Today’s TV: Wednesday 9 December 1998 (Part 1 - free-to-air channels and regional stations)
from the NZ Listener
TV One
6.00am BBC World - BBC World News
6.15 Te Karere (Rpt)
A repeat screening of the previous day’s bulletin
6.30 Telstra Business
7.00 Breakfast
9.30 5.30 with Jude (Rpt, G)
A repeat screening of the previous day’s programme
10.00 Good Morning
Noon Midday (News)
12.30 BBC World, including:
12.30 Europe Direct
1.25 BBC World News
1.55 World Business Report
2.10 Asia Today
2.30 Heartbeat (Rpt, G)
3.30 The Bold and the Beautiful (PGR)
4.00 Keeping Up Appearances (Rpt, G)
4.35 Te Karere
4.50 EastEnders (G)
5.30 5.30 with Jude (G)
6.00 One Network News
7.00 Holmes
7.30 Fair Go
8.00 TeleBingo
8.35 Crash (Part 2) (PGR)
9.40 Tonight (News)
10.05 Silent Witness (AO)
11.10 Moloney (AO)
12.10am Infomercials
1.30 BBC World, including:
1.30 World Focus - Reporters
2.00 BBC World News
2.15 World Business Report
2.30 The World Today
3.30 World Living - The Net
4.00 BBC World News
4.30 HARDtalk
5.00 BBC World News
5.30 World Focus - Reporters (Continues to 6am)
TV2
6.00am Creflo Dollar
6.30 Kenneth Copeland
7.00 Sweet Valley High (Rpt, G)
7.30 The Littl’ Bits
8.00 Pokémon (G)
8.30 Bananas in Pyjamas (Rpt, G)
8.35 Barney & Friends (Rpt, G)
9.00 Here’s Humphrey (Rpt, G)
9.30 Shortland Street (Rpt, PGR)
10.00 Infomercials
Noon The Young and the Restless (PGR)
1.00 Days of Our Lives (PGR)
2.00 Ricki Lake (AO)
3.00 Infomercial
3.30 Where on Earth Is Carmen Sandiego? (Rpt, G)
4.00 CatDog (G)
4.30 The Angry Beavers (G)
5.00 Rugrats (Rpt, G)
5.30 The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air (Rpt, G)
6.00 Home and Away (G)
6.30 The Simpsons (Rpt, G)
7.00 Friends (Rpt, PGR)
7.30 Dharma & Greg (PGR)
8.00 Spin City (PGR)
8.30 Wednesday Movie - Pie in the Sky (1995) (AO)
10.25 Trauma: Life and Death in the ER (AO)
11.30 Poltergeist: The Legacy (AO)
12.30am Jackie Collins (G)
1.00 Emergency 000 (G)
2.00 Australian Gladiators (Rpt, G)
3.00 Stingray (Rpt, G)
3.40 Good Morning (Rpt)
A repeat screening of the previous day’s programme from TV One
5.30 Infomercial (Continues to 6am)
TV3
6.00am Hour of Power
A condensed half hour version of the original hour-long format
6.30 The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle (G)
7.05 You and Me (Rpt, G)
7.30 Aladdin (Rpt, G)
8.00 Teletubbies (Rpt, G)
8.30 Jim Henson’s Animal Show (G)
9.00 Rimba’s Island (G)
9.30 Infomercials
10.30 Holiday World (PGR)
11.00 Beyond 2000 (Rpt, G)
Noon The Oprah Winfrey Show (PGR)
1.00 Sally Jessy Raphaël (AO)
2.00 Murder, She Wrote (PGR)
3.00 Thomas the Tank Engine (Rpt, G)
3.05 You and Me (G)
3.30 Thomas the Tank Engine (Rpt, G)
3.35 Teletubbies (Rpt, G)
4.05 Arthur (Rpt, G)
4.35 Mummies Alive! (G)
5.00 The Cosby Show (G)
5.30 Judge Judy (G)
6.00 3 News
7.00 Whose Line Is It Anyway? (Rpt, PGR)
7.30 Airport (PGR)
8.00 The Tourist Trap (PGR)
8.30 Tiger Country (AO)
Click the NZ On Screen link below to watch
10.30 Nightline
11.00 Law & Order (AO)
12.00am ABC World News Tonight
12.30 Infomercials
1.30 Green Acres (Rpt, G)
1.55 Sunset Beach (Double episode) (Rpt, PGR)
First shown on TV4
3.25 The Urban Peasant (Rpt, G)
3.50 Infomercials
5.00 Joyce Meyer
5.30 Benny Hinn (Continues to 6am)
TV4
9.00am Infomercials
2.00pm Talk Soup (AO)
2.30 Neighbours (Rpt, G)
3.00 Sunset Beach (PGR)
4.00 That Girl (Rpt, G)
4.30 Saved by the Bell: The New Class (Rpt, G)
5.00 The Munsters (B&W) (Rpt, G)
5.30 Breakers (G)
6.00 Blossom (Rpt, G)
6.30 Neighbours (G)
7.00 A Wedding Story (Rpt, G)
7.30 Only Fools and Horses (PGR)
8.05 The Brittas Empire (PGR)
8.40 The Best of Canned Carrott (PGR)
9.15 Shooting Stars (PGR)
9.50 Punt and Dennis (AO)
10.25 Live at Jongleurs (Rpt, AO)
10.55 The Real World (Rpt, AO)
11.25 Beavis and Butt-Head (Rpt, AO)
11.55 Infomercials
12.55am Closedown
Prime
Noon Prime Living (G)
1.00 Infomercials
2.30 Benny Hinn
3.00 The Golden Girls (G)
3.30 A Country Practice (G)
4.30 Prime Living (G)
5.30 Regional Programmes
Prime Local News (Hamilton and Christchurch)
Here’s Lucy (NZ wide - except Hamilton and Christchurch)
6.00 Bonanza (G)
7.00 Prime Sport (G)
7.30 Family Affairs (PGR)
8.00 Two Fat Ladies (G)
8.35 Prime Documentary - Streetwise (PGR)
9.35 Police Rescue (G)
10.35 Prime Sport (Rpt, G)
A repeat screening of tonight’s programme
11.05 Prime Living (G)
12.00am Closedown
Geyser Television (GTV), Rotorua
6.00am Welcome to Rotorua
7.30pm Talk of the Town
8.00 Sulphur City Sales
8.30 Benfield’s Garden Show
8.45 Austin City Limits - Ricky Van Schelden
9.15 Welcome to Rotorua (Continues to 6am)
Mercury Television, Southland
6.00am Bloomberg (Continued)
8.30 Flying House
9.00 Southern NZ
9.30 News
10.00 South ‘n’ About
10.30 Guerilla Gardener
11.00 Homestyle
11.30 Wilderness America
Noon Today’s Environment
12.30 Farming Scene
1.00 Bloomberg
1.30 Southern NZ
2.30 Flying House
3.00 Gerbert
3.30 Superbook
4.00 Animated Movie - Cinderella
5.00 The Adventures of Black Beauty
5.30 Internet Cafe
6.00 Southern NZ
6.30 World News
7.00 News
7.30 South ‘n’ About
8.00 Parent Street
8.15 Talk Back
8.30 Light Music
9.00 A Taste of Holland
9.30 News
10.00 South ‘n’ About
10.30 Parent Street
10.45 Talk Back
11.00 Southern NZ
12.00am Bloomberg (Continues to 8.30am)
CHTV, Christchurch
6.00am Bloomberg (Continued)
6.45 Shopping with Jo
7.15 News
7.45 Canterbury Today
8.15 City Life
8.45 Brian Tucker’s People
9.15 The DOG Show
9.45 Bloomberg
10.00 Shopping with Jo
10.30 Bloomberg
Noon Shopping with Jo
12.30 News
1.00 Canterbury Today
1.30 City Life
2.00 Brian Tucker’s People
2.30 The DOG Show
3.00 Bloomberg
5.00 Shopping with Jo
5.30 News
6.00 Canterbury Today
6.30 City Life
7.00 Brian Tucker’s People
7.30 Plain Talk
8.00 Baz and the Greek
9.00 Shopping with Jo (Rpt)
9.30 News (Rpt)
10.00 Canterbury Today (Rpt)
10.30 City Life (Rpt)
11.00 Brian Tucker’s People
11.30 Plain Talk (Rpt)
12.00am Bloomberg (Continues to 6.45am)
CTV, Canterbury
6.00am CNBC News (Continued)
11.30 Guerilla Gardener
Noon Homestyle
12.30 Southern NZ
1.00 Futurequest
1.30 Ethnic Cooking
2.00 Marketplace
3.00 Kidz Clubhouse
4.30 The Red Green Show
5.00 Marketplace
6.00 Bumper to Bumper
6.30 Children’s Animated Film Festival
7.30 News
8.00 Teams Tennis
9.00 Guerilla Gardener
9.30 News
10.00 Marketplace
11.00 Welcome to Canterbury
11.30 CNBC News (Continues to 11.30am)
Triangle Television, Auckland
6.00pm Wild America
6.30 Sports Machine
6.45 Te Karere
7.00 Journal
7.30 European Journal
8.00 Jagat Guru Speaks
8.30 Spanish Programme
9.00 National Arts
9.30 Documentary
10.00 PBS News Hour
11.00 BIG Top 40
12.00am Schedule repeats on a loop until 6pm next day
At 8.30pm on the evening of Wednesday 9 December 1998, Tiger Country premiered on TV3 (now Three) as a one-off police drama/telemovie.
Written by Tom Scott and Grant O’Fee, it starred Sean Duffy as Detective Senior Sergeant Tony “Horse” Radisich and Laurie Foell as Detective Sergeant Stephanie Wilson, although the Australian actress who played Wilson was sometimes credited as ‘Laurie Foel’.
With a storyline of investigating the death of a young woman, the team had to confront various false leads before finally coming across the answer they were looking for while Horse’s methods of investigation came under pressure from his superiors.
Trisha Dunleavy’s 2005 book “Ourselves in Primetime: A History of New Zealand Television Drama” reported that NZ On Air had three telemovie concepts - Tiger Country (TV3), Lawless (TVNZ) and Street Legal (TVNZ) - which it could afford to develop into a series. This funding led to the creation of Street Legal, starring actor Jay Laga’aia as Samoan lawyer David Silesi.
You can watch Tiger Country via NZ On Screen by clicking its link above.
More to come in Part 2.
