An ever present reminder of how one outage can cripple most of the world. Makes me nostalgic about how we got by without computers running every aspect of our life.
That was a crazy day
19 July 1980: The Seven Network’s coverage of The Games Of The XXII Olympiad begins from Moscow, USSR. The Opening Ceremony is broadcast live from Lenin Stadium, with around four hours of coverage each day for the duration of competition.
19 July 1987: The final edition of Countdown, followed later by the final annual presentation of the Countdown Music And Video Awards.
19 July 1995: The Nine Network premieres Weddings, a spin-off of the special aired in 1994, going behind the scenes at the average and not-so-average wedding. Hosted by Jane Hall. The Nine Network presents Halifax fp telemovie Lies Of The Mind, starring Rebecca Gibney, Richard Roxburgh, Jacqueline McKenzie, Marshall Napier, John Stanton, Louise Siversen and Angela Punch McGregor.
19 July 1998: The Nine Network presents Halifax fp telemovie Isn’t It Romantic, starring Rebecca Gibney, Bruce Spence, Hugo Weaving, Grant Piro, Neil Melville, Roger Oakley, Asher Keddie and Clodagh Crowe.
19 July 2000: The Nine Network presents the special Renovation Rescue, featuring presenters from Nine’s various lifestyle shows (Changing Rooms, Backyard Blitz, Burke’s Backyard, Our House, Money, Getaway and Animal Hospital) as they work to improve a house that’s been on the market without any buyer interest.
YouTube: For The Love Of Broadcast
19 July 2009: The finale of the inaugural series of MasterChef Australia draws the highest audience of any non-sports program since OzTAM records were introduced in 2001.
19 July 2010: Network Ten presents the Melbourne International Comedy Festival Great Debate — ‘That Food Is Better Than Sex’ — featuring Paul McDermott, Arj Barker, Fiona O’Loughlin, Cal Wilson, Russell Kane, Greg Behrendt and Corinne Grant.
2 Likes
I assume this would be the same time that TCN and GTV 9 started broadcasting 24/7
Yes although it appears that TCN and GTV did present all-night movie marathons on the nights of 16 and 17 July leading up to the start of Olympics coverage early morning on 18 July.
1 Like
20 July 1973: The Evil Touch, a 26-episode anthology series of mysteries, makes its debut on GTV9. The series was an Australian production but with an eye on the overseas market featured guest appearances by a list of American actors. Although Australian television was still in black-and-white, the series was produced in colour to attract overseas sales — a tactic employed by a number of Australian productions during that era. (This series was profiled on a recent episode of The Back Side Of Television)
YouTube: Maljardin
20 July 1979: GTV9 presents a delayed coverage of the 1979 Miss Universe pageant, held at Perth’s Entertainment Centre earlier that day to align with prime time in the United States. The event is hosted by American personalities Helen O’Connell and Bob Barker. Judges include Carol Lynley, Lana Cantrell, LeVar Burton and Ita Buttrose.
20 July 1980: ABC premieres Australian Theatre Festival, a series of six plays from Australian writers. The first play, Coralie Lansdowne Says No by Alex Buzo, stars Wendy Hughes, Brian Blain, David Waters and Robert Coleby.
20 July 1992: ABC debuts children’s series Bananas In Pyjamas, featuring the characters from Play School. The series of 40 five-minute episodes is narrated by Karina Kelly.
20 July 1995: Rob Guest and Johanna Griggs host the special Missing Pieces, covering a variety of human interest stories and inviting viewers to call in with clues to help solve various mysteries.
20 July 1996: The Seven Network’s coverage of The Games Of The XXVI Olympiad begin from Atlanta, Georgia, with the Opening Ceremony and Day One of competition.
20 July 1998: The Nine Network premieres Gonged But Not Forgotten, revisiting some of the past contestants from Hey Hey It’s Saturday‘s “Red Faces” segment. Hosted by Peter Rowsthorn, Wendy Mooney and Fiona MacGregor.
YouTube: Rebecca Lupton
20 July 2000: The Seven Network premieres game show Win Roy And HG’s Money, with Roy Slaven (John Doyle) and HG Nelson (Greig Pickhaver).
20 July 2009: The 7PM Project (later The Project, following a timeslot change) debuts on Ten.
20 July 2014: ABC1 is rebranded back as ABC
2 Likes
21 July 1990: ABC begins coverage of the 1990 Goodwill Games, being held in Seattle, USA, presenting an hour of highlights in the early evening on each day of competition as well as a further hour later in the night.
21 July 1992: ABC debuts ‘documentary series’ Sylvania Waters, a 12-part series focusing on the life of an Australian family who have been followed by a camera crew for five months.
21 July 2001: Network Ten premieres game show Moment Of Truth, hosted by Kerri-Anne Kennerley.
21 July 2002: Network Ten premieres Celebrity Big Brother with host Gretel Killeen and celebrity housemates Dylan Lewis, Kyle Sandilands, Sara-Marie Fedele, Kimberley Cooper, Adriana Xenides, Imogen Bailey, Anthony Mundine and Vanessa Wagner (Tobin Saunders).
21 July 2003: Wheel Of Fortune begins a week-long celebrity challenge, including Seven Network personalities Shelley Craft, Aristos Papandroulakis, Meave O’Meara, Melanie Symons, Rob Palmer, Dr Harry Cooper, Cindy Sargon and Patrick Thompson.
21 July 2008: After eight seasons, Network Ten reality series Big Brother Australia comes to an end.
21 July 2010: The Seven Network premieres documentary series The Suspects: True Australian Thrillers.
I remember in 2006 then-PM John Howard said on radio that Network Ten should “do something and get this show off the air” or something to that effect.
And now the 10 iteration will soon be returning, with Mel Tracina as host.
That was after the turkey-slapping incident I believe.
1 Like
Yes. A very big controversy at the time.
2 Likes
22 July 1979: ABC in Sydney and Melbourne presents the final instalment of multicultural television programs from the Special Broadcasting Service (SBS). A second series of test programming from SBS was to follow in 1980 before the broadcaster’s official launch in October 1980.
22 July 1981: Victoria’s television stations are forced to be restricted to only two hours of programming between 6 and 8pm in a bid to stem widespread power usage across the state following a snap strike called by power workers in the Latrobe Valley.
22 July 2008: SBS screens Walk Like A Man. Narrated by Ian Roberts, the documentary traces the journey of two gay rugby teams, the San Francisco Fog and the Sydney Convicts, as they prepare to battle in the Bingham Cup.
22 July 2010: ABC launches ABC News 24, the first 24-hour free-to-air news channel in Australia.
22 July 2010: ABC1 premieres four-part documentary series The Making Of Modern Australia, looking at the social and cultural shifts in postwar Australia, told through the stories and memories of ordinary Australians.
3 Likes
There was a ABC closedown from the night before where they went through the programs for those two hours. I can’t find it though…
1 Like
Just imagine if they tried to do any of that nowadays.
2 Likes
23 July 1938: Bert Newton is born in the Melbourne suburb of Fitzroy. He began his career in radio in the early 1950s, and in television in 1957. Over his career he worked at ABC, Seven, Nine and Ten networks, hosted 19 TV Week Logie Awards presentations, won four TV Week Gold Logies and in 1988 was inducted into the TV Week Logie Awards Hall of Fame. He died in 2021 and was given a State Funeral.
23 July 1960: GTV9 launches breakfast program Today, hosted by Barry McQueen and featuring Zara Lange and Brendan Edwards.
23 July 1986: The Royal Wedding of Prince Andrew and Sarah Ferguson is televised live from London on ABC, Seven, Nine and Ten. ABC, Nine and Ten carried BBC coverage while Seven had ITV,
23 July 1989: After a months-long teaser campaign following falling ratings, Network Ten is relaunched as 10 TV Australia. The new-look network promised a slew of new shows, including Double Dare spin-off Family Double Dare, revivals of Candid Camera, The Price Is Right and Superquiz, and pop culture quiz show The Great TV Game Show.
23 July 1990: The Comedy Company‘s Mark Mitchell launches his new comedy series, The Big Time, featuring his family in real-life situations while he dreams of being a late-night TV show host.
23 July 1996: ABC medical drama GP reaches its 300th episode, with guest star Claudia Karvan.
23 July 2000: The Nine Network premieres Dot.Com.TV, demystifying technology and the online world. Hosted by Carolyn Randoe.
23 July 2003: Blue Heelers reaches its 400th episode.
23 July 2008: The Nine Network‘s This Is Your Life presents a special episode, Bert’s 70th Birthday, to pay tribute to Bert Newton. It is Newton’s third time to be honoured by the show, following earlier appearances in the 1970s and 1990s.
23 July 2009: The Seven Network premieres sketch comedy series Double Take, and an Australian version of the TV satire TV Burp. ABC premieres documentary series Whatever! The Science Of Teens, hosted by Steve Cannane.
2 Likes
Not even Bob Shanks could save the network.
Bloody good show that was.
as i have said in the past, Ten’s situation wasn’t as dire as they were making out at the time. It certainly didn’t need such a widespread revamp, which was so bad it accelerated the decline rather than fixed it. Prior to the Shanks appointment, Ten had slipped to 3rd but it wasn’t a terminal third, and still had some parts that performed well (news was going ok, Neighbours and The Comedy Company were popular, they had rugby league in NSW). By the time he had been through the place it was headed towards receivership and with even lower ratings than before.
2 Likes
and on all regional Victorian stations it was:
6.00 Local News
6.30 Seven National News
7.00 Sale of the Century
7.30 Ford Superquiz
8.00 Close.
Although GMV 6, BCV 8/STV 8 and AMV 4 screened their usually scheduled programmes for their viewers on the New South Wales side of the Murray in which these stations served, but using emergency power in the Victorian studios (AMV’s studio was in Lavington on the NSW side) and at their Victorian transmitter sites. There was a scroll saying something like “operating on emergency power for N.S.W. viewers. Victorian viewers please turn off your television due to power restrictions.”.
1 Like