with baby in tow, is sent away.  Simmonds then embarks on a dramatic search for his lover and child.  Jackaroo is set to air on the Seven Network later in the year.

It’s a Forties triple treat!
Rebecca Gibney, Kerry Armstrong and Lisa Harrow head the cast of ABC’s new mini-series, Come In Spinner, set in Sydney in 1944 and following the lives and loves of three women who work in a beauty salon.  Also starring in the series are Justine Clarke, Zoe Bertram, Gary Sweet, Rebecca Smart and Bryan Marshall.  In auditioning for the role of Guinea Malone, Gibney (pictured) was so determined to get the part that she borrowed one of Grace Sullivan’s old dresses from the Crawford Productions wardrobe and also enlisted the help of the make-up artist from her former series, The Flying Doctors, to give her a genuine 1940s look.  “I’d have loved to have really lived in that time.  The Forties were my favourite era, and I love the movies from those days.  They had real stars back then,” Gibney told TV Week.

Briefly…
There’s romance on the set of Neighbours with Stefan Dennis said to be an “item” with co-star Gayle Blakeney, who joined the series last year with twin sister Gillian.  The off-screen romance comes as an upcoming storyline in the series will have Paul Robinson (Dennis) moving in to share a house with the twins and the three falling into a complex romantic triangle. 

Pop princess and former Neighbours star Kylie Minogue (pictured) is believed to have bought a million dollar property in a leafy, east Melbourne suburb, sparking off a lot of gossip and speculation by her future real-life neighbours.  Locals have spotted the pop star checking on progress on renovations to the older-style house.  It is not known if Minogue will move into the house with her boyfriend, rock star Michael Hutchence.

Network Ten is funding the development of a new series which it hopes will rival the success of the hit US series The Golden Girls.  The series, based on the stage comedy Lipstick Dreams which has recently played in NSW and Victoria, is set to include Lorraine Bayly (The Sullivans, Carson’s Law) and Felicity Soper (Richmond Hill).  The pilot episode for the series will be filmed in the coming months.

John Laws says…
”Just when Kerry O’Brien’s Lateline program has begun to find its feet comes the news that it has aroused a wave of resentment among some ABC staffers.  At the core of the problem are the allegedly excessive costs of mounting the Lateline program.  The joke around the ABC canteens is that program should be called ‘Wasteline’.  I’m surprised that Lateline, which has a basically simple format, should cost a lot of money.  After all, only one subject is tackled on each program three nights a week, 90 minutes in all, and most of it committed to interviewing one or two people in the studio.  How can this cost a lot of money?”

Program Highlights (March 24-30):
Saturday:  ABC, HSV7 and GTV9 all devote most of Saturday evening to coverage of the Federal Election from the National Tally Room in Canberra.  Andrew Olle heads ABC’s coverage, with Dennis Grant and Derryn Hinch on Seven, and Jim Waley and Ray Martin on Nine.  ATV10’s election coverage is limited to fifteen minutes after Bill Collins’ Golden Years Of Hollywood movie, and SBS presents brief updates in between regular programs throughout the evening.
Sunday:  GTV9’s Sunday current affairs program presents a special post-Election edition.  Sunday night movies are Deadly Pursuit (HSV7), Suspect (GTV9) and Best-Seller (ATV10).  ABC, in a rare move, screens a Sunday night movie, a Swedish-language (with English subtitles) drama, My Life As A Dog.
Monday:  With the Federal Election now over, Andrew Denton presents the final edition of The Party Machine.
Tuesday:  GTV9 presents a delayed telecast of The 62nd Academy Awards.  Nominated for Best Picture are Born On The Fourth Of July, Dead Poet’s Society, Driving Miss Daisy, Field Of Dreams and My Left Foot.
Wednesday:  Daryl Somers hosts the return of talent quest series New Faces on GTV9.  ABC presents the first episode of World War II mini-series Come In Spinner (pictured).
Thursday:  ATV10 presents a one-hour documentary, Teenage Sexuality: The Best Years Of Our Lives, hosted by Brad Robinson.  Teenagers openly discuss their first sexual experiences and attitudes to contraception and promiscuity.

Source: TV Week (Victoria edition), incorporating TV Times and TV Guide.   
24 March 1990. Southdown Press.

1990: February 3-9

Justine’s back… but is Alex set to take off?
Justine Clarke and Alex Papps, former Home And Away couple Roo Stewart and Frank Morgan, are now both on the Nine Network.  But while Papps is settled in at The Flying Doctors, Clarke has moved into TV’s newest suburb, Kingsmead, in the new series Family And Friends.  Clarke admits that she had second thoughts about signing up with another series.  “I did um and ah for a while.  But I knew I was working with the same team who developed Home And Away, so I was confident and it was easier for me to make the decision,” she told TV Week.  But the future of her former colleague is unknown as production has finished filming the sixth series of The Flying Doctors, but there is no word as to whether there will be a seventh.  Nine has asked to reduce the show’s budget, but Crawford Productions don’t want to lower the standard of the show.  “I don’t know what’s going to happen,” Papps told TV Week.  “Ratings-wise it’s doing well.  It’s just the cost.  If it goes into series seven, I’ll definitely be there.”

Annie lands in Cooper’s Crossing
Now sporting a short-cropped haircut, former Neighbours star Annie Jones is forging ahead with her career.  The TV Week Logie Award-winning actress has just completed work on the Crawford Productions’ mini-series Jackaroo and is now embarking on a new role as an opal miner’s daughter in The Flying Doctors.  Her character’s arrival in the outback drama leads to a romance with Dr David Radcliffe (Brett Climo).  For the former Neighbours star, Ramsay Street feels a million miles away:  “It was such an intense time and all of a sudden it was gone.  I was lucky I had something else (Jackaroo) to go to.”

Well, what a start!
The Nine Network’s new drama Family And Friends kicks off with a cliffhanger when two of the main characters are stuck in a well.  Young lovers Jennifer Chandler (Roxane Wilson) and Robert Rossi (Renato Bartolomei) are caught in a Romeo And Juliet-style romance as it brings together two families with long-standing feuds.  After a fight between the two lovers’ fathers, the pair are told to leave and not come back.  In their bid to secretly elope, they meet at an old well which is covered but as they walk across it, the cover breaks.  The new series also stars Sean Myers, Robert Forza, Simon Westaway, Anna-Maria Monticelli, Diane Craig, Anne Phelan and Dinah Shearing.

Briefly…
Nine’s long-running quiz show Sale Of The Century returns for its 10th year, starting the year with a masters’ challenge featuring world champions from the past three years over a two-week battle.  Previous Sale contests, such as “the Ashes” and “the Commonwealth Games”, have been a hit with viewers and it is hoped this latest contest will be a new year ratings hit.

A cast shake-up in Network Ten’s E Street will see no less than five characters written out of the series.  Lawyer Jennifer St James (Virginia Hey) will upset the pending nuptials between Daniel Windsor (Chris Orchard) and Dr Elly Fielding (Penny Cook), and will result in Jennifer departing with Daniel to Switzerland, taking three of his four children.  His eldest daughter, Toni (Toni Pearen), will remain in Westside.

Actor Paul Keane was ready to resign from his long-running role as Des Clarke in Neighbours, but has instead opted to take a four-month break and is expected to return in April.  Keane’s break from the show comes as cast morale is at an all-time low following the departure of several key cast members, but producers are confident that Des will return with some good storylines.

On The Grapevine…
The Vine was really knocked out by the astrologer who “predicted” that former Perfect Match hostess Kerrie Friend would be doing some travelling overseas this year.  This amazing prediction hit the streets after Friend, who’d announced her intentions well in advance, had left Australia for Los Angeles.

John Laws says…
”There’s some good news in the comedy area with confirmation of a new 13-episode series of Acropolis Now on Seven.  Making its debut last year, it provided one of the ‘sleeper’ hits, pulling in ratings in the low 20s in the major cities.”

Program Highlights (Melbourne):
Saturday:  GTV9 presents the last day of competition and the Closing Ceremony from the Commonwealth Games, live from Auckland. 
Sunday:  ATV10 crosses to Manly, Sydney, for the Ironman Super Series.  Competitors include Grant Kenny, Guy Leach and Trevor Hendy.  HSV7 presents live coverage of the Davis Cup tennis, from Royal Kings Park, Perth, and GTV9 crosses to the SCG for Australia versus Pakistan in the Cricket Third Test.  Sunday night movies are At Close Range (HSV7), Smokey And The Bandit (GTV9) and the first instalment of the re-run of mini-series Vietnam (ATV10), starring Nicholas Eadie, Barry Otto and Nicole Kidman.
Monday:  GTV9’s morning chat show, In Melbourne Today, returns for a new year with hosts Ernie Sigley and Denise Drysdale.
Wednesday:  The debut of GTV9’s new drama Family And Friends is up against E Street (ATV10).  HSV7 presents the AFL pre-season competiton, the Fosters Cup, featuring Footscray versus Richmond.
Thursday:  The second episode of Family And Friends is followed by The Flying Doctors’ return with a new series.

Source: TV Week (Victoria edition), incorporating TV Times and TV Guide. 3 February 1990. Southdown Press.