From the New Zealand TV Weekly. November 14, 1966
Auckland
Many were called but few chosen in the preliminaries to the Revue '66 programmes. Something like 500 potential performers were auditioned over the months, but only about 150 were seen as potential TV material. Just goes to show how wrong people can be when they say Boy, you should be on television
to the comic cut-up at the suburban party... Keith Bracey, urbane compere of Town and Around, has revealed that he may not have a skeleton in his cupboard, but he’s got just about everything else-all sorts of kookie gifts sent in by well-meaning viewers, ranging from assorted gonks to a pig’s head (not kept in the cupboard), .... Glad to see our suggestion that TV should look at the Little Folksingers of Mount Roskill has been taken up. Teacher-conductor John Tremewan was looking for a tag for their newest recording and we couldn’t resist the pun, The Mini- singers.
..... Kevin Moore in the north working on new programmes. ... shirley Maddock’s new book, based on her Islands of the Gulf series, winning good reviews..... Chris Bourn came north to videotape cuts for his Loxene Golden Disc show...... John Reid, university professor and at one time a consistent TV appearer, will chair a couple of pre-election question and answer programmes with political aspirants under fire from a panel representing a community cross-section. Production chore will go to Bryan Easten, busy as he is with Revue 66..... TV missed a chance in not cornering placard-carrying demonstrators during the presidential visit and quizzing them on just what makes them tick.
Wellington
IT should have been the N.Z.B.C.’s finest hour—and some of the television coverage of President Johnson’s visit was very good, capturing the immediacy and excitement of L.B.J.’s impact on Kiwi crowds. Use was made of the Christchurch and Dunedin outside broadcast vans to supplement WNTV1’s. What was missing was the movement of cameras and stick mikes in the crowd to catch the flavour of presidential and crowd comments. Alan Lyne did some excellent commentaries—but others were short of the standard required... Good to see the NZBC sending its parliamentary newsman Dave Inglis to Manila with the P.M. Dave was in Canberra earlier for the Seato talks. He's got a long way to go yet before he matches the overseas mileage of his editor-in-chief. Maurice Rossiter, away on leave of absence in Britain for eight months with his family, had hardly stepped ashore again when his familiar voice was back on the air waves carrying the news. .... Maurice Broome, one of the very talented committee responsible for recommending TV purchases, is going to the research section of the NZBC, on promotion. He will be hard to replace. oo... Graham Billing’s wife Diane has given birth to a daughter... Danger Man is still the top rated programme in the Wellington region, but perhaps the most significant feature of the latest rating list is that the Maigret series, on repeat, is number five in viewers’ preferences.
CHRISTCHURCH
The Arnold Palmer-Bob Charles Benson and Hedges Challenge Golf match at Shirley had CHTV3’s sports team on its toes and the situation was not made any easier by the fact that the Sportsman of the Year Dinner was on the same night. Keith McEwen did a straight 24-hour stint. The team was at Shirley for radio and brief TV coverage and then off to the dinner. The completed film of the function had to be despatched to all channels first thing next morning, so staff worked through the night in order that viewers throughout the country could see a comprehensive TV coverage less than 24 hours after the dinner ended. ... . The New Zealand woman has been appraised on TV by a panel of experts as well as three housewives, compered by Austin Mitchell, through the courtesy of CHTV3 producer Linda McDougall. The project began some months ago after Linda had discovered that there is surprisingly little information on what sort of person the New Zealand woman is and what part she plays in New Zealand life. Also on the stocks from the same source is a similar appraisal of the New Zealand man..... Bill Taylor, producer of the children’s magazine Get-Together and other shows, hopes to devote his time to documentaries next year, Meantime he is planning a special Christmas edition of Get Together... Des Monaghan, studio director, briefly took over Town and Around production while David Pumphrey holidayed. Incidentally, this popular magazine show (third on local ratings) goes into recess after Christmas Eve until January 31. Guess the team deserves a rest.
DUNEDIN
Don’t know how the other centres fared, but DNTV2 scarcely made top news value out of President Johnson's visit to New Zealand. The major news of the night came on with an unbelievable anti-climax—first a blank screen for endless seconds, then a tame interview with a CBS news producer, and then, and then only, the announcement that the president had arrived and that it was hoped that filmed coverage would follow within the hour. The latter delay we can certainly understand and excuse, but surely some dramatic alternative could have been devised for the extraordinary occasion which up until that point had been, in anticipation, been given top priority. Where the responsibility lies is not certain, but it is a gross miscalculation of good programming when summery Saturday afternoons present more tempting TV fare than any night in the week. On a lightly entertaining scale, Hennesey, Hank, Destry and Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea all offer more satisfying viewing than many of the series retained for night-time schedules ..... Doug Donaldson, DNTV2’s gardening expert, now seems to have recovered from that disabled arm (which he assured us was not a gardening mishap) and continues to provide sound advice for the ardent gardener. Word has it that his mail tends to regard him as a cross between a plant doctor and a Dorothy Dix of horticultural dilemmas... Seems to be an increasing tendency to roster "anyone" for TV duty.
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