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Compass: “For the Bible tells me so”
It must be Mardi Gras week, even Compass is looking at gay themes this Sunday, in conjunction with religion in the USA.
“For the Bible tells me so” is a 90 minute film made in 2007 looking at interpretations of references of homosexuality in the Bible. There are various theological opinions on select use of language and interviews with a number of families, with several parents who were forced to question the unconditional love of their children when they learned they were same-sex attracted.
Among them are the parents of the first openly …
ABC: 2010 returning programs
Following on from the select highlights for ABC 2010, some readers have been asking about returning shows.
As we know The Einstein Factor, Sunday Arts and triple j with the doctor have all ended.
Here is the list of returning Australian-made shows not previously noted for ABC1 and ABC2:
Australian Story (ABC1, ABC2, iView),
News Breakfast (ABC2),
7pm News (ABC1),
The 7:30 Report (ABC1, iView),
Four Corners (ABC1, iView),
Foreign Correspondent (ABC1, iView),
Lateline (ABC1),
Landline (ABC1),
The Midday Report (ABC1),
Insiders (ABC1),
Inside Business (ABC1),
National Press Club (ABC1),
Offsiders (ABC1),
Stateline (ABC1),
Behind the News (ABC1)
Asia Pacific Focus (ABC1),
The Gruen Transfer (ABC1, repeated ABC2, iView),
Hungry …
Airdate: Sex Positive
There was a time in the early 1990s when World AIDS Day was acknowledged by all our television networks, with programming to match: documentaries, concerts, specials, Red Hot & Blue….
In recent years it was mostly confined to Pay Television to fight the good fight.
Today, December 1st, it is the public broadcasters that mark the occasion. SBS ONE screens a documentary on the life of Richard Berkowitz (pictured), a gay S&M-hustler-turned-AIDS activist in the 1980s.
Berkowitz’s incomparable contribution to the invention of safe sex has never been aptly credited.
Berkowitz emerged from the …
Hungry for new ideas
Andrew Denton can’t think of any other show that he can liken to his newest project, Hungry Beast.
“Some of it is News, or more Topical than News. Some of it is Comedy and some it is in a strange nether world in between the two,” he told TV Tonight.
“I guess a better way to think of it is, in a traditional sense, like a showcase for new talent coming from all different directions. In a more contemporary sense it’s a bit like the internet, where you click between different worlds. You …
Compass: The Satanic Verses Affair
Hard to believe it’s been 20 years since Salman Rushdie became the target of many in the Muslim world for his book, The Satanic Verses.
A Fatwa was issued by Iran’s spiritual leader, Ayatollah Khomeini, on the author after publishing his controversial book.
It forced the Rushdie into hiding for ten years.
On Sunday night Compass looks back on the extraordinary events which followed the publication of the book.
Interviews with Rushdie’s friends and family (including writers Fay Weldon and Hanif Kureishi and Rushdie’s sister Sameen Rushdie) and testimony from leaders of Britain’s Muslim community …
Blessed be reality television
Melbourne’s Anglican Archbishop Dr Philip Freier has spoken out against reality television during Anglican Open Church Week.
According to an article in today’s Herald Sun, Dr Freier suggested shows such as Big Brother make a ‘virtue’ out of other people’s ‘boring lives.’
“In reality TV shows, people are basically quite boring and some of them fairly banal and vulgar. It, in a way, turns them into people of interest,” he said.
“If you . . . looked at it, their lives aren’t really all that interesting.”
Newsflash: Big Brother ended nearly a year …
ABC appoints new Head of Factual
The ABC has appointed a new Head of Factual Programming, Jennifer Collins, who has been serving as ABC TV Arts, Entertainment and Comedy’s Manager of Development.
Collins will oversee ABC’s slate of factual shows including Gardening Australia, Message Stick, Compass, Q&A, Talking Heads, The Cook and the Chef, Can we Help, Fora, Catalyst, and The Collectors. She will report to the Executive Head of Content Creation, Courtney Gibson.
“Factual programming is one of the core functions of ABC TV and Jennifer’s appointment will ensure we continue to offer viewers quality programs in …
ABC: ANZAC Day coverage
ABC TV will be airing live coverage of the ANZAC Day parades from the capital cities of every State of Australia on ABC1.
It begins with the Dawn Service from Gallipoli in Turkey, live in each State on ABC1 and ABC HD.
Miriam Corowa, presenter of both Message Stick will present the broadcast.
For the second year, the ABC will present coverage of the Dawn Service from Villers-Bretonneux in France, which commemorates the achievement of Australian soldiers on Anzac Day 1918.
ABC2 will screen coverage of the Lone Pine commemorative ceremony from Turkey at 5pm …
Airdate: Compass: Stations of the Cross…The Making Of
Last year for World Youth Day there was a re-enactment of the Stations of the Cross (including a rather fit-looking Jesus).
This Easter Compass will air a “making of” special. The casting of the perfect “Jesus” and “Mary” drew recruits from across Sydney and beyond.
The ambitious production was headed up by Father Franco Cavarra, a one-time opera director who joined the Roman Catholic priesthood 10 years ago.
This special also looks at production designer Michael Scott Mitchell, responsible for everything from building the central props – including the crosses (two were needed: one …
Shows mark anniversaries in 09
2009 is a year of big anniversaries for some of our key shows, and some of them are certainly quiet achievers.
The 30th anniversary of 60 Minutes couldn’t come at a more apt time. Under attack from Seven’s Sunday Night, including with a former 60 Minutes reporter, the show has its big day on February 11th. It started life of course with Ray Martin, Ian Leslie and George Negus.
But Negus is likely to be celebrating elsewhere. SBS’ Dateline will celebrate 25 years on air. The show hit the screens in October 1984, …
World AIDS Day programming
There was a time when World AIDS Day was acknowledged by all the networks with documentaries and music specials. Specials like Red, Hot and Blue or events hosted by Nelson Mandela dominated our screens. That was a time when awareness was championed by the wider media. In recent years it’s been left largely to pay television and SBS to mark the day. But falling on a Monday, even SBS doesn’t take time out this year from its most-cherished night of the week.
The ABC comes to the rescue tonight (9:40pm) with a …
TV Forums report card
Since the advent of online, television fans have had ways of letting networks know what they think. No more writing letters to newspapers, it’s as easy as logging onto a network website anonymously and speaking your mind.
TV Tonight has been looking at how our networks embrace free and open discussion. Here’s how they stacked up.
ABC:
Within the ABC site there are individual show pages, many of which have open forums. Shows including Enough Rope, Compass, Can We Help?, At The Movies, Life at 3, Good Game, Media Watch, Spicks and Specks and …