Feb 25 2021
With the disappointment of The Long Arm behind it, in 1971, Melbourne’s ATV0 continued to pursue options for a police drama to rival Homicide and Division 4. While The Long Arm was produced in-house, the station reached out to Crawford Productions — producers of Homicide and Division 4 — to develop a police drama …
Permanent link to this article: https://televisionau.com/2021/02/matlock-police-tvs-country-cops.html
Jan 29 2021
In the decade following the end of The Sullivans and The Young Doctors, the Nine Network had little success in establishing a successful serial drama. The TV graveyard of the 1980s and early ’90s is littered with Nine’s drama corpses — Starting Out, Kings, Possession, Prime Time, Taurus Rising, All The Way, Family And Friends. …
Permanent link to this article: https://televisionau.com/2021/01/30-years-since-chances.html
Jan 26 2021
Actress and performer Lorrae Desmond has been awarded a Member (AM) in the General Division of the Order of Australia in the 2021 Australia Day Honours List. Her honour is in recognition of “significant service to the performing arts as an actor, entertainer and singer”. Desmond, who was awarded a Member of the Order of …
Permanent link to this article: https://televisionau.com/2021/01/lorrae-desmond-in-australia-day-honours.html
Dec 12 2020
In the late 1970s, ABC entered into a joint venture with Trans-Atlantic Enterprises in the US to produce six telemovies for broadcast in Australia and for sale overseas. While the telemovies were filmed in Australia, they would feature American actors in lead roles — a common tactic to attract overseas interest in selling Australian-made productions. …
Permanent link to this article: https://televisionau.com/2020/12/shimmering-light-took-abc-to-the-surf.html
Oct 24 2020
[This is a revision of posts that were published in 2010 and 2015] It is 40 years today since Bruce Gyngell (pictured) announced “Good evening, and welcome to multicultural television,” on the opening night of Channel 0/28 — the network that is now SBS. The birth of 0/28 and multicultural television came five years after …
Permanent link to this article: https://televisionau.com/2020/10/sbs-television-turns-40.html
Oct 08 2020
In 1976, the Variety Club of Australia, TV Times and the Seven Network launched The Australian TV And Film Awards, nicknamed “The Sammys”. The name was derived from the trophy’s design in the shape of a seal — Sammy the Seal! The awards were a rival to the long-running TV Week Logie Awards, which were …
Permanent link to this article: https://televisionau.com/2020/10/classic-tv-guides-the-sammys.html
Jun 01 2020
The launch of the Seven Network‘s Temptation in June 1970 marked the beginning of one of the most successful game show franchises on Australian television. The show was a creation of producer Reg Grundy, “inspired” after seeing the American game show Sale Of The Century. He revised the format and came up with the new …
Permanent link to this article: https://televisionau.com/2020/06/the-temptation-that-led-to-a-sale.html
Feb 17 2020
Ronne Arnold, dancer, choreographer and actor, has died in Sydney. Born in the US in the late 1930s (“it could be 1938 or 1939,” he told The Sydney Morning Herald in 2013), he came to Australia in 1960 to star in the stage production of West Side Story. What began as an intended six-month stay …
Permanent link to this article: https://televisionau.com/2020/02/obituary-ronne-arnold.html
Jan 26 2020
Nine Network newsreader Peter Overton (pictured), veteran performer Noeline Brown, transgender actor and activist Georgie Stone and TV presenter Johanna Griggs are among television identities to feature in this year’s Australia Day Honours List: Officer in the General Division of the Order of Australia (AO): Ian Healy (AO) — “For distinguished service to cricket at …
Permanent link to this article: https://televisionau.com/2020/01/tv-names-in-australia-day-honours-list.html
Jan 20 2020
By the turn of the ’80s it was the unofficial benchmark for each commercial network to have two successful soapie dramas in the schedule. Seven had Cop Shop and Skyways, and Nine had The Sullivans and The Young Doctors. The then 0-10 Network had the popular Prisoner and teen drama The Restless Years. For some reason, …
Permanent link to this article: https://televisionau.com/2020/01/arcade-going-from-hero-to-zero.html
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