Youtube flashback! Tonight Live salutes Number 96

Another "Number 96" Youtube find:


Photo © 1993 Artist Services. Thanks Fiona Vizard.

TONIGHT LIVE WITH STEVE VIZARD. (20/7/1993)
Hosted by Steve Vizard. Featured flashback footage and live interviews with Elaine Lee, Jeff Kevin, Steve Bedwell and Number 96 historian, Ian McLean. Comedian Vince Sorrenti conducted a tour of Moncur Flats, at 83 Moncur Street, Woollahra, the actual location of the Number 96 building seen in the show's credits. Seven Network.
Part 1 (Elaine Lee)

Part 2 (Jeff Kevin, Steve Bedwell)

Part 3 (featuring yours truly).

070707

Happy 07th of the 07th month, 07!

The number seven has always been my lucky number. I have a very distinct memory of a whispery female voiceover on a 60s station identification slide, for Australian television's Network 7, which proclaimed, "Seven is my lucky number..." and I thought, "Yeah, okay, mine too!"

And 7's been rather lucky for the deliciously wicked, 70s TV soap opera, "Number 96", in recent decades. (Moreso than at Network Ten, where they usually pretend to have moved on from "Number 96" - onto more sedate things like "Big Brother Uncut" and "Torchwood", perhaps?) ;-)

In Where Are They Now's previous incarnation - the Peter Luck version of a decade ago - I provided research for three 1997 episodes, which reunited James Elliott and Lis Kirkby (Alf & Lucy Sutcliffe); Arnold Feather with his first wife Patti (Jeff Kevin & Pamela Garrick); and actors Joe Hasham and John Orcsik, who reenacted Don and Simon's first embrace. Although I only helped with research again for tomorrow night's latest "Number 96" cast reunion on the revived "Where Are They Now" - how I wish I could have been there! - I was an onscreen interviewee for two previous Network 7 productions that focused on "96".

TONIGHT LIVE WITH STEVE VIZARD. (20/7/1993)
Hosted by Steve Vizard. Featured flashback footage and live interviews with Elaine Lee, Jeff Kevin and (to quote Vizard) "Number 96's own historian", Ian McLean. Comedian Vince Sorrenti conducted a live-cross to Sydney, for a tour of Moncur Flats, at 83 Moncur Street, Woollahra, the actual location of the Number 96 building of the credit sequences. Sadly, Abigail phone in sick. Her place was taken by Vizard writer, Steve Bedwell.


TONIGHT LIVE WITH STEVE VIZARD


THE BEST OF AUSSIE DRAMAS: Part I. (7/11/2002)
Presented by Kate Ritchie of Home and Away. Contained numerous clips of Number 96, with sound byte comments from John Orcsik, Elaine Lee, Jeff Kevin, Lorrae Desmond, Vince Sorrenti and Ian McLean. Part II aired a week later, and a two-part focus on Aussie Cop Shows followed over the next fortnight, with additional sound byte comments from Paula Duncan, John Orcsik and Lorrae Desmond.

So long ago now... It seems like some wild fantasy, especially the Vizard experience, since I was whisked straight from work on the Tuesday afternoon, flown to Melbourne, dinner with the Elaine Lee and Jeff Kevin, dressing room drinks with Steve Vizard and Naomi Robson after the show, dessert in the wee hours with the celebrity guests, overnight at the exclusive Hotel Como (my suite had a doorbell!), and flown back to Sydney the next morning to arrive at work for a normal Wednesday in Punchbowl Public School's library, as if nothing had happened - and yet everyone had watched the show, live, the night before. Crazy, crazy days... my tiny taste of the everyday lives of some celebs!

Mel & Kochie have promised a big surprise for the Number 96 cast tomorrow. Any guesses? And hey, I just noticed: I'm talking about luck and Peter Luck in the same post. Just lucky, I suppose.

Fat free forever - again

"Number 96's Jeff Kevin (Arnold Feather) and Elaine Lee (Vera Collins) with Ian McLean and Steve Vizard on a reunion episode of "Tonight Live".

Okay, today's retro photograph (from 1993) celebrates two things. First, I thank myself for finding the "Number 96" DVD today - the very last one in stock was sitting on the "New Releases" shelf at HMV in the city. Stupid Myer/Virgin and Sanity elected not even to order in copies from Umbrella Entertainment for their shops (???), causing me lots of heartache yesterday, and innumerable angry and/or puzzled emails from vistors to my website this week.

And the pic also reminds me that all of the clothes I'm wearing in that scene actually fit me again, and some have even come back into fashion (I hope).

I started my writing life in 1993, and received an invitation to join Selwa Anthony's literary agency not long after. "Succeed Some More in '94", held in the November of '93, was my first event. Although I'm yet to have earned Selwa any commission yet, being a part of such a stimulating group of new and experienced authors is an incredible honour. One doesn't just learn more about writing and publishing at Selwa's annual seminar. Because each Aussie speaker has written (or published) in one or more of a huge range of genres, the attendees have their horizons widened too. I probably wouldn't have had a job as an editor for four and a half years without the self-esteem building and the skills awareness and the motivation that have spun-off from Selwa's seminars. Now I just have to finish writing something. (Or something good, anyway. Or at least something commercial.)

In November 1995, at "Succeed and Mix in '96", Dianne Barker previewed her diet and body shaping book, "Fat Free Forever", which she'd written with her then-husband, TV's "Commando" (Geoff Barker) of "Gladiators" fame. I was so inspired - and feeling Very Pudgy at 90 kg - I started the diet plan the very next day. Before Dianne's book had even been published, the notes I'd made of the diet plan's bare essentials meant that I had managed to lose 10 kg before Easter, and a few weeks later had reached 75 kg, ultimately levelling out and maintaining 77 kg. "Fat Free Forever" even permits a weekly Junk Food Day - and it really felt great when both my brain and my body started craving "healthy" junk food instead of the naughtier stuff. A sensible "sweat free diet" like this suited me well; I do walk a lot, not having a car, but I loathe most other sports and exercise.

However, as with many diets, people do tend to become complacent and fall off the wagon after a while, and they usually put back more than they lost. I barely noticed that, over the next twelve years, I sloooooooowly put back that fifteen lost kilograms - plus another fourteen for good measure! I began to think that I could have written a sequel (or a correction) to Dianne's book. I would have called it "Fat Free for Five Years".

Last September, once again feeling Very Bloated, I had to go to a day surgery to have a tiny carcinoma removed from the tip of one ear. The procedure required twilight anaesthesia and I suddenly realised that, when the nurse asked me to stand on a set of scales, she was going to announce the reading out loudly to the whole waiting room. Sure enough, "101!" she exclaimed, oh so gleefully. My only joy probably came from noticing that my surgeon obviously enjoyed his food more than I. He reminded me somewhat of Dr Frank Campion on TV's "All Saints"...

My (in hindsight, dubious) solution was to go on vacation with some friends who love their junk food, and I returned to work two weeks later weighing in at 104 kg.

Anyway, I resolved to dig out "Fat Free Forever" again - it's been lent out to numerous friends over the years, usually with excellent results - and I'm thrilled to report Repeat Success. It's been much slower going this time. One friend who chose the "Weight Watchers" way instead has spent over $450 to lose her weight. Thanks to FFF, I've now lost 18 kg so far and (according to the more generous 21st century version of the "Weight Watchers" height/weight chart I was given), I only really need to lose four more kilograms to reach a sensible, maintainable goal.

That's more than two Jack Russell terriers' worth of ugly fat I've managed to lose so far. And, to celebrate the fact that FFF has saved me well over $400, I raced out and bought myself a new leather jacket. Honestly, the scent of this jacket is so luxurious, I swear I can smell it from here. (And it's in the bedroom wardrobe at the moment; I'm not actually wearing it.)

My point is, in my typical roundabout way, I can now most definitely fit into the outfit that I bought in 1993 to emulate a TV historian on "Tonight Live". Those cool microfibre slacks once again fit my cool micro waist. Only four kilograms to go and I'm "Fat Free Forever" again. For at least five years.

The return of Number 96!

In a few hours time, Australian DVD retailers will begin unpacking cartons of Umbrella Entertainment's salute to "Number 96", Australia's cult TV soap opera hit, that ran from 1972 until 1977.

In 1993, I seriously began work on a book about "Number 96". It was to have been a social history of the groundbreaking show. The writers' workshops always tell you to write about what you know - and US TV shows, such as "Batman" and "Star Trek" were (and are) well served by a plethora of fiction and non fiction based on those phenomena. Although my "Number 96 Memories" proposal and sample chapters were well received by a big publisher in 1995, when push came to shove the marketing department was against the concept proceeding to contract. If any publishers are still game, I still have all my interview tapes of the cast and crew. Sigh...

Umbrella is presenting "Number 96" as a two-disc collectors' edition. It will feature a brand new 16:9 transfer of "Number 96: The Movie" - yes, in 1974 Australian audiences were able to see their favourite black & white TV characters, uncut and uncensored on the big silver screen, in full colour! While the movie is not the best example of what made the TV series so great, the movie's advantage is that at least it has an ending. Had Umbrella released selected TV episodes instead, new viewers would have been left hanging by the, um, cliffhangers. That's the problem with soap operas on DVD.

The movie will have an audio commentary with my wonderful friend, Elaine Lee, who played Vera Collins; the show's creator/screenwriter David Sale, who generously shared so many amazing anecdotes about the show with me while I was writing my book (and beyond); and TV soaps expert Andrew Mercado. Andrew and I saw "Number 96" as youngsters in our respective home states and we found out about each other's passion for the show only after I did an appearance on "Tonight Live With Steve Vizard", a special 1993 reunion episode about the soapie. I'm so jealous that it was Andrew who got the gig to put together this DVD set - but that's showbiz, of course, and he's worked really hard to see his own dreams become reality. I can't wait to hear the commentary; it's gonna be as hilarious as the movie's reflection of Aussie life in the 70s. (Wait till you see some of the costumes and hairstyles. What were we all thinking in the 70s?)

The other disk will contain a classic documentary on the TV series, restored with all three introductions (one almost lost from the archives forever, but now restored to its rightful place), plus rare Logie footage of the annual "Spirit of 96" train journey, and a newly prepared featurette. And David Sale and Johnny Whyte's original draft screenplay of the film in DVD ROM format.

You might even recognise the villainous Tracey Wilson (Chantal Contouri) in the DVD's archive footage of the Pantyhose Strangler storyline. That's also Tracey/Chantal in the picture above, disposing of the pesky "Number 96" Historian once and for all...