Maintaining the Rage for 25 years

Next week it will be quarter of a century since ABC launched its first venture into all-night transmission with the debut of music video program Rage.

Debuting on Friday night, 17 April 1987, Rage was part of the generational change in the programming of popular music on television.  Studio-based programs like Countdown and Sounds were on the way out, while the influence of US cable channel MTV was making itself felt in Australia with Rage joining an Australian version of MTV (which debuted on Nine the previous night) and Network Ten programs Night Shift and Video Hits – all launched within months of each other.  With Video Hits ending last year, Rage is now the longest-running music video show ever on Australian television.

In celebrating the 25 year milestone for Rage, Tim Rogers will be presenting Maintain The Rage – highlights of the program’s history including some of the many artists that have guest hosted and programmed Rage over the years, as well as presenting some of the standout music videos to have been featured on the show.

At the same time, viewers will be asked to hold their own all-night parties for the occasion and to submit their own party photos and videos to Rage via Facebook or Twitter.  The party judged the best will win a piece of Rage history – the iconic red couch that has featured in the show.

In the meantime, Rage is also inviting fans to submit (via Twitter with the tag #screamwithrage) their own take on the iconic Rage scream which has featured in the show’s opening titles since 1987:

The most-watched, biggest and loudest Rage screams will be included in the Maintain The Rage special.

More details are at the Rage website.

Maintain The Rage, Saturday 21 April, 10.20pm.  ABC1

1992: February 1-7

How to succeed away from Wandin Valley
A Country Practice star Georgie Parker (pictured) is suddenly hot property on the theatre circuit, with two producers vying for her services for upcoming stage productions.  Parker, who is currently taping her final scenes for A Country Practice, has been offered the lead role in How To Succeed In Business Without Really Trying, scheduled to premiere in Sydney in September, and has been called for a second audition for the revival of the classic Gypsy.  Parker has also been offered a role in the Seven Network’s upcoming comedy Newlyweds, but has turned it down citing reluctance to accept another television series role so soon after ACP.

‘We’re great together!’
Garry McDonald and Ruth Cracknell, about to return to screens in a new series of Mother And Son, believe the series could go on indefinitely… or at least as long as writer Geoffrey Atherden writes the scripts.  “Over the years it’s become funnier,” Cracknell told TV Week.  “Good comedy doesn’t go away.”  And the two actors quite happily continue their light-hearted banter even when the cameras stop rolling.  Cracknell confides that McDonald tells all the jokes, but her trademark one-liners on screen are carried over off screen with just as much success.  “We’re great together,” she chuckles.  “It would have been a wonderful marriage!”

‘I was absolutely shaken…’
When A Country Practice star Joyce Jacobs (pictured) heard that her fellow cast-mates Syd Heylen and Gordon Piper were being written out of the series, she thought she would be next.  “I was absolutely shaken!,” she told TV Week.  “It was a great shock and my first thought was, ‘It’s me as well’.  I have been more involved with the doctors in the past year or two and in fewer scenes with Cookie (Heylen) and Bob (Piper).  We’ll miss them.  There was always laughter, although you could thump them sometimes.”  Jacobs is now in her 11th year in A Country Practice as snoopy Esme Watson, but she was not the first choice for the role.  In the series pilot she played an extra, Wilma, who had little dialogue.  It was a character that Jacobs didn’t think would go anywhere, much like the woman she used to play in Number 96.  “I used to go into Mr Godolfus’ shop and buy a quarter of a pound of tea, but they blew them all up didn’t they?,” she said.  But she was later chosen to play Esme Watson in A Country Practice after the actress originally cast for the role had dropped out.  But like any television performer, Jacobs admits nothing is forever.  “I think if and when A Country Practice finishes I’d be glad to do a little cameo role in a film now and then.  It would be nice.  I couldn’t go into another series.  I’m too old… past retirement age, you know.”

Briefly…
All Together Now’s Steven Jacobs (pictured) and former Countdown Revolution co-host Tania Lacey have signed on as presenters of Nine’s new Saturday morning show, Saturday At Rick’s.  The program, to go to air live for two hours each week, is reminiscent of the early days of Hey Hey It’s Saturday.  The new show, to debut later this month, is expected to be produced at Warner Bros Movie World on the Gold Coast.  Two more presenters are also to be signed up.

Network Ten has commissioned a second series of sitcom Bingles before the first series has even gone to air.  The series, set in a panel-beating workshop, stars Shane Bourne, Tammy MacIntosh, Nick Bufalo and Russell Gilbert. 

Acclaimed young actor Russell Crowe (pictured) will be a guest star in the second series of ABC’s Police Rescue.  Crowe, who won an AFI award for his role in Proof, is currently appearing on the big screen in the long-awaited Spotswood.  In Police Rescue he plays Senior Constable Tom Younger, a local football hero and new member of the squad.  Producer John Edwards is excited about Crowe joining the show.  “Russell is a fabulous actor,” he said.  “He’s also a charismatic and exciting personality.”

Lawrie Masterson’s Sound Off
”When he took my call, Ian Frykberg was on the Gold Coast in Queensland.  It was windy rather than sunny, but, anyway, he was doing some work preparatory to a 12-metre yacht challenge later this year.  Then he was due to leave for Albertville, France, not just for a dramatic change of climate, but for the 1992 Winter Olympics.  Before the Winter Olympics are over, Frykberg is going to be casting an anxious eye towards places as far flung as Mackay in Queensland, Berri in South Australia and Napier, New Zealand.  They are just some of the venues for the World Cup of cricket.  And before that’s over, there’s the not inconsequential matter of the NSW Rugby League starting its 1992 season on 20 March.  Such is life when you’re director of sport at the Nine Network…”

Program Highlights (Melbourne, February 1-7):
Saturday:  Afternoon sport includes a repeat of last Monday’s NFL Superbowl (ABC) and Fifth Test Cricket, live from Perth, on Nine.

Sunday:  ABC’s rural affairs program Landline returns for another year.  Afternoon sport includes Test Cricket on Nine and the Ironman Super Series on Ten.  At 6.30pm, Ten launches Bert Newton’s New Faces, reviving the title and format that Newton hosted at the Nine Network from 1976 to 1985 in the same timeslot.  Also at 6.30pm is the return of Seven’s The Main Event, hosted by Larry Emdur, followed by US sitcom Full House and debut of new US series Dinosaurs.  The Simpsons returns with new episodes on Ten at 7.30pm, followed by the debut of locally-made sitcom Late For School, starring Frankie J. Holden, Sarah Chadwick and Matthew Newton.  Sunday night movies are Runaway Train (Seven), Gulag (Nine) and Uncle Buck (Ten).

Monday:  Current affairs programs Four Corners and Lateline are back for another year on ABC, while Seven’s late-night variety show Tonight Live With Steve Vizard returns for its third year.  Although it was widely tipped for a Saturday night timeslot, Ten debuts its new lifestyle/magazine show Healthy Wealthy And Wise on Monday, hosted by Jacki MacDonald (pictured) and Ronnie Burns and featuring Iain Hewitson, Ross Greenwood, Jim Brown and Lyn Talbot.

Tuesday:  In A Country Practice (Seven), Shirley (Lorrae Desmond) is suspicious of Muldoon’s (Brian Moll) sudden generosity, while Matron Prior (Maureen Edwards) tries to keep Kate (Michelle Pettigrove) away from Harry (Andrew Blackman).  Gordon Bray and Karen Tighe present the 41st annual ABC Sports Awards, from the New Maritime Museum in Sydney.  In Beyond 2000 (Seven), Amanda Keller (pictured) examines virtual reality systems where the observer exists in a 3D, computer-generated world.

Wednesday:  In E Street (Ten), Steven (Vince Martin, pictured) makes a bold move, while Alice (Marianne Howard) gets an offer she can’t refuse, and CJ (Adrian Lee) gets advice on wooing the modern woman.

Thursday:  In The Flying Doctors (Nine), Penny (Sophie Lee) turns to Guy (David Reyne) for comfort, little realising the strength of their mutual attraction.  In Home And Away (Seven), Sophie’s (Rebekah Elmaloglou) fears for her baby’s future seem justified.  Seven presents an ‘encore’ screening of US series Dinosaurs from Sunday night.

Friday:  Documentary series A Big Country returns to ABC, this week focusing on the Spencer family who live in the far north of the Cape York Peninsula.  Seven years ago they made the break from society.  Nine crosses to the Sydney Football Stadium for the Seven’s International Rugby League, with commentators Ray Warren and Darrell Eastlake.  Nine’s late-night music show MTV returns for the new year, hosted by Richard Wilkins.

Source: TV Week (Victoria edition), incorporating TV Times and TV Guide.  1 February 1992.  Southdown Press

Video Hits suffers in Ten cutbacks

The new management at the Ten Network, led by acting CEO Lachlan Murdoch, have this week made their move towards cutting costs as it continues to dismantle some of the strategies laid down by the previous management and re-establish the network’s low-cost business model.

The network is looking to cut around 60 staff through voluntary redundancies – including 22 editorial positions – in what Murdoch told staff in an internal email is “a necessary but inevitably painful restructure”.  If the required number of voluntary redundancies are not met then the network may look at forced redundancies.

Another 40 non-contract positions have reportedly already been cut as the network shuts down its publicity and marketing arms in Brisbane, Adelaide and Perth and abolishes its separate sales teams for Ten and digital channels One and Eleven.

Ten is also believed to be reviewing its program and on-air presenting line-up, with particular attention to its news and current affairs portfolio, as it looks to rein in some of the costs incurred by the recent investment in current affairs program 6.30 With George Negus and the launch of additional news bulletins.

The advent of digital channel Eleven is also said to have put financial pressures on the business.

High-profile names such as George Negus and Sandra Sully are believed to be safe, for now.

Late night stalwart Sports Tonight, which began back in 1993, is believed to have been axed as the network walks away from its role as joint broadcaster of AFL after ten years.  The network is also expected to allow some of its other sporting contracts to lapse, affecting coverage of sports such as basketball and netball, as high-definition channel One is strategically moving away from being a purely sports-oriented format.

But so far the only program to have been formally announced as being cancelled is a somewhat surprising one – Video Hits, currently hosted by Dylan Lewis and Faustina Agolley (pictured).

The weekend music program, which debuted on TEN10 Sydney in February 1987 (Melbourne’s ATV10 didn’t take up the program until almost a year later), is set to wind up with a retrospective of its marathon run on Saturday, 6 August.

In a press release issued today, programming chief David Mott acknowledged the contribution and longevity of the program:

"Video Hits' contribution to the network and the music industry over the past 24 years has been outstanding. Music and how people listen to it, watch it and enjoy it has changed dramatically in last few years and now is the perfect time for the institution that is Video Hits to sign off. The show will always hold a special place in Ten's history.”

Video Hits began purely as a compilation of music video clips at a time when a generational change was occurring in television, as studio productions like Countdown and Sounds were making way for dedicated music clip programs – with Rage, MTV, Night Shift and Video Hits all launching during 1987.

Video Hits later expanded its format to include interviews and live performances.  The show has helped establish the careers of various Australian artists, including Missy Higgins, Angus and Julia Stone and Art Vs Science.

The cancellation of Video Hits now leaves ABC1’s Rage as the only significant program on free-to-air television dedicated to music – and it is largely buried in an overnight timeslot – and with few variety programs on free-to-air television there are even fewer TV opportunities for the promotion of Australian recording artists and music industry in general.

Ten’s newly-appointed CEO, former Seven Network executive James Warburton, takes over the reigns from Murdoch in January.

Source: ABC, The Australian, Network Ten

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: December 29-January 4

Summer Bay was never like this!
Home And Away’s Mat Stevenson and Emily Symons, who play lovebirds Adam and Marilyn in the series, had a few days at Great Keppel Island during a production break for the Seven Network series.  Stevenson is now holidaying in America while Symons is doing a pantomime in the UK before production for Home And Away resumes in the new year.

Hey Hey it’s Daryl!
TV Week announces that Hey Hey It’s Saturday’s Daryl Somers will host the 33rd annual TV Week Logie Awards to be held in March and televised on the Nine Network.  The awards presentation will also be held at a new venue – the World Congress Centre in Melbourne.  It will be Somers’ second hosting of the Awards, having hosted the night once before in 1988.  “I enjoyed the hell out of it,” Somers told TV Week.  “It proved to be a really rewarding experience from an adrenalin point of view.  The whole team was very innovative and I like going out on a limb, so I’m looking forward to doing it again.  The industry might be down at the moment, but hopefully the Logies will be the usual night of fun.”

Have a soapie new year!
There will be plenty of dramas, romance, new arrivals and shock departures as Australia’s popular soaps enter a new year: 

• A Country Practice celebrates its 800th episode in February and the series will soon welcome a new matron to replace departing matron Ann Brennan (Mary Regan) – while Luke Ross (Matt Day) faces a new life in the city as an apprentice with Qantas, but what will happen with his potential relationship with Steve Brennan (Sophie Heathcote, pictured)?
• Neighbours’ lovebirds Matt (Ashley Paske) and Gemma (Beth Buchanan) have moved in together, much to the frustration of Madge (Anne Charleston) and Harold (Ian Smith).  Joe Mangel (Mark Little) faces the possibility of losing his daughter Sky (Miranda Fryer) as her natural father Eric (John Ley) is desperate to win a custody battle and take her to New Zealand following the death of her mother Kerry (Linda Hartley).  And Jim Robinson (Alan Dale) faces a dilemma when a man claiming to be his illegitimate son arrives in Ramsay Street.
• Former E Street star Paul Kelman (pictured) makes a guest appearance in ABC’s GP before starting an extended role in Nine’s The Flying Doctors.  Also joining the Nine Network series will be David Reyne, Nikki Coghill and Sophie Lee.
• E Street enters its third season with the departure of cast members Penny Cook, Vic Rooney and Warren Jones – but joining the series will be former A Country Practice star Kate Raison and former Family And Friends star Adrian Lee.  Meanwhile, the relationship between Harley (Malcolm Kennard) and Toni (Toni Pearen) faces challenges as Harley is hired as a ‘personal assistant’ to newspaper editor Sheridan Sturgess (Raison) and Toni takes a sudden interest in feminism with the encouragement of free-minded Alice (Marianne Howard).
• Home And Away will start 1991 with Bobby (Nicolle Dickson) lying in hospital waiting to find out the fate of her unborn child.  A new policeman, Constable Nick Parish (Bruce Roberts) moves into Summer Bay – as the relationship between Pippa (Debra Lawrence) and Michael (Dennis Coard) is challenged with the arrival of Michael’s wife Cynthia (former The Box and Sons And Daughters star Belinda Giblin).  Sophie (Rebekah Elmaloglou) becomes embroiled in a love triangle with Blake (Les Hill) and new arrival Hayden (Andrew Hill).

Briefly…
Aussie-based actress Imogen Annesley, currently starring in the UK soap Families, had looked forward to a rest in Sydney while the soap was on a break.  Instead, she has been in Melbourne as the last-minute replacement for Tammy MacIntosh in the comedy film Garbo.  MacIntosh had to withdraw from the movie after suffering a broken collarbone.

E Street producers have now had second thoughts about not renewing the contract of Bunney Brooke (pictured), who plays Aunty Vi in the series.  They had originally planned to have Aunty Vi exit the series to coincide with the departure of Ernie Patchett (Vic Rooney) but her popularity in the show appears to have saved her character from the axe.

Several Nine Network personalities were on hand at Sydney’s Hard Rock Cafe to assist with its hosting of a Christmas dinner for 100 needy people from the Sydney City Mission.  A Current Affair host Jana Wendt was in charge of serving the greens, Today’s Steve Liebmann and Elizabeth Hayes were in charge of turkey and mash and MTV’s Richard Wilkins was driving the gravy train.

John Laws says…
”Why on earth does Nine make such little use of its stump cam gimmick?  When it was first introduced we were told how revolutionary it was, and how nothing like it had been done before and how it would change the way we viewed cricket on TV.  Which was all absolutely correct.  But what does Nine achieve with stump cam?  Very little, it seems to me.”

Program Highlights (December 29-January 4):
Saturday:  More tennis (Hopman Cup from Perth) on HSV7 and cricket (second test from the MCG) on GTV9.

Sunday:  Sunday night movies are The River Rat (HSV7) and Wills And Burke (ATV10), while ABC presents the Vienna New Year Concert, featuring the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra.

Monday (New Year’s Eve):  HSV7’s summer of tennis continues with the Australian Women’s Hardcourt Championships, live from Brisbane.  ATV10’s Neighbours makes an early return for the 1991 season.  The new year is heralded by MTV Party Zone on GTV9, a repeat of The Wall – Berlin Concert on ATV10 and all-night Rage on ABC.

Tuesday:  GTV9 crosses to Sydney for the Benson And Hedges World Series cricket, Australia versus England.

Friday:  GTV9’s cricket coverage continues with Day One of the Third Test, Australia versus England, live from Sydney.  Virginia Hey, Ernie Dingo, Nick Tate and Trey Ames star in GTV9’s family drama series Dolphin Cove, a US production set in Queensland. 

Source: TV Week (Victoria country edition), incorporating TV Times and TV Guide. 29 December 1990. 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: June 16-22

Cover: Josephine Mitchell, Craig McLachlan (Home And Away)

Wog out of work!
The Seven Network’s hit comedy Acropolis Now is now entering production of its third series but it will be without one of its key cast members.  Simon Palomares, who plays Ricky, has decided not to appear in the third series and will focus on a behind the scenes role.  “I think it got to the point where there were a few reasons for leaving,” he told TV Week.  “The main reason is that I’ve been doing ethnic humour longer than any of the three of us.  I think I’ve said as much as I can say on the subject.  There are a lot of other issues I want to get into.”  Palomares is preparing a pilot for a new comedy-adventure series and is planning a one-man show to go on stage later in the year.

Rebecca careers on
Actress Rebecca Gibney hasn’t looked back since she left the Nine Network’s The Flying Doctors last year.  As soon as she left the show, Gibney took on the role of Guinea (pictured) in ABC’s Come In Spinner and has just completed a new mini-series, Ring Of Scorpio, for Nine.  She is now about to start in a new sitcom for Nine.  Rhythm And Blues will feature Gibney alongside Jon English, whose character is a ‘60s rock star who hasn’t come to terms with the ‘90s.  “I’ve never done comedy before,” she told TV Week.  “When I shot the pilot I was terrified because I’d never worked in front of a live audience before.  That was very daunting.”  The new series is set to debut later in the year.

New York, here I come!
Andrew Daddo (pictured), former co-host of ABC’s The Factory, has landed a job with the US cable network, MTV.  Daddo caught the eye of MTV producers when the network screened an episode of The Factory, as part of the channel’s regular screenings of music shows from around the world.  “They do it to borrow ideas, which is the norm, and apparently someone walked past and my fat head caught in their eye.  They rang MTV in Sydney to find my agent’s number and asked me to send over a showreel.  A week later I was on a plane to New York,” he told TV Week.  The plum job is a far cry from Daddo being overlooked as a host for ABC’s new Countdown Revolution when it was formed last year, instead he was offered only a minor role on the new show which he left after only six weeks on-air.  “I have no bad feelings for ABC.  It was just one of those things.  In fact, seeing what Countdown is now, maybe they did me a favour,” he says.

Briefly… 
Actress Katy Brinson (pictured) played a barrister in the Seven Network’s Rafferty’s Rules.  Now she is taking on a far different role in Seven’s new series Skirts, playing the role of an alcoholic writer who beats her daughter. 

Former Neighbours star Rachel Friend is to star in a comedy pilot being made for Network Ten.  The new series, Lipstick Dreams, is based on a theatre production that recently had a successful run in Sydney and features four women who work on a beauty parlour in a country town.

Neighbours star Linda Hartley, who is about to tape her final scenes for the Network Ten series, is shortly heading off to the UK to star in the touring stage production of Prisoner and has also scored a pantomime role in the UK.  She will appear in the production of Mother Goose, joining former Neighbours castmate Kristian Schmid.

John Laws says…
”If the legendary Monty Python team were still around today they could find plenty of material to ridicule in the ABC’s new series Let’s Do Lunch.  My own impression was that the whole idea for the program had been dreamed up at a long, boozy lunch.  Usually, in the sober light of the following morning, such alcohol-inspired ideas are seen for exactly what they are.  Not, apparently, in the case of Let’s Do Lunch.  Whatever its origins, its entire theme is predicated around two people gorging themselves with food and booze, at lunch.  Along the way, we are treated to the self-indulgence of ths host, Maurice Murphy (pictured), who roams around clutching a video camera taking pictures of himself.  At which, I suppose, we are all supposed to laugh uproariously.”

Program Highlights (June 16-22):
World Cup:  SBS continues its daily coverage of the FIFA World Cup from Italy, with live coverage of matches screened overnight and replays the following afternoon, followed by a 90-minute highlights package at 7.00pm.  ABC takes on SBS’ overnight match coverage for regional viewers who don’t have access to SBS and also presents a nightly one-hour highlights package on all ABC stations.

Saturday:  Legal drama Rafferty’s Rules returns with new episodes screening on HSV7.

Sunday:  In the lead up to the return of dance competition That’s Dancin’, ABC screens a replay of the 1989 series grand final, presented by Paul Newman and Maureen Delacy.  Sunday night movies are In The Line Of Duty: The FBI Murders (HSV7) and For Love Alone (ATV10).  GTV9 screens the first part of mini-series Passion And Paradise, with the second and final part screening the following night.

Tuesday:  In ABC’s medical drama GP, Cathy (Sarah Chadwick) finds out she is pregnant but her relationship with Jack (John O’Hare) hits rocky ground when his initial reaction to the news is less than enthusiastic.

Thursday: In The Flying Doctors (GTV9), a troubled young man finally his past to rest when a seven-year-old car wreck is found, and the mystery of his parents’ disappearance is solved. 

Friday:  In Neighbours (ATV10), Paul (Stefan Dennis) is shocked to discover the identity of Caroline’s (Gillian Blakeney) mystery date.

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

1990: January 27-February 2

Cover: Cher

Steve lays down the law
When Fast Forward’s Steve Vizard threw in a lucrative legal career to go into television comedy, everyone told him he was an idiot.  “And I am an idiot,” he says.  “You can see what a fundamentally good decision it was to leave a great job in law to join Qintex at this particular time.”  Vizard’s company, United Film Completion, is busy preparing comedy and variety program ideas for the Seven Network.  In 1989, the network had a hit with sketch comedy program Fast Forward, and Vizard’s new venture, Tonight Live, launches this week.  Vizard also says that there are “three or four other projects in the pipeline.”  In the lead-up to Tonight Live’s debut, Vizard and Seven are in negotiation for the network’s Melbourne newsreader, Jennifer Keyte, to read news on the program.

Glamour in three easy steps
Actress Anne Phelan, famous for playing rough inmate Myra Desmond in Prisoner and the frumpy Mama in Harp In The South and Poor Man’s Orange, is taking a somewhat more upmarket tone in her new role as cafe owner Dawn Dickson in the Nine Network’s new series, Family And Friends.  “With Family And Friends, I’m actually going to look like myself, only a bit tarted up – and to be truthful I’m not looking forward to all that.  I would rather be disguised,” she commented.  The new series follows the lives of two families, the Chandlers and the Rossis, divided by hatred over three generations.

Rowena shares a secret
Former Neighbours star Rowena Mohr (pictured) has decided to pursue an acting career in the UK, but is leaving behind her most treasured fan, her younger sister, Judy, who has an intellectual disability.  “Judy’s biggest thrill was when I joined Neighbours.  She thought it was wonderful and told all her friends about it.  I even had to get her special photographs and sweatshirts signed by the cast,” Mohr says.  “She’s the only one who writes to me regularly.”  Since settling in the UK, Mohr has had to cope with the English press.  In one interview, she jokingly told a reporter she would have to find an English husband – and was then inundated with offers.

Briefly…
Singer Tina Turner has just departed Australia after filming a series of commercials for the NSW Rugby League.  The $2 million ad campaign, featuring Turner’s hit The Best, was filmed around Sydney and the Gold Coast.

Actress Mary Regan (pictured) is to replace Joan Sydney as matron of Wandin Valley Hospital in A Country Practice.  The new matron could well be a romantic interest for either of the hospital’s doctors, Chris Kouros (Michael Muntz) or Terence Elliot (Shane Porteous).  Sydney has already finished taping for A Country Practice and is now preparing for her next role in the stage play Mrs Klein, co-starring Helen Morse and Michelle Fawdon.

TV funnyman Jonathan Coleman has married his long-time girlfriend, Margot Fitzpatrick, at a ceremony at Sydney’s Taronga Zoo.  The newlywed couple are honeymooning in Thailand, followed by London and Paris.  Coleman in interested in working in the US and Europe, but is not about to cut ties with Australia – he has been in talks with Steve Vizard over a possible involvement in new show Tonight Live.  Coleman has also taped a pilot for an Australian version of Entertainment This Week.

Bert Newton (pictured), whose last radio gig was at 3DB, has said that he would like to get back into radio and has confirmed that there have been some offers.  “I’d have to be in the right shift,” he says.  “I proved to myself at 3DB that I’m not a breakfast man.  I don’t think my conversational style is right for the corn flakes.  Lately I’ve been listening to quite a bit of radio and I’ve found that what is good is very good and what is bad is terrible.”

On The Grapevine…
An out-of-work soapie actress has taken to playing the didgeridoo in the pedestrian tunnel at Sydney’s Central Station in order to bring home the bacon.

Who was the popular young Sydney actor, well acquainted with playing the role of a car thief, who found himself on the receiving end recently?  A shopping spree to Bondi cost him a lot more than he expected when he returned to the car park to find his chariot missing.  Even more tragic, the car wasn’t insured.

John Laws says…
”The demise of female newsreaders in Sydney doesn’t come as too much of a surprise.  Perhaps 1990 will be remembered as the year of living gentlemanly.  The past few years have seen women move into a wide area of high-profile TV jobs.  Some were competent – such as Jana Wendt – but others lacked the necessary “zing” that captures huge ratings and all-round public approval.  Woman after woman was thrown up against TCN9’s Brian Henderson (pictured) to try to break his iron grip on the news ratings in Sydney – and all failed.  Now we have a male line-up confronting him, including former 60 Minutes heavyweight Ian Leslie on Ten.  It’s desperate stuff.  Ten’s one-hour format – I’m assuming here it’s going to remain – is also a problem.  By the time it’s waddled halfway through its bulletin, Nine and Seven have wrapped up and have moved on.  The result is that Ten gets the image of being a slowcoach, even though it presents a fuller news service.”

Lawrie Masterson’s Sound Off
”From initial impressions anyway, the first new Australian soap of the Nineties certainly looks handsome.  Family And Friends blends some fresh new faces with a few who are tried and true.  My tip?  This one will work.  Nine at last has a soap with a potentially long and healthy life.”

Program Highlights (Melbourne):
Saturday:  HSV7 debuts two new Saturday morning programs, Saturday Disney and Video Smash Hits, the latter hosted by Michael Horrocks (Cartoon Connection) and Emily Symons (Richmond Hill, Home And Away).  That night, HSV7 crosses to Tamworth for the Australasian Country Music Awards.  SBS interrupts its Saturday evening programming for a live, ten-minute cross to Moonee Valley, Melbourne for the Victoria Cup harness racing.

Sunday:  The Men’s Singles Final of the Australian Open is telecast live on HSV7 in the afternoon, up against GTV9’s continued daily coverage of the Commonwealth Games from Auckland, New Zealand.  Sunday night movies are Hoodwink (HSV7) and Brubaker (ATV10), while ABC presents the Sydney Theatre Company’s production of The Ham Funeral, starring Kerry Walker, Max Cullen, Robyn Nevin and Maggie Kirkpatrick.

Monday:  From 10.00am, ABC presents live coverage of the 1990 NFL Superbowl, direct from New Orleans.  And with the tennis season now over, HSV7’s weekday line-up returns, including current affairs program Eleven AM, the midday movie and afternoon re-runs of US shows Perry Mason, Beverly Hillbillies, I Dream Of Jeannie and Get Smart.  Nine’s Sale Of The Century returns for 1990 in its traditional 7.00pm timeslot.  SBS screens the Australian movie Kostas, starring Wendy Hughes and Takis Emmanuel.  Steve Vizard presents the first edition of his new late-night show, Tonight Live.

Tuesday:  GTV9’s coverage of the Commonwealth Games gets an early start, 4.50am, to cover the men’s marathon.  ABC’s popular medical drama GP (pictured) begins its second series.

Friday:  HSV7 presents live coverage from Perth of the Davis Cup, Australia versus France.  GTV9’s late-night music video program, MTV, returns for the new year.

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