1990: February 17-23

Cover: Johnny Depp, Dannii Minogue

Fast lane to death
After 20 years in the industry, journalist John Budd recalls the last 18 months have been a nightmare.  “When the industry collapsed it left a lot of people without jobs,” he says.  Facing unemployment following the axing of Network Ten’s Public Eye current affairs program, Budd landed a job at ABC’s Four Corners – and after three months’ gruelling research, his first report, Amphetamines: The Quiet Achiever Of The Drug Trade, is ready to go to air this week.  Dubbed the “fast-lane drug of the Eighties”, amphetamines are set to become the big issue of the Nineties, he told TV Week.  “They’re very much a yuppie drug, socially acceptable and mix nicely with alcohol to create a euphoric state of confidence, well-being and hyped-up vigilance.”  Budd interviewed 30 reformed drug users and dealers and also worked with Victoria Police “who are alarmed at the rapid pace of this quiet achiever of the drug trade.”

Keyte’s flying high
”It all happened fairly quickly,” is how HSV7 newsreader Jennifer Keyte (pictured) describes her rise to national stardom as the news presenter on Steve Vizard’s new national variety show, Tonight Live.  “I had seen Steve around the station last year and we used to have make-up room chats.  He made me laugh so much.  The make-up girls hated him because they couldn’t get my lips done.  I guess we established a rapport then.”  As well as her booming TV profile, Keyte also has other matters to attend to – a mid-year wedding to Melbourne nightclub owner Brett Kochner.

“I had to beat the animal that controlled me…”
Actor Tony Bonner, best known from TV series Skippy The Bush Kangaroo, Cop Shop and Skyways, is looking relaxed and healthier than ever.  Currently in Los Angeles following good reviews for his work in the Tom Selleck movie Quigley Down Under, Bonner recalls the day only three months ago when he walked into a Melbourne clinic for help in overcoming alcohol problems.  “I came to a proverbial crossroad in life and there were three options – the first was to become a down-and-out lost soul; the second was to be committed to an insane asylum; and the third was to die.  So the option to take was simply to beat the animal that controlled me – alcohol.”  Bonner feels his career is now on a new direction and, since the Quigley movie, is meeting heads of drama at two US networks keen to cast him in telemovies and is also discussing offers with Disney studio Hollywood Pictures.

Briefly… 
Former Perfect Match host Cameron Daddo (pictured) has just finished a long run in the stage production Big River but already has two other projects in planning – one is to join veteran Leo McKern to play the legendary roles of Dad and Dave in the $6.3 million feature film On Our Selection, and the other is a potential lead role in the Grundy Television production of Bony, based on the 1972 series of the same name.

Singer Kate Ceberano, having just completed a cameo role in the film Till There Was You, is now in negotiation for a guest appearance in the new Nine Network series Family And Friends.

Home And Away star Dannii Minogue admits to being nervous over public reaction to her new single, Love And Kisses, and the $50,000 video to promote it – but is determined to silence critics that she is cashing in on the success of her older sister Kylie.   “A lot of people thought I’d copy Kylie and have a sound exactly like hers.  But that’s just not the sort of stuff I do.  This is more my style – but yes, it’s good to be different.” 

John Laws says…
”By any standards, Steve Vizard’s opening show was a crushing disappointment.  The second night was not much better.  The third showed a slender improvement.  Much has been expected of Vizard because of his fine work with Fast Forward.  If anyone could hold a Tonight show together it should be him.  Yet on debut night Vizard was flailing around like a beached whale within seconds of the studio audience’s contrived hysteria being stilled.  Vizard, I’m sure, does have the talent to put on a better show.  It’ll take time to get it right.  I hope Seven has the cash and the patience.” 

Lawrie Masterson’s Sound Off
”Steve Vizard has established Tonight Live as an energetic, cheeky show which goes just far enough – but not too far – to sit nicely in its adults-only timeslot.  Many of the lines have induced a good laugh, some of the music has been top class and somehow – just somehow – a touch of serious news has been shoved in without upsetting the applecart.  But what’s most infectious from where I sit is that the host himself appears to be enjoying it all enormously.  And when he’s having a good time, so am I.”

Program Highlights (February 17-23):
Saturday:  Hey Hey It’s Saturday returns for a new year with Daryl Somers, Denise Drysdale, Ossie Ostrich, John Blackman, Red Symons and Wilbur Wilde.  ABC presents the ABC Sports Award Of The Year, live from the Australian Institute of Sport, Canberra.
Sunday:  Sunday night movies are Someone To Watch Over Me (GTV9) and The Man From Snowy River II (ATV10).  HSV7 presents the first instalment of mini-series Small Sacrifices.
Tuesday:  GTV9 crosses to the SCG for the Benson and Hedges World Series: Australia versus Pakistan.  Coverage starts at 2.20pm and, after breaking for National Nine News, A Current Affair and Sale Of The Century, continues through to 10.30pm.
Wednesday:  David Stratton and Margaret Pomeranz return for a new series of The Movie Show on SBS. 
Thursday:  SBS launches a new series, Viva World Cup, hosted by Les Murray and Andy Paschalidis in the lead-up to the 1990 World Cup, including reports on the venues, personalities and the final 24 teams.

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

1979: October 13-19

TV’s Big Night Out
TV Times presents a list of all the nominations for this week’s Australian Film and Television Awards – the Sammys – to be held at Sydney’s Seymour Centre and televised through the Seven Network.

Among the television categories:

Best Variety Program: The Don Lane Show, Hollywood (TV Follies), Julie Anthony’s Gold Coast Special, Marcia’s Music, Miss Universe, Peter Couchman Tonight, The Saturday Night Show, It’s A Long Way There (Little River Band)

Best Light Entertainment: Family Feud, The Mike Walsh Show, Sound Unlimited, Nightmoves, Parkinson In Australia, Tasmanian New Faces, This Is Your Life.

Best Drama: Against The Wind, Cop Shop, The Oracle, Prisoner, Run From The Morning, The Restless Years, The Sullivans, The Young Doctors.

Best Current Affairs: A Day In The Life (TVW7 Perth), Eleven AM, Four Corners, Glenn Taylor’s Today Tonight (QTQ9 Brisbane), Haydn Sargent’s Brisbane (BTQ7 Brisbane), 60 Minutes, Terry Willesee’s Perth (STW9 Perth).

Best News Coverage: Bellevue Hotel Demolotion (ABQ2 Brisbane), Cadoux Earthquake (ABW2 Perth), Don Dunstan Resignation (NWS9 Adelaide), Heathcote Bushfires (TCN9 Sydney), Mackay-Townsville Cyclone (BTQ7 Brisbane), Mundy/Cribb Recapture (TEN10 Sydney), Strike after Unionist Arrests (TVW7 Perth), The O’Meally Interview (HSV7 Melbourne), Pentridge Riot (GTV9 Melbourne), Policeman’s Protest (QTQ9 Brisbane), Recapture of John Cribb (ATN7 Sydney), Skylab Report (STW9 Perth), Truro Murders Arrest (SAS10 Adelaide).

Best Children’s Series: Carrots, The Curiosity Show, Fat Cat And Friends, Flapper’s Factory, Here’s Humphrey, Kids Only, Nine Will Fix It, Play School, Romper Room, Rupert’s Roundabout, Shirl’s Neighbourhood, Stinger, Top Mates, Wombat.

Best Comedy Program: Neutral Ground (Tickled Pink), The Norman Gunston Show, Rugby League New Faces.

Best Variety Performer: Julie Anthony, Marcia Hines, Don Lane, Garry McDonald, Mike Walsh.

Best Actor in a TV Series: Peter Adams (Cop Shop), Michael Aitkens (Run From The Morning), Michael Caton (The Sullivans), Paul Cronin (The Sullivans), John Gregg (The Oracle, pictured), John Hamblin (The Restless Years), Gerard Kennedy (Against The Wind), Peter Lochran (The Young Doctors), Terry Norris (Cop Shop).

Best Actress in a TV Series: Liz Alexander (Golden Soak), Lorraine Bayly (The Sullivans, pictured), Carol Burns (Prisoner), Liddy Clark (Ride On Stranger), Sheila Florance (Prisoner), Vivean Gray (The Sullivans), Vikki Hammond (The Sullivans), Mary Larkin (Against The Wind), Joanna Lockwood (Cop Shop), Kerry McGuire (Against The Wind).

Best Writer (TV Series): Bronwyn Binns/Ian Jones (Against The Wind), Morris Gleitzmann (The Norman Gunston Show), Peter Kinloch (Against The Wind), Peter Luck/David Salter (This Fabulous Century), Tony Morphett (Against The Wind), Terry Stapleton (Cop Shop), David Stevens (The Sullivans), Reg Watson (Prisoner), Peter Yeldham (Run From The Morning).

Other TV categories: Chips Rafferty Memorial Award, Best New Talent, Best Sports Coverage, Best Documentary Program, Best TV Play, Best Actor in a Single TV Performance, Best Actress in a Single TV Performance, Best Writer (TV Play), Best Art Direction, Best Editing.

Gold Sammy (female): Julie Anthony, Lorraine Bayly, Zoe Bertram, Carol Burns, Michelle Fawdon, Vivean Gray, Vikki Hammond, Marcia Hines (pictured), Caroline Jones, Joanna Lockwood, Kerry McGuire, Diana McLean, Judy Morris, Julieanne Newbould, Joanne Samuel.

Gold Sammy (male): Harry Butler, Roger Climpson, Robert Coleby, Paul Cronin, Clive Hale, John Hamblin, John Hargreaves, Sir Robert Helpmann, Gerard Kennedy, Don Lane, Peter Lochran, Peter Luck, Garry McDonald, Richard Moir, Bert Newton, Michael Pate, Mike Walsh, Peter Wherrett.

Movie bombing was real thing!
The telemovie The John Sullivan Story created an exclusive world first when it was shown on Australian TV recently.  The telemovie’s sequences of the London bomb blitz was not special effects but was footage of the actual event.  It is believed to be the only colour footage of the era in existence and the only time it has been shown publicly was in The John Sullivan Story.  Associate Producer Allan Hardy said it was “pure luck” that the film was uncovered:  “Producer John Barrington rang a contact in London and asked if there was any colour film of London during the blitz.  I don’t think either he or the contact expected that there was so you can imagine how thrilled we were when a reel turned up.  Apparently an English woman had a habit of filming bomb salvage scenes at night.  She used to store the camera under her bed… where it remained until recently.  We now have the exclusive rights to what could be the only known colour film taken during the way.  It was a real stroke of luck and it hardly cost us anything.”

Will the real Pantyhose Murderer please stand up!
Producing a long-running TV series is not without its hazards and there isn’t a series that hasn’t given its writers challenges when things might go wrong or even when there are circumstances beyond the producers’ control.  Bill Harmon and Johnny Whyte, two of the names behind the phenomenally successful Number 96, cheerfully admit that mistakes were made during the show’s six years in production.  When the mystery “knicker snipper” was taunting the residents of Number 96 in 1972, three RSL clubs, noticing a downturn in attendances, chose to disclose the name of the attacker before it was known publicly.  Problem was, the scriptwriters didn’t even know it at that stage either.  Whyte recalls, “we had no idea who it was.  We had implied it was someone in the block of flats, but we were halfway through the story before we sat down and decided who it would be.”  Knowing that the series could not lose its two male sex symbols, Tom Oliver or Joe Hasham (pictured), they had little choice but to choose character Alan Cotterell (Mark Hashfield) as the culprit.  Sometimes scriptwriters just plainly make mistakes.  Both Harmon and Whyte recall one of their greatest regrets was allowing gay Dudley Butterfield (Chard Hayward) to turn bi-sexual, in the hope that giving him a female love interest would broaden his appeal with viewers.  The change did not work and Hayward left the show six months later.  Some of TV’s other dramas have also had their scriptwriting downfalls.  Hugh Stuckey, script editor for The Restless Years, admitted they were left with a dilemma when Julieanne Newbould decided to leave the series, leaving her on-screen husband, played by Malcolm Thompson, in limbo while Newbould’s character was said to be away on what must be the world’s longest cruise, while producers hope to coax Newbould back into the series.  It is a dilemma that is still yet to be resolved.  James Davern, producer of the former ABC series Bellbird, says that sometimes dilemmas are brought on when actors or actresses sometimes put a higher price on themselves which can conflict with production budgets:  “That’s always the problem of a producer of a long-running serial.  If they insist, then you have to write them out.  The easiest way to do that is to kill the character.”  Prisoner producer Ian Bradley has regretted writing out the character of prison counsellor Bill Jackson (Don Barker) by having him killed in an early episode of the series:  “I wrote him out in the interests of a dramatic storyline and, after the initial impact, I have wishing I could bring him back ever since.”  Sometimes when a favourite cast member leaves a show, scriptwriters do resort to bringing them back as another character.  After Number 96 killed off Les Whittaker (Gordon McDougall) in the famous bomb-blast episode, producers later brought him back as Whittaker’s twin brother, Andrew. 

Prisoner captures Jeanie the Cop Shop escapee
Actress Jeanie Drynan could have had an ongoing role in the popular series Cop Shop, but instead put love before career as she recently married writer/director Tony Bowman and as they are based in Sydney she decided she did not want to leave Sydney for an indefinite period for Cop Shop, based in Melbourne.  Instead, she has opted for a short-term role in another Melbourne-based series, Prisoner, which will see her away from Sydney for only a matter of weeks.

Briefly…
Prisoner co-stars and real-life newlyweds Peita Toppano and Barry Quin (pictured) are said to be leaving the top-rating 0-10 Network series.  Quin is to take the lead role in an upcoming ABC mini-series, Lucinda Brayford, while Toppano is negotiating for a role in the upcoming 0-10 Network mini-series Water Under The Bridge.

The Young Doctors star Karen Petersen doesn’t usually believe in “living” a role.  That is, until her character Erica Shaw was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis.  “After reading the research notes and meeting people with MS, I knew the only way I could do the part was to live it – and I was always one actress who didn’t believe in doing that.”  The episodes of Erica’s diagnosis were produced in association with the Multiple Sclerosis Society of NSW and Petersen is now closely involved with the society and hoped to do voluntary work for the organisation.

The 0-10 Network has announced it has bought Film Australia’s five-part documentary series, The Human Face Of China.  Pat Cleary, programming director at TEN10 Sydney, said the series could be screened by the end of the year.

Peter Whitford, John Howard and Judy Davis have signed up for roles in upcoming mini-series Water Under The Bridge.

Viewpoint: Letters to the Editor:
”The standard of TV commercials has fallen disastrously in the past couple of years.  I almost wish the battle against cigarette ads had been lost.” R. Milton, NSW.

“It amazes me that a TV channel with the number of viewers that NBN3 Newcastle has never seems to worry about public opinion.  Yet another enjoyable series which is only half finished is to be axed.  The series, Dallas, is apparently very popular with viewers.  During the last Christmas holidays all midday movies on NBN3 were adults movies, but on the day school resumed the channel screened Tom Thumb.  NBN3 also seems to be one of the few channels in Australia that doesn’t screen The Sullivans.  They did screen it for a few weeks, then axed it, much to viewers’ disappointment.” V. Skinner, NSW.

“I would like to see Tony Bonner back in Cop Shop even though his character, McKenna, is supposed to be dead.  He was really fantastic and made the program fantastic.  Now it is not so interesting.  Also Danni (Paula Duncan) is great and it’s good that she still holds the show together.  It would have been good for McKenna and Danni to get married, because they would have made a good couple.” S. Hatfield, WA.

“We like the ABC program Whodunnit, but it is on at an awkward time.  We like to watch Eight Is Enough which finishes at 8.30pm on HSV7, but Whodunnit starts at 8.15pm.  So we either turn over three-quarters of the way through Eight Is Enough or turn to Whodunnit at 8.30pm, and then it’s not much use watching it because it’s quarter over.” T. Mein and C. Searle, VIC.

What’s On (October 6-12):
Weekend sport includes Garden State PGA Championships, live from Mordialloc, Melbourne (ABC) and the South Pacific Classic tennis, live from Milton courts, Brisbane (HSV7).  On Saturday night, HSV7 presents live coverage of the final of the tennis Super Challenge, from Festival Hall, Melbourne.

This Fabulous Century (HSV7, Sunday) looks at the history of three popular sports in Australia – surfing, cricket and football – as well a look at the career of tennis champion Evonne Cawley and Hawaiian swimming champion Kahanomoku, who introduced Australia to the sport of surfriding in 1915.

A repeat of controversial Australian movie Wake In Fright, starring Chips Rafferty, Jack Thompson, John Meillon, Buster Fiddess and Dawn Lake, screens Monday night on ATV0.

On Wednesday night, HSV7 presents the fourth annual presentation of the Australian Film and TV Awards – the Sammys – live from Sydney’s Seymour Centre and hosted by Roger Climpson. 

Friday night presents a clash of movie epics, with 55 Days At Peking (HSV7), The Guns Of Navarone (GTV9) and The Nun’s Story (ATV0).  All three movies are three hours in length.

TV Times advises:  “As TV Times went to press, GTV9 had removed screenings of Family Feud, The Young Doctors and The Sullivans due to an industrial dispute.  The channel advises that if workers resume, all three shows will be screened as normal.”  As a result, GTV9 has advised replacement programs My Three Sons, Celebrity Charades and Angie in the respective timeslots.

Sunday night movies: Gold (HSV7), Murder By Natural Causes (GTV9), The Corn Is Green (ATV0).  ABC screens Burn The Butterflies, the first in the series of Australian Plays, starring Ray Barrett, Fred Parslow, Gerard Maguire, Monica Maughan, George Mallaby and Alan Hopgood.

Source: TV Times (Melbourne edition), 6 October 1979.  ABC/ACP

1979: September 8-14

Emergency edition: Due to an industrial dispute at TV Times’ printers, this issue of the magazine has required a change in its usual format.  All regular features have been maintained as well as our complete program coverage.  We apologise for any inconvenience to your usual reading habits.

High-flying mates
Friendships are rare among actors, who often have to fight for themselves and seldom work long together.  An exception is the friendship of over 13 years between Ken James and Tony Bonner, both stars of Skippy The Bush Kangaroo, The Box and now Skyways.  Bonner recalls that it was in 1966 when he first met James, then 13 or 14 years old and auditioning for a role in Skippy.  Despite their nine year age difference, and a stint overseas by Bonner, the pair often found their paths crossing professionally and personally and their families meet quite frequently.  James recalls Bonner’s enthusiasm for motorbikes and some of the his antics caused producers some anxiety.  He also recalls how the pair also went on strike against the canteen at ATV0 while taping The Box: “We didn’t like the food so we used to bring in our own prawns and avocados and set up the white wine and dine in style.”

Gunston in the gun!
John Eastway, producer and director of The Norman Gunston Show, watched horrified as the giant sumo wrestler picked up the pint-sized Norman Gunston (Garry McDonald, pictured).  Despite Eastway carefully explaining through an interpreter what he wanted the wrestler to do, something was lost in translation.  So without so much as a ripple of a muscle, the wrestler threw Gunston a couple of metres and then pounded him onto the ground.  McDonald managed to get to his feet – and cracked a joke.  “Garry took a terrible beating that day.  It took him all afternoon to recover,” Eastway said.  The wrestler incident is just one of many unpredictable moments during four-and-a-half years of producing the show for ABC and now the Seven Network.  Another unplanned moment was when Gunston was interviewing Keith Moon, drummer with the Who rock group, in London in 1976 and Moon poured a bottle of vodka over him.  Although temporarily blinded by the vodka, McDonald carried on as Gunston and the cameras kept rolling.  Both McDonald and Eastway were angry from the incident and Moon’s entourage apologised profusely.  Despite the number of unscripted incidents, only once has Eastway decided against screening an interview – that with British film-maker Ken Russell who didn’t take too kindly to Gunston asking him if he wrote, produced and directed his owns films because he couldn’t afford staff.  Russell became extremely upset, even violent, threatening the crew.  Eastway ushered McDonald from the scene.

Judy takes the plunge
Actress Judy Morris likes playing many different characters – and it shows in her most recent parts.  Playing a lesbian air hostess in Skyways, Morris is also seen as a photographic model in the feature film In Search Of Anna and this week plays a marine biologist in ABC’s Patrol Boat.  Morris took on the role of air hostess Robyn Davies (pictured) in Skyways because she thought it presented an interesting approach to lesbianism:  “I did the part because I felt like working, the role was different and it only took a few weeks to do.”  At 32, Morris has been an entertainer for twenty years – starting in radio plays for ABC while still at school in Queensland.  But experience hasn’t made her work any easier:  “It’s harder to act now than when I was younger.  When you’re young you can think you can play any part, even an 80-year-old woman with a limp.  As you get older you realise how hard it is to play roles, and you ask much more of yourself.” 

Briefly…
Acclaimed stage actor John Gaden has joined the cast of The Young Doctors for a guest role as a hotel manager.  Also making a guest appearance, in a different storyline in the series, is Pamela Gibbons, who has worked on The Norman Gunston Show and appeared in Number 96 and The Oracle.

After a three-year battle, the controversial Australian film Petersen (pictured) is allowed by the Australian Broadcasting Tribunal for release to television, on the condition that it is not shown before 9.30pm.  The movie, starring Jack Thompson, was originally scheduled and promoted for screening by HSV7 in 1976 but was withdrawn from the schedule at the last moment by the censors.  Ironically, the version that has been permitted to air on Australian TV is the edited version for American television.  A late programming change by HSV7 will now see Petersen aired this week.

Former The Box actress Monica Maughan returns to TV in an upcoming role in Prisoner as mother Pat O’Connell, a very family-minded inmate at Wentworth Detention Centre.

Although Peter Wherrett has publicly said that he wouldn’t produce another Torque series, the mail and phone calls received since the last series went to air indicates that there is public demand for another series.  The eighth series of the popular motoring program will go into production in December and will air on ABC next year.

Viewpoint: Letters to the Editor:
”I watch Countdown often but when Ian Meldrum’s Humdrum comes on I feel like turning off the TV.  When great pop stars come to the show he wears shirts and jumpers with their names all over them, but as soon as they leave the country he criticises them.” T. Mitchell, QLD.

“When a friend told me that there would be a two-hour episode of Cop Shop, I settled down to enjoy it, but was so disappointed and disgusted that I switched to another channel.  Who except the morally sick would enjoy hearing about lesbians and homosexuals?  I know what the reaction of some readers will be to this letter, but I also happen to know a great number of people who think the same as I do.  Can’t we “make Australia beautiful” by cultivating clean minds.  TV can do so much in that line.” M. Caffery, QLD.

“I’d like to complain about the time Blue Fire Lady was shown on Sydney’s TCN9.  TV Times programs showed the screening time as 8.30pm to 10.30pm on Friday 27 July, but it was on from 7.30pm to 9.30pm.  Through the fault of TCN9 and TV Times, I missed the first hour of the movie.  I hope the same mistake won’t be made again, as there will be many unhappy viewers.” R. Courts, NSW.  (TV Times responds:  “This program change by TCN9 came too late to catch the publication of the Sydney edition of TV Times.”)

What’s On (September 8-14):
On Saturday afternoon, ATV0 presents the gospel outreach World Literature Crusade, a 5-hour special hosted by Dr Jack McAlistair, President of World Literature Crusade, featuring musical performances and dramatised historical conversations with pioneer missionaries.

Saturday Night Live (HSV7), hosted by Ernie Sigley with Trudy Jaworski, features a music hall theme with guest appearances by Bartholomew John, Ian Turpie, Terry O’Neill, Terry Norris and Vi Greenhalf.

With the VFL finals now in progress, ATV0 presents the Cazaly Awards on Monday night.  Hosted by Michael Williamson, Ted Whitten, Harry Beitzel and Jack Dyer, live from VFL Park.  The Gold Cazaly and $5000 will be awarded to the outstanding footballer of the year.  A further $20,000 in prize money will be awarded to the overall best players in all eighteen game positions.  The awards will also recognise the most popular footballer from each club.

In Cop Shop (HSV7, Monday and Thursday), a pedestrian is nearly killed as a car spins out of control, the driver of the car claims he was only a passenger.  O’Reilly (Terry Norris) waits for the birth of his grandson, and Vic Cameron (Terence Donovan) is gradually becoming accepted and liked at Riverside.  Constable Roy Baker (Gil Tucker, pictured) decides his love life is wearing a bit thin and joins a computer-dating service.

In Prisoner (ATV0, Tuesday and Wednesday), Vera Bennett (Fiona Spence) has hopes of a new interest in her personal life.  While in Skyways (HSV7, Monday and Thursday), Anne Williamson (Kathryn Dagher) is a new hostess at Pacific International, and David Rankin (Fred Parslow) arrives with news of a 15 per cent pay cut in Pacific’s personnel.

Special guests on The Norman Gunston Show (HSV7, Wednesday) include Elliot Gould, George Segal, Valerie Perrine, Ed Asner and Hal Linden.

Jim Waley presents a one-hour special, The Babymakers (GTV9, Thursday) which unveils some of the facts about infertility in Australia which will surprise many Australians and bring hope to couples who have been unable to conceive.  The special also discusses fertility clinics, artificial insemination centres and the possibility of Australia’s first test tube baby.

On Friday night, GTV9 presents a delayed telecast of the 31st annual Emmy Awards for 1978-79.  The awards presentation took place in California on the previous weekend.

Sunday night movies: A Magnificent Hustle (HSV7), Love’s Savage Fury (GTV9), The Prisoner Of Second Avenue (ATV0).  A Man Of Action is the third instalment of ABC’s A Place In The World, starring Nick Tate, Carmen Duncan and Max Osbiston.

Source: TV Times (Melbourne edition), 8 September 1979.  ABC/ACP

1979: August 4-10

The Sullivans’ war secrets
Jovan, the Yugoslav name for John, is the name of the telemovie telling the story of the missing years of John Sullivan (Andrew McFarlane, pictured), the eldest son of The Sullivans.  McFarlane returned to reprise the role, describing it as “the most satisfying and stimulating role of my career.”  Jovan also features Frank Gallacher (Against The Wind), Olivia Hamnett (Rush), Carol Burns (Prisoner) and, in her first acting role, Vera Plevnik. The telemovie was written by Brian Wright, who wrote the Biggles and Hop Harrigan serials for radio and was a founding member of the management team of ATV0 in the mid-‘60s before becoming a scriptwriter for ABC and Crawford Productions.

96 team back in harness
The team behind the top-rating series Number 96 have re-united to make a new drama series for the 0-10 Network.  Producer Bill Harmon, script editor Johnny Whyte and writer-director David Sale are devising a new series, tentatively titled Arcade, to begin production later this year and to debut early in 1980.  Details of the new series are sketchy, though it is believed that it will be shown once or twice weekly.  Arcade will be produced at TEN10’s Sydney studios where The Steve Raymond Show was produced before it was axed last week.  Harmon said the new show will not be like Number 96:  “It’s not 96 set in a shopping centre.  At this stage, with only four scripts in hand, it’s too early to tell you what it will be like.  All we can say is what it will not be like.”  Casting for the new series is to commence in the next month.

Cop Shop shock: Paula’s ‘recaught’
Actress Paula Duncan (pictured) has decided not to drop out of the popular series Cop Shop.  Several weeks ago, Duncan informed producers that ill-health would force her to leave the show.  However, a successful operation, followed by a Queensland holiday, has given Duncan a clean bill of health. 

Nine plans new series for kids
The Nine Network has commissioned an action/drama pilot for a children’s TV series from the Reg Grundy Organisation.  The new series, proposed for the ‘C’-rated 4.00 to 5.00pm timeslot, will be produced by Roger Mirams, a veteran of many children’s productions including The Terrible Ten, The Magic Boomerang, Animal Doctor and The Lost Islands.

Busy time for Paradise people
Some of TV’s most familiar actors and actresses are taking part in what could be the first drama series to be based on the Gold Coast.  A pilot for a new series, Paradise Village, is being produced by McCabe-Paradine Productions and BTQ7 Brisbane, with financial assistance from the Queensland Film Corporation.  The pilot stars Gerard Kennedy (Division 4), Syd Heylen (Sunnyside Up), Lynette Curran (Bellbird), Joan Bruce (Certain Women), Dennis Grosvenor (Chopper Squad), Anne Haddy (Play School, Prisoner) and Bill Kerr.  Other names cast in the pilot include Suzy Gashler, Stephen O’Rourke, Paul Chubb, Olga Tamara and Christine Broadway.

How Bunney stays together going to bits
Barely three years ago, Bunney Brooke (pictured) was on TV screens several nights a week as the much-loved Flo Patterson in Number 96.  Since the show wound up late in 1977, Brooke has been keeping a much lower profile on screen, playing smaller bit parts in dramas including The Young Doctors, Kirby’s Company, children’s series Wayzgoose and telemovie Good Thing Going.  Her latest role is as Granny Jones in ABC’s Ride On Stranger.  “I love doing these character parts.  They’re a challenge and they pay the rent,” she says.  Brooke has also just finished the outline for a TV comedy series which, after a brief rundown, suggests that there could be parts for herself and former Number 96 colleague Pat McDonald.

Briefly…
Peter Couchman is suddenly going to be seen a lot more on Melbourne’s TV screens.  From this week, ATV0’s late-night program Peter Couchman Tonight extends to early evenings with Peter Couchman’s Melbourne.  The new program comes after some other ill-fated attempts to fill the 7.00pm timeslot since the demise of Blankety Blanks.

Denise Drysdale is about to wed actor Chris Milne, and for the former ‘60s go-go dancer and Ernie Sigley Show co-host, her new married life will be a lot quieter with the pair settling in a country property outside of Melbourne.  “From now on I will be working a lot less.  I don’t want to earn a fortune – just enough to pay the bills.”

TV Times’ Eric Scott recently spent a day on location at the mock version of Singapore’s Changi prison, constructed in Melbourne by Crawford Productions for an upcoming storyline in The Sullivans.  Freezing in the middle of a Melbourne winter, wearing nothing but a wet sarong and having brown make-up dabbed on with a cold, wet sponge, Scott wonders why anyone would want to be an actor.

Viewpoint: Letters to the Editor:
”Surely the skipper of the warship in the series Patrol Boat should be wearing a naval cap, and not that awful American baseball cap?”  M. Tringham, NSW.

“As I once wrote a letter to you complaining about Cop Shop not being what it should be, I thought it only fair to express my new reaction to this series.  I am happy to say that it has improved beyond all I ever expected of it, and has now become one of our favourite programs.” D. Dickey, NSW.

“Congratulations to the complete staff and printers on a fine example of an Australia publication – TV Times on its 21st birthday (TV Times, 7 July 1979).  May the same standards apply to all future issues.  I find the features included most absorbing and palatable and the simplicity of program layout most rewarding.” N. Gray, NSW.

What’s On (August 4-10):
Just The Way We Are, featuring The Four Kinsmen, is this week’s Saturday Special on ABC.

On Sunday afternoon ABC presents live coverage of Round 6 of the Australian Sports Sedans Championship, from Calder Raceway.  Geelong and Collingwood are this week’s teams in the Sunday afternoon Commodore Cup on HSV7, live from St Kilda Football Ground, and ATV0 presents live coverage of VFA Football.

On Monday, ATV0 debuts Peter Couchman’s Melbourne, an extension of the late-night Peter Couchman Tonight.  The new 7.00pm program includes special reports and contributions from Derryn Hinch, Marie van Maaren, Tony Porter and Bob Maumill.

In Skyways (HSV7, Monday and Thursday), MacFarlane (Tony Bonner) leaves his assistant, Louise (Tina Bursill) in charge of the airport while he attends to a domestic problem.  Her dismissal of a drunken baggage handler sparks off a strike.

Sunday night movies: Westworld (HSV7), Jovan – The John Sullivan Story (GTV9), Tell Them Willie Boy Is Here (ATV0).  ABC presents a two-hour BBC special, Einstein’s Universe, presented by Peter Ustinov.  The documentary coincides with the 100th anniversary of Albert Einstein’s birth.

Source: TV Times (Melbourne edition), 4 August 1979.  ABC/ACP

1979: July 7-13

Skyways taxis for take-off
The Seven Network’s long-awaited airport drama series, Skyways, debuts this week in Sydney and Melbourne. With on-location filming conducted at Melbourne’s Tullamarine airport, the series is based on a fictional airport, Pacific International, and features its own airlines, Federal Airlines and Trans Asia. Producer Hector Crawford has described it as “strong drama, with a humorous touch; not exaggerated, but with a very honest approach to life.” HSV7 general manager Ron Casey said the series has a higher risk factor than most other programs: “The logistics of the program caused major problems. Our technical people had to solve many unexpected hitches. For instance, our equipment was seriously affected by the airport radar, and our schedules were put back about six week until our technicians solved the problem.” Producer Jock Blair said the program portrays a balanced view of life at an airport: “We are aware of the public sense of fear associated with flying, but I think the way we show safety measures and the quite incredible safety training of the flight crews will mean audiences will get a balanced picture of the everyday workings of an airport.” Skyways’ cast includes Bruce Barry, Deborah Coulls and Bartholomew John (pictured).

And now… TV drama for Kennedy?
The guessing game over Graham Kennedy’s return to television continues, following recent reports that he was to appear in a new comedy series for the Seven Network, and there have also been rumours of hosting variety shows for the Nine and Seven networks or hosting a nightly current affairs show for ATN7 Sydney. Kennedy’s manager, Harry M Miller, responds to some of the rumours: There have been no discussions with Nine at all about a return to the network. Kennedy has had an approach from Mike Willesee about hosting the Sydney-based Willesee At Six, but nothing further has developed. Kennedy is not doing the comedy role, but may appear in a drama series. Kennedy is also considering offers for movie roles, including one based on David Williamson’s play The Club.

21 years of TV Times!
TV Times celebrates its 21st birthday this week. The magazine initially started as Sydney-based TV News in June 1958 and was re-launched as TV News-Times in August 1959. The title was shortened to TV Times in November 1959. The first issue (pictured) reported on Jack Davey’s move from ATN7 to TCN9 in Sydney and remarking that he was planning a series along the lines of I Love Lucy. Actress Gwen Plumb was the star of an ABC series What’s In The Picture? and Ross Higgins was compering ABC’s Children’s TV Club.

Saga of a show called Carrots
From 1 July new rules were in place for the broadcast of programming aimed specifically aimed at children between 4.00pm and 5.00pm weekdays. Programs have to be approved by the Australian Broadcasting Tribunal to receive the new children’s ‘C’ classification in order to be shown in that timeslot. Networks are angry as some of them were already developing new children’s programs before the Tribunal, as late as May, had issued guidelines on what would be approved. The Seven Network had spent $250,000 on a new series, Carrots, that was to air weekdays at 4.30pm and has failed to obtain the ‘C’ classification at the last minute. Seven claims that its program was based on the recommendations in the Self-Regulation for Broadcasters report, which at the time was the only guideline available to broadcasters. Producer Julian Jovers defended the program: “It has a cast of good actors, it’s fully scripted, has a permanent set and budget. We’re spending an excess of $20,000 a week producing four episodes.” The program had been screened to groups of children from varying backgrounds to assess their responses and they had largely responded positively, though some changes were made based on feedback. Earlier this year, episodes had been submitted to the Tribunal for comment. The tribunal did not respond until 11 June when it advised ATN7 that Carrots, and eight other programs that had been submitted by networks, had been rejected.

Briefly…
Actress Kate Shiel has won the female lead role in the new ABC series Timelapse, starring opposite Robert Coleby and John Meillon.

Lorraine Bayly is enjoying the sights of Los Angeles and has not given any indication as to a return date to The Sullivans.

Reporter Ray Martin (pictured) says there is absolutely “no difference” between being a reporter for ABC’s Four Corners and the Nine Network’s new 60 Minutes – although he has noted that, since leaving ABC as its New York correspondent, the fan mail is now coming from much younger viewers rather than “old ladies.”

Viewpoint: Letters to the Editor:
”I am 15 years old, and for the first time in history I found a teenage show that didn’t star starry-eyed little goodie-goodies. I refer, of course, to James At 16.” M. Wolfshaar, QLD.

“I thoroughly enjoyed both Roots and Roots: The Next Generations. I cried. It was very moving. I hope they keep the family name going on and the story behind it. Good on you, Alex Haley.” G. Williams, NSW.

“I have been a fan of Doctor Who ever since I can remember, but lately Blake’s Seven became the highlight of my week’s viewing. Thanks again ABC for taking the brave step that at present the commercial stations are not taking – showing a sci-fi program in adult viewing time.” R. Sallis, VIC.

What’s On (July 7-13):
This Week Has Seven Days (HSV7, Saturday) looks at the recycling of plastic wastes being used in school art classes. Other topics covered today include kidney disease, a visit to Japan by two Australian students and looking at the career of a religious leader.

ABC’s Saturday Special is Peter Regan’s Musical World, featuring Brian May and the Melbourne ABC Showband.

Guest stars on HSV7’s Saturday Night Live include Little Pattie, Delilah, Bartholomew John, Angela Ayers and Dita Cobb.

In the debut episode of Skyways (HSV7, Monday) there is a commotion at Pacific International Airport when an attractive East German girl defects. Then, in sinister circumstances she disappears from the airport. Acting airport manager Paul MacFarlane (Tony Bonner) loses his promotion because of the trouble.

ATV0’s game show $10,000 Winner’s Circle, hosted by Sandy Scott, is bumped from its 7.00pm weekday timeslot to the less-appealing 3.30pm timeslot.

Sunday night movies: Sleuth (HSV7), The Partisan (GTV9), The Front Page (ATV0). ABC screens the landmark British mini-series Edward And Mrs Simpson, tracing the controversial love story between King Edward VIII and an American divorcee, Wallis Simpson, which ultimately led to the King abdicating the throne. The mini-series starts on Sunday night and continues through to Thursday.

Source: TV Times (Melbourne edition), 7 July 1979. ABC/ACP

1978: December 16-22

Cover: Marlon Brando (Superman The Movie)

Restless break for June Salter
Actress June Salter will take an extended break from The Restless Years to tour with the theatrical production Crown Matrimonial.  The hit stage play has had an extended season in Sydney and has also played to packed houses in Brisbane and Newcastle, but a national tour was not possible unless Salter could be relieved from her commitments to The Restless Years.  Crown Matrimonial starts its three-month national tour in February 1979.

War of the words
Veteran TV scriptwriter Mike McColl-Jones has left the Nine Network's The Don Lane Show to work on ATV0's late-night Peter Couchman program which is headed for a higher profile in the new year, extending to five nights a week.  "I think Peter Couchman has that same attraction that Graham Kennedy had.  Women want to mother him.  That is a particularly good quality for a man in his job to have," he told TV Times.

I'm not just a pretty face!
Actor Tony Bonner is feeling he has been able to shake off the stigma of the young, handsome, heroic type which he earned by playing helicopter pilot Jerry King in the '60s TV series Skippy The Bush Kangaroo.  The Sammy Award-winning actor has had recent roles in Power Without Glory, the telemovie The Alternative and ABC play End Of Summer before taking on an ongoing role in Cop Shop.  Bonner has also directed a series of half-hour documentaries, titled Making It Together, and is preparing to play the role of a blind man in an upcoming Seven Network telemovie Image Of Death.

From bullets to ballots
Millions of viewers know Gregory Ross as Constable Tony Benjamin in Cop Shop, but to his colleagues he is known as the Prime Minister.  Ross is closely associated with the Liberal Party in Victoria and hopes to stand as a candidate in the future.  "I hope to become a full-time politician in the future, maybe three or four years.  I've had the ambition for some time and I am deadly serious about a career in politics," he told TV Times. 

Briefly:
GTV9's children's series Nine Will Fix It recently featured a story on money being made at the Royal Reserve Treasury in Melbourne.  The crew also had the heart-breaking task of witnessing old money being shovelled into furnaces.  "That was painful!," according to presenter Penny Spence.

The Young Doctors star Marcus Hale, an experienced motorcycle stunt rider, found himself in a real hospital after an accident while riding to work had rendered him unconscious and with deep cuts on his chest, facial abrasions and a lump on the head.  The actor recalls nothing of what caused the accident.

ABC newsman Richard Carleton is currently on a trek through darkest Africa, on his way back to Australia for the new current affairs program Nationwide.

Viewpoint: Letters to the Editor
"ABC must be mad screening that rubbish Three's Company after only last year showing us the brilliantly funny Man About The House.  You would think the Americans could come up with something original."  D. Builton, TAS.

"What I want to know is why TCN9 Sydney is screening so many appalling programs in prime time while really superb movies like Medium Cool and Molly And Lawless John are hidden away in late night slots?  And if it's because they're repeats, it won't wash.  None of the channels has any qualms about repeating other programs in prime time." J. Anderson, NSW.

What's On (December 16-22):
Another week, and more tennis on HSV7 with the Ampol Men's Challenge, South Australian Women's Classic and the New South Wales Open filling afternoons during the week.  More cricket, too, with the Second Test on ABC and World Series Cricket on GTV9.

Christmas specials feature throughout the week, with specials from Good Times, Laugh-In, Grizzly Adams, Donny And Marie, Morecambe And Wise and The Black And White Minstrels.  On Thursday night, ATV0 screens Christmas carols from the Sydney University Choir.

Sunday night movies are All The Way To Paris (HSV7), Out Of Season (GTV9) and Operation Petticoat (ATV0).  ABC presents a Royal Heritage special on Queen Victoria.

Source: TV Times (Melbourne edition), 16 December 1978, ABC/ACP

YouTube: Revisiting Skippy

It's been a while since a YouTube video has featured here, but I came across this one recently and thought it would be of interest.

This video takes us back to the original locale used for the 1960s children's series Skippy The Bush Kangaroo, an area adjacent to the Ku-ring-gai National Park, north of Sydney.  Surprisingly, the ranger's headquarters - constructed specifically for the series' production  - is still intact, though showing some signs of wear.  The helipad is now a duck pond but the building's interior is like a time capsule with the decor and furnishings appearing to be virtually untouched since being occupied by Skippy and her fellow co-stars.

Ninety-one episodes of Skippy The  Bush Kangaroo were made between 1966 and 1969.  The program was made by Fauna Productions with some financial assistance from the Nine Network, and was sold to 128 countries including the United States where it was syndicated to 160 local television stations.  A feature film, Skippy And The Intruders, was also made.

Skippy also recently made news when one of the show's former stars, actor Tony Bonner, made a claim for royalties from the series following the DVD release.

Skippy The Bush Kangaroo also starred Ed Devereaux, Ken James (who later went on to The Group, The Box and Skyways), Garry Pankhurst, Liza Goddard and a guest list that includes some of Australia's most well-known actors.

A far more detailed history and episode rundown of Skippy The Bush Kangaroo can be found at TV Eye - Classic Australian Television.

YouTube: leokimvideo
IMDB: Skippy The Bush Kangaroo

Where's the royalties, Skip?

Yesterday's newspapers reported that veteran actor Tony Bonner has lodged a claim with the NSW Supreme Court seeking residuals from forty years of syndication and merchandising of the classic children's TV series Skippy The Bush Kangaroo.

Bonner (pictured, in 1968), who played helicopter pilot Jerry King in the show's first series - it went for three - is reportedly seeking an amount that could reach into the millions given the amount of merchandising and overseas sales the series has generated.

More than 120 countries have seen Skippy The Bush Kangaroo, although it is many years since the original series has been shown on Australian TV despite almost continual reruns during the 1970s and 1980s. The series was remade in the early 1990s as The Adventures Of Skippy, and in more recent times all three series of the original Skippy production have been released on DVD.

The now 64-year-old actor, who went on from Skippy to appear in numerous other series including Cop Shop, Skyways, Carson's Law, and Anzacs and more recently seen in a series of McDonald's commercials as fictional 'burger naming legend' Ken Thomas, claims the lawsuit isn't about money ("anybody who knows me will testify to that") but would like to be formally recognised for his contribution for a series that has become an Australian icon:

"When I signed on for the first season of Skippy I was a young, and probably naive, actor, and I was given a verbal agreement that if the show was successful after the first season then we'd talk about a few more bikkies in the bikkie tin. When it did become successful I soon realised there wasn't going to be anything forthcoming."

"For years people have thought I was earning a lot of money from the show, but I haven't received a single cent since my last pay cheque from Fauna (about $200) in 1968. When I saw the latest boxed set of DVDs I thought, 'I've had enough'."

The actor's claim for residuals is a familiar cry from actors who appeared in early TV series that have seen their work paraded in syndication and re-runs for decades, but their original contracts made no provision for residual payments.

Source: News.com.au

1978: January 14-20

Cover: Cop Shop's Restless Mum
Actress Rowena Wallace is feeling that she's becoming typecast after a succession of roles which the 30-year-old has played a "homely wife" figure - a perception not helped by her naturally silver hair ("a hereditary thing") and that one of her earlier roles in the mini-series Power Without Glory had her play an aging role. Image problems aside, Rowena is happy in her new role in Seven's Cop Shop opposite actor George Mallaby (pictured with Rowena on the TV Times cover), although playing a housewife with a teenage daughter is a far cry from her trail-blazing teenage role in You Can't See Round Corners a decade earlier.

Sparring partners' birthday toast:
The 0-10 Network's daytime talent show Pot Of Gold has reached its 600th episode, celebrated by host Tommy Hanlon Jnr and resident judge Bernard King. The pair had an uneasy on-air partnership - Hanlon insisting King's vicious criticisms of contestants were too harsh, but King felt Hanlon was too soft on them. Over its 600 episodes, 4300 acts have appeared.

John finally cops the job:
Sydney-based actor John Orcsik has finally scored a role in a Crawford Productions series. The former Number 96 actor had auditioned for roles in Bluey and Homicide, and for the original casting of Cop Shop, and had missed each time - but now had been chosen by Crawfords to appear in a new Cop Shop role to fill the gap left behind by departing actor Tony Bonner.

The Sullivans' Greek connection:
Greek-born actress Chantal Contouri has just made her debut appearance in the World War II series The Sullivans, as a widow who becomes involved with some of the Australian soldiers fighting in Greece. The 27-year-old actress had made a recent trip to Greece and with husband Peter Walker had restored a peasant cottage into a home where the pair plan to spend time each year.

Max-In-The-Box bounces back:
Following the demise of the soap opera The Box, actor Barrie Barkla moved to Perth in the hope of distancing himself from his character from the series, TV executive Max Knight. But for Barkla, who has established himself at Perth's STW9 with on-air and backstage roles, it was harder to move on from the character than he had expected - especially given that The Box still had a considerable time to run still in Perth.

Viewpoint - Letters to the Editor:
"My complaint is not about the quality of Australian TV so much as the misrepresentation of Australians. There is no reflection on the mixture of races in Australia. I would like to see Italian or Indian teachers in the Grundy programs set in schools - for example, Glenview High." M.S., NSW

"I am evidently (and as usual) in the very small minority, but I remain completely amazed that a really hilarious show like Celebrity Squares should be replaced with a sort of B-class quiz effort called Blankety Blanks...." R.H.G., WA

"I thank Crawford Productions and the Seven Network for Cop Shop. It is not just another police series. It is a more realistic series, showing the pressure on police and their families." F.M., NSW.

What's On (Melbourne):
More cricket on GTV9 with World Series Cricket, but also there's cricket action on ATV0 with Tasmania versus South Australia in the Gillette Cup.

On weekday afternoons, with non-ratings still dictating the schedules, GTV9 presents re-runs of police drama Division 4, while ATV0 presents a magazine program Shoulder To Shoulder with journalist Mickie de Stoop. In the mornings, ATV0 starts the day at 7.00am with The Early Bird Show, GTV9 has the Holiday Fun Show in the same timeslot, and ABC has Sesame Street at 8.00am. HSV7 doesn't commence weekday transmission until 10.00am with Miss Patricia on Romper Room starting the broadcast day.

David Johnston and Honor Walters present the children's magazine program This Week Has Seven Days on HSV7. Among this week's topics are toffee making, macrame, safety when canoeing and resident vet Dr Tim looks at water dragons.

Sunday night movies are Honky Tonk (HSV7), The Chairman (GTV9) and Crooks And Coronets (ATV0).

Source: TV Times, 14 January 1978. ABC/ACP