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.

1991: June 29-July 5

This really is TV’s wedding of the year!
Four brides, a speechless groom and a stool – this is TV’s wedding of the year as Craig Donovan (Steve Blackburn), the enigmatic heart throb from Fast Forward’s ‘Dumb Street’, decides to tie the knot in the Dumb Street cafe.  Like all TV weddings, this one doesn’t go exactly to plan as four brides – Danni (Gina Riley), Bobby (Jane Turner), Nikki (Magda Szubanski) and Shelley (Marg Downey) – arrive at the cafe all wanting to be the next Mrs Donovan, with one of them holding a secret.  Will this secret come out?  Who will become Mrs Donovan?  And, more importantly, why is Bob Hatfield (Geoff Brooks) not wearing any pants?

Is Jana set to quit?
The recent walkout by Jana Wendt over A Current Affair running a story on a hardware store staffed by topless females highlights the tense relationship between her and the Nine Network.  The TV Week Gold Logie nominee, who was missing from ACA for the next two nights, is also said to not be happy since Kerry Packer regained control of the network – citing editorial interference – and is concerned that the show will be hit hard by cost-cutting measures.  With her contract soon up for renewal, Nine will have to work hard to get her to re-sign.  There are suggestions that she may follow former Nine boss Sam Chisholm to the United Kingdom where he is now running the BSkyB satellite network, or even move to another network here in Australia.

Export action!
With Neighbours (pictured) and Home And Away both well established in the United Kingdom, it looks like Network Ten’s E Street is about to join them.  Management from Westside Television, the producers of E Street, have just returned from overseas negotiations and E Street is set to debut in the United Kingdom, the Netherlands and Belgium by the end of the year.  Meanwhile, Grundy Television are hopeful that American audiences will support Neighbours with the show’s first 65 episodes now starting to air on KCOP in Los Angeles and WWOR in New York.  Success in these markets may lead to the series going into wider syndication across the US.  “The local stations are very enthusiastic about the show and they’re very aware that if Neighbours does well, we have 1400 more episodes to sell to them,” Grundy’s Bob Lloyd told TV Week.  Grundy’s are also currently working on a US-based series, Dangerous Women, which is largely adapted from the Aussie series Prisoner.  “The show has already been pre-sold around America to 40 per cent of the markets and is expected to air in Australia,” Lloyd said.

Briefly…
ABC’s newest afternoon series is the lively game show The Big Square Eye.  Hosted by former Neighbours and Wombat star Bob La Castra (pictured, centre), the show is taped before a live studio audience and features the latest in video clips, live performances and contestants from the audience taking part in quiz games.  “Everybody, including the crew, has a lot of fun.  Around the ABC it is known as the show everyone wants to work on,” La Castra told TV Week.

GP star Michael Craig, also an accomplished scriptwriter, has written the show’s 99th episode, which screens on ABC this week.  “It was difficult wearing two hats, actor and writer,” he told TV Week.  “I was very concerned that the actors should be happy with what they had to say.”

The Boys From The Bush, the Australian series that gained critical acclaim and high ratings in the UK, has still yet to screen in Australia even though it was shown on the BBC back in January.  A second series, starring Chris Haywood, Nadine Garner and Pat Thompson, is now already in production.   The Seven Network has still yet to announce a screening date for the series, and may choose to show both the first and second series back-to-back in 1992.

John Laws says…
”Despite the wails of those who say they abhor advertising, and those who would like to enshrine the ABC from the real world, the fact is that it is advertising which is likely to be the ABC’s extra lifeblood.  The SBS network has already calmly accepted that advertising is part of life, and already is using sponsorship to positive effect, without denting its credibility or causing shock waves of any kind.  The ABC, I believe, has little to fear from introducing corporate sponsorship of programs, and general advertising.  It has already willingly thrown itself into the “commercial” market by the promotion on a regular basis of its own ABC Shop products.  It is also used to some corporate sponsorship; for instance, Esso Night At The Opera.  I’ve heard no complaints about that series of fine programs, which might not even have happened had it not been for the financial support of the oil company.”

Program Highlights (Melbourne, June 29-July 5):
Saturday:  Guest performers this week on Hey Hey It’s Saturday (Nine) include Rat Cat, Kate Ceberano, The Ministry Of Fun and Deborah Conway.

Sunday:  Seven crosses to Subiaco, Perth, for live coverage of the AFL match between West Coast Eagles and St Kilda.  In Col’n Carpenter (Ten), Colin (Kim Gyngell) is hailed a hero after saving the lives of four children.  Sunday night movies are An Innocent Man (Seven), Renegades (Nine) and Bull Durham (Ten).

Monday:  Nine debuts a new morning program, What’s Cooking, hosted by Gabriel Gate and Colette Mann (pictured).  Former Prisoner and Return To Eden star Peta Toppano guest stars in A Country Practice (Seven) as a country singer whose dreams of stardom are threatened.  Nine starts its second week of late-night coverage from Wimbledon.

Tuesday: In GP (ABC), William’s (Michael Craig) dinner guest drops dead and his relatives demand a very unusual burial.  In Beyond 2000 (Seven), Dr John D’Arcy looks at how the sex capital of the world is coping with the AIDS crises, and Simon Reeve visits a Japanese workplace of the future.

Wednesday:  Seven presents a late-night delayed coverage of the first Test of the 1991 three-match Rugby League series, from Melbourne’s Olympic Park, between Australia and New Zealand.

Thursday:  In The Flying Doctors (Nine), several members of the RFDS team may have been unknowingly exposed to the AIDS virus. 

Source: TV Week (Victoria edition), incorporating TV Times and TV Guide.  29 June 1991.  Southdown Press

1990: June 30-July 6

Cover: Warren Beatty, Madonna (Dick Tracy)

Cancer scare!
A Country Practice star Georgie Parker is set to tackle her toughest storyline to date with upcoming episodes featuring a dramatic cancer scare for her character Lucy Gardiner.  The scare prompts Lucy to call off her planned wedding to Matt Tyler (John Tarrant) and she plans to leave Wandin Valley to go home to her mother.  “She’s an absolute mess of emotions,” Parker told TV Week.  “It was actually very hard because I’m a very logical person and I couldn’t understand this totally illogical behaviour.”

 

Knock the rock!
When Fast Forward’s Gina Riley heard Sinead O’Connor’s ballad Nothing Compares 2 U, she loved it.  But that didn’t stop her sending up the bald singer in a Fast Forward skit (pictured).  Since joining the cast of the Seven Network comedy series, Riley has performed parodies of other pop stars including Dannii Minogue, Madonna, Paula Abdul and Stevie Nicks.  “The great thing about rock ‘n roll is that everyone takes themselves so seriously, so it is perfect to send up,” Riley told TV Week.  “The sketches are not meant to be offensive.  I love most of the songs I do.”  Riley attributes the success of her sketches to the excellent work of make-up artist Barb Cousins.  So confident of Cousin’s abilities, Riley is thinking of taking off a male performer – although she did once attempt to do John Farnham’s You’re The Voice.  “And boy, they hated it,” she said.  “It was a bit like ‘you leave him alone!’.  People enjoy it if you sound a bit like the original song but, if not, it just sounds like you’re being bitchy.  It is hard to get that male timbre into your voice, but I’m sure it will come along soon.”

Murder at the Logies
Home And Away star Judy Nunn (pictured) has been busy during her spare moments on the set of the Seven Network series.  For the past year she has been working on what she hopes will be a best-selling novel and, possibly, a mini-series.  Having already written four children’s novels, The Glitter Game is Nunn’s first attempt at writing adult literature and promises all the ingredients of a best-seller.  “Sex, murder and intrigue – The Glitter Game has got it all,” Nunn tells TV Week.  The novel is a behind-the-scenes look at the Australian television industry, with the fast-paced story culminating in a murder at the TV Week Logie Awards.  But Nunn stresses that the story is entirely fiction.  “It’s inevitable people are going to want to play guessing games – but the novel is all tongue-in-cheek,” she says.  It is not the first time the actress has tackled the television industry – viewers will recall Nunn played the role of a bisexual reporter in the 1970s drama The Box, a series based on the workings of a television station. 

Briefly…
Rowena Wallace (pictured), Rebecca Smart, Gary Sweet, Robert Grubb, Bruno Lawrence, Maggie Dence and Penne Hackforth-Jones are just some of the famous stars to feature in More Winners, a series of children’s dramas about to appear on ABC as a follow-up from the original Winners series (screened on Network Ten).

Former Wombat host Jill Ray and her husband Michael Black have announced the birth of their first child, Joel, born in Brisbane last month.  Ray, a TV Week Logie Award winner in Queensland, has left the Seven Network for motherhood although she will be continuing her role as co-host on the breakfast show on Brisbane radio station 4KQ.

A Current Affair reporter Martin King has a reputation of being the hard-nosed “foot in the door” reporter, but he says that having presented more than 300 stories for ACA and its predecessor, Willesee, only about 15 to 20 have been walk-ins.  “But they’re the ones people remember most,” he says.

John Laws says…
”It’s easy to despair of Network Ten.  Bereft of much ratings-winning material and languishing behind Nine and Seven in the ratings, it at least has a surefire attention-grabber with its rugby league telecasts.  But what happens?  Ten botches it.  When the season began, Ten’s Friday Night League was live at 7.30pm, which should have been great.  The preponderance of commercial breaks – often at crucial moments during a game – led to complaints from viewers.  Lots of them.  Ten’s reaction was to halt the live coverage and switch to a delayed telecast at 8.30pm, a cure considered by most keen football fans as worse than the original disease.  As I see it, the only reason for switching to 8.30pm, and robbing viewers of the “as it happens” excitement, is to enable Ten to more easily slot in as many ads as they can.  Sure, Ten has to get in its commercials.  That’s what free enterprise TV is all about.  But all they needed to do was do it properly.”

Program Highlights (June 30-July 6):
Saturday:  SBS (and ABC regionals) present coverage overnight of the quarter finals in the World Cup, live from Italy.

Sunday:  ABC presents the debut of More Winners, a series of children’s dramas .  The first instalment, His Master’s Ghost, stars Jonathan Hardy, Simon Grey, Erica Kennedy, Cathy Godbold and Scott Major.  Sunday night movies are Witness (HSV7), Little Nikita (GTV9) and Thief (ATV10).  There are two more World Cup quarter finals live on SBS (and ABC regionals) after midnight.

Monday:  GTV9 starts its second week of coverage of tennis from Wimbledon, with coverage starting at 10.35pm and continuing to 4.30am each night.

Tuesday:  ABC presents The Big Gig Rejigged, a highlights package of comedy series The Big Gig with Wendy Harmer.

Wednesday/Thursday:  SBS (and ABC regionals) present early-morning coverage of the World Cup semi-finals at 3.30am on both days.  SBS also supplements its World Cup coverage during the week with prime-time screenings of the films documenting the 1978, 1982 and 1986 World Cups.

 Friday:  HSV7’s Friday night AFL features Richmond versus the Brisbane Bears.

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

1990: May 12-18

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

1990: April 14-20

‘I didn’t think I would ever get married’
Home And Away star Nicolle Dickson (pictured, with co-star Craig McLachlan) is soon to walk down the aisle to marry her fiance James Bell, but confesses that she had never considered the thought of ever being married:  “It’s nothing I ever really thought about before now.  I’m very excited.  I didn’t think I would ever get married.”  The couple met at a party and they announced their engagement at Dickson’s recent 21st birthday celebration.  But despite her profile on Home And Away, which is enjoying success in Australia and the UK, the wedding is planned to be a simple affair. “I didn’t want it to become a circus like some other people’s weddings.  It’s important for us and it’s your private life, so you don’t want it to get out.  But it does, because you’re on TV.” 

Catherine doubles up Down Under
Former Dynasty star Catherine Oxenberg (pictured) has begun her second major project in Australia this year.  Having just completed production on the Seven Network telemovie Bony, Oxenberg has had a week at home in the US before returning to Australia to start on a new mini-series, Ring Of Scorpio, for the Nine Network.  The mini-series, also starring Rebecca Gibney, Caroline Goodall, Linda Cropper, Peter Kowitz and American actor Jack Scalia, is being filmed in Sydney, Spain and Morocco as it follows the story of three Australian women on holiday.  Ring Of Scorpio has already been sold to Paramount for international distribution and is expected to screen on Nine by the end of the year.

The fax about Graham!
Having announced that he would not be returning to host Coast To Coast this year, Graham Kennedy (pictured) stunned everyone when he subsequently announced he would be returning to TV to host a new weekly show, Graham Kennedy’s Funniest Home Video Show.  TV Week recently interviewed Kennedy, by fax of course, on his surprise return to TV.  “I stated that I would not return to nightly television in 1990,” he told TV Week.  “I didn’t say that I would not return to weekly television this year… I believe the life of this kind of program is very limited.  Even if it was a ratings success I doubt if it would go into a second series… I haven’t discovered yet the size of the emolument that the network has in mind.  I suppose it will be Terry Willesee’s old salary multiplied by 100, or some token fee like that.”

Clive Robertson courts death, goes to Nine
Former Newsworld presenter Clive Robertson had virtually retired when he left the show last year – but after a cancer scare for himself and two of his friends, he decided that life is too short to fritter away in retirement and has returned to TV in a new late-night show, The World Tonight, which replaces the recently-axed Coast To Coast on Nine. 

Briefly…
Actress Tracy Mann has been reluctant to commit to an ongoing TV series – her last such role was 16 years ago in the soapie The Box – but when she saw the scripts for Seven’s new police drama, Skirts, she changed her mind:  “I’ll do things I think are quality and this is a great role.  I liked the scripts – it ain’t no Cop Shop, that is for sure.”  The new series, set around the welfare-based Community Policing Squad, debuts this week in a two-hour episode on Seven before settling into its regular timeslot of 7.30pm Sundays.

Sale Of The Century hostess Alyce Platt (pictured) is about to return to television drama with a new role in the Nine Network series Family And Friends.  It will be her first dramatic role since leaving Sons And Daughters in 1985, and is hoped to give Family And Friends a much-needed ratings boost.  Her role as social worker Stephanie Collins is not expected to interfere with her weekly taping schedule for Sale Of The Century.

Terry Willesee, co-host of the ill-fated Live At 5 and Eye On Australia, is set to leave the Nine Network to take up a new role as co-host of Network Ten’s Good Morning Australia, alongside Kerri-Anne Kennerley.  Current GMA co-host Mike Gibson is stepping down from the show to concentrate on his Sydney-based current affairs program, Sydney With Mike Gibson.

Jill Ray, former host of children’s program Wombat, and her husband Michael are expecting her first child in late May.  The recent TV Week Logie award winner feels that after ten years in children’s television, she feels adequately prepared for the challenges of parenthood:  “I’m not scared of having a child of my own.  It’s the idea of being responsible for a little person’s future that weighs heavily on me.”

John Laws says…
”You could say a lot of things – glowing and critical – about the ABC’s recent two-part mini-series Come In Spinner.  At the very least you’d have to say it was a brave and mostly successful attempt at producing a quality piece of soap.  If nothing else, it confirmed that Rebecca Gibney (pictured) – when she is afforded the opportunity of a substantial role – is a fine actress.”

Program Highlights (April 14-20):
Saturday:  Actress Rowena Wallace presents a one-hour special, Some Of My Children, telling of her moving experiences in Ethiopia, Tanzania, Zambia and Cambodia.
Sunday:  Easter Sunday night movies are Lawrence Of Arabia (HSV7), The Last Wave (GTV9) and The Ten Commandments (ATV10) – the latter running from 7.30pm until almost midnight.
Monday:  Ray Warren, Stephen Phillips and Rob Gaylard host GTV9’s Wide World Of Sports coverage of the annual Stawell Gift foot race.
Tuesday:  In Beyond 2000 (HSV7), Andrew Carroll looks at Europe’s space shuttle escape capsule.  Simon Reeve discovers how a non-steroid muscle-building drug could be a major breakthrough in the treatment of MS.  Maxine Gray visits a musk deer farm to examine the latest efforts to save it from extinction.
Wednesday:  ABC presents Burrows, Ceberano And Morrison Plus Fireworks, a concert recorded on the bank of Adelaide’s Torrens River during the opening weekend of the Adelaide Festival.  HSV7 presents the two-hour series debut of its new police drama, Skirts, starring Tracy Mann (pictured), Nicholas Ball, Mary Coustas and Kate Gillick.
Thursday:  ATV10 screens the one-hour special Phar Lap: The Verdict, presented by Ian Leslie.  The special focuses on the trial, commissioned in late 1989, dealing with the question of who killed champion racehorse Phar Lap.

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

1990: March 17-23

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

1990: March 10-16

Logies 1990: Who’ll grab the glittering prize?
Last year’s TV Week Gold Logie winner Daryl Somers has been nominated for the 1990 TV Week Gold Logie, but has some tough competition – Nine Network colleagues Jana Wendt (A Current Affair) and Ray Martin (Midday), and soapie heart-throb Craig McLachlan (Neighbours).  Somers has already won three TV Week Gold Logies (1983, 1986, 1989) and another Gold will almost rank him with as many Gold Logie wins as predecessors Graham Kennedy (five Gold Logies) and Bert Newton (four Gold Logies and a Hall of Fame Award).

TV Week Logie Awards nominations (Publicly voted categories):
Gold Logie: Ray Martin, Daryl Somers, Jana Wendt, Craig McLachlan.
Most Popular Actor: Andrew McFarlane, Shane Porteous, John Tarrant, Craig McLachlan
Most Popular Actress: Nicolle Dickson, Rachel Friend, Dannii Minogue, Georgie Parker
Most Popular Series: A Country Practice, The Flying Doctors, Home And Away, Neighbours
Most Popular Light Entertainment/Comedy Program: The Comedy Company, Fast Forward, Hey Hey It’s Saturday, Hey Dad!
Most Popular Sports Coverage: Cricket, Grand Prix, Tennis
Most Popular Telemovie or Mini-Series: Bangkok Hilton, Fields Of Fire III, The Heroes, The Magistrate
Most Popular Public Affairs Program: A Current Affair, Hinch, 60 Minutes
Most Popular Children’s Program: C’mon Kids, Play School, Wombat
Most Popular New Talent: Matt Day, Marcus Graham, Georgie Parker

Other public-voted awards: Most Popular Light Entertainment/Comedy Personality, Most Popular Music Video, Most Popular Lifestyle Program, 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 joke’s on us!
With Mark Mitchell at the helm, comedy will be the emphasis of this year’s TV Week Logie Awards, to be held at the Hyatt On Collins, Melbourne.  Among those joining Mitchell on the Network Ten telecast will be Kim Gyngell (Col’n Carpenter), Steve Vizard (Tonight Live) and the cast of the Seven Network series Acropolis Now.

‘No commercial network could touch this…’
Gerard Kennedy, Terry Gill and Frankie J Holden are among the cast of a controversial ABC telemovie, Police Crop.  The 100-minute dramatisation exposes the extent of police collusion with the Mafia in Australia over several years, leading up to the death of Superintendent Colin Winchester.  The program is the culmination of painstaking research and goes to air the day after the Winchester inquest resumes.  Director Ken Cameron says that such a program could never air on a commercial network:  “No commercial network could touch this.  They’ve been advised not to.”

What a shocker!
Jason Donovan’s role in the $3.7 million mini-series Shadows Of The Heart will no doubt shock his many fans.  “They’ll certainly see something that’s a bit different and unexpected,” he tells TV Week.  The former Neighbours star plays Alex Fargo, a dark-haired, drunken and unkempt farmer who has a relationship with his bed-ridden cousin, Indy (Sherrie Krenn).  “My role as a singer and what I’ve done with Neighbours before has always been fresh and wholesome.  But it’s nice to play someone different.”

Briefly…
John Waters (pictured) and Peta Toppano starred together as hippies in the stage production Godspell and have now been re-united as lovers in upcoming mini-series All The Rivers Run II. 

William McInnes will be making a guest appearance in A Country Practice as the new love interest for Cathy Hayden (Kate Raison) in a storyline that will lead to Raison’s exit from the series.

US actress Cybill Sheppard is coming to Australia to star with John Waters in the $7 million mini-series, Which Way Home, a production of the McElroy brothers who also brought Dynasty star Linda Evans to the outback for The Last Frontier.  Which Way Home will start production in New Zealand before heading to Thailand and then finishing up with seven weeks in Sydney.  It is expected to air on Network Ten and the American TNT network in 1991.

John Laws says…
”What a pity Steve Vizard (pictured) got off to such a shaky start with his Tonight Live program on Seven.  You’ll recall that I was underwhelmed by his first week’s antics.  Vizard, to put it mildly, was unprepared for the challenge of hosting a live-to-air show.  That first week was a shambles.  But it’s a surprising what a few weeks in the “hot seat” can do.  Vizard, through sheer grit, determination and hard work, has turned the show around.  Vizard’s show rated a 9 in Sydney the other week, three points ahead of its chief rival, Coast To Coast (without Graham Kennedy) on Nine.  Coast To Coast – let’s be frank – is struggling.  Without Kennedy, the heart seems to have been ripped out of it.”

Program Highlights (March 10-16):
Saturday:  ABC crosses to Auckland, New Zealand, for the One Day International Cricket – Australia versus New Zealand.  Coverage starts at 7.55am and continues through to 3.45pm.
Sunday:  HSV7 presents coverage of NBL, Sydney Kings versus Illawarra Hawks, from the State Sports Centre, Homebush – followed by the Australian Touring Car Championships, live from Tasmania.  Sunday night movies are Perry Mason: Case Of The Avenging Ace (HSV7) and The Couch Trip (ATV10).  GTV9 presents the first instalment of mini-series Something Is Out There.
Monday:  ABC and HSV7 both cover the annual Moomba procession, from the streets of the Melbourne CBD.  HSV7 then devotes the afternoon to Moomba Masters water-skiing from Melbourne’s Yarra River.  After The 7.30 Report, ABC launches a new series, The Party Machine, featuring Andrew Denton as he takes an in-depth look at the upcoming Federal Election.  GTV9 presents the second and final instalment to the mini-series Something Is Out There.
Tuesday:  In Beyond 2000 (HSV7), Simon Reeve examines a robot designed to shear 300 sheep in a single day, Amanda Keller investigates an alternative to hysterectomies, and Bryan Smith takes an amazing journey through the human body.
Thursday and Friday:  ABC presents a late-night cricket highlights package of Day One of the Trans-Tasman Test – Australia versus New Zealand.

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

1990: January 13-19

Craig’s Crisis
New Home And Away star Craig McLachlan (pictured) admits he was “totally exhausted” and on the verge of a breakdown last year.  The pressures of recording his first album with group Check 1-2, establishing himself on Home And Away after leaving Neighbours, separating from his manager, ex-wife Karen, and the media attention towards his new relationship with former Neighbours co-star Rachel Friend, all became a bit too much. “Some people would say I’ve already had a mental breakdown!  It doesn’t surprise me why Kylie (Minogue) and Jason (Donovan) stopped their acting because it’s just too exhausting to do both,” he told TV Week.  The as-yet untitled album from Check 1-2 should be out in March, and McLachlan will be seen on screen in Home And Away from next month.

The New Wave
Voting for the 1990 TV Week Logie Awards has begun – so who will get the viewers’ vote for most popular new talent?  A Country Practice has welcomed new cast members Georgie Parker, Matt Day and Georgina Fisher, while Jessica Muschamp and Kristian Schmid have been popular additions to Neighbours.  E Street launched a year ago and has brought some new faces of its own – including Alyssa-Jane Cook and Marcus Graham. And a new children’s series, Pugwall, has made a star of 14-year-old Jason Torrens.  Voting for the 1990 TV Week Logie Awards closes in mid-February.

Hot Summer Love
Home And Away launches its 3rd year with a steamy romance between Emma Jackson (Dannii Minogue) and Adam Cameron (Mat Stevenson).  “When Dannii started on the show, there was an attraction between Adam and Emma,” Stevenson told TV Week.  “Nothing eventuated until Adam began a romance with Carly (Sharyn Hodgson).  They went through a rough patch and Adam and Emma came together.”

Sky’s the limit for new Disney trio
Sofie Formica, James Sherry and Jeniene Mapp have been selected from more than 100 applicants to host the new Seven Network program, Saturday Disney.  The trio are about to head off to the US to be introduced to Disney executives before touring Disneyland, the MGM-Disney film studios and Disneyworld.  The two-hour Saturday morning show is the latest in a global franchise that has also launched in the US, United Kingdom and Spain.  For 18-year-old Formica, it is a second chance at TV stardom after a recent stint on Seven’s Wombat came to an abrupt end when the show was cancelled.  And for 15-year-old Mapp, Saturday Disney is her first TV appearance after four years’ training with the Johnny Young Talent School.  Former drama teacher Sherry, 22, gave up a career in education to become an actor and auditioned, and was accepted, for the Disney role on his birthday, 14 November.  “What a birthday present – it’s more than I ever expected,” he says.  Saturday Disney will be produced from the studios of BTQ7, Brisbane, when it launches later this month.

Briefly…
Australian actress Sherrie Krenn (pictured), currently based in the US with a list of film and TV credits since she was discovered by a casting agent for the sitcom The Facts Of Life, is coming back home to Australia for a role in the upcoming $3.7 million mini-series, Shadows Of The Heart, to be produced by the South Australian Film Commission for Network Ten.

Dame Edna Everage, now a global superstar, has made a rare trip back to Australia to promote her autobiography, My Gorgeous Life, including an interview on A Current Affair with guest host Elizabeth Hayes.

Jason Donovan has apologised to his former girlfriend, Neighbours co-star Kylie Minogue, for upstaging her at the London premiere of her movie The Delinquents, turning up to the event with stunning Texan model Denice Lewis.  “I’m sorry.  I didn’t mean to steal the show and wreck her big moment.  It was Kylie’s night and I just went along because she’d invited me and a friend.  I thought she would be the centre of attention.  I didn’t try to steal the show,” Donovan sighed.

On The Grapevine…
Who is the popular comic who was all but signed for his own late-night show on Network Ten in 1990?  Unfortunately he – and the plans for the show – got lost in the Broadcom reshuffle.

The Vine hears that some of the younger cast members of Nine’s new drama Family And Friends are already acting like prima donnas.  One source says one actor thinks he’s James Dean, not a budding soap star.

John Laws says…
”Three people keep cropping up in my mind as the ones who stood out throughout the year.  They are Graham Kennedy, Ray Martin and Jana Wendt.”

Program Highlights (Melbourne):
Saturday:  NSW Open tennis, live from White City, Sydney, on HSV7.  GTV9 crosses to the MCG at 3.40pm for the second day’s play of the First Test: Australia versus Pakistan.  ATV10 covers the Palm Meadows Golf from the Gold Coast.
Sunday: Sigrid Thornton stars in the US-made historical series, Paradise, on HSV7.  ABC presents the USSR State Symphony, performing at the Sydney Opera House.  Sunday night movies are Hangar 18 (HSV7), Honkytonk Man (GTV9), Black Sunday (ATV10).
Monday:  The Australian Open, direct from the National Tennis Centre, Melbourne, begins on HSV7 with daily coverage from 11.00am through to midnight, pausing only for Seven Nightly News, Home And Away and Hinch.
Tuesday: In Neighbours (ATV10), a mysterious woman moves into Ramsay Street and Madge (Anne Charleston) threatens Paul (Stefan Dennis) with legal action.
Thursday: The Flying Doctors stars Liz Burch and Vikki Blanche present a one-hour documentary, World Vision: A Chance For The Children, showing the work of World Vision’s child sponsorship program in Bangladesh, Cambodia, Uganda and Kenya.
Friday:  GTV9 crosses to Adelaide for the first day’s play in the Second Test: Australia versus Pakistan.

Source: TV Week (Victoria edition), incorporating TV Times and TV Guide. 13 January 1990. Southdown Press. 

50 years of BTQ7, ABQ2

This weekend marks yet another television station’s 50th anniversary.  Brisbane’s BTQ7 was launched on 1 November 1959.  It was Brisbane’s second TV channel, following QTQ9 that had launched in August of that year. 

Brisbane also didn’t have to wait long to get their third TV channel, as national broadcaster ABC opened its Brisbane channel, ABQ2, on 2 November 1959. 

Like QTQ9, BTQ7 was broadcasting from studios and transmission towers constructed up on Mount Coot-tha in Brisbane.  ABQ2 opted instead to have its studios in the suburb of Toowong but had its transmission towers at Mount Coot-tha.

Early personalities on BTQ7 included Brian Tait, children’s presenters Nancy Knudsen and Lester Foxcroft, women’s presenter Sybil Francis and newsreader Brian Cahill.

One of BTQ7’s earliest variety shows was The Late Show with Tait.  The program won the first TV Week Logie award for most popular program in Queensland.  In the early ‘60s, BTQ7 launched Theatre Royal, a show that took the vaudeville style of comedy onto television, featuring comedian and The Late Show star George Wallace Jnr and a team of performers including Eddie Edwards, Dick McCann, Jackie Ellison and a young actress by the name of Rowena Wallace (no relation to George).  Theatre Royal was immensely popular, screening every Friday night for six years, and was also shown interstate.  It won six TV Week Logie awards as Queensland’s most popular program.  The show ended after George Wallace suffered a stroke and died in 1968 at the age of 50, but his legacy continued as TV Week then initiated the George Wallace Logie for Best New Talent.

Also to come through BTQ7 in the ‘60s and ‘70s was Annette Allison, a performer on early variety and teenage shows before hosting her own daytime show, Annette.  She then went to Melbourne to ATV0 to read the news and co-host the morning show Everyday (later Good Morning Melbourne).  Dina Heslop was a host of the BTQ7’s children’s program Dina And Percy and was also a contributor to the national This Week Has Seven Days before becoming a producer for later shows like the Logie Award-winning Wombat.  Jacki MacDonald also had a stint at BTQ7 in the ‘70s, hosting her own show, Jacki’s People.  After Jacki left BTQ7, they then employed her sister, Fiona, to host a children’s program and was later a presenter on Wombat.

In the mid-‘70s, Reg Grundy produced a soap opera, Until Tomorrow, at the studios of BTQ7.  The series was a rare venture into daytime drama and screened nationally on the Seven Network, featuring Babette Stephens, Ron Cadee, former TV Week Gold Logie winner Hazel Phillips and a young Barry Otto.

Other programs to have come through BTQ7 over the years included  daytime show Bailey And The Birds, teenage shows National Top 40 and Teen Time, children’s shows Boris’ Breakfast Club and Seven’s Super Saturday, game show Family Feud and variety shows Top Of The Bill and Wak’s Works.

Of course, it would be remiss not to mention BTQ7’s landmark promotional jingle, ‘Love You Brisbane’, that was produced for the channel in the early ‘80s and was used by BTQ for several years.  Sung by popular local performer Kim Durant, the song was even released as a single and was a top-seller.  The jingle was later adapted to TVW7, as ‘Love You Perth’, and regional Queensland broadcaster Sunshine Television (now Seven Queensland) before BTQ7 and Seven Queensland reprised it a few years ago:

Newsreader Brian Cahill had two stints at BTQ7, he was the channel’s first newsreader when it launched in 1959 and, after a stint at QTQ9, was there again in the ‘70s.  During the ‘60s, Cahill was joined at the news desk by former ABQ2 newsreader Ron Brady.  Others to have presented news at BTQ have included Mike Higgins, Nev Roberts, Donna Meiklejohn, Janne Rayner, Ken Hose, Garry Wilkinson, Frank Warrick and present-day newsreaders Rod Young, Kay McGrath and Sharyn Ghidella.

As well as news, BTQ7 produced local current affairs with programs including Haydn Sargent’s Brisbane, State Affair, Carroll At Seven and magazine programs PM Magazine and The Great South East.

BTQ7 last week screened a special, Flashback – 50 Years Of Channel Seven, and tonight (Sunday) newsreader Brian Cahill makes a return to the Seven News desk to mark the fiftieth anniversary of his presenting the first news bulletin on opening night at BTQ.

And, by coincidence, BTQ7’s fiftieth anniversary coincides with a new era for the Seven Network as it launches its new digital channel 7TWO on the same day.

A lot of the material in this article, particularly related to the earlier years at BTQ7, is sourced by the book On-Air 25 Years Of TV In Queensland.  Compiled and edited by Christopher Beck. (1984)