Letters

The Age

Thursday January 3, 2008

Points on the Compass

Congratulations to ABC for its high standard of programming over the Christmas period. For my eight cents a day, Aunty has the right mixture of religious and secular programs, Australian-made and overseas programs, humorous and serious programs, new and classics. One particularly good show was the Compass documentary on The Three Faces of Christmas. It was an example of the strong way in which Compass has been promoting healthy interfaith relations in Australia. But why was the Edinburgh Military Tattoo shown on Christmas Eve rather than at its usual time on New Year's Day? Given the importance of New Year's for Scottish people, showing the Tattoo on New Year's Day makes far more cultural sense than on Christmas Eve.

Reverend Bob Fraser, Mount Martha

Not so merry Christmas

Why has the ABC given over prime Christmas Eve viewing to the Edinburgh Tattoo? Does anyone under 85 watch this? If the ABC has to import its Christmas programming, it should enter the 21st century and bring in something we actually want to watch such as the Extras Christmas Special. That's what British viewers were treated to this Christmas, while we were stuck with yet another repeat of Merry Christmas Mr Bean.

Allison Jones, Daylesford

Got her dates crossed?

I recorded Grumpy Old Women at Christmas (ABC) and was mystified as to why the harassed housewife had hot cross buns in her supermarket trolley.

Julie Kampen, Werribee

The Last word

The final note about one of the main characters portrayed in Housewife 49 (ABC) was gobsmacking. Heroine Nella Last's son Clifford "became a famous Australian sculptor" shortly after leaving the British army and England in 1947. Cliff Last taught art to my wife at Mercer House in the '50s but most of us met him later as one of the famous "Centre Five" artists during the '60s.

Tom McCullough, Mount Martha

Dire Dibley

Vicar of Dibley wedding special funny? No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no . . . no!

T. Moorfield, Donvale

Pakistan explained

Thank you SBS for the timely broadcast of the two-part documentary on Pakistan, a useful background for understanding the context of the current mayhem.

John O'Hara, Mount Waverley

Sorry to see garden guru go

Paul Bugeja (Letters, 20/12) reckons that SBS is well rid of Stan Grant, with his seeming disinterest. But that's the very quality we need in a newsreader. On a more serious note, I was saddened to read that the ABC's guru of gardening Peter Cundall will finally be hanging up his secateurs. Here's a man who should have been made a National Living Treasure years ago.

David Desmond, Morphett Vale

A mute point

The irritation caused by the overused commercial of erectile dysfunction on SBS mentioned by Murray Rose (Letters, 20/12) can be lessened by the mute control. I find that without the sound, I am also relearning to enjoy the Toreador song.

C. Dollman, Traralgon

Sleep on it

D. Gillies (Letters, 20/12) tells us that he got up at 2am to watch The Avengers on Nine and was disappointed when (surprise, surprise) it wasn't shown. He also confesses to enduring ads for the sake of watching something he likes. Great news, Mr Gillies, there's an invention called the video cassette recorder which will ensure your beauty sleep and zap the ads.

Eddie Wilgar, Yarraville

Song and dance

Congratulations to Channel Seven for the excellent presentation of Australian Dancesport Championships. After many years of disappointment for me, in seeing the championships and watching the highlight replay on TV, usually heavily weighted with Latin American dancing, I now mark Channel Seven a perfect score of 10. It was in no small way aided by the team of presenters: Paul Green, Mark Wilson and Sonia Kruger.

Alan Clark, Anglesea

It's not very clear

Seven has a problem with its HD channel. That being: what if they are showing something on their HD channel instead of what most people want to watch? A recent example is the Carols in the Domain. Those folk who wanted to watch this program in HD were disappointed as some unspecified movie was being shown on the HD channel. It was unspecified as none of the television guides carry information about what extra content is being shown on the HD channel.

Ian Pegram, Endeavour Hills

Editor's Note: Green Guide will publish listings for HD channels as of January 10.

Royally confused

I was 17 when Edward abdicated from the British throne, and like the majority at that time, I felt no sympathy for Mrs Simpson and profound pity for the Prince of Wales. Whether or not the pulsating portrayal of the facts on Wallis and Edward (ABC) is true, it was a proficient, powerful production, leaving me . . . well, quite confused.

Harry Greenberg, East St Kilda

Time has come

Why is there never any Aboriginal talent, in particular vocalists, that perform in Nine's Carols by Candlelight or Seven's Carols in the Domain? Aboriginal people do more in the arts than ceremonial dances and dot paintings. There is an abundance of talented Koories out there and yet every year we get the same old tired bunch of Australian Idols such as Anthony Callea, Guy Sebastian and Shannon Noll singing carols. Isn't it about time (Nine and Seven) that the First Australian's got a gig at these so-called special "Australian" events? How about working with us for a change?

Martin Tjabiltjari Pascoe, South Yarra

No chance to join in

It appears that Nine's Carols by Candlelight has taken a new direction. This year there was virtually no opportunity to join in singing the carols as the presentation was very much a concert format. The performers were, in the main, singing their own arrangements and the choice of item, by or for, the performers also did not lend to community singing. Carols in the Domain on Seven was considerably better than Carols by Candlelight this year, with the exception of Ricki-Lee Coulter.

Tom Troup, Aspendale

Repeat performance

Channel Nine, thanks so much for screening Tsunami: The Aftermath again on December 28. I didn't watch it the first time around as the reality of the catastrophe was still too fresh in my mind. Fortunately, during the repeat screening, I wasn't nearly as emotionally drawn into the story as I thought I would be. Of course, this is all thanks to the frequency with which you inserted commercial breaks during the movie. I was never given the opportunity to empathise with any of the characters or react with emotion to any of the dialogue delivered by the outstanding cast. I felt quite desensitised by the whole experience, and ended up looking out for Western fast food outlets that had been ravaged by the tide.

Kym Cross, Bentleigh East

Afternoon travesty

Once again a commercial network has shown no respect for screening a cinema classic. From the direction of Great Britain, I could hear spinning. It was David Lean spinning in his grave. The afternoon presentation of his 1962 classic, Lawrence of Arabia, on Channel Seven was a cinematic travesty. Apart from the film starting late, and the important Columbia logo missing, several sequences were missing and there were commercial breaks in key sequences. And, most important, the sound was run out of synch for at least three-quarters of the film.

Kevin Janner, Brunswick

Weeknight spot

Why can't Ian Henderson present the sports report on the weeknight ABC News instead of handballing it to Peter Wilkins? Kathy Boland manages both quite well at weekends and even does the weather.

Peter Doogood, Chelsea

Hosting roles

I noticed that 3AW personalities have been hosting their own shows on other stations. It's been a long, long time since full-time staff have been allowed on other stations, albeit in the same building. Jane Holmes, who voices ads for Neil Mitchell, has her own music program on Magic 1278. And the genial overnighter Alan Pearsall, who has the weekend overnighters on 3AW, had a music shift Christmas Eve on Magic 1278. What's next? Mitchell playing Bing Crosby on endless rotation? Or Hinch hosting Frank Sinatra and friends?

Alan Schwarz, St Kilda

Nice change

What a refreshing change it is to have that prattling motormouth Tonya Roberts replaced by Hilary Harper over Christmas. While the format is much the same, its presentation is streets ahead.

Peter Dann, Jeeralang Junction

Award time

The award for holiday season Manglish must go to the 3AW commentator who announced Parky was to be "knighthooded". The yearly award should go to the TV reporter who proclaimed dramatically that the paramedics had to "run on foot" after their ambulance broke down.

Geoff Willis, Glen Waverley

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