1992: March 29-April 4

Why Rebekah’s quitting Summer Bay
After two years playing hapless teenager Sophie in Home And Away, Rebekah Elmaloglou (pictured) has decided to leave the series.  The 18-year-old will tape her final scenes for the show in September and hopes that life after Home And Away will be a little less frantic.  “There is definitely life after Home And Away,” she told TV Week.  “It’s been great and I’ve learned heaps, but the pace is just too much and I need a break.  Come September, I plan to do a lot of travelling overseas and I might even do a pantomime in London.”

John plays by new rules
”People tend to see me as Rafferty and nothing else,” actor John Wood tells TV Week.  “So I’m pleased that Dearest Enemy is about to be screened – it might break down that feeling a bit.”  The three-time TV Week Logie winner stars in the series alongside Linden Wilkinson, Bruce Spence, Frank Wilson and Vic Hawkins.  “I’ve been lucky in that in the two major series I’ve done, I’ve had wonderful female co-stars – Catherine Wilkin in Rafferty’s Rules, and now Linden.”  But with production of Dearest Enemy completed some time ago – and despite a current stage role in Sydney – Wood can’t get back into television.  “A couple of years ago, I was the most outstanding actor on television.  Now I can’t get a bloody job in television.  It’s amazing,” he laughs.

Richard insures against handbag attacks
As Terry Sullivan in the long-running series The Sullivans, actor Richard Morgan (pictured) became one of Australia’s most recognisable faces – something he hated, and was made more difficult when Terry started beating his wife.  “I copped a few handbags across the face in supermarkets from women who couldn’t tell between fantasy and reality,” he told TV Week.  Now, a decade later, he is content to enjoy his anonymity working in the insurance industry and appearing only in roles that appeal to him, such as the mysterious Michael Tranti in an upcoming episode of Chances.  Tranti is a married businessman who develops an unhealthy infatuation with advertising executive Angela (Patsy Stephen) when he enlists the advertising agency for his company’s new campaign.  Chances is Morgan’s first television appearance in 18 months, his last TV role being on the Seven Network drama series Skirts.

Briefly…
Australian actress Christine Harris (pictured), with television credits including The Young Doctors, Carson’s Law, Prisoner, Neighbours, Chances and ABC mini-series Darlings Of The Gods, is in the running for a major overseas role – the part of Scarlett O’Hara in the sequel to the cinema classic Gone With The Wind.

Former Neighbours star Andrew Williams is soon to begin a 13-week guest stint in Ten’s other prime time drama, E Street. He will make his on screen debut in June.

Meanwhile, the producers of E Street are now developing a drama-sitcom project featuring pop group The Teen Queens. The video clip of the group’s debut single, Be My Baby, appeared on E Street recently. The pilot for the new series, to be set in Bondi Beach, is to be filmed soon.

There is speculation that the Nine Network may give the flick to Clive Robertson and The World Tonight to make way for a new show to be hosted by Richard Wilkins.

Former Chances star Cathy Godbold, whose role as leukaemia victim Meg Bowman in Home And Away comes to a tragic end on screen this week, has appeared in a pilot episode of a proposed new sitcom, Newlyweds.

Lawrie Masterson: The View From Here:

’The Minister for Information and Immigration… has been the target for strong press criticism in this immigration venture’ .  With thousands of higher-living nationals awaiting entrance – English, Nordic types and Americans – who can offer this country ideas and culture, it is little wonder that this project has been the centre of bitter controversy.  Let us hope that immigration of the future will be planned deliberately and intelligently and offer more opportunities to the people of our own stock.’ 

“Those quotes (above) are not from a speech by someone from the extreme right of South African politics.  They are taken from a Cinesound Review newsreel, made right here in Australia.  The government minister to whom the voice-over referred was the late Arthur Calwell, who held the Information and Immigration portfolios in the Chifley Government between 1945 and 1949.  The newsreel footage is part of Alec Morgan’s film Admission Impossible: The Story Behind The White Australia Policy.  A Film Australia production, it screens on ABC this week.  The film, narrated by former Four Corners reporter Paul Barry, is a combination of archival film and interviews with immigration officials.  It paints successive Australian governments as underhanded and racist.  Admission Impossible forcefully supports Alec Morgan’s contention that Australia as an egalitarian nation embracing multiculturalism was – and is – a myth.”

Program Highlights (Melbourne, March 29-April 4):
Sunday:  With cricket season now over, Nine’s weekly sports magazine programs Wide World Of Sports: Sunday Edition and Sports Sunday return.  During the afternoon, Nine crosses to Suzuka, Japan, for live coverage of the Japanese 500cc Grand Prix.  Sunday night movies are Black Rain (Seven), Flatliners (Nine) and Revenge (Ten) – while ABC screens the Film Australia documentary Admission Impossible, focusing on the behind-the-scenes political forces and propaganda campaigns that attempted to populate Australia with pure white migrants. 

Monday:  In the series return of Dearest Enemy (ABC), Alex (Linden Wilkinson, pictured) gets a crash course in political wheeling and dealing.  In A Country Practice (Seven), Frank Gilroy (Brian Wenzel) gives up plans for retirement when Constable Tom Newman (Jon Concannon) decides to quit.

Tuesday:  Nine presents delayed coverage of the presentation of the 64th annual Academy Awards, hosted by Billy Crystal at the Los Angeles Music Centre.  Nominations for Best Picture are Bugsy, Beauty And The Beast, JFK, Prince Of Tides and Silence Of The Lambs.

Wednesday:  In Home And Away (Seven), Meg (Cathy Godbold) needs all her energy to live her final days to the full. 

Thursday:  In ABC crime drama Phoenix, Lochie (Andy Anderson), frustrated by his desk jockey status, finally has the chance to lead a raid but it goes embarrassingly wrong.

Friday:  Documentary series A Big Country (ABC) looks at Tim Kelly, former champion rodeo rider – with the hard-drinking and hard-living life-style that came with it – whose life has changed since gospel preachers called him to God.  Now, Kelly is a sincere and gentle man whose wife, a former barmaid and bikie, has also converted to the Christian faith.

Saturday:  Afternoon sport includes netball (ABC), highlights of the Australian Swimming Olympic trials (Seven), Hong Kong 7’s Rugby Union (Ten) and five hours of Wide World Of Sports (Nine).  Evening sport includes live coverage of the Mitsubishi NBL Challenge from the National Tennis Centre (Ten), highlights of the day’s AFL matches (Seven) and a late-night delayed telecast of Winfield Cup Rugby League (Nine).  This week’s episode of the SBS documentary series Through Australian Eyes looks at the lives of three Australian-born Jewish sisters and their children.

Source: TV Week (Melbourne edition), incorporating TV Times and TV Guide.  28 March 1992.  Southdown Press.

1991: November 23-29

Melissa’s shock exit!
E Street star Melissa Tkautz has made a sudden exit from the Network Ten soap, halfway through a three-year contract, after an apparent rift developed between herself and the show’s producers.  It is not known exactly what problems have arisen although it is suspected that Tkautz’s pop star commitments – such as preparing to tour with C&C Music Factory next month – have conflicted with her filming commitments to the series.  Producer Forrest Redlich told TV Week that “the official line is, ‘She’s leaving to pursue musical interests’.”  He also said that Tkautz’s pop career almost came about by accident as the pop songs were intended to promote the show and Tkautz was chosen from the show’s cast as the best match for the proposed first single, Read My Lips (“I thought it was too raunchy for Toni Pearen and too teeny-bopper for Alyssa-Jane Cook.”)  The debut single hit the top of the charts as did the follow up single, Sexy (Is The Word), and suddenly Tkautz has become a big pop star.  “She was a successful marketing exercise for us,” Redlich said.  “I don’t know if this will hurt the show.  She had fans.”  Tkautz’s sudden departure will see her character Nikki sent off to New Zealand.

New series woos John
John Waters is tipped for the lead role in a new weekly drama series to be filmed in Brisbane next year.  The new series, Darling And Partners, is to be set in a law firm and according to producer Phillip Bowman is hoped to demystify the process of law.  “It is not an expose of the Australian legal system,” Bowman told TV Week.  “Lawyers I have spoken to see this series as having positive potential.”  The pilot for Darling And Partners will begin filming early in 1992.

‘The worst year of my life…’
For Wheel Of Fortune’s Adriana Xenides it has been a traumatic year, with an increase in work commitments, being plagued by illness for months, and the breakdown of her two-year marriage.  She also became the target of a hate-mail campaign where an anonymous writer had contacted many media outlets, including TV Week, with some very personal details and her personal telephone number.  “Initially it hurt, but that didn’t last very long,” she told TV Week.  “When I thought about it, I felt very sorry for whoever took the time to write a note like that to the press.  I feel whoever did that must be a lonely person or terribly bored.”  Apart from the marriage breakdown, she was hit by a “mystery” illness which turned out to be a combination of glandular fever and viral pneumonia.  “I’ve had the worst year of my life with sickness,” she said.  “I usually have the odd cold or whatever, but I’ve never been this sick.”  The year has ended on a highlight, however, with her visit to Disney World as part of the international 20th anniversary celebration of Wheel Of Fortune. 

Briefly…
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.

Home And Away is set to end the year where the sudden return of Frank (Alex Papps) after the collapse of his marriage to Roo (Justine Clarke) sees him make a beeline for former wife Bobby (Nicolle Dickson), claiming that he is sorry that he divorced her and is still in love with her.

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.

John Laws says…
”After the coarse humour of Married… With Children, the bitchery of The Golden Girls and the cloying cuteness of The Cosby Show, the consistent freshness and vitality of Australia’s Hey Dad! comes as a welcome relief.  So it’s nice to know that as the TV year grinds to a conclusion – leaving behind the usual clutch of falling stars and ratings bombs – Hey Dad! is comfortably maintaining its bright and appealing honest approach.”

Program Highlights (Melbourne, November 23-29):
Saturday:  That’s Dancin’ (ABC) presents its series semi-final.  This week’s contestants on Celebrity Wheel Of Fortune (Seven) are Stuart Wagstaff, Rachael Beck and Maynard F. Sharp Crabbes.  The main event of the night is the first annual presentation of the Australian Music Awards (Ten), from Melbourne’s World Congress Centre, a three-hour celebration of Australian music with awards in 20 categories. The AMAs feature guests including John Farnham, Jimmy Barnes, Kate Ceberano, Grace Knight, Craig McLachlan, Jo Beth Taylor, Jack Jones, James Blundell, Melissa Tkautz, Johnny Diesel, Boom Crash Opera, Ratcat, David Reyne, Juno, Roxus, Indecent Obsession and Glenn Shorrock.

Sunday:  The beginning of the final week of official ratings surveys for the year sees the final editions of Wide World Of Sports (Nine), Sports Sunday (Nine) and 60 Minutes (Nine) for 1991.  Sunday night movies are The Presidio (Seven), National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation (Nine) and Out Of Africa (Ten) – while ABC presents the Australian Opera production of Puccini’s last opera, Turandot.

Monday:  Ten debuts a new children’s series, The Miraculous Mellops.  ABC presents a one-hour special, Sex, taking a comic approach to a serious topic in discussing questions and attitudes about sexual activity, safe sex and sexually-transmitted diseases amongst young adults.

Tuesday:  In the season final of A Country Practice (Seven), romance is in the air after Darcy (Kym Wilson) and Luke (Matt Day) get their HSC results.  And in the series final of All Together Now (Nine), while planning a traditional Christmas celebration the Rivers household is visited by a very pregnant woman and her husband (played by Maryanne Fahey and husband Ian McFadyen) on Christmas Eve who are stranded with no accommodation – a coincidence not lost on Bobby (Jon English).  The episode also features a guest appearance by Robert Grubb (The Flying Doctors).

Wednesday:  In the lead up to World AIDS Day, Ita Buttrose introduces the US special Common Threads – Stories From The Quilt (ABC), the story of five people who have died from AIDS.  Their names have been commemorated in five panels of an ever-growing quilt that now covers 14 acres.

Thursday:  Seven begins four days of coverage of the Australian Open golf, with commentators Sandy Roberts, Jack Newton and Pat Welsh.  Nine’s Midday With Ray Martin presents its final episode for 1991 with a two-hour special.  In The Flying Doctors (Nine), a bus load of Japanese tourists arrive in Coopers Crossing and the locals’ reaction varies from enthusiastic to racist.

Friday:  Nine’s daytime is dominated by the first day of the cricket First Test between Australia and India, live from the Gabba in Brisbane.  In the evening, Burke’s Backyard (Nine) presents its final edition for 1991.  Ten debuts US youth drama Beverly Hills 90210.

Source: TV Week (Victoria edition), incorporating TV Times and TV Guide.  23 November 1991.  Southdown Press

1990: May 12-18

What a sweet cop!
Since leaving A Country Practice, Josephine Mitchell has worked in theatre in Perth, holidayed in the UK and formed a production company with fellow actors Sarah Lambert, Wendy Strehlow and Maureen O”Shaughnessy.  Now she is back at the Seven Network – as a policewoman in Home And Away.  Mitchell’s character, Constable Jane Holland, wins the heart of Grant Mitchell (Craig McLachlan).  But when comparing working for TV with working in the theatre, Mitchell says TV is definitely harder.  “I get much more nervous on television than I do on stage,” Mitchell told TV Week.  “You have more rehearsal time with a play, whereas on TV you do it on the spot a lot of the time.  TV’s harder, for sure.” Meanwhile, the new production company is planning to launch its first stage production, Dusa, Stash, Fish And Vi, later this year. 

‘Good ol’ sex… well, it beats violence!’
It is an old saying that sex sells – it worked for Number 96, and now another Network Ten series is following a similar path.  E Street has never been coy about discussing human relationships – a recent episode featured Sonny Bennet (Richard Huggett) in a late-night encounter with a topless waitress.  Now two of the show’s popular characters – Harley (Malcolm Kennard) and Toni (Toni Pearen) are also going to find out there is more to the old birds and bees as they take their relationship to the next level.  “What we are trying to do is make the show as identifiable as possible,” producer Forrest Redlich told TV Week.  “We’ve had no trouble with the Australian Broadcasting Tribunal at all, because what we’ve done is within the context of the story.  I think, seriously, that a bit of good ol’ sex is much more favourable a thing to be putting on screen at 7.30pm rather than violence.”

‘When John walked in I felt sparks!’
When US actress Cybill Shepherd first laid eyes on her new Australian co-star John Waters (pictured) she said sparks flew.  “It made me feel good,” said the 40-year-old former Moonlighting star.  “John has an interesting face and he is very attractive.”  The pair are working together on a new mini-series, Which Way Home, for the Ten Network and the American network TNT.  The $6 million production is being filmed on location in New Zealand, Darwin and Thailand.

Briefly…
Australian performer Kate Ceberano is in Monte Carlo to appear in the World Music Awards.  The event is a charity created by the royal family of Monaco to recognise creative music from around the world.

Nine’s 60 Minutes has assembled a group of nine elite athletes to battle it out in a gruelling 24 hours of physical endurance over eight events.  One of the competitors, Sports Sunday’s Lisa Curry-Kenny, did concede to having a slight disadvantage – she was the only one who was pregnant, though at the time did not know it.  “I was still doing my normal exercise routine and, other than a few ‘off’ weeks, I haven’t even been sick,” she says.

The Nine Network has reunited two former teenage stars as hosts of its Saturday morning children’s show, C Company.  Kristine Davis, 20, has been in television for ten years – starting as a junior reporter for Wombat at the age of 10.  Her colleague Tony Johnston was the host of the former music video program Jukebox, and the pair studied drama together as teenagers and appeared in various amateur theatre and musical productions.

John Laws says…
”Steve Vizard was probably pretty sure he could beat off the challenge of Clive Robertson on Nine, but that may not be the case, in Sydney anyway.  Robbo knocked him off 9 to 8 in a recent ratings period.  This could be ominous, given the enormously high cost of producing the Vizard show (Tonight Live).  Even a slight downward trend in the ratings could see the Seven management’s bean-counters begin to work feverishly.  And, in the end, it will be dollars and cents that decide everything.”

Program Highlights (May 12-18):
Saturday:  ABC crosses live to Wembley Stadium for the FA Cup Final – Manchester United versus Crystal Palace.  The telecast starts at 11.40pm and continues for three hours.
Sunday:  Sunday night movies are Agatha Christie’s The Man In The Brown Suit (GTV9) and Bat 21 (ATV10).  HSV7 presents the first instalment of mini-series Roses Are For The Rich, and ABC’s Sunday Stereo Special features the 1989 Kirov Ballet production of The Sleeping Beauty, performed in Montreal.
Tuesday:  SBS presents a new program, Common Cents, aiming to provide financial advice in lay terms for the average Australian.  This is followed by an Italian short film, Rabbit On The Moon, which focuses on an Italian girl growing up in Australia.
Wednesday:  Jason Gilkison and Molly Meldrum (pictured) are guest judges for the First Series final of New Faces (GTV9), hosted by Daryl Somers.
Friday:  HSV7 crosses to the Sydney Cricket Ground for live AFL – Sydney Swans versus Geelong.

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

1990: March 17-23

Gold, silver… and a touch of brass!
The 32nd annual TV Week Logie Awards, held at Melbourne’s Hyatt On Collins, honoured the most popular and outstanding achievements of Australian TV in 1989.  Hosted by Mark Mitchell, the presentation was attended by overseas guests John Travolta, Ernest Borgnine, Pauline Collins and John Alderton, with Australian actress Sigrid Thornton, currently based on the US, also a special guest.  Also present on the night was the ever-glamorous Dame Edna Everage and a special appearance by jazz musician James Morrison.  The official proceedings of the night culminated with Travolta handing out the TV Week Gold Logie to former Neighbours star Craig McLachlan as Most Popular Personality on Australian TV.  McLachlan, now starring in rival soap Home And Away, also took away a Silver Logie for Most Popular Actor, and his partner Rachel Friend won the Silver Logie for Most Popular Actress.

TV Week Logie Winners 1990: Publicly-voted categories
Gold Logie – Most Popular Personality On Australian TV: Craig McLachlan
Silver Logie – Most Popular Actor On Australian TV: Craig McLachlan
Silver Logie – Most Popular Actress On Australian TV: Rachel Friend
Most Popular Series: Neighbours
Most Popular Light Entertainment/Comedy Program: The Comedy Company
Most Popular Light Entertainment/Comedy Personality: Daryl Somers
Most Popular Sports Coverage: Cricket (Nine Network)
Most Popular Telemovie/Mini-Series: Bangkok Hilton
Most Popular Actor In A Telemovie/Mini-Series: Jason Donovan
Most Popular Actress In A Telemovie/Mini-Series: Nicole Kidman
Most Popular Lifestyle Information Program: Burke’s Backyard
Most Popular Music Video: Never Too Late (Kylie Minogue)
Most Popular Children’s Program: Wombat
Most Popular New Talent: Georgie Parker
Most Popular Public Affairs Program: A Current Affair

TV Week Logie Winners 1990: Industry-voted categories
Gold Logie – Hall of Fame: Johnny Young
Most Outstanding Actor: Shane Porteous
Most Outstanding Actress: Nicole Kidman
Most Outstanding Achievement In Public Affairs: True Believers (4 Corners)
Most Outstanding Achievement In News: Romanian Revolution (Nine Network)
Most Outstanding Single Documentary Or Series: Ladies In Lines (ABC)
Most Outstanding Achievement By Regional Television: My Place, My Land, My People (QTV, Townsville, QLD)

TV Week Logie Winners 1990: State-based categories (Most Popular Personality, Most Popular Program)
New South Wales: Ray Martin, Home And Away
Victoria: Daryl Somers, Neighbours
Queensland: Jill Ray, Wombat
South Australia: Anne Wills, Wheel Of Fortune
Western Australia: Rick Ardon, Seven Nightly News
Tasmania: Bert Taylor, Taylor’s Australia

Briefly…
There’s wedding bells for several of the team from Seven’s Acropolis Now – with producer Pino Amenta now engaged to make-up artist Amanda Rowbottom, Simon Palomares engaged to co-star Tracey Callander, and George Kapiniaris engaged to make-up artist Peta Hastings.  Pictured on stage at the recent TV Week Logie Awards are Nick Giannopoulos, Simon Palomares and George Kapiniaris.

Swimming champion Lisa Curry has become the first Australian woman to host a sports show, joining Mark Warren on the Nine Network’s Sports Sunday.

Dozens of celebrities from around Australia, including showbusiness names and sports stars, have gathered at the South Melbourne Cricket Ground for the annual Variety Club Celebrity Thrill, including Aussie rules handball contests, basketball, golf putting, croquet and a tug of war.  The event, now in its sixth year, was attended by thousands of fans with proceeds going to the Variety Club program for underprivileged children.

John Laws says…
”Comedienne Gretel Killeen showed a measure of courage unusual in the TV industry when she decided to leave Nine’s Coast To Coast after only two weeks as a co-presenter.  Or was it that she saw, with alarming clarity, the writing on the wall and decided to quit before she copped at least some of the blame for a TV Titanic?  The ratings and the press criticisms should force Nine to the realisation that Coast To Coast was no more than a clever comedy vehicle for Graham Kennedy, and that without him the program is extremely vulnerable, particularly in the face of Steve Vizard’s rapidly-improving Tonight Live on Seven.  What Coast To Coast needs, perhaps, is someone like Kerri-Anne Kennerley, a TV trouper who knows how to smile, how to laugh, and how to crack a funny ad-lib gag.”

Program Highlights (March 17-23):
Saturday:  ABC presents live coverage of Day 3 of the Trans-Tasman Test, Australia versus New Zealand, from Wellington, New Zealand.  In the evening, HSV7 presents live coverage of the Fosters Cup Grand Final.
Sunday:  ABC has live coverage of Day 4 of the Trans-Tasman Test, live from New Zealand, while GTV9 crosses live to Adelaide for the FAI Cup, South Australia versus New South Wales.  Sunday night movies are Lethal Weapon (GTV9) and Mask (ATV10).  HSV7 presents Part One of the mini-series All The Rivers Run II, starring John Waters (pictured), Nikki Coghill, Charles ‘Bud’ Tingwell, Peta Toppano and American actor Parker Stevenson.
Monday:  HSV7 presents the second and final part of All The Rivers Run II, while ABC presents the debut of Wendy Harmer’s new talk show, In Harmer’s Way.
Wednesday:  ABC presents the controversial telemovie, Police Crop, recreating the events that led to the assassination of Assistant Commissioner Colin Winchester.
Friday:  Dorothy’s (Maggie Dence) arrival in Neighbours causes problems for Joe (Mark Little), while Jim (Alan Dale) tries to come to terms with the return of Beverley’s (Shauna O’Grady) old flame.

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