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60 years since Reg Grundy debuted on Australian TV

From one Wheel of Fortune episode to a media empire.... Reg's TV legacy began in 1959.

1st September 1959 was the first ever television hosting by Reg Grundy on Wheel of Fortune, live on Channel Nine.

It would mark the beginning of The Reg Grundy Organisation (founded in 1960), later sold to Pearson Television which became FremantleMedia. In 2006 FremantleMedia merged Grundy Television and Crackerjack Productions to form Fremantle Australia.

Grundy produced game shows including Ampol Stamp Quiz, Concentration, Blind Date, Blankety Blanks, Perfect Match, Family Feud, I’ve Got A Secret, The Price Is Right, Personality Squares, and Sale of the Century and dramas such as The Young Doctors, Prisoner, Sons and Daughters, Neighbours.

A memorial planned by his widow Joy Chambers at the Sydney Opera House this month has been delayed but is expected to be rescheduled.

9 Responses

  1. I wish 10 would give us Wheel of Fortune but like the US version. Another mini wheel at the end, toss ups to get the game off to a flying start and everyone gets to take home whatever cash they accumulate.
    10 gets what they deserve giving us 3rd rate game shows that are so niche they don’t stand a chance of being competitive. And having them on at 6pm they are dead on arrival.

    1. Could’nt agree more follow the rules closely to the US version, but also include when they call letters for example a T, and they spin $500 dollars and there are three of them the dollar value is x 3 so 3 Ts = $1500. But you would have to chose the right host, I think Grant is too over exposed mabye Rove could fill in, he make a good host.

      1. Yes agree 100%. And make it 7 nights a week with a different weekend host. Grant has paid his dues with 10 and should finally have a quality show with excellent production. Even FF looked budget and that is one of the great game shows. In almost 2020 I could see a female host and male co-host up there touching the LCD screens so we can see the letters. I missed Rove and was happy to see him on CNG. Ian Turpie is still truckin on.

          1. Sorry I meant to say John Burgess. Ian Turpie was great on The Price is Right and a great Aussie.

  2. Hopefully that wheel is still standing somewhere (maybe a museum) and was not destroyed after the original incarnation of Wheel Of Fortune Australia.

  3. Great shows their, I have all the sets of Prisoner and im still watching it on Foxtel at the moment. But I would like to see Sale of the Century back and also The Price is Right (original) not what happened to it by Channel 7 a few years ago. And of course I’d like Wheel of Fortune to return 🙂

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