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Industry applauds Margaret & David after final At the Movies taping

Geoffrey Rush, Claudia Karvan, Bryan Brown and Rachel Ward amongst guests at a '28 year' wrap party,

2014-12-03_0024Margaret Pomeranz and David Stratton yesterday recorded their final episode of At the Movies, ending a 28 year union on Australian television.

The one hour special, set to air next Tuesday night, was followed by a party attended by industry luminaries including Geoffrey Rush, Claudia Karvan, Bryan Brown and Rachel Ward.

The Australian reports the party was celebratory with ABC managing director Mark Scott heaping due praise.

David Stratton told guests about the early days when he paired with his then-producer on SBS’s Movie of the Week and ­Cinema Classics in 1983.

“She was pushy; I was set in my ways. It was an oil and water situation,” he recalled.

The special next week will include bloopers, interviews with filmmakers and actors, behind the scenes footage, and their final movie reviews of the year.

11 Responses

  1. A new role beckons for you, David.
    I was peripherally involved with the Ch 31 movie review show ‘Flicktease’ here in Perth-it rated well for them but the closure of the station here after the bungled switch from analogue to digital spelled the end of that local show. Now with the death of community broadcast TV as decreed by the current government, it couldn’t be done anyway.

  2. I agree with above. A new show would not mean simply replacing the hosts. Nor should it mean just putting in “young” presenters on the logic it will attract a younger audience. It is a really cheap show to produce so you would hope somebody in the ABC is working on an intelligent new format and is not just preoccupied with ratings and demographics. Non broadcast pilots would be a very good start for the ABC’s future projects after it has got its fingers badly burnt commissioning multiple episodes of new entertainment shows.

  3. I can’t think of any other show that started in 1986 that I’m still watching…

    There’s a huge David and Margaret shaped hole in my schedule now.

  4. Agree. Continuing the Movie Show with new hosts wouldn’t work. They had Judith Lucy and some other guy guest host a few times and they were nothing like Margaret and David.

    Mark Scott is actually honouring Margaret and David because no one can fill their shoes.

    And they are leaving on a high – because they know the Abbort government is going to continue cutting funds until all ABC shows is QI and Midsomer Murders.

    Mark Scott shouldn’t be blamed for any of this. It is Abbort and his rotten government.

    1. This has been debated before. I suspect ABC is mindful Spicks was received with a lukewarm response despite it being rather good. The logical way forward is to rest in 2015, then regroup for a potential 2016 content review show comprising film, TV and more. Film’s place at the top of the hierarchy has shifted a lot, so a new review show needs to broaden. Pomeranz and Stratton are irreplaceable as critics of a duo film reviewing team.

  5. @victor. They were wise not to bring in new hosts. They tried that on SBS with The Movie Show and it bombed. Also, Spicks & Specks with young, new hosts hasn’t worked out for the ABC. I’d love to see a movie review show in some form again but it needs to be totally new to avoid comparisons with David & Margaret.

  6. Well done Margaret and David for years of great work. I hope a few people got stuck into Mark Scott for not renewing this show with some fresh faces. Basically we’re now left with no free to air movie shows. Sadly it is part of Scott’s dumbing down of the ABC. Anything intelligent will be gone by the time his contract expires.

  7. End of an era. Decent movies are getting harder to find (because most of the ones that get a cinema release here are formulaic rubbish) but their show helped. I’m going to miss it.

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