On This Day — 19 March

19 March 1988: Kylie Minogue (Neighbours)

19 March 1989: George Mallaby, Libby Purvis, Suzy Cato, Daniel Roberts (The Power, The Passion)

19 March 2005: Kip Gamblin, Rebecca Cartwright, Chris Hemsworth (Home And Away)

19 March 2022: Jackie Woodburne and Alan Fletcher (Neighbours)


19 March 1979: Singer Julie Anthony presents her second TV special, Julie Anthony On The Gold Coast, screening in Melbourne and later in the week in Sydney and Adelaide. The special was filmed in September and October 1978 and features guest appearances by Doctor Down Under stars Geoffrey Davies and Robin Nedwell (pictured) and singer Glenn Shorrock.

19 March 1990: Comedian Wendy Harmer, host of The Big Gig, branches out to host her own talk show, In Harmer’s Way, featuring live bands and guest artists.

19 March 1992: The Nine Network presents a one-hour special, Sex, hosted by Sophie Lee. The program explores various topics of sexuality and is the precursor to an ongoing series on the Nine Network and later Network Ten.

19 March 1993: Bert Newton hosts the 35th annual TV Week Logie Awards from Melbourne’s Grand Hyatt Hotel — TV Week Logie Awards: 25 years ago [2018]

19 March 1994: The AFL Fosters Cup Grand Final is live on Seven, from Waverley Park, Melbourne.

19 March 2007: SBS debuts six-part series Pizza World Record, a spin-off from sitcom Pizza, featuring Pauly (Paul Fenech) travelling around the world to prove he is the Number One Pizza Deliverer.

19 March 2008: The debut of ABC interview series Speaking Personally, presented by Jenny Brockie. The first episode features politician Cheryl Kernot.

 

Permanent link to this article: https://televisionau.com/2024/03/on-this-day-19-march.html

Class Of ’74 turns 50

Fifty years ago was a professional turning point for TV producer Reg Grundy.

Grundy, a former radio announcer, had built his TV production empire largely on game and panel shows — many being local adaptations of formats developed overseas. It was a successful strategy but the genre was losing favour with the networks which could gain more points with drama under the new local content rules.

Reg Grundy, Leonard Teale

So Grundy, who began his TV career as a producer and host of Wheel Of Fortune in the 1950s, moved into soap operas. He brought English TV producer Alan Coleman to Australia to put together the company’s first drama project, Class Of ’74, for the Seven Network.


YouTube: tvaustralia1

The series, scheduled in an early evening timeslot from its launch in March 1974, told the story of students and teachers at fictional school Waratah High. Veteran actor Leonard Teale (Homicide, Seven Little Australians) led the cast, joined by John Hamblin, Jeanie Drynan, Gordon Glenwright, Gaynor Sterling, Allan Lander, Janet Kingsbury, Vince Martin and US actor Chuck Danskin. The school’s initial batch of students played by Joanne Samuel, Megan Williams, Jeremy Chance, John Diedrich, Barbara Llewellyn, Anne Lambert, Adrian Bernotti, Kevin Wilson, Chris Cummings and Carla Hoogeveen — ranging in age from 16 to 25 and selected from a pool of around 300 young hopefuls.

Class Of ’74

In an era where shows like Number 96 led the charge for sex and nudity on TV, Class Of ’74 tested the boundaries as far as it could for its 7.00pm timeslot. “Number 96 is a damned good program. The difference between us and the producers of Number 96 is that we believe there’s no need to see these young people fornicating in bed. We’re not going to put on a peep show,” Class Of ’74 scriptwriter John Edwards told TV Times. “Class Of ’74 will be a straight drama presenting the full gamut of human emotions.”

Joanne Samuel, Jeremy Chance, Megan Williams

While it might not have been a “peep show”, Class Of ’74‘s pilot featured a semi-nude male character rushing from a shower into a school gymnasium. And early episode teasers were lurid enough to bring the viewers in: “Who’s the girl having an affair with one of the teachers?”, “Who’s the boy whose activities in the holidays may get him expelled as soon as he returns?”, “Is it true that one of the pupils has posed for a pornographic picture?”, “Greg lures Julie to his pad but Julie won’t have a bar of what Greg has in mind.”

Vince Martin, Carla Hoogeveen

Jeanie Drynan

However, the Australian Broadcasting and Control Board (ABCB) wasn’t convinced that Class Of ’74 was producing family-friendly drama. After the first episode aired in Sydney and Melbourne on 18 March 1974, the ABCB reviewed the first three episodes and ruled that the series exceeded the boundaries of the G-rating for 7.00pm, and ordered that two minutes be cut from the second episode. “Between 4.00pm and 7.30pm, the board believes parents should be able to allow their children to watch TV without supervision,” ABCB secretary Brian Connolly said at the time. “Class Of ’74 seems to be developing an immoral tone with a bit of sex, which is unsuitable for that timeslot when impressionable children are watching.”

The situation caused some friction between Grundy and Seven as the contract for the series stipulated that the series must be suitable for G-rating viewing. It also led to Grundy meeting with ABCB representatives in person, armed with research material that indicated that regardless of Class Of ’74, children were already watching adult drama Number 96 in high numbers. Until the show’s classification could be sorted, however, Seven in Sydney and Melbourne made the choice to temporarily shift Class Of ’74 to A-rating timeslots post-7.30pm.

Either way viewers didn’t seem to distressed at Class Of ’74‘s arrival. Its debut episode rated a 37 (per cent of households) in Sydney and the week’s episodes averaged 29 — well above the the quiz show, Great Temptation, that it replaced and which was moved to go up against Number 96 at 8.30pm. It was a move that would ultimately prove fatal for Great Temptation, ironically another Grundy production.

Jeanie Drynan, Leonard Teale

Class Of ’74 saw through the end of the year and continued as Class Of ’75, now in colour with some new cast members — including Peta Toppano, Angela Punch and Anne Charleston and former Number 96 stars Abigail, Peter Flett and Briony Behets — and a new emphasis on comedy. The new-look series, with the ABCB’s blessing to loosen some of the more draconian restrictions around contemporary dialogue, such as the word “pregnant” now allowed to be used, was not a hit with viewers.

Melbourne’s HSV7 demoted the series from prime time to Saturday mornings after barely six weeks and Sydney’s ATN7 moving it to the 5.00pm timeslot. By mid-year, the series was gone altogether. Grundy was to revisit the school drama genre with Glenview High a few years later.


Source: TV Times, 17 November 1973, 22 December 1973, 23 February 1974, 16 March 1974, 23 March 1974, 30 March 1974, 13 April 1974, 26 October 1974, 25 January 1975. The Age, 11 February 1974. TV Week, 23 March 1974, 29 March 1975. Super Aussie Soaps, Andrew Mercado

Permanent link to this article: https://televisionau.com/2024/03/class-of-74-turns-50.html

On This Day — 18 March

18 March 1964: Bill Collins (Sunnyside Up)

18 March 1978: Florence Henderson (The Brady Bunch) and Graham Kennedy (Blankety Blanks)

18 March 1978: Paul Cronin, Richard Morgan, Susan Hannaford (The Sullivans)

18 March 2000: Anne Charleston, Kym Valentine, Dan Paris, Melissa Bell (Neighbours)

18 March 2006: Jason Smith and Isabel Lucas (Home And Away)


18 March 1962: New TV Station — WIN4, Wollongong, New South Wales — TV At 60: TV comes to regional NSW [2022]

18 March 1974: The Seven Network debuts game show Blind Date, hosted by Bobby Hanna, and teen drama Class Of ’74. The latter is the first drama series to come from producer Reg Grundy.

Neighbours: Peter O’Brien, Francis Bell, Dasha Blahova, David Clencie

18 March 1985: The Seven Network debuts its new soapie, Neighbours, in Sydney, Melbourne and Adelaide. (Brisbane follows a week later) The series was axed six months later but soon re-surfaced on rival Network Ten.

18 March 1990: Seven presents the premiere of two-part mini-series All The Rivers Run II, starring John Waters, Nikki Coghill, Charles ‘Bud’ Tingwell, Peta Toppano and American actor Parker Stevenson.

18 March 1996: Garry McDonald and Magda Szubanski (pictured) host 40 Years Of Television, a look back at Australian television through the years — featuring footage of programs from all networks, including The Aunty Jack Show, The Box, The Mavis Bramston Show, Blankety Blanks and Bellbird. Guest presenter Amanda Keller presents a segment dedicated to the sacred sites of Australian TV, including Wentworth Detention Centre (Prisoner), Ramsay Street (Neighbours), Russell Street Police Headquarters (Homicide) and the apartment block that depicted Number 96.

18 March 1999: Seven screens concert special The Main Event, featuring John Farnham, Olivia Newton-John and Anthony Warlow.

18 March 2002: Nine begins nightly coverage of the Australian Swimming Championships from Brisbane’s Chandler Aquatic Centre, hosted by Ken Sutcliffe. The competition forms the selection for the upcoming Commonwealth Games and Pan Pacific Swimming Championships.

18 March 2004: SBS premieres documentary series Storyline Australia. The first episode, The President Vs David Hicks, traces the journey of David Hicks from Australia to Afghanistan and then detention by the US in Guantanamo Bay.

18 March 2006: Network Ten has live coverage of the Grand Final of the AFL pre-season NAB Cup.

18 March 2007: Bill Woods hosts Network Ten‘s coverage of the Australian Formula One Grand Prix, live from Albert Park, Melbourne. Commentators include Murray Walker, Jeremy Shaw, Greg Rust and Daryl Beattie.

18 March 2007: ABC premieres the three-part documentary series Constructing Australia. The first episode is focused on the iconic Sydney Harbour Bridge, on the occasion of its 75th birthday. Subsequent episodes look at the laying of the Overland Telegraph from Adelaide to Darwin and the construction of the Goldfields Pipeline from Perth to Kalgoorlie.

18 March 2007: Network Ten screens the Australian-UK co-production Joanne Lees: Murder In The Outback, a dramatised account of the outback disappearance of British backpacker Peter Falconio and follows his girlfriend Joanne Lees (played by Joanne Froggatt) as she makes her way to safety, and the court case that followed.

18 March 2010: Maeve O’Meara and Melbourne chef Guy Grossi present the SBS documentary series Italian Food Safari.


Permanent link to this article: https://televisionau.com/2024/03/on-this-day-18-march.html

On This Day — 17 March

17 March 1973: Abigail (Number 96)

17 March 1979: Julie Anthony (Julie Anthony On The Gold Coast)

17 March 1990: Rachel Friend and Craig McLachlan (Neighbours)

17 March 2001: Rebecca Cartwright and Beau Brady (Home And Away)

17 March 2007: Rachael Carpani and Jonny Pasvolsky (McLeod’s Daughters)


17 March 1962: New TV Station — CBN8, Orange, New South Wales — TV At 60: TV comes to regional NSW [2022]

Marion: Helen Morse, John Frawley

17 March 1974: ABC debuts Marion, a four-part series of self-contained dramas centred around Marion Richards (Helen Morse), a 21-year-old teacher facing her first posting, in a country Victorian town, during World War II. The series also features John Frawley, Kerry Armstrong, Jacqui Gordon, Elspeth Ballantyne, Patsy King, John Clayton, Ian Smith, Maurie Fields, Marty Fields, Sally Conabere, Kerry Dwyer, Gus Mercurio and Tony Bonner.

17 March 1989: Bert Newton hosts the 31st annual TV Week Logie Awards, held at Melbourne’s Hyatt On Collins. The awards are being broadcast on the Seven Network for the first time, and marks Newton’s return to hosting the awards after five years and to Seven after 30 years  — TV Week Logie Awards: 25 years ago [2014]

17 March 1991: ABC debuts Sunday morning children’s program, Couch Potato With Grant Piro.

17 March 1993: ABC debuts the new youth-oriented current affairs program Attitude, hosted by Samantha Butler. 

17 March 2003: Seven launches its new panel show The Chat Room, featuring Matt Tilley, Amanda Keller, Peter Berner, Greg Fleet and Tracy Bartram. On the same night, ABC debuts interview series Enough Rope With Andrew Denton.

17 March 2010: ABC2 Live Presents Bliss — a live broadcast of the new Australian opera and adaptation of Peter Carey’s award-winning first novel. Includes backstage coverage with Jennifer Byrne and Chris Taylor.


Permanent link to this article: https://televisionau.com/2024/03/on-this-day-17-march.html

On This Day — 16 March

16 March 1974: Graham Kennedy (The Graham Kennedy Show)

16 March 1974: Ron Shand and Pat McDonald (Number 96)

16 March 1985: Wendy Strehlow and Grant Dodwell (A Country Practice)

16 March 1991: Daryl Somers and Ossie Ostrich (Hey Hey It’s Saturday)

16 March 1996: Jo Beth Taylor and Daryl Somers (Hey Hey It’s Saturday)

16 March 2002: Madeleine West and Blair McDonough (Neighbours)

16 March 2019: Jodi Gordon and Scott McGregor (Neighbours)


16 March 1979: Bert Newton (pictured) hosts the 21st annual TV Week Logie Awards, telecast on the Nine Network from the Hilton Hotel in Melbourne. Special overseas guests include Robin Williams (Mork And Mindy), Susan Seaforth and Bill Hayes (Days Of Our Lives), Lauren Tewes (The Love Boat), Yootha Joyce and Brian Murphy (George And Mildred) and championship boxer Muhammad Ali 1979: 21st TV Week Logie Awards [2009]

16 March 1986: SBS begins transmission in Perth and Hobart — completing the broadcaster’s roll-out into every state capital city — SBS Television turns 40 [2020]

16 March 1991: Seven covers the Grand Final of the AFL pre-season Foster’s Cup, live from AFL Park, Waverley.

16 March 1996: The 90-minute special The Crawford Story (Nine) presents a nostalgic look at the shows to come from Crawford Productions, led by Hector and Dorothy Crawford.

16 March 1998: Elle McFeast (Libbi Gorr) launches her new chat show McFeast Live on ABC. The debut episode sparked controversy with the guest appearance by notorious underworld figure and convicted criminal Mark ‘Chopper’ Read, whose graphic retelling of his real-life crimes as “comedy” sparked condemnation from both inside and out of the ABC.

16 March 2003: Network Ten airs Blackjack, the first in a series of telemovies, co-written by Shaun Micallef and Gary McCaffrie and starring Colin Friels.


Permanent link to this article: https://televisionau.com/2024/03/on-this-day-16-march.html

On This Day — 15 March

15 March 1962: The Allen Brothers (Chris Bell and Peter Allen)

15 March 1967: The Seekers (Bruce Woodley, Athol Guy, Judith Durham, Keith Potger)

15 March 1975: Ernie Sigley (The Ernie Sigley Show)

15 March 1975: Ernie Sigley and Denise Drysdale (The Ernie Sigley Show)

15 March 1992: Andrew Clarke (The New Adventures Of Skippy)

15 March 2003: Claudia Karvan and Vince Colosimo (The Secret Life Of Us)

15 March 2008: Brett Tucker and Kym Valentine (Neighbours)


15 March 1979: ABC debuts ten-part documentary series Marque: A Hundred Years Of Motoring, presented by Peter Wherrett and produced by Andrew Lloyd James.

15 March 1981: The debut of the ABC period drama Outbreak Of Love, starring Rowena Wallace, Tony Bonner, Sigrid Thornton, Jackie Woodburne, Larry Held, Ilona Rodgers, Cornelia Frances, Susannah Fowle, Lewis FitzGerald, Val Lehman, Brendan Lunney and Frank Thring. The series, set in Melbourne in 1913, is based on the novel by Martin Boyd.

15 March 1991: Daryl Somers hosts the 33rd annual TV Week Logie Awards from Melbourne’s World Congress Centre and broadcast nationally through the Nine Network — TV Week Logie Awards: 25 years ago [2016]

15 March 1994: Former ABC host Andrew Denton (pictured) makes his long-awaited debut on Seven with his new late night show, Denton.

15 March 2003: Eddie McGuire, Dennis Cometti, Garry Lyon and Dermott Brereton host Nine‘s coverage of the AFL Wizard Cup Grand Final from Telstra Dome, Melbourne.

15 March 2006: Ray Martin and Liz Hayes host Nine’s coverage of the Opening Ceremony of the XVIII Commonwealth Games from Melbourne. Daily coverage of Games competition begins the following day on Nine and seven dedicated channels via Fox Sports.

15 March 2009: ABC debuts two-part docu-drama Rogue Nation, covering the stories from the early years of Australian colonialism. Historian Michael Cathcart is joined by a cast including John Wood, John Gregg, Simon Chilvers, Tony Llewellyn-Jones, Geoff Morrell, Abe Forsythe, Les Hill, Heather Mitchell, Peter O’Brien and Wayne Pygram.

Permanent link to this article: https://televisionau.com/2024/03/on-this-day-15-march.html

On This Day — 14 March

14 March 1981: Zoe Bertram and Malcolm Thompson (The Restless Years)

14 March 1998: Roslyn Oades, Ben Unwin, Kelly Glaister (Home And Away)

14 March 2009: Tessa James and Lincoln Lewis (Home And Away)

14 March 2020: Ryan Moloney (Neighbours)

14 March 1980: Bert Newton hosts the 22nd annual TV Week Logie Awards from the Hilton Hotel, Melbourne. Daytime TV host Mike Walsh won the Gold Logie for Most Popular Personality On Australian Television.

14 March 1992: ABC debuts current affairs program Foreign Correspondent, hosted by George Negus (pictured), taking a look at the news behind some of the week’s major world events, including reports from correspondents around the world.

14 March 2004: Pay TV operator Foxtel launches its digital service, offering over 100 channels including near video-on-demand and improved picture quality including many programs in widescreen.


Permanent link to this article: https://televisionau.com/2024/03/on-this-day-14-march.html

On This Day — 13 March

13 March 1971: Bert Newton and Patti McGrath

13 March 1993: Lisa Lackey and John Adam (Home And Away)

13 March 2004: Bridie Carter and Myles Pollard (McLeod’s Daughters)

13 March 2010: My Kitchen Rules


13 March 1972: Forever branded as ‘the night Australian television lost its virginity’ as Number 96 makes its debut — Number 96 at 50 [2022]

13 March 1992: The Seven Network presents the 34th annual TV Week Logie Awards, live from the Radisson President Hotel, Melbourne. Special international guests include John Stamos, Dennis Waterman and Diana Ross joining local stars including Steve Vizard, Jana Wendt, Ray Martin, Daryl Somers, Jo Bailey, Mary Coustas, Nicolle Dickson, Nick Giannopoulos, Rebecca Gibney, Elizabeth Hayes, Sophie Lee, Gina Riley, Bruce Samazan, Jennifer Keyte, Magda Szubanski and Kym Wilson — TV Week Logie Awards: 25 years ago [2017]

13 March 1993: The evening is dominated by coverage of the Federal Election results. Andrew Olle and Kerry O’Brien host The Verdict (ABC) with analysis by Andrew Peacock, Gareth Evans, Bob McMullin, Peter Costello and Andrew Denton. ABC’s coverage is followed by Call Of The Board, providing a seat-by-seat analysis of the election. Judgement Day (Nine) is hosted by Ray Martin with commentators Laurie Oakes, Senator Graham Richardson, Michael Kroger and Bob Hawke. Network Ten has five-minute election updates throughout the evening with a one-hour report, Election ’93, at 10.30pm. With live coverage of the semi-final match in the Foster’s Cup, Seven’s election coverage is limited to a half-hour report, Poll ’93, from 11.00pm.

13 March 2000: The debut of Seven‘s new morning show The Morning Shift, with Lisa Wilkinson.

13 March 2000: The commemorate the anniversary of the debut of Number 96 (as above), Foxtel channel TV1 begins a three- week season of selected episodes from the hit series of the ’70s, introduced by Andrew Mercado.

13 March 2010: ABC begins its daily coverage of the X Paralympic Winter Games, from Vancouver, Canada. Coverage consists of a half-hour package of highlights at 6.30pm each night, repeated at around 11.30pm.

Permanent link to this article: https://televisionau.com/2024/03/on-this-day-13-march.html

Obituary: Mike McColl Jones

Mike McColl Jones, one of television’s leading writers from the golden age of variety, has died at age 86.

He was working as a travelling salesman when he scored a trial gig writing jokes for Graham Kennedy on In Melbourne Tonight. What began as a trial went on to become a professional relationship lasting on and off around 20 years. In a TV Times interview in 1973, he credited Kennedy as being the fastest ad lib thinker he’d ever met: “I might write three words which are the bones of the situation. He might get three jokes or three minutes (out of it).”


YouTube: Phil Strachan

At Kennedy’s funeral in 2005, he wrote and read a speech in the form of a fax sent from Kennedy in heaven.

He also wrote for Bert Newton, Don Lane and Mary Hardy, worked on 25 TV Week Logie Awards presentations and two Royal Command performances.

Although much of his career was at GTV9 in Melbourne, he also wrote for Peter Couchman Tonight at Ten and Tonight Live With Steve Vizard at Seven.

1973: Mike McColl Jones, Graham Kennedy

He wrote six books, including Graham Kennedy. Treasures. Friends Remember The King, released in 2008.

In 2017 he was awarded a Medal of the Order of Australia in the Queen’s Birthday Honours list “for service to the performing arts as a comedy writer for television.”

Source: TV Times, 10 November 1973, 16 December 1978, 23 December 1978, 1 December 1979. Baptcare, TV Tonight, Marlowes.

Permanent link to this article: https://televisionau.com/2024/03/obituary-mike-mccoll-jones.html

On This Day — 12 March

12 March 1966: Jimmy Hannan (Jimmy)

12 March 1969: Ty Hardin (Riptide)

12 March 1994: Lisa Lackey (Home And Away)


12 March 1976: Bert Newton hosts the 18th annual TV Week Logie Awards from the Southern Cross Hotel, Melbourne. Norman Gunston (Garry McDonald) and Denise Drysdale (The Ernie Sigley Show) win the Gold Logies for most popular personalities on television.

12 March 1979: ABC launches drama series The Oracle, starring John Gregg (pictured), Pamela Gibbons, Julie Hamilton and Danny Adcock.

12 March 1982: Bert Newton hosts the 24th annual TV Week Logie Awards from the Hilton Hotel, Melbourne. Newton (host of New Faces and Don Lane‘s sidekick on The Don Lane Show) went on to win the Gold Logie for most popular personality.

12 March 1990: ABC launches a new series, The Party Machine, featuring Andrew Denton as he takes an in-depth look at the upcoming Federal Election.

12 March 1995: The ABC special On Track profiles Australia’s hopefuls for the 2000 Olympic Games, including Cathy Freeman, Melinda Gainsford, Kyle Vander-Kup, Tim Forsyth, Alison Inverarity and Brenda Hanigan.

12 March 2005: Roy and HG (John Doyle and Greig Pickhaver) launch their new comedy series, The Memphis Trousers Half Hour on ABC. The show is named after an incident in which former Australian prime minister Malcolm Fraser lost his trousers in a Memphis hotel.

Permanent link to this article: https://televisionau.com/2024/03/on-this-day-12-march.html