George Negus Tonight

George Negus Tonight
Also known asDimensions
Presented byGeorge Negus
Country of originAustralia
Original languageEnglish
Production
Executive producerIvo Burum
Camera setupVarious
Original release
NetworkABC
Release6 August 2001 (2001-08-06) –
25 November 2004 (2004-11-25)

George Negus Tonight (formerly titled Dimensions) was an Australian current affairs television series hosted by George Negus, which ran on ABC Television from 2001 to 2004.

Dimensions

The program was initially launched in 2001 as Dimensions, pitched as a low-cost stream of tenuously linked programs to run in the 6.30pm timeslot from Monday to Thursday before the ABC News 7pm bulletin.[1] Dimensions had a particular focus for each day of the week: Monday was Media Dimensions, hosted by Annette Shun Wah, which focused on the Australian media; Tuesday was Health Dimensions, hosted by Dr Norman Swan, which concentrated on health matters; Wednesday was People Dimensions, hosted by James O'Loghlin, which profiled prominent Australians and overseas guests; and Thursday was Dimensions on the Move, hosted by Dave Morley, which looked at motor vehicles.[2] Media Dimensions, People Dimensions and Dimensions on the Move were all axed in November[3][4]

2002 saw the concept coming back with Swan's Health Dimensions, a revamped People Dimensions, now hosted by Jill Singer, Consumer Dimensions, hosted by Susanna Lobez, and a social history series Dimensions in Time,[5] hosted by Guy Noble.[6]

New Dimensions and George Negus Tonight

The program was relaunched in June 2002 as was renamed New Dimensions with George Negus , with the veteran Australian journalist, George Negus, as the sole host, replacing the format of different hosts for each day, which the previous incarnations had used.[7] During the following year, the program was renamed again George Negus Tonight.[8][9] The program retained the different focus for each day: GNT History on Monday; GNT People on Tuesday; GNT Future on Wednesday and GNT Profiles on Thursday.

Despite high ratings for its timeslot (generally the highest ABC ratings in the 6:30pm slot), George Negus Tonight was axed by the ABC in November 2004, to make way for state-based programming.[10] Negus went on to host Dateline on the SBS network.[11]

References

  1. ^ Idato, Michael: Review: George Negus Tonight, The Sydney Morning Herald, 1 April 2004.
  2. ^ Melloy, Neil (6 August 2001), "Aunty shows off new dimensions", The Courier Mail
  3. ^ Williamson, Brooke (7 November 2001), "Changing channel - ABC gears up for a post-Shier revamp", The Daily Telegraph
  4. ^ Idato, Michael (7 November 2001), "Backchat in limbo", The Sydney Morning Herald
  5. ^ Miller, Kylie (31 January 2002), "New ABC Dimensions", The Age
  6. ^ Miller, Kylie (31 January 2002), "Dimensions in Time: Crime Special - Monday, 29th April at 6:30 pm on ABC TV", Torres News
  7. ^ Lee Lewes, Jacqueline (30 May 2002), "Broadcast news", The Daily Telegraph
  8. ^ Miller, Kylie (28 August 2003), "No Dimensions, just Negus", The Age
  9. ^ Kalina, Paul: George of the jungle, The Sydney Morning Herald, 2 August 2004.
  10. ^ Miller, Kylie: Hits and misses, The Age, 8 September 2005.
  11. ^ Negus joins Dateline, The Sydney Morning Herald, 20 January 2005.