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.”
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.”
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.
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.
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.
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.
What an awesome foursome! 
Gold Logie: Ray Martin, Georgie Parker, Steve Vizard, Jana Wendt. (
Most Popular Light Entertainment/Comedy Program: All Together Now (pictured), Fast Forward, Hey Dad! (1991 winner: Fast Forward)
Most Popular New Talent: Matthew Krok (pictured), Jeremy Sims, Melissa Tkautz, Kym Wilson
Ramsay Street rush hour 
Paradise is… 
The Nine Network has spared no expense in trying to convince TV legend Graham Kennedy (pictured) to host a special to coincide with his upcoming 60th birthday. Kennedy, last seen on TV on Nine’s recent 35 Years Of Television special, was flown by helicopter from his country property in southern NSW to Nine’s Sydney headquarters for a lavish lunch to celebrate his 58th birthday and Nine presented him with a rare book on horse breeding. 
Hey Hey It’s Saturday duo John Blackman and Wilbur Wilde have been staging their own radio comeback since being dumped by Melbourne station 3UZ. The pair have been taking their radio act to regional and remote parts of the country as short-term fill-ins on local radio stations. So far they’ve been heard on local stations in Townsville and Launceston and places in between, and are already booked for future engagements in regional Victoria, NSW and Tasmania in coming months. Although some of the shows are based at the radio stations’ local studios, most of their radio appearances have been via landline from studios in Melbourne.
Lawrie Masterson: The View From Here 
Friday: The Seven Network presents the 34th annual TV Week Logie Awards, live from the Radisson President Hotel, Melbourne. Special international guests include John Stamos, Dennis Waterman and Diana Ross joining local stars including Steve Vizard, Jana Wendt, Ray Martin, Daryl Somers, Jo Bailey, Mary Coustas, Nicolle Dickson, Nick Giannopoulos, Rebecca Gibney, Elizabeth Hayes, Sophie Lee, Gina Riley, Bruce Samazan, Jennifer Keyte, Magda Szubanski and Kym Wilson. The night culminates with the announcement of the winner of the TV Week Gold Logie for the Most Popular Personality on Australian Television. The awards presentation is followed by a special post-Logies edition of Tonight Live, hosted by Richard Stubbs.
‘Don’t call me Betty!’ 
When will the killings stop? 
Jacki MacDonald (pictured) has described her new Network Ten show Healthy Wealthy And Wise as “a show that’s not really like anything else” and, after a decade as the funny girl on Hey Hey It’s Saturday and a year as host of Australia’s Funniest Home Video Show, is excited at the prospect at doing “something serious” for a change. “In this show I’m not zany, silly or crazy,” she said. “We all enjoy ourselves, laugh and have a good time – but it’s not a format for outrageous antics.” Healthy Wealthy And Wise, which also features Ronnie Burns as co-host, is produced by former Hey Hey It’s Saturday co-producer Gavan Disney. Although the show has only just debuted on Network Ten, it has already been sold for screening in New Zealand, Singapore and Papua New Guinea.
After six years of reading the news for ABC in Victoria, Mary Delahunty (pictured) is returning to current affairs television as she takes over as host of the Victorian edition of The 7.30 Report – replacing John Jost who has left the ABC to join the Nine Network as host of its new Melbourne Extra current affairs program. Ian Henderson, a former European correspondent for the ABC, has taken over as newsreader for the 7.00pm ABC News in Victoria.
Former Quantum reporter Andrew Waterworth (pictured) has moved to the Seven Network as a reporter for Beyond 2000. “I was with Quantum for five years and I put a lot into the show,” he told TV Week. “But you get to a point in your life where you feel you would like a change.”
Monday: Nine’s regular daytime line-up is back for the new year – with In Melbourne Today, What’s Cooking and Midday With Ray Martin all returning. At 5.00pm, Nine launches its new game show Supermarket Sweep, hosted by Ian Turpie, followed by the debut of Melbourne Extra, with John Jost (pictured) presenting local current affairs as the lead-in to National Nine News. Sale Of The Century (Nine) returns for another year at 7.00pm, while ABC launches a new series of comedy Mother And Son at 8.00pm. Stuart Littlemore’s Media Watch is also back for the new year, at 9.15pm on ABC. Nine starts its routine coverage of the Winter Olympic Games, hosted by Ken Sutcliffe, with over four hours of coverage each night from 8.30pm.
Tuesday: The return of ABC’s medical drama GP focuses on the gay bashing of the new doctor at the Ross Street surgery.
Two secret showbiz weddings 
‘Let me out of here!’ 
Briefly… 
After two years studying acting in the US, former Double Dare host and Home And Away star Gerry Sont (pictured) is back in Australia and has signed a one-year contract with the Nine Network’s Chances. Sont plays the role of Cal Lawrence, a bit of a loner who lets chance decide what he does and ends up having an affair with Barbara (Brenda Addie). “Chances is a real challenge for me,” Sont told TV Week. “It’s challenging people’s view of drama. It doesn’t follow the simple formula of Neighbours or The Flying Doctors. It’s new and it’s fun.”
Tuesday: The highlight of Christmas Eve is the traditional Carols By Candlelight, live from the Sidney Myer Music Bowl in Melbourne, hosted by Ray Martin and featuring performances by John Farnham, Marina Prior (pictured with Martin), James Blundell, Julie Anthony, Denis Walter, John Bowles, Anthony Warlow, Debbie Byrne and Tommy Emmanuel. Seven screens the movie Scrooge, while ABC presents the 1956 musical comedy High Society. Later in the evening, Ten presents the traditional Midnight Mass For You At Home.
The Great End of Year Exit! 
Vizard’s hunch about Hinch 
Chances (Nine) will finally resolve the mystery surrounding Alex Taylor’s (Jeremy Sims, pictured) missing 12 months – though not before he goes on the run after finding himself waking up next to two dead women, a knife close by and no memory of what happened. This leads to a chain of events that see him end up in a straitjacket and locked up in a detoxification centre. Meanwhile, his parents Barbara and Dan (played by Brenda Addie and John Sheerin) are having marital issues which may lead to Barbara having an affair with a much younger man. 
In A Country Practice (Seven), Wandin Valley farewells Lucy (Georgie Parker) and Matt (John Tarrant) who leave the town after finally becoming parents. Luke (Matt Day) is also leaving to pursue a flying career, and Wandin Valley bids farewell to larrikins Cookie and Bob (Syd Heylen and Gordon Piper, pictured) – but will they be gone for good? Series stalwarts Lorrae Desmond, Shane Porteous, Brian Wenzel and Joyce Jacobs will be joined by newcomer Gavin Harrison. Meanwhile, on-again-off-again lovers Harry (Andrew Blackman) and Kate (Michelle Pettigrove) will continue their game of cat and mouse, and there will be a new love for Dr Terence Elliott (Shane Porteous). 
ABC’s widely-acclaimed medical drama GP enters the new year with guest appearances by veteran actors Willie Fennell and Queenie Ashton (pictured), and joining them will be Normie Rowe, Jeff Truman and Scott Burgess. Now entering its fourth year, GP will start the year with the murder of one of Ross Street surgery’s medical staff. Jackaroo star David McCubbin joins the series as the son of Robert Sharp (John McTernan), and Dr William Sharp (Michael Craig) will finish his career as a general practitioner. 
Neighbours (Ten) enters the new year with confidence, despite the recent departure of eight cast members and with rival Home And Away set to move into its long-held 7.00pm timeslot. Following the recent arrival of new cast members Melissa Bell, Scott Michaelson, Rachel Blakely and Andrew Williams, the series will soon be joined by newcomers Natalie Imbruglia and Simon Stokes. Recently-widowed Madge Bishop (Anne Charleston) returns to Ramsay Street and finds herself being chased by old flame Lou Carpenter (Tom Oliver). Veteran actress Lorraine Bayly (pictured) joins the series as Faye Hudson, a fun character far removed from her previous more serious roles in The Sullivans and Carson’s Law. Meanwhile, Paul Robinson (Stefan Dennis) faces financial ruin with the collapse of his business. 
The Flying Doctors (Nine) continues over the Christmas/New Year period – with one storyline featuring a controversial bedroom encounter between Guy (David Reyne) and Penny (Sophie Lee), spurred by her unfaithful boyfriend Steve (Paul Kelman), and a pregnancy that forces the evaluation of many relationships. Meanwhile, Jackie Crane (Nikki Coghill) faces a grim future when she’s accused of negligence following a patient’s allergic reaction to penicillin. Guest stars to appear in upcoming episodes include 
Former 60 Minutes reporter George Negus (pictured) has been a vocal critic of the state of current affairs on TV – and now he has a chance to address the situation as the front man of Foreign Correspondent, a new program to start soon on ABC. “It’s because this program is different that I’ve agreed to do it,” Negus told TV Week. “If the ABC had said, ‘We want you to be involved in a new current affairs program which is a variation on a theme,’ I probably wouldn’t have said yes.”
Thursday: ABC presents live coverage of the Colonial Mutual Classic tennis, live from Kooyong, Melbourne. In The Flying Doctors (Nine), Penny (Sophie Lee, pictured) is locked in a tough administration battle with the hospital laundry staff, headed by Trisha (Colette Mann). ABC debuts four-part series The Cricket Archives, documenting a history of Australian cricket based on film archive material, presented by Jack Egan.
Melissa’s shock exit! 
‘The worst year of my life…’ 
Live And Sweaty host Andrew Denton is to start work soon on a pilot for a proposed interview series for ABC. With the working title One On One, it will feature Denton interviewing a single guest. “(One On One) will either be one of the greatest moments in modern television or a complete failure,” he told TV Week. Production is due to start next month.
Fast Forward stars Glenn Robbins and Michael Veitch have been criticised for glamorising alcohol use with their “yuppie drunk” characters that appear in the sketch comedy show. ABC’s Media Watch and the spokesman for the Drug Offensive campaign have slammed the sketches as trivialising alcohol abuse. But Robbins has defended the sketches. ”The drink gives them the confidence to say the things they want to say. They are ‘blokes’ and they find it hard to do this otherwise. It’s tragic that they need alcohol to be able to say these things,” he said. “So we don’t believe it’s glamorising alcohol use at all… it’s showing the reality of a bad situation.” Veitch also notes that it is significant that their characters fail in their romantic pursuits as a result of drinking. “It’s obvious they are not attractive people,” he said. “They talk to girls but they never get any. They lead pretty sad lives.”
Alison Brahe, the host of Nine’s upcoming children’s quiz show Guess What?, has no intention of using her married name after she marries actor Cameron Daddo next month. “We will have Seven, Nine and Ten covered by the Daddos so I’m just going to stick to Brahe,” she told TV Week. “I don’t think television is ready for another Daddo just yet.” Production on Guess What?, which will also feature Hey Hey It’s Saturday cartoonist Andrew Fyfe, will commence at the studios of NWS9 in Adelaide in January.
