Nine telethon expands across primetime
Updated: Nine's bushfire telethon screens live from 7:30pm right through until midnight with a staggering list of guests including cross-network personalities.
- Published by David Knox
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Nine has announced its Australia Unites telethon will now screen from 7:30pm right through to midnight.
It was previously a 2 hour event, but with the magnitude of the disaster, and no doubt with the influx of offers it has received for the cause, it will run live for 4.5 hours.
Australia Unites is hosted by Eddie McGuire and features a line-up of entertainers, athletes and personalities. GTV9, the television home of Brian Naylor for twenty years, will play host to this important event which it has been frantically preparing on short notice.
It will follow a one hour Nine News and Current Affair.
Press Release:
The Prime Minister, Mr Kevin Rudd, and the Premier of Victoria, Mr John Brumby, will join the Australian cricket team, along with entertainers including Russell Crowe, Nicole Kidman and Keith Urban; radio stars Hamish and Andy, and Merrick and Rosso; international models Miranda Kerr and Megan Gale; stars of the small screen Rove McManus, Dave Hughes, Kate Ritchie, Roy Billing, Martin Dingle Wall, Kat Stewart, Rodger Corser, Ben Mendelsohn, Molly Meldrum and Magda Szubanski to raise money for the victims of Victoria’s killer fires.
Sporting identities taking part will include cricketing great Shane Warne; Olympic gold medallists Cathy Freeman, Liesel Jones and Grant Hackett; AFL premiership players Chris Judd and Shane Crawford; Melbourne Storm star Billy Slater; Fatty Vautin and Matty Johns of the NRL Footy Show; AFL legend Ron Barassi; tennis player Mark Philippoussis; V8 champs Craig Lowndes and Garth Tander; and Bali bombing survivor and former AFL player, Jason McCartney.
Performers include The Living End, Jessica Mauboy, Colin Hay (Men At Work), Jimmy Barnes, Lee Kernaghan, Shannon Noll, Kate Ceberano, John Williamson, Angry Anderson and many others.
Eddie McGuire will host the coverage from Channel Nine’s Melbourne studios, with support from Garry Lyon and James Brayshaw, Livinia Nixon, Jules Lund and Giaan Rooney, who will be rallying troops in the phone room.
On location, Lisa Wilkinson, Karl Stefanovic, Tony Jones, Tracy Grimshaw and Leila McKinnon will be reporting from the fire-ravaged areas across the State.
Aussies abroad, rocked by the bushfires that have ravaged their home country, have united in spirit to support the victims of Australia’s worst natural disaster, including Hugh Jackman, Anthony La Paglia, Simon Baker, Rachel Griffiths and Cameron Daddo.
CEO of the Nine Network, Mr David Gyngell, has been overwhelmed by the response.
“The sports and entertainment industries have a fine tradition of pulling together when needed, but the level of support for Australia Unites is unprecedented and we thank everyone for their involvement,” he said.
Donations will go to the 2009 Victorian Bushfire Appeal Fund. To make a donation go to www.redcross.org.au, call the toll free number 1800 811 700, or donate via the Commonwealth Bank.
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- Tagged with A Current Affair, Australia Unites, Nine News
69 Responses
for F**K Sake people.
people in victoria need our help!!!
for those complaining about who is hosting or if your shows are on or etc….Please stop it!! there are ppl with no homes or familes or anything… all they have is us, the aussie spirit and love of the ppl of australia!!
Shame on u if u f****n complain!!!
@sillygostly and nick; if you don’t like what channel nine is doing then don’t watch it; you can raise your own appeal if you want to so that you can host it or pick the host you want. Such negativity from you guys is just unbelievable.
Good on Nine for doing this; I just hope they raise that much needed money.
Good on you 9. Ignore the critics – Victorians love you and appreciate the support.
Sillygostly: “How the hell can you stretch this sort of programme on for 5 hours?” Uh, Seven do it all morning, day and night for the Good Friday Appeal, so I think five (comparatively measly) hours shouldn’t be difficult. I agree that “people just bag channel nine because it’s fun”, as Gerrard put it.
Is it live into Queensland?
Think its great that channel nine doing this telethon,all tv networks and radio stations should all join forces .Its not about ratings and who is hosting(eddie),its about raising money.Think all australians should watch and donate in any way they can,one night of not watching a bloody tv show on another network is not end of the world.
Kudos to 9 indeed. This is a fantastic cause, and I don’t think anyone is suggesting otherwise.
But It would be a little naive to think they are doing this purely out of the goodness of their hearts. It’s not a surprise this is on their weakest programming night of the week, and not tonight with key programs premiering.
Come on guys – there is a time and place to get heated up about tv and its hosts, etc, but this isn’t the time to do it.
Ch 9 will be putting on a show that should positively benefit the people who need it the most – and at this time what people need is hope and a little bit of positive thinking.
If federal politicians can put aside their usual grievances for awhile, so can we!!
Let’s support a good cause and get on with it.
they will get the money they want but i doubt they will get the viewers! my god eddie everywhere is back. we will prob have some destroyed tv’s that night
also what about the farmer wants a wife?
Agree with you SillyGhostly, as tragic and devastating the whole thing is i’m sure Nine have ulterior motives too. This could pull in 2 – 3 million at least.
This week may has well not be counted in official ratings, with cricket, extended news, programming shifts, telethon.
Of course that aside, in a time like this, anything to do with television does not matter, and its good they’re doing it. Really, it would have been nice if the networks came together, like with the tsunami appeal. That may be stretching it though..
Anyways, all that matters is getting plenty of donations to help all those affected areas recover for what is an epic task ahead. poor people
I agree David. I can’t believe the cynicism of so many people. Going on about ratings and Eddie etc. Channel 7 are running appeals, Triple M and Today fm ran an appeal yesterday, the AFL are raising money. Do they all have ulterior motives ? Maybe they all just want to support a terrible tragedy that has occured. Next people will be whinging about the guests they have on. Good luck to everyone involved.
I agree with David that certain people just bagg channel nine because it’s fun. Maybe you should just realise that Channel Nine are trying to do something to help the bushfire victims. The best channel ten can do is to show some 30 second ad with Mal Walden, Helen Kapalos and David and Kim asking people to donate. At least channel Nine are trying to organise such a major event with loads of stars all trying to do the same thing: raise money for the bushfire victims! My Lord people on this site can be so insensitive. Good on channel nine for doing their bit to help innocent people. Good to see that such an influencial part of our lives is using their power for good.
Nine has always been first (or the only one) to organise fund raisers in times of need. Except of course for HSV7 and TVW7 who have run telethons for decades. Can’t please all of the people all of the time. 5 hours is nothing for this type of program. Would have liked to see them run it from 7:30pm Friday to after midnight Saturday. Probably the lack of production staff at GTV9 these days would prevent that, but they can always (and will no doubt) call in troops from other 9 and WIN stations. Well done Nine. Every $ is needed.
Glad to see channel nine doing the right thing!
but when will flashpoint and cold case been show?
I agree David, I can’t believe the hatred some people have for Ch 9 & Eddie. He would have to be one of the few people in TV capable of hosting such an event.
Good one ’em. I hope they raise a tonne of money.
I think they are doing the right thing.
Strikes me they are damned if they do, damned if they don’t. Criticised if they do nothing. Criticised if they run it for 2 hours. Criticised if they run it all night. Criticised if they run it on a Thursday. Criticised on the choice of host.
There are more important issues we face than wasting energy on this.
I heard on radio today that Cold Chisel is reforming for the telethon!
I will end up watching it until they come on now and just mute the Eddie McGuire parts. lol
Sure, why settle for winning the night with a 2 hour broadcast when they can win the entire week with an all nighter?
As much as I’d like to applaud them for holding this telethon, their ulterior motives are certainly showing now.
Yes, it’s a tragedy, but how the hell can you stretch this sort of programme on for 5 hours?
People may well whinge about Eddie hosting the event, but at the end of the day, he’s there to do a job of presenting a marathon show and to get viewers to donate much needed cash.
Even though most of the time Ch 9 gets things totally wrong, this time we should support an event that goes to a very worthy cause.
Cripes 4.5 hours of Eddie ..can imagine how happy some people will be with that!
Here’s hoping Nine’s good intentions are rewarded with plenty of money being raised.
Right now, the ads on Ch 9 in Sydney still promote it as 8.30pm. Just saw one during ET. 3.25pm.
So now Seinfeld 🙁