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Simon Townsend's Wonder World
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Simon Townsend's Wonder World
Simon Townsend's Wonder World! is an Australian children's television show that aired on Network Ten from 1979 until 1987. It was created and hosted by journalist Simon Townsend. In 1993, the show was relaunched on the Nine Network as Wonder World!, hosted by Pascall Fox.
Each episode of Simon Townsend's Wonder World! featured an introduction by Townsend as the studio host, accompanied by his pet and companion bloodhound Woodrow (Woodrow died in 1986 and was replaced at first with a sulphur-crested cockatoo and then with a Labrador Retriever puppy. A competition was run amongst the viewers to name the new puppy and as Townsend had recently won a Logie award, the puppy was named Logie). Townsend would then present four individual magazine-style stories, each presented by a different reporter.
The stories covered many subjects—sometimes serious, sometimes funny, always entertaining. The production team included an executive producer (for most of the show's run, this was Harvey Shore), plus as associate producer, a production assistant, two researchers, two cinematographers, two sound recordists, four reporters and four editors. This team produced the equivalent of one average feature film every week—about eighty minutes of screen time—shot on 16mm reversal film. Stories were not scripted; each one relying upon the researcher's report, the producer's briefing, and the ingenuity of the reporter and the two-person crew.
Every show also contained a viewer segment, and a music segment—often produced by the program itself. For instance, Simon Townsend's Wonder World! made the first-ever music video to feature Australian band INXS. During the course of the series, Townsend and his reporters travelled all over Australia and to many and varied locations in America, the UK, Europe, India, Asia, New Zealand, Fiji, the Philippines, and other places in the Pacific region. But Simon Townsend always insisted that Wonder World stories should generally be timeless and placeless, so—although produced in Sydney—they would always appeal to "Tom in Perth".
Simon Townsend would end every show with the same signature farewell—"And remember, the world really is wonderful!"
The program was conceived by Townsend in the early 1970s and was designed to be a fast-moving daily dose of informed entertainment for children, as well as be suitable for and attractive to older teens and adults.
Both the Nine and the Seven networks helped Townsend make pilots for his concept, but neither network bought the series. However, in 1979 when the Australian Broadcasting Tribunal introduced a compulsory 'C' classification (making it a requirement for networks to broadcast only 'C' classified shows between 4 pm and 5 pm weekdays), Townsend saw the potential and offered the Ten Network, which was searching for a suitable children's program at the time, the opportunity to produce his show.
The first episode of Simon Townsend's Wonder World! went to air on 3 September 1979 in Sydney and 10 September 1979 in Melbourne. In early 1980, after Harvey Shore joined the show as executive producer and used his extensive media contacts and movie publicity experience to generate regular publicity and create massive public awareness of the show among all network states, the ratings shot up and other capital cities and regional stations began signing up for the show.
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Simon Townsend's Wonder World
Simon Townsend's Wonder World! is an Australian children's television show that aired on Network Ten from 1979 until 1987. It was created and hosted by journalist Simon Townsend. In 1993, the show was relaunched on the Nine Network as Wonder World!, hosted by Pascall Fox.
Each episode of Simon Townsend's Wonder World! featured an introduction by Townsend as the studio host, accompanied by his pet and companion bloodhound Woodrow (Woodrow died in 1986 and was replaced at first with a sulphur-crested cockatoo and then with a Labrador Retriever puppy. A competition was run amongst the viewers to name the new puppy and as Townsend had recently won a Logie award, the puppy was named Logie). Townsend would then present four individual magazine-style stories, each presented by a different reporter.
The stories covered many subjects—sometimes serious, sometimes funny, always entertaining. The production team included an executive producer (for most of the show's run, this was Harvey Shore), plus as associate producer, a production assistant, two researchers, two cinematographers, two sound recordists, four reporters and four editors. This team produced the equivalent of one average feature film every week—about eighty minutes of screen time—shot on 16mm reversal film. Stories were not scripted; each one relying upon the researcher's report, the producer's briefing, and the ingenuity of the reporter and the two-person crew.
Every show also contained a viewer segment, and a music segment—often produced by the program itself. For instance, Simon Townsend's Wonder World! made the first-ever music video to feature Australian band INXS. During the course of the series, Townsend and his reporters travelled all over Australia and to many and varied locations in America, the UK, Europe, India, Asia, New Zealand, Fiji, the Philippines, and other places in the Pacific region. But Simon Townsend always insisted that Wonder World stories should generally be timeless and placeless, so—although produced in Sydney—they would always appeal to "Tom in Perth".
Simon Townsend would end every show with the same signature farewell—"And remember, the world really is wonderful!"
The program was conceived by Townsend in the early 1970s and was designed to be a fast-moving daily dose of informed entertainment for children, as well as be suitable for and attractive to older teens and adults.
Both the Nine and the Seven networks helped Townsend make pilots for his concept, but neither network bought the series. However, in 1979 when the Australian Broadcasting Tribunal introduced a compulsory 'C' classification (making it a requirement for networks to broadcast only 'C' classified shows between 4 pm and 5 pm weekdays), Townsend saw the potential and offered the Ten Network, which was searching for a suitable children's program at the time, the opportunity to produce his show.
The first episode of Simon Townsend's Wonder World! went to air on 3 September 1979 in Sydney and 10 September 1979 in Melbourne. In early 1980, after Harvey Shore joined the show as executive producer and used his extensive media contacts and movie publicity experience to generate regular publicity and create massive public awareness of the show among all network states, the ratings shot up and other capital cities and regional stations began signing up for the show.