Upward trend detected in Thursday offerings

Press, Volume CX, Issue 32406, 19 September 1970, Page 4

Upward trend detected in Thursday offerings

If there were no screen classics among the programmes on Thursday evening, there was the compensation of better-than-average episodes in the three principal features. Robert T. Ironside and his team, “In View of the Circumstances” and “Out of the Unknown” all improved on the previous week’s standards.

The Ironside story was more of an attempt at a sociological Study than one in crime detection or prevention. Vitto Scotti had a very difficult role as the impassioned, hatred-filled young Mexican, but he played it well, and sustained it; his girl friend was not nearly so convincing, and gave the impression that she was there only because the casting director Was her uncle. Ironside was very much himself, riding out the final dramatic Mexican storm with an air of apparent disinterest.

“In View of The Circumstances” had to be better than it was the previous week, and this time there were two or three funny sketches. Some of the attempts at zany humour in the “Frost Report” style came off fairly well. The send-up bn the coffee commercial was well handled, so was the shearing of the longhaired gentlemen, and the “Rural Rides” programme had some fine moments. But the good bits did not come frequently enough to take “LV.O.T.C.” from failure to success. One of the builtin weaknesses of the show is the lack of numbers for a long succession of brief skits and satires. It should not really matter that the same person is seen in two or three successive bits of the show. But it does. Not ohly is the cast small: there has not been much thought in shuffling its members about satisfactorily. But there are still hopes tha- this New Zealand production will improve further and yield something to warrant the considerable preliminary publicity which heralded its scheduling.

“Out of the Unknown” was much more gripping than the first tale in the series. It was a basically very simple story, but its elaboration and protracted telling did not diminish from its entertainment value.

This tale was about a woman who begins to worry about her former husband when she can not get in touch with him at the research project at which he is a scientist. She is misled and misinformed at every turn, but the audience knew pretty early that old George was the project’s prize exhibit* a man turned just about completely into a machine, all in the interests of space travel research. “Frankenstein Mark Two” it was called, and inevitably the creature—whose ability to feel sentimental had not quite been extinguished by his fellow scientists—broke out and marched off to see mum. When one goes to a midnight horror film, ghastly close-ups of ghastly faces are

to be expected. Here, however, the varying susceptibilities of an average TV audience had clearly been kept in mind, and there was nothing very terrible about old George except his fate. His wife was sympathetic, but repelled, and so, as lovers will, he went through the M.I. drill of self-destruction.

It was all extremely fanciful, but it was very well handled. Rachel Roberts is a fine actress, and she played the wife to perfection, from vague interest in her husband’s whereabouts to anxiety and frustration, finally to horror. The devilish doctors who converted George from an ordinary sort of chap to his spectacular final role were familiar folk —there was that nice avid Langton, and as the ruthless man in charge of the project, Bernard Archard.

Next week’s story in this series is set on earth after "final nuclear war” has made the surface uninhabitable. It should be fun—PANDORA.

CHTV3 Saturday 2.00: Headline news. 2.03: F Troop—“ From Karate With Love.” Comedy. 2418: Tennis—Men’s doubles, Wimbledon. 2.46: Sahara. Travel. (Narrator, Charles Boyer). 3.37: Transtel Magazine. 3.48: The Ed Sullivan Show. Variety. 441: Daniel Boone—“A Matter of Blood.” Adventure. 5.22: Sports Magazine. 543: Headline news, weather. 546: Skippy. Adventure. 6.05: Freewneelers—“Kidnapped." Adventure. 643: Get Smart—" Schwartz’s Island.” Comedy. 7.00: Network news. 7.15: Weather. Local news. 745: Personality Squares. Quiz. 7.57: Bracken’s World—“ Closed Set.” Drama. 8.54: Film (1959)—>Tm All Right Jack.” (lan Carmichael, Terry Thomas, Peter Sellers, Dennis Price). Comedy. 10.49: To be announced. 11.13: Late news, weather. 1140: The Dean Martin Show. (Phyllis Diller, the Mills Brothers, Bob Newhart, Bobby Darin, Don Rice). Variety. Sunday 2.00: Headline news. 2.03: Film (1949) “The Small Back Room.” (David Farrar, Kathleen Byron). Drama. 3.46: Tonight in Person—Theodore Bikel. Variety. 4.17: The Ballad of the Iron Horse. Documentary. 5.08: Headline news, weather. 5.10: Rugby—New Zealand v. South Africa, fourth test. 6.45: Inter-Action. 7.00: Network news. 7.10: Weather. Local news. 4. -r 7.18: Country Calendar. 744: Civilisation “The Hero as Artist.” Fifth of 13 parts. i 845: Oh Brother! Comedy. (Final). 8.51: Newsbrief. 8.54: A Man of Our Times. Fifth of 13 parts. 0.46: Search for Tomorrow “What of Our Tomorrow?” Science. „ 10.16: One Pair of Eyes “It’s a Two-faced World. Documentary. 11.00: Late news, weather.

SATURDAY NATIONAL LINK [lncluding 3YA. Christchurch (690 kilohertz); 2YA, Wellington (570 kilohertz); 4YA, Dunedin (780 kilohertz); and 3YZ. Greymouth (920 kilohertz.) 7.0 pan.: Sports Review. 730: Stump the Brains Trust. 8.0: Find the Lady. 8.30: Weather and News. 8.40: Looking at Ourselves. 8.50: Sports Results. 9.0: Those were the Days. 9.30: I’m Sorry, I'll Read That Again. 104: Sounds Great 10.30: News, weather. 10.45: Break for Music. 11.0: News and Commentary. 11.15: Basketball Report. 11.17: Squash Rackets Report. 1.0 a.m.: Thanks for the Memory. 2.30: Light Music from the Netherlands. 3.3: Music for Sweethearts. 4.30: Music of the Maori. 3YC, CHRISTCHURCH (960 kilohertz) 7.5 p.m.: Helen Watts (contralto), Geoffrey Parsons (piano)—Poems by Queen Mary Stuart (Schumann). 7.17: Ellen Armitage (organ of the Khandallah Presbyterian Church, Wellington)— Pastorale, Op. 19 (Franck); Introduction and Passacaglia in D minor (Reger). 7.38: John Wion (flute), Laurance Fader (violin), Stanley Ritchie (violin) —Serenade in D (Reger). 8.0: N.Z.B.C. Symphony Orchestra conducted by Lawrence Foster, Jacqueline du . Pre (cello) —Selections from Bach, Haydn, Dvorak. 10.0: The Shaping of New Zealand. 10.19: Erika Koeth (soprano),' Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra under Wilhelm Schuechter and Otto Matzerath—Selections from Mozart and Strauss. 10.33: Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra under William Steinberg—Quartet in E ' minor (transcribed for string 1 orchestra) (Verdi). 3ZB, CHRISTCHURCH (1100 kilohertz) 7.0 p.m.: Trotting. 7.2: Party Night. 8.10: G.T. Racers Golden. Disc Selection. 3ZM, CHRISTCHURCH (1400 kilohertz) 7.30 p.m.: Cream of the 1 Crop. 8.0: Lee Hazelwood, i

8.30: Joyce Grenfell. 9.0: The World of ' Rock and Roll. 9.30: Spotlight Bands. 10.0: From the Top Pops. SUNDAY NATIONAL LINK [lncluding 3YA, Christchurch . (690 kilohertz); 2YA, Wellington (S7O ..kilohertz); „4YA, Dunedin (TSO kilohertz); and 3YZ, Greymouth (920 kilo- ■ 114 am.: Chalwrs 9resby- ■ terian Church, Timaru. 7.30: 'Holy Trinity' Anglican : Church, Invercargill. 8.0: : Local Programmes. 8.30: i Weather and news.- 8.40: ! Point of View. 9.5: The . World of Gilbert and Sullj- . van. 9.31: Books of the Week. ' 10.0: Cracks in Hadrian’s i Wall, 10.30: News, weather. • 10.49: The Epilogue for the ! seventeenth Sunday after Trinity. 3YC, CHRISTCHURCH (960 kilohertz) 7.0 p.m.: Philharmonia Or--1 chestra under Anatole Fistoulari—Overture: The Tempest (Tchaikovsky). 7.26: Rosemary Miller (piano)— Dialogues (Mompou), Sona- ' tina (Ravel). 7.42: Salvatore Accardo (violin), Antonio Beltrami (piano)—Selections from Paganini. 8.0: 8.8. C. Music Showcase. 9.19: Crusts. 9.26: Maria Callas (soprano), Carlo Bergonzi (tenor), Paris Conservatoire Orchestra under Georges Pretre—From Act 3 of Tosca (Puccini). 9.53: Tessa Birnie (piano), Symphonia of Auckland conducted by Juan Matteucci— Selections from Beethoven. 3ZB, CHRISTCHURCH (1100 kilohertz) 7.2 p.m.: Archive Four. 1 7.30: Hancock’s Half Hour. 8.0: Game Without Rules. 8.30: Eric Jupp and His Orchestra. 9.2: Paul Temple and the Margo Mystery. 9.45: Eliza Kei1,10.15: Don Richardson Orchestra. 11.50: The Epilogue. 3ZM, CHRISTCHURCH (1400 kilohertz)

7.0 p.m.: Country Duo. 7.30: Don Ho’s TV Show. 8.0: Mirielle Mathieu. 8.30: Ceilidh Time. 9.0: Sunday Concert.