Ten says Newsnight is old news

Only a few days ago Network Ten had all guns blazing about a new-format late night news program to be hosted by journalist Hamish Macdonald (pictured).

The program was to be called Ten Newsnight and debut on Monday, 4 June at 10.30pm.

Now it seems that while the bulletin is still going ahead, the name is not.

Instead, Ten Newsnight will just be the far more traditionally-named Ten Late News, the same title of the late night news bulletin that Ten axed last September.

Ten is reported to have said that the Newsnight name was merely a working title for the purpose of getting news of the show’s launch out to the press, insisting that the last-minute name change was to reflect a simpler, more concise brand for the new program.  One wonders if the network was somehow assuming that the viewing audience would not have the cognitive skills to figure out what a program called Ten Newsnight might specifically entail?

While it is certainly not uncommon for new programs to launch to the public with different titles to those proposed in the development stages, Ten’s media release issued on Monday left no doubt as to what they intended to call this program.

However it has come to light via the online forum Media Spy that Ten’s change of heart may have potentially been prompted in part by the Nine Network trademarking the names “Newsnight” and “9 Newsnight” several years ago – while pay-TV news network Sky News Australia also has an established program called News Night, although such similarities didn’t stop Ten naming its early morning show Breakfast when ABC already had its own ABC News Breakfast.

Despite Ten opting for the pre-loved title for the new program they claim it will be a different news experience compared to its late night predecessor presented for many years by Sandra Sully, with the new program incorporating a mix of news, interviews, entertainment, sport and interaction with social media.

Ten Late News is, at this stage, still set to debut on Monday, 4 June, at 10.30pm and will screen Monday to Thursday nights.

Source: Media Spy, TV Tonight, The Australian

Ten launches into Newsnight

The Ten Network has announced plans to re-enter the late news arena with the launch of a new program to be hosted by journalist Hamish Macdonald.

Ten Newsnight, according to News Director Anthony Flannery, will not be “a traditional news bulletin”:

“It will cover the staples of news bulletins, such as headlines of the day, breaking news, sport, weather and finance.  But Ten Newsnight will also include features such as live interviews, entertainment, and segments that use social media to reveal what people are talking about and what will be the next day’s big stories.”

“It will be contemporary and at times it will be provocative. We will tackle challenging topics and issues. We will give a different perspective to big stories and big issues.”

Starting his career at regional network WIN, Macdonald then went abroad where he worked at Channel 4 in the United Kingdom and at Qatar-based news channel Al Jazeera English.  He joined Ten at the end of 2010 primarily for the role of senior foreign correspondent for George Negus’ evening current affairs program but also for other reporting and presenting roles at the network, including guest-hosting The Project and The Circle and compiling the recent Ten News special report Bikie Wars: Here And Now. 

Earlier this year Macdonald was a nominee for the Graham Kennedy Award for Most Outstanding New Talent at the TV Week Logie Awards.  He has also been nominated for prestigious Walkley and Quill awards.

Given Ten’s big-budget news expansion last year failed to pay any dividends and this year’s launch of Breakfast (pictured) is also falling well short of making any inroads against the domination of Sunrise and Today, the launch of Ten Newsnight is a risky proposition but it does fill a gap in the coverage of late news on commercial free-to-air television since the axing of Ten Late News last September.

Ten Newsnight, with Macdonald and sports presenter Brad McEwan, will screen Monday to Thursday nights at 10.30pm from Monday, 4 June.

TV Week Logie Awards: 25 years ago

Midday host Ray Martin was awarded the Gold Logie for Most Popular Personality on Australian Television at the 29th annual TV Week Logie Awards, held at Melbourne’s Hyatt on Collins Hotel on Friday, 3 April 1987.

The Gold Logie comes two years after Martin made the risky decision to move away from top-rating current affairs program 60 Minutes to replace Mike Walsh as the host of Nine’s midday variety show.  “I always expected Gold Logies to be awarded to entertainers like Tony Barber or (fellow nominee) Daryl Somers,” he told TV Week.  “After 22 years as a journalist, I’m just a good story teller.”

Martin also scored a second Logie – for Most Popular Personality in New South Wales.

The awards presentation, broadcast on Network Ten, was hosted by Don Lane (pictured) and featured special guests Dame Edna Everage (Barry Humphries) and overseas stars Loretta Swit (MASH), Leeza Gibbons (Entertainment This Week), Brian Dennehy (in Australia for a role in the film The Man From Snowy River II), Harry Hamlin (LA Law) and his wife, actress Laura Johnson (Falcon Crest).

The evening’s proceedings came after what was probably a very anxious afternoon for many interstate attendees, as two flights from Sydney were rescheduled and one developed mechanical problems.  Good Morning Australia co-host Gordon Elliott made it on time – but his luggage didn’t.  He ended up at the awards wearing a borrowed bow tie, business shirt, check trousers and a pair of sneakers.

Among the award winners, it was a big night for Network Ten drama Neighbours.  The series, which had made the bold move from Seven only a year earlier, scored five Logies – Most Popular Actor (Peter O’Brien), Most Popular Actress (Kylie Minogue), Most Popular New Talent (Jason Donovan), Most Popular Drama Series and Most Popular Program In Victoria.

Minogue (pictured), attending her first Logies night, became the youngest to ever win the Most Popular Actress award.  The 18-year-old was shocked to win the award that normally goes to more seasoned performers – with previous winners including Lorraine Bayly, Rowena Wallace, Paula Duncan, Val Lehman and Anne Tenney.  “Honestly, I didn’t think I’d win.  I just wish I’d been better prepared,” she told TV Week.  “I was so nervous and really excited at the time and I forgot to thank all of the people in the show.”

Seven Network mini-series Sword Of Honour took away three Logies, including individual awards for Tracy Mann (pictured) and Andrew Clarke.

Melbourne’s Eyewitness News (ATV10) scored an industry-voted Logie for Most Outstanding Achievement In News for its coverage of the Russell Street bombing in Melbourne’s CBD in March 1986.  Within minutes of the tragic bombing that claimed the life of a young policewoman, Ten was reporting live from the scene and continued to present updates during the afternoon and had compiled a thorough coverage for its 6.00pm newscast. 

The Logie for Most Outstanding Single Documentary Or Mini-Series was a draw between two medical documentaries – The Greatest Gift (Nine) and Handle With Care (Ten). The Greatest Gift, presented by reporter Elizabeth Hayes, covered the topic of heart disease and followed the story of two men undergoing heart transplant surgery.  Handle With Care was a docu-drama, directed by AFI award-winner Paul Cox and featured Monica Maughan and Anna-Maria Monticelli as women diagnosed with breast cancer and followed the progress of their respective treatments.

The ABC news special Coup D’Etat won the Logie for Most Outstanding Achievement In Public Affairs.  The program, presented by veteran journalist Peter Couchman (pictured), presented a world exclusive as it followed the political crisis in the Philippines which saw the end of Ferdinand Marcos’ regime and the swearing in of new president Cory Aquino.

Children’s television program Kids Only, a production of Ballarat channel BTV6, was the winner of the Logie for Most Outstanding Contribution by Regional Television.  The weekly program, hosted by Glenn Ridge, was commended for its special episode dedicated to summer-holiday safety.  And although Kids Only won the Logie, the industry judges also highly commended South Australian channel GTS4 Spencer Gulf for Ten Days In Bay 10, a local re-enactment of the time in 1802 when Matthew Flinders and his crew spent 10 days in the bay later named Port Lincoln.

Public-voted Categories:

Gold Logie – Most Popular Personality On Australian TV: Ray Martin (Midday With Ray Martin)

Silver Logie – Most Popular Actor: Peter O’Brien (Neighbours)
Silver Logie – Most Popular Actress: Kylie Minogue (Neighbours)

Most Popular Drama Series: Neighbours (Network Ten)
Most Popular Single Drama Or Mini-Series: Sword Of Honour (Seven Network)
Most Popular Actor In A Single Drama Or Mini-Series: Andrew Clarke (Sword Of Honour)
Most Popular Actress In A Single Drama Or Mini-Series: Tracy Mann (pictured) (Sword Of Honour)
Most Popular Light Entertainment Program: Hey Hey It’s Saturday (Nine Network)
Most Popular Public Affairs Program: 60 Minutes (Nine Network)
Most Popular Sports Coverage: Wide World Of Sports (Nine Network)
Most Popular Music Video: You’re The Voice (John Farnham)
Most Popular Children’s Program: Wombat (Seven Network)
Most Popular New Talent: Jason Donovan (pictured with Johnny Young) (Neighbours)

Industry-voted Categories:

Gold Logie – Hall Of Fame: Paul Hogan

Most Outstanding Achievement In Public Affairs: Coup D’Etat (Peter Couchman, ABC)
Most Outstanding Achievement In News: “Russell Street Bombing”, Eyewitness News (ATV10, Melbourne)
Most Outstanding Single Documentary Or Series: The Greatest Gift (Nine Network) and Handle With Care (Network Ten).
Most Outstanding Achievement By Regional Television: Kids Only (BTV6, Ballarat)

State-based Categories (Most Popular Personality, Most Popular Program):

NSW: Ray Martin, A Country Practice.
VIC: Daryl Somers (pictured), Neighbours
QLD: Jacki MacDonald (pictured), State Affair
SA: Anne Wills, State Affair
WA: Rick Ardon, State Affair
TAS: Tom Payne, Midweek

Source: TV Week, 11 April 1987.

Ten’s ready to rise for Breakfast

Network Ten’s new breakfast news program, creatively titled Breakfast, is set to debut on Monday, 27 February at 6.00am.

Breakfast will be fronted by Andrew Rochford (The Block, The Project and recently breakfast co-host at Mix 106.5 in Sydney), Kathryn Robinson (Ten News), Magdalena Roze (The Weather Channel, Ten News) and outspoken New Zealand presenter Paul Henry, who was signed up for the new program for $NZ1 million by Ten’s interim CEO Lachlan Murdoch.

Even before Henry makes his Australian TV debut, his appointment to the network has already sparked divisive debate largely due to controversial comments made while host of TVNZ’s own Breakfast program which led to his resignation from the national broadcaster and subsequent million-dollar offer to cross the Tasman.  He will also continue to appear on New Zealand television with plans to host a weekly comedy show on commercial network TV3.

Ten’s head of news and current affairs, Anthony Flannery says Breakfast aims to be ‘must-see’ TV for Australians as they start their day:

“Breakfast is a tough, competitive environment and we can’t wait to get into the game. Already, the opposition is taking cheap pot shots – I couldn’t be happier that they’re taking us so seriously, so soon.”

“We plan to make Breakfast a must-watch part of Australia’s day. From fact to fun, it’s going to be a fresh start to the morning TV schedule.”

The new show will have a tough job ahead of itself, entering a market dominated by the long-running Today and Sunrise programs as well as alternatives ABC News Breakfast and Sky News’ First Edition and AM Agenda.

Ten’s new show will also be under pressure to deliver numbers to lead in to mid-morning show The Circle which currently suffers by not being handed a large audience from the preceding early morning children’s shows.  The Circle, despite winning a TV Week Logie last year for Most Popular Light Entertainment Program, is currently rating well behind Seven’s The Morning Show and Nine’s recently-launched Mornings.

1992: January 25-31

Jana: ‘I welcome the challenge’
A Current Affair host Jana Wendt (pictured) talks to TV Week about the changing news and current affairs environment taking place – in particular, the launch of Real Life, produced by her former 60 Minutes boss Gerald Stone, going head-to-head with ACA.  “I think anything that increases the competition is good,” she said.  “It will sharpen our edge and I welcome that.  I’m confident we can deliver.  I don’t want to sound masochistic, but I welcome the challenge.”  Not only will ACA be duelling with Real Life, but it will also have Derryn Hinch’s new Network Ten show at 6.00pm, giving him a half-hour head start on ACA and Real Life for the day’s big stories.  Ten has also re-launched Ten Eyewitness News as a 5.00pm bulletin, and Nine has its own 5.30pm local news programs coming soon in each state.  Asked how she feels about this changing landscape, Wendt said: “We’ll have to wait and find out, but Nine believes there is a market for news at 5.30pm, so perhaps there is at 5.00pm.”

Stan: ‘It’s the only gig in town’
Former ABC reporter Stan Grant (pictured) said that he had been made offers before to change to commercial television but had always knocked them back in loyalty to the national broadcaster, but then the offer to front Seven’s new Real Life came “out of the blue”.  “This offer came along initially as a reporter,” Grant told TV Week.  “Then (producer) Gerald Stone came to me and said, ‘How would you feel about presenting it?’  It basically came out of the blue, and I said, ‘Yes’.  I’d given presenting a bit of thought at the ABC.  I’d piloted a program there.  I’d also read news updates during the Gulf War, but I was committed to Real Life.  This was to me the only gig in town.”  But although Grant will be the front man of the new show, he emphasises that Real Life is a team effort.  “There’ll be a lot of interaction between myself and the other reporters.  You’ll get a sense of a team at work here, as opposed to a presenter and a lot of sort of faceless, nameless reporters.  It’s definitely not the Stan Grant Show, but I think A Current Affair is the Jana Wendt show.”

Kym’s rockin’ role
A Country Practice star Kym Wilson (pictured) has signed on as the new co-host of Seven’s Saturday morning Video Smash Hits.  Wilson replaces Emily Symons who recently left the show after a two-year stint to pursue acting full time, and will be leaving Home And Away later this year.  “It’ll be interesting to meet the people whose music I love,” Wilson told TV Week.  “I’m an avid music listener.  It’s going to be great fun.”  Wilson, who previously starred in Brides Of Christ, will be continuing in her A Country Practice role as Darcy Hudson.  “I just hope people don’t forget about my acting and consider me just a TV personality,” she said.

Briefly…
Andrew Daddo (pictured) is making his return to Australian television in Nine’s new ‘whodunnit’ game show, Cluedo.  Daddo, who has returned from the US after a year with MTV, will join Frank Gallacher, Jane Badler, Nicki Paull, Joy Westmore and Peter Sumner as the principal characters based on the Cluedo board game.  George Mallaby is also tipped to be joining the show, but this has yet to be confirmed.

E Street star Toni Pearen, whose character Toni is the next potential victim of mass-murderer Mr Bad (Vince Martin) in episodes to air this week, says that the serial killer storyline has done wonders for the show’s ratings.  “Every soap has mediocre times and E Street was going through such a period when, all of a sudden, this serial-killer storyline comes along,” she told TV Week.  “I just think it is something that no other soap has done before, so viewers have really taken to it.”  When it is pointed out that in the Seventies, Number 96 shocked the nation with its pantyhose strangler mystery (pictured), she is nothing less than amazed.  “Wow, a pantyhose murderer!  Okay, so I wasn’t around then.  This serial killer thing is new to my generation.”

Actress Tammy MacIntosh (pictured) is looking forward to her new role in the ABC series Police Rescue after a year of setbacks.  After quitting The Flying Doctors in 1990, a collarbone injury saw her withdraw from a role in the $4.5 million film Garbo.  Then a role in feature film It’s Now Or Never, alongside Jason Donovan, came to an abrupt end when the film’s finance fell through.  Things looked better when she signed on for Nine’s Chances, but a controversial incident over a nude scene saw that role short-lived.  “I rang my agent every day for a month to find out if I’d got the Police Rescue part,” she told TV Week.  “When I found out I had the role, I just burst into tears.  I couldn’t believe it.  I feel very lucky about the way things have turned out.”

The Nine Network has announced that Lisa Patrick (pictured) will replace Jacki MacDonald as host of Australia’s Funniest Home Video Show.  “I just feel so privileged,” she said.  “I’ve watched Jacki for years and she always made me laugh.  Now, to go in after her… well, I don’t quite know what to say.” Patrick, 26, was a former model who hit the big time in 1989 with a role in the US sitcom Live In, although the series was axed after ten episodes. 

John Laws says…
”You have to admire the tenacity of the people behind Nine’s The Flying Doctors.  I’ve lost count of the number the times the series has almost crash-landed.  Yet – amazingly – it remains airborne, its continuing survival achieved by switching the route and turning a handful of hapless actors into free-fall sky divers.  But, in television, and especially in the soapies field, survival is the name of the game.  Any actor who joins a soapie realises only too well that he or she could be out on their ear in weeks or months, depending on the acceptance level of their character.  In the latest shake-up, there appears to have been a casting slaughterhouse, with one actor – Sarah Chadwick – already gone and six others, described as playing “favourite” characters, pencilled in for departure.  This is draconian, even by soapie standards.  Crawfords, though, are old hands at the soapie business and the tendency is to believe that they know what they’re doing.  In the case of The Flying Doctors, let’s hope so, because it has been around a long time, providing employment for hundreds of people, and enjoyment by millions.”

Program Highlights (Melbourne, January 25-31):
Saturday:  Saturday afternoon sport includes tennis (the Women’s Singles Final for the Australian Open) on Seven, test cricket on Nine and golf followed by lawn bowls on ABC. 

Sunday: Australia Day is dominated largely by sport – more golf on ABC, more cricket on Nine, and the Men’s Singles Final of the Australian Open on Seven.  ABC presents the Australia Day Address by the Governor-General just before the 7.00pm news.  Sunday night movies are The Fremantle Conspiracy (Seven), City Heat (Nine) and Stealing Heaven (Ten), up against soccer (Australia versus Sweden) on SBS, and ABC’s tribute to conductor, the late Stuart Challender on Sunday Stereo Special.

Monday:  ABC crosses to Minnesota, USA, for live coverage of the NFL XXVI Superbowl, hosted by Don Lane.  Seven’s morning news program Eleven AM returns for the new year, as does ABC’s evening current affairs program The 7.30 Report.

Tuesday:  Beyond 2000 (Seven) returns, with Simon Reeve reporting on Jamaica’s solution to pollution from bauxite mining.  Amanda Keller takes a ride on a turbo swing, and Bryan Smith discovers growing food in space is a tricky business.

Wednesday:  In Home And Away (Seven), Sally’s (Kate Ritchie) first day at high school does not go well. 

Thursday:  In E Street (Ten), an anxious neighbourhood awaits news on Toni (Toni Pearen, pictured), who is missing and has found herself trapped in dense bush and tied to her car bumper by serial killer Mr Bad (Vince Martin).

Friday:  Blackout (ABC) looks at the topics of assimilation, adoption and sexual abuse in the Aboriginal community, and how these circumstances have prompted the creation of addictive personalities.

Source: TV Week (Victoria edition), incorporating TV Times and TV Guide.  25 January 1992.  Southdown Press

1992: January 18-24

Cover: Kevin Costner

Is Jennifer set to quit?
Tonight Live host and producer Steve Vizard has denied rumours that the show’s resident newsreader Jennifer Keyte will not be with the show when it returns for 1992, although he has conceded that she has not renewed her contract with the show.  “I can tell you she’ll be back,” he told TV Week.  And Seven Nightly News reporter Naomi Robson, who has filled in for Keyte on Tonight Live, denies suggestions that she will be Keyte’s replacement on the show.  “I don’t know where these stories come from.  There is no talk about it at the moment,” Robson said.  “Jennifer is well entrenched in both her jobs at Seven.”  Rumours over Keyte’s position have been sparked by her apparent concern that her appearances on the late night show are affecting her credibility as the main news anchor for Seven in Melbourne.  It is believed that she wants to concentrate on what is shaping up to be a fierce battle for early evening ratings this year with the launch of Seven’s new current affairs show, Real Life. 

The naked truth about Jeremy Sims
Chances star Jeremy Sims wants people to know that despite his character Alex’s readiness to strip off (as pictured, with co-star Annie Jones), in real life there is an intelligent head on those often bare shoulders and that he takes his job very seriously.  Sims has no desire to be a “personality” and as a graduate of the National Institute of Dramatic Art (NIDA) wants to be taken seriously as an actor – adding that Chances presents some significant challenges.  “I’ve had to go into scenes after minimal rehearsal and put myself on the line,” he told TV Week.  “This means day in, day out, every week, in what is probably the most dramatic – if over-the-top – role on television.  I’m really grateful for the role of Alex.  It’s the only role I think I’d be happy doing on television in an ongoing soap.  I’m sure there are other guys who are happy doing their bits on Home And Away and E Street, but I would be bored out of my mind doing that stuff.”  Sims also responds to some of the jokes and send-ups made about the show and his frequent bouts of nudity.  “I’m fascinated that people still make such a big issue out of it.  People are puerile on the subject, you know.  Tits and bums are the most amazing subjects.  You can get endless publicity over the fact you show a part of your body on television,” he said.  “Apart from the political satire, Fast Forward is nearly all tits and bums jokes.  It’s all cheap innuendo, yet they can get away with it because they have the facade of being intelligent satire.  It is mostly just puerile, schoolboy humour.  I’m not saying I don’t laugh at it.”

Man of Meni talents!
Hard Copy reporter Meni Caroutas (pictured) will do anything for a story – even if it means crawling through Melbourne’s drains.  On a recent assignment, the policeman-turned-reporter joined the Cave Clan for a trip around a part of the metropolis few ever see.  “When I heard of the Cave Clan I thought it was just a bunch of kids, but they are all about 20 and well organised,” he said.  “They just do it for kicks, a bit of fun.  They get maps of the drains.  It’s all carefully planned.”  As a member of the NSW Police Force, Caroutas was an undercover detective but a set up saw him charged with theft of cash and amphetamines.  Even though he was exonerated and received a settlement, his career with the force was ruined.  Officially he is still a member of the NSW Police Force but is hoping to soon be discharged.  “I’m just a number at the moment,” he said.  “Hopefully all the paperwork will be processed soon.  I don’t consider myself a copper.”

Briefly…
Dinosaurs, a new US co-production between Jim Henson Productions and Walt Disney Television, is set to be Seven’s new weapon against long-running current affairs show 60 Minutes.  Not since The Comedy Company has a rival show managed to consistently knock 60 Minutes in the ratings – although Seven’s ALF and Ten’s The Simpsons had tried – but coupled with popular US sitcom Full House, Seven hopes Dinosaurs is a strong contender against the current affairs ratings giant.

GP star Brian Rooney might not be returning to the popular ABC drama when production resumes this year.  The 18-year-old, currently appearing in the stage production of Wizard Of Oz in Adelaide, will be taking on a leading role in the upcoming production of Neil Simon’s Lost In Yonkers but it is uncertain if he will be able to combine that commitment to production of GP.  “Hopefully, I can do both,” he told TV Week.  “I did that when I was doing Les Miserables and GP.  We might be able to work GP in.”

Former Brides Of Christ star Melissa Thomas is looking forward to making the move from Sydney to Melbourne for her new role as schoolgirl Lily Price in the upcoming Network Ten sitcom Late For School.  The 17-year-old has been the victim of an ongoing campaign of obscene phone calls and intruders at her home.  “It’s been pretty scary stuff,” she said, adding that the new job offer came at just the right time.  “I desperately needed some excuse to get away from Sydney.”  Late For School, which also stars Frankie J. Holden, Sarah Chadwick, Ross Higgins and Matthew Newton, is set to debut soon on Ten.

John Laws says…
”We are in for a heady year, it seems, on the current affairs front.  Even Ten is getting into the act, but I suspect it’s going to be trailing the field in the ratings with Mr Shame (though its much-criticised but entertaining beat-up series, Hard Copy, could well prove a ratings winner throughout 1992).  My prediction is that A Current Affair will maintain its momentum in the long haul, but its control of the important 6.30pm timeslot is no longer guaranteed.  Seven executives and Gerald Stone are, I’m told, supremely confident that their new product, Real Life, can knock off Jana (Wendt) and company.  If nothing else, the battle is going to be brutal and unrelenting.”

Program Highlights (Melbourne/Regional Victoria, January 18-24):
Saturday: There’s golf (Palm Meadows Cup) and lawn bowls (Qantas Jetabout International) on ABC, tennis (Australian Open) on Seven/Prime and cricket (Benson And Hedges World Series) on Nine/VIC TV.  With the cricket being held in Melbourne, regional network VIC TV has live evening coverage of the cricket, while Nine in Melbourne has a repeat of the 1983 movie BMX Bandits, the movie which launched the career of Nicole Kidman. 

Sunday:  Sunday night movies are Thunderball (Seven/Prime) and The Star Chamber (Nine/VIC TV) up against mini-series Bride Of Violence (Ten/SCN), while ABC presents Bruce Beresford’s production of the Richard Strauss opera Elektra for the State Opera of South Australia.

Monday:  Ten launches some major changes to its daytime and early evening line-up.  At 8.30am, Bert Newton (pictured) returns to TV as host of The Morning Show, presenting 90 minutes of entertainment and infomercials.  The new program replaces ‘Til Ten.  Ten also debuts US talk show Sally Jessy Raphael and moves Oprah Winfrey to an afternoon timeslot after a trial run in a late-night timeslot over the last few months.  However the biggest change is late in the afternoon, with the move of Ten Eyewitness News to the 5.00pm timeslot, followed by the debut of current affairs program Hinch at 6.00pm (following Derryn Hinch’s recent axing from the Seven Network).  At 6.30pm is American dating game Studs, followed by Neighbours at 7.00pm.  Regional network SCN breaks away from the Ten schedule in the early evening to run alternative programming: The New Candid Camera at 5.00pm, Neighbours at 5.30pm, Southern Cross News (Bendigo/Gippsland) and Studs (Albury/Shepparton/Ballarat) at 6.00pm, and then at 6.30pm Rob Gaylard (ex-GTV9) presents Southern Cross Eyewitness News, a half-hour bulletin of national news broadcast statewide, followed by a delayed broadcast of Hinch at 7.00pm before re-joining the Ten schedule.  Seven debuts its long-awaited current affairs program Real Life at 6.30pm, and after Home And Away presents the series return of A Country Practice.  Then in the wee small hours of the morning, at 4.00am, Ten resumes repeats of classic Australian drama Prisoner.

Tuesday:  After the late news, Ten/SCN debuts the new US drama series Dangerous Women, a production of the Australian Grundy organisation largely based on its former series Prisoner, with scripts and storylines in early episodes almost directly copied from the Australian original.

Thursday:  Seven/Prime starts a repeat of the popular 1981 mini-series A Town Like Alice, starring Bryan Brown, Helen Morse (both pictured) and Gordon Jackson.

Friday:  In the lead up to Australia Day, ABC presents the first of two nights of The Aussie Picture Show – a collection of films representing Australian life over the past 80 years.  Tonight’s line-up of films include Leisure, the 1977 Academy Award-winning animation depicting the world of work and leisure through history; Bingo, Bridesmaids And Braces, tracing the lives of three working-class women as they grow up over a 12-year period; This Is The ABC, a 20-minute review of the operations of the ABC in the 1950s; and the 1979 telemovie A Good Thing Going, starring Chris Haywood and Veronica Lang.

Source: TV Week (Victoria Country edition), incorporating TV Times and TV Guide.  18 January 1992.  Southdown Press

Obituary: Sean Flannery

Veteran journalist Sean Flannery has died after a battle with cancer at the age of 69.

Born in 1942, Flannery started his radio career at 2SM but later became known for his work on the 2UE program Night Watch that aired every Sunday morning.

He later joined the Ten Network in Sydney and also read the news for Ten and Seven in Adelaide. 

Former colleague David Richardson has written a tribute to Flannery on the Today Tonight website:

“Sean Flannery was a character in the truest sense of the word.  A larrikin in the ultimate Australian sense.  A bloke who loved a beer, he was the epitome of the old school journo from the days of copy boys, cadets and hard-drinking, hard-playing journos – a bloke who was just full of life.”

News Limited CEO and chairman John Hartigan also paid tribute:

"Sean was one of the great characters of radio and TV reporting.  Funny, smart – one of the last swashbucklers of journalism."

Sean Flannery will be farewelled at a funeral in Sydney on Tuesday.

Source: Daily Telegraph, Today Tonight
YouTube: d0nkeyshines

Time’s up for 6.30

The Ten Network has pulled the pin on its current affairs flagship 6.30 With George Negus.

Perceiving some public frustration with the often-tacky, high-rotation style of journalism employed by long-running programs Today Tonight and A Current Affair, Ten last year hired veteran journalist George Negus to front the new show that promised a more substantial style of reporting.  Also signed up for the program were reporters Hamish Macdonald and Hugh Riminton.

6PM With George Negus was launched in January to a modest public response – attracting 606,000 viewers across the five cities on its first night – but failed to maintain any sort of positive ratings momentum and its figures would continue to fall.  A timeslot and name change to 6.30 failed to make any significant gains against the Seven and Nine network giants and even at times struggled to keep above the ratings of Neighbours, the program that it replaced that had been shifted to digital channel Eleven.

Last night 6.30 With George Negus was watched by 340,000 viewers compared to A Current Affair’s 875,000 and Today Tonight’s 1,143,000.  Neighbours on Eleven was watched by 295,000.

The final edition of 6.30 With George Negus goes to air on 28 October.  Starting the following Monday will be an expanded one-hour format for The 7PM Project – now to start at 6.30pm and be re-named The Project.

Negus will continue to work in an advisory role with Ten’s news and current affairs programs and will return to his former role as a regular panelist on The Project.

In a media statement released today Negus said:

“Working on 6.30 has been incredibly fulfilling. From reporters to production crew, we have worked together to bring viewers a high quality, soil-breaking program and some of the year’s biggest stories and interviews. We are immensely proud of all we have achieved. The truth is that unfortunately a program like 6.30 was ahead of its time, but who knows about the future?”

“Though sadly 6.30 has come to an end, I’m looking forward to getting back with my mates at The Project. They’ve also broken new ground with their irreverent approach to what’s going on around us, it’s my kind of tongue-in-cheek program.”

The cancellation of 6.30 With George Negus comes after the recent axing of Ten Late News and the stand-alone edition of Sports Tonight.  The network has also axed its long-running music program Video Hits and walked away from any further commitment to broadcasting AFL.

Ten has a new CEO, James Warburton, and News Director, Anthony Flannery, starting in the new year.

Ten News gets a new boss

The Ten Network has announced the appointment of Anthony Flannery to head its News and Current Affairs division, effective in the new year.

He replaces Dermot O’Brien, who had been in the role since Jim Carroll stepped down earlier this year.  O’Brien now takes on the role of network editorial manager and continues as Ten’s Melbourne news director.

Flannery is currently the head of News and Current Affairs for the New Zealand national broadcaster, TVNZ, but had previously worked at the Nine Network on A Current Affair, Today and Nine News.

In his new role at Ten, Flannery will be reporting directly to new chief executive officer James Warburton, who also joins the network in January.

The News and Current Affairs portfolio will no doubt give its new boss some challenges as it has taken some battering this year.  Starting confidently back in January with its new 6PM With George Negus and Ten Evening News, lack lustre ratings saw the Negus program moved to 6.30pm, the 5.00pm weeknight newscast expanded to 90 minutes, and the hastily-reinstated 5.00pm news bulletin on weekends.  All have continued to receive ordinary ratings numbers.

The Late News has recently been axed after twenty years on air and the weekend newscast has adopted a national 90-minute format, which debuted to poor ratings last Sunday.

Melbourne newsreader George Donikian has resigned after twenty years with the network, and Ten is also set to farewell veteran newsreader Ron Wilson – after more than three decades with Ten – when his contract expires later this year.  Newsreader Deborah Knight has also been moved from her role as co-presenter of the 5.00pm newscast in Sydney.

The News department was also subjected to staff redundancies as Ten undertook a strategic review of its entire operation.

However, on a slightly more positive note, a new breakfast show is set to debut early next year to take on ratings giants Today and Sunrise.  The show is to be presented by Dr Andrew Rochford – a contributor to The 7PM Project and currently a Sydney breakfast radio presenter – and a female presenter to be appointed.

Source: The Australian, The Australian

Weekend brings change to Ten News

Some changes happening to Ten News this weekend – one that signals the end of a significant era and another that starts what Ten hopes will spark renewed interest in a brand that has taken something of a battering this year in both ratings and scheduling.

Tomorrow night will see the final sign-off from the late night edition of Ten News.  The bulletin, launched in 1991 at the height of the first Gulf War, had been fronted by Eric Walters and then Anne Fulwood.  The popularity of the bulletin saw Fulwood poached by the Seven Network in 1995 to launch their own 10.30pm newscast.  Sandra Sully (pictured) was then promoted to front Ten’s late news bulletin and it was a role that she made her own as Ten’s late news presence went on to outlast the equivalent news bulletins from Seven and Nine.

When Ten announced significant changes to their news schedule last year, Sully made an emotional farewell from the Late News as she was preparing to present the Sydney edition of the new 6.30pm Ten Evening News.  The move was short-lived as the state-based 6.30pm newscasts failed to make significant inroads against the national Today Tonight and A Current Affair programs.  With the cancellation of the 6.30pm bulletin in March, Sully was moved back to familiar territory as the late night newsreader.

However, following a review of the network’s strategic direction and programming, Ten has since decided to axe the late night Ten News bulletin and the Sports Tonight segment which has accompanied it since 1993 – although the Sports Tonight brand will continue within Ten’s 5.00pm newscast.  The programs join the 24-year-old Video Hits and the all-sports schedule for One HD as casualties of the network’s new strategic direction headed by interim CEO Lachlan Murdoch.

Although Sully will read her final bulletin tonight, the final edition of the late night Ten News and Sports Tonight programs will go to air tomorrow night from midnight in Melbourne, Adelaide, Darwin, Tasmania and Perth – bumped to the later timeslot due to the special Grand Final edition of Before The Game earlier in the evening – and 10.30pm in Sydney and Brisbane.  From next week, Sully moves to Sydney’s Ten News At Five weeknight newscast alongside Bill Woods.  Where this leaves the bulletin’s current female presenter Deborah Knight (pictured) is to be seen although some reports suggest she may be a candidate for Ten’s planned new breakfast program.

On Sunday, Ten News launches a revamp of its weekend evening newscast by replacing the existing half-hour bulletins at 5.00pm and 6.00pm with a single, national 90-minute program from 5.00pm fronted by Natarsha Belling and Matt Doran (pictured) joined by Sports Tonight presenter Rob Canning and weather presenter Magdalena Roze.

The move to expand the weekend bulletin to 90 minutes is puzzling given that the weeknight Ten News At Five bulletin has seen its numbers fall since it adopted the 90-minute format in April, and the new national format on weekends undoes the move to state-based weekend news coverage that was instigated in January.  Time will tell how viewers will react to the national long-form bulletin as opposed to the shorter, state-based bulletins offered by competitors Seven and Nine at 6.00pm.

In other changes within Ten News, Melbourne-based newsreader George Donikian (pictured) has announced his resignation from the network.  Donikian, the founding newsreader at multicultural Channel 0/28 (now SBS) in 1980, joined the Ten Network in 1991 after a stint with the Nine Network.  For most of his two decades at Ten he led the Adelaide newscast for Ten News, which for several years was presented from Ten’s Melbourne studios.  This year saw Donikian move to the Melbourne-based Ten News At Five as Mal Walden moved to the new 6.30pm bulletin.  With the later bulletin cancelled, Walden returned to the 5.00pm newscast and Donikian moved to weekends.  The revamp of the weekend newscast to a national format, effectively bumping him from the schedule, is reported to have been the “last straw” for the newsreader.  He has told media that he felt it was now time to become a “free agent”.

Source: Adelaide Now, The Australian, News.com.au

The last bounce for Ten’s AFL

Network Ten has announced that it will walk away from AFL coverage at the end of this year’s season as it will not seek to enter into an agreement to take over any of the Seven Network’s commitment to the game from next year.

Network sports director David Barham told The Age:

"It is a bit of a shame. It's the choice of the network. It's purely a business decision.  Everyone is disappointed but understands the decision.

"We are really, really proud of what we achieved. I am proud of the people that I have worked with over the years. I think Ten should be recognised for the contribution it made to the game because no-one has done more for broadcasting the game than the Ten Network in NSW and Queensland.

"We put more game into NSW and Queensland in prime time than any other broadcaster in the history of the game. That was one of the reasons they (AFL) are expanding into these northern markets because of the real back-breaking work the Ten Network did over the last 10 years."

Ten’s commitment to AFL started with the 2002 season when they teamed up with Nine and Foxtel in a landmark five-year deal that saw the game’s television broadcast rights taken off Seven, which had broadcast the AFL and its predecessor – the VFL – for all but one season since 1957.

For the 2007-2011 rights deal, Ten partnered with Seven in a deal worth $780 million – at the time the largest sports broadcasting rights deal ever in Australia – with some games sold off to Foxtel.

Ten’s commitment to AFL was strengthened in 2009 with the launch of high-definition sports channel One, where AFL was the flagship of the schedule.  The channel enhanced its AFL coverage with programs including One Week At A Time.

Ten had been a bidding partner with Seven for the 2012-2016 contract but withdrew from the process at the last minute following the arrival of interim CEO Lachlan Murdoch. 

Under Murdoch, Ten has also wound back some sports programming from One in favour of special interest and general entertainment programming.  The removal of AFL from the schedule may see more changes to the channel’s schedule.

The Ten decision is expected to see its commentary team moved on, although Stephen Quartermain is expected to stay on as the network’s main sports anchor for Ten News in Melbourne. 

The future of One’s One Week At A Time and Ten’s long-running Before The Game beyond the end of this year is uncertain though there is some speculation that the latter may go across to Seven, a network whose track record with AFL-themed entertainment programming has been rather patchy.

In securing the free-to-air rights to the 2012-2016 seasons, Seven had the option of on-selling some of its weekly commitment of four free-to-air games to another network.  Up until now Ten was believed to be considering taking on two weekly games.  Nine is not believed to have been interested.

Now from 2012, Seven will broadcast four weekly games plus the Brownlow Medal, all finals and the Grand Final.  The network is also expected to utilise its high-definition channel 7mate for selected coverage outside of Victoria.

General manager for Seven Melbourne, Lewis Martin paid tribute to Ten’s commitment to broadcasting AFL:

“We are excited about the prospect of carrying all the AFL games for which we bid.  But we wish to acknowledge that Channel Ten has been a terrific AFL broadcast partner for the past five years, and their commitment to the game over the past decade. We understand and empathise with how difficult these decisions can be.”

Foxtel will broadcast all nine weekly games, including re-broadcasting Seven’s coverage, and finals excluding the Grand Final.

Source: The Age, Herald Sun

1991: June 15-21

‘I’m still a country bumpkin’
As the saying goes, you can take new Hey Dad! star Rachael Beck (pictured) out of the country, but you can’t take the country out of Rachael Beck.  The 19-year-old actress, who started her career in the musical Cats at 16, says that despite the bright lights of showbusiness she is still a country girl.  “I am still a country bumpkin at heart,” she told TV Week.  “My parents are back in the country now and it’s wonderful to go and home and visit them and a lot of my friends who are still living there.”  Beck has also chosen to debut her new one-woman show, based on the early career of Judy Garland, on the NSW north coast.

Designing woman!
During the 1970s and early ‘80s, Susan Hannaford (pictured) was better known to viewers as Kitty Sullivan, the youngest member of The Sullivans.  After the show ended, Hannaford moved into the fashion industry and set up a thriving career in design while maintaining ties to acting.  When she was approached to design clothes for the US soap The Bold And The Beautiful she ended up appearing on the show, as herself, for around 18 months.  She is currently back in Australia for a guest appearance, again as herself, in the Nine Network series Chances.  “Chances was a fun little script and I had great fun doing it.  It really felt comfortable,” she told TV Week.  “It’s fun coming back to the Nine studios and seeing people I had worked with on The Sullivans.”  One of those people was former The Sullivans co-star Michael Caton, who plays Bill Anderson in Chances.

A bid to aid the world’s starving
The stars of Australian showbusiness will be doing their bit to help raise funds for the World Vision 40-hour famine to be held this week.  Stars including Kylie Minogue, Jason Donovan, Craig McLachlan, Paul Hogan, Rebecca Gibney, Marina Prior, Steve Vizard, Jana Wendt, John Farnham and cast members of Neighbours, The Flying Doctors and Fast Forward will be contributing items of personal memorabilia to be auctioned off over the weekend.  The auctions will be broadcast through the entire weekend on radio stations TTFM in Melbourne and 2UW in Sydney.  Craig McLachlan has donated his first guitar to the auction, while Marina Prior has donated the ballet slippers she wore on the opening night of Phantom Of The Opera in Melbourne.  Steve Vizard and Ray Martin (pictured, with Midday reporter Rachel Friend) have donated merchandise from their respective shows.  Glenn Robbins has donated clothes worn by his one-time alter-ego Uncle Arthur. 

Briefly…
Newsreader Jo Pearson is back at Network Ten, reading Melbourne’s Ten Eyewitness News again with David Johnston, and has spoken to TV Week about the three years she spent at Nine, which included hosting short-lived programs Live At Five and Body And Soul.  “In hindsight you could say it was a mistake for me to go, but at the time I went with promise and expectation of a new career,” she said.  “I think I had a lot of bad luck.  There were political and geographical differences that made it extremely difficult for me and the shows.”

Victor and Sveta (Peter Moon and Jane Turner), those groovy hosts of Fast Forward’s “Good Morning Moscow” are about to hit the charts with a double A-side release featuring Tutti Frutti (I Want A Rutti) and the Soviet rap, The Soviet Bloc.  Proceeds from the sale of the record will aid children of the Chernobyl disaster. 

Tessa Humphries, daughter of comedian Barry Humphries, is returning home to Australia after several years in the UK.  Having starred in London’s West End and in the UK soap Families, Humphries is back home for a guest role in GP… and is keen to stay in Australia if there is the opportunity for more work.  “It is very important for me to work in Australia,” she told TV Week.  “After all, it is my home.”

John Laws says…
”Often it’s the really off-beat, and sometimes silliest, ideas that translate into the best TV programs, be they drama or light entertainment.  Soccer star Craig Johnston’s The Main Event (hosted by Larry Emdur, pictured) is an example.  It’s a pretty wacky format – celebrities playing a quiz game on behalf of various families out there in suburbia – but the ratings have been promising, which is further proof of the theory that in a recession the viewing public demands “fun” entertainment on a grand scale."

Program Highlights (Melbourne, June 15-21):
Saturday:  SBS crosses live to Portugal for the match between Australia and Trinidad and Tobago in the FIFA World Youth Cup.

Sunday:  Sunday night movies are Police Academy IV: City Under Siege (Nine) and Manhunter (Ten).  Seven debuts mini-series Love Lies And Murder, which concludes Monday night.  Later, Nine crosses live to Madrid for the 500cc Motorcycle Grand Prix.

Monday:  In Neighbours (Ten), the future of Paul (Stefan Dennis) and Christina’s (Gillian Blakeney) unborn baby is under serious threat after Christina collapses while out shopping.

Tuesday:  In Beyond 2000 (Seven), Amanda Keller reports on a breakthrough diagnosis for one of Asia’s most crippling diseases, while Dr John D’Arcy introduces a device capable of projecting three-dimensional objects on to a wall.  In Chances (Nine), Alex (Jeremy Sims) is shocked when he learns the true identity of his father and aims to punish the entire family.

Wednesday:  SBS makes an early-morning cross to Portugal for Australia versus USSR in the FIFA World Youth Cup.  Ten begins a re-run of the two-part 1989 mini-series Bangkok Hilton, starring Nicole Kidman, Denholm Elliott, Judy Morris, Hugo Weaving and Joy Smithers.

Thursday:  Judy Banks guest stars in The Flying Doctors (Nine).  Nine presents the heavily-censored ‘modified TV version’ network premiere of 1972 movie Deliverance.  SBS presents live coverage of Australia versus Egypt in the FIFA World Youth Cup.

Source: TV Week (Victoria edition), incorporating TV Times and TV Guide.  15 June 1991.  Southdown Press

More changes at the top at Ten

There continues to be upheaval in the executive ranks at the Ten Network, with the network’s news director Jim Carroll (pictured) to step down from his position.

With a background in print, radio and television journalism, including foreign postings, Carroll joined Ten in 2000 before being appointed head of news and current affairs in 2005.  It is reported that he will be considering new opportunities within Ten.

He will be replaced by the network’s Melbourne news director Dermot O’Brien – a former Seven Network journalist and producer of the Hinch program at the Seven and Ten networks before taking over as news director at Ten in Melbourne in the mid ‘90s.

Carroll’s news portfolio faced a big-budget revamp earlier this year with the network expanding its news line-up to include 6PM With George Negus and a separate news bulletin at 6.30pm to complement the long-running 5.00pm news hour.

Following a lack lustre ratings result the line-up was revised two months later to see the Negus program moved and re-named to 6.30pm and the 5.00pm bulletin extended to 90 minutes.  The revision has seen a modest improvement in ratings but Ten’s 6.00pm hour still trails well behind rivals Seven and Nine.

The news expansion, and the cost associated with it, has been the subject of much scrutiny since the arrival of James Packer and Lachlan Murdoch to the network’s board, and some public criticism from board member Bruce Gordon, owner of regional network WIN – a Nine affiliate.

The reshuffle at the board has since seen Ten group CEO Nick Falloon resign, followed by the departure of his replacement Grant Blackley who was previously CEO of the Ten business.  It was under their management that the strategy behind the news revamp was developed.

Murdoch was since appointed interim CEO of the Ten group, with former Seven sales executive James Warburton (pictured) appointed to formally take over the role from January.

In recent months Ten has also lost sports director David White, chief financial officer John Kelly and chief digital officer Nick Spooner.

Under interim CEO Murdoch, Ten has also revised its multi-channel strategy by cutting back some of the sports content from high-definition channel One and implementing more special interest and general entertainment programming in prime-time.  The network had also withdrawn from a joint bid with the Seven Network for the rights to broadcast AFL from 2012 to 2016, although the option may still exist for Seven to on-sell some of its commitment to Ten.

Source: Ten, The Australian, The Australian

1991: May 18-24

Craig’s heroic new look
For his role as Lieutenant Walter Carey in the Seven Network mini-series Heroes II – The Return, actor Craig McLachlan (pictured) has had to shed his trademark curly locks.  “I feel different,” McLachlan told TV Week, staring at the mirror.  “I feel like a new man.”  The mini-series will also star John Bach, Christopher Morsley, Brett Partridge, Simon Burke, Miranda Otto and Anne-Louise Lambert.

“If you don’t like it, sack me!”
A major row has erupted between the producers of E Street and Network Ten executives over controversial episodes set to air later this month.  In the episodes, Harley (Malcolm Kennard) is introduced to cocaine by a friend of Sheridan (Kate Raison) and ends up in a raunchy sex scene with two girls and collapses from an overdose.  Network executives have said the episodes are not suitable for the show’s 7.30pm timeslot, and may be stopped from going to air.  Producer Forrest Redlich is determined for the episodes to go to air after seeing a friend of his suffer from cocaine abuse.  “I have a mate who’s just had a really bad thing with cocaine,” he told TV Week.  “He is 45.  He had a really good business happening, made a lot of money and put half of it up his nose.  It’s bad news.  Basically, the episodes have caused a ruckus with Ten.  I’ve pulled rank on them and said, ‘That’s the story.  I want to do it.  If you don’t like it, sack me’.”

Aussie lands US soap role
Former Number 96 star Chard Hayward (pictured), who has lived in the United States since the series ended in the late 1970s, has recently completed a role in NBC daytime soap opera Santa Barbara.  Hayward, who played camp movie buff Dudley Butterfield in Number 96, plays the role of nightclub singer Richard Sedgewick.  The character has a short life in the series but Hayward is not disappointed at the character being killed off.  “I really do not want to do these shows for 50 weeks a year,” he told TV Week.  “I need to have space to pursue my other interests.”

Briefly…
Australia’s Funniest Home Video Show host Jacki MacDonald (pictured) is about to be seen by millions of American viewers when she takes part in a segment on America’s Funniest Home Video Show.  “It’s going to be very international,” she told TV Week.  “Bob (Saget) is also interviewing the hosts of the other Home Video shows from other countries.”  There are currently 12 different versions of the show around the world.  But MacDonald is not expecting it to lead to any further job offers from the US.  “I don’t think they’d employ me,” she said.  “The English told me that once, when I was over there years ago.  They said, ‘you’re very intelligent and very funny Miss Marsupial, but we don’t want you’.” 

Wheel Of Fortune host John Burgess has recently quit his radio job at Perth radio station 6PM and has ambitions to take on a more serious role.  “You can’t go on being a clown all your life,” he said.  “Before I die I’d like someone to take me seriously, too.  I’ve had this ambition in the back of my mind to read the news on television.  It will take me at least twelve months just practising reading the news.  Seven are being very helpful – I feel this is my network, this is my home.  But if the newsreading comes off, I would probably have to leave Perth and go to Sydney or Melbourne.”

After months of mystery, Australian viewers will this week find out the answer to the question “Who killed Laura Palmer?” in the popular US series Twin Peaks, seen here on Network Ten.

John Laws says…
”In a recent Fast Forward episode, Steve Vizard was responsible for a brilliant send-up of game show host Rob Brough.  In much the same way as he captured and lampooned the Hinch image, Vizard used his talent for impersonation to not only bring Brough to life in physical form, but to satirise him and the Family Feud show in an incredibly funny way.  There are those around who claim that despite the enormous success of his Tonight Live show, Vizard is better suited to the satirical sketch format of Fast Forward.  It’s not a theory that I complete agree with, but judging by some recent Tonight Live shows, there may be a grain of substance.  Not that Vizard’s late-night antics are second-rate television.  Far from it.  The show can – sometimes – positively sparkle, and it makes for a thoroughly entertaining hour.  Yet, on other occasions, it seems to flounder, and never more so than when Vizard is “off the boil”.”

Program Highlights (Melbourne, May 18-24):
Saturday:  ABC crosses to Wembley Soccer Stadium for live coverage of the FA Cup Final.

Sunday:  Former Neighbours star Annie Jones makes a guest appearance in comedy series Col’n Carpenter (Ten).  Financial highflyer Rene Rivkin is interviewed by Caroline Jones on ABC’s Compass.  Sunday night movies are Disorganised Crime (Seven), Dangerous Liaisons (Nine) and Missing In Action III (Ten).

Monday:  Ten Eyewitness News is reinstated to a one-hour bulletin, with newsreader Jo Pearson returning to the newsdesk, three years after leaving Ten to go to the Nine Network, alongside David Johnston.  Greg Evans’ game show Blind Date moves from 6.30pm to 5.30pm and is now lead-in to Ten’s revamped news hour.  Noah Taylor and John Jarratt are among the local co-stars to feature in the telemovie Inspector Morse In Australia (Seven).  ABC presents the final episode of The Life And Death Of Sandy Stone.

Tuesday:  Ross Newton, Caroline Gillmer and Suzi Dougherty guest star in GP (ABC).  In Beyond 2000 (Seven), reporter Maxine Gray examines a cholesterol-free butter from New Zealand, and Dr John D’Arcy examines the most comprehensive study of memory ever undertaken.

Wednesday/Thursday:  ABC presents two-part mini-series Half A World Away – focusing on the 1934 London to Melbourne air race – starring Tim Hughes, Caroline Goodall, Jonathan Hyde, Helen Slater, Jim Holt, Josephine Byrnes, Gary Day and Barry Bostwick.

Friday:  Seven crosses to Football Park, Adelaide, for the AFL match between Adelaide Crows and Melbourne.

Source: TV Week (Victoria edition), incorporating TV Times and TV Guide.  18 May 1991.  Southdown Press

Mal Walden: 50 years of broadcasting

Melbourne’s The Age Green Guide has presented a special feature on Network Ten newsreader Mal Walden just prior to his 50th anniversary in broadcasting, which is reached on Monday.

Born in the UK, Walden came to Australia with his family in the 1950s.  His first taste of the media came in 1961 when he won a secret sound contest on local radio station 3YB in Warrnambool.  Upon touring the station when collecting his prize a young Walden decided to pursue a career in broadcasting. 

He started at 3YB and then went south to Tasmania, to Launceston radio station 7EX and television station TNT9.  He then returned to the mainland to Melbourne radio station 3DB, working alongside David Johnston and Brian Naylor – a trio that would work together for a decade, at 3DB and then at HSV7, before becoming friendly rivals with each working at opposition TV stations in the 1980s.  Naylor made the switch from HSV7 to GTV9 in 1978, Johnston took a break from television news before returning to front Eyewitness News on the newly-launched ATV10 in 1980, and Walden took over from Naylor as chief newsreader at HSV7.

Starting at HSV7 in the early ‘70s, Walden hosted the game show Jeopardy before beginning a journalism cadetship.  But it was in 1974 that he got his big break as the first television journalist to arrive in Darwin after the city had been devastated by Cyclone Tracy on Christmas Eve.

Replacing Naylor at the news desk in 1978, Walden presented Seven National News for nine years before he was sacked by the station’s new Sydney-based management.  A tearful farewell at the close of his final Seven news bulletin was followed by the channel getting its lowest ever news ratings, and his subsequent appointment to Ten’s Eyewitness News, working with former colleague David Johnston, saw that bulletin reach some of its highest ever ratings figures.  

Walden had various roles at Ten, first presenting human-interest stories in the news segment Mal’s Melbourne, before reading the news next to Johnston and newcomer Tracey Curro in 1988, and then reading the weekend bulletins.

When Johnston moved back to Seven at the end of 1995, Walden was the natural successor to read Ten’s 5.00pm bulletin – first alongside Jennifer Hansen and now Helen Kapalos.

He has also presented special events for Ten, including the Young Achiever Awards and ATV10’s 30th anniversary special in 1994, and wrote the book From The Word GO! – Forty Years of Ten Melbourne in 2003.

Earlier this year Walden was part of Ten’s major news revamp which saw him move from the 5.00pm news hour to front the new Ten Evening News bulletin at 6.30pm.  Although the bulletin was soon wound up, Walden’s ratings performance was better than that of his interstate counterparts.  He is now back at the 5.00pm news desk four nights a week.

Walden’s widespread appeal comes not just from his newsreading authority but also his ability to show a lighter side to the news.  His cheeky on-air comment that a story about disgraced air hostess Lisa Robertson was ‘a waste of time’, his stumbles over the pronunciation of the word ‘phenomenon’ and the occasional ad-libbed weather report are some of his lighter moments that have endeared him to viewers.

The full Green Guide article can be found here.

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