The host of the 33rd annual TV Week Logie Awards, Daryl Somers, has never forgotten the night he won his first TV Week Gold Logie. “It was in 1983. After the show I went upstairs at the hotel and had a few drinks with Graham Kennedy and Bert Newton,” he told TV Week. “I was obviously pretty happy and we had a long night chatting away, as I discovered when I left the session with them and saw that it was starting to get light outside. And there was the limo. It was still waiting for me! I’d forgotten to send him home. So I got in and went straight to work, because in those days we did Hey Hey It’s Saturday from eight on Saturday mornings. We started the show with a bed on set, and I got in, still in my dinner suit, with the Gold Logie and a big grin.” Somers is one of the four nominees for the Gold Logie for most popular television personality in the year 1990.
Gold Logie: Ray Martin, Daryl Somers, Jana Wendt, Steve Vizard (Previous year’s winner: Craig McLachlan)
Most Popular Actor: Richard Huggett, Tony Martin, Craig McLachlan, Shane Porteous. (Previous year’s winner: Craig McLachlan)
Most Popular Actress: Penny Cook, Nicolle Dickson, Georgie Parker, Lenore Smith (Previous year’s winner: Rachel Friend)
Most Popular Light Entertainment/Comedy Program: Fast Forward, Hey Dad!, Hey Hey It’s Saturday (Previous year’s winner: The Comedy Company)
Most Popular Sports Coverage: Commonwealth Games, Cricket, Tennis (Previous year’s winner: Cricket)
Most Popular Light Entertainment/Comedy Male Personality: Kim Gyngell, Daryl Somers, Steve Vizard (New category)
Most Popular Light Entertainment/Comedy Female Personality: Jean Kittson, Julie McGregor, Magda Szubanski (New category)
Most Popular Public Affairs Program: A Current Affair, Hinch, 60 Minutes (Previous year’s winner: A Current Affair)
Most Popular Children’s Program: Cartoon Connection, Double Dare, Play School (Previous year’s winner: Wombat)
Other public-voted awards: Most Popular Music Video, Most Popular Actor and Actress in a Telemovie or Mini-series, Most Popular Program (for each state) and Most Popular Personality (for each state).
The recent murder of four characters – and the suicide of another – still torments the mind of E Street producer Forrest Redlich (pictured). “I am sorry. But I had to kill them,” he says. But Redlich is more upbeat about E Street reaching its 200 episode milestone this week – a significant achievement given that few were willing to give the show a chance. And when the show was faced with budget cuts, the critics thought that E Street would just fade away, but it is now a ratings hit for the Ten Network. “We have a lot to thank for the commitment and loyalty of the fans. For them, it seems one of the dramatic highlights was the bathtub scene with Wheels (Marcus Graham) and Lisa (Alyssa-Jane Cook). We still get letters about it. But it has been satisfying for me to know that E Street has given a start to a whole lot of untried actors such as Marcus, Richard Huggett, Alyssa-Jane and Paul Kelman. It’s funny to remember them as shy young people no-one had heard of and now see them as major players in television drama.”
Comedienne Tania Lacy (pictured) is anxiously waiting the go-ahead from the Nine Network for a Denise Drysdale sitcom in which she would co-star. Lacy, formerly of ABC programs The Factory and Countdown Revolution, returned from a three-month stint in London to do a “read through” for Nine executives. The proposed series is also set to star Drysdale along with Noeline Brown and Hazel Phillips.
Briefly…
In-demand actress Naomi Watts is joining the cast of Home And Away, playing the role of paraplegic Julie Gibson. In preparing for the role, Watts spent weeks before joining the series confined to a wheelchair. Watts will also soon be appearing in the ABC mini-series Brides Of Christ.
Neighbours star Beth Buchanan has decided to leave the series when her contract expires in June. She is keen to travel overseas and is also believed to be pursuing a movie role.
ABC mini-series The Paper Man has been making its mark on the international market. The series has so far been sold to Saudi Arabia, Brunei, Singapore, Poland, Greece, Cyprus, Thailand, Turkey, Bulgaria, Namibia, Malta, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Jordan, Israel, Bahrain and Iceland. Most significantly, the series has been sold to the American Arts & Entertainment cable network, Canada’s CTV and Britain’s Granada International.
”Police Rescue (featuring Sonia Todd and Gary Sweet, pictured) is what Australian TV has been a long time in creating – a realistic, drama-packed production with a first-class script and excellent performances from a fine cast. I thought the original pilot episode, where members of the squad searched for a little boy lost in Sydney’s massive underground sewer complex, was excellent.”
Program Highlights (March 16-22):
Saturday: Seven presents the Grand Final of the AFL pre-season Foster’s Cup, live from AFL Park, Waverley.
Sunday: ABC debuts a new Sunday morning children’s program, Couch Potato With Grant Piro. Afternoon sport includes the NBL K-Mart Classic (Seven) and live coverage of the Gold Coast Indy Grand Prix (Nine). Seven presents the second and final part of mini-series Ratbag Hero. Sunday night movies are Perry Mason: Case Of The Musical Murder (Seven), Minnamurra (Nine) and Dirty Rotten Scoundrels (Ten). ABC’s late-night religious series Compass presents A Question Of Sex, a documentary about transsexuals.
Tuesday: In Beyond 2000 (Seven), Andrew Carroll tests a navigation system that works out the shortest, fastest route to take when driving and which also helps with safe driving – and Amanda Keller finds out the real reason why women feel the affects of alcohol faster than men.
Wednesday/Thursday: Australia’s Tom Burlinson stars in the mini-series Piece Of Cake (Seven), the story of 12 young RAF fighter pilots during the first year of World War II.
Friday: AFL’s Season 1991 starts with Adelaide versus Hawthorn, live on Seven from Football Park, Adelaide. Andrew Denton’s new late-night sports chat show Live And Sweaty debuts on ABC.
Source: TV Week (Victoria edition), incorporating TV Times and TV Guide. 16 March 1991. Southdown Press.
Cover: Nicole Kidman
Mighty minis 
Tuesday: The premiere of Nine’s new adults-only drama Chances (starring Natalie McCurry, pictured), telling the story of an ordinary suburban family whose lives are changed when they win a lottery. ABC’s Lateline with Kerry O’Brien returns for 1991, followed by a repeat screening of the NFL Superbowl from the previous day.
Get me to the church on time… 
The Great Soap Shake-Up! 
Caught in the crossfire 
The Comedy Company producer Ian McFadyen (pictured) has admitted that the show’s return has been tougher than expected. “We’ve obviously got a mandate to deliver a big audience pretty soon and that’s a lot of pressure to carry. Our ratings are worse than I thought they would be. 60 Minutes has an enormous following – a very strong loyalty – and we’re working on that at the moment.” Meanwhile, McFadyen’s other project, Mark Mitchell’s The Big Time, has been taken off air after a short time and is set to be re-worked.
Denise Drysdale and Ernie Sigley have spoken to TV Week about their daytime show, In Melbourne Today. “We really are like an old married couple,” Drysdale says. “We can have a go at each other, and it’s all part of the fun.” While Sigley says it is a battle to try and stay ahead of the gags that the studio crew have in store for them. “They once blew up a chook on the set and scared the living daylights out of me,” he said.
Program Highlights (September 1-7): 
