I think they televised a mid week competition (The Amco Cup?) but Seven still had the rights to the main weekend competition (Sunday night replay) they promoted as Seven’s Big League until the end of 1982.
3 Likes
If Ten did not go bankrupt the first time, it would have been able to keep the rugby league rights. And who knows there might not be a Super League (and the emergence of Melbourne Storm), but that’s another story.
2 Likes
In Brisbane, TVQ showed the local league on Sunday Nights with Billy J Smith calling as well as the mid week Amco Cup with Ray Warren.
1 Like
As far as Brisbane news readers go, \wWhat if … Kay McGarth didn’t leave TVO and Bruce Paige and Rod Young had stayed at the ABC.
1 Like
If only Rob Brough had remained with QTQ’s news team and not left to host Family Feud for Seven. He could’ve been reading Nine News today. A loss for Brisbane viewers.
6 Likes
Ten-10 had a series of failed afternoon shows after that, Keep Pace With Harriet starring Johnny Pace and Harriet Littlesmith appeared later in 1977, they tried a half hour Eyewitness Midday News with Rod McNeil early in 1978 which didn’t last very long, and The Steve Raymond Show which started in October 1978 in the 1:30pm timeslot but was axed in July 1979. Meanwhile, the various incarnations of the morning show continued on.
Source: My memory and the SMH.
2 Likes
Did John Singleton have a daytime variety show on Ten or did he just have that poorly rating night time show?
1 Like
I can’t remember if he had a daytime show. There were two nighttime shows on Ten. John Singleton With A Lot Of Help From His Friends appeared in early 1979 at 8:30pm on Saturdays but it was axed in March after Singo was arrested for assault. With the charge dropped, Ten bought him back in 1980 for The John Singleton Show which was on Monday to Thursday at 10:30pm.
1 Like
I think just the night time show but not even that appeared in Melbourne.
I seem to recall him doing daytime television or maybe I’m remembering his morning radio show on 2KY. Perhaps he was one of the myriad of odd people who filled in for Mike Walsh over the years. Jeannie Little, Brian Bury, Jimmy Hannan and Sue Smith all had a go at various times.
I remember Ten trying to capitalise on the departure of Mike Walsh from daytime by testing out Good Afternoon Australia in late 1984 with Gordon Elliott (because two hours of that tosser on Good Morning Australia wasn’t enough) and Katrina Lee who was still co-presenting Sydney’s highest rating news bulletin. I remember the set looked like a display piece from the John Cootes Furniture Warehouse. It was that bland and ugly. The show had a newsier, more serious tone than Nine’s offering.
By February Gordon Elliott had been replaced by Tony Murphy, the set had been returned to John Cootes and the show had a new name, After Noon. By late May, Ray Martin was the clear winner at midday. The experiment was over, Katrina went off and had her second baby and Tony Murphy ended up presenting weather and filling in on Good Morning Australia.
4 Likes
The OC aired on Nine in 2003 before Ten picked it up several years later.
I remember seeing Good Afternoon Australia over the Christmas holidays but don’t recall seeing After Noon, probably because school would have been back by then. Was it a big revamp when the name changed or was it just a new name/host for the same show
Good Afternoon Australia was modelled on Good Morning Australia and was meant to be an extension of that successful brand. It was re-tooled when it wasn’t resonating with viewers. The living room style set was replaced by a more conventional studio set. I’m not sure exactly how the format changed but I think they endeavoured to inject more of the entertainment elements that made Mike Walsh/Midday successful. After Noon had a studio audience but I don’t think GAA did.
2 Likes
That hair on Katrina!?! 
I remember her “punkish” hairstyle being an issue in the press when she was reading Ten’s news.
1 Like
The bigger, the better in the 1980s. All that hair spray used, widened the hole in the ozone layer. 
1 Like
I’m not sure if this is a “What If” or just “WTF”?!?
YouTube: Australian Television Archive
Appears to have been a concept for a pre-school show, and judging by the voice over of John Deeks, likely a Channel 7 proposal… aimed at leading to “merchandising opportunities for the network”.
And it looks like Val Lehman looking gorgeous in hot pink overalls.
The dark haired lady looks familiar but I can’t place the name. I think she might have been a weather presenter at GTV9 at some stage circa 1980s? Margaret or Margareta something?
1 Like
The sight of Val Lehman in a show aimed at pre-schoolers is going to give me nightmares. Such an odd choice considering this was being shopped around by the production company responsible for Shirl’s Neighbourhood after she’d appeared in Prisoner.
I guess we’ll never see the outtakes where she puts the giant sized quokka under the steam press
But apparently she used to work in children’s theatre before she became famous for being a serial killer and top dog in Prisoner
2 Likes
What if Ray Dinnen hadn’t been made an “offer he couldn’t refuse” by NBN bosses in the mid 70s and had gone back to his home city of Melbourne. Would he have been successful in the big smoke or would’ve been one who plied his trade in Regional Victoria.
Also what would the TV landscape look like today had aggregation not occurred? (Personally I think something like it would have happened anyway)
2 Likes