Interesting to see A Country Practice scheduled at 8.30pm during its first weeks on air. I’m sure I watched the first episodes but only ever remember it airing at 7.30pm.
Also of interest is National Nine News airing a mid evening bulletin followed by The Johnny Carson Show.
Just a summer thing IIRC. I don’t think they ever showed The Johnny Carson Show (a renaming of The Tonight Show?) outside of summer non ratings. I vaguely recall they were fresh episodes too, straight off the satellite which I’m sure Nine paid a fortune for access to, though mostly for news content I imagine. The Johnny Carson Show I think was just a bonus.
And mid evening bulletins in summer were quite a thing in the 70s and early 80s but never really continued after that?
I only ever remember it being 7.30, initially Monday and Thursday, and then Monday and Tuesday?
Not sure that HSV7 ever had it at 8.30 but I think various regional stations did.
Checked Melbourne listings for the same evening and it appears HSV7 had more faith in the Sydney produced drama than ATN7 did.
Strange that TCN lists The Johnny Carson Show but GTV had it listed under the correct name, The Tonight Show.
Always interesting to see the schedule differences between cities before full networking became common. It appears they were already in summer programming mode judging by those forgettable American dramas.
Still quite a lot of Black and White programming in that schedule including McHale’s Navy and Gomer Pyle at 5:30.
From memory, the ratings calendar ended early in November in those days in Sydney and Melbourne, (other cities probably even earlier) giving networks a full 3 months “off” before caring about viewers again from early February 
Today’s TV: 27.11.1998, Melbourne
For some reason I used to love summer TV. Always wanted to know what game show Nine would try out at 7pm to replace Sale of the Century.
It also meant hours of cricket and tennis to watch when my parents left me alone at home. Would regularly tune in to the first major sports broadcast of summer to see whether Nine or Seven had updated their WWOS or Seven Sport graphics and intro packages.
Jeebus. I really should’ve gone out more, eh?
Oh, and it was always interesting to see who would fill in to present the news and the branded summer editions of the current affairs shows.
I completely understand. I used to frequent the north coast of NSW and the Gold Coast in the days before aggregation on holidays during the summer break so I would get to see what stations such as NRTV used to dish up for its viewers. Usually it was stuff that the metro stations passed on.
I was the same. Always paid special attention to the TV Week listings leading into summer to see what changes were coming and discover the American shows I’d heard about on Entertainment This Week that were finally going to get a run. I wasn’t much of a sport fan but my mother loved tennis and tortured us with that for weeks on end.
Didn’t each network seemingly have a clone of Peter Luck they’d have front Hinch / ACA/ willesse etc
Summer TV despite its many faults did bring up some gems. I always used to look forward to the sitcom Alice, which Channel Ten only ever played over Summer. Was never good enough to get a run during the year. And sometimes you’d get some summer promos or the occasional new series that might be a bit interesting. And in Channel 9’s case, a chance to see the remaining episodes of the big soap that would have inevitably been axed in the early part of the year.
And then when Christmas holidays came, I’d get to see the “country” TV Week with all the regional channel listings, and be in GMV6 (and perhaps BCV8) territory 
Today’s TV: 27.11.2010, Melbourne. The last day of the 2010 ratings season coincides with the final Hey Hey It’s Saturday and then the special Lights, Camera, Party! celebrates the legendary 22 Bendigo Street studios.
And ABC1 covers the Victorian state election
I remember really enjoying Alice when TEN was airing it weekday afternoons.
Different Strokes was another sitcom that seemed to get a good run on Nine over summer in the early 1980s. Always looked forward to that one. Found it hard to watch, however, when I caught a rerun not too long ago knowing what happened to the young cast.
One year (summer of 1981/82), Channel Ten in Melbourne lashed out and gave it a prime time slot over Summer as part of a 2-hour block on Fridays of otherwise dud US sitcoms that were never heard of before or since. They had Alice at 8.30, then its spin-off Flo at 9.00, then Goodtime Girls at 9.30 and Me And Maxx at 10.00. Apart from Alice I think these other ones were all one-season wonders in the US and I don’t think they were ever heard of since.
Diff’rent Strokes was a favourite of mine back in the day but like you I would probably cringe if I saw it today.
Summer schedules were definitely my favouite as it was about the only time that networks would allow Sci Fi into their schedule - things like Seven Days, Space 1999, Farscape.
Alice was a regular mid-afternoon staple during school holidays on GMV6/BCV8.
