1967-06-26 Channel Check

From the New Zealand TV Weekly. June 26 1967

Auckland

General dismay being expressed locally at the lack of thought going into programming, especially for the up-coming afternoon women's sessions. Say the critics: What good is a session for Mum at around 3.30? That's the time when the nippers are coming back from school and things are starting to get hectic. What is wrong with putting the programmes on first thing, when household chores are out of the way and Mum can relax before the 1ate afternoon gallop? On the same line, why slot Alison Holst's excellent cooking sessions into a prime evening spot, just when Mums are busy with the dishes or getting the small fry to bed? Surely this is one session which fairly screams for inclusiion in the afternoon programme. . . . Similar gripes going up about the programming for the new Dancing Time series, just after 9 on Friday nights. What about all the shoppers and (shop assistants, many of whom are tremendously interested-indeed, some of them take part in the programmes. Why not follow the BBC's example and drop these sessions into a mid-evening Monday slot?. . . . . And while we're at it, what is wrong with trying to co-ordinate segments of series so that if they involve, say, Easter celebrations they appear about that time of the year? And why not keep a sharper eye on the programming of available documentaries to fit in with world news?. . . . Kevan Moore, currently the white-haired boy in production, is tagged for a new chore after he has got through with the present series of C'mon! and followed it with a Cameras on Campus set. He is to produce a "quiet, relaxiing sort of show" slanted for an adult audience lateish on Saturday nights. . . . Rae Pritchard living up to her claim that colours are "in" in London with some lively ensembles for local wear. . . Bute Hewes to look after Northern Mirror, a fortnightly look at current affairs in the area . . . . Fast-talking Peter Sinclair now on his own and living in Auckland. . . . Brief Town and Around item gave no indication of how good the Auckland Neophonic Orchestra's big band blast would be in the Festival jazz concert. Hope the excellent work of some of the smaller groups in the concert was duly noted. The Voices, for one, could be an enterltaining TV group.

Wellington

Anguished cry from the On Camera team in Wellington when reports filtered through from Auckland of the backing Sonia King has for mounting the AKTV2 series: besides Sonia, the Auckland team comprises names like Catherine McLeod and Gillian Shadbolt, as well as Lindsay Anderson, another former journalist. Irvine Lindsay, by comparison, in Wellington did not have, as the show got off the ground early in June, such a wealth of talent preparing material for it. In fact, it is, so far, pretty much of a solo effort on WNTV1, with Irvine Lindsay plus producer Tony Groser, plus an assistant. Let's hope Irvine is given some more staff. . . . Viewers who enjoyed the brilliant episode in Comedy Playhouse en- titled Till Death Us Do Part on WNTV1 in the last week of May will be delighted to hear that NZBC has bought the series which came out of that original show. Warren Mitchell heads the cast as Alf Garnett, out of step with the times, prejudiced and proud of it ..... Another remarkable programme, montioned here, previously is to be shown locally June 26. This is Cathy Come Home, an 80-minute dramatiscd documentary by Jeremy Sandford on the plight of the homeless in Britain ..... Progress on the TV Drama Workshop Series which Brian Bell and his assistant Douglas Drury have been working on. Chris Thompson who had been rehearsing Warren Dibble's play in Auckland hoped to have it in the can by mid-June. Peter Bland's' A Tired Man was due to follow in Wellington. Brian himself had taken a workshop in Christchurch in late May-early June. All five plays in the series should be taped by July. No date has been set for screening. It will probably be sometime around October-November ..... The popularity of Herb Alpert's appearance with his Tijuana Brass in two BBC programmes in April has the NZBC considering a repeat. . . . . Will Agent 86 be on everyone's lips again following his return to the screen tonight (June 26) . . . . NZBC's radio topical programme Checkpoint is causing some problems of choice in homes Where Dad wants to listen to it while Mum is watching The Avengers or Mogul, or some equally exciting programme. Checkpoint is produced by Paul Cheeseright, who has made a number of appearances on TV documentary programmes, but prefers working on radio. Checkpoint is the kind of topical commentary which needs to be done once or twice a week on television. It is lively, sometimes controversial, mostly well-informed... ... Kevan Moore's pop show C'mon which has sustained its go-go remarkably, is due to wind up for the season at the end of July. Kevan will then line up his Cameras on Campus short series, and prepare for his late-night variety show ..... Question intriguing some fans of C'mon!: will Kevan succeed in talking Pete Sinclair into doing a number before programme 26 fades out? Pete sometimes gives the impression that he is bursting to give forth.

CHRISTCHURCH

Stanley Hosgood, CHTV3's new production supervisor, launched On Camera, the half-hour programme for women, Tuesday and Thursday afternoons, at the beginning of the month. But Bill Taylor will be taking over this assignment on a permanent basis ..... Incidentally, that series of 12 half-hour programmes looking into current New Zealand life is now going under the generic name of Landscape and not This is Your Country, as previously reported. Bill Taylor spent a goodwpart of May on location with executive director Bob Lepresle, head of Associated Filmmakers Ltd., on the West Coast Seems this story will be about the decline of the Coast and include scenes in those unique pubs as well as dance halls and mines ... Channel 3's new studio should be in use in about four months. The foundations went in during the earlier part of May and the structural steelwork was erected at the end of the month. This will be the NZBC's first studio-built specially for the purpose and, the local boys say, bigger than the Auckland studio.... The Town and Around team came up with its 200th edition on May 24. Most notable feature was the frightful dubbing job, presumably perpetrated by AKTVZ, on the film featuring Rae Pritchard commenting on Low's cartoons. Both she and Town and Around deserved something much better than that ..... Among the latest TV news in Christchurch is the announcement that the Drainage Board is about to spend about £7,300 on equipment and a special van to inspect sewers more quickly and at reduced cost with the aid of a closed circuit TV system ..... Canterbury Education Board has been evincing considerable interest in the possibility of afternoon educational pro grammes, but a little bird whispers that there is not much likelihood of sets becoming classroom furniture for some time yet. Evidently the NZBC was prepared to offer two afternoon half-hour slots a week for educational programmes and the Education Department decided that the outlay involved in buying suitable programmes and so on was not on for a mere 60 mtinutes, which constitutes but one-twenty-fifth of the ordinary school week.

DUNEDIN

A new theme song for DNTV2 announcer, Maureen Little, might well be something like I'm Gonna Be Warm This Winter! Seriously though, things did look a bit grim for Maureen one Sunday afternoon recently while she was conducting the Otago Request Session. A cake shop beneath the 4ZB studios caught fire and it was an anxious wait for all concerned until the local fire brigade was called and the blaze was quickly put under control. . . . Queen's Birthday weekend brought with it, as usual, the Otago Agricultural and Pastoral Society's Annual Winter Show. On hand to help entertain the large crowds who attended during the weekend (and obviously having a lot of fun themselves) were Town and Around host, Noel Robson, and announcer, John Ramsay. . . . There's a treat in store for country and western fans but it follows a long and hard night's work for a DNTVZ production team, headed by Brian Ault. While the cast of the Miss New Zealand Show were in Dunedin for the final judging of the contest, they made two half-hour programmes for the NZBC. Because of the short time available, producer and technicians alike were kept busy until the small hours, recording and filming some of New Zealand's top performers in action. John Hore, who just recently returned from a successful tour of the United States, is just one of the stars who will be taking pant in the programmes when they are screened later this year. . . . The minus-32 temperatures and slippery footpaths are here to stay and we might as well get used to the idea. One person who has resigned himself to the freezing fact is Doug Donaldson, host of The Home Gardener. He recently rounded off a programme on growing pot plants indoors with the usual goodnight but noticeably absent was his cheerful Watch the weather.