Analogue shutdown rolls out to NSW, ACT

The phasing out of analogue television transmissions continues with the announcement by the Minister for Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy, Senator Stephen Conroy that regions in Southern and Central NSW and the Australian Capital Territory are scheduled to have analogue transmissions switched off on 5 June 2012.

The switch-off will affect local transmissions of ABC, Prime (CBN), WIN, Southern Cross Ten (CTC) and SBS in the Southern NSW markets of Central Tablelands (Orange), Central Western Slopes (Dubbo), South West Slopes and Eastern Riverina (Wagga Wagga), Illawarra and the South Coast (Wollongong) and Canberra.  The Murrumbidgee Irrigation Area (Griffith) which is separate to the Southern NSW aggregated market and is served by ABC, WIN (MTN/AMN) and SBS, will also be affected.

The total area covers a population of around 1,436,800 viewers.

With Canberra included in this stage of the switch-off, it becomes the first capital city in Australia to lose analogue television broadcasts.

According to the latest Digital Tracker survey 83 per cent of households in the affected areas have already converted at least their main television set to digital, while 97 per cent of households are aware of the pending full conversion to digital television.

Viewers in the affected areas that do not have a digital signal equivalent to their existing analogue service six months before the analogue shutdown may be eligible for access to the VAST satellite system which will provide access to the full range of digital channels.

The Government also has other measures in place to assist eligible households in making the transition – details can be obtained from the Digital Ready website.

Meanwhile, viewers in regional Queensland are now approaching their analogue switch-off date – 6 December.

Analogue transmissions have already been switched off in regional Victoria (including Mildura/Sunraysia) and regional South Australia (including Broken Hill, NSW). 

Source: DBCDE

Time’s up for 6.30

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

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

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

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

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

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

In a media statement released today Negus said:

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

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

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

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

1991: October 5-11

‘It’s a fair dinkum suburban wedding’
There was some angst among the residents of Neighbours’ Ramsay Street when it was announced that Melanie (Lucinda Cowden) and Joe (Mark Little) were to walk down the aisle.  Their main concern… what would the ‘dippy’ Melanie – who is known for her ‘unusual’ dress sense – wear?  Even the groom expressed some concern at his bride’s choice of gown.  “Let’s face it, she is the sort of character who could turn up in a tutu and tap-dance down the aisle,” Cowden told TV Week.  But to the relief of all, including the actress who plays her, madcap Melanie ends up walking down the aisle in a traditional full-length gown and veil.  “I was really pleased with the traditional dress.  I didn’t want to look like one of those dolls that has a toilet roll under her dress,” she said.

‘I’d be kicking his door in!’
The arrival of former 60 Minutes producer Gerald Stone to the Seven Network has sparked all sorts of speculation and rumour about changes to the network’s lineup – a possible change of timeslot for Home And Away to 7.00pm which would bump Derryn Hinch to 6.30pm, up against A Current Affair?  Or will a new current affairs show take the earlier timeslot?  Will he sign up former 60 Minutes reporter and Midday host Ray Martin?  Or even George Negus?  But Hinch, who recently celebrated 1000 shows at Seven, says he is contracted to the network until July and is not concerned about Stone’s arrival or any appointments he might be planning.  “I’ve talked to him since he came on board,” Hinch told TV Week.  “I’ve said publicly before I’d like to get Ray Martin here.  I’d like to get George Negus over here.  I think George Negus is wasted.  Ray is wasted there (at Nine) now.  If I was packaging a program, I’d be kicking his door in.” 

Hello, possum!
ABC’s new 20-part documentary series Wildscreen promises everything from giant octopuses and amorous snails, to cheeky cockatoos and unpredictable camels.  The series is being produced by ABC’s natural history unit, headed by executive producer Dione Gilmour.  “The programs are beautifully shot and very interesting, but they’re also very quirky.  They don’t take themselves too seriously as some other documentaries,” she told TV Week.  “There’s a fair bit of humour there.  It’s good entertainment for the whole family.”  The first episode of the series, Hello Possums, is written and presented by ABC’s Sydney newsreader Richard Morecroft (pictured), whom Gilmour says is “passionate” about Australia’s natural history.  The ABC has already given the go-ahead for a second series.

Briefly…
Mike Walsh, the former king of daytime TV, is not missing television one bit as he launches his latest project – the new Hayden Room cabaret venue at his art deco Orpheum Theatre in the Sydney suburb of Cremorne.  The cabaret room has a look of the Thirties with pastel tones, ornate swirls, mirrors and art deco lights.  Launching the venue is Wherefore Art Thou Cabaret?, starring Tony Sheldon and Maria Mercedes.

Former 1970s TV Week Queen Of Pop Colleen Hewett (pictured) is these days struggling to win a recording deal.  But the former chart topper, with hits including Day By Day, Gigolo and Wind Beneath My Wings, now prefers to talk about acting.  Former stage roles in Godspell and Pippin have been more recently followed by a role in mini-series Shadows Of The Heart and a guest appearance this week in The Flying Doctors.  She is keen to consider an ongoing acting role as a change from working the cabaret circuit.

“The Australian music industry has really come of age,” Molly Meldrum said at the launch of the Australian Music Awards.  “The industry badly needs something like this, not only for the music fans to have their say, but also to recognise the different styles of music, things like dance and alternative acts.”  The AMAs will be held at Melbourne’s Congress Centre in November – sponsored by Coca-Cola in association with TV Week – and will be broadcast on Network Ten.

Garry Shelley’s Sound Off
”Hits and Memories, on Seven this week, is reminiscent of Bandstand days as Glenn Shorrock and his talented young team – including Tina Arena, Miguel Ayesa, Johnny Nieshche, Carlotta Chadwick and Lara Mulcahy – take us back to a time when music was fun and you could even understand the lyrics.  The show – a pilot for a proposed series – has one main aim and that’s to encourage new talent.  What better reason then to go into a series!”

Program Highlights (Melbourne, October 5-11):
Saturday:  Actors Gus Mercurio and Kaarin Fairfax are guest judges on this week’s That’s Dancin’ (ABC).  Richard Marx, Jimmy Barnes and Tommy Emmanuel are guest performers this week on Hey Hey It’s Saturday (Nine) – while Nicolle Dickson, Dennis Lillee and John Waters are contestants on Celebrity Wheel Of Fortune (Seven).

Sunday:  Seven crosses to Mt Panorama, near Bathurst, for ten hours of coverage of the Tooheys 1000 with commentators Sandy Roberts, Mike Raymond, Garry Wilkinson, Richard Hay, Neil Crompton and Mark Oastler.  Ten presents live coverage of the final of the Australian Indoor Championship tennis from the Sydney Entertainment Centre.  Sunday night movies are The Package (Seven), Chances Are (Nine) and Harry And The Hendersons (Ten).

Monday:  In the series return of Col’n Carpenter (Ten), a telegram arrives announcing a visit from Colin’s (Kim Gyngell) estranged brother, Peter (Dale Stevens).

Tuesday:  In GP (ABC), Robert (John McTernan) is accused of sexual misconduct after volunteering to help a young British tourist.  In Beyond 2000 (Seven), Simon Reeve reports on how the Spanish dung beetle could help control bush flies in Australia.

Wednesday:  ABC presents the one-hour documentary The Wonderful World Of Dogs – a humorous look at the relationship between humans and dogs, the dogs’ daily lives and the less savoury aspects of their behaviour.  Later in the evening ABC presents live coverage from Wales of the Rugby World Cup match between Australia and West Samoa.

Thursday:  In The Flying Doctors (Nine), Geoff Standish (Robert Grubb) and Jackie Crane (Nikki Coghill) get caught up in a wrangle involving Coopers Crossing’s first bigamist.

Friday:  SBS presents the documentary Hope For The World’s Children, hosted by Mary Kostakidis and co-produced with World Vision. 

Source: TV Week (Victoria edition), incorporating TV Times and TV Guide.  5 October 1991.  Southdown Press

Ten News gets a new boss

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Source: The Australian, The Australian

50 year reunion for GMV6

It is almost fifty years since the launch of Shepparton television station GMV6.  The channel made its official debut on Saturday, 23 December 1961 – only two weeks after the launch of Australia’s first regional television station, GLV10 Gippsland, and on the same day as another station, BCV8 Bendigo.

GMV6’s opening night kicked off at 6.00pm with Personalities Parade, a 15-minute segment featuring some of the channel’s new stars including local presenters Nancy Cato (who went on to national fame as the presenter of The Magic Circle Club and Adventure Island) and Jim Lilburne and national stars Bobby Limb and Dawn Lake.

US shows Robin Hood, Father Knows Best and Sea Hunt occupied the next couple of hours along with the channel’s first news bulletin before the station was officially opened just after 8.00pm by Deputy Prime Minister John McEwen.

The opening night entertainment continued with the BP Super Show, the movie Random Harvest and then a late news update before the epilogue and sign-off for the night.

At the time of its launch GMV6 had a staff of 19 and broadcast for around 32 hours a week.

To celebrate the 50th anniversary of the launch of the station a staff reunion is being planned for any employees of the channel between 1961 and 1989 – when GMV6’s local call-sign, identity and production was being phased out to become part of the VIC TV network, based in Ballarat, in the lead up to the aggregation of regional television markets in Victoria in 1992.

In October 1994, VIC TV was bought out by the NSW-based WIN television network.  Last year WIN vacated the building premises – in Wyndham Street, Shepparton – that had housed WIN and its predecessors since 1961.  A few months ago the building was demolished and a new digital broadcast facility for the network will be built on the site.

The reunion dinner will be held at the Shepparton RSL on Saturday, 5 November and will be compered by former GMV6 personalities Chris Eddy and Jan Deane.  The night will also include a display of memorabilia and video presentations.  There will also be lunch available at the same venue the following day, enabling attendees another chance to see the displays and to catch up with former colleagues.

Any former GMV employees interested in more information or to make bookings for the dinner event – cost is $40 per head which covers Registration, a two-course meal and tea/coffee – are invited to contact the GMV reunion organisers via gmvreunion@gmail.com

Following is the WIN News story from 2010 when WIN moved out of the original GMV6 premises…

… and GMV6’s 25th anniversary special that went to air in December 1986:

YouTube videos: regionaltv

Weekend brings change to Ten News

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

1991: September 28-October 4

Hey, look who’s in love!
While Chris Mayer and Rachael Beck (pictured) are constantly bickering as their Hey Dad! alter egos Simon and Sam, off-screen the two have been secretly dating.  “Yes, I am in love,” Mayer told TV Week.  “It feels great.  I’m really enjoying it.”  During an upcoming production break for the series, he intends to head to Italy, staying in the town of Perugia and studying Italian – and it looks like Beck will be joining him.

It’s goodbye Bob and Cookie!
As the Seven Network’s A Country Practice approaches its tenth anniversary, some drastic cast changes are set to shock fans of the popular drama.  Actors Gordon Piper and Syd Heylen, who play characters Bob Hatfield and Cookie, are not having their contracts renewed at the end of the year, both having worked on the show for much of its ten year run.  Producer James Davern has said that the actors have other commitments – Piper is producing corporate videos and Heylen also runs a marketing company and is keen to spend time in Queensland with his wife who isn’t well – and that the characters will not be written out in any “Wandin Valley massacre” storyline and will be able to return at a later stage.  However, TV Week reports that neither actor had any option to stay on the show.  Also leaving the series is Matt Day, who will tape his final scenes in December, and Georgie Parker and John Tarrant, who will finish up early in the new year.  All three have decided it is time to move on.  To fill the void left by losing five characters some new additions will be signed on.  Former Brides Of Christ star Kym Wilson has joined the series and will make her on screen debut in November, and three other new characters will be written in over the coming months but have yet to be cast. 

Stig cops right out!
Col’n Carpenter star Stig Wemyss has left the Network Ten series after a falling out with the show’s producers.  Wemyss, who has played the role of Colin’s flatmate Michael Preeble since the show started 18 months ago, has told TV Week that he is “extremely disappointed” that an agreement with producers could not be reached.  “I wanted the storylines to explore a bit more of Michael.  I didn’t think that was too much to ask because the character had been there so long.  I’m not saying I wanted it to be the Michael Preeble show or to be any less about Colin (Kim Gyngell), but if you don’t expand a character, he just becomes nothing.  For me, the strength of the show was having an ensemble cast.  It was obvious Michael wasn’t going to be playing a major part in the way the show was going, so I didn’t want to continue.”

Briefly…
Just months after the bomb-blast storyline that killed off three characters, the neighbourhood of Network Ten’s E Street is about to be stalked by a psychopathic serial killer.  Architect Steven Richardson, played by Vince Martin, is set to reveal a darker side as he takes on the identity of ‘Mr Bad’ (pictured) whose first victim is Dr Virginia Travers (Julieanne Newbould).  Producer Forrest Redlich has defended the frightening storyline (“Where A Country Practice and GP do things on alcoholism, venereal diseases and such social subjects, we chose the serial killer.  Unfortunately they do exist.”) and a spokesperson for Ten has said that the network is mindful of the show’s 7.30pm timeslot and all episodes in question have to be approved at multiple levels within the network before being submitted for final approval by the Australian Broadcasting Tribunal.

Ernie Sigley, co-host of the Nine Network’s In Melbourne Today and In Sydney Today programs, talks to TV Week about his upcoming 40th anniversary in showbusiness.  Starting in radio as a teenager, at Melbourne station 3DB, Sigley made the move to television as a performer on HSV7’s Teenage Mailbox (pictured) and went on to a successful television career including several years as host of Adelaide Tonight and later The Ernie Sigley Show, The Penthouse Club (later Saturday Night Live), Pot Luck and Wheel Of Fortune.  The one-time Gold Logie winner also mentions the reported altercation with Don Lane at the after party for the 1988 TV Week Logie Awards.  “I didn’t say anything to him to upset him.  The relationship had been strained for a few years,” he said.

When boxing champion Lionel Rose was told of plans to make a mini-series about his life, he wasn’t enthusiastic.  He told producers nobody would want to see his life story.  “I told them I was unreliable and they couldn’t depend on me to help them out,” Rose told TV Week.  “But they kept at me until I agreed.  I told them I wanted the whole story to be told… warts and all.”  However, TV Week production editor Frank Quill, who also happens to be a member of the World Boxing Council’s executive and considered Australia’s most senior professional boxing official, says that despite Rose’s request that his portrayal be “warts and all”, viewers may be short-changed by viewing the final product.  “Certainly, some viewers, human enough to think everything in Odds actually happened, will be misled,” he wrote.  Rose Against The Odds, which stars newcomer Paul Williams as Rose and former The Flying Doctors star Vikki Blanche as his wife Jenny, screens this week on the Seven Network.  The two-part mini-series also stars Kris McQuade, Tony Barry and Hollywood actor Telly Savalas.

Former A Country Practice star Sophie Heathcote has won a role in Yahoo Serious’ upcoming movie project, a contemporary comedy about Ned Kelly.  “The character I play is really young and silly and very funny,” she told TV Week.  “She is in love with Ned and I am going to have a ball playing her.”

John Laws says…
”There can often be something ghoulish about screening the “final” TV interviews of prominent people, those unfortunate enough to die suddenly soon after such interviews are given.  We have had the “final interview” with Dr Victor Chang, the brilliant heart surgeon shot dead in a Sydney street in early July.  Happily, SBS’ King Of Hearts documentary managed to avoid any overt sense of ghoulishness in giving us a nicely balanced portrait of Dr Chang.  This was, it has to be admitted, the most emotionally-draining documentary you are likely to see in a long time – not because of any exploitative intention on the part of reporter Amanda Hickey, but because of the simple, profoundly moving tributes paid to Chang by his friends, patients and colleagues.  This was a wonderful piece of TV documentary work.  It probably would have turned out a completely different product had Dr Chang still been alive, because Hickey began working on it a few weeks before his death.  Dr Chang was slain only six weeks after talking to SBS.  I have a feeling that public response to the Dr Chang documentary will lead to a speedy re-screening.  It pointed up only too bleakly how the circumstances of his death resulted in such endless waste.”

Program Highlights (Melbourne, September 28-October 4):
Saturday:  It’s Grand Final day for the AFL.  Seven’s coverage, started late last night with the Football Marathon, continues through the day – with the traditional North Melbourne Football Club Grand Final Breakfast at 8.00am, followed by live coverage of the Under 19s and Reserves grand finals.  Then at 2.00pm live coverage from AFL Park, Waverley, for the end of season clash between Hawthorn and the West Coast Eagles.  Daryl Braithwaite – the key performer at the pre-game entertainment at the Grand Final – will also appear on Nine’s Hey Hey It’s Saturday in the evening.

Sunday:  Seven presents the first instalment of the two-part mini-series Rose Against The Odds (pictured), telling the story of boxing champion Lionel Rose who captured the world’s attention when he defied the odds to become the World Bantamweight champion as a 19-year old in the 1960s.  Sunday night movies are The Karate Kid II (Nine) and The Abyss (Ten).

Monday:  The conclusion to Rose Against The Odds (Seven) sees Lionel Rose’s sporting career at an end and his entering the seedy world of small-time crime and drug abuse, and the battle to get his life back on track.

Tuesday:  In A Country Practice (Seven), Lucy (Georgie Parker) is shattered when the results of her IVF program come back.  In Chances (Nine), Alex (Jeremy Sims) stuns the family when he re-appears after they had believed he had perished in a plane crash, and Paris (Annie Jones) is devastated when she learns a close friend has AIDS.

Wednesday:  SBS newsreader Mary Kostakidis presents the Ethnic Small Business Awards, live from the Sheraton-Wentworth in Sydney.

Thursday:  Ernie Dingo guest starts in The Flying Doctors (Nine) as a university dropout who clashes violently with his brother (Luke Carroll) and Dr Guy Reid (David Reyne) over the pending death of his grandfather.  ABC’s coverage of the 1991 Rugby World Cup, being held in France and the United Kingdom, begins with late-night coverage of the opening ceremony and the first match between England and New Zealand. 

Friday:  In Home And Away (Seven), Sam (Ryan Clark) finds out who his father is.  ABC’s coverage of the Rugby World Cup continues with the match between Australia and Argentina.

Source: TV Week (Victoria edition), incorporating TV Times and TV Guide.  28 September 1991.  Southdown Press

1991: September 21-27

The great Coopers Crossing reunion!
This week’s episode of The Flying Doctors (Nine) features a reunion of past and present cast members as the town of Coopers Crossing, the fictional setting of the series, hosts a party to break the gloom of the recession.  Some of the show’s most popular former stars, including Rebecca Gibney, Andrew McFarlane, Liz Burch and George Kapiniaris, have made a return for the special event.  “I’ve been hoping for a long time this would happen,” Gibney told TV Week.  “You form some great relationships with people when you work on a show like The Flying Doctors.”  Kapiniaris, who played radio operator DJ in the series, is excited about the reunion storyline – with DJ returning to Coopers Crossing somewhat wiser and wealthier after working overseas.  “It’s the best episode DJ ever had,” he told TV Week.  “The problem is that some people who don’t know him take him the wrong way, with some interesting consequences!”

Stormy Waters!
Actor John Waters (pictured) stars in Network Ten’s new mini-series Which Way Home which debuts this week.  Which Way Home is about American nurse Karen Parsons (Cybill Shepherd), who sets out with a small band of orphan children from a Thai refugee camp during the Cambodian conflict to find freedom in Australia.  Waters plays Steve Hannah, an Australian charter boat captain who becomes a reluctant hero when he helps Karen and the children through their horrendous journey.  So did Waters find it daunting working with such a high-profiled actress?  “I don’t think so,” he says.  “I’ve always found that once you get on the set, however many magazines you may have been in, or whatever your salary might be – and how much bigger than mine – it all comes down to doing the same thing.”  He is also impressed by the team of Thai youngsters who played the orphans.  “Some of the kids had actually been through boat-people experiences,” Waters said.  “When you mention you’ve done a film with seven kids, some people say, ‘That must have been a nightmare’, but we were lucky.  These kids were very forgiving of the demands made of them.”  He also said that he has remained friends with the young cast members and they continue to stay in contact. Which Way Home is produced by Hal McElroy (Picnic At Hanging Rock, Return To Eden) and also stars Peta Toppano, John Ewart, Marc Gray, Ruben Santiago-Hudson and Andy Tran.

Good-news Gordon
When former Good Morning Australia host Gordon Elliott (pictured) left Australian television four years ago, he had no idea of the impending industry blood-spilling he was escaping from.  “I’m really lucky,” he told TV Week.  “Many of my friends got a bad deal out of the television upheaval in Australia.”  But despite the still-difficult state of the industry here, Elliott has returned to Australian TV as the host of Network Ten’s Hard Copy – although he is presenting it from Los Angeles.  He is also juggling his Hard Copy commitments in LA with his regular hosting of Good Day, New York, which he does three days a week.  The original US version of Hard Copy, a success for Rupert Murdoch’s Fox network, is a spin-off from the American version of A Current Affair, which Elliott was a reporter for.  And Elliott points out that Hard Copy was actually developed by an Australian, Peter Brennan, and was in part inspired by the original Willesee current affairs shows of the 1970s.  “Brennan developed it from there, and gave it more punch,” Elliott said.

Briefly…
TV Week columnist and Hey Hey It’s Saturday presenter Ian ‘Molly’ Meldrum (pictured) has triggered an investigation by the FBI in the United States over a possible video piracy case.  “I was at a record bar in LA checking things out when I saw this tape labelled The Interview Series: Madonna,” he said.  “It was one I hadn’t heard of before and, being such a fan, I paid $26 for it and took it back to my hotel.  I put it in the VCR – and there was me!  The bulk of the tape was from two interviews I did with Madonna, plus stuff from Spanish and Japanese television and the American Today show.  I was stunned.”  Meldrum then contacted Madonna’s management company.  “They were amazed – and furious,” he said.  “Now they’ve got the FBI in on it, to track the bootleggers down.”

TV Week, in association with Coca-Cola and MCM Entertainment, has announced plans to stage an annual Australian Music Awards.  The inaugural AMAs are to be held at Melbourne’s Congress Centre in November and televised to a national audience.  The awards will be decided by the public – via voting coupons to be published in TV Week, giving readers more than 20 categories to decide Australia’s most popular artists, records and videos.

The ABC and the cast of Brides Of Christ have been celebrating the show’s recent ratings success.  The series, a co-production between ABC and Roadshow, Coote and Carroll, has received the ABC’s highest ever ratings for a non-sports telecast.

Melbourne radio announcer Barry Bissell, celebrating ten years at Fox FM this month, admits that he has no ambitions to move into television.  “I once did a TV pilot.  It was like a Casey Kasem countdown, and it was one of the worst experiences of my life.  TV doesn’t interest me,” he said.

John Laws says…
”Not even the most kindly disposed critic could describe the acting in soapies as memorable and, of course, no-one expects it to be, given the demands placed upon the actors – many of them inexperienced – to churn out so many hours of drama each week.  Fine acting, though, can be found in some of the big-budget drama series, Nicole Kidman’s performance in Bangkok Hilton, Terry Gill’s crooked cop in Police Crop, Peter Strauss’ alcoholic psychiatrist in Tender Is The Night, and the late Ray McAnally’s left-wing Prime Minister in A Very British Coup.  The performance, however, that ranks as the most electrifying for a long time has been that of Lisa Hensley as the young nun Veronica (pictured) in the ABC’s splendid Brides Of Christ series.  It was a performance of depth, intelligence and humour from a young actress who I can’t recall seeing much of before, but who I am sure will be featuring in a great deal more on TV in years to come.”

Program Highlights (Melbourne, September 21-27):
Saturday:  Seven presents highlights of today’s AFL Preliminary Final – then Larry Emdur (pictured), Teresa Linnane and Gerry Connolly are this week’s contestants on Celebrity Wheel Of Fortune.  The Bayswater Roller Dancers are special guests on this week’s That’s Dancin’ (ABC).

Sunday:  Ten crosses to the Sydney Football Stadium this afternoon for the Grand Final of the NSW Rugby League Winfield Cup, with commentators Graeme Hughes, Bill Anderson and Wayne Pearce.  ABC presents live coverage of the VFA Grand Final from Princes Park, and Seven leads into the news with a two-hour special, That Was The Season That Was, reviewing the 1991 AFL season in the lead-up to the Grand Final next Saturday.  Sunday night movies are Honey, I Shrunk The Kids (Seven) and Chances Are (Nine) up against the debut of two-part mini-series Which Way Home (Ten).

Monday:  In A Country Practice (Seven), the developing relationship between Terence Elliott (Shane Porteous) and Lizzy Walker (Joanne Hunt) is threatened when her criminal boyfriend arrives in Wandin Valley.  Seven then crosses to the Southern Cross Hotel, Melbourne, for the annual presentation of the Brownlow Medal to the league’s best and fairest player.

Tuesday: Beyond 2000 (Seven) presents a report on an ambitious American attempt at environmental restoration by rebuilding a river.  In All Together Now (Nine), Bobby (Jon English) and Doug (Garry Who) are convinced Count Dracula is their new next door neighbour.

Wednesday:  In Neighbours (Ten), Ramsay Street is rocked by a tragic shooting.  In E Street (Ten), Sheridan (Kate Raison) makes a shocking discovery.

Thursday:  It’s the reunion episode of The Flying Doctors (Nine) with former residents of Coopers Crossing make a return visit to boost morale in the town due to the recession – including guest appearances by Andrew McFarlane, Liz Burch, Rebecca Gibney, Terry Gill, Bruce Barry and George Kapiniaris.  ABC presents a repeat screening of Andrew Denton’s chat-comedy show The Money Or The Gun.

Friday:  Performer Rhonda Burchmore is this week’s guest on Burke’s Backyard (Nine).  Just before midnight, Seven launches its annual Football Marathon, presenting six hours of memorable moments from the past 25 years of Australian Rules football, including past finals and grand finals.

Source: TV Week (Victoria edition), incorporating TV Times and TV Guide.  21 September 1991.  Southdown Press

1991: September 14-20

The TV wedding you’ll never see!
Don’t let the picture of Penny Cook in a wedding dress deceive you.  Despite the smiles of the happy bride, all is not well in the lead up to the marriage of Beth (Cook) to Dr Steve Harrison (Michael O’Neill) in GP, as she thinks about her faith, commitment to the marriage and Steve’s desire to have a family. 

Natalie’s out!
The producers of Chances have dropped a bombshell on one of its leading stars by not renewing her contract.  Natalie McCurry, the former Miss Australia, is being dumped from the ailing series following her refusal to appear in frontal nude scenes.  She will tape her last scenes with the series in October but will continue to be seen on air until the end of the year.  Meanwhile, producers have also dumped another original cast member, Cathy Godbold, who will also tape her last scenes in October.  Chances, which has struggled in the ratings since its debut earlier this year, is expected to be re-launched with an emphasis on guest stars rather than ongoing characters.

Tracey signs for Beyond 2000
Despite press reports that Tracey Curro (pictured) was set to replace Jennifer Keyte as the newsreader on Seven’s Tonight Live, she has now signed up to join the team of Beyond 2000.  She will be replacing Maxine Gray who has decided to leave the program to spend more time with her family.  Curro’s move to Beyond 2000 follows an unsettled period where she was dropped from reading the news at Network Ten in Melbourne and the legal action that followed.  But she is excited about her new career move.  “Absolutely.  It’s got to be one of the best jobs in television,” she told TV Week.  “It’ll be hard work with very long hours, but it beats driving through traffic to work every day.”

Briefly…
The writers of Brides Of Christ have now moved onto their next project which begins production this week.  The Leaving Of Liverpool is a mini-series set in England and Australia in the years 1951 to 1953, telling the story of two Liverpudlian children who are torn from family and country and shunted to Australia as part of a child migrant program.  The series will star John Hargreaves, Bill Hunter, Martin Jacobs, Frank Whitten and newcomers Christine Tremarco and Kevin Jones.

Actor Nicholas Eadie (pictured), best known from TV roles in Cop Shop, The Henderson Kids and the mini-series Vietnam, is heading to the US because, at 32, he says he is too old to be an actor here.  “Australian television is going through a Kylie and Jason syndrome,” he said.  “If you’re over 25 in this country, you’re over the hill.”

The return of former Rafferty’s Rules star John Wood to our screens has been delayed due to industrial disputes at the ABC.  Production on the sitcom Dearest Enemy, which features Wood along with Bruce Spence, Linden Wilkinson and Frank Wilson, has stalled leaving all but one episode completed.  With the producers and Wood now with other commitments, completion of the final episode is scheduled for November and the series, which was due to air next month, should now appear in the new year.

John Laws says…
”Since taking over the Midday show, there have been claims that Ray Martin (pictured) has gone a bit soft and, in the process, relinquished the razor-sharp intensity of his news and current affairs days.  Not so!  The “old” Ray Martin is still there, and any doubters should have been watching when he interviewed Prime Minister Bob Hawke following the first Kerin Budget, and in the wake of the NSW gun laws uproar.  In years to come we may well look back on this particular interview as the one that signalled the beginning of the end of the Prime Minister.  Sad to say, it was an interview that cut him apart.  Martin was aggressive without being rude.  He pressed for answers where other interviewers would have shirked the task, and he maintained the pressure as forcefully as he could.  It was the PM who buckled.”

Program Highlights (Melbourne, September 14-20):
Saturday:  ABC presents the return of ballroom dancing series That’s Dancin’, hosted by Paul Newman and Maureen Delacy (pictured).  Hey Dad! and Hampton Court star Julie McGregor is among the contestants on this week’s Celebrity Wheel Of Fortune (Seven).  Tim Webster and Jo Pearson host the 1991 Young Achiever Awards (Ten).

Sunday:  Sunday night movies are The Naked Gun (Seven), Harlem Nights (Nine) and Midnight Run (Ten).

Monday:  In Neighbours (Ten), the search for Harold (Ian Smith) continues – and in A Country Practice (Seven), Lucy’s (Georgie Parker) behaviour is affected by IVF treatment.

Tuesday:  One-time Gold Logie winner Hazel Phillips guest stars in GP (ABC).  In Chances (Nine), the father of Charlie’s (Kimberley Davenport) baby is finally revealed, and passion overcomes Alex and Paris (Jeremy Sims and Annie Jones, pictured) when they admit their love for one another.  Beyond 2000 (Seven) reports on a new low-fat chocolate designed to keep you warm.

Wednesday:  In E Street (Ten), Bob (Tony Martin) is excited but apprehensive about Elly’s (Diane Craig) return.

Thursday:  Ten premieres an Australian version of the tabloid US program Hard Copy, hosted by Gordon Elliott with reporters Richard Willis, Iain Gillespie, Jane Hansen and Meni Caroutas.

Friday:  The SBS series Connections presents Victor Chang – King Of Hearts, documenting the life of Dr Victor Chang, heart transplant surgeon who was gunned down in July, and the progress he had made in perfecting the artificial heart.

Source: TV Week (Victoria edition), incorporating TV Times and TV Guide.  14 September 1991.  Southdown Press

1991: September 7-13

Toni re-signs to E Street
The demands of combining acting and music careers almost saw Toni Pearen (pictured, near right, with co-star Melissa Tkautz) quit the Network Ten series E Street.  “I was thinking about leaving because my workload has been so hectic,” she told TV Week.  “When it came to the crunch I decided to stay.  The new contract includes a few new negotiations.  It took some deciding because now I have other aspects to my career.”  The 20-year-old has also recently signed with Mushroom Records and her band, Kon-X-ion, is soon to release its debut single.

Fast Forward to London!
Steve Vizard and business partner Andrew Knight are excited at the prospect of the BBC snapping up Fast Forward for screening in the United Kingdom.  “I was surprised the show worked in Australia, so I was genuinely amazed that the BBC can’t get enough of it,” Vizard told TV Week.  “The parodies translate and we have 80 hours of Fast Forward.  Even if we have to edit more than half of it, we’ll still have a lot of television left.”  The pair stopped over in London for negotiations with the BBC on their way to Barcelona where they will be producing some Olympic-themed specials for the Seven Network in the lead up to the 1992 Olympic Games.

Court to close?
The Seven Network’s Hampton Court, the spin-off to the popular Hey Dad!, is facing the axe after its current round of 13 episodes.  The series, starring Julie McGregor (pictured), Adam Willits, Danielle Spencer, Roy Billing and Maxine Klibingaitis, has been receiving only a modest response from viewers in a tough Thursday night timeslot where it is up against The Flying Doctors on Nine and E Street on Ten.  A spokesperson for Seven said that the decision on the show’s future will be made by the network’s programming bosses at their next meeting, scheduled for this week.

Briefly…
Neighbours star Richard Huggett has told producers that he will not be seeking to renew his contract when it expires in November.  “I was always pretty adamant that one year is enough to be in one TV series,” he told TV Week.  “I want to do material which means something to me, stuff with a harder edge.  I suppose quality is what I mean – not pumping it out like a sausage factory.” 

Actor Simon Burke (pictured) has certainly been keeping busy.  In the space of a few months he has played the role of a priest in Brides Of Christ (now screening on ABC), an army captain in Heroes II, and a gay film director in Loveless, one of the episodes of SBS’ upcoming series Six Pack.

Kim Hoggard, the US-born wife of 60 Minutes reporter Jeff McMullen, has left her two-year post at the US State Department and returned to Sydney, where she will be a semi-regular guest on Midday With Ray Martin, reporting on the international political arena.  "Certainly, I can provide a different point to view from what Australian audiences are used to hearing,” she told TV Week.

John Laws says…
”As with the Gulf War, the recent Clayton’s “coup” in the Soviet Union saw television presented with a golden opportunity for live and dramatic news programs.  Unlike the Gulf War – where Ten grabbed the honours because of its excellent CNN coverage – it was the ABC and SBS which emerged with the major honours in Moscow.”

Program Highlights (Melbourne, September 7-13):
Saturday:  This week’s guests on Hey Hey It’s Saturday (Nine) are EMF, James Blundell, Roger Kabler and Melissa Tkautz.  Meanwhile, George Kapiniaris, Angela Moore and Gerry Connolly are this week’s contestants on Celebrity Wheel Of Fortune (Seven).  Ten presents a Mad Max movie double-feature, with the 1979 original followed by the 1981 sequel.

Sunday:  Sunday night movies are Weekend At Bernie’s (Seven), Steel Magnolias (Nine) and Jaws The Revenge (Ten).

Monday:  In Home And Away (Seven), Sophie (Rebekah Elmaloglou) blames Michael (Dennis Coard) and Pippa (Debra Lawrence) for David’s (Guy Pearce) death.  In A Country Practice (Seven), Matt (John Tarrant) and Lucy (Georgie Parker) make a decision about having a baby.

Tuesday:  In GP (ABC), Beth (Penny Cook) proposes marriage to Steve (Michael O’Neill) who is distracted by a suspicious suicide.  Beyond 2000 (Seven) presents a report on villagers in Zimbabwe, faced with a scarcity of wood, making furniture from paper.

Wednesday:  In Neighbours (Ten), Helen (Anne Haddy) makes a final decision about her future.  The third episode of Brides Of Christ (ABC) focuses on Mother Ambrose (played by Sandy Gore, pictured) who is forced to make crucial decisions which affect both her personal life and the lives of the sisters of the Order.

Thursday:  Seven presents a re-run of the D-Generation special A Salute To Roy Smeck,  “a tribute to one of the founding fathers of Australian television; the man who helped make Australian television one of the top 59 television industries in the Southern hemisphere”.  In The Flying Doctors (Nine), Sister Jackie Crane (Nikki Coghill) is placed in an awkward position when she discovers the locum replacement for Dr Geoff Standish (Robert Grubb) is a heroin addict.

Friday:  Burke’s Backyard (Nine) presents a special edition to celebrate its fourth birthday, and includes a guest appearance by Western Australian Premier Dr Carmen Lawrence.

Source: TV Week (Victoria edition), incorporating TV Times and TV Guide.  7 September 1991.  Southdown Press