Cover: Julia Roberts, Meg Ryan, Sharon Stone, Winona Ryder
Lochie’s Getaway gig
Lochie Daddo has been announced as David Reyne‘s replacement on travel show Getaway. “Travelling is one of my favourite pastimes and now they are paying me to do it,” he told TV Week. His first story will screen on the show’s ‘Australia On $50-A-Day’ special to go to air in early July. But while Reyne quit Getaway at the end of last year out of frustration at the show’s strict production guidelines, he will be back as a guest reporter. “Other people (at Nine) would look at stories I’d done and say, ‘That was great’, but I’d be saying, ‘No, it wasn’t great at all’. There just wasn’t enough time to do stories properly,” he said. “But when it was suggested to me that I could go back to do a series of stories the way I wanted to do them, I thought that was amazing and agreed to sign up for another ten weeks.”
Horsing around in pantyhose!
Old rockers, and mates, Frankie J Holden and Jon English took to the Snowy Mountains for a three-day trail ride through the lush pastures of Reynella, close to the northern end of the Kosciusko National Park, for The Great Outdoors. But days of horse riding can cause a nasty case of chasing — so out come the fishnets! Holden may have appreciated the relief on his aching legs but English, the more experienced horseman dating back to the days of making mini-series Against The Wind, gave them a miss. “Theoretically, it’s right to wear pantyhose,” he told TV Week. “But fishnets are a bloody ridiculous idea.”
War on the streets
The quiet, middle-class street depicted in Neighbours couldn’t be further from guest star Christopher Kirby‘s own background. Kirby was raised in the tough south-central section of Los Angeles. Most of his school friends are either dead or in jail, and two of his brothers were murdered. Kirby would use television as an escape. “I grew up on its fantasies and I always thought that life could be a little better than it really was,” he told TV Week. He first came to Australia on holiday in 1989 but has since returned to work. As well as appearing on stage in The Rocky Horror Picture Show and on ABC‘s The Damnation Of Harvey McHugh, he has just finished a pilot for a new US series, Kansas, being filmed on the Gold Coast. He joins Neighbours as Drew Grover, the American boyfriend Cody (Peta Brady) left behind when she returned from being an exchange student. Everyone in Ramsay Street is shocked to discover that Cody and Drew are actually married.
Briefly…
- Nine‘s renovation series Our House has proved the doubters wrong and has clocked up its first year on air. The show has not only been a ratings hit but has been parodied on the rival Seven Network‘s Full Frontal. “We must be doing better business than I thought,” co-host Graeme “Shirley” Strachan (pictured with co-host Rebecca Gilling) told TV Week. “I haven’t seen Full Frontal but I’m not worried by it… who would be watching Channel 7, anyway!”
- Former E Street star Marcus Graham has knocked back a three-month guest role on Network Ten‘s Heartbreak High, citing a desire to pursue stage work.
- Network Ten‘s upcoming children’s series Ocean Girl is already making its mark overseas before airing in Australia. The series has been sold to both the BBC and the Family Channel in the United Kingdom. Producer Jonathan Schiff says a US deal is also underway. Ocean Girl stars Marza Godecki and Kerry Armstrong and is due to debut on Ten in September.
- SBS has adapted the Peter Andre song To The Top to use as its theme song for its coverage of the FIFA World Cup from the United States. SBS has a team of 40, based in San Francisco, to produce 187 hours of coverage to be broadcast on SBS and regional network Prime in Australia, and also relaying to broadcasters in Hong Kong, New Zealand and Singapore.
Lawrie Masterson: The View From Here
“It is customary for the television networks to issue releases of their weekly program “highlights”, sometimes detailing the storylines of the various soaps. We were left in breathless anticipation here by a recent revelation of events unfolding on the Seven Network‘s Home And Away. “Irene is shocked to discover a cow in her backyard,” said the blurb. Now that’s a plotline I bet they’ll milk.”
Program Highlights (Melbourne, June 18-24):
FIFA World Cup: SBS’ coverage of the FIFA World Cup continues through the week with one or two matches overnight and one match in late morning. A nightly one-hour highlights package (8.30pm on Saturday and 7.30pm Sunday to Friday) is hosted by Les Murray and Johnny Warren plus there is another highlights package each night at 11pm.
Saturday: The Rugby Union First Test — Australia versus Italy — is broadcast from Brisbane (9.30pm, Ten).
Sunday: Sunday AFL includes Brisbane Bears versus Essendon (2pm, Seven), live from Brisbane, and Adelaide versus Melbourne (5.30pm, Seven), live from Adelaide. Sunday night movies are Boomerang (Seven), The Hunt For Red October (repeat, Nine) and Hot Shots (repeat, Ten).
Monday: Children’s quiz show Vidiot (5.30pm, ABC), returns with a new series. In Neighbours (6.30pm, Ten), Debbie (Marnie Reece-Wilmore) thinks her eating disorder is no big deal. In Healthy Wealthy And Wise (7.30pm, Ten), Peter Wherrett visits an automobile event celebrating the 30th anniversary of the Mustang; Tonia Todman creates a hat box for all occasions; and Ross Greenwood takes a novel look at superannuation. The Rugby League State Of Origin (9.30pm, Nine) is broadcast from Brisbane, followed by the start of two weeks of nightly Wimbledon tennis coverage (11.10pm, Nine).
Tuesday: In Blue Heelers (7.30pm, Seven), Maggie (Lisa McCune) becomes involved with the local MP’s press officer, but the road to romance turns rocky when Maggie pulls him over on a drink driving charge. Jo Beth Taylor hosts the Mid-Year Semi-Final of Australia’s Funniest Home Video Show (7.30pm, Nine). In GP (8.30pm, ABC), when Ian’s (Tony Llewellyn-Jones) parents move into a retirement unit, years of anger and resentment surface.
Wednesday: In Heartbreak High (7.30pm, Ten), Southgate (Tony Martin) is having some emotional problems at home and school and seeks Yola’s (Doris Younane) help — and Yola is in a predicament herself by seeing a married man, which causes some tension with Christina (Sarah Lambert). In Hey Dad! (8pm, Seven), when Ben’s (Ben Oxenbould) girlfriend (Cathy Godbold) follows him to Sydney from Taree, he tries to think up ways to fob her off.
Thursday: In Neighbours (6.30pm, Ten), Doug (Terence Donovan) visits the urologist and is told he requires an operation. In Home And Away (7pm, Seven), Jack (Daniel Amalm) and Selina’s (Tempany Deckert) romance hots up. Beyond 2000 (7.30pm, Ten) looks at VR Hornet, the arcade game of the future; and visits the one man crew who does everything on a 24 hour news station. Former Australian test cricketer Mike Whitney hosts the new series The Innovators (8pm, ABC), covering topics that celebrate innovation, ingenuity and inventiveness. The one-hour special The Beatles In Australia: 30th Anniversary (8.30pm, Nine) looks at The Beatles‘ historic tour of Australia in 1964 and features footage from one of the Melbourne concerts.
Friday: In Rex Hunt’s The Great Outdoors (7.30pm, Seven), Ernie Dingo takes part in the celebrity race at the Tennant Creek Go Kart Grand Prix; and Penny Cook goes kayaking down the Brisbane River.
Source: TV Week (Melbourne edition), incorporating TV Times and TV Guide. 18Â June 1994. Pacific Publications Pty Ltd.