March 2008 archive

There’s an April fool born every centiday

April Fool’s Day invariably brings out all sorts of mockery from even the most serious news sources. But here’s an old one that we particularly loved. ABC‘s This Day Tonight in Adelaide proudly broke the news on 1 April 1975 that metric time was being introduced to Australia. The new metric time system would see …

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Permanent link to this article: https://televisionau.com/2008/03/theres-an-april-fool-born-every-centiday.html

YouTube: The Box

Reprinting a review that I’d written for TelevisionAU some years ago. The reason I’m re-printing it here is because that page of the website is now obsolete, and because some rare clips from the series have appeared on (you’d never guess!) YouTube (see below): The raunchy prime time series Number 96 set the pace of …

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Permanent link to this article: https://televisionau.com/2008/03/youtube-the-box.html

Sun rises a bit earlier for Today

No doubt there are many people who, like myself, can think of nothing worse than being awake and watching TV before 6.00am every morning but, obviously, there are many others whose day has started well before the sun rises, and may want to tune in to something other than US morning shows on delay, televangelists, …

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Permanent link to this article: https://televisionau.com/2008/03/sun-rises-a-bit-earlier-for-today.html

YouTube: Game Shows

Always plenty of gems to be found on YouTube, and this time a clip that caught my attention was this tribute to game shows, introduced by Tony Barber, a veteran of the genre having hosted The Great Temptation, Name That Tune, Family Feud, Sale Of The Century, Jeopardy and Wheel Of Fortune. This clip was …

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Permanent link to this article: https://televisionau.com/2008/03/youtube-game-shows.html

1978: April 1-7

Cover Story: Life with Father:TV Times‘ writer Howard Dudding talks with Father Dear Father star Patrick Cargill who is in Australia to appear in a local version of the British series being made for the Seven Network. The nearly-60-year-old had plenty of praise for his young Australian co-stars Sally Conabere and Sigrid Thornton (pictured with …

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Permanent link to this article: https://televisionau.com/2008/03/1978-april-1-7.html

1978: March 25-31

The day Mike Walsh blew a fuse! TV Times‘ cover story reveals some of The Mike Walsh Show‘s behind-the-scenes hazards in producing a daily live variety program. One incident involved a local electrician being summonsed at the last minute to present a segment on how to replace a fuse, only to have host Mike Walsh …

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Permanent link to this article: https://televisionau.com/2008/03/1978-march-25-31.html

Melbourne’s Good Friday for the kids

Aside from the Christian significance of Good Friday, for Victorians the day also marks the traditional Royal Children’s Hospital Good Friday Appeal. The all-day telethon, telecast on HSV7 Melbourne and Prime Television in regional Victoria, with the support of radio stations 3AW and Magic 1278 and the Herald Sun newspaper, is the culmination of various …

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Permanent link to this article: https://televisionau.com/2008/03/melbournes-good-friday-for-the-kids.html

9HD happens tomorrow

After last year’s launch of high-definition channels for Seven and Ten, tomorrow (Monday) is Nine‘s turn as it plans a quiet launch to 9HD. Details from Nine of the new channel have been scant to say the least, but in The Australian last week, Nine did concede that the HD channels are not the main …

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Permanent link to this article: https://televisionau.com/2008/03/9hd-happens-tomorrow.html

1978: March 18-24

The Sullivans’ forgotten man: TV Times‘ cover story is about the leading man in The Sullivans, who also appears to be the one that the public hears least about. However this does not bother actor Paul Cronin, who acknowledges that “there is more to being a series actor than that”. Pictured on the cover is …

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Permanent link to this article: https://televisionau.com/2008/03/1978-march-18-24.html

YouTube: You gotta start somewhere..!

Paul Bongiorno is well known as Network Ten‘s chief political correspondent and Canberra bureau chief. But what is perhaps not so well known about Ten’s man in Canberra is that a much younger Bongiorno was heading down a different career path as a priest in country Victoria in the early ’70s. Realising the priesthood was …

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Permanent link to this article: https://televisionau.com/2008/03/youtube-you-gotta-start-somewhere.html