1978: November 25-December 1

How Georgiou stays a jump ahead
The cops featured in Crawford Productions' police dramas are used to high-speed car chases, but actor John Orcsik (pictured) from Cop Shop is just at home on a horse.  A former bodybuilder and karate student, Orcsik for several years owned and operated a horse riding school in Western Australia: "I gave it away in the end because I was working on my body at the time and as I built myself up I became too heavy for the horses."  Orcsik is glad to be able to include horse-riding as a skill when applying for acting roles, but it has only been called upon in the ABC series Ben Hall and in a guest appearance on Tandarra.

Mark's taste of Hollywood
Returning from the Cannes Film Festival saw pop star and actor Mark Holden make a stop in Hollywood, and three months later he's still there.  Originally planning to visit the US to gather songs for his new album, Holden has ended up with a producer and has been arranging and recording tracks, proposing them to record companies, and also attending an acting school.

Germaine to look us over
Aussie ex-pat Germaine Greer is heading to Australia to make a documentary on Sydney as part of the Canadian-produced series Cities Of The World.  Other cities to be featured in the series include Leningrad, Rome, Stockholm, Berlin, Toronto, Jerusalem, New York and Dublin.  The series, being produced by British-born John McGreevy, is expected to air towards the end of 1979.

Tiny talented Tina
According to her mother, 10-year-old Tina Arena (pictured) "had been making singing and chattering noises almost from the day she was born, and when she was two we knew she would have to do something in showbusiness."  The youngster's penchant for singing led to her parents entering her into the Young Talent Time new talent segment.  Tina recalls, "I won the heat and the quarter finals, but I lost the semi-finals.  I wasn't disappointed and I enjoyed myself, but it was a complete surprise when Johnny Young asked if I would join the team. "  The young star is hopeful of an acting career when she is older.

Briefly:
Staff at Melbourne's ATV0 have been amused by the placement of sets for the new series Prisoner.  The replica prison wall, exercise area and vegetable garden are all located next to the channel's administration offices.

Former Number 96 star Harry Michaels (pictured) is celebrating the first anniversary of his weekly daytime variety program Greek Affair which he hosts and produces for the 0-10 Network.  The program is also screened in Cyprus and Michaels is also negotiating to sell the program to the United Kingdom, Canada and the United States.

ABC sports commentator Norman May has tipped England to win the Australia-England Test Series which starts in Brisbane this week.  Joining May on ABC's summer cricket coverage will be former Test captain Bobby Simpson, Keith Miller and Frank Tyson.

Newly-retired naval officer Commander Alun Evans has joined ABC as an advisor on the new series Patrol Boat.

Viewpoint: Letters to the Editor:
"ABC has one big weak point.  It does not show good quality full-length movies on a regular basis."  D Irving, NSW.

"What is wrong with the stations they they spend thousands on such rubbish as Micro Macro (pictured) and Blankety Blanks?  They are an insult to the average person's intelligence.  Do they really think we are so dumb?"  A McCallum, VIC.

"I'd like to see foreign films on TV (with subtitles of course), and every TV station having its own theatrette in town, to take the place of 'news theatres'.  Why shouldn't someone, who has an hour or two to spare, be able to pop into a mini-theatre to pay to watch on a maxi-screen, the program that they could have been watching had they stayed at home."  P Cunningham, NSW.

What's On (November 25-December 1):
The Seven Network's summer tennis coverage begins with the Queensland Open from Brisbane on Saturday and Sunday, followed by the Federation Cup, the women's equivalent of the Davis Cup, from Monday through to Friday, live from Kooyong in Melbourne.

The Nine Network's usual daytime line-up of US soap operas takes a break for summer, with re-runs of Australian dramas Division Four and Silent Number appearing in the schedule.

ABC's weekly game show Micro Macro moves from Friday nights to Monday at 6.25pm.

The 1978-79 season of World Series Cricket starts on Tuesday with Australia versus the West Indies, telecast live from the Sydney Cricket Ground, on GTV9 from 2.20pm through to 10.30pm.  The following day features Australia versus The World.

On Wednesday night, HSV7 presents a repeat of the one-hour special John Denver In Australia, while ATV0 screens a repeat of the Holiday Survival Test showing viewers how to avoid common accidents over the upcoming holiday period.

The first cricket Test, Australia versus England, starts on Friday with live coverage on ABC from the Brisbane Cricket Ground.  Coverage starts at 11.50am and continues through to 6.30pm.

Friday night sees the final edition of ABC's long-running current affairs program This Day Tonight, ending an almost twelve-year run.

Sunday night movies are Baffled (HSV7), Kotch (GTV9) and an Australian film Squeeze A Flower (ATV0) featuring Rowena Wallace, Jeff Ashby and Barry Crocker.

Source: TV Times (Melbourne edition), 25 November 1978.  ABC/ACP

1978: November 4-10

Their Restless Years
Three of The Restless Years' more 'senior' cast members were asked by TV Times to recall some of their own 'restless years'.  June Salter (pictured, bottom right) recalled hiding her smoking habit from her parents, "when I finally had the courage to tell mum 'I'm 23 and I'm going to smoke in front of you from now on,' she replied 'I don't see why not, you've been doing it behind my back since you were 17."  John Hamblin admitted to being a bit of a loner and spending a lot time bird-watching: "not the two-legged variety, the feathery kind.  Birds, history and castles were my passions." But at the age of 20 he was seduced by a woman 15 years his senior, changing his whole attitude to life.  Jill Forster said in her younger years she was "all those terrible things: Head prefect, school captain, very bookish.  Probably because I was an only child."  She later had a string of failed romances from the time she was 17, "I was always a romantic in search of the great love."

Our Sally hits the jackpot!
Former Young Talent Time cast member Sally Boyden has just returned from Hollywood where she completed a role in the movie Little Dragons, and is now to return to the US to star in the Mary Poppins-type film The Adventures Of Holly Hobby.  The young star, now set to become the highest paid Australian child performer to date, is also contracted to appear in a thirteen-part TV series based on the telemovie Lassie The New Beginning. 

TV's reluctant prince of pop
Countdown's Ian 'Molly' Meldrum (pictured, interviewing HRH Prince Charles on Countdown's 100th episode) can't sing, dance or act, admits that he isn't the most articulate speaker, and hates being on camera.  Despite this he is one of Australian TV's most influential personalities.  "I never wanted to work in front of the camera - in fact, all I ever wanted to do was to be a record producer and a journalist," he told TV Times. "If I had my way I wouldn't be on screen at all."  Meldrum's TV career started miming pop songs on ATV0's Kommotion and later presenting a weekly segment on Uptight, a program which Meldrum describes as "the best thing ever to happen in Australian pop.  It was the forerunner to everything."  After working in London and the US, Meldrum reluctantly returned to TV in 1973 to present a rock report on a Saturday morning program for HSV7, and then the following year was involved in a trial run for a new pop music show for ABC called Countdown.  But despite hosting one of the most popular TV shows in the country and earning what he calls a "comfortable" wage, Meldrum still says he's hopeless with money, forgetting to pay a string of parking fines and, after a recent burglary, realised he'd also forgotten to renew his insurance, "I have an accountant to look after my interests now."

Briefly:
Cast members of The Restless Years made a guest appearance on the 1000th episode of Bernard King's (pictured) morning TV show King's Kitchen, to screen next month on the 0-10 Network and on STW9 Perth. 

Cast and crew associated with the new 0-10 Network series Prisoner have been banned from speaking to the press.

TV Times reporter Joanna Parsons was involved in a plot to lure actor Ron Frazer into a fake interview which would be 'interrupted' by Roger Climpson claiming "Ron Frazer, This Is Your Life!"

Viewpoint: Letters to the Editor:
"What is going on?  We have one variety show in Adelaide, The Ernie Sigley Show, apart from the eastern imports.  Is this all Adelaide can offer?  Compared to The Don Lane Show and Mike Walsh, the Ernie Sigley show is dead.  Poor old Ernie, I think it is time he gave it away before it gives him away."  G. Culbertson, SA.

"Having only one channel here, ABC, we are forced to watch with disgust, episodes of The Truckies.  I feel The Truckies is a slur on hard-working and responsible truck drivers and makes them look like morons."  N. Ford, NT.

"I think The Truckies is thoroughly entertaining and John Wood (pictured), who plays Stokey, is one of my favourite Australian actors."  G. Wallenda, WA.

"I wish to complain about a program on our local TV station, a special The Battle Of Eureka Stockade, rated A.  It was on at 5pm and this is a time that young children are watching television.  I thought it would be a good educational program, but with words like 'bastards', 'slut', 'rip your guts out' and so on, it was not very educational."  E. O'Connor, QLD.

What's On (November 4-10):
The 0-10 Network has secured the rights to televising the events of the VRC Melbourne Cup Carnival for the first time.  Saturday's coverage starts with a Cup Carnival Breakfast, held at the ATV0 studios and hosted by Michael Williamson, followed by Derby Day coverage from Flemington.  On Tuesday, ATV0 presents eight hours of Melbourne Cup Day coverage, starting at 9.00am with a Melbourne Cup Day Preview, then at 11.00am Michael Schildberger hosts six hours of Melbourne Cup coverage, with races called by Clem Dimsey.  Thirteen cameras will be placed around Flemington Racecourse to capture the day's events including fashion displays.  ATV0 then returns to Flemington for Oaks Day on Thursday.

The non-ratings season is now evident with some regular shows having finished up or moved to alternative timeslots and some lesser-known replacements filling in. 

GTV9's The Young Doctors (pictured) has been moved to 8.30pm two nights a week, with its usual 6.00pm timeslot filled by repeats of the US comedy Nanny And The Professor.  And filling the gap left by The Daryl And Ossie Show, which finished on ATV0 last week, is an American game show All Star Anything Goes, featuring teams representing various US sitcoms and dramas including Eight Is Enough, The Brady Bunch, The Jeffersons and The Waltons.  ATV0's The Peter Couchman Show has been replaced by late-night movies, and British series Coronation Street is returned to GTV9, screening Monday and Tuesday nights.

Despite the exodus of some programs for the summer, regular programs including Cop Shop, The Sullivans, The Don Lane Show, The Mike Walsh Show, The Steve Raymond Show, Blankety Blanks, The Restless Years, Willesee At Seven, Countdown, The Inventors, Micro Macro (pictured) and This Day Tonight are still in the schedule.

Sunday night movies are the Australian film The Night Nurse (HSV7), Rosetti And Ryan (GTV9) and Assault On A Queen (ATV0), while ABC presents the Australian Opera production of  Fra Diavolo.

Source: TV Times (Melbourne edition), 4 November 1978.  ABC/ACP

1978: October 28-November 3

Sammys Golden Night
It was a Who's Who of Australian Showbusiness when 800 stars, producers and writers gathered at Sydney's Seymour Centre on 11 October for the third annual Sammy Awards.  The awards, held in partnership between TV Times, the Variety Club of Australia charity and the Seven Network, honour the Australian film and television industries.  The event is also a major fund-raising effort for Variety which has collected over $30,000 over the last three years.

1978 Sammy Awards TV category winners: Gold (male): Mike Walsh Gold (female): June Salter Chips Rafferty Memorial Award: Ken G Hall Best Actor in a Single TV Performance: Tony Bonner (End Of Summer) Best Actress in a Single TV Performance: Davina Whitehouse (The Night Nurse) Best Actor in a TV Series: George Mallaby (Cop Shop) Best Actress in a TV Series: Lorraine Bayly (The Sullivans) Best Variety Performer: Julie Anthony Best Variety Program: Julie Anthony's First Special Best Comedy Program: The Norman Gunston Show Best Drama Series: The Sullivans Best TV Play: End Of Summer Best News Coverage: Brisbane shoot-out (QTQ9) Best Documentary: A Big Country Best Current Affairs Program: Four Corners 'Utah' report Best Children's Series: Wombat (BTQ7) Best Sports Coverage: Australian Open Golf 1977 Best Light Entertainment Program: The Mike Walsh Show Best Writer TV Series: Tony Morphett (The Sullivans) Best Writer TV Play: Cliff Green (End Of Summer)

News team under fire in Vietnam
An ABC news team came under fire on the Cambodian-Vietnamese border, during a four-week news-gathering visit to Vietnam.  ABC's Singapore correspondent Tony Joyce, sound recordist Steven de Vroom and cameraman David Westray, were filming material for a documentary, Vietnam Today, to screen nationally on ABC later in the year.  "There was quite a bit of sniper fire and shelling so we were creeping and crawling, close to the ground.  We were warned if the Cambodians saw us they would assume we were Russian military advisors.  Then they would really let loose.  Luckily they didn't," Joyce told TV Times.  The Vietnam visit is only the second by Australian newsmen since the war ended in 1975.  A team from the 0-10 Network had been there earlier this year.

Polly put the kettle on for Kerry
Before Against The Wind and the role of convict woman Polly came along, actress Kerry McGuire (pictured) had almost despaired that her big acting break would ever happen.  The 32-year-old actress, who had studied at NIDA and scored some roles in TV series such as ABC's Dynasty and the Seven Network's Catwalk and stage productions including Hedda Gabler and Antony And Cleopatra, was still waiting for a big break but feels now with Against The Wind she is able to move into the next stage of her acting career: "I think I'm just beginning to break into my age group.  I've been a mature style of actress competing with some very good older women.  Now I'm growing into the era that should be mine..."

Briefly:
Marcia Hines is to present another series of six shows for ABC in the new year, but still has commitments in Europe to fulfil before she can start work on the series.

Former Homicide cop Don Barker is back in Melbourne for a guest role in the new 0-10 Network series Prisoner, now in production.

Former Australian Test skipper Bobby Simpson is to be chief commentator for the Gillette Cup series of cricket matches to be telecast on the 0-10 Network over the next three months. 

Viewpoint: Letters to the Editor:
"Why, oh why has TEN10 decided to put The Steve Raymond Show on at 1.30 of all times?  Don't they realise that a very popular show is on the other channel at the same time.  Steve Raymond will put on a fantastic show, but after watching Days Of Our Lives for the past twelve years, I think TEN10 could have found any other time to put the show on." E. Fuller, NSW.

"Although I am enjoying Against The Wind (pictured), I find it difficult to believe that after a hard life for 10 years that people would not age at all.  It is a pity that the continuity was not up to the excellent standard of the rest of the series so far." J. Higson, NSW.

"I really enjoyed the article in TV Times about viewers who ring in to TV stations.  However, I hope they got a better reception than I did on the two occasions I phoned TV stations here in Sydney.  When I called ATN7 to congratulate them on their camera-work in the 1977 Hardie-Ferodo at Bathurst, the switchboard operator was amazed that a woman would even watch motor racing, let alone comment on the camera-work.  Then I called ABC to say how much I was enjoying Sailor, but the girl on the switchboard  didn't go a bundle on my taste in TV programs either.  I'll never ring in again, that's for sure." M. Bennett, NSW.

What's On (October 28-November 3):
On Saturday, ATV0 presents the Gillette Cup cricket, live from the Gabba in Brisbane, for the match between Queensland and South Australia.  On Sunday, the Gillette Cup moves to the Sydney Cricket Ground for the match between New South Wales and Victoria.

Denise Drysdale (pictured) is Ernie Sigley's special guest on HSV7's Penthouse '78.

On Monday night's A Big Country on ABC, reporter Kenyon Castle follows jazz musicians Don Burrows and George Golla on their tour through the mining areas of the north west.  The program features aboriginal performers David Gulpilil and David Blanasi.

Vince Lovegrove presents a two-hour special on HSV7, Australian Music To The World, paying tribute to the Australian artists who have achieved international acclaim.  Lovegrove and his film crew travelled the world to catch up with Australians including the Bee Gees, the Little River Band, Olivia Newton-John, Peter Allen and Sherbet.

The Naked Vicar Show and The Best Of Norman Gunston appear on HSV7 on Wednesday night, while on GTV9 there's a one-hour special An Evening With Les Girls, recorded at the Carousel Room of the Chevron Hotel, Surfers Paradise.

On Friday night, ATV0 presents the final episode of The Daryl And Ossie Show, after forty episodes, and The Peter Couchman Show presents a special Melbourne Cup preview on Friday night.

Jeanne Little (pictured) and John Ewart are guest panelists on ABC's Micro Macro on Friday night, joining host Noel Ferrier and regulars Carol Raye and Stuart Wagstaff.

Sunday night movies are The Shootist (HSV7), A Touch Of Class (GTV9) and The Drowning Pool (ATV0), while ABC's Sunday night opera is L'Heure Espagnole (The Spanish Hour) produced at ABC's Sydney studios and featuring the Sydney Symphony Orchestra.

Source: TV Times (Melbourne edition), 28 October 1978.  ABC/ACP

1978: October 21-27

Jimmy's still playing the game
In 22 years of TV, Jimmy Hannan has hosted more than twenty shows - including Celebrity Squares, Spending Spree, Split Second, Say When, Generation Gap, The Jimmy Hannan Show, Saturday Date and Let's Make A Deal - but since Nine axed Let's Make A Deal a year ago, the "eyes and teeth" of Australian TV has rarely been seen on screen. But Hannan is not lying low, instead he is spending his mornings hosting a radio show on 2GB Sydney and has just started as a panelist on the new ABC game show Micro Macro. And the father of four who rose to fame as a champion contestant on Australia's first TV game show, Name That Tune in 1956, has an untold ambition to be an actor. "I'm starting acting lessons next year," he told TV Times. (Pictured: Micro Macro's Carol Raye, Noel Ferrier and Jimmy Hannan)

Nurse Lynda cops out
Actress Lynda Stoner will be leaving The Young Doctors when her contract with the Nine Network soap expires early next year. The former Miss TV Times is due to start work on the Seven Network series Cop Shop as policewoman Amanda King. But when asked about her leaving The Young Doctors, John Fowler of the Reg Grundy Organisation, which produces The Young Doctors, knew nothing of Stoner's plans: "As far as we are concerned she is under contract with us."

Trisha's nobody's Patsy
Former Bandstand favourite Trisha Noble (pictured), now based in the US but currently visiting Australia, finds herself living a double life. Although she is known as an actress in Hollywood, with recent roles in TV series including Executive Suite, James At 15 and Husbands And Wives and as a call-girl in an episode of The Mary Tyler Moore Show, Noble is keen to shake off her image as the sweet, little gingham-gowned Patsy Ann of Bandstand. "I want so much to come back to my own country to do a strong, solid role which will once and for all get Patsy Ann off my back."

Sales plan for Wherrett series
Negotiations are already in progress to sell Peter Wherrett's big budget series on the history of the motor car internationally. The ten-part series, Peter Wherrett's Marque: 100 Years Of Motoring, is still in production and not due to screen on ABC until the new year. Wherrett has told TV Times, "a lot of interest has been shown and negotiations are going on in North America and England. We hope it will be the first ABC series to crack the overseas market in a big way." Wherrett also told TV Times his enthusiastic plans for a new series, potentially titled Highway One, which will follow the highway from Cairns to Darwin, circumnavigating Australia, but just needs the money to make it happen.

Briefly:
Malcolm Searle (pictured), host of the new 0-10 Network game show Pyramid Challenge, told TV Times, "I'm enjoying this more than I've ever enjoyed any TV work. But I won't be destroyed one way or the other when the show eventually finishes."

Rock singer Doug Parkinson is about to embark on a new role in soapie The Young Doctors, playing the manager of a country and western singer, to be played by 20-year-old Kim Durrant.

At a recent cast party to celebrate the first birthday of The Restless Years, TEN10 chief Ian Kennon announced that the network has chosen to renew the series for a further twelve months.

Viewpoint: Letters to the Editor:
"When will the 0-10 Network realise that Blankety Blanks is the most boring show on TV?  Graham Kennedy wants a rap on the knuckles and told to get on with it. It should be a fast-moving show." A. Wilton, QLD.

"I eagerly sat down to watch ATV0's late movie The African Queen, as advertised in all TV guides.  But I had made a sad mistake, for The African Queen was obviously of secondary importance. Of primary concern was Ross D Wyllie and his endless rambling concerning mindless trivia. I realise ATV0 is a commercial channel and Mr Wyllie has to earn a living, but really!" H. Boer, VIC.

"What a great pity it is that ABC did not make that fine series Against The Wind (pictured). We would have been spared the excessive ads which break the concentration of the viewer." M. Nolan, NSW.

What's On (October 21-27):
ATV0 screens live coverage of the Custom Credit Indoor Tennis Championships, from Sydney's Hordern Pavilion, on Saturday night and Sunday afternoon. Commentators are Ray Warren and Bill Bowrey.

In a repeat of GTV9's The Paul Hogan Show, Paul Hogan and his team send up Number 96 and Pot Of Gold. Delvene Delaney joins Strop (John Cornell) and Hoges to discover the hazards of health clinics.

Barry Creyton and Kate Fitzpatrick are guest panelists on ABC's Micro Macro.  Followed by A Visit To The Uncle, the final episode of the comedy series Tickled Pink on ABC, starring Barry Otto, Max Gillies, Bunney Brooke and Johnny Lockwood.

This Is Your Life host Roger Climpson is joined by Annette Allison and Mike Higgins to host the Miss Australia 1979 contest, live from Brisbane, screening on HSV7 on Friday night.  In the same timeslot, ATV0 presents 21 Hours In Munich, a special movie presentation tracing the events at the 1972 Olympic Games which saw Arab terrorists kill two Israeli athletes and taking nine others hostage.

Sunday night movies are The Ghost Of Flight 401 (HSV7), Night Flight To Moscow (GTV9) and Carry On Abroad (ATV0). ABC presents a Sunday night opera, Lucrezia Borgia, from the Australian Opera Company featuring Joan Sutherland and the Elizabethan Symphony Orchestra.

Source: TV Times (Melbourne edition), 21 October 1978.  ABC/ACP