‘Rather daring’ changes in TVNZ’s summer schedule

Press, 24 October 1984, Page 15

‘Rather daring’ changes in TVNZ’s summer schedule

Television New Zealand’s summer season will take on a fresh new look this year in what the controller of programming, Mr Des Monaghan, describes as “a very aggressive attitude to summer viewing;” There will be far fewer repeats, a significant number of first-run top-flight series, and some ‘‘rather daring” changes in scheduling. Mr Monaghan says that while some of the changes are in the nature of an experiment, they are also an acknowledgement of the fact that people tend to stay up later in summer and are 'keen to relax with television at the end of the day. “For this reason we have scheduled late-night movies on Television One on some nights taking viewers through to 1.30 a.m. Keen to capitalise on the success of the mini-series this year, Mr Monaghan has scheduled them seven nights a week on Two. A mixture of first-run and repeats, they include such titles as “Under Capricorn” (an Australian production starring the New Zealand actress, Lisa Harrow); “Evita Peron,” with Faye Dunaway in the title role; “Master Of The Game” and “Rage of Angels” (based on books by Sidney Sheldon); “79 Park Avenue” (from the Harold Robbins book); “Shogun”; “Pearl”; and “Roots — The Next Generation.” They will play in the 8.30 to 10.30 p.m. slot. “Coronation Street” fans are also in for a summer

treat They will be able to see the ever-popular British serial five nights a week. With two episodes scheduled each night, this adds up to 10 episodes a week — a move designed to significantly close the gap on United Kingdom transmission of “Coronation Street.” Having started five years behind the United Kingdom, Television New Zealand has gradually reduced the difference to 15 months and is keen to close the gap to just a few weeks. On the subject of repeats, Mr Monaghan says that whilst there is a significant reduction in the number of repeats compared with last year’s number, many viewers appreciate being able to see a programme the second time around. He is delighted with the response to the coupon that Television New Zealand ran in the “Listener” asking viewers to nominate programmes they would like repeated. “The coupon was a fascinating exercise for us. Happily it showed that we were pretty much in touch with viewers but it also highlighted a number of interesting points, not the least of them being that there is still a great deal of affection for some rather older shows — series such as ‘The Planemakers,’ ‘Dr Finlay’s Casebook,’ ‘Poldark,’ ‘Sutherland’s Law’ and so on. Unfortunately most of these are no longer available.”

Heading the list of mostwanted repeats was the

series “Auf Wiedersehen Pet.” It will begin a repeat screening on One on Fridays at 9.30 p.m. from November 23.

Next came “Monty Python’s Flying Circus” (not available), “The Forsyte Saga” (which, it is hoped, will be available soon), “Our World” (which will be repeated on Saturday afternoons on Two), “Torvill and Dean’” (to be scheduled later), “The Lotus Eaters” (unavailable), “One Summer” (to be repeated later), “Return to Eden” (considered too early to repeat), “Fawlty Towers” (will be repeated from Wednesday, January 2, on One), and “The Sandbaggers” (probably to be repeated later). Other series high on the list, and which will be screened over the summer, are “Gliding On,” “Chips,” “The Goodies,” “Widows,”

“Dad’s Army,” “Some Mothers Do ’Ave ’Em,” and “Butterflies” along with the mini-series, “Shogun,” “Roots — The Next Generation,” and “Pearl.” In addition to the 14 new mini-series, viewers can expect to see other first-run series including a Rowan Atkinson comedy, “The Black Adder”; a hard-hitting satirical comedy . series called “Spitting Image,” which uses puppet caricatures of prominent people in a sketch format; the latest series of “Brass” and dramas such as “The Citadel” (based on the book by A. J. Cronin); a splendidlycostumed series of Agatha Christie mysteries called “Partners In Crime”; a new series of the 8.8. C. space fantasy, “Blake’s 7”; and a new action-adventure series, “Airwolf,” in which the hero is a helicopter gunship.