Loveday Writing

The job of a season premiere is to establish new story arcs for the season and continue any arcs set up in the previous season’s finale. This premiere did a great job.

This season premiere is one of few I’ve watched knowing that it was a show’s last. With this in mind, I’m watching and now reviewing the show with a different set of eyes. In all honesty, I was sad to read in the Previews edition of TV Week that this season will be the show’s last as it has been a top -quality drama exploring historical events in relatively recent history from an Australian perspective. However, a part of me can see why they are ending the show here – the decade is coming to an end, and you can only really have a news network reporting on certain historical events from a specific year for so long, before some viewers may tire of it. The premise, whilst solid, would run thin eventually, it’s better to go out on a high.

Back to the premiere, the season kicks off on 21 December 1988 with Helen and her crew making their way to the site of the Lockerbie bombing in Scotland. We then cut to almost four months later to 16 March 1989 with Helen arriving home from being overseas, whilst Dale is running the News at Six desk mostly on his own, with the reveal that the Logies are the following night and that Dale has been nominated for the Gold Logie, and Rob has been nominated for his coverage of the Seoul Olympics.

After Dale finishes his broadcast, he goes back to the office where it’s revealed that Rob and Noelene are now married and are expecting their first child. Dale is told that the CEO, Richard Bertrand, will be attending and to suck up to him. When Dale leaves work to meet Helen for dinner, it’s revealed that his profile has increased so much that the tabloids follow him around.

When Helen and Dale meet for dinner, she tells him that she has come back to Australia as she has been offered her own show. Dale is happy for her, but things are clearly awkward and tense between them.

Meanwhile, as Kay is getting ready for the Logies at her parent’s house, she answers a knock at the door from Paul, Geoff’s former producer. After their awkward interaction, it’s revealed that Geoff has recently passed away and Evelyn is struggling to cope. Kay gently encourages Evelyn to attend the Logies as there will be a tribute for Geoff.

Later, we watch Rob and Noelene arrive at the Logies red carpet, with Noelene telling Rob to keep details about their first child to himself only for him to spill the beans on the due date anyway, with Dale arriving with his mother shortly afterwards, with Dale telling her what to say to Donna Gillies, as he only gives interviews to her (due to the agreement they made at the end of the previous season).

Shortly after they all arrive, Evelyn and Kay find out that the News at Six crew didn’t send any archive footage of Geoff for the tribute. Evelyn immediately confronts Lindsay about this, which Dale witnesses. Dale offers to call the station to help, but because it’s too late, he offers to say a few words instead, which Evelyn agrees to.

When Helen arrives later with her producer from overseas, Bill, Donna asks her about her new show starting at 6pm, competing with News at Six. This immediately causes anxiety within Helen as she was told it was a late-night show, and the promo is being aired during the Logies.

As the Logies goes on, Rob wins a Logie for his coverage although forgets to give Noelene credit for her work during the coverage, and Helen tries to get confirmation that her show won’t be competing with News at Six, and by extension, Dale. Meanwhile, Helen and Noelene run into each other in the hallway, where Noelene informs Helen she won’t be coming back to work as her maternity leave request was denied.

Meanwhile, Dale goes to the kitchen and finds Kay there, they talk and Kay makes fun of news reading, which Dale defends. Dale goes on to win the Gold Logie, and despite the surprising reveal of Helen’s upcoming show competing with him, he thanks Helen for her help and seeing his potential.

As the night ends, Dennis can be seen doing cocaine and Lindsay heckles Helen on her way out, and she in turns calls him out and yells at him for not paying Noelene maternity leave. Noelene then calls Rob out for not giving her credit for the work she put in on the Seoul Coverage during his Logies speech.

Later, Helen and Bill go back to her house, where she questions if she can do the show, Bill points out that she is the first woman in Australian history to be offered a primetime commercial TV show, and she earned it and should enjoy her success. Meanwhile, Dale is in his hotel room with an escort, Nick, where he admits that he felt nothing when he won the Gold Logie. Dennis, Deb (Dennis’ date), and Rob burst into Dale’s room but Dale manages to make them leave, before spending the night with Nick.

The episode ends with Dale going over to Helen’s house and he asks her if they can remain friends, even though they are professionally competing with each other, she says she thinks so.

Overall, this was a solid premiere with the main story arc of Helen and Dale competing against each other, as well as minor arcs such as: Dale’s rising fame, Rob and Noelene expecting a baby, and Dale’s exploration of his bisexuality, being established.

I’m looking forward to reviewing the rest of the season and seeing how the show comes to a close.

Stray Observations:

-Daryl Somers actually won the Gold Logie in 1989, in the episode he is shown as a nominee.