That was also the year 7 began to challenge 9 in the ratings with the above shows dominating primetime
Yep if I remember correctly Seven won the first 8-10 rating weeks of that year. Nine went into a panic.
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1 February 1982: In Melbourne, HSV7 and GTV9 interrupt normal morning programming to simulcast the global TV special Let Poland Be Poland, produced as part of Solidarity with Poland Day.
Source: The Age
In Sydney, it appears that only TCN9 carried the program
Source: Sydney Morning Herald
Ten’s Good Morning Australia acknowledged the program in its intro with promises to cover parts of the special during the morning.
YouTube: aussiebeachut0
YouTube: US Embassy Warsaw
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Not the Nine O’Clock News and their tribute to Poland.
YouTube: potymouth8292
5 February 1973: The Mike Walsh Show debuts on the 0-10 Network, starting a new era in daytime television. Initially produced by Screen Gems, it became popular and eventually got picked up by the Nine Network. It converted to a prime time show in 1985 and was axed later that year.
5 February 1979: ATV0 has another relaunch of its Eyewitness News, introducing Annette Allison (formerly of BTQ7, Brisbane) to read news beside Bruce Mansfield. They were abruptly axed from their newsreading roles at the end of the year but both were retained by the channel in other roles.
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6 February 1982: SBS 0/28 begins screening a series of test programs of community television from Melbourne-based group Open Channel. The programs appear during Saturday and Sunday afternoons over two weekends. There was a further test transmission of Open Channel programs on 0/28 in 1983 but it was hidden in a late night timeslot (IIRC).
A few years later SBS launched a weekly series called Windows, which featured selected programs from various community TV groups that were popping up around Australia. This, of course, led to the eventual test transmissions and licencing of community TV stations in the 1990s.
Source: The Age
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11 February 1974: Adults-only series The Box debuts on ATV0, Melbourne. It followed in Sydney the next night on TEN10.
11 February 1985: The Midday Show with Ray Martin takes over the midday timeslot from The Mike Walsh Show which now moves to prime time. Midday continues in various forms until 1998.
Source: The Advertiser
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February 12, 1987: “Rafferty’s Rules” legal TV series premieres on Seven network and screens for six years.
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15 February 1981: The Nine Network celebrates 25 years of television (or, largely, 25 years of Nine) with a special hosted by Bert Newton from Centrepoint in Sydney. The program was re-run later that year on 16 September, coinciding with the actual 25th birthday of TCN9.
YouTube: Roy Gardnerra
Source: The Australian Women’s Weekly TV World
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16 February 1988: Network Ten debuts The Comedy Company, airing Tuesday nights at 9.30pm (some variations may have applied outside of Melbourne). The show, featuring a lot of talent previously from the HSV7 sketch comedy series The Eleventh Hour, was intended as a short-run series but when Ten made the surprise shift to Sunday 7.30pm and have it outrating 60 Minutes, it was extended to run the full year, and then did the same again in 1989 before taking an extended break in 1990.
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17 February 1961: HSV7 debuts courtoom drama series Consider Your Verdict, the first TV drama series to be produced by Crawford Productions. The series ran for three years.
Source: TV Times
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18 February 1980: ATV10 screens the “telemovie” The Franky Doyle Story, a re-packaging of scenes and storylines from Prisoner featuring character Franky Doyle who made an early impact in the series but actor Carol Burns decided to opt out after 20 episodes.
18 February 1984: Hey Hey It’s Saturday makes the move to prime time and becomes Hey Hey It’s Saturday Night, screening from 9.30pm to midnight.
18 February 1985: Network 0/28 becomes SBS, debuting a new logo, and begins regular daytime transmission with programs between 11am-2pm weekdays.
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23 February 1981: Network Ten launches its new breakfast show Good Morning Australia, initially airing in Sydney and Melbourne, hosted by Gordon Elliott and Sue Kellaway. It marks a return to the breakfast news format since Seven’s former Today wound up in 1975.
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Gordon Elliott is now a producer in the US. Here’s an interview with him back in 2018 Me Meeting up With Gordon Elliott - YouTube
Credit: hank norman (YouTube)
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23 February 2012 Ten hastily launched its new morning show, Breakfast 3 days early (show was to launch the following Monday) due to the Labor leadership crisis as an answer to Nine’s Today and Seven’s Sunrise
Hosted by Paul Henry and Kath Robinson, the show didn’t rate well and was axed at the end of the year
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Around the same time, children’s programming block Toasted TV moved to Eleven. This was a permanent side effect, as the block never moved back following Breakfast’s cancellation.
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25 February 1971: Matlock Police, the latest Crawfords cop drama, debuts on ATV0. It lasts for five years.
Source: TV Week / Listener In-TV
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26 February 1979: Prisoner debuts on TEN10 in Sydney, with Brisbane, Melbourne and Adelaide following the next night.
Source: TV Week
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27 February 1984: The Nine Network launches its new late night line-up: Mike Willesee returns to Nine after 12 years to present Willesee, Monday to Thursday at 9.30pm.
Tonight With Bert Newton follows, Monday to Thursday at 10.00pm.
The program line-up did not ultimately work out. Willesee was moved to 6.30pm weeknights the following year (and re-badged to A Current Affair a few years later), and Tonight With Bert Newton axed at the end of the year. Newton himself was let go from Nine by mid-1985.
Source: TV Week
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