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.

1992: March 1-7

State of shock!
Unlike most young Australian actors, E Street star Bruce Samazan (pictured) is in no hurry to work in the US – in fact he has no plans to ever visit there again.  Making his first trip to the US, staying with friends in Texas during a production break for E Street, Samazan cut short his two-week visit and made a dash back to Sydney, admitting that the place “freaked” him out.  “There’s gang warfare over there that I can’t grab a hold of… it’s chaotic,” he told TV Week.  “It’s totally unnatural for an Australian to go over there and adjust to the fact that if you wear the wrong coloured baseball cap or T-shirt, you might be shot at.”  On one occasion he went to put on a Los Angeles Raiders cap but was advised by his local friend, “Bruce I wouldn’t wear that.  You could get yourself into trouble – you might get shot at”.  Then, two days later, a local newspaper carried the headline ‘Two Youths Shot Dead Outside Nightclub’… for wearing LA Raiders outfits.  “That was pretty scary stuff,” Samazan said.

It’s goodbye to the Valley!
A Country Practice viewers will soon bid farewell to three of the show’s most popular characters.  Gordon Piper (who plays Bob Hatfield), Syd Heylen (Cookie) and Matt Day (Luke) will be making their final appearances on screen in the coming weeks.  For Day, leaving the series has come at the right time.  “The character is now rounded off and I feel he has gone as far as he can for me,” he told TV Week.  “Theatre is the next avenue I wish to explore.  I want to steer clear of TV for a while.”  Showbiz veteran Heylen leaves the show with happy memories.  “I’ve made a lot of good friends,” he said.  “The series kept me before a broad audience, which you don’t get to cover doing live work.  It has been a happy period.”  And although Piper is adamant that he won’t be returning to A Country Practice, he and Heylen (both pictured) will be making a guest appearance in two episodes later in the year in a storyline which sees Cookie return to hospital. 

New doctors set for take-off
The Nine Network drama The Flying Doctors is set for a major revamp as production starts soon on its tenth series.  In a major shake-up for the series, the series will now be based in Broken Hill (the real-life base of the Royal Flying Doctor Service) rather than the fictional Coopers Crossing, and the only familiar cast members making the move to the new location will be husband-and-wife team Maurie Fields and Val Jellay (pictured) and Sophie Lee.  And joining the new-look series will be Simone Buchanan (Hey Dad!), Peter Phelps (who has just returned from the US where he featured in Baywatch), Steve Jacobs (Rose Against The Odds) and Lydia Miller.  The new-look series is scheduled to debut on Nine around mid-year.

Briefly…
Neighbours’ Blakeney twins, Gayle and Gillian, are about to ‘split up’.  Gillian, who plays Caroline Alessi, will be taping her final scenes in the Network Ten series this week.  “While I love the character and I have thoroughly enjoyed myself on the show, I feel it is time to move on as an actor,” she told TV Week.  Meanwhile, Gayle is contracted to the show until July and will then assess her options before making any decision about her future.  But while the pair will no longer be working together on Neighbours, they will be working together again in London next month as they record their next single which is due for release in Australia later this year. 

Sydney’s Botanic Gardens, with views of the Sydney Opera House and Harbour Bridge, is the location for the latest TV soapie wedding – but it is unlikely to ever appear on Australian screens.  The British TV series Families, which stars Briony Behets (the British-born actress best known for her roles in Aussie dramas Number 96 and The Box), is filmed between Manchester and Sydney… but so far the series is yet to be sold to an Australian network.  The series’ wedding is between Behets’ character Diana Stephens and cafe owner Anton Vaughn (Rhett Walton).

The patchy relationship between the local producers of the Network Ten tabloid current affairs show Hard Copy and Paramount, who own the US-based format, continues.  But executive producer Peter Sutton isn’t concerned as he said there are plenty of other sources for content if the plug is pulled on being able to grab stories from the US version, but concedes that the show may have to change its name – with Fast Copy or Australia’s Hard Copy cited as possibilities.

Actress Melissa Bell (pictured) is currently caught in a battle between Network Ten’s two soapies.  Melbourne-based Neighbours’ producers are keen to renew Bell’s contract when it expires mid-year, but Bell wants to move back to Sydney-based E Street where she once had a brief role – due in part to her current off-screen interstate relationship with the son of E Street producer Forrest Redlich.

Lawrie Masterson: The View From Here
”Fat Cat has been banished from our screens in one of the most profound decisions made in the history of the Australian Broadcasting Tribunal.  The tubby tom’s character was deemed “still not clearly defined” and his show was accused of having “still generally poor” direction.  It took 15 years for someone to reach this momentous decision, years in which the lives of whole generations of Australian children must have been corrupted irreparably.”

Program Highlights (Melbourne, March 1-7):
Sunday:  Nine crosses to Brisbane for the Benson And Hedges World Cup match between Australia and India.  Seven has motor racing with coverage of the Nascar/Auscar Nationals from Calder Park, Melbourne.  Meanwhile, ABC’s Sunday Afternoon With Peter Ross is back with a collection of arts-themed programming and interviews.  Sunday night movies are Shirley Valentine (Nine), Die Hard 2: Die Harder (Ten) and the Japanese comedy Tampopo (SBS), up against Seven’s debut of mini-series Prime Suspect.

Monday:  In A Country Practice (Seven), Luke (Matt Day) and Darcy (Kym Wilson) meet Douglas ‘Simmo’ Simmonds (Richard Moir), a crippled Vietnam pilot who revives Luke’s dreams of flying.  In Neighbours (Ten), an accident puts Helen’s (Anne Haddy) life at risk – while in Mother And Son (ABC), Maggie (Ruth Cracknell) remembers a clock that her late husband Leo gave her on their 25th wedding anniversary as she takes one from the house across the street.

Tuesday:  In GP (ABC), Robert (John McTernan) is acting strangely and decides to be a medico on an Antarctic expedition – until he reveals he has a tragic illness.  Beyond 2000 (Seven) reports on mankind’s most ambitious project yet – human habitation on Mars, while reporter Tracey Curro test drives the world’s first car in a suitcase.

Wednesday:  ABC presents a one-hour special, Cop It Sweet, taking a look at Sydney’s inner-city Redfern Police Station, in an area with a history of clashes between police and Aborigines, making it one of the most controversial police districts in the country.  Nine crosses to the Sydney Cricket Ground for day-night coverage of the Benson And Hedges World Cup match between India and Pakistan.

Thursday:  More World Cup cricket from Sydney on Nine, this time the match between Australia and England.  In Acropolis Now (Seven), Effie (Mary Coustas) arranges a party for Sophie’s (Sheryl Munks) 21st birthday at Vibrations Disco. 

Friday:  Seven presents live coverage of the semi-final of the AFL Foster’s Cup, with commentators Bruce McAvaney, Peter McKenna, Don Scott, Gerard Healy and Bernie Quinlan.  The ARIA Awards (Nine) are telecast for the first time, live from Melbourne’s World Congress Centre, and hosted by Richard Wilkins and Julian Lennon, with appearances by John Farnham, Jimmy Barnes, Jenny Morris, Noiseworks, Diesel, Wendy Matthews, Margaret Urlich, Rockmelons, Sophie Lee, Craig McLachlan, Dannii Minogue and international artists Diana Ross, Rod Stewart and Harry Connick Jnr. 

Saturday:  The Seven Network presents an all-day telethon to raise financial support for the Australian team to compete at the upcoming Summer Olympic Games in Barcelona, Spain.  The Olympathon starts at 7.00am, including special editions of Saturday Disney and Video Smash Hits, followed by live crosses around Australia for interviews with some of Australia’s Olympic hopefuls.  The evening telecast includes a night of entertainment featuring the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, Phantom Of The Opera stars Marina Prior and Rob Guest (both pictured with Seven’s Bruce McAvaney), Julie Anthony, Grace Knight, Craig McLachlan, Vanetta Fields, Judith Durham, Simon Gallaher, Don Burrows and Peter Cupples.  The telethon concludes at midnight.  Nine presents all-day coverage of the Benson And Hedges World Cup cricket from Adelaide. 

Source: TV Week (Melbourne edition), incorporating TV Times and TV Guide.  29 February 1992.  Southdown Press

1992: February 15-22

Just 18… and Kym’s got it all!
She might be only 18 years old, but Kym Wilson (pictured) has emerged from an acting novice to a talented professional, with acclaim for her performances in the film Flirting, stage production The Crucible and mini-series Brides Of Christ.  And she is optimistic that her decision to join A Country Practice is a positive career move.  “You have to choose roles that are going to fulfil you,” she told TV Week.  “That is why I chose A Country Practice as the soap I wanted to do.  It has been going for 10 years, the people I work with are fantastic actors and it has that extra dimension by dealing with issues in society, which perhaps the other soaps do not do.”  The young star has also taken on an additional on-air role as co-host of Seven’s Saturday morning Video Smash Hits, although is wary of becoming over-exposed or being pigeonholed as a “personality” rather than an actress.  “That was my concern when I chose to do Video Smash Hits – that I wouldn’t, without degrading Sophie, become another Sophie Lee, who is seen more as a TV personality than an actress because she did The Bugs Bunny Show before she did The Flying Doctors.”

Axe for Hard Copy?
It may be a ratings winner for the Ten Network, but its weekly “tabloid” current affairs show Hard Copy (hosted by Gordon Elliott, pictured) could soon be axed due to a falling out between the network and Paramount, the owners of the concept.  Paramount is believed to have notified Ten that it wants out of the deal when the current batch of 13 episodes is completed, due to Ten failing to comply with certain changes that had been requested of the Australian franchise.  The termination of the agreement would mean that the show’s title can not be used in Australia, or that any  reports from the US version can be broadcast here.  But Network Ten boss Gary Rice has denied any rift with Paramount and insists that production of Hard Copy is business as usual.     

Frozen out!
E Street star Alyssa-Jane Cook (pictured) always insisted that she wanted her exit from the show to be dramatic, but admits that her final scenes with the series have been her most challenging.  Her character, Lisa Bennett, finds herself at the mercy of E Street’s serial killer Mr Bad (Vince Martin) who has kidnapped her and locked her in a freezer in a bid to lure his targets Sheridan (Kate Raison) and Wheels (Marcus Graham) to their deaths.  Cook is not about to give away the outcome of the storyline, but says the scenes were amongst her most difficult.  “By the end of the 14-hour shoot, I was emotionally and physically exhausted,” she said.

Briefly…
TV Week has announced a new era as it embarks on changes to production techniques and its format.  This week’s edition includes a special eight-day program guide – Saturday to Saturday – as from next week the magazine will feature program listings from Sunday to Saturday, while the magazine’s on-sale day will change from Monday to Thursday.  This change, incorporated with tighter production deadlines, will see the magazine report more up-to-date stories and offer a more accurate program listing.  Despite the changes, the cover price of TV Week will remain at $1.70.

All Together Now star Rebecca Gibney has broken her silence on her private life by denying reports that while on a three-week holiday to the United States that she and her fiance, singer Jack Jones, had been secretly married in a Las Vegas chapel.  “Marriage crossed our minds at some point, but we decided against it,” she told TV Week.  “But we haven’t run off to Las Vegas to have a quickie wedding.”

Former The Flying Doctors cast members Lenore Smith and David Reyne (pictured) have embarked on a new project, appearing in the stage production of Love Letters which begins at the Sydney Opera House before touring regional centres in New South Wales, Victoria and South Australia.  Reyne has also started work on a new travel series, Getaway, for the Nine Network.  Getaway, which also features former Beyond 2000 reporter Jeff Watson and two yet-to-be-named female reporters, makes its debut on Nine next month.

John Laws says…
”Perhaps, as a nation, we should all have been watching the documentary about the Snowy Mountain hydro-electric project, aptly screened over the Australia Day weekend on the ABC.  By any standards the Snowy project was a heroic undertaking, in both engineering and human terms.  It took 25 years to complete and it ranks as one of this nation’s greatest achievements.  Here was a mammoth engineering feat brought to life by Australians and “new” Australians from Europe, most of them displaced persons from World War II.  The ABC documentary team interviewed a handful of the thousands of people who worked on the Snowy project, but their stories seemed to embrace all its spirit and courage.  Interestingly, the general feeling among them was that a scheme like the Snowy could never be built today.  Way back in 1949, when Ben Chifley’s government got it off the ground, there was no conservation movement!”

Program Highlights (Melbourne, February 15-22):
Saturday:  Saturday afternoon sport includes golf on both ABC (West Australian Ladies’ Classic) and Seven (Australian Masters), while Nine presents a highlights package of the Winter Olympic Games.  Nine’s evening is dominated by the return of Hey Hey It’s Saturday, followed by more live coverage of the Winter Olympic Games from Albertville, France.

Sunday:  More golf on ABC and Seven, while Nine presents highlights of the Reebok Blacktop Basketball, from Adelaide’s Clipsal Powerhouse Stadium.  Evening programs include the return of multi-lingual current affairs program Vox Populi (SBS) and Brian Naylor’s documentary Australia From The Outside Looking In (Nine).  Sunday night movies are Good Morning Vietnam (Seven) and K-9 (Ten), up against the Winter Olympics (Nine).

Monday:  In Mother And Son (ABC), Arthur (Garry McDonald) brings a pet budgie home for Maggie (Ruth Cracknell) after she is upset by her son Robert (Henri Szeps) – but how this leads to 10 naked dentists dancing on a golf course has to be seen to be believed! 

Tuesday:  ABC’s consumer affairs program The Investigators is back for another year, followed by drama series GP where a new locum (played by Christopher Bailey) arrives at the practice, only to have his wife turn up and reveal that he is not who he says he is.  In SBS’ current affairs program Dateline, reporter Maeve O’Meara profiles influential Irish writer Colm Tóibín.

Wednesday:  Astrophysicist Graham Phillips and journalist Cathy Johnson join ABC’s science program Quantum as it returns for its eighth year.  This year is the International Year of Space and, to mark the occasion, Quantum will begin a series of reports on everything from space junk to space technology.  The 40th anniversary of Queen Elizabeth II’s accession to the throne is documented in a two-hour BBC special, Elizabeth R (ABC), following the Queen on her many official duties over 12 months and giving a rare glimpse of her more informal moments.

Thursday:  In Acropolis Now (Seven), Effie (Mary Coustas, pictured) suspects Suzanne (Nicky Wendt) of treachery and plots her revenge – murder by haircare products.  ABC’s documentary series The Big Picture presents When The War Came To Australia – Our Melancholy Duty, the first of a four-part series tracing the social history of Australia during World War II and the effects of Japan’s attack on Darwin, which occurred fifty years ago this week.

Friday:  Dateline (SBS) features a report on Simone Harvari, France’s top TV producer, who heads a company where the majority of employees are female.  In Neighbours (Ten), a reunion with old mates has devastating implications for Doug (Terence Donovan).

Saturday:  Nine debuts its new Saturday morning show, Saturday At Rick’s, hosted by Steven Jacobs with Tania Lacy, featuring cartoons, video clips and interviews.  Nine then crosses to New Zealand for the Benson And Hedges World Cup cricket – Australia versus New Zealand.  ABC also has cricket with live coverage from the North Sydney Oval of the Ladies’ International Super Test: Australia versus England.

Source: TV Week (Victoria edition), incorporating TV Times and TV Guide.  15 February 1992.  Southdown Press

Another year gone… already…?

It doesn’t seem that long since we welcomed 2011!

Australian television reached a number of milestones this year: Ten years of digital TV; 40 years of Sesame Street on the ABC; Mal Walden celebrated 50 years in broadcasting and Tracy Grimshaw reached 30 years at Nine; Play School turned 45; Four Corners turned 50; TV turned 40 in Darwin; David Stratton and Margaret Pomeranz celebrated 25 years together on television; and it was 50 years since the launch of regional stations GLV10, BCV8 and GMV6.

Ratings-wise, it was all about Seven, winning their fifth year in a row.  There was little they could do wrong, while at Network Ten there was not much that they could get right – even MasterChef took a battering – with Nine falling somewhere in between.

ABC’s Spicks And Specks made a dignified exit off the stage, while Ten’s Video Hits was pushed off the stage – after 24 years – in a bout of cost cutting.  ABC put the axe to Collectors, The New Inventors and Arts Nation.

Showbiz stalwarts Denise Drysdale and Kerri-Anne Kennerley signed off from their respective daytime programs.

Network Ten launched its new digital channel Eleven, and attempted to raise the bar in current affairs reporting with 6PM With George Negus (later 6.30).  It was a tumultuous year at a management level for Ten with the dismissal of CEO Grant Blackley and the appointment of interim CEO Lachlan Murdoch before James Warburton, a former Seven Network executive, takes over the role in January.  Under Murdoch’s watch, sports channel One HD was re-worked into a general entertainment and special interest channel, Ten News suffered a number of format changes, budget cuts and staff departures (including Deborah Knight and George Donikian), while Late News and 6.30 With George Negus were both axed.  Newspaper columnist and blogger Andrew Bolt was given his own show, and the network walked away from AFL after ten years.

Nine’s A Current Affair revisited some TV classics during the year, including Young Talent Time (pictured) and Big Brother (coincidentally both programs are to make a comeback in 2012).  ACA also took a trip to Wandin Valley to remember A Country Practice.  Meanwhile, Today Tonight took ‘70s sex symbol Abigail to task for no good reason.

There were cosmetic changes made to ABC1, ABC2 and ABC 4 Kids, and SBS appointed a new Managing Director.

Karl Stefanovic (pictured) won the TV Week Gold Logie, and veteran political journalist Laurie Oakes was inducted into the Hall of Fame.

After a quiet few years in drama, ABC made a stellar comeback this year with Paper Giants: The Birth Of Cleo and The Slap both receiving critical acclaim and good ratings.  The broadcaster also launched a new legal drama, Crownies.  SBS scored a hit with its reality-documentary series Go Back To Where You Came From, triggering a wave of social commentary on what has always been a controversial topic.

Regional Victoria and Regional Queensland made the final switch from analogue to digital television – while remote area networks Imparja and Southern Cross have only now switched on to digital transmission and Regional WA is now seeing the roll-out of the digital multi-channels from the commercial networks.

Millions watched the royal wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton – it was an event that was hard to miss with saturation coverage on free-to-air and multiple pay-TV channels.

So what will 2012 bring?

Network Ten will hope for a better, more stable year with a new CEO and News Director on board.  Last year the network took a gamble with George Negus and more News bulletins.  This year Ten is taking a gamble with launching a new breakfast show up against Sunrise, Today and ABC News Breakfast – will this risk pay off?  And will the re-named and expanded The Project lead to improvement in Ten’s embattled 6.30 timeslot?

Also, will MasterChef be able to knock out the few dents it copped in its armour this year?  And how will Young Talent Time fare with its return after 23 years off our screens?  As Hey Hey It’s Saturday and more recently It’s A Knockout have shown, the nostalgia factor can bring high ratings but the novelty can wear off pretty quickly. 

Nine had something of a late-year resurgence this year with The Block winning ratings in its new 7.00pm timeslot and Celebrity Apprentice also bringing in strong figures.  The success of these will see Nine delve further into the reality genre in 2012 with another series of The Block, the return of Big Brother and an Australian version of singing contest The Voice.

In Aussie drama there will be more Neighbours, Home And Away, Packed To The Rafters, Offspring and Winners And Losers.  Nine will launch a new series, Tricky Business, and is set to present another instalment of the Underbelly franchise as well as its dramatisation of the Beaconsfield mine disaster of 2006.  Nine will also relive former owner Kerry Packer’s 1970s challenge to the cricket establishment with Howzat! – The Kerry Packer Story.  Ten will have a mini-series Bikie Wars: Brothers in Arms as well as an updated adaptation of the book Puberty Blues.  The network is also to launch a new series, Reef Doctors, starring Lisa McCune.

Andrew Denton and Shaun Micallef are set to return to ABC with new programs – and there will be another series of Adam Hills In Gordon Street Tonight.

In sport, Seven becomes the sole free-to-air broadcaster of AFL for the first time since 2001, while sharing the rights with Foxtel – while Nine and Foxtel are off to London for the Olympic Games.  It will be Nine’s first coverage of the Summer Olympics since 1976.

2012 will mark 50 years of television in regional New South Wales, Queensland, Tasmania and in Canberra.  Analogue television will be switched off in regional New South Wales and the ACT.

The ground-breaking drama of the 1970s, Number 96 (pictured) will have its 40th anniversary commemorated with another DVD release of episodes – this time revisiting some of the few black-and-white episodes to still be in existence, as well the episodes surrounding the bomb-blast storyline of 1975.

And right here we will be continuing the theme of documenting the TV year of 20 years ago as reported in the pages of TV Week.

Happy New Year to you all and best wishes for the year ahead!

Obituary: David Fordham

Respected sports commentator David Fordham has died in Brisbane after a battle with prostate cancer and heart disease.

The 62-year-old had previously battled prostate cancer, undergoing quadruple by-pass surgery and chemotherapy.  He also battled Chronic Myeloid Leukaemia and underwent a bone marrow transplant.

Growing up in Newcastle, Fordham started his media career at regional network NBN.  He went on to present and commentate for the Seven and Ten networks in a career that included four Olympic Games, four Commonwealth Games and three Rugby World Cups.  He also covered State Of Origin, Rugby League Grand Finals and Davis Cup tennis.

For the Seven Network he presented the Sportsworld and Sportscene programs and had been a sports anchor for news bulletins at Seven and Ten in Sydney and Brisbane.

After leaving television in the early 2000s, Fordham went on to run a media consulting business with his wife Erica and became a sought after public speaker and master of ceremonies.  He also staged a number of charity golfing events, raising hundreds of thousands of dollars for aspiring Olympic athletes – with his contribution to the Olympic movement recognised with an Order of Merit from the Australian Olympic Committee.

David Fordham is survived by Erica, daughter Sally, son Simon and their families.

Source: Sports News First, NBN, Platinum

1991: August 17-23

Cover: Matthew Krok, Rachael Beck (Hey Dad!)

The end for Hey Hey?
Nine Network executives may have be sent into a mild state of panic following a statement from Daryl Somers that he may be looking at ventures other than Hey Hey It’s Saturday in the not-too-distant future.  “It is not a foregone conclusion that Hey Hey will be on next year,” he said.  “This is the last year of our current three-year contract and we’ll certainly be talking to Channel Nine.  I love doing the program, but there are a lot of things I want to do apart from Hey Hey.  I’ve had to turn down two roles in London stage shows, whereas I’d like to be able to do these things because years down the track I may not get the opportunity.”  Meanwhile, plans are continuing for Hey Hey’s Hollywood-based special to be held later this year for the show’s 20th anniversary.

Horror head-on!
In a dramatic episode of Home And Away to screen this week, who will survive Summer Bay’s tragic car crash?  It is only known that David (Guy Pearce) and Adam (Mat Stevenson, pictured) are involved in the head-on crash – but only one will survive. 

Just another quiet night in suburbia…
A car bomb which leaves two police officers dead launches the new ABC police drama Phoenix.  The explosive scene was enacted outside the Camberwell Civic Centre in Melbourne.  Surrounding streets had been blocked off by police as a Ford Falcon loaded with more than a dozen charges was detonated, triggering a 20-metre high fireball.  Almost 100 cast and crew and six cameras were involved in the production of the explosion.

Briefly… 
The Bugs Bunny Show host Sophie Lee (pictured) is philosophical about rival Network Ten’s bid to knock the popular cartoon show down a few notches by recently launching a music video show, Power Cuts.  “I’ve read about it, but that’s cool,” she said.  “I don’t know the people involved.”

Simone Buchanan was looking forward to a change from comedy when she left Hey Dad! – and that’s exactly what she got when she took on the role of a rape victim in A Country Practice in episodes to go to air this week.  “It will allow me to break free from the typecasting from Hey Dad!,” she told TV Week.  “The ACP scenes are some of the heaviest I’ve ever been involved with.  They left me feeling emotionally and physically exhausted.  I had 19 scenes in a row.  I had to cry in all of them!”

The Barcelona Olympic Games are less than a year away and the Seven Network, given its recent financial instability, is under pressure to deliver results for the $40 million it paid for the Australian television rights.  “This will be the biggest-ever single undertaking by an Australian television network,” Seven’s network sports director Gary Fenton told TV Week.  “We’ll be taking about 150 people across, building a complete studio over there, then dismantling it all and bringing it back home.  What we plan to do is make sure that viewers see more of the Australians competing at the Games than ever before.”

John Laws says…
”Why, I wonder, would the main ABC employees’ union and the Friends Of The ABC organisation be “surprised” – as they say they are – by the ABC’s offer of a new five-year contract to managing director David Hill?  Is it because Hill dances to the beat of a different drummer?  Opposition to Hill being reappointed must, I guess, be expected because the past few years have been heady and controversial ones for the ABC.  But it’s probably never had a higher profile right around Australia, and that’s due in no small measure to Hill’s input.  Staff-management problems are to be expected in an organisation the size of the ABC, and there’s no doubt Hill has had to make some necessary – and to some people, unpleasant – decisions about staffing levels, programming and future direction.  The next five years are going to pose fresh challenges to the ABC because TV is changing all the time, and there are going to be new demands on the national broadcaster, not least of which is the possibility that, one day, it is going to have to accept some form of advertising and sponsorship.  There will also be the challenge of pay-TV.”

Program Highlights (Melbourne, August 17-23):
Saturday:  On the anniversary of the death of Elvis Presley, Seven devotes much of its afternoon and evening schedule to paying tribute – with movies Kissin’ Cousins, Elvis On Tour and Jailhouse Rock and a two-hour special The Elvis Files, presented by Bill Bixby, that promises “startling new information surrounding Presley’s death and the very real possibility that he is still alive.”  This week’s guests on Hey Hey It’s Saturday (Nine) are Craig McLachlan, Rita Rudner, Cameron Daddo and Cathy Dennis.

Sunday:  Nine presents the long-awaited debut of two-part mini-series Golden Fiddles, starring Cameron Daddo, Rachel Friend, John Bach, Kate Nelligan, Pippa Grandison, David Reyne (pictured) and Adriana Xenides.  Golden Fiddles tells the story of the struggles of the Balfour family during the depression of the 1920s, and the news which could offer them a happy and prosperous future.  Sunday night movies are Cocktail (Seven) and Death Hunt (Ten).

Monday:  Ernie Bourne (The Magic Circle Club, Prisoner, Neighbours) and Beverley Phillips (Neighbours) guest star in Col’n Carpenter (Ten).  Craig McLachlan begins his week-long stint as guest host on Tonight Live (Seven).

Tuesday:  ABC presents a direct telecast from Canberra of the first Budget speech from Federal Treasurer John Kerin.  Beyond 2000 (Seven) reports on a new discovery that may lead to a better contraceptive; and the Norwegians have developed a revolutionary system for beating rising damp.  GP (ABC) presents a special episode dedicated to Camp Quality which gives unique holidays to children with cancer.

Wednesday:  In the series return of Hey Dad! (Seven), eight-year-old Arthur McArthur (Matthew Krok) falls for an older woman.  In Neighbours (Ten), Madge (Anne Charleston) is shocked by Harold’s (Ian Smith) new business partner – Brenda Riley (Genevieve Lemon).

Thursday:  In The Flying Doctors (Nine), Clare’s (Beverley Dunn) life is turned upside down when her old flame arrives in town for the opening of Steve’s (Paul Kelman) new garage.  In E Street (Ten), the new marriage between Lisa (Alyssa-Jane Cook) and Michael (Graham Harvey) could be on shaky ground – is she still in love with Wheels (Marcus Graham)?

Friday:  Star Search – The Next Generation (Ten) presents a ‘celebrity special’ looking at past guests and winners.

Source: TV Week (Victoria edition), incorporating TV Times and TV Guide.  17 August 1991.  Southdown Press

The Games were run… but, for Ten, not won!

The XIX Commonwealth Games have come to a close – and while India will be congratulating itself for a successful 11 days of competition, back in Australia the Ten Network might be quietly licking a few wounds.

Not that Ten’s effort in broadcasting the Games was of any inferior nature – in fact, the network has avoided receiving scorn like that encountered by the Seven Network with its heavily-delayed coverage of the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing – but rather that the network was rewarded with fairly lack lustre ratings figures for a competition that usually commands much greater figures.

In some instances, Ten was struggling to stay above ABC in the popularity stakes whereas, at the very least, they might have expected some gold medal ratings figures over the two weeks. Essentially, Ten only won victory on one night of Games competition:

	ABC	Seven	Nine	Ten	SBS
Mon 4	19.4	27.6	25.6	20.8	6.5
Tue 5	15.8	31.6	27.4	21.0	4.3
Wed 6	16.4	29.9	26.0	23.9	3.8
Thu 7	12.9	26.2	27.4	27.1	6.6
Fri 8	16.2	28.5	23.5	27.0	4.8
Sat 9	18.7	24.0	24.2	26.7	6.4
Sun 10	18.8	28.7	25.1	21.3	6.0
Mon 11	18.0	29.1	26.0	20.1	6.8
Tue 12	15.6	35.6	27.6	16.4	4.8
Wed 13	16.3	31.2	29.2	19.1	4.2
Thu 14	14.3	28.6	29.3	21.5*	6.2

* Includes premiere episode of Keeping Up With The Joneses.
Source: OZTAM: Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide, Perth. 6pm-12am. Network shares include multi-channels.

But in Ten’s defence, their coverage has been up against some significant odds. This year’s Commonwealth Games appear to have been met with varying levels of indifference by Australians, possibly not helped by the negative publicity surrounding the final lead-up to the competition.

The free-to-air TV environment has also changed dramatically since the last Commonwealth Games (Melbourne, 2006) and even Olympic Games (Beijing, 2008) in that then there were only five free-to-air networks – presenting only limited alternative viewing options. This time around, there are up to a dozen other free-to-air channels on offer – with two channels, GEM and 7mate, launched only weeks ago.

Also impacting Ten’s performance is the somewhat limiting anti-siphoning legislation – meaning that even though Ten has a secondary channel with One HD, combined they could only really offer a single-channel approach to coverage – something which is often at odds with such a large competition where there are multiple events occurring at the same time – while up against rival networks offering 2, 3 or 4 viewing alternatives. Ten might have helped stop the flow of viewers to other networks if it had launched its new entertainment channel, 11, with its own alternative to Games coverage, but instead the channel is scheduled to launch early in 2011.

And adding to Ten’s competition was Foxtel – with its six channels of Commonwealth Games coverage which, in itself, is nothing new (they had a similar multi-channel offering in 2006) but the difference this time is that Foxtel was offering these channels to existing subscribers at no extra charge.

Despite the challenges, Ten will be pleased with the increase in viewing on One HD where it received some of its best ever ratings.

With the obvious pre-Games expectation of the saturation coverage delivering a ratings dividend leading into the last six weeks of ratings competition for the year, it now appears that Ten will be needing to offer some promises to make good to advertisers wanting more bang for their sponsorship dollars and, with shows like The 7PM Project, Neighbours, Undercover Boss, Talkin’ ‘Bout Your Generation, Junior Masterchef, Modern Family, The Simpsons, Rush and Offspring having been out of circulation for two weeks, now has to work hard to drag viewers back to the network as it heads into the home straight of the ratings survey year. And with daylight saving now part of the equation, that makes the task of attracting viewers’ attention in the early evening even more of a struggle.

Network Ten have the rights to televise the Commonwealth Games when they head to Glasgow, Scotland, in 2014.

1990: September 15-21

Let’s party!
Next month, stars of past and present TV shows will gather with fans to pay tribute to the industry that has made them household names and will raise money for charity at the same time.  The Sprite-TV Celebrity Dance Party, hosted by Paula Duncan, will aid the Lorna Hodgkinson Sunshine Home for the intellectually handicapped.  Some of the famous faces attending the event include Georgie Parker and Craig McLachlan (pictured) joining cast members from shows including Sons And Daughters, Neighbours, Cop Shop, Home And Away, Prisoner, A Country Practice and The Flying Doctors.  TV Week is also involved in the event and is giving away ten double passes, including airfares and hotel accommodation for interstate winners.

Back to the boards
Lean times in the television industry are seeing many actors and actresses officially out of work.  Actors Equity says that 85 per cent of the 12,000 registered actors and actresses are out of acting work while many performers familiar to TV viewers are now making the move into the theatre – Alex Papps and Roger Oakley (formerly of Home And Away), Anne Phelan (pictured, last seen in Family And Friends), Kim Lewis (The Restless Years, Sons And Daughters) and Joan Sydney (A Country Practice) are just some TV performers who are now taking on theatre roles.  For Lewis, who is co-starring with boyfriend John O’Hare (recently seen in GP) in the Sydney production of Little Malcolm And His Struggle Against The Eunuchs, it is a welcome change from television.  “I was always yearning for theatre work,” she told TV Week.  “It’s a whole other world.  You can’t stop and just go over mistakes.  You’re there.  That’s it.”  For actress Anne Phelan, while she is grateful for her latest role in the Melbourne Theatre Company’s This Old Man Comes Rolling Home, says she is not as excited at the move into the theatre.  “I’m at the stage where I’m thinking I should never have been an actor,” she said.  “I’m feeling insecure because this role is massive and difficult.  If someone offered me six months of TV work I’d say yes.”  Joan Sydney, also starring in the MTC play, told TV Week: “Theatre is where the real acting is, but I enjoyed TV.  I don’t consider it second rate.”

The big match… but this time Dermie’s the loser!
The long-running, unresolved romantic tension between Dr Elly Fielding (Penny Cook) and Reverend Bob Brown (Tony Martin) on Network Ten’s E Street is about to be sealed with a kiss.  The pair are brought closer together after the owner of a local video store, played by AFL footballer Dermot Brereton (pictured, with Penny Cook), falls for Dr Fielding and she enlists the help of the reverend to tell Dermot that he is involved with her instead.  The irony is, of course, that Reverend Bob has always loved Elly, and this incident looks likely to finally bring them together.

Briefly…
Actor Jeremy Kewley, currently featuring in Network Ten’s Candid Camera, says it is surprising just how many people are with people they shouldn’t be when the camera catches them out.  “This happens often in restaurants.  You’d be surprised at the number of diners on dates with people other than their official partners,” he told TV Week.  Although he does point out that anyone they do play a trick on is asked to sign a form agreeing to have the segment shown on TV.

Former Neighbours star Geoff Paine was stunned when he was approached to join the cast of The Comedy Company.  “It had never occurred to me that one day I’d be working with this team. It was quite a surprise to be asked,” he told TV Week.  He is also thrilled at joining the show after Network Ten scrapped a proposed drama series, City Hospital, that was to feature Paine reprising his former Neighbours role of Dr Clive Gibbons.

Former Family And Friends star Gavin Harrison has a new-found confidence as a result of training for an upcoming episode of GP where he will play a boxing hero who has to rely on drugs to keep fighting.  “Working on GP was the best experience of my life,” he told TV Week.  “It was the series I wanted to work on and the character was a real challenge to me.  They wanted an actor who could box and make it look professional, so that was a hurdle I had to get over.”

Hey Hey It’s Saturday cast members John Blackman and Wilbur Wilde have had their breakfast show on Melbourne radio station 3UZ abruptly cancelled after the station decided to adopt a new full-time sports format. 

John Laws says…
”Ten’s decision to screen all-night news and current affairs from the CNN network in America will, no doubt, please those night-owl viewers who want a change from Seven’s rival NBC Today or third-rate movies.  CNN’s Daybreak, now screening on Ten, is a slick, rapid-fire news show, covering anything of world or national interest to Americans.  It was time, of course, for someone to to offer spirited competition to Bryant Gumbel and the NBC Today show.  I understand the program’s ratings have dipped recently in the US, which is not a surprise.  The Today show comes across as a tired, disorganised shadow of what it was a few years ago.”

Program Highlights (September 15-21):
Sunday:  GTV9 crosses to Phillip Island for live coverage of the Australian 500cc Motorcycle Grand Prix .  Leading the coverage are Barry Sheene and Darrell Eastlake.  Meanwhile, HSV7 presents a two-hour afternoon special, The Season That Was, presenting highlights of the 1990 AFL season.  ATV10 presents live coverage of the Preliminary Final of the NSW Rugby League.  Sunday night movies are Year Of The Dragon (HSV7), Funny Farm (GTV9) and The Year My Voice Broke (ATV10).

Monday:  Andrew Denton presents a new show, The Money Or The Gun, on ABC – described as a “documentary/chat/comedy show where the real meets the surreal.”

Tuesday:  HSV7 and GTV9 both cross to Tokyo for a 90-minute presentation on the announcement of the host city of the 1996 Olympic Games.  Bruce McAvaney heads HSV7’s telecast, while Brian Naylor, prime minister Bob Hawke and A Current Affair’s Jana Wendt are part of the presenting team on GTV9’s telecast.  ATV10 promises to provide updates on the announcement during its Tuesday night movie, Prizzi’s Honour.  Melbourne is one of the six cities bidding for the Games, up against Athens, Manchester, Toronto, Belgrade and Atlanta.

Thursday:  In Acropolis Now (HSV7), after a disastrous theatre date with Liz (Tracey Callander), Jim (Nick Giannopoulos) decides to stage his own version of Romeo And Juliet.  Although Skirts star Nicholas Bell turns up to “addition” for the part of Romeo, Jim instead takes on the role and asks Effie (Mary Coustas, pictured) to be his Juliet.

Friday:  During the day, HSV7 crosses to White City, Sydney for the semi-final of the Davis Cup – Australia versus Argentina.  That night, HSV7 goes to the Glasshouse for the National Basketball League game between Melbourne Tigers and North Melbourne Giants.

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

TelevisionAU Update 10-Apr-10

http://www.televisionau.com

NEW FLASHBACK #53
Production of the mini-series A Town Like Alice, based on Nevil Shute's novel of the same name, was first planned in 1979 for the Seven Network on the back of the success of their earlier historical epic, Against The Wind.  A Town Like Alice was a hit when it aired in mid-1981 and the following year the mini-series took a total of five TV Week Logie awards, including best mini-series and best actor and actress awards for the leading stars, Bryan Brown and Helen Morse (pictured).
Picture: TV Week, 25 July 1981

NEW HEADLINES FROM THEN #8
TV Week, 1 March 1980: Graham Kennedy (pictured) to return to TV? International stars for the TV Week Logie Awards.  Prisoner star gets US TV offer.  Ten’s Bill Collins fights spinal disorder.

NEW OZ TV FLOP
The White Room (Seven, 2010)

CLASSIC TV GUIDES
Melbourne:
1977 (Hotel Story)
1980 (The Franky Doyle Story)
1982 (TV Week Logie Awards)
1985 (ABC National, News Overnight, The Cowra Breakout)
1988 (Opening Ceremony, The Games Of The XXIV Olympiad)

Brisbane:
1967 (Brisbane council elections, NSW Referendum, Victorian State Election)
1969

Adelaide:
1987 (Last day of broadcast for ADS7/SAS10, and first day of broadcast for ADS10/SAS7)

Tasmania:
1978

TELEVISIONAU - THE HISTORY OF AUSTRALIAN TELEVISION
http://www.televisionau.com
http://blog.televisionau.com
http://www.twitter.com/TelevisionAU
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/televisionau
http://au.youtube.com/user/TelevisionAU

Going to party like it’s 1990…

Each week for the past two years we’ve been documenting the events of Australian TV during the corresponding week of thirty years ago – 1978 and 1979 – as reported in TV Times magazine.

Now, sadly, we have to bring that sequence of posts to an end as we do not have a weekly archive of TV Times beyond the close of 1979 – and, indeed, the magazine title itself became obsolete in August 1980 when it was merged with rival magazine TV Week.

However, we are able to ‘skip’ a decade and can bring you TV as it was in the corresponding week of 1990 – twenty years ago – as reported in TV Week.  This will start in the new year.

As we move into a new decade in the present day TV continues to come to terms with the new era of digital multi-channelling.  The year will see the continued presence, and possibly even the addition, of new channels under the Freeview banner.  2009 saw the introduction of One HD, SBS2, GO!, 7TWO and ABC3, and there could be more to follow.  Freeview will also continue to be challenged by Foxtel’s “next generation” offering.  The year will also see community TV allowed its first steps in digital broadcasting, having waited and campaigned for many years for access to digital broadcasting spectrum, and Mildura will witness Australia’s first phase-out of analogue television signals.

The year will see the return of Masterchef Australia – will it maintain the public’s attention in 2010 as it did in 2009? – and more of Hey Hey It’s Saturday after its two reunion specials garnered massive support in 2009.  There will be no more Rove but we may see a greater presence from Shaun Micallef, following the popularity of Talkin’ ‘Bout Your Generation.  The 7PM Project will continue to hope to gain stronger support – but how long will Ten pursue it?  There will be a third series in the Underbelly franchise, and Neighbours will celebrate its 25th anniversary. 

The TV Week Logie Awards could break with tradition and be held in Queensland, and the year will also include the Commonwealth Games, from Delhi, India, and the Winter Olympics, from Vancouver, Canada.

The new year also marks a new era in the reporting of ratings data as, for the first time, viewing by time-shifted means (e.g. viewing of programs recorded by devices such as VCRs, PVRs, etc.) will be tallied along with programs that are viewed ‘live’ to air.

The year 2010 will also mark the 50th anniversary of ABC channels ABS2 Adelaide, ABT2 Hobart and ABW2 Perth, as well as commercial station TVT6 Hobart (now a branch of WIN Television).  SBS will celebrate its 30th anniversary later in the year and aggregation of Regional Queensland television will be 20 years old from the end of 2010.

And 2010 will mark ten years since the website Television.AU was established.