1991: March 9-15 – Television.AU

Bob pops the question!
For more than two years the romance between Dr Elly Fielding (Penny Cook) and Reverend Bob Brown (Tony Martin, pictured above with Cook) in E Street has been an on-again off-again affair. But this week in the Ten Network soap, Bob finally proposes – but Elly doesn’t accept straight away. “She doesn’t say yes immediately, but she doesn’t say no,” Cook told TV Week.

It’s no Sale!
Tony Barber has denied that there is more to his shock resignation from hosting Nine’s Sale Of The Century as industry rumours have suggested. Barber insists that the resignation was to escape his “quiz show host” label, having also hosted Temptation, Great Temptation, Name That Tune and Family Feud before 11 years on Sale Of The Century, and also to recover from a hip operation. Rumours persist within the industry, however, that his resignation was due to the network denying certain demands in renewing his contract. And although Seven claims that Barber’s management have approached them about coming across, he has denied any discussions have taken place with Seven and Ten, citing his commitment to his Nine contract which expires later this month. The timing of Barber’s announcement may have also come at an awkward time. Just days before the announcement, in an interview pre-recorded for Nine’s In Melbourne Today and In Sydney Today chat shows, Barber was asked about his future at Sale to which he replied, “I can see myself doing it when I am 65 or 70.” No decision has been made as to a successor for Barber on Sale Of The Century, although Denis Walter, Bert Newton and Daryl Somers appear to be possibilities.

Marcus comes home to play a ratbag
Taking a break after a busy year, actor Marcus Graham (pictured) was in Los Angeles when he was offered a two-year contract with daytime soap General Hospital – an offer any number of actors would jump at. But he said no. Despite enormous pressure to sign (“98 per cent of everyone I met in the US said I should do it”) he felt it was the wrong thing to do. “They wanted me to sign a two-year contract. I was prepared to do one year, but I couldn’t do two, I couldn’t,” Graham told TV Week. “I think you’d have a very low self-esteem after doing that show for a while. They shoot an hour a day and you read your lines off cue cards. It would kill me. It’s like selling all your dreams and aspirations for thousands of US dollars and getting recognised in supermarkets. It’s just not worth it.” Graham was more enthusiastic in signing up for the Seven Network’s four-hour mini-series Ratbag Hero which debuts this week. Graham plays ‘Unc’ (Bob), the roguish uncle of Mick (Cameron Nugent), the ‘ratbag hero’ of the show’s title. “Unc is scruffy, a bit of a larrikin. He is caught between being an adult and a kid. He is childlike and loves fun,” Graham said.

Briefly…
Hollywood actress Angie Dickinson, best known from TV’s Policewoman series, will be a special guest at this year’s TV Week Logie Awards, taking place this week in Melbourne. Also on the overseas guest list are Peggy Lipton and Michael Ontkean from the new US series Twin Peaks, now showing on Network Ten.

British-born comedienne Annette Law, whose celebrity impressions won her the ‘Red Faces’ talent quest on Hey Hey It’s Saturday and subsequently led to a career on the comedy circuit, is now heading back to the UK to start in a new BBC sketch comedy series, My Dog’s Got No Nose. “I believe it’s the British equivalent to the old American show Laugh-In,” Law told TV Week.

garysweet Actor Gary Sweet’s proposed role as a reporter for Nine’s Midday With Ray Martin is now looking doubtful after he made a guest appearance on the daytime show to promote his new ABC series Police Rescue. It happens that Police Rescue is scheduled directly up against Nine’s new drama Chances and the appearance has angered Nine Network executives.

John Laws says…
”Why did SBS scrap its Tonight current affairs show – and replace it with an almost identical program under another name? This is exactly what has happened, though the program purveyors at SBS will, no doubt, deny it and claim that Dateline is a different concept from Tonight. But there’s hardly a scrap of difference. It has the same presenter, Pria Viswalingam, and has retained its capable “finance reporter” Jane Hutcheon, who continues to do exactly what she did so well on the Tonight program. The official line is that Dateline comprises “the resources of Tonight, Asia Report and the weekly Dateline” and has “shorter, pithier reports” (whatever that means). So there you have it – two well-established programs are skittled. Now you see them, now you don’t. One hour of current affairs becomes 30 minutes of current affairs.”

Program Highlights (March 9-15):
Sunday: Seven’s afternoon includes live coverage of the Moomba Masters water-skiing from Melbourne’s Yarra River, followed by live coverage of the Australian Touring Car Championships from Symmons Plains, Tasmania. After Seven Nightly News, Seven screens the first of the two-part children’s mini-series Ratbag Hero, starring Cameron Nugent (pictured), Elaine Smith, Peter Fisher, Marcus Graham, Gus Mercurio and Simon Chilvers. Sunday night movies are Beaches (Seven), Scarface (Nine) and The Golden Child (Ten). Nine then crosses to Trinidad for the One Day International between Australia and the West Indies. Ten debuts a new late-night sports program, Sports Week, hosted by Eddie McGuire and Stephen Quartermain.

Monday: ABC debuts its new rural affairs program Landline, screening every weekday. ABC and Seven in Melbourne both present a direct telecast of the annual Moomba street procession.

Tuesday: In All Together Now (Nine), Thomas (Steven Jacobs) and Anna (Jane Hall) come home drunk and Tracy (Rebecca Gibney) suspects it is Bobby’s (Jon English) influence that has caused it. Tina Bursill, Serge Lazareff and Dorothy St Heaps are guest stars in ABC’s drama GP.

Wednesday: Prime Minister Bob Hawke is the guest speaker at the National Press Club Luncheon, broadcast on ABC.

Thursday: Former E Street star Paul Kelman enters Nine’s The Flying Doctors as Steve McCauley, who found out he was adopted and hitches a ride to Coopers Crossing, undecided on whether or not to tell his mother about their true relationship.

Friday: Daryl Somers (pictured) hosts the 33rd annual TV Week Logie Awards from Melbourne’s World Congress Centre and broadcast nationally through the Nine Network. It is triple Gold Logie winner Somers’ second time as host of the event. This year will also see the launch of two new Logie award categories – the Most Popular Male and Most Popular Female Comedy Personality – in recognition of the rise in Australian-produced comedy on television.