How long did this last for? At one stage it was coming out of Melbourne?
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axed in August 1996
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Yes, but Weller and Dunstan didn’t last beyond 1993 before being replaced by Tony Eastley and later Kathy Bowlen
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9 February 1975: The Nine Network debuts new serial The Unisexers in a one-hour episode. The series, from the producers of Number 96, includes cast Walter Pym, Jessica Noad, Steven Tandy, Patrick Ward, Josephine Knur, Tina Bursill, Delore Whiteman, Tony Sheldon, John Paramor, Michele Fawdon, Anne Grigg and Sonia Hoffman. The series was axed after three weeks.
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9 February 1976: The Melbourne debut of Seven‘s new drama series Tandarra, starring Gerard Kennedy, Penne Hackforth-Jones and Gus Mercurio. (ATN7, Sydney, followed the next night) A 13-episode series set in the 1850s, Tandarra was the sequel to Cash And Company that aired the previous year. The 0-10 Network debuts its new charade game show The Celebrity Game, hosted by Mike Preston with Johnny Pace, Harriet, Joe Martin and Joy Chambers. Horizon-5, a daily rural affairs program, debuts on ABC. Hosted by Neil Inall.
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9 February 1981: The Seven Network debuts game show Catch Us If You Can, a mix of studio and on-location games and Candid Camera-type stunts. The show is hosted by ’60s pop star Bryan Davies with presenters including Deborah Gray, Russell Newman, Grant Dodwell, Ian Macrae, Marty Morton, Mark Kounnas and Edith Bliss.
9 February 1992: Nine presents live coverage of the Opening Ceremony of the XVI Olympic Winter Games from Albertville, France.
9 February 1995: Andrew Daddo and Alyssa-Jane Cook host the new series Funniest People (Seven), featuring contestants performing everything from party tricks to impersonations — with the three best each week winning prizes to the value of $10,000.
9 February 1998: Sale Of The Century (Nine) returns for the new year with the celebrity contest ‘Battle Of The TV Shows’, featuring stars from The Price Is Right, Money, Good Medicine, Water Rats, Hey Hey It’s Saturday, The Movie Show, Getaway and Animal Hospital.
9 February 2002: Johanna Griggs hosts Seven‘s coverage of the Opening Ceremony of the XIX Olympic Winter Games from Salt Lake City, Utah.
9 February 2003: Former SBS Dateline host Jana Wendt returns to the Nine Network after ten years to take over as host of weekly current affairs program Sunday. Sketch comedy series Skithouse, from Roving Enterprises, debuts on Network Ten.
9 February 2005: The debut of ABC‘s music quiz show Spicks And Specks with Adam Hills and team captains Adam Brough and Myf Warhurst. Network Ten launches Aussie Queer Eye For The Straight Guy.
9 February 2009: Underbelly: A Tale Of Two Cities, a dramatised account the marijuana trade centred on the New South Wales town of Griffith, debuts on Nine. The series starred Andrew McFarlane, Roy Billing, Matthew Newton, Anna Hutchinson, Asher Keddie and Peter Phelps.
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10 February 1973: The Seven Network telecasts the opening of Hobart’s Wrest Point casino — the first casino in Australia. The telecast is hosted by Seven Network personalities Bob Rogers and Tony Barber and includes a performance by Jerry Lewis.
10 February 1991: The Simpsons makes its Australian premiere on Network Ten, featuring two episodes – ‘Bart The Genius’ and ‘Homer’s Odyssey’.
10 February 1992: The Nine Network launches children’s quiz show Guess What?, the game show Supermarket Sweep with Ian Turpie, and a new Extra local current affairs shows in each of Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide and Perth.
10 February 1994: Ray Martin hosts the one-hour special Graham Kennedy’s 60th Birthday (Nine), featuring various footage of Kennedy’s career including In Melbourne Tonight.
10 February 1996: The life of transport tycoon and media owner Reg Ansett is covered in the one-hour special RM The Ansett Story (Nine), hosted by Getaway‘s Jeff Watson, timed to coincide with the 60th anniversary of the Ansett Australia airline.
10 February 2000: Amanda Keller hosts new series Switching Lives (Ten), which turns the phrase ‘walking a mile in my shoes’ into reality.
10 February 2002: Melbourne radio personality Matt Tilley hosts the debut of reality contest The Fugitive, a joint venture between the Austereo radio network and Network Ten.
10 February 2004: Network Ten screens Australian Idol: The Concert, featuring all 12 Australian Idol finalists from the 2003 series: Guy Sebastian, Shannon Noll, Cosima de Vito, Paulini Curuenavuli, Rob Mills, Levi Kereama, Rebekah LaVauney, Kelly Cavuoto, Lauren Buckley, Cle Wootton, Peter Ryan and Mathew Chadwick.
10 February 2010: MasterChef Australia season one runner-up Poh Ling Yeow debuts her new cooking show, Poh’s Kitchen, on ABC.
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Wow… 35 years ago. Although, I don’t think it’s even shown on free to air anymore?
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The Simpsons stopped airing on Ten after the network was brought out by CBS in 2017 after which it moved to 7mate in 2018. It hasn’t been on free to air since last year.
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11 February 1967: Australian soprano June Bronhill stars in her own ABC special, June Bronhill Sings, a variety show with a 19th century theme. The special co-stars Denis Quilley, Tikki Taylor, Alan Tobin and Robert Gard.
11 February 1974: Melbourne’s ATV0 screens the debut episode of The Box, Crawford Productions‘ serial based around the activities of a fictional television station, UCV12. The cast included George Mallaby, Belinda Giblin, Lois Ramsey, Paul Karo, Briony Behets, Fred Betts, Barrie Barkla, Helen Hemingway, Judy Nunn, Ken James, Fred ‘Cul’ Cullen, Kay McFeeter, Peter Regan, Monica Maughan and Ken Snodgrass. Sydney’s TEN10 aired the episode the following night.
11 February 1979: Nine’s big-budget current affairs gamble 60 Minutes makes its debut. Featuring reporters Ray Martin, George Negus and Ian Leslie, 60 Minutes got off to a slow start in the ratings but soon built up to become one of Nine’s flagship properties in the decades to follow.
11 February 1985: Midday With Ray Martin makes its debut, replacing The Mike Walsh Show, which moves to night time. Ten’s Good Afternoon Australia is revamped as After Noon, with Tony Murphy and Katrina Lee. Nine also launches Blankety Blanks with Daryl Somers, a revival of the popular game show hosted by Graham Kennedy in the late 1970s.
11 February 1987: Seven Network sitcom Hey Dad! debuts.
11 February 1990: Ten launches its new comedy double, Larger Than Life with Mark Mitchell and Col’n Carpenter, starring Kym Gyngell.
11 February 1993: The Norman Gunston Show (Seven) marks the return of the self-described Australian TV legend, played by Garry McDonald.
11 February 1996: The Nine Network commences its coverage of the 1996 Cricket World Cup, with the opening ceremony live from Calcutta, India.
11 February 2002: The Nine Network launches quiz show Shafted, hosted by Red Symons. The show replaced Sale Of The Century, which had wrapped up at the end of 2001 after 21 years on air.
11 February 2004: Ten debuts its new reality contest The Resort, hosted by rock singer Jon Stevens, based around a group of individuals building and running a Fijian resort.
11 February 2010: Seven debuts TV-themed game show The White Room, hosted by Tony Moclair and Julian Schiller and panellists including Felicity Ward, Lawrence Mooney, George McEncroe and Dave Thornton. The show lasted two weeks.
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The media education agency Weller later founded has a handful of materials around his short tenure:
Not sure if they’ve been posted here before.
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This tournament marked the beginning of watermarks being used by Australian FTA stations during live sporting telecasts. The watermarks would later spread to other shows including news bulletins.
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12 February 1987: John Wood, Catherine Wilkin, Simon Chilvers and Arky Michael star in Seven‘s new drama series Rafferty’s Rules.
12 February 1996: Midday With Kerri-Anne (Nine) marks the return of the traditional variety format to the Midday brand, with Kerri-Anne Kennerley taking over from last year’s co-hosts Tracy Grimshaw and David Reyne. Nine debuts police drama Water Rats with a two-hour episode, starring Colin Friels, Catherine McClements, Sophie Heathcote and Aaron Jeffery.
12 February 1999: Children’s science fiction series Thunderstone debuts on Ten.
12 February 2006: ABC debuts Sunday morning sports discussion program Offsiders, hosted by journalist Barrie Cassidy.
12 February 2007: ABC debuts Difference Of Opinion, a talk/debate series hosted by Jeff McMullen.
12 February 2008: The Nine Network debuts “reality/comedy” series Monster House, starring Glenn Butcher, Celia Ireland, Rebel Wilson, Travis Cotton, Julie Herbert and Jody Kennedy. The series was axed after two episodes.
12 February 2008: Seven HD launches late-night talk show The Nightcap, hosted by Matthew White, Jessica Rowe, Monique Wright, Paul Murray and former Big Brother contestant Zach Douglas.
12 February 2010: Cal Wilson hosts the debut of ABC‘s eight-part murder mystery Sleuth 101, with guest appearances by Dave O’Neil, John Wood, Nicola Parry, Robyn Butler, Dave Lawson and Denise Drysdale.
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IIRC, Nine aired the remaining eight episodes as counterprogramming against the 2008 Olympics.
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The Nightcap was cancelled not long after Zach Douglas insightfully informed the nations on different ways to perform fellatio
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Was this a Rob McKnight thing? It was awful.
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i think it was Adam Boland’s creation?
I never actually saw the show as I didn’t have an HD tuner at the time.
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I remember that. That caused quite the informative ruckus. Also back in the day when Paul Murray wasn’t a far right blowhard.
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If I remember correctly, Garry McDonald fell ill, and The Norman Gunston Show was cancelled.
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i seem to recall Effie (Mary Coustas) was a last minute fill in for one show but yeah I don’t think the show completed its run. McDonald had a significant mental health episode.
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I think The NightCap went on a break for the Easter non-ratings period, and just never returned. Kind of the Australian TV industry version of your pet ‘running away to live on a farm’.
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Yes, I think maybe a handful of episodes ran, with fill in hosts such as Effie mentioned above. I remember a lot of publicity about that show over the summer season of that year.
After taking a break, Garry would go on to film the last season of the original Mother and Son later that year, alongside Ruth Cracknell. These episodes went to air in early 1994.
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