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The Don Lane Show

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The Don Lane Show
GenreTalk show
Created byDon Lane
Directed byPeter Faiman
Presented byDon Lane
Narrated byPete Smith
Opening theme"You Make It So Easy"
Country of originAustralia
Original languageEnglish
No. of seasons9
Production
ProducerPeter Faiman
Running time90 minutes
Original release
NetworkNine Network
Release8 May 1975 (1975-05-08) –
10 November 1983 (1983-11-10)

The Don Lane Show was an Australian television talk show which aired twice a week on the Nine Network from 1975 to 1983.[1][2] The show was created by Don Lane who co-hosted it with Bert Newton.[3][4][5][6][7]

Channel Nine was reluctant to cast Bert Newton, who had been associated with Graham Kennedy, but Lane insisted that he wanted Newton to do the show. Lane is quoted as saying:

I used to watch him and Graham working on IMT, and look at them with great envy. So I said 'what about Bert Newton?' If I’m going to work with somebody I want to know that he's as sharp as anything and a real pro.[8]


The theme music of the show in its later years was "You Make It So Easy", written by Helen Reddy and Carole Bayer Sager and first recorded for Reddy's 1976 album Music, Music.[9]

Legacy

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The show became one of the most popular talks shows in Australian television history. Its broadcast time-slot varied in its early years, including a brief stint in 1980 when it ran four nights a week, but eventually settled on Mondays and Thursdays at 9:30pm on the Nine Network and many stations across Australia. Some regional and remote commercial stations would receive the program on videotape for delayed broadcast.

Alongside Blue Heelers, The Don Lane Show is the most awarded show in the history of the Logie Awards, with five wins [citation needed]. Lane was inducted into the Logie Awards Hall of Fame in 2003.[10]

DVD release

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In 2010, a two-disc DVD was released. In 2015, a four-disc version with new covers was released. The DVDs include episodes from 1981 to 1983, including the 1983 bushfire appeal special and the final episode.

References

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  1. ^ "David Bowie on the Don Lane Show", by Thorsten Kaeding, National Film and Sound Archive of Australia.
  2. ^ Knox, David. ""There will never be another Don Lane" | TV Tonight". TV Tonight/. Retrieved 14 August 2020.
  3. ^ "Vale: Don Lane", by David Knox, TV Tonight, 22 October 2009.
  4. ^ "Flashback: Debbie Reynolds on The Don Lane Show", by David Knox, TV Tonight, 29 December 2016.
  5. ^ "The Don Lane Show (TV Series 1975–1983)", IMDb [unreliable source?]
  6. ^ The Best of the Don Lane Show (TV Movie 1994), IMDb [unreliable source?]
  7. ^ "DON LANE". The Australian Women's Weekly. Vol. 45, no. 26. Australia. 30 November 1977. p. 31. Retrieved 8 February 2017 – via National Library of Australia.
  8. ^ "Subscribe | theaustralian". The Australian. 31 October 2014.
  9. ^ P. J. Lane on 3AW's Remember When, 4 November 2018.
  10. ^ "Don Lane's son on keeping his dad's legacy alive". 9now.nine.com.au. Retrieved 14 August 2020.