1996 in Australian television

List of years in Australian television
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Events

• Australian television celebrates its 40th birthday with celebrations lasting throughout the year. The actual birthday was on 16 September.
• Jessica Rowe joins Ten News Sydney in January to co-anchor with Ron Wilson for the next nine years.
• 1 January – To celebrate the start of the new year, ABC-TV debuts a series of new idents featuring people doing various activities using inspiration and fun. As they do so, they draw the ABC's famous worm logo. The logo then fades before the video fades to black and the words "it's your abc" appear.
• 16 February – A brand new state-based news and currents affairs program titled Stateline premieres on ABC at 6:00 pm and was shown every Friday evening. The show focus on issues.
• 19 February – Australia's favourite koala Blinky Bill returns to the ABC for a brand new series titled Blinky Bill's Extraordinary Excursion at 4:30 pm. The series follows the adventures of Blinky and the gang who were lost while on an excursion and helping other animals in a situation while trying to find their way back to Greenpatch.
• April – Constable Wayne Patterson, portrayed by Grant Bowler, is killed in a car crash on the Blue Heelers episode An Act of Random Violence. Bowler departed the series.
• 3 April – The Ferals return to the ABC with a five minute sequel series titled Feral TV at 5:25 pm. The series also introduces new characters such as Kerry the Cane Toad and Rodney the Cockroach and follows the mischievous animals and their mishaps at a pirate television station.
• 28 May – The Animals of Farthing Wood, a British children's animated series based on the books by Colin Dann premieres on ABC at 5:00pm.
• June – Liz Hayes quits the Today Show after 11 years and joins the 60 Minutes team, Tracy Grimshaw replaces Hayes on Today to co-host for the next nine years before leading up to A Current Affair from 2006 onwards.
• 12 July – After 12 years John Burgess retires as host of Wheel of Fortune. The following Monday, former Sale of the Century quizmaster, Tony Barber returns to TV and begins hosting a failed run which lasts for the remainder of the year. WOF relocates from Adelaide to Sydney during this time. Wheel of Fortune was nearly cancelled at the end of 1996 after dismal ratings, but the show continued its long run instead.
• 18 July – Australian long running children's television series Play School celebrates its 30th birthday with a one hour special on ABC at 4:00 pm.
• August – After a stand-off over who would air the show first with Seven owning the rights to the early seasons and Nine the current seasons, despite Seven not renewing the Warner Bros. output deal,^[1] the first season of Friends screens on the Seven Network, almost two years after it premiered in the United States. Season two begins on the Nine Network in December.
• 19 September – 1.9 million watch Kerri-Anne Kennerley and treasurer Peter Costello dancing the Macarena live on the Midday Show.
• 1 December – Grant Piro presents the final episode of Couch Potato for 1996 on ABC with reruns of the Australian children's educational TV series Lift Off and the American children's mystery TV series Ghostwriter. This also marks his very last day as presenter of the series since 1991.

New channels

• 8 June – Disney Channel^[2]
• 14 June – ARC Music TV^[3]
• 30 June – The Comedy Channel^[4]
• 2 August – Nightmoves^[5]

Debuts

Domestic

• 12 February – Water Rats (Nine Network) (1996–2001)
• 16 February – Stateline (ABC TV) (1996–2011)
• 19 February – Blinky Bill's Extraordinary Excursion (ABC TV) (1996)
• 3 April – Feral TV (ABC TV) (1996–1997)
• 3 June – The Genie From Down Under (ABC TV) (1996–1998)

International

Program	Channel	Debut date
Goggle-Eyes	ABC	17 January
Cro	ABC	4 February
The Biz	ABC	9 February
Elidor	ABC	28 April
Monty	ABC	1 May
Madison	ABC	17 May
The Animals of Farthing Wood	ABC	28 May
Aaahh!!! Real Monsters	ABC	29 May
Sailor Moon	Seven Network	10 June
The Secret Life of Toys	ABC	1 July
Insektors	ABC	1 July
Fudge	Network Ten	8 July
The Amazing Live Sea Monkeys	ABC	17 July
Just William	ABC	21 July
Friends[1]	Seven Network	4 August
Mot	ABC	5 August
William's Wish Wellingtons	ABC	22 October
Bump in the Night	ABC	5 November
Earthworm Jim	Network Ten	29 November
Iznogoud	Seven Network	7 December
Santo Bugito	ABC	19 December
Dexter's Laboratory	Seven Network	28 December
The New Adventures of Madeline	ABC	1 May
Phantom 2040	Seven Network	1996
The New Adventures of Speed Racer	Network Ten	1996
Little Mouse on the Prairie	Network Ten	1996
The Wizard of Oz	Network Ten	1996
Button Nose	Network Ten	1996

Changes to network affiliation

This is a list of programs which made their premiere on an Australian television network that had previously premiered on another Australian television network. The networks involved in the switch of allegiances are predominantly both free-to-air networks or both subscription television networks. Programs that have their free-to-air/subscription television premiere, after previously premiering on the opposite platform (free-to air to subscription/subscription to free-to air) are not included. In some cases, programs may still air on the original television network. This occurs predominantly with programs shared between subscription television networks.

International

Program	New network(s)	Previous network(s)	Date
Count Duckula	Network Ten	ABC	22 August
Friends[6]	Nine Network	Seven Network	9 December

Subscription premieres

This is a list of programs which made their premiere on Australian subscription television that had previously premiered on Australian free-to-air television. Programs may still air on the original free-to-air television network.

International

Program	Subscription network	Free-to-air network	Date
Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous[7]	TV1		4 November

Television shows

ABC TV

• Mr. Squiggle and Friends (1959–1999)
• Four Corners (1961–present)
• Rage (1987-beyond)
• G.P. (1989–1996)
• Foreign Correspondent (1992–present)
• Frontline (1994–1997)

Seven Network

• Wheel of Fortune (1981–1996, 1996–2003, 2004-beyond)
• A Country Practice (1981–1994)
• Home and Away (1988–present)
• Family Feud (1988–1996)
• The Great Outdoors (1993–2006, 2007)
• Full Frontal (1993–present)
• Blue Heelers (1994–2006)

Nine Network

• Sunday (1981–2008)
• Today (1982 – present)
• Sale of the Century (1980–2001)
• A Current Affair (1971–1978, 1988–2005, 2006–present)
• Hey Hey It's Saturday (1971–1999)
• The Midday Show (1973–1998)
• 60 Minutes (1979–present)
• The Flying Doctors (1986–1991)
• Australia's Funniest Home Video Show (1990–2000, 2000–2004, 2005–present)
• Hey Hey It's Saturday (1971–1999)
• Getaway (1992–present)
• Our House (1993–2001)
• Money (1993–2000)

Network Ten

• Neighbours (1985 – present)
• E Street (1989–1993)
• Good Morning Australia with Bert Newton (1991–2005)
• Sports Tonight (1993–present)

Ending this year

Date	Show	Channel	Debut
10 December	G.P.	ABC	1989

References

1. Browne, Rachel (3 August 1996). "Friends for life". The Sun-Herald (Sydney: Fairfax Media). p. 9. Retrieved 17 January 2010.
2. Elder, Bruce (2 June 1996). "Disney to the rescue". Sydney Morning Herald (Fairfax Media). p. 1. Retrieved 21 December 2009. The Disney Channel, which kicks off with the TV premiere of Aladdin at 6.30 pm on Saturday, June 8
3. Eliezer, Christie (25 May 1996). "Oz to get 2nd music TV channel.". Billboard 108 (21): 64. ISSN 0006-2510. Retrieved 21 December 2009. Australia's second 24-hour music TV channel is set to roll out June 14.
4. Freeman, Jane; Andrew Conway (30 June 1996). "The Joke Stops Here". Sydney Morning Herald (Fairfax Media). p. 2. Retrieved 1 January 2010.
5. Browne, Rachel (4 August 1996). "Sex on TV". The Sun-Herald. p. 4. Retrieved 10 July 2010.
6. Mitchell, Lisa (28 November 1996). "Summer in the sitting room". The Age (Melbourne: Fairfax Media). p. 5. Retrieved 17 January 2010.
7. BROWNE, RACHEL (12 October 1996). "In a bit of a stew". The Sun-Herald (Sydney: Fairfax Media). p. 100. Retrieved 27 December 2009.