Tracy Grimshaw’s 30 years at Nine

A Current Affair last night presented a tribute to host Tracy Grimshaw to commemorate her 30 years at the Nine Network.

Starting at Nine as a reporter for National Nine News in Melbourne, Grimshaw later gained a national profile as a daytime newsreader and guest presenter on Graham Kennedy’s Coast To Coast.

In 1995, Grimshaw and actor David Reyne were an unlikely pairing for the revamped Midday as the show returned in a new format after a year hosted by Derryn Hinch.

The Midday experiment failed – with Kerri-Anne Kennerley replacing the pair, presenting a revamped variety format in 1996 – but Grimshaw then moved to the early morning Today, co-hosting for many years with Steve Liebmann and then Karl Stefanovic.

She left Today to take on hosting ACA in 2006.  While the story mix on ACA and its rival Today Tonight generally skew towards an almost identical lineup of lightweight topics such as grocery prices, diet fads and retail promotions, Grimshaw’s journalistic background has given ACA some point of difference in that she is allowed the occasional opportunity to interview certain newsmakers or people in the spotlight – winning a Walkley award for television interviewing in 2009, a year which saw her conduct a number of exclusive interviews on the program, including an interview with disgraced former footballer Matthew Johns after details of a group sex scandal had emerged.

The video of last night’s tribute can be found at the ACA website.

Obituary: Godfrey Philipp

Godfrey Philipp, the co-creator of children’s programs The Magic Circle Club and Adventure Island, has died and this week has been remembered by former colleagues at a memorial service in Melbourne.

Coming to Australia from the UK in the late 1950s, Philipp joined GTV9 as a production assistant, working on programs including In Melbourne Tonight.  He then went to NBN3, Newcastle, as a senior producer-director.

Then, back in Melbourne, he co-created The Magic Circle Club – a lavishly-produced children’s series that was one of the first productions to come from new Melbourne channel ATV0 in the mid 1960s.  The pantomime series was created by Philipp and writer John Michael Howson and starred Nancy Cato amongst a crew of characters including Fredd Bear (Tedd Dunn), Fee Fee Bear, Leonardo di Funbird, Marlena de Witch, Mother Hubbard, Cassius Cuckoo, Sir Jasper Crookley, Twaddle and Boddle and Patricia-who-wishes.

There were masses of protest from young fans when The Magic Circle Club was axed by ATV0 after more than 500 episodes in May 1967.  Philipp then went on to produce Hey You!, a short-lived sitcom from the same channel.

Philipp and Howson then went across to ABC to create Adventure Island, a similar concept and format to The Magic Circle Club that would go on to be just as popular and would run for five years before its axing was also met with outrage from young viewers.

Despite the sudden axing of the program, in 1973 Philipp was awarded a Logie for his contribution to children’s television.

Howson paid tribute to his former colleague at the memorial service:

''He did things with black and white television - pre all the wonderful digital magic that they now have - that were amazing.  'If I came up with, 'they're up on the moon and they catch a rocket there', he would work out how to do that. With one light, he'd change the whole effect of a scene. People come up to me today and say, 'oh the colours (of Adventure Island) were beautiful. I tell them, 'it wasn't in colour, it was in black-and-white'.''

In 1978, he produced another children’s series, Rainbow, for regional television station NRN11 in Coffs Harbour.  The series, comprising five episodes, featured children from local schools with each episode covering a different theme.  The program won a TV Week Logie Award in 1979 for most outstanding contribution to children’s television but was never picked up for screening by a capital city network.

Philipp then went to the Reg Grundy Organisation where he produced and directed episodes of the popular drama Prisoner.

As the years went on Howson said that Philipp – “who was not emotionally strong” – had started to “cut himself off from the world.”  It is believed that he was homeless for some time and spent the last ten years of his life at the Brotherhood of St Lawrence aged care centre in Fitzroy – the venue of this week’s memorial service.

“I will always remember Godfrey with a great deal of love and affection, great memories and gratitude for what he did,'' Howson said.

Source: TV Times, 20 January 1965.  TV Week, 24 February 1973. TV Week, 24 March 1979. The Age.

The last bounce for Ten’s AFL

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

Network sports director David Barham told The Age:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Source: The Age, Herald Sun

WIN cuts weekend news in Tasmania

In a blow to local television in Tasmania, Nine-affiliate WIN has axed its Hobart-based news service on weekends.

Weekend newsreader John Remess (pictured), who joined the Tasmanian branch of WIN (then TAS TV) in 1992, will read his final bulletin this weekend.  Before WIN, he had been at ABC since 1970 and a newsreader there since 1974.

With another professional role as a real estate agent in Hobart, he moved to the weekend newsreading position at WIN last year after fronting the main weeknight bulletin for several years.

The cutbacks have also cost the job of a Launceston-based camera operator and two already-vacant positions will now not be filled.

From next week WIN will relay the Melbourne-based Nine News to Tasmania on weekends, up against local state-based news services from rival broadcasters Southern Cross and ABC.

The cutbacks to local news coverage by WIN have come from ratings and financial pressures.  For the week commencing 5 June,  Southern Cross News rated well ahead of WIN News – with Southern Cross’ Sunday edition ranked as the state’s fourth most watched program, while WIN News on Sunday was ranked 17th.  The Saturday edition of Southern Cross News was ranked 5th, while WIN’s equivalent failed to make the top 20.

In other states, WIN News operates as a local news service on weeknights only, supplemented by the nightly broadcast of the respective state’s capital city bulletin from Nine, however the WIN News service in Tasmania is a composite of local and national news compiled in Hobart and broadcast statewide.

Late last year WIN announced that it was rationalising its regional news bulletins in South Australia by merging the separate editions for the Mount Gambier and Riverland markets into a single newscast.

Source: Nielsen, The Mercury

1991: June 15-21

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

1991: June 8-14

How Jo beat the office blues
Sale Of The Century’s new co-host Jo Bailey (pictured) is collecting a larger pay packet than most 21-year-olds, but the former accountant insists she isn’t in this business for the money and could earn as much in the long term by returning to her accounting-marketing career.  “Getting involved in television has definitely nothing to do with the money,” she told TV Week.  “I know people say this all the time, but job satisfaction is far more important to me.  I just didn’t like working with numbers.  I’ve never stayed at anything I haven’t liked and I don’t believe you should dwell on things.  It was a simple decision.  I wasn’t happy.”

Greg chalks up a score
Blind Date host Greg Evans (pictured) says he’s learnt some valuable lessons in his 20-year showbusiness career.  Evans, who celebrated the 20-year milestone recently, says he’ll never be motivated by money again.  Starting in radio at country station 3CS, Evans went on to become a ratings hit with Melbourne’s 3XY and then a national celebrity as host of Ten’s top-rating Perfect Match. He was wooed across to rival network Nine in a deal that he says was too good to knock back but resulted in a less than fruitful run as host of some fairly ordinary game shows, Say G’Day and Crossfire, before returning to Perfect Match.  “Perhaps I should never have left (Perfect Match),” he told TV Week. “But at the time, it seemed that no one in their right mind would have rejected Nine’s offer.  They were ‘the cheque book days’… but I don’t blame Nine for anything.  You live and learn and I’ll never be motivated by money again.  Luckily, I was saved by (returning to) Perfect Match.”  The show was axed late in 1989 but was reinstated this year as Blind Date.

Craig goes to war
Craig McLachlan (pictured) has talked to TV Week about filming for the upcoming Seven Network mini-series Heroes 2 – The Return.  “It’s been an amazing experience for me,” he said.  “Before we started filming, we all had military training to get used to the conditions.  But no-one was prepared for this!”  For McLachlan, “this” included several days shooting in a rain-sodden, leech-infested forest, being attacked by sandflies and surrounded by fruit bats.  “The locations turned into hellholes for us make-believe soldiers.  The worst part other than the leeches and the rain was the sandflies.”  The $6.5 million production, also starring John Bach, Christopher Morsley, Wayne Kermond, Brendon Lunney, Miranda Otto and Anne Louise Lambert, is expected to be shown in the UK around Christmas and in Australia early in the new year.

Briefly…
Comedienne and Fast Forward star Jane Turner (pictured) says it’s not always funny being a diplomat’s wife… especially when husband John Denton had been posted to the Australian Embassy in Baghdad, three months before the Gulf War.  When the Allied bombing of Baghdad seemed certain, Turner was “worried, but not terrified”.  “I know what a diplomatic life is like,” she told TV Week.  “John loves it – it’s his life.  He was calling and reassuring me everything was all right.  Maybe I had more cause to be worried!”.  Denton was one of the last three Australians to flee the war-torn city.

Former Sale Of The Century co-host Alyce Platt is loving her new role as wildlife ranger Christina Gurney in Seven’s new series Animal Park.  “The biggest thing that sold me on this role is that it is as far away from Alyce Platt on Sale Of The Century as possible.  That was important.  My wardrobe (now) is King Gee shorts, big green shirts, thick socks, big boots and no make-up,” she told TV Week.

After four years away from the series, Tom Oliver is set to return to Neighbours later this year.  It is expected that he will reprise his former character of used-car salesman Lou Carpenter, an old boyfriend of Madge Bishop (Anne Charleston), although this has not yet been confirmed.  His return stint is expected to be for four weeks.

The industry rumour mill is buzzing with speculation over a possible relationship between ABC host Andrew Denton and recently-separated 60 Minutes reporter Jennifer Byrne.     

Actor Peter Kowitz, recently featured in the Nine Network mini-series Ring Of Scorpio, is joining the cast of Chances.  He will play Steven Harland, a government minister who is something of a thorn in the side of his party.

John Laws says…
”The test of any TV current affairs program is how well it can react to major news stories, national or international.  This “big news” scenario confronted the TV networks after the recent assassination of former Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi.  The circumstances of his death – a hideous bomb attack – gave the story a striking impetus.  So who came out on tops in the follow-up coverage?  Jana Wendt’s A Current Affair gave the slaying a brief coverage, but it was really left to SBS’ Dateline and Kerry O’Brien’s Lateline on ABC to probe deeply and convincingly.  I thought SBS came out slightly ahead.  Dateline also had it over Lateline by screening at 8.00pm against Lateline’s 10.30pm.  I’ve said it before in this column that Dateline (and, as it was, Tonight) is a significant force in TV current affairs viewing.  I doubt it has a spectacular following but it certainly deserves a wider audience.”

Program Highlights (Melbourne, June 8-14):
Saturday:  Andrew Daddo (pictured), Daryl Braithwaite, Jesus Jones and Tracie Spencer are among the guests this week on Hey Hey It’s Saturday (Nine).

Sunday:  Seven’s AFL coverage begins with the afternoon match between Brisbane Bears and West Coast Eagles, live from Carrara, Brisbane – then crossing to Adelaide for live coverage of the early evening match between Adelaide Crows and Fitzroy.  Sunday night movies are Willow (Seven), Funny Farm (Nine) and The Poseidon Adventure (Ten).

Tuesday:  In A Country Practice (Seven), Luke (Matt Day) is confronted with tragedy after being slipped an hallucinogenic drug.  In All Together Now (Nine), Wayne (Bruno Lucia) sells the rights to Bobby’s (Jon English) memoirs and persuades him to write an autobiography.

Wednesday:  Nine presents a late-night delayed telecast of the rugby league State Of Origin match between New South Wales and Queensland.  The coverage is hosted by Ken Sutcliffe with commentary by Darrell Eastlake, Peter Sterling and Ray Warren.

Thursday:  In E Street (Ten), Harley’s (Malcolm Kennard) drug dependency gets him in hot water.  In The Flying Doctors (Nine), the townsfolk are stunned when Dr Guy Reid’s (David Reyne) fiancee arrives unannounced to take him back to civilisation.

Friday:  Seven crosses to Perth for live coverage of the AFL match between West Coast Eagles and Footscray. 

Source: TV Week (Victoria edition), incorporating TV Times and TV Guide.  8 June 1991.  Southdown Press

Obituary: Rex Mossop

Sydney football legend and former commentator Rex Mossop has died in a Sydney hospital at the age of 83.

The former rugby league and rugby union international forward had been admitted to hospital earlier this year with Alzheimer’s disease.  He was surrounded by family and friends when he died.

Although he retired from the sport in the early 1960s, Mossop maintained a high profile as a television commentator and presenter for Sydney channels ATN7 and TEN10 in the 1970s and 1980s.

Mossop also presented The Club Show for ATN7 in the 1970s and was a regular panellist on the 1990s sports-comedy show Andrew Denton: Live And Sweaty for ABC.

Source: ABC, NMA

More changes at the top at Ten

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Source: Ten, The Australian, The Australian

ABC boss in Queen’s Birthday honours

ABC Managing Director Mark Scott (pictured) has been named an named an officer of the Order of Australia in this year’s Queen’s Birthday honours list.

Mr Scott, head of the national broadcaster since 2006, was recognised “for distinguished service to media and communications, and to the community through advisory and governance roles with a range of social justice and educational bodies.”

Before becoming Managing Director of the ABC, Mr Scott had a background in the print media industry and has served as a board member for charities including Wesley Mission.

Other media identities to be recognised in this year’s list include sporting identity Max Walker, former test cricketer and commentator for ABC radio and the Seven and Nine networks; Peter FitzSimons, author, newspaper columnist and broadcaster; and Bob Horsfall (pictured), actor, scriptwriter and performer in radio, television and films – including eight years at HSV7, four years at GTV9, and appearances in programs including In Melbourne Tonight, Sunnyside Up, World Of Sport, Division 4, Matlock Police, Bellbird, Homicide, Prisoner, Neighbours and Blue Heelers.

A total of 376 Australians were honoured in this year’s list.

Source: Governor-General of Australia, Golden Days Radio

1991: June 1-7

Hollywood comes down under!
It’s been three years in the making, but Hollywood comes to the Gold Coast this week with the opening of Warner Bros Movie World – and Nine Network programs Hey Hey It’s Saturday, Today and The Bugs Bunny Show will be presenting special episodes this week from the movie theme park.  Located 67 kilometres south of Brisbane Airport, Movie World has cost around $120 million to build and will employ around 400 staff.  Sophie Lee, Daryl Somers and Jo Bailey (pictured) visited the theme park to preview the opening for TV Week.

‘I was too nervous to read the script…’
Neighbours’ most controversial romance ever reaches crisis point this week.  With the rest of the Robinson family away for the weekend, daughter Lucy Robinson (Melissa Bell) and long-lost half-brother Glen Donnelly (Richard Huggett), who have long been fighting their feelings for each other, end up alone and a romantic dinner ends up in the bedroom.  “When I got the script I put it away and for weeks I didn’t touch it because I was just too nervous to look at it,” Bell told TV Week.  “I kept thinking, ‘I’ll have to be really careful with this’.” 

No news is good news
Seven’s Melbourne newsreader Jennifer Keyte (pictured) has been saying little to the media about her recently-ended romance with Sydney advertising identity Siimon Reynolds.  “Nice try,” she said to TV Week when questioned.  The newsreader is more enthusiastic at talking up the Melbourne-based Seven Nightly News which is enjoying ratings growth in the face of increased competition from Ten’s revamped one-hour bulletin with David Johnston and Jo Pearson.  “Our ratings are steadily improving as is our news service,” she said.  On suggestions that she may be leaving her post as newsreader on the late-night Tonight Live, Keyte says anything is possible.  “Sitting here now, I would probably say, ‘No, I won’t do a third year’, but who knows?”

Briefly…
A fifth series of popular comedy Mother And Son is scheduled to go into production in September for ABC.  Seven episodes will be made for the new series, which will again feature Ruth Cracknell, Garry McDonald, Henri Szeps and Judy Morris.  The new episodes are expected to go to air next year, while re-runs of earlier episodes are currently screening, to high ratings, on Network Ten.

John Waters and Jon English have been friends for 20 years, but this week the two are appearing together for the first time with Waters making a guest appearance in All Together Now, starring as Lochlan Burns, a member of Bobby Rivers’ (English) Seventies band Still Waters.

E Street star Malcolm Kennard has dropped a bombshell on the show’s producers by announcing he will be leaving the show.  His departure comes at a time when his character, Harley, is involved in an affair with the older Sheridan Sturgess (Kate Raison) and gets addicted to cocaine.  Kennard’s departure from the series comes just prior to the return of former series regular Marcus Graham, who will reprise his role as Wheels.

John Laws says…
”The rise and rise of Miss Sophie Lee (pictured) demonstrates that even in its present chronically-unsound economic condition, the TV industry still offers just about anyone the chance of being a “star”.  Miss Lee’s case is a classic example of what can happen if you’re in the right place at the right time – in her case landing the job of introducing Bugs Bunny cartoons on the Nine Network.  Now she not only continues to host The Bugs Bunny Show (whose bright idea was it to have a host, anyway!), she has become an actor, and is making her mark in the rock’n’roll music world.  She is satirised on Fast Forward.  She appears in The Flying Doctors, plays saxophone and does backing vocals for her band The Freaked Out Flower Children.”

Program Highlights (Melbourne, June 1-7):
Saturday:  Hey Hey It’s Saturday (Nine) is presented live from Warner Bros Movie World on the Gold Coast.  Network Ten starts re-runs of a classic ABC drama, Patrol Boat, starring Andrew McFarlane and Robert Coleby.  ABC crosses to the Sydney Football Stadium for live coverage of The Big Match soccer match between the Socceroos and England.

Sunday:  Seven crosses to the Sydney Cricket Ground for live coverage of AFL, Sydney Swans versus Brisbane Bears, followed by highlights of the match between Footscray and Carlton.  Ten presents a half-hour special, Cry For Help: World Vision 40-Hour Famine, hosted by Greg Evans and Vince Sorrenti.  Sunday night movies are Hands Of A Murderer (Seven), Dead Ringers (Nine) and Dog Tags (Ten).

Monday:  Today (Nine) is presented live from Warner Bros Movie World to commemorate the official opening of the movie theme park.  In A Country Practice (Seven), Dr Harry Morrisson (Andrew Blackman) risks his life to operate on Lynda Shelley (Joy Miller), Terence Elliott’s (Shane Porteous) former lover.

Tuesday:  In Beyond 2000 (Seven), reporter Simon Reeve meets a French doctor using electricity to reduce the effects of cellulite, and Andrew Carroll reports on a Vegemite taste test in Tokyo.

Wednesday:  In Hey Dad! (Seven), Betty (Julie McGregor) decides to become a ventriloquist and enters the Lions Club talent quest.

Thursday:  Terry Serio (pictured), who portrayed Johnny O’Keefe in the mini-series Shout!, appears this week in ABC’s Embassy in a very different role – as a drug trafficker sentenced to death by firing squad in Ragaan.

Friday:  Rex Mossop, Debbie Spillane, Karen Tighe and Elle McFeast (Libbi Gorr) join Andrew Denton on ABC’s late-night sports-comedy show Andrew Denton: Live And Sweaty.

Source: TV Week (Victoria edition), incorporating TV Times and TV Guide.  1 June 1991.  Southdown Press