From the New Zealand TV Weekly. July 3 1967
Auckland
Dancing Time (196?) for this year is once more under way, and one of the people taking part is consistent radio play performer Glynis McNicho1 who, with this columnist, seemed to pop up in just about every panel game during the first few years of local televlision. Genial, Wally Ransom, once a familiar face, is in the act-but not on screen. When you hear those Latin American rhythms, you can bet Wally is wielding the maracas . . . . Kevan Moore busy planning the new adult Saturday night show but, like Br'er Rabbit, lie is layin' low and sayin' nuffin.
Very wise-too much advance publicity can boomerang on a show . . . . The teeny-weenies were given a taste of their elder sister's pop favourite when Mr Lee Grant guested on a We Three segment . . . . Bute Hewes given the job of brewing up a local quiz or panel game. No details as yet, but indications are that it won't be a giveaway bonanza like Wellington's one . . . . Backing Sonia King on the afternoon sessions for women are former journalists Gillian Shadbolt, Lindsay Dawson and Catherine McLeod. Producer David Hardy came up with the quote of the week when asked lhow it felt to be the lone male in this feminine whirl: My wife treats me somewhat better.
. . . Hikers in the Hunuas may have been startled to see a quintet of comely chicks apparently having a jive session on a rock in the river. In case any are still wondering, it was a sequence being shot for a comercial . . . . Schoolteacher and one-time NZBC TV man, Philip McHale has sold the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation a cold-war satire, The Island of Mulabeeka. He's also dickering with London . . . . Sandy Edmonds missing from C'mon! for a while as she's off to the Orient for appearances on TV and in nightclubs . . . . Ossie Cheeseman away to the States to brush up on TV and radio techniques.
Wellington
Linda McDougall is just completing an interesting assignment directing famous New Zealand politician, John A. Lee, in remliniscences of his childhood. The programme tentatively named An Angel Slighly Battered will run for about thirty minutes and should be on our screens in a month or two. Miss McDougall, according to John A. Lee, is a very competent girl
. He adds, with a twinkle, I do what I am told
. Now in his seventies, Mr Lee is no longer the bogeyman of New Zealand politics. He has mellowed with time, but his humour aibout certain Labour leaders still has a sting to it. His memories of those far-off days when poverty stalked New Zealand could have more than an air of topicality in the current economic recession. . . . Another producer, who like Miss McDougall made his name on CHTV3, and is working in Wellington, is Michael Scott-Smith. He is production supervisor and slo he will only occasionally get a chance to produce documentaries of the calibre of his Coming into Line. One programme he has done since coming to Wellington is an impression of the changeover to decimal currency which is due for screening in the second week of July. . . . Irvine Lindsay's On Camera series began very promisingly. There was a nice balance to the first two, and Irvine's own attractive personalilty carried the show along. She disarmed your correspondent by risking for On Camera opinions on what should be included in the programme-this was a television first in more ways than one! . . . . . Compass which returns after a breather, July 6, has prepared an hour-long programme on the challenge of exports. It should be very topical. David Dclany, who is to become Editor of Spoken Features on NZBC Radio, directed this Compass pnogramme. His aim was to stimulate viewers and get them thinking about our export problems. . . . Ian Cross hit a few nails on the head with his Column Comment on NZBC Reports. Some say there were a few of the brass in NZBC who did not welcome Cross's attentions any more than editor's of newspapers. but at least this kind of self-criticism is not only good for the system, but displays a welcome magnanimity of spirit all too rare in our mass media.
CHRISTCHURCH
Although the nine-acre section the NZBC has bought for radio and TV studios in Butler street, Opawa, has been cleared, partly levelled and fenced in, plans have reached no further than asking architects to prepare drawings, according to Christchurch NZBC manager, Mr K. Hay. Last year, local residents objected to the NZBC proposals, but the Christchurch City Council gave permission . . . Adult education is at the crossroads and must quickly decide which way it will go, according to Dr A. A. Liveright, director of Liberal Education for adults at Boston University. He said in Christchurch recently that in the U.S. nine million were taking individual study and reading programmes by mail at home out of about 25 million taking adult educlation courses. This was the old-established method, but the new one was the use of mass meldia such as periodicals, radio and TV, by which any subject could also be taken into the home and reach vast audiences . . . . Bernard Levin failed to live up to his reputation as a ruthless interviewer when he confronted Lord Montgomery. "Monty" did not come out of it too well either, but he certainly out-generalled Levin . . . . Generally conceded in some local households that CHTV3 is providing the kids with the best viewing fare these days. The ranks of more than one regular "five to six school" have been thinned with some Dads heading home to join the kids. Flipper and Daktari are two shows currently cutting down the gallonage . . . . The Long Hot Summer is helping glue the girls to their screens these long cold Christchurch afternoons . . . . So the Aussies banned "The Winged Avenger" from the current The Avengers series on the grounds it is too hornific. CHTV3 viewers, and presumably those on other channels, saw it uncensored and without any prior warning to shoo the toddlers off to bed. Must be a squeamish bunch, those Aussies . . . . Lot of talk about a lot of new programmes possibly upcoming, but brightest news on the local front is that Dean Martin will be back again. So will Get Smart, a show that improved wtith age . . . . Sportsmen hoping David Pumphrey will give Grandstand the shot in the arm it badly needs at present.
DUNEDIN
If you have the idea that there couldn't be many items of interest to find during a chess club gathering, forget it! A team from DNTV2 found plenty to keep the cameras whirring when it paid a visit to a local club. The camera crew, under the direction of producer, Harold Anderson, was preparing one programme in the new DNTV2 series, People and Places. On similar lines to the popular series Here and Now, with Dougal Stevenson, which was screened last year, People and Places covers prominent local industries and activities. Host of the new series, which beglilns early this month, is Don McCutcheon. . . . For the benefiit of those country and western fans who are looking forward to the programme mentioned in Channel Check last week, the name decided on for the two-part series is Take Ten . . . The women's programme, On Camera, went off to a smooth start at DNTV2 and so far comments received from viewers have all been favourable. Don't think the NZBC doesn't care about its audience either-Pat McGregor, of the Audience Research Department, and her team of helpers spend six days a week canvassing the city to find out just what people prefer to watch. Recently her job took her to Invercargill where she spent three hectic days training a group of women for radio research, before returning to Dunedin . . . The 10th of July this year,
goes the jingle . . . and we all know what that means. For television production teams throughout the country it means even more hard work. Less publicised is the fact that the Budget will be presented in Parliament the same day and the NZBC is setting up equipment for a live telecast of the event to all parts of the country. The arrangements will be identical to those for the opening of Parliament earlier this year.
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