by Nick Place
And the biggest of them all? Well, that’s no contest. The Great Temptation started out as an afternoon show called Temptation, and later moved to the evenings where it obviously had to become Great. A huge success, it netted Barber the 1973 Gold Logie and a bonus prize of becoming one of Australia’s favourite TV stars. Great Temptation only faltered when pitted head-to-head with Channel 10’s Number 96 and was pulled from our screens in 1975. Reg Grundy cannily revived the show in 1980, using the original US moniker, Sale of the Century, and it achieved record ratings in the coveted 7 pm timeslot – and made yet another comeback in 2005 (which raises the question: should that version’s subtitle, ‘The new Sale of the Century’ actually have read: ‘The new Temptation which was the old Sale of the Century which was the new Great Temptation which was the original Sale of the Century’?)
Sale ruled the quiz world for two decades and saw off a slew of challengers. But nearing the end of its run came the next big thing in quiz land: Who Wants To Be a Millionaire? The show made its Australian debut in 1999 and was an instant hit with its multiple-choice questions, various lifelines and no apparent time limit. Producers felt this ‘dumbing down’ of questions created a more level playing field and held the viewers’ interest longer. Financially, there was a lot for the network to like, with the 0055 lines, which pay for the show and the prize money, constantly hammered by those dreaming of an easy fortune.
Faced with something as big as Millionaire, recent rivals have tended towards the niche markets. RocKwiz, The Einstein Factor and Spicks & Specks all rely on comic relief rather than a big cash prize and have a narrowly defined target audience. Questions are specialised and viewers primarily tune in to marvel at a geek’s knowledge or catch a few laughs from the host (unless it’s Peter Berner).
Of course there have been plenty of less successful efforts over the years to pick the winning combination of format and compere that defines the big quiz shows. Who remembers Bert and Patti Newton’s Ford Superquiz (where contestants didn’t just pick-a-box, but instead picked-a-prism)? Or Mike Walsh’s widely denigrated reproduction, Superquiz? Or Million Dollar Chance of a Lifetime, Seven’s failed attempt at the Who Wants To Be a Millionaire format?
Whatever the format, quiz shows are TV that is easy to like. You can walk in and out, attention needed is limited and it’s almost educational. People at home can get involved, and there’s nothing quite like sitting in the comfort of your lounge chair – away from the pressure of the studio audience and bright lights – muttering that ‘anybody could have got that one right’. It’s all part of the charm. The genre continues to narrowly miss ‘jumping the shark’ with an endless array of themed games. By pitting celebrities, previous champions and/or newlyweds against each other, networks fight to retain an audience with varying degrees of success. It’s only a matter of time before we see the ‘newly divorced’ Millionaire, where contestants deliberately throw questions to avoid maintenance payments. Lock that one in, Eddie!
Trivia trivia
Some trivial facts relating to TV quiz shows …
> Despite the implicit promise in its title of making players millionaires, Who Wants To Be A Millionaire took until late 2005 to deliver on that promise.
> Quiz show legend Barry Jones went on to become a federal government minister and national president of the Labor Party and still makes comedy-clip shows with the ancient vision of him from Pick-a-Box days correcting the official judges on a question they alleged he got wrong. He was right.
> Australia’s longest running quiz show, Sale of the Century ran from 1980 to 2001.
> Long time host of Sale, Tony Barber, was ‘discovered’ after appearing as the whistler in Cambridge Cigarettes commercials.
> Following in Bob Dyer’s footsteps, Reg Grundy took the hugely popular Wheel of Fortune from radio to TCN in 1959, which led to the development of other successful Grundy-produced quiz shows – including Concentration with Philip Brady in his first TV role.
> Jimmy Hannan made his TV debut as a winning contestant in Name That Tune. After spending his cash prize on a Canadian holiday, Hannan returned in 1962 to become one of Australia’s favourite quiz and game show hosts.
> Most people know Matt Parkinson as an actor, radio personality, and half of the comedy duo The Empty Pockets, but he is also a former Sale of the Century quiz champion.
> Bob Dyer was recognised for his contribution to Aussie quiz shows, and his continuing popularity, when he was awarded the Logie for TV Quizmaster of the Decade in 1968.
1968
One of our favourite sitcoms says goodbye, while one drama series courts controversy and another faces an uncertain future. Our favourite roo takes the world by storm and colour TV trials unearth a potential new star. And technological developments continue to bring the world to us faster than ever before.
Can Hunter survive without Hunter?
Nine’s big-budget spy series Hunter faces its biggest challenge after the execution of its lead character. The departure of Tony Ward as the title character, Australian TV’s premier espionage hero, comes as little surprise after months of tension between Ward and producers, but now Hunter is gone, the series is in uncharted waters.
The death of Hunter finally came in episode 57, ‘Misadventure’, when the Australian spy was loaned to British intelligence for an operation behind the Iron Curtain. Betrayed by his partner on the mission and left high and dry by the British, Hunter was tried and executed by firing squad.
There were moments of ambiguity in the final script and viewers did not actually get to see Hunter fall, so perhaps there is an outside chance that the hit show’s hero will make a surprise return in 1969. But it looks more likely that scriptwriters will attempt to build the show around Hunter’s partner and one-time enemy, Kragg, played by Logie-winner Gerard Kennedy. It is also possible that a new character, played by Englishman Rod Mullinar, could gain prominence.
Hunter, produced by Crawford Productions for Nine, launched in July last year to immediate acclaim. With a production cost of $20,000 per episode – believed to be roughly $13,000 more than a typical Homicide episode – and promoted heavily, Hunter opened to ratings in the 40s and has remained popular.
With former reporter Tony Ward winning over viewers with a unique touch and by performing his own stunts, the show has also achieved dramatic depths due to the sensitive and intelligent portrayal of Kragg by Kennedy. It has also dared to push the horizons with its settings, shooting scenes in most Australian cities as well as Singapore.
Ward was reported to have been increasingly unhappy that his character was not allowed more human development. Tensions between the star and Crawfords intensified when Ward made newspaper headlines by ‘going missing’ for a week in July instead of filming the show. While that episode was said to be an expensive misunderstanding, Ward later asked to be freed from his contract.
Is this Motel too hot for TV?
May: The Australian censor is already nervously waiting for the debut of a sizzling new afternoon soap, which is promising to redefine sex on television. Motel, to star Walter Sullivan, Brenda Senders, Noel Trevarthen and Jill Forster, is set in a motel found halfway between Canberra found halfway between Canberra and Sydney. Racy storylines will involve affairs, Cabinet Ministers behaving inappropriately and ‘spicy dialogue’. From the set of the show, the actors told TV Week that it was ‘real Virginia Woolf stuff’ and would heat up the screen. ‘All my scenes are in the bedroom,’ admitted Forster, a glamorous redhead who has appeared in Hunter and Beauty and the Beast.
Trevarthen, a New Zealander who worked in England for many years, said some of Motel’s meatier dialogue would never be allowed on British television. Producers say the five-day-a-week soap was carefully scheduled to appear in the early afternoon when children are safely at school and therefore unable to watch.
Tony Hancock found dead in Sydney
July: Brilliant British comedian Tony Hancock has been found dead in his Sydney hotel room, appa
rently from a drug overdose.
The English comedian was in Australia to shoot a comedy series for the Seven network but it would now appear that the series will never be seen. According to network executives, only three episodes had been completed at the time of Hancock’s death. It is also believed that his battle with personal demons resulted in an uneven performance and a patchy finished product, making it unsuitable for broadcast.
Seven has confirmed that the entire concept of the series was based around Hancock’s unique comedic talents so nobody else could step in to finish the production.
Hancock had arrived secretly in Sydney in March, with the intention of completing a 39-part sitcom for ATN-7.
Lane drugs case dismissed
June: Channel Nine variety star Don Lane has at last been acquitted of drug-related charges brought against him earlier this year. TV Week reported that in January, as Lane landed back in Australia on his return from Los Angeles, he was arrested by customs officers and charged with illegally importing marijuana into Australia.
That signalled the start of a lengthy – and costly – ordeal for the lanky yank that has kept him off television for most of this year.
But there were jubilant scenes in court when Lane was acquitted after a four-day trial. Soon afterwards he made a triumphant return to his Tonight show and is now determined to put it all behind him.
ON DEBUT
> Today – two-hour breakfast-type program compered by Mike Walsh
> This Week – weekly news discussion program hosted by Geoff Raymond
> The Unloved – courtroom drama series
> Blind Date – hosted by Graham Webb and his younger bother, Mike
> Skippy – bush adventure series
> The World Series of Tennis – 13-episode, $250,000 series – the world’s first specially staged for TV professional tennis; John Newcombe and Tony Roche are Australia’s representatives
> The Big News – ATN’s stab at a major national news service
> The Club Show – variety with Rex Mossop
> Vega 4 – children’s science fiction
> The Battlers – drama series about half-caste Aboriginal boxer Wayne Small, played by white actor Vincent Gill
> Sydney’s New Faces – talent quest
> The Gordon Chater Show – variety
> Uncommon Men and Great Ideas – with Professor Julius Sumner Miller
> Uptight – Saturday morning pop show
> A Big Country – documentary series
> I’ve Married a Bachelor – sitcom
> Music for the People – first in the series of 1968–69 open-air concerts
> Under Attack – Australian–Canadian debate series
> A Guy Called Athol – weekly hour-long show starring Seeker Athol Guy
> Roundabout – morning magazine show
> Anything Goes – comedy variety series
> Arthur and the Square Knights of the Round Table – comedy cartoon series
> Sydney Tonight – variety with Tommy Leonetti
> It's Academic - quiz show for schoolkids
It’s all happening in the bush at Bellbird
August: The ABC’s deceptively gentle soapie, Bellbird, has set a national agenda by tackling racism in a series of episodes. In a dramatic storyline, two American servicemen come to town, while on R&R leave from Vietnam. When a local girl dances with one of the Americans, who is black, local farmer Joe Turner lets it be known that he’s not happy, and racism flares.
It’s a brave script from the ABC series, which has broken new ground as a 15-minute soapie leading into the 7 pm news five nights a week. The storyline was resolved when Turner and the black serviceman realise they share common interests. Turner eventually decides the visitor ‘isn’t such a bad chap after all’.
It’s been a big year for the popular soap opera, with the other stand-out storyline involving the shock death of nasty real estate agent Charlie Cousens, who slipped and fell from the top of a silo. The spectacular, fast-edited sequence impressed critics but it shocked viewers. Even though Cousens wasn’t the most liked of TV characters, his sudden and grisly demise resulted in an unprecedented flood of letters to TV magazines, many of them complaining that killing of Cousens had been unnecessary.
Cousens’ sudden exit was forced by the decision of actor Robin Ramsay to accept work in Japan.
Are they mistreating you, Skip?
November: The RSPCA has been asked to investigate alleged cruelty to Skippy after scenes in the TV show where the plucky kangaroo appeared to be trapped by her legs in a cattle grid, chased by several men down a street and even run over by a truck.
Fauna Productions denied any cruelty while Frank Thring, the bad guy in the series, told TV Week: ‘You must be joking! Why that little kangaroo gets better treatment than us humans in the cast. Skippy is pampered and cosseted like a Hollywood queen – and so she should be.’
The show has been a huge hit since debuting early this year, and a feature film starring our favourite kangaroo is due to be released next year.
One of the problems with being a TV weather girl is the number of odd photo shoots you get called upon to do. But Channel 9’s Rosemary Margan showed such fine style in this one that she’s now been named alongside Hawthorn full-forward Peter Hudson for next Saturday’s game at Glenferrie Oval.
So this is what colour TV will look like!
September: Visitors to this year’s Royal Melbourne Show have been treated to an exciting glimpse of the future. Channel 7 has been running a mini-studio with test transmissions to show people what colour television will look like when it arrives in this country, now expected to be 1972.
The popular Happy Hammond has been hosting the sessions, and an unexpected bonus has been the appearance of an eight-year-old singer named Jamie Redfern. Redfern initially looked a little nonplussed at seeing himself on a colour TV monitor, but then belted out a cracking version of ‘I’m Gonna Sit Right Down and Write Myself a Letter’. Hammond was clearly impressed and predicted that Redfern would be a big star by the time colour TV arrived in Australia.
Rita and Wally join McGooley off-screen
It’s all over for the Stiller family. Seven has finally announced that the show Rita and Wally will end, 23 episodes after evolving from My Name’s McGooley – What’s Yours?
Mediocre ratings and the openly stated desire by star John Meillon to leave the show made the announcement a formality. Meillon told TV Times that he had come to hate Wally for dominating his life. ‘You get so that you think, eat, drink, sleep and breathe Wally. He moves in on you and takes over. So I think that my time as Wally is running out. I don’t see a rosy future for Wally.’
Still, the sitcom’s first Balmain-based incarnation as My Name’s McGooley goes down as one of Australia’s finest situation comedies. It changed names earlier this year when Gordon Chater asked to be released from his role as Rita’s father, battling pensioner McGooley.
Portable camera may revolutionise TV news
November: GTV-9 and ATV-0 are the first stations to experiment with a portable one-man camera that experts say is competitive in quality with the huge studio-based cameras.
The $80,000 unit sees a cameraman wear a large backpack, attached to the small camera, which is held in front of the operator’s face. He holds a control panel in his left hand.
Channel 9 was delighted with its first use of the camera at Flemington on Melbourne Cup Day. A cameraman, moving freely through the crowd, was able to film images for almost immediate screening as part of Mike Walsh’s Today show. The only delay is the 10 minutes required to wind back the tape.
MEMORIES
> Homicide star Leonard Teale marries Adventure Island star Liz Harris in another ‘TV wedding of the year’.
> The Broadcasting Control Board bans lady wrestling from Australian TV.
> Fire destroys Graham Kennedy’s Frankston home.
> The ABC axes the interview program People amid allega
tions of political pressure.
> Barry Jones quits Pick-a-Box after winning $58,000 worth of prizes; he gets his own interview program, Encounter.
> 25-year-old Skippy star Tony Bonner defends the smoking of marijuana, claiming it ‘does nothing more then give your brain a boost and sets your senses alive’.
> Ballad singer Lionel Long is the newest addition to the cast of Homicide. He plays Detective Alberto (Bert) Costello, the Australian-born son of Italian parents.
> On the way to a location shooting of a Skippy episode, a horse engaged for the show escapes twice. His role in Skippy? A valuable horse that escapes.
> In ‘Australian television’s finest achievement’, it takes only 30 minutes for pictures of Senator Robert Kennedy’s shooting in LA to be aired. All channels work together to facilitate the direct satellite transmission.
> Channel 7 variety show Sunnyside Up returns to screens just two years after being axed.
> Terry Donovan returns from four years abroad, is married to This Day Tonight freelance reporter Sue Donovan and has a son, Jason Sean. Sue isn’t too keen on Jason following in his dad’s footsteps, but Terry says, ‘It’s up to him; he can be whatever he wants.’
> Gold Logie: Brian Henderson
> Male Personality of the Year: Graham Kennedy
> Female Personality of the Year: none deemed worthy
1969
This is the year we said goodbye to the King, and hello to the men on the moon. The hills are alive with the sound of rival variety shows playing hard ball, while a popular TV host is axed, a new cop show launched and two of our most loved furry friends make headlines for vastly different reasons.
One small step for man, one giant leap for TV
July: Television enjoyed possibly its finest moment ever when 600 million people watched US astronauts set foot on the moon on Monday. All Australian channels covered the historic event, watched by easily the largest audience to date in this nation’s television history.