21 August 1959: Date of the first TV News-Times, Melbourne edition. Editor of the magazine was Desmond Zwar, father of writer and actor Adam Zwar.
The magazine’s title was later shortened to TV Times and continued in publication until being merged with TV Week in 1980.
23 August 1993: SBS newsreader Mary Kostakidis presents a half-hour preview of the network’s new morning programming block, Worldwatch — marking SBS’ debut in daily early morning television. Worldwatch started the following morning at 7am with four hours of news programs via satellite from broadcasters in China, Germany, Russia and the United States. Following Worldwatch is Weatherwatch, a continuous weather forecast featuring up to date satellite images, through to the late afternoon resumption of programming.
23 August 1996: Lisa Treloar hosts the new wedding game show I Do, I Do (Ten), where three couples compete for the opportunity for the show to host their wedding. Each couple has their families and friends in the audience, dressed in formal clothes, in the hope they will be attending the major prize — a televised wedding.
24 August 1982: ABC debuts a ten-part drama series, Winner Take All, starring Ronald Falk, Diana McLean, Tina Bursill, Briony Behets, Peter Curtin, Mercia Deane-Johns and Sean Myers. The series has a big business theme and is set around a fictional mining company.
24 August 2002: The hit ’80s dating show Perfect Match makes a return with a new version on Seven hosted by Shelley Craft, formerly of Saturday Disney.
24 August 2007: SBS begins HotSpell, a spelling contest screening over ten consecutive nights with contestants aged nine to 13, hosted by Michael Tuahine.
In a poll sometime around 2000, NewsCorp TV guide readers voted I Do, I Do “the biggest turkey in Australian TV history” ahead of Let The Blood Run Free.
IIRC, Agro was a co-host of sorts.
I think they were a bit harsh to label Let The Blood Run Free a (2nd biggest) turkey.
26 August 1972: ABC and Seven both broadcast the Opening Ceremony of The Games Of The XX Olympiad, live from Munich.
26 August 1990: Seven begins screening the children’s series Round The Twist, originally shown on ABC, starring Tamsin West, Sam Vanderberg, Richard Moir and Bunney Brooke.
26 August 1991: Four Corners presents a special edition to commemorate its 30th anniversary, introduced by reporter Chris Masters.
26 August 1996: Daryl Somers hosts the special Hey Hey It’s The Comedians No.2, featuring some of the best comedians to have appeared on Hey Hey It’s Saturday over the years — including Elliot Goblet, Lucky Grills, Marty Fields, Rita Rudner, Anthony Morgan, Bobcat Goldthwaite, Lano & Woodley, Hale & Pace and the Scared Weird Little Guys.
26 August 2008: The Seven Network debuts comedy-drama series Packed To The Rafters, starring Erik Thomson, Rebecca Gibney, Hugh Sheridan, Jessica Marais, Angus McLaren and Michael Caton.
26 August 2010: Network Ten announces plans to launch a new digital channel, Eleven, presenting a youth-focused entertainment line-up, with prime-time to be headlined by Neighbours and The Simpsons.
The Simpsons never really felt at home on Eleven, They had their Animation night but The Simpsons never felt as solid as it was on Ten.
As we all know, Ten underwent its News Revolution which backfired spectacularly. Now all they have is the midday news and the flagship 5:00pm bulletins, of which only two (Melbourne and Perth) are currently truly local (Adelaide’s bulletin is produced from Sydney while Sydney/Brisbane is a composite bulletin).
OT but Perth isn’t 100% local. Their control room and Line Up Producer is based in Sydney. Also the Perth weekend edition is presented from Sydney.
From what I read on TV Blackbox about the bulletin returning to Perth with Natalie Forrest as anchor, it appears the move back west is only temporary while Charlotte Goodlet is on maternity leave, with production expected/likely to return to Sydney when she comes back.
And yes I know Perth has a separate weekend edition produced from Sydney; save for that period between 2014-18 when they received the weekend national news on delay (which caused outrage IIRC) this had been the case since at least 2000; I can recall a few times when the late Charmaine Dragun presented the Perth weekend bulletins from TEN-10.
If/when production of the Perth bulletin returns to Sydney, this will mean that TEN-10 produces four of the five flagship bulletins (Melbourne of course being the outlier).
27 August 2001: SBS debuts comedy series Life Support, presenting a satirical, sometimes dark look at Australian life through the guise of a mock lifestyle show.
27 August 2007: Seven debuts its new crime procedural drama City Homicide, starring Shane Bourne, Noni Hazlehurst, Daniel MacPherson, Aaron Pederson, Nadine Garner and Damien Richardson. On the same night, Nine screens the free-to-air debut of telemovie The King, a dramatisation of the life of entertainer Graham Kennedy, starring Stephen Curry as Kennedy. The King was broadcast earlier in the year on Foxtel.
27 August 2009: SBS debuts two new shows, history quiz ADbc with Sam Pang and gardening show Costa’s Garden Odyssey with Costa Georgiadis.
Don’t think it will go back to Sydney now, didn’t someone unofficially confirm that on here?
Apparently, Graham Kennedy’s closest friends weren’t happy with the film.
Is anyone ever pleased with these dramatised TV movies about their lives or those close to them if the subject has passed The ones from the past decade or so seemed to get criticized quite heavily.
One of the best Australian dramas (or comedra) in recent times
They didn’t like it focusing on his sex life, fair enough but any dramatisation will feature bits friends and family might not like.
Though this also came at a time when All Saints was nearing the end of its production life, the show ultimately coming to an end in October 2009.
So as one era began, another was about to come to a close.
All Saints would last another season with Rafters continuing and was 7’s flagship drama series in the early 2010s.
Packed to the Rafters was the replacement for Blue Heelers. After All Saints was axed Seven spent all their money on paying more to secure the AFL rights and then had to stop making as much Australian drama.
I’d say City Homicide was more of a direct replacement for Blue Heelers given both of these shows were police dramas.
Around this same time, Channel 10 launched its own local police drama called Rush.