It’s New Year’s Eve and another year comes to a close. We saw the launch of more digital channels – 7mate, GEM, ABC News 24. There was another hit season of MasterChef Australia, joined this year by Junior MasterChef. Hey Hey It’s Saturday was back for a longer run but failed to match the ratings high of its reunion shows of 2009.
Neighbours celebrated 25 years and SBS turned 30.
Bert Newton was back as host of the TV Week Logie Awards. Home And Away’s Ray Meagher won the Gold Logie and the late Brian Naylor was posthumously inducted into the TV Week Logie Awards’ Hall of Fame. A Current Affair celebrated Reg Grundy.
GTV9 said farewell to 22 Bendigo Street and ATN7 moved out of Epping.
Television turned 50 in Tasmania. ABC celebrated 50 years in Adelaide, Perth and Hobart – and analogue television was switched off in Mildura, regional South Australia and Broken Hill.
Kerry O’Brien signed off from The 7.30 Report. Talking Heads wound up after six years.
The Winter Olympics were on Nine, and the Commonwealth Games were on Ten. Nine said farewell to Wimbledon after more than thirty years. Sport was given the 3D treatment on free-to-air and Foxtel.
Right here we documented the year 1990 as reported in the pages of TV Week – and will continue the theme into 2011 as we follow the corresponding period in 1991.
2011 brings with it the long-awaited launch of Network Ten’s new digital channel, Eleven, across most of Australia – and the launch of Ten’s expanded news portfolio with a new 6.00pm program with George Negus and city-based 6.30pm news bulletins.
There will be more MasterChef, but will Hey Hey It’s Saturday be back? Will Neighbours survive the transition to Eleven? Will the revamped The 7.30 Report make up for the loss of Kerry O’Brien?
Will Hamish and Andy, having walked away from most of their radio commitments, make a determined shift into TV?
There will be more drama from Underbelly on Nine, East West 101 on SBS and a new series, Winners And Losers, on Seven. Packed To The Rafters will try to move on from the death of character Melissa (Zoe Ventoura) – and what will become of the bubbling sexual tension between Nina Proudman (Asher Keddie) and Chris Havel (Don Hany) in Offspring? Will Ten’s planned prison drama come to fruition?
ABC’s Four Corners will celebrate its 50th anniversary, while ABC News Breakfast plans to move from ABC2 to ABC1. Regional television in Victoria will turn 50 and will farewell analogue transmission. Television in Darwin will turn 40. And it will be 20 years since aggregation came to Northern NSW and the Gold Coast.
US show Sesame Street will reach 40 years on Australian television – and The Simpsons turns 20.
Digital television turns ten years old on 1 January – while certain areas of Australia are still yet to see the benefits of the new technology.
And one blogger will – shudder – turn 40 years old!
May you all have a happy new year and a great 2011!