Sep 08 2008

1978: September 9-15

  • 8 September 2008

tvtimes_090978 Million dollar TV extravaganza begins!
The Seven Network‘s million-dollar historical epic Against The Wind premieres this week. The 13-part series, starring Mary Larkin and Jon English, took six months to make and is the culmination of intense research and meticulous set construction and costume design to properly reconstruct 19th century Australia. Also starring in the mini-series is Frank Thring, Gerard Kennedy, Frank Gallacher, Lynn Rainbow, Fred Parslow and Hu Pryce. Executive Producer is Ian Jones.

Peita’s no jail bird
Former The Young Doctors and Class Of ’75 actress Peita Toppano has scored the role of housewife-turned-murderer Karen Travers in the upcoming Grundy Organisation series Prisoner, being made for the 0-10 Network. Production of the thirteen one-hour episodes is to start in Melbourne in October and the series also stars Elspeth Ballantyne (Bellbird), Val Lehman, Carol Burns, Colette Mann and Richard Moir.

Cricket ‘fever’ for 34 nights
The Nine Network is so confident that its World Series Cricket will capture a large summer TV audience, that between 28 November and 4 February it will screen all major matches in the series with most of them airing in prime-time. Program manager Gordon French told TV Times, “We found viewers had reacted very favourably to night cricket. And if people want night cricket we will provide it to them. We are, after all, governed by the wishes of our viewers.”

johnwood Steady job sours ‘Sugar’ Wood
John Wood (pictured), of ABC‘s The Truckies, has a big problem when he’s working on a TV series – boredom. He worries constantly that the hours spent sitting around waiting his turn on camera will affect his performance: “That was one of the problems I had on Power Without Glory. At first, it was great, as Sugar – the character I played – was in all the action, but in the middle episodes all I seemed to do was walk on to the set just to let people know Sugar was still around.” This would be one reason why Wood would be wary about joining a long-running series, such as Cop Shop or The Sullivans, in a sustaining role: “I think I’d go screaming mad with the boredom of week-to-week chore acting.”

Just quickly…
Stuart Wagstaff has revealed that he has never had a written contract for his cigarette commercial work. Everything, including pay rises, was done by gentleman’s agreement.

Latest catch-phrase in the United Kingdom is “I’ll rip yer bloody arms off!” following the screening of the pilot of The Little Big Show, starring Grahame Bond.

The atmosphere at Melbourne’s ATV0 studios has never been so highly charged since the halcyon days of The Box, with all studios working to capacity.

suesmithersViewpoint: Letters to the Editor
“I’ve been watching The Restless Years from the beginning and haven’t missed out once. But since Deborah Coulls isn’t in it any more, I dislike it a bit. There have probably been reasons for taking Deborah out of it, but I reckon Sue Smithers (pictured) can’t act as well as Deborah.” A. Wiesenthal, NSW.

“I cannot understand why ABC sent Norman May to Canada to commentate at the Commonwealth Games after his awful exhibition at the last Olympic Games, especially the swimming events.” W. Dickie, NSW.

“Would somebody mind telling that bore, Ian Meldrum, to grow up! Why ABC insists on inflicting him on the ever-suffering viewing public is beyond me.” A. Rankins, NSW.

What’s On (September 9-15):
ABC‘s long-running current affairs program Monday Conference features an interview with the Prime Minister Malcolm Fraser.

As mentioned above, Against The Wind debuts Tuesday night on HSV7 in a two-hour episode. Earlier the same night, ABC screens the first of a six-part series Run From The Morning, a mystery thriller starring Michael Aitkens (The Truckies), Bud Tingwell, Rod Mullinar and Bill Kerr.

It’s a big week for premieres for ATV0 this week. On Monday night at 7.00pm, The Daryl And Ossie Show debuts as a half-hour variety/game-show format with Daryl Somers and Ossie Ostrich having made the move from hosting GTV9‘s Hey Hey It’s Saturday last year.

Stuart Wagstaff hosts the debut of the ATV0‘s new talent quest series, Showcase, reviving the former 1960s format of the same name. Leading the 36-piece orchestra is producer Hector Crawford, and judging the acts are Robert Helpmann, Margaret Schofield, Roger Savage and Kenn Brodziak.

suejones On Thursday night, ATV0 presents the first episode of comedy series The Tea Ladies, starring Pat McDonald and Sue Jones (pictured) as tea ladies working in Parliament House, Canberra.

Sunday night movies are There’s A Girl In My Soup (HSV7), Holiday On The Buses (GTV9) and The Man Who Would Be King (ATV0), while on ABC‘s Capriccio!, actor Warren Mitchell has chosen the music to be performed on the program.

Source: TV Times (Melbourne edition), 9 September 1978. ABC/ACP

Permanent link to this article: https://televisionau.com/2008/09/1978-september-9-15.html

Sep 07 2008

When Brisbane came across to Ten

  • 7 September 2008

ten1988 It’s twenty years ago this week that Brisbane’s TVQ0 (branded on-air as “TV0”) made the move up the dial to become TVQ10.  The change finally brought Brisbane into line with the other state capitals that all had their Network Ten stations transmitting on Channel 10, and, following the launch of NEW10 in Perth earlier in the year, finally the network was on an equal footing in all five mainland state capitals.

visiontv The move from TVQ0 to TVQ10 was first mooted late in 1987 when the station was sold by Christopher Skase‘s Qintex group to regional TV operators Darling Downs TV, owners of “Vision TV” (pictured) which comprised DDQ10 Darling Downs and SDQ4 Southern Downs.  Upon buying the station, DDTV saw the benefits in swapping the frequencies of the two stations, TVQ0 and DDQ10.  The changeover would rectify any reception difficulties affecting TVQ0’s signal across the greater Brisbane market, and would no longer see the station dogged with the “black sheep” status among its network by not being broadcast or branded as Channel 10.  It also meant that any network promotions and marketing material didn’t have to be re-badged specifically for Brisbane.  However, for Darling Downs viewers, it meant the downgrading of DDQ from the stronger Channel 10 frequency down to the low end of the VHF band to Channel 0.  Viewers watching SDQ4 Southern Downs, or the low-powered relay transmissions on TVQ46 Gold Coast or DDQ5A in Toowoomba, were not affected by any change at all in this transition.

10_tuner The changeover between Channels 0 and 10 for TVQ and DDQ was one that required some co-ordination as the stations could not use the same frequency at any given time as their overlapped signals would cause interference with each other.  In the week leading up to the final changeover, both TVQ0 and DDQ10 closed down by midnight each night, then afterwards they would broadcast a temporary test signal on their new frequencies, TVQ10 and DDQ0, enabling viewers to check that their sets were able to pick up the new channels.  Normal transmission then resumed on their regular channels at daybreak.

The final changeover took place just after 12.00am on Saturday 10 September 1988, when TVQ0 newsreader Rob Readings announced: “Join us now as we turn to Brisbane Ten.”  At that point, the station identification for Ten commenced and then suddenly, TVQ0 was switched off for good.  Viewers then turned over to TVQ10 to see a test pattern, then the completion of the Ten station identification, followed by a local station promotion for “Brisbane TEN”.  The first program to then appear on TVQ10 was the movie classic Helter Skelter, before the station signed-off for the night.

See the video: TVQ0/10 Switchover
(from http://www.youtube.com/user/reegs75)

And just incase viewers didn’t quite get the message that TVQ0 had now become TVQ10, the Saturday night movie the next evening was the comedy 10, starring Bo Derek and Dudley Moore.

The move to TVQ10 was also timed to give viewers a week to make the transition in tuning their sets to the new channel before Network Ten’s telecast of the 1988 Olympic Games from Seoul.

TelevisionAU also has some of the advertising used to advertise TVQ0’s transition to TVQ10, as well as program guides for TVQ0’s final day of transmission and TVQ10’s first day.

Permanent link to this article: https://televisionau.com/2008/09/when-brisbane-came-across-to-ten.html

Sep 06 2008

Web tributes to TV staffers

  • 6 September 2008

gtv9_backstageTelevision isn’t just about the faces and the shows that appear on-screen, it is also about the many that work behind-the-scenes, often in demanding and challenging environments.

One website, GTV9 Old Boys, is a tribute to the Melbourne channel’s early days and the people who worked backstage.

The site features a number of photos from GTV9‘s early days, giving a glimpse at some of the early technology and the people that helped put the station to air.

gtv9_camera Also featured is a photo gallery of recent GTV9 staff reunions held in 2006 and 2007, featuring a number of familiar names and faces. The website also invites former GTV9 staff to submit their own stories and memories of their time at the station, and there’s also an Old Boys Forum as well.

The GTV9 Old Boys is one of a few websites that are dedicated to the people that have worked in the industry. Another website is the 729 Club, remembering the social club formed in Sydney for television station employees – and yes, the club was named after channels ABN2, ATN7 and TCN9 as the club was formed prior to the arrival of TEN10 and SBS.

Another site, ABC Reconnect, was formed after recent staff reunions for ABC‘s 50th anniversary celebrations in Sydney and Melbourne and includes information of current events as well as many photo galleries from the history of ABC’s television operations.

Permanent link to this article: https://televisionau.com/2008/09/web-tributes-to-tv-staffers.html

Sep 02 2008

Michael Pate

  • 2 September 2008

michaelpate Veteran Australian actor Michael Pate, best known for his role in the long-running series Matlock Police, has died in hospital in NSW at the age of 88.

Born in Sydney in 1920, Pate began his career as a writer and broadcaster for ABC Radio at age 18. He later moved into acting in radio productions and on the stage before going to the US where he went on to appear in numerous movies and TV productions. Curiously, the Aussie actor was often cast as native Americans.

Pate returned to Australia in the late ’60s and in the early 1970s played the role of Detective Sargeant Vic Maddern in the popular 0-10 Network drama Matlock Police.

With a distinctive and resounding voice, Pate was often employed for voice-over work and narration while continuing with acting roles, producing and writing. His work in adapting the novel Tim into a film screenplay earned him an award from the Australian Writers’ Guild.

Retiring from acting in 2001, Pate continued writing and just prior to his death was working on a film script which his son, fellow actor Christopher, may end up completing.

Michael Pate is survived by wife Felippa Rock, son Christopher, five grandchildren and two great grandchildren.

Source: The Australian, The Age, ABC

Permanent link to this article: https://televisionau.com/2008/09/michael-pate.html

Sep 02 2008

Kevin Heinze

  • 2 September 2008

kevinheinze Former ABC gardening presenter Kevin Heinze has died after suffering a heart attack on the weekend.  He was 81.

Before there were backyard blitzes and makeovers, Jamie Durie, Don Burke and even Gardening Australia, there was Kevin Heinze presenting his weekly fifteen-minute Sow What program, one of the first on Australian TV dedicated to gardening.  The program was taped from his own garden in Melbourne’s outer east.

Even after the demise of Sow What, Heinze continued to present a gardening segment on ABC radio station 3LO (now 774 ABC) up until 2004.

Heinze and his wife Jill were also involved in promoting gardening in schools, and in the ’70s established a recreational gardening centre for people with disabilities.

In the 1996 special to commemorate ABC’s 40th anniversary of television, Heinze recalled that he was approached to host the program while working for the City of Melbourne.  He asked the council for permission, and they allowed him to host the program as they felt it would “only last a couple of weeks.”

The program screened every Friday night, and repeated on Sunday afternoons, for almost twenty years on ABC in Victoria, from 1967 to 1988. 

Each program featured Heinze’s signature sign-off: “Cheerio”

Source: ABC

Permanent link to this article: https://televisionau.com/2008/09/kevin-heinze.html

Aug 30 2008

1978: September 2-8

  • 30 August 2008

tvtimes_020978 Inside The Restless Years
Every Wednesday morning, Reg Watson from the Reg Grundy Organisation and Dennis Spencer from the 0-10 Network sit down to watch the latest episodes of The Restless Years and give their post-mortem on the show – keeping a close eye on all aspects of the show including actors’ performances, technical quality, sets and continuity. Meanwhile, among those behind the scenes there are eight scriptwriters mapping out the direction each of the characters takes. And there is a constant stream of actors and actresses through the TEN10 studios as production continues… (Pictured on the cover are, from left, Malcolm Thompson, Sue Smithers and Graham Thorburn)

abc_black SA trial for news program
ABC is preparing a four-week trial run for its new local current affairs program, Six O’Clock Statewide, which is intended to run in each state as one-hour lead-in to ABC News. The trial is being run only in Adelaide but if it gets the green light after the trial, Six O’Clock Statewide will form part of the national broadcaster’s revised current affairs line-up next year which will see the launch of Nationwide as the replacement of the long-running This Day Tonight.

hectorcrawford TV Violence: Case for the defence
Following last weeks TV Times‘ special report on violence on television, TV producers and executives give their views on the issue. Crawford Productions chief Hector Crawford (pictured) tells TV Times, “I don’t know of any evidence that would lead me to believe that violence on TV has any detrimental effect on normal children.” Ian Holmes, managing director of the Reg Grundy Organisation, also responded: “There has been so many studies in this area in all parts of the world, and there is no obvious, clear-cut informatiion as to what affect violence on TV has on children.” The Nine Network‘s Len Mauger said that context is important when portraying violence on television – and that parents need to take an active role in controlling what their children are watching on television, particularly programs shown in adults-only viewing times.

annesemler Anne will wear wrinkles – or bust!
Busty blonde bombshell Anne Semler (pictured) says that, despite her curvy, sexy image, she would love to play someone like Grammy Clampett of the US series The Beverly Hillbillies! Semler, who has had minor roles in Number 96, The Young Doctors, and is about to appear in ABC telemovie She’ll Be Sweet, admits that she would love to take on more comic roles: “After all, this” – referring to her more physical attributes – “isn’t going to last forever.” She’ll Be Sweet is one of six telemovies being produced by ABC in partnership with American-based Transatlantic Enterprises.

Just briefly….
Many of the cast and crew from The Young Doctors are down with colds and flu!

The 0-10 Network has renamed its proposed new drama Prisoner – though not to be confused with the English program The Prisoner starring Patrick McGoohan.

Frank Gallagher, one of the key players in the upcoming mini-series Against The Wind, has a guest role this week on Cop Shop.

It seems unlikely that Happy Days star Henry Winkler will be interviewed by Don Lane via satellite as his Australian film distributor will not share satellite costs.

Viewpoint: Letters to the Editor
“Night-time TV is disgraceful. I’ve had enough of police series such as The Rockford Files, Cop Shop, Starsky And Hutch, Charlie’s Angels and so on. Unless you’re a fan of The Restless Years – which is about as interesting as a cake of soap melting – there is nothing worth watching at night.” A. Lumley, NSW.

“To people complaining that Soap is “vulgar” and “sick” – did they ever watch just one episode of any of the real soapies on TV, such as Number 96 and The Box and the daytime serials? What is merely talked about on Soap, the others left nothing to the imagination. Soap is a satire about such serials and is not meant to be taken seriously as some people seem to take it.” A. Whitehead, SA.

“I am sick of people whingeing about things they don’t even have to look at!” (name and address supplied)

What’s On (September 2-8)
HSV7 on Monday night has The 1978 Truth-CUB Cazaly Awards, live from the Southern Cross Ballroom in Melbourne and hosted by Peter Landy and Lou Richards. The Cazaly Awards promises the biggest and richest awards in football, with prizes totalling $25,000.

Wednesday 7.30pm is again dominated by variety specials on the commercial networks – a one-hour Cher special on HSV7, Frank Sinatra – The Main Event on GTV9, and a repeat of the 1978 Australian Popular Song Festival on ATV0.

Guest stars on ATV0′s Peter Couchman Tonight during the week include Debbie Byrne, Denis Walter, Jane Scali and Cheetah. Diane Horder and Doug Ashdown are guest performers on The Naked Vicar Show on HSV7.

This week’s Inside Story on ABC features the rise of Dick Smith whose electronics business has grown from nothing to an operation turning over $14 million.

ABC‘s weekend sports coverage includes everything from Drag Racing from Calder Raceway in Victoria, repeats of World Cup matches played earlier in the year, the first semi-final of the Sydney Rugby League and – brace yourself – half an hour of the 1978 World Chess Championships!

Sunday night movies are Travels With My Aunt (HSV7), Anastasia (GTV9) and Wait Until Dark (ATV0). Australian tenor Jon Weaving is choosing the songs on this week’s Capriccio! on ABC.

Source: TV Times (Melbourne edition), 2 September 1978. ABC/ACP

Permanent link to this article: https://televisionau.com/2008/08/1978-september-2-8.html

Aug 28 2008

Mark Priestley

  • 28 August 2008

markpriestley Actor Mark Priestley, from long-running series All Saints, has been found dead in Sydney.

The 32-year-old Perth-born actor is believed to have suffered from depression and may have taken his own life.

Graduating from NIDA in 1999, Priestley worked in the theatre with the Bell Shakespeare Company and the Sydney Theatre Company, before guest roles in TV series including Water Rats, Blue Heelers and The Secret Life Of Us as well as mini-series Changi and telemovie Loot. He joined the cast of Seven‘s All Saints as Dan Goldman in 2004.

Priestley’s death comes just days after his character was wed to hospital colleague Erica Templeton (Jolene Anderson) on an episode of All Saints, watched by over 1.2 million viewers.

In a statement on Seven’s website, program and production director Tim Worner paid tribute to Priestley:

“Mark was such a brilliant artist. His work on stage and screen was admired by everybody who knew him. His death is such a sad loss. We at Channel Seven will miss his energy and smile.

“Our thoughts and prayers are with Mark’s family and friends.”

Source: The Age
Picture: TV Week, 16 August 2008

Anyone suffering depression or personal problems can contact Beyond Blue or Lifeline

Permanent link to this article: https://televisionau.com/2008/08/mark-priestley.html

Aug 24 2008

1978: August 26-September 1

  • 24 August 2008

tvtimes_260878 Megan Williams’ views on marriage
The Sullivans actress Megan Williams (pictured, with co-star John Walton) has good and bad news for Australian men. The good news: she is a romantic. The bad news: she is in no hurry to marry or settle down. The 21-year-old who shot to national fame in the teenage soap Class Of ’74, followed by a role in the stage production of Wonder Woman, is tackling a more serious role in playing Alice Morgan in the 1940s war time drama: “I know I have a lot to learn about acting, and The Sullivans is helping a lot.”

TV Violence: A Special Report
The average school-leaver has spent more hours watching TV than in school – a statistic that has parents, teachers, governments and even TV executives concerned about what TV is teaching children and how it affects their development. Research conducted on school-age children in Western Australia found that 5-to-8 years olds were watching TV more than their older and younger counterparts, and that they are predominantly being led to believe that we are living in a mean and violent society, and that by watching predominantly American programming that this may be affecting their notions of what Australia is like as a society.

patmcdonald Just Pat’s cup of tea!
Former Number 96 star Pat McDonald (pictured) and Sue Jones, recently seen on ABC‘s The Truckies, have won the lead roles in the new comedy series The Tea Ladies, to be produced in Melbourne for the 0-10 Network. The series revolves around the team of tea ladies serving tea to Members of Parliament. For McDonald, the new role will be a welcome change from the dotty Dorrie Evans who was part of Number 96 for its entire five year run: “Edna is a completely different character part. She is nothing like Dorrie.” The Tea Ladies is being produced by Maurice Murphy (whose credits include Aunty Jack and Alvin Purple), and written by British writers Ray Galton and Johnny Speight, with additional topical material being provided by Australian writers.

raymartin78 Zero hour for $2m venture
The Nine Network is putting the finishing touches to its ambitious new current affairs program, 60 Minutes. Executive producer Gerald Stone has announced his team of eight producers and four reporters – ABC‘s New York correspondent Ray Martin (pictured) and former A Current Affair reporters George Negus, Ian Leslie and Kate Baillieu – for the new show expected to debut later in the year. Among the producers for the program are Peter Meakin, formerly of TVW7 Perth and TEN10 Sydney before joining Nine’s A Current Affair, Gordon Bick, one of the founding members of ABC’s This Day Tonight and also formerly of Four Corners, and former This Day Tonight and Holiday reporter Jeff Watson.

TV probes jail, hospital dramas
ABC has announced plans to produce a documentary series about hospitals. The network has held discussions with a Sydney hospital about the feasibility of producing a series following the day-to-day operations of the hospital. The program, to run for six episodes in the new year, is expected to cover surgical, casualty and geriatric wards as well as industrial relations and perhaps some of the lives of some of the doctors and nurses. ABC has also taken cameras inside Parramatta Jail for a BBC program Jailhouse Shock, which also follows a rehabilitation scheme being adopted in an American prison.

Viewpoint: Letters to the Editor:
“I would like to congratulate Roger Climpson and the producers of This Is Your Life for featuring someone like Dr William McBride, who has done so much for science, instead of nearly always having politicians or actors.” M. Ford, SA.

“Lately there’s been a lot of fuss about the conversion to metrics. Although personally I am against this conversion, I would be interested to know why, in quiz programs (in most cases), they still use the imperial measurements. I have just been watching It’s Academic with Sandy Roberts and always there were many occasions where metrics should have been used, not once were they. This is hardly fair to the young contestants when they are getting metrics pushed down their throats by their teachers and the media.” P. Newey, SA.

“I enjoy watching the live telecast of Sydney Rugby League, but have to turn down the sound to cut out the inane and unfair comments of Reg Gasnier and Rex Mossop.” J. Watson, NSW.

What’s On (August 26-September 1):
ABC‘s talent series Quest, hosted by Peter Regan, begins a new season with a look back at the winners from the 1977 series and interviews with the series judges, Dame Joan Hammond (opera), Bryan Ashbridge (ballet), Peter Rorke (instrumental) , Joe Latona (open), Brian May (popular vocal) and Betty Pounder (musical comedy).

HSV7 presents a documentary Woodchipping: Can We Afford It? New techniques of using forests for woodchipping is having a drastic effect, and this two-hour special brings to the Australian public the significance of woodchipping and its long-term effects on Australia.

Wednesday 7.30pm seems to be a programming void with all three commercial channels offering one-off specials: Lindsay Wagner – Another Side Of Me (HSV7), The Great Moscow Circus (GTV9) and Paul Williams In Concert (ATV0).

A Woman In The House is this week’s Stuart Wagstaff’s World Playhouse production, starring Neil Fitzpatrick, Penne Hackforth-Jones and Wendy Hughes.

Sunday night movies are The Defection Of Simas Kudirka (HSV7), F. Scott Fitzgerald And The Last Of The Belles (GTV9) and the ‘modified TV version’ of Sunday Bloody Sunday (ATV0). Actor John Waters is the guest on ABC‘s Capriccio!, joining Jennie Cullen, Rod Dunbar and Geraldine Turner in singing songs by Jacques Brel.

Source: TV Times (Melbourne edition), 26 August 1978. ABC/ACP

Permanent link to this article: https://televisionau.com/2008/08/1978-august-26-september-1.html

Aug 19 2008

Alan Dale attacked by zombies!

  • 19 August 2008

alandale Is there no stopping Alan Dale?  For twenty years he was the stalwart of Aussie soaps with long-running roles in The Young Doctors and Neighbours (as Jim Robinson, pictured).  Then he went overseas and has continued to pop up on our screens ever since – 24, The OC, Lost, The West Wing, Ugly Betty and Torchwood, just to name a few, before coming back home for the second series of Nine‘s Sea Patrol.

Now the New Zealand-born actor has signed up to appear in the UK ITV1 network’s satire Moving Wallpaper and its new companion production Renaissance which replaces soapie Echo Beach (which co-incidentally starred one of Dale’s former Neighbours off-spring Jason Donovan) which was not renewed for a second series.

Renaissance, a “completely and utterly ridiculous” send-up of the horror genre, will feature Dale and British TV presenter Kelly Brook as airline passengers whose plane is attacked by zombies. 

The second series of Moving Wallpaper, to screen on ITV1 in the new year, will again feature producer Jonathan Pope (Ben Miller) as he now heads the team behind Renaissance.

It is not known when ITV1 will schedule Renaissance, but unlike Echo Beach it will be a one-off production which will not be shown back-to-back with Moving Wallpaper .

The first series of Moving Wallpaper and Echo Beach have just finished their run in Australia on ABC2 but are available to download via ABC iView.

Source: Media Guardian
Related: Jim Robinson ‘spotted’ in UK Channel 4 promo

Permanent link to this article: https://televisionau.com/2008/08/alan-dale-attacked-by-zombies.html

Aug 18 2008

1978: August 19-25

  • 18 August 2008

tvtimes_190878 Gil is an actor by accident
In the Seven Network‘s police drama Cop Shop, Gil Tucker (pictured, with co-star Paula Duncan) has taken on one of TV’s biggest challenges – character comedy – but the thirty-year-old admits that he only got into acting by accident. It was only after a near-fatal fall from a sportscar that led to a lengthy hospital stay that prompted him to reflect on life and that it was going nowhere. Soon after leaving hospital he played a minor role in the production of Othello for Sydney’s Independent Theatre and the acting career moved on from there with a stint at the National Institute of Dramatic Art (NIDA), more theatre roles and then an appearance in ABC‘s Power Without Glory before scoring the role of the bumbling Constable Roy Baker in Cop Shop.

corneliafrances Scott free!
After two years as the over-efficient Sister Grace Scott (pictured) in The Young Doctors, actress Cornelia Frances is leaving the series to move to Melbourne with her husband whose job had transferred there. “I’ve grown very close to the people I work with and our friends are in Sydney, so it’s a nasty uprooting. But, of course, we’ll make new friends in Melbourne,” she told TV Times. Producers of the series insist that Sister Scott will not be written out permanently and that the door will be left open for her to return.

Ready, set, go for two quizzes
A honeymoon around the world and $25,000 are the two major prizes being offered by the Grundy Organisation in its two new quiz shows, Perfect Match and The Pyramid Challenge. Both programs, to be produced at TVQ0 Brisbane, are expected to debut next month across the 0-10 Network. Perfect Match intends to feature newlywed couples and question them separately about their relationship. The winning couple will be the one with the most, or closest, matched answers. The Pyramid Challenge, to be hosted by former Coles £3000 Question compere Malcolm Searle, promises to be a general knowledge quiz where contestants can work their way up a pyramid from one level to the next to win a potential prize of $25,000.

Travolta by satellite
John Travolta will be one of the first international stars to be featured in a new series of satellite interviews to be conducted on The Don Lane Show. Producer Peter Faiman said that about 10 satellite interviews were in planning, with others to feature Lucille Ball, Burt Reynolds and the Bee Gees.

7_black Viewpoint: Letters to the Editor:
“I would like to complain about something that I have noticed recently on ATN7 Sydney – that Channel 7 can’t spell ‘colour’, but insist on writing ‘color’. By the time you get to be grown up, I think you should be able to spell a simple six-letter word: ‘Color’ is the American way. Wake up Channel 7! Have you realised this is Australia? I am only 11 years old, but a spelling mistake on TV sticks out like a sore thumb!” M. Fenley, NSW

“We three disappointed fans, who watch The Restless Years every week, were very sorry to see Penny (Deborah Coulls) has suddenly dropped out of the show and her replacement, Sue Smithers, does not resemble her in any way and her personality is completely different. We think the show is fabulous and the acting excellent apart from this.” The Leoni family, QLD.

“I would like to say how much I admire Ian Meldrum‘s work on the TV documentary concerning heroin (TV Times, 1 July 1978). I think there should be more people to make a stand against the drug scene.” S. Shields, TAS.

What’s On (August 19-25)
ATV0 presents The Australian Film Institute Awards, live from Perth’s Entertainment Centre. Finalists for the Awards’ Best Film category are The Chant Of Jimmie Blacksmith, Newsfront, Mouth To Mouth and Patrick.

Monday night, ATV0 presents the curiously titled Thank God It’s Friday At The Zoo, a variety program with a focus on local and overseas disco performances, hosted by Sydney radio personality Ian MacRae.

HSV7‘s Wednesday night movie is the Canadian documentary Games Of The XXI Olympiad 1976, reviewing the Games held in Montreal depicting some of the great personal triumphs and challenges not seen in the mainstream coverage of the fifteen-day event.

A number of celebrity specials during the week including Gene Kelly – An American In Pasadena (GTV9), Lucille Ball – The First 25 Years (ATV0), and Glen Campbell And Olivia Newton-John – Down Home, Down Under (GTV9).

Sunday night movies are The Jerusalem File (HSV7), Can Can (GTV9) and How Sweet It Is (ATV0). ABC‘s Sunday night variety show Capriccio! features music chosen by former cricketer and commentator Richie Benaud and performed by the Sydney Symphony Orchestra.

Source: TV Times (Melbourne edition), 19 August 1978. ABC/ACP

Permanent link to this article: https://televisionau.com/2008/08/1978-august-19-25.html