Good Morning Australia (1992 TV program)


Good Morning Australia, originally titled The Morning Show, was an Australian morning television variety program on Network Ten between 1992 and 2005.
The program aired from 9:00am – 11:00am. The show was a lead in to the 11:30 News.

Program history

The program debuted on Network Ten on 20 January 1992 with the title The Morning Show, changing its name the following year from 1 February 1993 to Good Morning Australia, after the breakfast news program with the same name on the same network had ended in December 1992. Good Morning Australia replaced the long running Sydney based Til-Ten which was presented by Joan McInnes.
For most of 1992, the show was produced in Melbourne from Ten's Nunawading Studios, from 1993 following the changing of the name to Good Morning Australia, production of the show moved to level 4 at Network Ten’s South Yarra studios.
The show featured numerous guests in each episode, often singers and actors. Regular segments included cooking, crafts, gardening, movie reviews and parenting. There was a segment called "In Bed with Bert", where four of his regulars answer questions that Newton reads. The questions were sent from viewers at home.
Often the off-camera crew acted as the studio audience. Starting in 2005 the public could view the taping on Fridays.
Bert Newton's sign off at the end of each program was: We'll see you tomorrow morning at 9:00.
Originally the program was live-to-air on Mondays and Tuesdays, and live-to-tape on Wednesday, Thursdays and Fridays. From mid-2004 onwards, the show became live-to-air five days a week to compete with Mornings with Kerri Anne.
In October 2005, Network Ten announced that GMA would be cancelled at the end of the year after a fourteen-year run. Following this announcement and after months of speculation, Bert Newton decided to leave Ten and return to the Nine Network. The final live edition of Good Morning Australia aired Friday 16 December 2005, and included guest appearances by former GMA regular Susie Elelman and showbiz legend Maria Venuti. The following week, GMA switched to summer mode, with the summer show airing from 19 December 2005. The summer series of Good Morning Australia ended on 27 January 2006, a week before the premiere of 9am with David and Kim.

Musical direction and singers

was the program's musical director from the program's inception in 1992 for GMA until his retirement in 2004, when Mark Amato was appointed as his replacement for the final two years.
Some of the singers that have performed on the show include:
The program had many regular contributors to various topical segments. Robert Mascara, the floor manager and assistant director for the programme's entire run, appeared as "Belvedere", the official food taste tester during the cooking segments.
Patti NewtonVarious segments
Lauren NewtonReporter
Karen MoregoldAstrology
Iain HewitsonCooking
Elizabeth ChongCooking
Ken JamesCooking
Dorinda HafnerCooking
Jane EdmondsonGardening
Gabriel GatéCooking
Tonia TodmanCrafts/Cooking
John-Michael HowsonCelebrity and Hollywood gossip
Nicky BuckleyParenting
Paul BongiornoPolitics
Julie SummerfieldPets
Jemma GawnedBeauty
Virginia HeyBeauty
Colette MannGadgets
Ann-Maree BiggarGadgets and DVD reviews
Val JellayMovie reviews
Shane BourneDVD reviews
Axle WhiteheadMusic reviews
Robert MascaraBelvedere
Bruce MansfieldCollectibles
Philip BradyNostalgia
Yves HernotAntiques valuation and art

Shannon Watts joined GMA in May 2005 replacing Ed Phillips who went on to host Temptation for the Nine Network. Shannon was soon put out in the field hosting segments from the AFL Grand Final, the Australian Grand Prix and the Gold Coast Indy 300. Not long after, Shannon was appointed as an advertorial presenter on GMA. Shannon did over 160 episodes of Good Morning Australia. Shannon stayed with GMA until the show's end and went on to be a reporter on the replacement show 9am with David & Kim.
A number of people have filled in for Bert Newton as presenter over the years when he was either ill or on leave. The people that have filled in for him include:
The show featured a number of advertorial presenters, including Moira McLean, Susie Elelman, Ed Phillips, Shannon Watts and Marianne van Dorslar. The advertorials were for products from companies Danoz Direct, Guthy Renker and Global Shop Direct.

Related shows

The program's former title The Morning Show was adopted by a rival show on the Seven Network.
The successor to GMA was 9am with David & Kim, which had a similar format, however 9am was not filmed in front of the live studio audience. Prior to Bert Newton's era, Ten Melbourne ran a similar show Good Morning Melbourne, hosted by Roy Hampson and Annette Allison. During Hampson's long run, the program had a number of different titles, such as The Roy Hampson Show and Roundabout.