News Archive:
Get out your best Reg Grundies
Television pioneer and magnate Reg Grundy will celebrate his 85th birthday with a bash at a Sydney hotel in December, The Age reports.
Grundy, whose name is synonymous with Australian television, produced game shows from the 1960s after creating Wheel of Fortune, later adding dramas such as Prisoner, The Restless Years, The Young Doctors, Sons and Daughters and Neighbours to his stable. He sold the Grundy Organisation in 1995 to Pearson, which has subsequently been overtaken by FremantleMedia.
These days he is retired in Bermuda (maybe he hangs out with Bruce Gordon?) with …
The Extra detail on the 5:30 battle
On any given weekday in the 5:30pm race it isn’t difficult to see the wins by Deal or No Deal are a headache to the Nine Network. It thumped Million Dollar Wheel of Fortune out of existence.
On Wednesday Deal had 761,000 national viewers while Antiques Roadshow had 473,000. But that isn’t the full picture.
While nobody is denying the might of Deal, the figures don’t acknowledge the fact that not only is Antiques a one hour show, but in Brisbane it airs from 4:30 - 5:30pm. That’s because the locally-produced Extra airs …
Ernie Sigley to retire
After more than 50 years in showbiz, veteran entertainer Ernie Sigley has announced his retirement.
Currently afternoon host on Radio 3AW, Sigley will wind down his workload in early November. He will remain part of the 3AW family in a semi-retirement capacity.
Sigley, who recently celebrated his 70th birthday, began his career in 1952 as a radio panel operator on 3DB and made his first television hosting role on HSV7’s Teenage Mailbag in 1957.
He famously hosted Adelaide Tonight in the 1960s and The Ernie Sigley Show for GTV9 from 1974, including a top-rating …
1000th Deal for AOK
It’s a case of “booyay” for Andrew O’Keefe today as the 1000th episode goes to air on Seven.
Since launching the show in 2003, O’Keefe has fronted 500 hours of the show, with 26,000 cases and over $20m in cash given away. The show is such a ratings winner, that Nine can’t seem to land a punch. Family Feud and Million Dollar Wheel of Fortune all ended their run. Now Nine is said to be developing an “entertainment chat show.” Maybe they oughta ask Daryl if he wants to revive Blankety Blanks?
Seven …
Kelly lands Wipeout role
Kelly Landry, former co-host of Million Dollar Wheel of Fortune, has scored a co-host role in the Australian version of Wipeout.
Landry has been filing stories for Getaway since the demise of the Nine game shows.
Wipeout has enjoyed considerable success on Nine, so much so that Nine is to begin shooting the local version at the same obstacle course in Argentina in six weeks time (if they are really practical, Landry could shoot some Getaway stuff while she’s in that neck of the woods).
The US version is hosted by two smarmy, sports-casters …
Nine pilots new entertainment show
Nine is reported to have begun work on that potential new entertainment / chat format previously whispered about in the lead up to its 6pm news bulletins.
Georgie Parker and Richard Reid (Today, Domestic Blitz) were in the studio last weekend hosting a format that uses both live and pre-recorded interviews. Previous speculation on the show even mentioned the idea of a studio audience. At this early stage the pilot has not been approved.
A network spokeswoman told news.com.au, “no decision has been made.”
Nine has long been keen to address …