1991: February 2-8

Welcome to my nightmare!
A Country Practice marks its 800th episode with a horrifying leap into the future.  In the episodes to screen next week, Lucy Tyler (Georgie Parker, pictured) experiences a nightmare triggered by the arrival of a film crew in Wandin Valley for production of a post-holocaust movie. In the dream, Wandin Valley has suffered a nuclear attack and Lucy finds the town and surrounds have been destroyed and her fellow Wandin Valley residents all haggard and suffering radioactive illness. “It’s quite a philosophical episode, in that we had to try and not get too idealistic about the environment issues,” Parker told TV Week. “We had to make it digestible, and I think that we managed to do that.”

tammymacintosh Tammy’s in love… and nervous!
”My first scene is sex.  I’ve never done anything like that before… I was petrified,” says Tammy MacIntosh (pictured), formerly of The Flying Doctors, describing her arrival into Nine’s adults-only drama Chances. MacIntosh plays Mandy Foster, assistant and lover of advertising executive Alex Taylor (Jeremy Sims). “I tell you it feels strange when you have your own love life and you’re there kissing someone else,” she says. MacIntosh was offered a two-year contract for Chances, to play another role, but was reluctant to commit to another long-running series and opted for the short-term role of Mandy Foster instead. “I’ve learnt I get all tied up when I do a long series. I get bored, then I go a bit mad,” she says.

nickybuckley Greg’s new date is not just a pretty face!
Meet Greg Evans’ new perfect match, Nicky Buckley (pictured). The 25-year-old Melbourne model beat 140 other hopefuls to be the hostess of Blind Date, the revival of the show previously known as Perfect Match. Buckley has worked in the UK and the United States and last year was a model on Sale Of The Century. But she is more than just a pretty face. She has studied economics and accounting at university, speaks French, is learning to play the piano and is keen to take up Italian and Italian history this year. “She is a delightful girl, so amiable and friendly,” Evans told TV Week. “I think we’re going to get along famously.” Blind Date begins this week on Network Ten.

Briefly…
bertnewton_1989 Bert Newton (pictured) is set to re-enter Melbourne’s radio market with plans to “lease” ailing radio station 3AK from the station’s owner Peter Corso. Newton, entering the new venture with business partner Tony Aloi, is set to present the morning shift on the station but has yet to announce who will occupy the other slots in the new-look station, which is currently broadcasting in Italian to few listeners. It is Newton’s second chance at building a radio station, having previously been in charge of former station 3DB.

Former Young Talent Time and Neighbours cast member Mark Stevens takes on a new image in a guest role as a heavy-metal rocker in Nine’s new comedy series All Together Now. “My character is a real punk with shoulder-length hair and a studded leather jacket,” he told TV Week.

soniatoddgarysweet Despite studying classical ballet for sixteen years, Sonia Todd is out to prove that she is as good as the boys in the upcoming action series Police Rescue for ABC. “All the writers and 10 of the directors for the series are men,” Todd (pictured, with co-star Gary Sweet) told TV Week. “It was a constant battle to let them know I was capable of the action work.”

sbs_1985 John Laws says…
SBS television programmers must know something the rest of us don’t. They must have top-secret information that scattered around Australia are tens of thousands of Russians or Russian-speaking people, all desperately anxious to catch up on the news each day from the dear old motherland. Why else would our independent broadcaster spend money and time on screening the Russian news program Vremya each weekday at 2.00pm? This cold whiff of brain-deadening television screens in Russian (without subtitles!) for some 40 minutes and you don’t have to speak the Moscow lingo to quickly realise that it’s little more than tedious communist propaganda. So what’s the reasoning behind it? If SBS was showing the nightly news program from Greece or Italy I could understand it. But Russia!? There is a further silly side to the whole fiasco. SBS goes to air with Vremya at 2.00pm – then closes down again when the program finishes! It returns to begin the “real” programs an hour and 20 minutes later.”

neridaleishman Program Highlights (February 2-8):
Saturday:  Tony Johnston
and newcomer Nerida Leishman (pictured) host the return of Nine’s early morning Cartoon Company. Afternoon sport includes the Davis Cup tennis from Perth on Seven and the Fifth Test cricket from Perth on Nine.

Sunday:  The AFL pre-season Foster’s Cup kicks off with Fitzroy versus Carlton, live on SevenNine has Day Three of the Fifth Test from Perth and Ten crosses to Queensland for the Ironman Super Series. Sunday night movies are Infidelity (Seven), Shakedown On The Sunset Strip (Nine) and The Chocolate War (Ten).

timwebsterkerrianne Monday:  Network Ten’s Good Morning Australia launches a revamped look, with Kerri-Anne Kennerley joined by new co-host Tim Webster. Also joining the show this year are newsreader Anne Fulwood, weather presenter Shannon Dolan and science whiz Dr Karl Kruszelnicki. The morning show now has a lighter, brighter format with more emphasis on entertainment, consumer affairs, recreation, health and sport. Later in the day Ten launches its new 5.30pm game show, Let’s Make A Deal with Vince Sorrenti, followed by Ten Eyewitness News and then the debut of Blind Date, with Greg Evans and Nicky Buckley. Late night programs Tonight Live With Steve Vizard (Seven) and Robbo’s World Tonight (Nine) return for another year.

Tuesday:  Seven’s popular science and technology show Beyond 2000 begins another year. In Nine’s new drama series Chances, Connie’s (Deborah Kennedy) long-lost husband re-appears on the scene – is he after a reconciliation or a slice of the family’s recent lottery win?

Wednesday:  Seven presents live coverage of the Foster’s Cup match between Footscray and Hawthorn, from VFL Park in Melbourne.

tonymartinpennycook Thursday:  In E Street, Reverend Bob (Tony Martin, pictured with Penny Cook) shocks everyone with the announcement that he is leaving Westside as his blossoming relationship with Dr Elly Fielding (Cook) appears to have stalled as she looks set to have patched things up with her estranged husband David (Noel Hodda). ABC presents the final edition of Aboriginal affairs program Blackout.

Source: TV Week (Victoria edition), incorporating TV Times and TV Guide. 2 February 1991. Southdown Press.

Permanent link to this article: https://televisionau.com/2011/01/1991-february-2-8.html

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