20170408

SONS AND DAUGHTERS

In February 1982, the song 'What About Me?' topped the Australian music chart. Written by Garry Frost and Frances Swan, 'What About Me?' reached 29 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in February 1983. The single was re-released in the U.S. again in 1987. 

Born in 1987, Novak Djokovic became the first male tennis player in the 21st century - the 3rd in history after Don Budge in 1938 and Rod Laver in 1962 and 1969 - to have won the Grand Slam of tennis. By winning the 2016 French Open men's singles final against Andy Murray, Novak in the process won all 4 major championships in a row. "This is something that is so rare in tennis. It's going to take a long time for it to happen again," Andy acknowledged. 

In March 2017, Novak's former mentor, 77-year-old Niki Pilic spoke to 'Nezavisne'. He made the comment, "Djokovic reached the Mount Everest of tennis last year (in 2016) after winning the French Open. He had 16,950 points and that's a tally that will never be repeated again, but loss of form and missing tournaments made his advantage melt away. 

"Novak had a physical and mental edge second to none, he was in 6th gear. That tenacity is no longer the same. It remains to be seen whether he can rediscover it and get back to the top level. The hard work of the last 5 or 6 years (Novak won his first Grand Slam at the Australian Open in 2008) has taken its toll. Tennis was the priority every morning and afternoon and evening and all I can tell him is to be the person he was." 

'What About Me?' was performed by the rock band Moving Pictures. The group was formed in Sydney in 1978. Musician Alex Smith told Bryget Chrisfield in 2015, "I can't stop writing songs. The analogy I always use is: it's not a tap you can turn off, it's a stream and the stream of consciousness runs and you write what falls out. My songs have always — to me they've always been little mirrors of my life or reflections of the lives of people around me and what they've been through.

"You know, it's like that thing you see at the end of television programs, '(Puts on stern voice) Only the names have been changed to protect the innocent.' Um, I mean it's almost where the name of the band came from 'cause when we were first starting out someone said to me, 'These songs, they're like little film scripts.' And so I sort of thought, 'Ooh, Moving Pictures - there's a good name." 

On Australian television, the home-grown drama, 'Sons and Daughters', was one of the success stories of 1982. Shown over 4 nights (from Monday to Thursday) in the 7:00pm time slot, the 30-minute soap opera consistently scored ratings points peaking in the mid-20s against game show '$ale of the Century' and the American import 'M*A*S*H'. McNair Anderson merged in 1973 conducted 8 four-week ratings surveys every year. In its maiden year on the air (1982), 'Sons and Daughters' averaged 33 ratings points.

An hour of 'Sons and Daughters' was said to have costed around $A80,000 to produce. The television ratings surveys were conducted using census information from the Australian Bureau of Statistics. From the 504 households selected at the time that spanned 168 suburbs in clusters of 3 houses in each suburb, the households were chosen based on ethnic composition, whether there were stay-at-home married women, the occupations of members of the household and their combined income. In those days, the households were required to complete a diary daily to show what channel, which program and who was watching what on TV over quarter-hourly intervals between 6:00pm and midnight each night.

In its second year, 1983, 'Sons and Daughters' was ranked behind only 'A Country Practice' in popularity. In 1984, the network decided to show 'Sons and Daughters' in 2 one-hour episodes a week (at the time on Sunday and Monday nights). Glen Kinging who was the program manager at channel Seven at the time told 'Fairfax Media', "We are particularly thrilled with our new shows, 'Sons and Daughters' and 'A Country Practice', these shows have had a marked effect on our other programs such as our news and 'The Price Is Right', both of which have shown a healthier improvement. Even our imported series have risen along with the overall momentum."

Glen Kinging maintained a hit program remained "one of the great mysteries" of television. "You can say individual things, but as soon as you draw a conclusion something will come up that will shoot that theory down. Obviously, it's what competition the shows are up against which has the biggest bearing. It's most probably true to say that, with Australian productions, a show usually rates quite a bit better in the city in which it's produced.

"In the case of a show produced in Melbourne it can often rate much better. Melbourne shows always rate better in Melbourne … There are less things to do in Melbourne, less things to pull people away from television, particularly in winter. In most cases, Melbourne will rate slightly better on movies than Sydney will. Melbourne is the best, biggest, most prolific sporting city – in the world, almost. All sport does better in Melbourne. Comedy does very well in Brisbane. Adelaide is probably the most British-oriented city in Australia. In Melbourne it's very hard to bring in a new show against an old favorite and have any chance at all."

'Sons and Daughters' opened with the story of Patricia's twins, separated at birth for 21 years before they were finally reunited in 1982 when the series began. In 1961, 17-year-old Patricia who was pregnant with a married man Martin's children, gave birth to John and Angela at Fiona's place. Martin who was in the army at the time also had an affair with Patricia's sister, Margaret, who viewers learnt 22 years later was instrumental in pressuring Patricia to have an abortion.

After Martin and Patricia separated, she met David who thought the babies were his. Patricia stayed at Fiona's for a week after giving birth to the twins before she decided to take off with Angela and found work as Gordon's housemaid. "At least this way Angela has a chance," Patricia explained of her decision to split up the twins. John was left with Fiona to raise for 5 years before he went to live with David, who according to Patricia 21 years later, "couldn't keep a job (at the time). We were saddled with 2 children. Nowhere to live and not a cent in the world. What would you have done?"

Patricia was, as Bevan Lee observed, "one of the most popular (characters) in the history of Australian television." Of Patricia's relationship with her daughter Angela, Rowena Wallace offered, "I think she thinks she is doing the right thing but it's the old story, isn't it? We sort of react from the point of view of what we want for somebody, not what they want. It's a mixture of both. I think she (Patricia) thinks that the things that she does and the things that she wants are the best for Angela, but basically, they're the best things for Patricia." 

Alexandra Fowler argued, "I feel she (Patricia) is trying to make Angela into a mini-version of herself. She wants her daughter married into the right sort of family, with loads of money, who wear the right sort of clothes and go to the right schools. So, really, it is for her (Patricia's) own benefit." Rowena conceded, "I can't imagine what she (Patricia) is going to do next. I get really upset when I think of the things I have to do as Patricia. I have to say to myself, 'You're an actress Rowena, and it's just entertainment.'"

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