54 replies to this topic

[Mark]

Molly in critical condition in hospital after a fall

http://www.mediaspy....ion-after-fall/

[NewsWeary]

From Twitter:

mrpford Peter Ford




Molly has just gone into surgery so cross everything and light a candle.

Edited by NewsWeary, 15 December 2011 - 08:46 PM.

[Reuder7]

From Twitter:
"...so cross everything and light a candle."

He's not dying Peter, relax!

[NewsWeary]

Thinking of Molly today and wishing him a speedy recovery.

[Travis]

He's not dying Peter, relax!

It is life or death.

[Mark]

He's not dying Peter, relax!

umm, it's a "life or death situation" so yeah he could be........

[PZ.]

Some progress at last...

Molly Meldrum opens his eyes...

[Swanny]

Molly Meldrum is recovering from another operation undertaken on New Year's Day to repair several fractured vertebrae, caused by his fall in mid-December.

The Spy Report: Molly Meldrum underwent major surgery on New Year's Day

[spw68]

Heard that Molly had two goals set for 2012.
Give up smoking - which he has had no choice about, and to see Countdown return to tv. What does everyone think - could a revamped version survive in 2012??

[cmo]

Revamped Countdown...Sigh.

[Mr. J]

An anniversary special should be on the cards -it's 25 years since it ended. Maybe Molly could do a special for a Sunday Night episode. But a revamped series I'd say definitely no.

Edited by Mr. J, 09 January 2012 - 10:37 PM.

[TelevisionAU]

I don't think it would work as a revived concept for a TV series. It's been tried a few times before... Countdown Revolution (which Molly produced initially), Take 40 TV, The House Of Hits (which Molly co-hosted), Pepsi Live. All basically in the same sort of style as Countdown (and often in the same early Sunday evening timeslot) but none of which have been overly successful. Music tastes are too fragmented these days I think for a single, mass-appeal program to be able to cater to them all.

[spw68]

Music tastes are too fragmented these days I think for a single, mass-appeal program to be able to cater to them all.

I'd agree with that. I remember as a kid we would wait for the end of the show to see what song was No 1..now you rarely hear a countdown anywhere.. young people just download their individual tastes, and don't care about what others like.

[newtaste]

While Countdown did have a huge influence on Australian music, the way the program is remembered exceeds it's ratings at the time, iirc. The 6:00pm Sunday News on Nine and Seven beat Coutdown in the ratings, from my memory. And in Sydney it was up against the dominant Rugby League replay at 6:30pm on Seven, and in later years from 6:00pm on Ten, I recall.

[TelevisionAU]

Countdown was certainly in a very competitive timeslot. In Melbourne for many years it was up against News & Disneyland on Seven and News & New Faces on Nine. I can't imagine it winning that timeslot in all people but it also would have had as many viewers with its Saturday evening repeat. I know I used to often watch it on Saturdays because the olds would always want to watch the news and New Faces on Sunday.

And while it might not have won ratings in the major markets, what Countdown also could boast was audience reach, Australia-wide. With national coverage the show had an audience reach that no other popular music outlet could match and would have had a huge audience across regional areas as there would have been few other outlets for pop music.

[spw68]

While Countdown did have a huge influence on Australian music, the way the program is remembered exceeds it's ratings at the time, iirc. The 6:00pm Sunday News on Nine and Seven beat Coutdown in the ratings, from my memory. And in Sydney it was up against the dominant Rugby League replay at 6:30pm on Seven, and in later years from 6:00pm on Ten, I recall.

That was the beauty of it being on the ABC which back then certainly wasn't concerned with ratings. In regional areas (where I grew up) I'd imagine it may have been a different story, with only one commercial station as competition back then.

[spw68]

If it were to be reinvented, I wouldn't be thinking of primetime, probably a Sat / Sun morning offering. Saturdays after WS on 7 could be good, especially if they have had a studio performance that day. Could even use the plaza, but thats probably getting all too expensive... it would need to be mainly clips to keep it financially viable.

Edited by spw68, 10 January 2012 - 10:17 AM.

[PZ.]

There's no reason why Countdown couldn't return to TV with the original broadcasts in the same timeslots.

We've seen it done with just about everything else including Dr Who, The Bill, Neighbours, whatever... I would expect a re-run of the original Countdown getting more viewers than a revamped series playing current music.

[TelevisionAU]

Would be good for ABC2, perhaps. Although do all the episodes still exist in the archives or was Countdown like many other shows where many master copies were wiped to be re-used for taping football games or some such thing and only a handful of episodes still exist.

[PZ.]

Not sure whether they still have all the episodes or not but as they were stand alone programs it shouldn't affect the viability of a re-run... even if was limited to the number of shows that were replayed on Rage over the years.