Plenty of variety, but “Survey” was missed

Press, Volume CXII, Issue 33064, 3 November 1972, Page 4

Plenty of variety, but “Survey” was missed

Although there was no lack of variety in Wednesday night’s viewing, the temporary absence of “Survey” did serve to show just how much poorer midweek television is without a well-produced current affairs or human interest programme.

Important as it was, the election opening address of the leader of the Social Credit League, which replaced “Survey,” was more informative than entertaining and one can be thankful that all the parties in this year’s election race have not been allotted prime viewing time. This opening address did differ from the two of preceding nights in one notable respect, an absence of a background buzz of heckling and interjecting and for this viewers could only be thankful. Heckling has its place when one can hear what the heckler is on about, but on television it is nothing more than an irritation. as * #

The abbreviated form of “The South Tonight” contributed further to the lack of local interest items and if at times we are inclined to take

“The South Tonight” for granted its look beyond the headlines does give television a day-to-day freshness. The two main features, “Nichols” and “Callan,” were both of a reasonable standard, even if the “Callan” story did lose some of its credibility towards the end when, first, the female spy abruptly changed sides and, second, the sudden and remarkably well-timed demise of Callan’s arch-rival, Belukov. It was almost as if the script writer, realising the predicament he had got Callan into, felt sorry for his hero and got him off the hook by simply directing that Belukov die without another shot having to be fired. A few of the customary last mutterings, as came from the Indian in “Nichols” before he slipped away, would have given the final scene more realism.

Nichols was seen in somewhat different surroundings this week and although the story was not entirely original the strength of this series is its off-beat characters and witty lines of dialogue. The liking the Indian showed for Nichols’s scalp and his ramblings about how his brother was sixth in line when Custer’s locks were sheared were most amusing. Of interest, too, was that if this legendary warrior had not taken time out to shoot a couple of newspaper reporters he would have been fifth in the queue.

Another humorous scene was when Nichols and his old army cronies got to the house where the gold was stored. The way in which both their chins and guns dropped at the unexpected sight of a flimsily-dressed female was delightful and a nice touch was that the lady’s vital statistics (38-24-36) should match the combination of the safe.

« * « Notwithstanding the fact that it produced two new pace-setters, “New Faces” did not seem to have quite the same sparkle of previous weeks.

The reason was partly due to there being four groups — one after another — and even if the compere (Jim McNaught) did explain that “there are just so many groups about today” a little more variety would have helped. Also, to an untrained ear the groups did seem rather uniform in sound and the

vocalist at the end was a pleasant change. He certainly got one of the judges steamed up and his description of the performance as “whacking me where it matters" could break new ground in entertainment jargon.

The programme’s liveliest moments came when the

judges cut loose and although their habit of talking each other down is annoying it does give the panel a stronger character than has been the case with some of the polite concurring that similar panels have indulged in in the past. The open forum technique must present problems for camera crews and this was frequently evident on Wednesday when the camera was embarrassingly late in getting a bead on the man doing the talking.

The extremely poor picture quality towards the end did not help matters, but it did show that when on the blink technology plays no favourites, be they Prime Ministers or entertainers. * * A programme which must give pleasure to viewers of all ages is “Circus.” The excitement of the big top is weli captured and there have been many absorbing novelty acts, the dancing horses and footballing dogs being cases in point this week.—PANDORA’S GUEST.

CHTV3 2.00 p.m.: News. 2.03: Marcus Welby, M.D. Drama (repeat). 2.53: Beggar My Neighbour. Comedy (final). 3.23: The Beverly Hillbillies. Comedy. 3.47: Country Calendar (repeat). 4.02: Sesame Street. 4.59: Looney Tunes. Cartoon (final). 5.16: The Flaxton Boys. Adventure. 5.40: Mr Wizard. Science. 6.02: News, weather. 6.05: Nanny And The Professor. Comedy. 6.30: World Scene. 6.50: Sports Magazine. 7.00: Network news. 7.20: Weather. The South Tonight. 7.40: The Partners. Comedy (final). 8.06: Gunsmoke. Western. 8.56: Esther Ofarim. Variety. 9.41: Newsbrief. 9.43: Film (1953) —99 River Street (John Payne, Evelyn Keyes). Drama. 11.04: Late news, weather. 11.10: Mannix. Drama.

NATIONAL LINK [lncluding 3YA Christchurch (690 kilohertz); 2YA Wellington (570 kilohertz); 4YA Dunedin (750 kilohertz); and 3YZ Greymouth (950 kilo hertz).) 7 p.m.: N.Z.B.C. Sports News. 7.30: Time for Music. 8.30: Weather and News. Checkpoint. 9.0: Bandbeat. 9.14: Music of the Maori. 9.26: Maori for Beginners. 9.50: Jazz Scene. 10.30: N.Z.B.C. News, Comment, Weather. 10.45: No Highway. 11.0: 8.8. C. News and Commentary. 11.15: Continuous. 11.45: Open Country. 3YC, CHRISTCHURCH (960 kilohertz) 7 p.m.: Angela Shaw (soprano); Loretto Cunning-

hame (piano). 7.16: Elgar: Enigma Variations — N.B.C. Symphony Orchestra under Arturo Toscanini. 7.46: SaintSaens: Carnival of the Animals. 8.10: Mozart—Giorgio Tozzi (bass). 8.27: Dvorak: Slavonic Dance No. 3 in A flat — Amsterdam Concertgebouw Orchestra under Bernard Haitink. 8.32: Danzi Wind Quintet. 9.0: Exiles. Play by James Joyce. 3ZB, CHRISTCHURCH

(1100 kilohertz) 7.30 p.m.: Buy, Sell and Exchange. 8.30: Night Beat. 9.2: Sounds Nice.

3ZM, CHRISTCHURCH 7 p.m.: Sounds Right Now. 11.0: Master’s Music Machine.