Cover: Nicki Buckley, Glenn Ridge (Sale Of The Century)
Practiced professionals
This week’s return of A Country Practice, now on Network Ten, sets the pace early, with a wedding, a reunion and a life-saving operation. And for Andrew Blackman, continuing his role as Dr Harry Morrison, the revived series gives him a bigger role now as Wandin Valley’s only regular GP. “The move to Ten has meant a huge change for me,” he told TV Week. “The only thing that’s the same is that my character is the same and there are a few familiar names and places in town.” Joan Sydney, who left the original ACP five years ago, is now back as Matron Sloan. “When I was first asked to come back in 1990, I turned them down because I was just finding my feet again with theatre,” she said. “But I said yes this time because I thought it would be nice to renew acquaintance with the old girl (Sloan).”
Tunn turns it up!
Michael Tunn (pictured), host of ABC‘s The Afternoon Show, is now host of its replacement program, music show Loud. The new half-hour series includes music videos as well as movie and video game reviews. The 20-year-old says that despite being up against game shows, Loud‘s 5.30pm timeslot will make it very appealing for its youth audience. “5.30pm is a bit of a hard zone for teenagers, because there’s not a lot on for them. The game shows are aimed towards adults anyway,” he told TV Week. But he knows the show will be a challenge. “Youth television is the hardest television in the country at the moment — I think Level 23 discovered that. I think their timeslot (6.00pm) was a big factor for them… it’s pretty hard to convince mum and dad not to watch the news and to watch that program instead.” As well as hosting Loud, Tunn will continue his five-night-a-week shift on radio Triple J. “I’m really a radio person,” he said. “In TV, I’m sort of like a radio DJ on television, as opposed to a television presenter.”
Michelle finds talkback a turn-off
Former Hinch reporter Michelle Reiken (pictured) says switching networks earlier this year is the best move she’s ever made. After Ten axed the Hinch program she knocked back an offer to join Ten’s Alan Jones Live as she felt the program lacked direction. “I had a lot of concerns about the direction Alan Jones Live would take,” she told TV Week. “I couldn’t get any answers to a lot of the questions that I asked about the format and the content. I was a little bit concerned that they didn’t seem to have it thought through.” But now as Brisbane bureau chief for Seven‘s Real Life, Reiken is pleased to be working on a program that relies less on foot-in-the-door journalism. “The audience grew very tired and cynical of that and I think Real Life has been the first program to offer an alternative.”
Briefly…
- Sixteen-year-old Tempany Deckert (pictured) is Home And Away‘s newest cast member, as promiscuous student Selina, who has designs on teacher Luke Cunningham (John Adam). “She’s a tart but really fun, sad at the same time and a little bit mixed up,” she told TV Week.
- Just as ABC has announced Scott McRae as Eden Gaha‘s replacement on game show Vidiot, Gaha has now left his role as host of Ten‘s Take 40 TV. Negotiations between Ten and Gaha failed after the network made the decision to feature more guest presenters on the show.
Emma Rossi, former Seven news reporter now working on Real Life, is following her mother’s footsteps into television. Her mum is Mary Rossi, one of the first female presenters on Australian television to challenge the stereotype of women on TV. As host of the ABC‘s Women’s World in the Fifties and Sixties, Mary challenged the view that women should retire from professional life when they have children. It was a topic that raised itself every time she would add to the Rossi clan — 10 children in all!
Lawrie Masterson: The View From Here:
“It’s unmistakeably that time of year again. Well, it’s a little later than what has been that time of year in the past, but I suspect the TV Week Logie Awards would have a very special feel about them no matter what time they were held. One of the main reasons we decided to go later this year — April instead of the traditional March — was that it would better fit in with the hiatus taken by the US series, in theory, therefore, increasing the availability of international stars to be our special guests. Well, a bit of a rumble in the bowels of the Earth somewhere under Los Angeles soon fixed that. Not only did it cause death and destruction, but the earthquake also created havoc with the production schedules of many series and movies. That time, of course, has to be picked up.”
Program Highlights (Melbourne, April 9-15):
Saturday: Katrina Lee hosts travel series Holiday (7.30pm, ABC).
Sunday: Sunday AFL includes live coverage of Sydney Swans versus Adelaide, from the SCG (2pm, Seven), followed by highlights of Collingwood versus Footscray (5pm, Seven) and Carlton versus Geelong (6.30pm, Seven). In Heartbreak High (6.30pm, Ten), the soccer team continues to perform dismally and low morale threatens to destroy the team. Sunday night movies are Black Robe (Seven), Basic Instinct (Nine) and Indiana Jones And The Temple Of Doom (repeat, Ten).
Monday: In Home And Away (7pm, Seven), Shane (Dieter Brummer) plans to teach Jack (Daniel Amalm) a lesson he’ll never forget. In Healthy Wealthy And Wise (7.30pm, Ten), Tonia Todman has hints on making gifts for Mother’s Day, Ronnie Burns talks to the experts about termites, and Iain Hewitson visits a honey farm.
Tuesday: In Home And Away (7pm, Seven), Shane’s (Dieter Brummer) plan of revenge on Jack (Daniel Amalm) goes wrong, and Fisher (Norman Coburn) throws Irene’s (Lynne McGranger) plan to buy the beach house into turmoil. In GP (8.30pm, ABC), when Martin’s (Damian Rice) university mentor is diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease, he realises there is more to life than there seems. Ray Martin Presents (8.30pm, Nine) features an interview with Kevin Costner.
Wednesday: In the series return of A Country Practice (7.30pm, now on Ten), Harry (Andrew Blackman, pictured) receives some devastating news from wife Kate in China, and Ian (Paul Gleeson) enlists Esme Watson’s (Joyce Jacobs) help for a special Valentine’s Day dinner. Tina Bursill stars in Long Way Round, this week’s drama in Under The Skin (8pm, SBS). In documentary No Death In Brunswick (8.30pm, SBS), Father Anthony Bongiorno from Brunswick, Melbourne, talks about his faith and the future of the Church.
Thursday: In Neighbours (6.30pm, Ten), Lou (Tom Oliver) asks Brett (Brett Blewitt) to propose to Cheryl (Caroline Gillmer) on his behalf. In Beyond 2000 (7.30pm, Ten), Iain Finlay investigates how British Telecom and Apple Computers are trying to encourage people to lose their apathy towards computers. Sketch comedy series Full Frontal (8.30pm, Seven) is back with a new series.
Friday: In Neighbours (6.30pm, Ten), Rick (Dan Falzon) is shocked when he discovers he has failed everything except Japanese for the first term. In Home And Away (7pm, Seven), Tug’s (Tristan Bancks) dyslexia causes a near disaster. Friday Night Football (7.30pm, Seven) features Sydney Swans versus Richmond, live from Sydney.
Source: TV Week (Melbourne edition), incorporating TV Times and TV Guide. 9 April 1994. Â Southdown Press.
