Posts filed under 'TV/Radio/Media'
A few weeks ago I reported that Humphrey B. Bear may have been about to change television station. Well today I am very pleased to be able to bring you the news (if you haven’t already heard it elsewhere) that Here’s Humphrey will soon return to the screen with new episodes.
Channel Nine, who apparently only had the rights to repeat Humphrey’s episodes three times, and only had a few weeks left of repeats, have signed a new contract with Adelaide based Banksia Productions for more new episodes. Unfortunately I can’t find any details of how many episodes have been agreed to, but having Humphrey back with new episodes is good news none-the less.
More details as they come to hand.
Samuel
February 14th, 2007 at 06:24am
…and generating electricity from the hot air of politicians!
In all seriousness though, most talkback presenters take a few days for me to even consider calling them…Paul took minutes. I’m very impressed with Paul Makin, he has a natural knack for news, and presents enthralling newstalk programming. It’s great to hear some good newstalk overnight on 2UE again, as it has been lacking since Stuart moved (apparently temporarily) to the 8pm-Midnight shift. He is also a good listener, and seems willing to give everyone their chance to speak their mind.
I would be very happy if Stuart Bocking were to permanently take over the 8pm-Midnight shift, which seems to suit him, and Paul Makin were to take over weekday New Day Australia. Abe can also stay on as producer as he has been doing a great job with Clive Robertson and Paul Makin.
Anyway, I chatted with Paul just after the 1am news. I provided a suggestion about introducing a secondary water network for “grey water” so that we can more easily reuse our water. Paul and I seemed to hit it off and we had a bit of a laugh…I hope Paul gets a permanent shift on 2UE. Incidentally, the recording also contains possibly the last Ken Sparks voiceover still in use on 2UE…the generic New Day Australia intro for when the host doesn’t have their own. (Unfortunately Kris McKenzie recorded 45 seconds of weather rather than 30 seconds, so he talks over the intro).
Click here to listen or download (5 minutes and 12 second, 4MB)
2UE have picked up some talent in Paul…and his sudden appointment to the 2UE ranks instead of using Clinton Maynard or any other fill-in presenters indicates to me that we must be very close to a decision on the 8pm-6am timeslots on 2UE.
Samuel
February 13th, 2007 at 01:45am
Clive Robertson is apparently busy this week, so Paul Makin is filling in on New Day Australia for Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday morning. John Kerr will be back on Friday, and next week remains a mystery.
Paul Makin
Paul has been a journalist and actor for many years, and was a host on Adelaide’s commercial talk radio station 5AA from 2001-2003. Long term 2UE listeners would remember Paul as the reporter on the scene of the Granville train disaster of January 18, 1977.
I’m not overly familiar with Paul’s work so it will be interesting to see how he handles middawn talkback.
Samuel
February 12th, 2007 at 08:22pm
It looks like 666 ABC Canberra are looking for a new program director. Here’s the job advertisement from Radioinfo.
Program Director
09 Feb 2007
# Canberra
# $65,424 – $80,940 p.a.
Local Radio in Canberra has a vacancy for a highly motivated and experienced program maker to lead the station’s on air teams with the purpose of maintaining outstanding program content, focussing on information and entertainment radio. The Program Director provides high level leadership in editorial decision making, manages human and program resources, and develops strategies to build and maintain audiences. The Program Director’s role includes the generation of very strong program content, with significant development of original ideas for station on air and off air activities. As editorial team leader, the role requires outstanding ability to motivate others in being creative and innovative in producing on air content.
Selection Criteria:
1. Outstanding interpersonal and motivational skills, proven experience in radio with outstanding editorial skills and judgement.
2. Proven ability to lead and inspire a team of program makers with specific ability to guide teams in making diverse daily programs in a metropolitan radio station.
3. Demonstrated ability to develop and produce accessible and relevant program content. Demonstrated leadership in program construction and delivery.
4. Capacity to initiate, research and produce highly complex program segments and interviews and provide significant input into shaping program and station sound. Ability to work under high pressure and to deadlines.
5. A comprehensive understanding and commitment to ABC Editorial Policies as well as EEO and Cultural Diversity issues and their relevance to program making.
6. Comprehensive knowledge of modern broadcast technology including digital editing and online content.
7. Ability to develop strategies to attract and maintain audiences as well as the ability to manage projects and major broadcasting initiatives.
8. Knowledge of key issues affecting the Canberra audience.
9. Ability to produce and present live and pre-recorded reports for radio at an outstanding level.
# All applications must include audition material on CD ONLY (non returnable). Copies of the ABC Editorial Policies are available at www.abc.net.au
For further information contact Jen Brennen on (02) 6275 4615.
Applications quoting reference IAR706072 should be sent to Recruitment, ABC, GPO Box 9994, Adelaide SA 5001 or email using the link below.
Applicants must address the selection criteria. For information on how to apply visit abc.net.au/jobs
The ABC is an equal opportunity employer
The ABC invites Indigenous Australians to apply for this position
If they’re going to write a politically correct job advertisement, they could at least start it by acknowledging that the successful applicant will be asked to work on “Ngunnawal land” (the statement which anybody trying to score points for political correctness open their speeches with in Canberra…except they acknowledge that they are standing or meeting on it). Actually, why not have the political correctness hub of Canberra radio acknowledge it at the start of every program…that’s bound to bring in the listeners. Say it over and over and over for eight minutes and you’ll win the quarter hour in the ratings!
In all seriousness though, 666ABC are coming in to a new ratings period with the very real prospect of losing further ground to 2CC…perhaps with a new Program Director they will be behind 2CC by the end of the second ratings period. One can only hope.
After this article, somebody is going to accuse me of an anti-ABC bias, so perhaps I should explain myself a bit further. Overall I like the ABC, but their Canberra radio station leaves a lot to be desired, and it will probably take a ratings defeat for them to shake things up a bit. They’ve been on top of the pile for a long time, and they’ve gone stale, they’re neither fresh nor interesting (incidentally 3AW seem to be headed in the same direction in Melbourne). It’s time for a change.
Maybe their new Program Director will fix things up for them, but with 666 being 666, it’ll take a ratings defeat, or something very close to it, to make them notice that they aren’t the be-all-and-end-all of Canberra’s talk radio market.
Of course, I would like to see 2CC in their rightful place above the local ABC station in the ratings…they’re the better station at the moment and have been for a while (a couple holiday errors excepted).
Samuel
February 12th, 2007 at 08:49am
The ACT Emergency Services Authority has issued a Yellow Warning (likely impact) for the ACT following the release of a severe storm warning by the Bureau of Meteorology. I can’t find the ESA announcement online (which is odd for them lately), so here is the Bureau’s announcement.
NSW/ACT SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING
for LARGE HAILSTONES, DAMAGING WIND, VERY HEAVY RAINFALL and FLASH FLOODING
For people in the
Central West Slopes,
Central Tablelands,
South West Slopes,
Southern Tablelands,
the ACT and parts of the
Northwest Slopes,
South Coast,
Northern Tablelands,
Mid North Coast and
Hunter Forecast Districts.
Issued at 2:35 PM Saturday, 10 February 2007.
Severe thunderstorms are likely to produce damaging winds, very heavy rainfall and flash flooding and large hailstones in the warning area over the next several hours.
Major locations within the warning area include Orange, Mudgee, Bathurst, Katoomba, Canberra, Goulburn, Cooma, Yass, Young, Tumbarumba, Armidale and Glen Innes.
Large hailstones are most likely in the southern part of the warning area.
The State Emergency Service advises that people should:
* Move your car under cover or away from trees.
* Secure or put away loose items around your house, yard and balcony.
* Keep clear of fallen power lines.
* Keep clear of creeks and storm drains.
* Don’t walk, ride your bike or drive through flood water.
* Unplug computers and appliances.
* Avoid using the phone during the storm.
* Stay indoors away from windows, and keep children and pets indoors as well.
* For emergency help in floods and storms, ring your local SES Unit on 13 2500.
* In the ACT, ring the ACT Emergency Service on 6207 8455
The next warning is due to be issued by 5:35 PM.
This warning is also available through TV and Radio broadcasts, the Bureau’s website at www.bom.gov.au or call 1300 659 218. The Bureau and State Emergency Service would appreciate this warning being broadcast regularly.
Update 3:10pm: And here’s the press release from the Emergency Services Authority
A YELLOW LEVEL warning for a possible storm threat to the ACT has been issued as part of the ACT All Hazards Warning System following the issuing of a severe thunderstorm warning by the Bureau of Meteorology.
The Bureau advises the storm may produce large hailstones, damaging winds, very heavy rainfall and flash flooding over the next several hours.
The YELLOW LEVEL warning covers the period from 1400 Saturday 10th February 2007 to 1800 Saturday 10th February 2007.
”The ACT SES has placed units on standby as a precaution at this stage and are ready to respond if required by the community,” ACT State Emergency Service Deputy Chief Officer Bren Burkevics said.
“Residents should refer to Emergencies and the National Capital – A residents guide available on www.esa.act.gov.au ,”he said.
“The ACT State Emergency Service advises that as storms approach, residents should:
Put vehicles under cover or cover them with blankets
Secure or put away loose items around your home, yard and balcony
Move indoors and away from windows
Shelter and secure pets and animals
Put outdoor items: garden furniture, toys etc. inside, and
Keep children and animals away from storm water drains
“During and after the storm, residents should:
Take extreme care when driving
Unplug computers and appliances
Beware of fallen trees and power lines
Listen to a portable radio for updates
Avoid using the telephone during the storm
FOR ACT SES EMERGENCY HELP IN FLOODS AND STORMS CALL 132 500
FOR LIFE THREATENING EMERGENCIES CALL 000
End Update
Also, I would just like to congratulate 2CC who broadcast the warning before the Bureau publicly released it, and broadcast it immediately, rather than waiting until the weather update.. The Bureau obviously told the ESA first, and they got the fax out first. Well done 2CC, this is a vast improvement over the New Years Eve fiasco, and even over previous regular practice.
Update 6:04pm: I was just about to give up all hope of rain, but out of the blue another storm cell is developing rapidly to the west of Canberra and is on its way in…hopefully this doesn’t dissipate like the last two did! This one appears to be part of a growing storm front so the chances of it dissipating are negligible.
Here’s the weather radar picture from 5:20pm, which pretty much sums up the afternoon’s rain pattern.
And here’s the one from 6pm showing the growing storm front to the west and north-west of Canberra. (I’m in a bit of a hurry, I’ll resize the images shortly).
I better take Nattie for her walk now before the rain hits! End Update
Update 6:44pm: The Yellow Warning has expired, but the storm is about to hit! Here’s the latest from the Bureau
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING
for LARGE HAILSTONES, DAMAGING WIND, VERY HEAVY RAINFALL and FLASH FLOODING
For people in the
Northwest Slopes,
Illawarra,
Northern Tablelands,
Hunter,
Central Tablelands,
Southern Tablelands,
the ACT and parts of the
Northwest Plains,
Central West Slopes,
South Coast,
Northern Rivers,
Mid North Coast,
Metropolitan and
South West Slopes Forecast Districts.
Issued at 5:45 PM Saturday, 10 February 2007.
Severe thunderstorms are likely to produce large hailstones, damaging winds, very heavy rainfall and flash flooding in the warning area over the next several hours.
Major locations within the warning area include Armidale, Orange, Bathurst, Katoomba, Canberra, Goulburn, Cooma, Yass, Tamworth, Gunnedah, Moree and Narrabri.
5cm hailstones observed at Rylstone at 15:30p.m
The next warning is due to be issued by 8:25 PM.
An expanded warning area, and plenty of activity on the weather radar. More updates to follow. End Update
Update 7:15pm: Looks like people south of Lake Burley Griffin are copping a battering. We’ve had fairly tame rain in Reid, but there was a lightning strike within a couple hundred metres of my house not long ago (Nattie was not impressed).
In related news, ABC TV News has reported that western New South Wales from Dubbo, up to Cobar and out to Bourke, is without power after the storm caused a fault on a main transmission line. Power has been restored to Dubbo Hospital, but the lines are only able to support a very small amount of power at the moment. Electricity transmission authority TransGrid have three crews out trying to find the fault on the 180km long cable, but are having trouble due to the storm, and have no idea when power will be restored.
End Update
Samuel
February 10th, 2007 at 02:51pm
I received an interesting tip today claiming that Peter Leonard is about to retire and Phil Small is set to take over his position. Whilst I don’t doubt for one moment that Peter Leonard is about ready to retire, I do have a small doubt about Phil Small taking over as anchor, mainly because Phil is very knowledgeable when it comes to sport, and if he were to take over as anchor, somebody would have to fill his void.
If Phil were to take over as anchor, I suppose he could continue to oversee sport, but somebody else would have to do most of the sport reporting. I also have a slight niggling doubt that Phil would want to take over as anchor…I’m sure he’d do a great job, but I’m not convinced that he would want to do it.
If Tony Lynas was still with Win, he would have the anchor job in a flash, but he isn’t there, and Jessica Good is his replacement. I am getting the impression that Jessica’s current fill-in anchor role is a trial for when Peter Leonard does retire, and so far I think she has put in a solid effort and, if Phil Small declines the anchor role, she will most likely get it.
Anyway, thank you to the nice person who sent me the tip, it is most appreciated.
Samuel
February 9th, 2007 at 11:49pm
I sent this email to Win Television’s Canberra newsroom this morning:
Good morning Win News Canberra,
I wonder if you could pass on a message of congratulations to Jessica Good for me? She has done a wonderful job filling in for Peter Leonard and, based on the last couple nights, has a bright future ahead.
I should also congratulate the rest of you as well, as you all continue to produce the best local news bulletins in Canberra.
Also, I was thinking, and I’m sure it’s beyond your control but you might be able to pass it on as a suggestion…Win is clearly the leader in regional news, but each region only gets to see their local bulletin. Perhaps WIN could consider running a couple bulletins from nearby areas overnight. I don’t know what the cost of doing that would be, so it might be out of the question, but if it is workable it would be very interesting for a “news junkie” like myself to hear about the news of nearby regions.
Anyway, thank you for continuing to provide an excellent news service.
Best wishes,
Samuel Gordon-Stewart
February 9th, 2007 at 02:49pm
I notice that City Ads have not published their promised correction for their photo bungle…I won’t be holding my breath to see it in next week’s edition (due in my letterbox on the weekend).
Samuel
February 9th, 2007 at 12:47pm
Recently I have received a few inquiries about the welfare of James Goodwin and Robbie McGregor, so I might as well address them.
James Goodwin is currently working for Macquarie National News (2GB & 2CH) as one of their Parliament House reporters, or to be accurate, their “Federal Parliament reporter”. James has his own profile page on the 2GB website and can occasionally be seen on television news bulletins holding a 2GB microphone at those members’ entrance media scrums. He can also be heard occasionally reading the weekend news for 2CC and 2CA. At this stage James doesn’t host one of 2GB’s prolific podcasts, although I wouldn’t be surprised if he gets one once the date of the federal election is announced, as he was hired by Macquaire mainly for the purpose of covering the federal election.
For the benefit of Ron who lives in Central Victoria and has seemingly been a fan of James since he worked for Southern Cross News (2UE, 3AW, 4BC, 6PR etc), James sounds much the same as he did back then. Unfortunately it’s not a quick process to find one of his reports on the 2GB webstream as I have no control over what they run in each bulletin, I’ll keep checking for audio periodically, but I wouldn’t hold my breath on that one.
Update 5:51pm February 6th, 2007: Despite James being 2GB’s Federal Parliament reporter, he has spent some time in Sydney as 2GB’s police reporter. This is something I was unaware of until today. End Update
Whilst I was monitoring the 2GB webstream yesterday I stumbled upon an ad voiced by someone else I keep getting asked about, ex-SBS voiceover man Robbie McGregor.
Robbie, these days, is providing voiceovers for just about anything. He can be hired through rmk Voice Productions (he has his own profile page there).
Click here for Robbie McGregor voicing an ad for the Rockdale Mattress Factory.
Samuel
February 6th, 2007 at 11:52am
2UE’s Stuart Bocking has emailed me to assure me that the majority of my article about him and the 2UE night show is wrong…interesting but wrong.
I won’t quote him because I’m pretty certain he wouldn’t want me to, but the gist of his message is that no host has been confirmed for 2UE’s night show, Stuart does like the overnight (midnight to dawn) hours, and he expects to return to that show when a host is confirmed.
The majority of my sources are still adamant that Stuart is the new night show host, however I do, in some selfish way, hope that Stuart’s email is accurate, as I don’t get to hear much of the night show, but get to hear a fair chunk of the overnight show, and I don’t want to lose Stuart from the overnight show. I also hope that Stuart gets whatever shift he chooses because in my view, he deserves it.
If it does turn out that I and my sources are wrong, then I will be more than happy to take the blame and provide a full apology, but until the official announcement, I will continue to quote my sources.
Samuel
February 2nd, 2007 at 04:09pm
It’s official…internally official…but official none the less, 2UE’s new night time host is Stuart Bocking.
Murray Olds was going to be the fill-in host this week, but it would appear that John Laws put a bit of pressure on management to give Stuart the job. The noises I’m hearing suggest that Laws wanted a permanent night time host by the time he got back, it’s also claimed that Stuart wasn’t fond of the hours he had to keep on the overnight shift, wanted to move to nights, and got a bit of help from Lawsie to do so. Stuart was previously John Laws’ executive producer for a number of years.
Needless to say, this snap decision over the weekend has caused no end of confusion…mainly for listeners, but also for presenters who have provided some of the most muddled explanations I have heard in a long time.
At least one of my sources backs up my theory that 2UE staff found out about the decision on Sunday, but were told to keep quiet and use an official cover story. The cover story revolved around Stuart filling in for the Monday night show, and possibly being back on his regular shift later in the week…the story didn’t mention Murray Olds, or who would do Stan’s show for the rest of the week…or what anyone was doing really, and this left presenters in an awkward position as they needed to explain why they were on-air when they were, but had to make up half the story in order to make any sense. Poor John Kerr probably got the hardest explanation of the lot as he tried to explain who was doing what on the overnight shift, and ended up saying something about filling in for Stuart so that Stuart wouldn’t do the Tuesday overnight show and be on for 30 hours straight…or something like that.
2UE will make the official announcement at some stage in the next couple days, I’m led to believe that Stan Zemanek will make a statement about the show being in very capable hands and him wishing Stuart all the best.
Stuart was being very careful about it all last night, telling callers who asked whether he was permanently on the night show that his presence was “a stop gap measure”. He did accidentally mention that it’s now his show at one stage…but not very clearly.
Meanwhile Clive Robertson looks set to take over Stuart’s old midnight-5:30am weekday shift. I haven’t heard any confirmation of this, but a few murmurs about it being “almost certain”, and the fact he now has an email address (robertson@2ue.com.au) pretty much make it a certainty in my view.
The big upshot of Clive Robertson taking over that shift is the reintroduction of overnight producers. Clive simply refuses to work without one. Whether 2UE will see the light and give John Kerr one or not is still very much up in the air. It didn’t take them long to reintroduce live overnight news after a couple of stuff ups with wrong bulletins or no bulletins going to air, so one would hope that with every other overnight job reintroduced, John will get a producer.
Anyway, congratulations Stuart, premature congratulations Clive, and commiserations to Murray Olds who once again has been shuffled around on short notice by 2UE.
Samuel
January 30th, 2007 at 01:22am
This week Murray Olds will be filling the chair on the 2UE Night Show…well that’s what 2UE have been saying, and what their website says, but according to John Kerr who filled in for Stuart Bocking overnight, Stuart will be doing the 8pm-Midnight show tonight. John doesn’t know who is doing what show and when after that…and who can blame him? The whole thing is getting very messy. It was amusing listening to John trying to explain it at the start of the show, getting somewhat lost and making it sounds like he was saving Stuart from a 30 hour shift!
The question of who will take over the show on a permanent basis remains to be seen, and ultimately for me, the question is which source to believe. Only a week or so ago I was hearing stories about Glenn Wheeler, Stuart Bocking and Clive Robertson not being in contention, now I’m told that Stuart and Clive have put themselves up for selection and are “sitting on the edge of their seats”.
I have to admit that Stuart did sound quietly confident when he signed off on Friday night, saying something to the effect of “I’ll either be back here or on New Day come Monday”. It looks like he’ll be on the night show tonight…but I would love to know why he is there and Murray isn’t.
It looks to me like 2UE are just taking the opportunity to test various people on the night shift, and see how the audience reacts. Both Glenn and Stuart are popular in that shift, but Glenn, apparently, hasn’t put his hand up for the job. So perhaps that’s what we will have, Stuart Bocking, with Glenn Wheeler filling in. That might just work, because then Murray Olds could take the midnight to dawn shift, and Clive Robertson, Steve Liebmann, Clinton Maynard and Tim Webster could continue to fill in where and when needed.
Of course that is pure speculation…but it would work.
I’m going to say right here and now that I think Clive Robertson has no chance of getting the night shift…he knows just as well as I do that he isn’t overly well liked by Southern Cross Broadcasting in Melbourne, and whilst he can be great fun in week long bursts, he just doesn’t seem suited to a shift with an endless stream of callers. He is much more entertaining with the occasional caller and plenty of his anecdotes and observations.
I’ve had three emails during the week from people asking who I think will get the job, and I’ve told each of them that, despite Stuart supposedly not being in the running at the time of their emails, Stuart Bocking is my tip to take over the 2UE Night Show. I think Glenn Wheeler will remain as the fill-in host, but I think the rumours of someone new to the station taking over are pure bunk.
Samuel
January 29th, 2007 at 09:06am
After the New Years Day debacle with the 2CC Emergency Tape’s copy of “The Sounds Of Silence” being repeated ad nauseum, 2CC have once again changed the emergency tape, which is always a good idea after it’s been played a bit more than a few times.
The emergency tape has reverted to the ad break formula, which was used by the one before last, and takes advantage of 2CC’s newish imaging.
Thanks to a missing ad break (there were a couple missing pulses…the technician was still at 2UE fixing things at 2am) during Thursday night’s Sports Today program, I have been able to find out what the start of the emergency tape contains.
2CC “It’s your call” 5 second station ID
Australian Bedding Company ad (generic – 30 seconds)
Vision City ad (Read by John Laws – 30 Seconds)
Raine and Horne ad (30 Seconds)
The Good Guys ad (generic – 30 Seconds)
The pre-news IDC pulse interrupted the Good Guys ad, and whilst I hope I never find out what comes after it, I’m pretty sure that one day I will!
Samuel
January 29th, 2007 at 06:10am
Last weekend I wrote John Kerr an email about 2UE’s new voiceovers, stating that they sounded rushed and didn’t do the new voiceover lady credit. I also asked John to pass it on to management, and it looks like he did, because the voiceovers have improved dramatically.
Before I give you a sample of the voiceovers, I’ll briefly explain the back story. Up until January 14, Ken Sparkes was 2UE’s voiceover man, and had been for nearly nineteen years. For whatever reason, 2UE decided to replace him with two people, one male, one female, they also seemed to leave production of all the replacement promos until the last minute. It is always going to be hard to replace the voice of a station, especially an incredibly long-term one, but leaving it to the last minute just makes it worse.
When I emailed John, I had heard the promos from the new voiceover lady for about a week, and they were driving me up the wall. At that stage I hadn’t heard the new male voiceovers. Since then, the female voiceovers have improved considerably.
So, here we have a collage of 2UE voiceovers. Click here to listen or download.
1. Ken Sparkes – Back to Clive Robertson
2. New female VO – Back to John Kerr
3. New Female VO – Nights with Glenn Wheeler
4. New Female VO – Back to Glenn Wheeler
Now for the voiceovers produced after my email.
5. New Female VO – Stuart Bocking
6. New Female VO – Back to Stuart Bocking
7. New Female VO – Peter Ford Showbiz (Not sure if this was produced before or after my email, but it’s a good one)
And the male voiceovers for comparison
8. Ken Sparkes – John Laws Promo
9. New Male VO – Tennis Update
10. New Male VO – Tim Webster
I think, apart from being rushed, the first lot of voiceovers 2UE got the new lady to do were just re-reads of scripts written for Ken Sparkes, and like most people, she can’t do a good copy of a Ken Sparkes voiceover. They sounded rushed, cold and stilted. It’s always a good idea to write promos with the target voice in mind, and where that has been done, she comes across well, sounds warm, and sounds like she cares about what she is reading.
As for the male voiceovers, he seems to do a good job at reading his own variation of voiceovers written for Ken…I’m sure he’ll sound even better with voiceovers written specifically for him.
Overall, 2UE have a great new voiceover team, and I’m sure they’ve learnt their lesson about rushing large amounts of new voiceovers.
Samuel
January 27th, 2007 at 09:35am
The news I heard on Monday afternoon was quite possibly the best news I have heard all week. According to Showbiz guru Peter Ford on 2UE’s John Stanley afternoon show (and many other shows and stations it would seem), moves are afoot at Banksia Productions to sever ties with Channel Nine, and sign with Channel Ten to provide new episodes of “Here’s Humphrey”.
Since 2003, Channel Nine have only run repeats of Here’s Humphrey, and brought Humphrey out alongside Hi-5 during Carols By Candlelight. You would think this would have been enough for the show to be gone forever, but it’s not, as Banksia still produce a Spanish, American and Mandarin version of Humphrey (they fly the hosts to Adelaide for filming), which effectively keeps the show alive.
The repeats of Here’s Humphrey have effectively been Channel Nine’s answer to the “what to do when Kerri-Anne’s on holidays” dilemma, and he has been treated as an irrelevance since the Hi-5 marketing juggernaut hit the screens.
In my view, Humphrey is more suitable for children than Hi-5 which seems more appropriate for an older audience, as I fail to see how skimpy costumes and semi-teen behaviour help a preschooler learn and develop. Humphrey, according to his website, is a perpetual four year old, forever discovering the world, and having lots of fun doing it. Actually, I’ll let the website explain:
Each episode of Humphrey is designed to entertain and educate its audience as they join in the fun with Humphrey B Bear. Humphrey enjoys exploring and pretending. He likes playing, singing, dancing and being with his friends. The essence of the program is in its star that will forever be four years of age and loves every minute of it.
Everyday is a new adventure for Humphrey. An adventure that parallels the needs, fears and fun of the average four year old child. Humphrey Bear explores life as they do, reinforcing their self esteem and showing them it’s OK to make mistakes (after all everyone does). We don’t always have to be the best at everything, it’s more important to simply take part.
Immensely more useful to a preschooler than a bunch of virtual pop-stars!
Humphrey has been on Channel Nine without ads since 1965, and I can understand them wanting something which will make more money, but some things are more important than profits, and if Channel Nine fail to see that, then I hope Channel Ten (or even Channel Seven) do pick up Humphrey, as the nation is a poorer place without new and up-to-date episodes of Here’s Humphrey.
I think Humphrey is one of the best children’s entertainers we have in this country, and just as it would be an incredible tragedy if the ABC were to cancel Play School, it would be a tragedy if new episodes of Humphrey don’t return to television soon.
As the Here’s Humphrey theme song “Humphrey’s Best Friends” says “Hooray for Humphrey, Good old Humphrey. Hooray for Humphrey Bear!!”
Samuel
January 26th, 2007 at 10:30pm
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