Happy the War bride
When Alice Morgan and Michael Watkins (Megan Williams and John Walton, pictured) walk down the aisle together on The Sullivans, the bride’s dress will bring back happy memories for one viewer, Mrs Emmett of Victoria, who wore the same dress on her own wedding day in 1943 and offered it to Crawford Productions for use on the series. The wedding of Alice and Michael took place at Melbourne’s Church of Our Lady of Victory in Camberwell but, unlike a real wedding, took a full day of rehearsals and filming before Alice could say “I will.” The wedding episode of The Sullivans screens this week on GTV9 Melbourne and later in October on TCN9 Sydney and NWS9 Adelaide.

micromacro Blinkity blinks!
Most quiz shows give contestants a chance to show how clever they are. Not so, with ABC‘s new show Micro Macro, as host Noel Ferrier (pictured, centre) says it will show them up with not a clue as to the answer. An adaptation of a European format, Micro Macro will put two teams of celebrity panelists against each other in a quiz of visual puzzles relying on the quickness of the eye. Among the regulars to appear on the show will be Carol Raye, one of Ferrier’s companions on Blankety Blanks, and personality Jimmy Hannan, who is more familiar to viewers as a game show host rather than contestant.

clivehale The pause that refreshes
This Day Tonight host Clive Hale (pictured) finds there’s nothing like a bit of meditation to calm those pre-program nerves, but he’s never meditated in the studio, always at home. But since he and wife Elizabeth moved from Adelaide to Sydney so he could take over as host of the NSW version of This Day Tonight, he’s often had to give his daily meditation a miss. “I’m determined to get back into it. TV is a high pressure industry and it’s fairly unnerving talking into a lens,” he told TV Times. Despite the show’s increased ratings since Hale took over the hosting role, This Day Tonight is set to finish up later in the year.

The call of the wild!
TV channels are often inundated with phone calls from viewers asking about certain programs or to give feedback – sometimes constructive, but sometimes just illogical! One such phone call went like this:

Caller: “Why have you taken off The Restless Years?”
Receptionist: “But this is Channel 7, and that program is on Channel 0.”
Caller: “I don’t care. Just tell me why you’ve taken it off!”

Viewers have also had cause to call up Sydney’s TCN9 to complain about The Mike Walsh Show. Rival station TEN10, which used to screen the show, still gets viewers complaints about the program, and ATN7 and ABN2, neither of which have ever screened it, also receive complaints about it!

And in Melbourne, one young viewer calls up HSV7 when The Flintstones is repeated, and always asks to speak to Fred Flintstone, but responds angrily when told that Fred is not available. A Perth woman also called up STW9 to ask if she could borrow a couple of palm trees, as seen on Gilligan’s Island, for a Hawaiian party.

Viewpoint: Letters to the Editor:
“After the never-ending stream of cops and robbers and doctors and nurses, the classic The Importance Of Being Earnest was like a welcome oasis. As it was heralded by TV Times as the movie of the week, earning a four-star rating, one might wonder why good family entertainment such as this could be shown at midnight. Perhaps TEN10 are aiming at giving the dole payees, who don’t need to rise at 6 or 7am, a little culture.” V. O’Hara, NSW.

Richard Peach and Richard Morecroft both look great and do a great job of newsreading. And thanks for presenting us with a weatherman, who tells us about the weather. Better than the over-glorified, shiny females of the commercial stations.” A. Voake, SA.

“Having watched The Truckies‘ episode ‘Country Music’, I register my disgust with the series. Having virtually endured the previous episodes (because we haven’t a choice of channels), the ‘Country Music’ episode I found most distasteful. If ABC is hoping to sell the series overseas I now add that it will certainly paint a sad and sorry picture of our Australian male, and our truckies in particular.” W. G. Walker, WA.

What’s On (September 30-October 6):
HSV7
‘s live telecast of the 1978 VFL Grand Final is not listed in the program guides, possibly not confirmed at time of publication, but a full replay is scheduled for 6.30pm Saturday night.

Following the Grand Final, Penthouse ’78 presents a special edition to celebrate 1000 episodes of HSV7‘s World Of Sport, featuring highlights of over twenty years of the world’s longest running sports show. Joining host Ernie Sigley is World Of Sport host Ron Casey and regulars including Bill Collins, Fred Villiers, Jack Elliot, Rollo Roylance, Lou Richards and Gus Mercurio.

Sunday morning and afternoon on HSV7 is dominated by the Hardie-Ferodo 1000, over nine hours of live coverage from Bathurst Raceway in NSW.

Monday afternoon marks the debut of ATV0‘s new game shows Pyramid Challenge and Perfect Match and variety show The Steve Raymond Show.

The documentary The Last Tasmanian features on ATV0 on Wednesday night, a two-hour presentation tracing the genocide of the Tasmanian Aborigines, starting with the arrival of white man in 1803 and culminating with the death of Truganini – the Last Tasmanian – in 1876.

steveraymondSunday night movies are Sharon: Portrait Of A Mistress (HSV7), Soldier Blue (GTV9) and the premiere of US series Dallas (ATV0) with the first series of five episodes to be screened over three nights. ATV0 follows Dallas with a special presentation, Television’s 22 Years, hosted by Steve Raymond (pictured) and featuring guests Graham Kennedy and Johnny O’Keefe.

Source: TV Times (Melbourne edition), 30 September 1978. ABC/ACP

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