1990: September 29-October 5

tvweek_290990 ‘It’s a dream come true!’
Home And Away star Craig McLachlan (pictured) was hoping that his reduced profile on the series would make it easier to fit time in for his music career – but now it looks like the TV Week Gold Logie winner is going to be busier than ever.  The Seven Network is believed it be wanting McLachlan for an upcoming mini-series, The Battler, plus there are plans for a role in an upcoming movie, with the working title of Light Of Day, which producers hope can also secure the services of Mel Gibson.  “It’s a period piece, set at the turn of the century,” McLachlan told TV Week.  “Ever since I was a little guy film has always been the ultimate thing to aspire to.  It’s a dream come true.”

johnmangos The challenge is on!
Following his recent resignation from the Nine Network, former Coast To Coast co-host John Mangos (pictured) is believed to have been offered a role at the Ten Network to front a weekly current affairs program with former 60 Minutes reporter Ian Leslie.  The new show, which could slot in against 60 Minutes, comes after Leslie was forced to step aside from reading Ten’s Sydney evening news after poor ratings and a recurring throat virus.  He has also suffered a setback when the documentary unit he headed at Ten was wound up as a cost-cutting measure – plus he had suffered personal trauma with the death of his mother.  Mangos, a veteran of 14 years at the Nine Network, suddenly found himself being a “personality without a profile” after the axing of Coast To Coast and with no other network projects in the pipeline.  The last straw came when the former US correspondent for the Nine Network was asked to co-host the weekly NSW Lotto draw.

anthonyackroyd The year of living drearily!
Comedian Anthony Ackroyd, currently appearing in ABC’s The Big Gig, has spoken to TV Week about his early, and short-lived, career as a public servant in his home state of Tasmania.  “All the world’s biggest losers were there.  I’d have these half-hour toilet breaks just so I could get away from it all and read a good magazine.  They must have thought I was constantly constipated.  After exactly one year I went straight back to social security!”  Ackroyd is finding The Big Gig to be somewhat more rewarding with his two characters, Addam the advertising executive (pictured) and Shakespeare. “Addam’s the coke-snorting ad-head with the deep voice who considers himself a creative genius,” he told TV Week.  And the Shakespeare character is proving to be popular with female viewers.  “I did a lot of Shakespeare theatre and it’s nice to be putting that codpiece on again.  The girls go crazy over it… I suppose the sight of those pert buttocks is just too much for them,” he says.

Briefly…
Derryn Hinch
, who recently celebrated the 700th edition of Hinch At Seven, has decided to commit to the Seven Network for another two years.  Seven, he says, is the network at which he started and will end his television career.  Meanwhile, while he concedes that Sale Of The Century’s recent 10th anniversary specials gave his show a battering, he is pleased to see that another rival, Network Ten’s Neighbours, is showing signs of fading popularity.

richardhugget E Street star Richard Huggett (pictured) has had to draw on past real-life experience to help him play the part of bad boy Sonny Bennett.  “I never actually did anything bad,” he tells TV Week.  “I was arrested a couple of times for drunk and disorderly.”  On one occasion he ended up in a padded cell.  “They wanted my fingerprints and I wouldn’t give them.  I kept telling them that I hadn’t done anything wrong, so they couldn’t arrest me.   I was climbing up on the bars and acting like a monkey.  Anyway they didn’t like it, so they put me in a padded cell with one window.”

Former Home And Away star Nina Coburn has filmed a guest role in the Seven Network’s Hey Dad! – and it is expected that producers have bigger plans for the actress as a potential replacement for cast member Simone Buchanan who has filmed her last episode for the series.

grahamkennedy_4 John Laws says…
”When, in a few months, we count up the TV successes of 1990, one name will – once again – stand out: Graham Kennedy (pictured).  Graham’s return to TV in recent years has seen him perform a succession of ratings miracles.  He gave Clive Robertson a start and a thorough beating with his late-night news and giggle show on Nine, and when that ended, because he didn’t want to be involved any longer, he switched to his latest ratings-puller, Graham Kennedy’s Funniest Home Video Show.  It’s now one of Australia’s most popular programs – and I’m convinced that it’s the personal appeal of Graham Kennedy which has enabled it to command such a dominant position.”

Program Highlights (September 29-October 5):
Saturday:  HSV7
presents the last Saturday night AFL replay of the season with the Preliminary Final.  The finals schedule was forced to be extended a week due to an earlier drawn game, pushing the Grand Final to a rare October appearance.

Sunday:  HSV7 crosses to Mount Panorama, Bathurst, for the Tooheys 1000 – featuring 55 drivers from seven countries.  The telecast starts at 8am and continues through to Seven Nightly News at 6pm.  ABC presents live coverage of the VFA Grand Final in the afternoon.  Sunday night movies are The Living Daylights (HSV7), Arthur 2: On The Rocks (GTV9), Big (ATV10).

Monday:  ATV10 presents late-night coverage of the Uncle Toby’s Australian Indoor Tennis Championships, from the Sydney Entertainment Centre.  Late-night coverage continues each night to Thursday as well as two-hour coverage on Tuesday to Friday afternoon.

Tuesday:  A special edition of Beyond 2000 (HSV7) looks at the increasingly important role of science in sport, examining the pursuit of optimum human performance.  Olivia Hamnett guest stars in ABC’s GP.

Wednesday:  David Franklin, Leone Carmen and Adrian Lee guest star in The Flying Doctors (GTV9).

Friday:  ATV10 presents live prime-time coverage of the final night’s play of the Uncle Toby’s Australian Indoor Tennis Championships.  And on the eve of the 1990 AFL Grand Final, Drew Morphett hosts HSV7’s annual Football Marathon, starting at midnight and running through to 8am Saturday morning, featuring the Grand Finals of 1966, 1967, 1972, 1977 and 1989 as well as the greatest marks and goals from the past 25 years.

Source: TV Week (Victoria edition), incorporating TV Times and TV Guide.  29 September 1990.  Southdown Press.

Permanent link to this article: https://televisionau.com/2010/09/1990-september-29-october-5.html

1 comment

  1. It's not looking good for Ch 10…

    Fitting, that there will be a October AFL grand final, for the first time since 1990, with the first GF replay since 1977.

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