1992: June 7-13

Cover: Tom Cruise

Shirl crashes out
When she decided to leave A Country Practice after more than ten years, Gold Logie winner Lorrae Desmond conceded that her character Shirley Gilroy had to be killed off but insisted that the death not be depicted on screen.  “You don’t get divorced in Wandin Valley,” she told TV Week.  “So for me to leave the series, Shirl had to die.  I didn’t want to do a Molly (Anne Tenney) – the long, lingering leukaemia bit, because I hate to upset children.  I like children.  The last thing I wanted them to see was Shirley laughing.”  The last viewers will see of Shirley will be farewelling her husband Frank (Brian Wenzel) from a taxi as she departs for the airport for a light aircraft flight to Brisbane.  Viewers will not see the plane crash that follows, killing all on board. 

Ian keeps an eye out for clues
With his new murder mystery show Cluedo about to debut, and with a second series already given the green light, as well as three sitcom projects in production or development – Let The Blood Run Free, Newlyweds and Bingles – Ian McFadyen is one of the busiest people in television. “Cluedo is not a quiz show,” he told TV Week. “It’s a game show, but a different kind of game show. It’s not based on how loud you can scream or how much jelly you can tip on each other.” It’s also a busy time for Andrew Daddo, who plays the role of Professor Plum in Cluedo, as he’s also scored a major role in the upcoming $3.7 million children’s series Round The Twist. “It’s been a bit tough to work the production schedules out because there will be some overlap,” Daddo said. “When Round The Twist came up, I jumped at it. But I’m also rapt that Cluedo is going again.”

Return engagement!
Neighbours stars Tom Oliver and Anne Charleston are engaged to be married in the long-running series – and it’s not the first time the pair have played a married couple on screen.  Back in 1968 they played husband and wife (pictured) in an ABC drama, The Shifting Heart.  “It was a TV adaptation of a play on the ABC,” Oliver told TV Week.  “It was a marvellous play and it was the first time Anne and I worked together.”  However, the on-screen union in Neighbours could be short lived, as Charleston contemplates the possibility of a life away from Ramsay Street when her contract expires later in the year.  “Seven and a half years is a long time.  But you just never know,” she told TV Week.  “It depends how you’re feeling at the time.”

Briefly…
There could be changes afoot for Network Ten dramas Neighbours and E Street, with network managing director Gary Rice putting the pressure on Neighbours’ producers Grundy Television to improve the show’s falling ratings, and expressing concern about E Street whose future is currently up for negotiation.  TV Week suspects an upheaval for both shows, with Neighbours to be shifted to 7.30pm and E Street re-worked into a half-hour format at 8.00pm, five nights a week.

The cast of Nine’s steamy drama Chances have partied to celebrate the completion of 100 episodes.  Meanwhile, the series has welcomed a new cast member as Steven Whittaker (pictured) plays the part of Sean Becker, a friend of Alex’s (Jeremy Sims) who is set to threaten his corporate position.  Whittaker, who recently starred in mini-series Good Vibrations, contemplated having to tackle Chances’ steamy sex scenes.  “I gave it a great deal of thought but in the end it was some of those elements which were actually attractive,” he told TV Week.  “Would I prefer it to be mundane, dealing with slices of suburban life, or slightly off the wall, verging towards the bizarre?  In the end, that’s what made my mind up.  That’s where I’d rather be.  The potential is there for quite a bit of bed wandering, but at the moment there is more appetite than action!”

The life of controversial radio and television personality Mary Hardy (pictured) is being portrayed in a stage production, Mary Lives!, written by her brother, Frank Hardy.  Starring Maryanne Fahey in the lead role, the play also features Bartholomew John and Ron Challinor, both of whom were close friends and former colleagues of Hardy, who died in 1985.  “She was tremendously influential at the time, creating an awareness of me not only on the Penthouse Club, but on her radio program as well,” John told TV Week.  “Mary wasn’t just a female comic,” said Challinor, who was a writer for Penthouse Club in the 1970s.  “She sang, she danced, she told gags and she had great timing.  If she had done in the US what she did here she would have been a huge star.”

SBS is set to mark the 40th anniversary of the reign of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II with a controversial British documentary, Queen Or Country?  The special, originally screened on Channel 4 in the United Kingdom, raises the question of whether the royals abuse their public position for personal gain – looking at 10 cases where the line may have been blurred.

Lawrie Masterson: The View From Here
”Taking an old, tried and true board game such as Cluedo and adapting it to television sounds easy.  But obviously it wasn’t that easy at all, even for Crawford Action Time, a partnership between this country’s most prolific drama producer, Crawfords Australia, and British-based game show producers Action Time.  From initial impressions, the television version of Cluedo is a touch unsatisfying, right down to the fact that the smartest guy in the audience isn’t even asked how he reached his conclusion, and nor are we told how long it took him.  And perhaps it’s the “how long” factor that is most important here – not for solving the whodunit, but for the television program itself.  Versions of Cluedo produced by Action Time for other countries run only half an hour, not the full hour (less commercial breaks, of course) the show has been given here.”

Program Highlights (Melbourne, June 7-13):
Sunday:  Sunday night movies are Betsy’s Wedding (Seven), Robocop 2 (Nine) and Born On The Fourth Of July (Ten).  After the movie, Nine crosses to Paris for the final of the French Open.

Monday:  ABC launches a new afternoon game show, Vidiot, hosted by Eden Gaha.  In A Country Practice (Seven), Wandin Valley residents react when AIDS sufferer Max Blair (Felix Williamson) returns to be with his sister Trish (Linden Wilkinson) before he dies.  Healthy Wealthy And Wise (Ten) takes a tour of scenic Byron Bay.

Tuesday:  In A Country Practice (Seven), Frank Gilroy (Brian Wenzel) receives news that his wife Shirley (Lorrae Desmond) has died in a plane crash.  In GP (ABC), William (Michael Craig) is shocked to find that his old friend Geraldine (Jennifer Claire), for whom he has developed a romantic interest, is passively committing suicide.  Beyond 2000 (Seven) presents a special edition from the International Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro.

Wednesday:  The Nine Network presents the first episode of murder mystery game show Cluedo, featuring host Ian McFadyen and guest star Rod Mullinar as the show’s first ‘victim’.  Seven presents a rerun of the British documentary Elizabeth R (originally shown on ABC), documenting a year in the life of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, to mark the 40th anniversary of her accession to the British throne.

Thursday:  SBS presents early morning (3.00am) coverage of the opening ceremony of the Euro 92 soccer championships, live from Sweden, followed by the first match – Sweden versus France.  SBS’ coverage of Euro 92 continues over 17 days, with live coverage overnight and highlights packages shown the following evening. 

Friday:  Seven crosses to Sydney for live coverage of the Rugby League First Test – Australia versus Great Britain – with commentators Graham Hughes, Pat Welsh, Wally Lewis and Michael O’Connor.

Saturday:  Hey Hey It’s Saturday (Nine) presents a special edition from Warner Bros Movie World on the Gold Coast, as the theme park celebrates its first birthday.

Source: TV Week (Melbourne edition), incorporating TV Times and TV Guide.  6 June 1992.  Southdown Press.

1992: May 31-June 6

Shaping up for motherhood!
Teenage star Rebekah Elmaloglou (pictured) was determined that her on-screen pregnancy in Home And Away would look as real as possible.  For almost nine months she wore bodysuits of various shapes and sizes as her character Sophie’s pregnancy progressed.  “It wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be,” she told TV Week.  “However, I haven’t felt very attractive – just fat and large.  But it was comfortable and looked quite real, so I got into the role with ease.  As Sophie got bigger, I had to make it look as though her situation was very awkward and extremely uncomfortable.” 

Michelle ‘fesses up!
Fast Forward’s street-wise couple Michelle (Magda Szubanski) and Ferret (Alan Pentland) give TV Week a few pointers on life on the streets.  “Well, firsta all, if youse lag on someone, ya dob ‘em in, ya become a dog,” Michelle says while the normally mute Ferret nods in agreement.  "And then rollin’ someone is muggin’ em, nod the head is pleadin’ guilty and ‘fess up is confess to the coppers on tape.”  Michelle also says that to look good is important.  “The jeans have to look like you’ve been born in ‘em and the hickeys are a fashion accessory, but more than two is in bad taste,” she says. 

Will Mike stop the clock?
60 Minutes reporter Mike Munro talks to TV Week about his plans to spend more time with the family and less time travelling the globe filing reports for the program.  “Things will definitely come to a head over the next couple of years,” he said.  “I’ve got two priorities in life – my family and 60 Minutes, in that order.  I’m happy at the moment, but eventually I will have to start spending a lot more time with the family.  I could even qualify as a house husband!  I’m pretty domesticated, a good cook, and I clean and iron and do all those sorts of things.”

On their blocks!
When the Seven Network successfully bid $40 million for the Australian television rights for the Barcelona Olympic Games, many high-profile media personalities from other networks fought for a place on Seven’s team.  One of those was Bruce McAvaney (pictured), who was unhappy at the financially-ailing Ten Network and saw the Games as a great reason to change camps.  Fortunately for him Seven agreed, but not everyone was successful in getting a spot on Seven’s team.  “We had calls from some extraordinary people,” Seven’s director of sport Gary Fenton told TV Week.  “I’m talking about technical and on-air people.  A lot wanted to be part of this were not considered good enough to be involved.”  The Seven Network is sending a team of 154 to Barcelona, including commentators and technical personnel – putting together what Seven claims is the largest offshore broadcast in the history of Australian TV.  However, Seven’s investment is minuscule when compared to the US network giant NBC which paid $401 million for the broadcast rights and is sending over a team of 3000.  Seven’s coverage will be fronted by McAvaney and Garry Wilkinson, while specialist commentators will include Ron Casey (boxing), John Bertrand (yachting), John Alexander (tennis), Neil Brooks (swimming) and Lindsay Gaze (basketball).  Seven’s on-air team for the Games also includes Sandy Roberts, Peter Landy, Drew Morphett, Peter Mitchell, Pat Welsh, Cameron Williams, Lisa Curry-Kenny, Dennis Cometti, Max Stevens, Edwina Gatenby, Ian Hyslop, Duncan Armstrong, Alexis Hamilton-Smith, Cathy Freeman, Steve Moneghetti, Andrew Gaze, Lisa Forrest, Peter Meares and Kim Watkins.  The Barcelona Olympic Games launch with the opening ceremony on 25 July.

Briefly…
The hot tip going around the industry is that A Current Affair host, TV Week Gold Logie winner Jana Wendt is keen to step away from the program and spend more time with her young son, Daniel.  She is also believed to be considering returning to university to do extra studies.  Midday host Ray Martin is tipped to take over Wendt’s role on A Current Affair with John Mangos taking over Martin’s spot on Midday.

Network Ten sports reporter Eddie McGuire (pictured) is confirmed as part of the line-up for new Melbourne radio station 3EE which is due to launch at the end of June.  McGuire will be hosting a Saturday morning show on the new station which fills the gap left by the closure of 3XY in September last year.

Former Home And Away star Julian McMahon has turned down a guest role in E Street. The former model is about to head off to the US, but E Street producers are still keen to pursue him for other roles in the future.

What’s Cooking co-host Colette Mann says that since the show launched a year ago she’s constantly being approached by the public when shopping.  “People will come up to me and say, ‘Shouldn’t you be somewhere else?’, meaning on TV,” she said.  “You want to scream at them, ‘No, the show’s taped!’.  Or they go, ‘What’s cooking, Colette?’, and they think they’re the first person in the world to think of it.  But I must say I’ve never had a bad reaction from people about the show.”  And when asked about her co-star, French-born chef Gabriel Gate, she says their unlikely on-screen partnership has benefited both of them.  “My cooking has improved a lot and his television has improved a lot!”

Let The Blood Run Free, the off-beat hospital comedy from the producers of The Comedy Company and featuring Jean Kittson and Peter Rowsthorn (pictured), is coming back for a second series.  Production is to resume at the Network Ten studios in Melbourne, although the network has yet to make a commitment to programming the series.  The first series, produced in 1990, was sold to 12 countries and was a hit in Germany and the Netherlands.

Lawrie Masterson: The View From Here
”The American sitcom Cheers has a chequered history in this country.  From memory, it started life here on Network Ten and was pushed around various timeslots until – like other US sitcoms such as Roseanne and Married… With Children – someone at Ten placed it in someone else’s too hard basket.  Since it became Nine Network property two or three years ago, Cheers has enjoyed increased success, while never setting the globe ablaze and while still having to cope with some buffeting around the program schedule.  In the US, of course, it’s been a different story.  The NBC sitcom regularly finishes in the five top-rating shows on the year and the nondescript little bar on Beacon Street in Boston, where the show is set, has become a national landmark.  After making its US debut in 1982 at a lowly number 77 in the ratings, Cheers climbed steadily until – by the time it celebrated its 200th episode about 18 months ago – it was number one.  Better late than never, the Nine Network will screen the special hour-long celebration episode this week.”

Program Highlights (Melbourne: May 31-June 6):
Sunday:  Seven crosses to Football Park, Adelaide, for live coverage of the afternoon AFL match between Adelaide Crows and North Melbourne.  Sunday night movies are Road House (Seven), I Love You To Death (Nine) and Aliens (Ten).

Monday:  Martin Jacobs, Geraldine Turner and Ben Oxenbould star in That Man’s Father, the final instalment of SBS’ Six Pack drama series.  In A Country Practice (Seven), Sergeant Newman (Jon Concannon) suspects young James Hutton (Ari Mattes) is a victim of incest.

Tuesday:  In All Together Now (Nine), Marcus (Lochie Daddo, pictured) a school friend of Thomas’ (Steven Jacobs) falls for Tracy (Rebecca Gibney).  In Chances (Nine), Sean Becker (Stephen Whittaker), an old friend of Alex’s (Jeremy Sims) arrives at the agency and sets his sights on Angela (Patsy Stephen).

Wednesday:   In Neighbours (Ten), Madge (Anne Charleston) makes a decision about Lou’s (Tom Oliver) marriage proposal.  Nine crosses to the Sydney Football Stadium for live coverage of the Rugby League State Of Origin match between NSW and Queensland.

Thursday:  Seven presents a one-hour special, Barcelona With Steve Vizard, exploring life in Barcelona today and its cultural history in the lead up to the city hosting the Olympic Games.  In Embassy (ABC), Terry Blake (Frankie J. Holden) applies for a promotion to a job in Canberra.

Friday:  Following Andrew Denton: Live And Sweaty, ABC presents the debut of a British game show with a difference – Sticky Moments With Julian Clary.

Saturday:  Network Ten launches a new children’s program, The Shorn Sheep Show, featuring Joy Smithers, a former MTV co-host and actress in the acclaimed mini-series Bangkok Hilton.  SBS current affairs program Dateline presents a special report to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the Six-Day War, with Mike Carey reporting from Egypt, Israel and Jordan.

Source: TV Week (Melbourne edition), incorporating TV Times and TV Guide.  30 May 1992.  Southdown Press.

1990: December 15-21

Cover: Georgie Parker (A Country Practice), Julian McMahon (Home And Away)

Hey Dad… meet your new co-star!
Rachael Beck, fresh from her role as Craig McLachlan’s sister in Home And Away, is set to join the cast of Hey Dad!  The former Family And Friends star impressed Home And Away producers enough that they offered her an ongoing role, but she was reluctant to commit to a 12-month run, so she instead auditioned for the Hey Dad! spin-off, Hampton House – with producers seemingly now keen to have her join Hey Dad! to fill the gap left by departing cast member Simone Buchanan.  In the meantime, Beck will be appearing in the Sydney Theatre Company’s production of A Little Night Music.

Denise set for a ding-dong year!
It has been a year of ups and downs for two-time TV Week Gold Logie winner Denise Drysdale.  On the downside, she departed Hey Hey It’s Saturday amidst controversial circumstances, but the exposure from being on the show has opened up an opportunity to develop her own programs.  She has taped a pilot for a quiz show called Guess What (featuring Wendy Harmer, Lou Richards and Wilbur Wilde as guest contestants) and is developing a sitcom which is likely to star Drysdale and is tipped to feature Noelene Brown, Rosie Sturgess and former Countdown Revolution co-host Tania Lacy.  At the same time, it appears likely that In Melbourne Today, the morning talk show she presents with Ernie Sigley, will go national in 1991.

All together now…
It was a daunting task for TV Week to try to assemble 11 stars in Sydney and 12 stars in Melbourne, representing all five TV networks, for a Christmas photo shoot.  The chances that all would be available at the one time was very slim, but the networks co-operated and the photo shoot was a success:

Above: TV Week’s Christmas greetings from Sydney.  Back row (l to r): Matt Day (A Country Practice), Judy McIntosh (GP), Michael O’Neill (GP), Brian Rooney (GP), Mary Kostakidis (World News, SBS). Middle row: Alyssa-Jane Cook (E Street), Elizabeth Hayes (Today), Emily Symons (Home And Away). Front row: Bruce Samazan (E Street), Simone Buchanan (Hey Dad!), Mat Stevenson (Home And Away)

Below: And Merry Christmas with a definite comic focus from Melbourne. Back row: Air steward Daryl (Steve Vizard, Fast Forward), Matron Conniving-Bitch (Lynda Gibson, Let The Blood Run Free), Shane Bourne (Hey Hey It’s Saturday), Marika (Mark Mitchell, The Comedy Company), Wilbur Wilde (Hey Hey It’s Saturday).  Middle row: Air steward Wayne (Michael Veitch, Fast Forward), newsreader Veronica Glenhuntly (Jean Kittson, The Big Gig), Maurie Fields (Hey Hey It’s Saturday), Effie (Mary Coustas, Acropolis Now), Red Symons (Hey Hey It’s Saturday).  Front row: Vikki Blanche (Col’n Carpenter) and Nick Giannopoulos (Acropolis Now).

 

Briefly…
Former E Street regular Melissa Bell is joining the cast of Neighbours, taking on the role of Lucy Robinson, the youngest of the Robinson children.  Bell, 18, will be the third actress to take on the role, following Kylie Flinker and Sasha Close.  An upcoming storyline will see Lucy sent home from an elite boarding school after a run-in with authorities, to face the wrath of her father, Jim (Alan Dale).

Fast Forward’s Pixie-Anne Wheatley (Magda Szubanski) and Home And Away’s Craig McLachlan (pictured, above left) made an odd couple in the Seven Network’s upcoming new year promos.  In the two-minute clip, dizzy Pixie-Anne decides to make a play for McLachlan.  It culminates in her making a bungy jump from a helicopter to hand deliver him a bunch of flowers. “Magda did all her own stunts, except for one shot,” producer-director Mitch McManus told TV Week.  “She had to hang upside down by her ankles from seven metres above the studio floor, so she gets the award for best sport of the promo!”  Meanwhile (above right), Wheel Of Fortune hostess Adriana Xenides is saved from a demolition ball by Victor, the ‘very unattractive man’ (played by Peter Moon) from Fast Forward’s ‘Good Morning Moscow’ skit.

John Laws says…
”It seems that now we’ve bade a temporary goodbye to most current affairs programs on TV (maybe they’ll make a speedy comeback in the event of a shootout in the Gulf!), we can settle down for a good laugh over Christmas.  I’ve never known a period where so many “sitcoms” are being screened at the same time.  It’s as if the beleaguered television industry has decided it must giggle its way through the current economic crisis – and wants viewers in on the joke.  It’s true enough, of course, that we could all do with a bit of a laugh from TV.”

Program Highlights (December 15-21):
Saturday:  Sport includes golf (Daikyo Australian Ladies’ Masters from Palm Meadows, Queensland) on ABC, tennis (Grand Slam Cup from Munich) on HSV7 and cricket (Benson And Hedges World Series from Brisbane) on GTV9.

Sunday:  Sunday night movies are Santa Claus: The Movie (HSV7) and Courage (ATV10).  GTV9 screens the first of the two-part mini-series, Phantom Of The Opera.

Wednesday:  In Hey Dad! (HSV7), Betty (Julie McGregor) is studying Japanese for her role in a play for the musical society.

Friday:  In a rare truce between competing programs, Today and Good Morning Australia both wind up for the Christmas break on the same day and will return together on the same day in the new year.  HSV7’s Friday night movie is the Australian film Bush Christmas, starring John Ewart, Nicole Kidman, John Howard, Mark Spain and James Wingrove.

Source: TV Week (Victoria edition), incorporating TV Times and TV Guide. 15 December 1990. Southdown Press.

1990: December 8-14

Cover: Olivia Newton-John

Hey Hey it’s… London…?
Hey Hey It’s Saturday host Daryl Somers is set to make an appearance on Aussie expat Clive James’ popular British show, Saturday Night Clive. Somers is hopeful that the appearance could lead to Hey Hey being sold to an international audience.  “I feel we’ve given England such a diet of soapies that it’s about time they copped some comedy/variety/night-time/morning type of stuff.  They just want to talk about me being on TV for a long time, and the show I do, which is unique.  I know Clive and he’s very aware of that uniqueness,” Somers told TV Week.

Oscar winner aims for Oz glory!
Oscar-winning American actor Denzel Washington is likely to win the lead role in the Seven Network mini-series Tracks Of Glory, which goes into pre-production soon.  Producers Barron Films have also been negotiating with LA Law star Blair Underwood, but Washington is now the favourite for the lead role of American champion cyclist “Major” Taylor.  Among the Australian cast list for the mini-series are Cameron Daddo (Bony), Justine Clarke (Home And Away) and John Wood (Rafferty’s Rules).  Tracks Of Glory is set in the 1920s and follows the story of Taylor as he comes to Australia to compete in the richest cycling event in the world.

The show will go on!
Hey Hey It’s Saturday’s Daryl Somers is choosing his words carefully when he announces the disintegration of DAS Entertainment, the nine-year partnership between himself, Gavan Disney and Ernie Carroll, which produces the popular Nine Network program:  “We’ve discussed it.  It’s a mutually agreed split.  Hey Hey will continue, as we are contracted to do until the end of 1991, and we all looking forward to it in a very positive way.  We want the split to be as professional and businesslike as possible, and because we are involved in working that out – the entanglement of contractual obligations with DAS and the (Nine) network and so on – I don’t think it’s appropriate for me to go into great detail at this stage.  But I think it’s safe to say that DAS will be no longer.  Next year the program will be produced by another entity.” Somers and Carroll are expected to take over producing the show – although plans to bring Jacki MacDonald back into the program appear to have stalled.

Briefly…
As the financial situation at Network Ten continues to crumble, producer Ian McFadyen (pictured) is confident that the network will pick up a proposed sitcom he has been discussing with them – a concept based around the lives of employees at a television station.  McFadyen is also confident that Ten will renew sitcom Let The Blood Run Free for a second series.  Meanwhile, his company, Media Arts, also has a deal to produce a sitcom, Newlyweds, for the Seven Network in partnership with Crawfords Australia.  The new sitcom is set to be a starring vehicle for former Neighbours star Annie Jones.

ABC has renewed drama series Embassy for a second series.  The renewal comes after controversy, as Malaysia accused the show’s fictional setting of Ragaan of “making fun” of their country and consequently cancelled official visits to Australia and suspended trade talks, prompting Prime Minister Bob Hawke to step in and reassure Malaysians that the program is entirely fictional.

Aussie actress, former Number 96 and Skyways star Carmen Duncan (pictured), playing the role of bitchy Iris Carrington Wheeler in the US soap Another World, has been named by Soap Weekly magazine as one of the “most desirable women on American television”.  Her character has also been voted one of the most popular on American daytime TV.

Seven Network series A Country Practice has clocked up 800 episodes.  Given the current financial situation at Seven, still in receivership, the cast and crew of the series were allowed only a small celebration at Seven’s Sydney studios.

Neighbours star Ashley Paske has announced that he will not renew his contract with the Network Ten series when it expires in January.  He is expected to be seen on-air until May.

John Laws says:
“SBS has had a great year.  Its fine coverage of the World Cup soccer – possibly more extensive than any other station in the world – was the highlight.  It, more than anything, put the station on the map.”

Program Highlights (December 8-14):
Sunday:  Tennis (Colonial Mutual Men’s Invitational) on ABC.  Golf (Johnnie Walker Classic) on HSV7 and cricket (Benson And Hedges World Series) on GTV9.  Sunday night movies are North Dallas Forty (GTV9) and Stones For Ibarra (ATV10).  HSV7 presents the first instalment of mini-series George Washington.

Monday:  ABC presents a repeat of Geoffrey Robertson’s Hypotheticals, featuring John Halfpenny, Glenn Wheatley, Keith Williams and Wilson Tuckey.

Tuesday:  Prime Minister Bob Hawke presents the Walkley Awards, buried in a broadcast of the National Press Club Luncheon, on ABC at 1.00pm.

Friday:  The final 1990 edition of the late-night Robbo’s World Tonight on GTV9.

Source: TV Week (Victoria edition), incorporating TV Times and TV Guide. 8 December 1990. Southdown Press.

1990: November 10-16

Missing at sea… to rest a knee!
E Street character Lisa Bennett has disappeared, presumed dead by many of her Westside neighbours, after being shipwrecked with wealthy boyfriend Michael Sturges (Graham Harvey) – but the character’s absence from TV screens is for good cause, as actress Alyssa-Jane Cook (pictured) has had to take time off from the series to recover from knee surgery.  Cook told TV Week that the surgery was needed to fix an old skiing injury that could have wider implications if left unattended.  “If I’d left it until I was older, it would have taken longer to repair and I could have suffered severe arthritis,” she said.

 

Publish and be damned?
Graham Kennedy (pictured) tells TV Week he has refused repeated requests by publishers to pen his autobiography.  “Publishers have asked me about once a month for 30 years for an autobiography, which is flattering – flattering because they obviously think it would sell well,” he said.  “I would want to write it myself and I’m too lazy to face such a daunting task at the moment.”  The closest that the King of Australian television has come to book publishing has been to write the foreword for former colleague Toni Lamond’s recently-launched autobiography, First Half.  Kennedy, who this year gained strong ratings for Nine’s Graham Kennedy’s Funniest Home Video Show, accepts the fact that should he not get around to writing his memoirs before turning up his toes that someone may choose to write a less-friendly version of his life.  “Sadly, I have no control over that,” he says.

Agro-phobia!
The Seven Network is screening a one-hour special to celebrate the 10th birthday of its puppet megastar Agro, star of the early morning Agro’s Cartoon Connection and the former children’s program Wombat.  The special will feature many of Agro’s Seven Network colleagues including Derryn Hinch, Julie McGregor, Fast Forward’s Pixie-Anne Wheatley (Magda Szubanski, pictured with Agro) and the Dodgey Brothers (Steve Blackburn and Geoff Brooks) and Tonight Live’s Steve Vizard and Jennifer Keyte.    

Briefly…
Former Family And Friends star Rachael Beck has just completed a guest spot on Home And Away, playing the drug-addicted sister of Grant Mitchell (Craig McLachlan).  Beck is now moving to the stage to co-star in A Little Night Music with Geraldine Turner and John Waters.

Actor Kim Gyngell, whose Col’n Carpenter series is likely to be back in 1991, is keen to start work on a film project dedicated to the long-running drama series Homicide.  The film, to be titled Homicide: The Legend Continues, will have an emphasis on the lasting impact that the drama series has had on Australian popular culture.  Gyngell made his acting debut in the original series in the 1970s and has had discussions with director Pino Amenta and actors Ben Mendelsohn, Nadine Garner and Mary Coustas, who have all expressed interest in being involved in the project.

Former Prisoner star Jane Clifton has swapped her prison uniform for a straightjacket in the play Laughing Wild, now playing in Melbourne.  The play, set in New York, takes a farcical look at the community alienation some mentally ill people experience when they move out and try to live “normal” lives.  For Clifton, the play comes just after a 13 week tour of the United Kingdom in the stage production Prisoner Cell Block H, based on the long-running series in which she starred in.

The prospect of an airline career could see Luke Ross make his exit from A Country Practice – but actor Matt Day is not giving anything away.  “You will have to wait and see,” he teases.  “Who knows what the future holds?”  Ross departs Wandin Valley in episodes to air this week as the season finale but his struggles in adapting to city life and the rigorous airline training will feature in episodes to go to air in the new year.

John Laws says…
”SBS’ recent orgy of self-congratulation for having survived – and prospered – for ten years in the TV jungle was, for the most part, well deserved.  For a network that really didn’t have a clue what it was supposed to be doing when it began broadcasting in late 1980, it has commendably earned the label of “true survivor” in the torrid years since.  Importantly, too, it manages to provide a mostly excellent service even though restricted by what can only be described as a tight budget.  It is positively Scrooge-like in its costings when compared to ABC and other TV stations.  SBS has also led the way in freeing up the screening of sexual activity on television.  Was it through coincidence, or design, that on the very night the station screened an hour-long 10th anniversary tribute to itself that it also screened, for the second time, the English movie Sammy And Rosie Get Laid, one of the most sexually explicit to have shown on Australian TV?  But if there is one things SBS does lack it’s a sense of humour.  If it had one or two top-flight comedy programs it would round off its service admirably.”

Program Highlights (November 10-16):
Saturday:  ATV10’s coverage of the Melbourne Cup Carnival concludes with five hours of the Honda Stakes Day, live from Flemington Racecourse.  GTV9’s afternoon of sport includes the Nissan Sydney 500 Touring Car Race, while ABC presents American basketball, English soccer and American NFL.

Sunday:  The final week of ratings for 1990 will see many programs wind up this week – starting with ATV10’s This Land Australia and The Comedy Company and GTV9’s 60 Minutes.  Sunday night movies are Moonstruck (HSV7), Caddyshack II (GTV9) and Heartburn (ATV10).

Monday:  Sale Of The Century (GTV9) finishes up its 1990 season with the week-long Sports Celebrity Challenge, featuring stars of cricket, athletics, swimming and motor racing.  ABC’s Media Watch and Four Corners present their final editions for 1990, and ATV10’s comedy series Let The Blood Run Free (pictured) also finishes up for the year.  GTV9’s failed soap opera Family And Friends makes a late-night return, playing out the remaining episodes that were not shown following its abrupt cancellation earlier this year.

Tuesday:  A Country Practice, Beyond 2000, GP, The Investigators, The Big Gig and Candid Camera On Australia all present their final episodes for 1990.

Wednesday:  ABC presents a 75-minute special, Bradman, featuring the cricket legend’s first television interview to respected cricket writer Jack Egan.  The special is followed by the final 1990 edition of forum-based discussion program Couchman.

Thursday:  More TV finales with The Home Show (ABC), Graham Kennedy’s Funniest Home Video Show (GTV9), E Street (ATV10) and Lateline (ABC) presenting their last episodes for 1990.  GTV9’s children’s mini-series The Girl From Tomorrow also comes to a conclusion.

Friday:  Midday With Ray Martin (GTV9) presents its 1990 finale with a special two-hour episode.  Also winding up tonight is Tonight Live With Steve Vizard (HSV7), Burke’s Backyard (GTV9), Sale Of The Century (GTV9), Countrywide (ABC) and Neighbours (ATV10).

Source: TV Week (Victoria edition), incorporating TV Times and TV Guide. 10 November 1990. Southdown Press.

1990: October 27-November 2

‘I cried and cried…’
The Flying Doctors’ Tammy McIntosh (pictured) fights back tears as she talks to TV Week about the episode of the Nine Network drama to go to air this week.  In this episode, Sister Annie Rogers (McIntosh) befriends abandoned 14-year-old Alex (Brendan Peel).  She helps him find his grandmother, who dies days later, leaving him alone.  Rogers fights to take responsibility for the teenager, but the Coopers Crossing doctors arrange for him to join a local family instead, leaving her shattered.  McIntosh spent her childhood in a series of foster homes, making it easy to relate to the boy’s situation.  “I didn’t consciously think about the story being too close to home, but I can see that now,” she told TV Week.  “The scene where we had to say goodbye, I cried and cried.  I just lost it.  It was real for me.”

E Street’s bad boy moves to Ramsay Street!
Richard Huggett, the E Street star whose character Sonny Bennett made a sudden exit from the series following the car bomb explosion, has signed up to Network Ten’s other soap, Neighbours.  Huggett (pictured) enters the long-running series as a mystery man who turns up claiming to be the long-lost son of Jim Robinson (Alan Dale). “I’ve been a bad boy for a long time,” Huggett told TV Week.  “So it will be an advantage to do something different.  I’m looking forward to playing a character who won’t be quite so dark as Sonny.”

BBC snaps up Aussie show
A new Australian children’s series which premieres on Nine this week has been bought by BBC for a record price.  The Girl From Tomorrow, a sci-fi series produced by Film Australia, stars Andrew Clarke, Katharine Cullen and Melissa Marshall, with guest appearances by Grant Dodwell, Miles Buchanan and John Howard.  Bruce Moir, managing director of Film Australia, declined to disclose the sum paid by BBC for the series, but confirms that it is a record.  “It was a major decision for Film Australia to branch into children’s drama and we are thrilled at having negotiated this highly-successful sale,” he told TV Week.  Moir says a sequel for the series is already in planning and that negotiations are taking place to sell the first series to countries other than the United Kingdom.

Briefly…
Singer-actress Kaarin Fairfax has taken on a surprise career move with the announcement that she has agreed to present a new science program, Catalyst, for ABC.  The six-part series is being shown in a daytime timeslot to capture the schools audience, and also features Fast Forward’s Mandy Salomon and Let The Blood Run Free’s Peter Rowsthorn.

ABC mini-series Come In Spinner has won a number of awards at the recent Australian Film Industry Awards presentation.  Actress Rebecca Gibney (pictured) won the award for best actress in a mini-series, while the series also won for Best Direction and Best Mini-series.  Frankie J Holden won the Best Actor award for his role in the ABC mini-series Police Crop.

Artists’ Services, the company which produces Fast Forward and Tonight Live With Steve Vizard, has signed a five-year development deal with the Seven Network.  The company, headed by Steve Vizard and Andrew Knight, is already planning a 13-part drama series and other projects include a sitcom.

John Laws says…
”Hosting an awards ceremony must be among the most difficult tasks any performer can be handed.  The fact is, it takes a special kind of showbiz skill to tread the line between keeping viewers interested and the TV professionals satisfied.  It’s to his credit, then, that Andrew Denton so ably managed the hosting of a major slice of the Australian Film Institute awards ceremony which screened on ABC.  Denton resisted any desire to score cheap points with “industry” jokes and, as a result, the awards night was able to flow along freely.”

Program Highlights (October 27-November 2):
Saturday:  GTV9 crosses to the Gabba, Brisbane, for the final of the FAI Insurance Cup cricket.  ABC’s Saturday afternoon sport includes English soccer and American NFL and NBA.  SBS presents a the first two hours of the repeat presentation of drama series Always Afternoon.

Sunday:  Alison Drower and Rob Duckworth host the two-hour National Rock Eisteddfod (GTV9), with judges Glenn A Baker and Angry Anderson.  ATV10 presents Remember When, featuring a look back at the pre-television years when Australians saw their news from movie newsreels.  Sunday night movies are Good Morning Vietnam (HSV7) and Mississippi Burning (ATV10).  GTV9 presents the premiere of mini-series Ring Of Scorpio, starring Catherine Oxenberg, Linda Cropper and Caroline Goodall (pictured).

Monday: In the comedy series Col’n Carpenter (ATV10), Colin (Kim Gyngell) wins a Queensland holiday for two.  Housemates Julie (Vikki Blanche) and Michael (Stig Wemyss) want to go with him.  GTV9 presents the conclusion to Ring Of Scorpio.

Tuesday:  In Beyond 2000 (HSV7), reporter Simon Reeve takes a ride in a flying boat, while Andrew Carroll meets a man who has predicted a major earthquake.

Wednesday:  In E Street (ATV10), the aftermath of the car bomb explosion that claimed the lives of Chris (Paul Kelman), Megan (Lisbeth Kennelly) and Abby (Chelsea Brown), has Dr Elly Fielding (Penny Cook) fighting for her life.

Source: TV Week (Victoria edition), incorporating TV Times and TV Guide. 27 October 1990. Southdown Press.

1990: October 20-26

Cover: Alyce Platt (Sale Of The Century)

Mann gets pregnant
In the wake of the axing of Seven’s police drama Skirts, actress Tracy Mann has bounced back with a role in an upcoming telemovie. In How Wonderful, Mann plays Kerry Shanahan, a career woman about to be a mother. “It was one of those rare jobs tailor-made for you,” Mann told TV Week. The telemovie, screening this week on ABC, follows Kerry on her journey including tortuous exercise classes and junk food binges. When asked why Skirts didn’t succeed, Mann feels that it came down to scheduling. “The show should never have gone to 7.30, for a start. The timeslot meant the writers had to come up with happy endings and all the bull which never happens in the real world. The 8.30 timeslot, after A Country Practice, would have been ideal. I just feel it hasn’t been given a fair go.”

Baptism of fire!
E Street feels the full brunt of Sonny Bennett’s (Richard Huggett) revenge this week as he unleashes a bomb on the innocent residents of Westside on the day of the christening of Chris (Paul Kelman) and Megan’s (Lisbeth Kennelly) baby. Four characters make a dramatic exit and one is left seriously wounded after the explosion of a bomb fixed under Reverend Bob’s (Tony Martin) car. In what is, perhaps, the most expensive piece of Australian continuing drama ever filmed, explosive experts, stunt actors and professional weapon handlers were called in to film the show’s climax for the year. “It’s impressive,” says executive producer Forrest Redlich. “I’ve been involved in more than 800 hours of television and this is the most expensive couple of hours I’ve ever put together.” As to the identity of Bennett’s intended victims? “You don’t know who is going to get hit when the bomb goes off because half of Westside are riding in the car that day,” Redlich teased.

Old ACP favourites meet in Street
Upcoming episodes of Network Ten’s E Street will reunite two former residents of A Country Practice’s Wandin Valley. Anne Tenney (pictured), who played the colourful Molly Jones in A Country Practice, comes into E Street as a medico friend of Dr Elly Fielding, played by Penny Cook who played Vicky Bowen in ACP. “It was wonderful working with Penny again,” Tenney told TV Week. “It’s always great when you get the opportunity to work with someone you know – particularly someone you get along with. And Penny and I were together for a long time on A Country Practice.”

Briefly…
A low-budget Seven Network telemovie, Harbour Beat, has been purchased by Paramount Pictures for worldwide video and television distribution. The telemovie, which stars Steve Vidler, Gary Day, Emily Simpson and Scottish actor John Hannah, could potentially spin-off into an ongoing series. “Paramount and Zenith Productions in England are committed,” says Vidler. “We are just waiting on Seven here. The problems with going into receivership are delaying things a bit.” The telemovie screens on Seven this week.

Two-time TV Week Gold Logie winner Gerard Kennedy makes a guest appearance in A Country Practice. Kennedy plays Theo Kouros, father of Dr Cris Kouros (Michael Muntz), who is finding it hard to cope with the fact that his wife is dying. Kennedy’s appearance in A Country Practice comes after his performance as an AIDS victim in The Flying Doctors.

Let The Blood Run Free’s Matron Dorothy Conniving Bitch (pictured, played by Lynda Gibson) has a few words to say about the portrayal of medical drama on other TV series. “I liked (A Country Practice’s) Matron Sloan,” she says. “This new matron (Ann Brennan, played by Mary Regan) is not a matron’s bum. They need Matron Conniving Bitch to work with Shane Porteous. And The Flying Doctors need me to fly around in the plane, and I should be running that little surgery with Penny Cook in E Street. Those other shows, they’ve no idea about the nursing or the medicining or the hospitalising!”

A Country Practice stars Georgie Parker, Matt Day and John Tarrant have formed a band – and have sought inspiration from their financially-troubled former boss, Christopher Skase. The new band is called Chris And The Receivers and a performance at a recent telethon gathered rave reviews, something that has shocked Parker. “We didn’t want the audience think we are kidding ourselves about getting record offers,” she says. “It was only a bit of fun.”

Lawrie Masterson’s Sound Off:
”Two locally-produced telemovies are among the most entertaining fare you’ll find in the schedule this week. What is unfortunate is where you’ll find them in the schedule! In one of the most cruel programming twists of the year, How Wonderful (starring Tracy Mann, pictured, with Jim Holt, Sheila Kennelly, Toni Lamond and Max Phipps) and Harbour Beat – two Australian productions with heaps to recommend them – will go to air at 8.30pm on October 24. What can I say? Watch one, tape the other? Fine, if you have a VCR. A lot of people don’t.”

Program Highlights (October 20-26):
Saturday: GTV9 crosses to the Gabba in Brisbane for the FAI Insurance Cup: First Semi-Final, with coverage headed by Richie Benaud. In celebration of ten years of SBS, the network screens a re-run of the foreign movie The Mahabharata – a five-hour epic that first aired a year ago. SBS screens the first two-and-a-half hours this afternoon with the remainder to screen Sunday. In the evening, SBS presents the conclusion of its the re-run of award-winning mini-series, Women Of The Sun, starring Justine Saunders.

Sunday: More cricket coverage from GTV9 with the FAI Cup Semi-Final, though the telecast takes a two-hour break in the afternoon for live coverage of the Japanese Grand Prix. Sunday night movies are A Fish Called Wanda (HSV7), Fatal Attraction (GTV9) and Robocop (ATV10).

Monday: SBS’ tenth anniversary celebration continues with the repeat screening of drama series In Between – screening each afternoon through to Thursday. The four-part series, set in an inner Melbourne suburb, follows the story of four teenagers caught between two cultures and between adolescence and adulthood.

Tuesday: Genevieve Lemon guest stars in ABC’s GP as a woman who has been trying for ten years to get pregnant and seeks the help of friend Julie Winters (Denise Roberts) after suffering her fourth miscarriage.

Wednesday: SBS presents a one-hour special, Retro – Ten Years Of SBS Television, recounting the launch and first decade of Australia’s multicultural television service. Featuring in the program are former prime minister Malcolm Fraser, whose government formed SBS, TV pioneer Bruce Gyngell, who launched the new channel, current SBS chief executive Brian Johns and Minister for Communications, Kim Beazley. And a rare ratings battle between ABC and HSV7 with Australian-made telemovies, How Wonderful and Harbour Beat, both screening in the same timeslot.

Friday: SBS presents a 90-minute special, The Best Of The World Cup – Italia ‘90, focusing on the highlights of the year’s premier soccer event. Later on, SBS presents a special, Kids First, focusing on the first-ever world summit for children at the United Nations in New York. Peter Ustinov, actor and UNICEF Ambassador for children, and George Negus are co-presenters of the one-hour special.

Source: TV Week (Victoria edition), incorporating TV Times and TV Guide. 20 October 1990. Southdown Press.

1990: October 13-19

Cover: Nicolle Dickson (Home And Away)

Reyne forecast for Coopers Crossing
Actor David Reyne is to join the cast of Nine’s The Flying Doctors.  The 31-year-old star of series including Sweet And Sour, Possession, Flair, Bony and Golden Fiddles joins The Flying Doctors in the role of Dr Guy Reid, a brilliant young man from a wealthy family.  Dr Reid’s arrival into Coopers Crossing has the locals questioning his motives – why would an independently-wealthy man choose to live in a small town, particularly when he makes no secret of the fact that life in a small town is not for him.  Reyne has started work on the series this month and will be seen on-air from early next year.

Comedy of errors!
The Comedy Company’s return after a six-month break was a mistake, according to one of the show’s original stars, Glenn Robbins.  Robbins, now working on the Seven Network’s Tonight Live With Steve Vizard, told TV Week that he feels the show, which has struggled up against 60 Minutes in the ratings since its return, would have been better to come back as something entirely new instead of keeping the old name.  “When you come back with a show such as The Comedy Company, there’s a preconceived image of what it’s all about.  They created a pretty tough job for themselves.  Maybe it might have been better to call it something else,” he says.

A decade of bringing he world back home
To celebrate its tenth anniversary, Australia’s multicultural network SBS is planning to screen a raft of special programming as well as revisiting some of the significant programs that have aired over its first decade.  As well as new documentaries Kids First, with George Negus and Peter Ustinov, and Boy Soldiers, SBS will be screening a special featuring ‘60s tribute group The Fabulous Singlettes  and the adults-only dance spectacular Dreams Of Monochrome Men, featuring DV8.  SBS will also repeat its early 1980s mini-series Women Of The Sun, a production that won a United Nations Peace Prize in 1982, starring Justine Saunders. 

When James became Jane…
Peter Whitford has played many characters over the years – but his latest role has been the most challenging.  The actor is playing the part of a transsexual, James Kennedy, in an upcoming episode of GP.  For many years, James has been harbouring the secret of wanting to be a woman and has been secretly wearing women’s clothes.  When his secret is discovered, he decides to come out of the closet and, as Jane (pictured), decides to have a sex-change operation.  “Margaret Kelly’s script was so well-written, I was completely intrigued,” Whitford told TV Week.  “For the role of James/Jane I spoke with many transsexuals – not to be confused with transvestites, who get their kicks out of cross-dressing.  Transsexuals feel they should have been born the opposite sex.  It has nothing to do with homosexuality either.”

Briefly…
TV producer and former Number 96 star Harry Michaels is working on a drama series which he hopes to sell to a commercial network.  The proposed 13-part series is set in a real estate agency and follows the professional and personal lives of the girls who work there.  “It’s part comedy and part drama and will be a mixture of Nine To Five and Number 96,” Michaels told TV Week.  “I’m making it with my own money and assistance from the Hoyts company.”  Michaels is already an established producer, with his Aerobics Oz Style series now showing nationally on the Ten Network and regional stations.

Former Family And Friends actor Adrian Lee (pictured) and former A Country Practice star Kate Raison have joined the cast of E Street, just as the series is about to farewell five cast members – Paul Kelman, Lisbeth Kennelly, Chelsea Brown, Richard Huggett, Rebecca Saunders and Madison Doyle.

Actress Janet Andrewartha, currently appearing in ABC’s Embassy, reluctantly admits to being a singer earlier in her adult life.  “I don’t usually admit to this – but I was a folk singer,” she told TV Week.  “You know, guitar on your back, and doing the rounds.  I sang traditional and contemporary folk music.  There were so many venues in those days, you could actually make a decent living from it.” 

ABC’s Backchat host Tim Bowden’s two-month visit to Antarctica forms the basis for his six-part radio documentary series, Australians In Antarctica, currently airing on ABC Radio National.

John Laws says…
”Andrea Stretton (The Book Show), incidentally, must be one of TV’s unsung personalities.  She has a lovely, sunny smile, projects a warm personality and asks intelligent questions.  SBS should make much more use of her and once the commercial channels get some money in the piggy banks it wouldn’t surprise if they started to take a long look at her, too.”

Program Highlights (October 13-19):
Saturday:  Aussie Rules football goes international with the Fosters International Cup, featuring West Coast Eagles versus Melbourne, live from Portland, Oregon, on HSV7 this afternoon.  SBS covers cycling with the Commonwealth Bank Classic, a 1000km event from the Gold Coast to Wollongong.  The event will be broadcast on SBS for an hour each afternoon for the duration.

Sunday:  With the football now over, it’s cricket’s turn – the FAI Cup begins on GTV9 with NSW versus Queensland, live from Brisbane, followed by Western Australia versus Victoria, live from Perth.  Actor Max Gillies is the special guest on ABC’s arts program, Sunday Afternoon With Peter Ross.  Sunday night movies are Perry Mason: The Case Of The Lethal Lesson (HSV7), Empire Of The Sun (GTV9) and Predator (ATV10).  After the movie, HSV7 crosses to the US for Collingwood versus Essendon in the Fosters International Cup.

Monday: Comedy series Let The Blood Run Free celebrates the wedding of Dr Ray Good (Brian Nankervis) and Nurse Pam Sandwich (Jean Kittson, pictured) – with the reception being held in… the hospital reception.

Tuesday:  In Beyond 2000 (HSV7), reporter Amanda Keller looks at alternative herbal medicines used by the Mapuche Indians of southern Chile for centuries, and Bryan Smith visits a major city that is sinking 80cm a year because of poor water management.

Thursday:  HSV7 presents a repeat screening of the D-Generation comedy special, The D-Generation Goes Commercial.

Friday: As part of its celebration of ten years of broadcasting, SBS presents the first episode of mini-series Women Of The Sun, which first appeared on the network in 1982.  The series traces the impact European settlement has had on Aboriginal people, and their struggle to retain their individuality.

Source: TV Week (Victoria edition), incorporating TV Times and TV Guide.  13 October 1990.  Southdown Press.

1990: August 18-24

‘Whatever happened to old-fashioned romance?’
Being an actress since the age of nine, 16-year-old Rebekah Elmaloglou (pictured) has not had the most normal of childhoods and often yearns to be 'just an average teenager'.  Although while she let go of her childhood earlier than most, she believes young people should not rush to reach adulthood.  “There is no hurry to grow up,” she told TV Week.  “I think that a lot of teenagers miss out on so much.  They go out with each other and on the first night they are doing things that shouldn’t happen until a relationship has developed further.  Whatever happened to old-fashioned romance and innocent friendship?”  Meanwhile, her Home And Away character Sophie is about to embark on a simple 'old-fashioned' romance with Blake (Les Hill) and Elmaloglou hopes her character can be a good role model for teenage viewers.

Number 96 set to re-open its doors!
The Ten Network, battling flagging ratings, has been the subject of many rumours and reports around the television industry – only two weeks ago the network was reported to be seeking an exclusive output deal with Grundy Television.  TV Week now has it on good authority that Ten is considering a revival of Australia’s most infamous soap, Number 96, thirteen years after it ceased production.  Some network executives have believed that there is room on the network for a strong adult drama, much tougher than its current teen-based soaps Neighbours and E Street.  TV Week is informed that a group of Ten bosses have been viewing old episodes of the series with a plan to produce a 1990s version of the show.  Some of the show’s original cast may be joined by fresh faces in the revival.  When Number 96 debuted in 1972 it was dubbed ‘the night Australian television lost its virginity’ with a cast including sex symbol Abigail (pictured).  The series went on to shock and titillate its audience for the next six years with its popular mix of sex, drama and comedy.  The show won a swag of TV Week Logies, including several for best drama and a Gold Logie for cast member Pat McDonald.

Everyone’s Friend
Former Neighbours star Rachel Friend (pictured) is rapidly becoming one of TV’s hottest properties.  The 19-year-old has a lead role in the Nine Network’s big-budget mini-series, Golden Fiddles, and will soon play a ditzy hairdresser in the Ten Network’s upcoming comedy series Lipstick Dreams.  Then in December, she’s off to England to play the princess in the pantomime Aladdin’s Lamp.  “Neighbours seems a long time ago, and yet it’s not really,” she told TV Week.

Briefly…
The audience response to Seven’s Skirts might be lukewarm but that hasn’t stopped some of the show’s stars attracting the interest of producers of other shows.  Ben Mitchell, who plays Constable Bevan “Beverley” Quinn, is currently being targeted by the producers of Neighbours and has apparently already been offered a role should Seven not renew Skirts for another series.  In the meantime the producers of E Street are keen to sign up co-star Antionette Byron.

The Nine Network has had to revoke plans to move Graham Kennedy's Australia's Funniest Home Video Show to the Wednesday 7.30pm timeslot following an ultimatum from the host.  The new timeslot would have seen the show put up against Seven's comedy Hey Dad! which is produced by a close friend of Kennedy's, Gary Reilly, and the Nine Network host refused to put both shows into a ratings battle.

Former Chantoozies band member and manager David Reyne has decided to move from the music business and concentrate on acting.  The 31-year-old has already completed roles in the Seven Network mini-series Flair, the telemovie Bony, and is to star in the Nine Network mini-series Golden Fiddles.

John Laws says…
”If there’s one thing you don’t get on SBS’ Dateline current affairs program it’s a good laugh.  Dateline has a knack of looking at just about every issue from a worst-case scenario.  There is precious little middle ground as far as its reporters are concerned.  Issues are black and white.  Mostly black.  When Dateline’s hour is over, there’s just one more piece of “news” – the following week, announces host Paul Murphy, Dateline will reveal the shocking story of the plight of poverty-striken Indian peasants in war-wracked Guatemala.  Goodnight Paul.”

Program Highlights (August 18-24):
Sunday:  Mark Mitchell and newsreaders David Johnston and Tracey Curro present ATV10’s coverage of the 1990 Young Achievers’ Awards from the Hilton Hotel, Melbourne.  Sunday night movies are Starflight One (HSV7), Choices Of The Heart (GTV9) and Blue Collar (ATV10).

Monday:  ATV10 debuts a new Australian series A Waltz Through The Hills, based on the classic children’s novel which tells the story of two children living in a small Western Australian town in 1954.

Tuesday:  The debut of comedy series Let The Blood Run Free (featuring Jean Kittson and Peter Rowsthorn, pictured) on ATV10.  Meanwhile, ABC crosses to Canberra for a one-hour telecast of the 1990 Budget. 

Wednesday:  ABC’s Wednesday night special is Ladies In Line, a 90-minute documentary focusing on the successes and failures of a group of female recruits in the Australian Army. 

Friday:  HSV7 presents a re-run of the 1989 special Oz TV’s Greatest Commercials, taking a look back at some of the commercials that have been imbedded in the minds of Australian audiences.

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