CAN YOU GET COPIES OF THE
SHOWS FOR ME?
No I cannot, and I
don't know where you can. There is only one possible exception - there
are fans out there who have some stuff in their private collections,
which they may make available to trade if you have something juicy to
offer them in return, but they will not sell or give away stuff. So if
you have an old recording of something, let me know and I will ask
around. Otherwise, forget it.
WHY DON'T YOU PUBLISH A BOOK?
Maybe one day I will. However, all research
is not yet complete, so it will still be quite sometime, if ever, before a book is published. In the
meantime, available information will be posted on this web site, which
can reach a much wider audience than a printed book.
WHY ARE THESE SHOWS NOT BEING SCREENED
ANYMORE, OR RELEASED ON DVD?
A few shows are being screened: WIN-TV
recently played
Matlock Police,
Division 4 and Homicide in an early morning timeslot. Young Ramsay
and Riptide have been played by Seven, and Spyforce
and Skippy still turn up
spasmodically on Nine at weird times in the middle of the night.
DVD
releases have been limited to Skippy, Whiplash and The Adventures Of Long John Silver.
Serials and
mini-series from the era that have been released so far include Seven Little Australians,
My Brother Jack,
Luke's Kingdom and Power Without Glory. The Lost
Islands has been released on DVD in France, and a few episodes of
Homicide and Whiplash have been released on
VHS video in the past. Slightly later stuff, just outside the
time-frame covered by this website, such as Against The Wind,
Father Dear Father In Australia, Doctor Down Under, The Last Outlaw and
Ride On Stranger have also been released on DVD. There is an
abundance of more recent stuff from the 90s and 00s, but unfortunately
classic
Australian nostalgia has so far been largely neglected for DVD
release.
Most shows are not seen
for a number of reasons - for instance, quite a few need to be
transferred to a modern broadcast format and in many cases the
stations no longer own the rights to the shows. Residuals for actors
and the rights to use soundtrack music are also a major obstacle,
due to the cost involved and the logistics of administering them.
Consequently the TV ratings or DVD sales they would
attract would probably not be sufficient to justify the expense. Unfortunately,
Australia has a relatively small population and the economies of
scale of the large USA and UK markets do not apply here.
WILL YOU BE PROVIDING ACTOR BIOGRAPHIES?
No. Interviews
that originally appeared in TV Eye are featured, however the purpose of this site is to cover
actual programs, not individual acting careers. There are a number of books and web
sites that cater for star-struck fans, and there is no need for the information to be
repeated here.
THERE ARE SOME SERIES
THAT YOU HAVE NOT COVERED. WHY NOT?
There are a small number of series
(self-contained episodes) that obviously fit the parameters of this
site and should
be included, but they have not been. This is simply
because I have not been able to find out enough about them.
WHY AREN'T YOU COVERING MINI-SERIES, SERIALS
AND SOAP OPERAS?
Mainly because the work
load would be too great and I need to draw the line somewhere.
WHY DON'T YOU JAZZ UP
YOUR PAGES WITH VISUAL EFFECTS?
Maybe it will happen one day.
Readers who want information are generally unappreciative of their
bandwidth being consumed by 'bells and whistles'.
At this point in time
I prefer to place the emphasis on content rather than appearance.
WILL YOU POST THEME TUNES
OR VIDEO CLIPS ON THE SITE?
I have no plans to do so, due to copyright
problems and bandwidth limitations.
HAVE THE DIVISION 4,
HOMICIDE AND
MATLOCK POLICE EPISODES RECENTLY PLAYED ON WIN-TV BEEN EDITED?
Yes, but not to any significant extent.
There has been the very occasional scene or line of dialogue cut, but usually the only editing
has been the repositioning of
the commercial breaks, removing and/or modifying the commercial
integrations, and replacing the original
network logo on the end credits.
WHY DIDN'T WIN-TV PLAY
DIVISION 4 EPS. 102A AND 242 AND MATLOCK POLICE EP. 194?
I don't know, but the most likely
reasons are that they no longer exist in their entirety, or they have significant tape
damage to render them technically unsuitable for broadcast.
WHY HAS WIN-TV STOPPED
SHOWING
DIVISION 4 AND HOMICIDE?
I don't know.
