He also presented Sevenâs very first Sunrise bulletin in 1991.
He was actually a very good talent. Unfortunately, he just went down a few rabbit holes. Having a high profile job at the age of 17 probably didnât help him mature into adulthood.
He was actually closer to 21 when he started at 7 Brisbane. Not sure where they got 17 from. He is the brother of swimmer Julie McDonald who won gold at Seoul in 1988.
Says 17 on Wikipedia. Probably enough said about itâs reliability.
I rest my case.
Fantastic newsreader. Always enjoyed him on 11am with Ann Sanders.
Lol someone has corrected the Wikipedia page overnight. There are news articles referencing the age 17 bit but nothing further mentioned.
Actually, Wiki looks correct in saying he was born in 1967. He started at BTQ in 1987 making him around 20 when he started. He pretty much took over some of Ken Hoseâs duties when Ken moved to Broadcom to heard up the new AFL coverage in early 1987 (late 1986 at best). Darren was doing news updates and introducing the Gold Lotto Draws (before crossing to Melbourne). He had a great voice and delivery and could also ad-lib well. He moved to ATN I think in 1990 and TCN around 1993 for a short time before he went to N.Z. I could see him at the time going onto big and better things but alas, it all went pear shaped for him. This is him in early 1987:
One more. It says 1986 however, judging by the set and following promo, itâs sometime 1987 (at least April onwards).
Can I ask how you know this?
Photographic memory. I also had a lengthy conversation with him during work experience in October 1988.
Darren McDonald was a familiar face in Australia and, later, New Zealand over the years when it came to television newsreading. I wonder what Darren is up to today?
So is it possible that he started as a graduate working in a newsroom at the age of 17, then started on camera at the age of 20/21?
As odd as it sounds, that is correct. Itâs always baffled me.
Around the time Glee premiered on Network Ten, they used a full-length clip of Finnâs performance of âJessieâs Girlâ as a âsneak peekâ (possibly for Season 1 Part 2) that played very frequently.
They did the same thing for Season 2, but with a dance routine set to Duck Sauceâs âBarbra Streisandâ. Were there any other âmusical promosâ for Glee other than the ones I remember, or did someone at Network Ten make note of the showâs declining popularity?
IIRC, they did musical promos which used âSomebody That I Used To Knowâ and âFridayâ (the Rebecca Black song)
This scene was definitely one Ten used for a promo, actually I think a pre-S1 âsneak peekâ in mid 2009 (Kristin Chenowethâs recurring character covering Carrie Underwoodâs song and FWIW itâs actually a great performance)
@TelevisionAU - or anyone in a position to help - a bit of a random question but Iâm sure I have read the details either on this forum or somewhere else.
When Sons and Daughters was first shown on ATN7 and HSV7, I understand that eight episodes (rather than the usual four) were shown the week commencing 18th January 1982. Does anyone know how these were scheduled? I know episodes 1-3 played on Monday 18th Jan, and I think episodes 4 and 5 were shown the following night. But as for episodes 6 to 8, Iâm not sure if these were scheduled on the Wednesday to Friday, or just on the Wednesday and Thursday. More likely the latter as itâs advertised as âMondays to Thursdaysâ in the Melbourne newspaper ads.
So was it 2 episodes on Wednesday, one on Thursday - thatâs if Iâm even correct about two episodes playing on the Tuesday!
The information on IMDb is incorrect, by the way, as it implies only six episodes were shown that week - but episode 10 was definitely shown the following Tuesday, Australia Day.
Any info would be appreciated!
Based on Google News Archive (and various editions of The Age and the Sydney Morning Herald that it includes), IMDB is correct. The schedule for both Sydney and Melbourne was:
Monday January 18 - 3 episodes
Tuesday-Thursday - 1 episode per day
Monday and Tuesday the following week - 1 episode per day
(more episodes on later days)
So Tuesday January 26 should have featured Episode 8.
The description in The Age Green Guide of January 20 for Tuesday January 26 matches that of Episode 8 in IMDB.
The only way Episode 10 could have gone to air on that day is if the wrong episode was shown. Interestingly the entry in Thursday January 28âs paper for that dayâs episode (when Episode 10 should have gone to air) doesnât have a description unlike for other days.
I watched the first few weeks of Sons and Daughters with my parents and canât remember any errors like that, but then again it was a long time ago.