Indifferent festive TV fare

Press, Volume CXIII, Issue 33419, 28 December 1973, Page 4

Indifferent festive TV fare

Take a sprinkling of “Sweet Charlotte." a dollop of “Peyton Place." a pinch or two of old box office idols, and you have the ingredients of the most unpalatable television dish of the festive season. Served up under the, uninspired title of 'The: Screaming Woman," this, heavily contrived drama failed'dismally as a Boxing Dav atttraction. ft was built flimsily; around stereotyped reactions to an improbable story by a former mental patient, and Universal Studios made a; mountain out of a molehill | bv prolonging the story and 1 delaying the predictable climax. The small print in thej credit lines proclaimed that’ this TV drama was based on a short story. This being so,j the production bosses achieved a visual fillibusterj in spinning the film out to about "Ornin. Olivia de Havilland made her television debut in the production, but her professional competence was over-' shadowed by the fabricated

nature of the situations. The scene in which she rescued the woman who had been buried alive resembled an excerpt from a fifth-rate hor’ror movie. Fleeting appearances by 'Joseph Cotten and Waiter Pigeon failed to inject any life into the plot — and the : expressionless Ed Nelson !sealed the fate of this sorry' effort. Nelson one of the bulwarks of the long-winded Peyton Place” brought all the doubtful expertise he had accumulated in the TV marathon to “The Screaming ’Woman,” and by fixing Miss, ide Havilland. his girl-friend, and the family dog with the same baleful stare, he en-i sured that the film was buried! - deeper than his intended victim. Boxing Day was among .the most forgettable viewing days on the year in otheri ;respects, too. “Grandstand”'

failed to make the most of a welter of sport, principally i racing and cricket, on the national front, and “The Delphi Bureau" bumbled along against the unfortunate, background of American' political intrigue. Worst of ail was “The Thrillseekers,” which: reached the bottom of the: barrel by presenting bicycle polo to the accompaniment’ of Rossini’s music — and no disrespect is intended to the ’memory of the great composer. Even the granite-faced! Chuck Connors — wrongly: billed as the star of theseries — apologised for this item “They might not! [qualify as thrillseekers, but you could call them funseek-.-ers.” he said Viewers will: have their own ideas about That. ; Apart from “The Odd ’Couple.” which, sadly, is! now at an end, the only bright item was an interview; with John A. Lee, which! “The South Tonight” re-! ceived from Wellington.l The bluff old politician's: wonderful turn of phrase was worth more than the! combined efforts of all the scriptwriters in the evening’s programmes. —.l. K. B,

CHTV3 2.00 p.m.: News, weather (C). 2.05: ’S Wonderful ’S Marvellous ’S Gershwin. Music. 3.18: Sid Scales. Profile. 3.35: The Second Hundred Years (Repeat) (C). 4.00: Grandstand. 5.00: Windows. Children’s magazine (C). 5.28: News. 5.30: Grandstand. 6.27: Circus (C). 6.50: Billboard. Sports preview'. 7.00: Network news. 7.20: Weather. The South Tonight. 7.35: Country Road. Music. 8.05: Mod Squad. Crime (C). 8.55: The Ivory Coast Experiment. Documentary (C). 9.13: Newsbrief (C). 9.15: Film (1960) —’'Operation Petticoat (Cary Grant. Tony Curtis) (C). 11.11: Late news, weather (C). 11.18: The Flip Wilson Show. Variety (C).

NATIONAL LINK [lncluding 3YA Christchurch <690 kilohertz); 2YA Wellington <570 kilohertz); 4YA Dunedin 750 kilohertz); and 3YZ Grevmouth <950 kithertz) J 7 p.m.: Melody on the Move. 7.30: Time for Music. 8.30: Weather and News. 8.40: Sing / long with Max Bygraves and Chorus. 9.0: Music Exchange. 9.15: Music of the Maori. 9.30: Jazz Scene. 10.30: N.Z.B.C. News, Weather. 10.45: Bowls. 11.0: 8.8. C. News and Commentary. 11.15: Continuous Music. 11.45: Open Country.

3YC CHRISTCHURCH (960 kilohertz) 7 p.m.: Graeme Gorton (baritone). Loretto Cunninghame i (piano). Sir Arthur Somervell: Song Cycle: Maud. 7.32: The Heart Machine. 8.0: Mefistofele. 3ZB CHRISTCHURCH (1100 kilohertz) !7.30 p.m.: The John Reid Show. 9.5: Track Talk. 3ZM CHRISTCHURCH (1400 kilohertz) hl p.m.: Masters Music Matchine.