A Current Affair
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| A Current Affair | |
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 A Current Affair Opener |
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| Genre | News/Current affairs |
| Starring | Tracy Grimshaw |
| Country of origin |  Australia |
| Production | |
| Running time | 30 minutes |
| Broadcast | |
| Original channel | Channel Nine |
| Original run | 1971 – |
| Links | |
| Official website | |
| IMDb profile | |
A Current Affair (or "ACA") is a nightly current affairs programme, broadcast on Channel Nine every weeknight and hosted by Tracy Grimshaw.
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[edit] Content
The program airs nationally at 6:30pm weeknights in all capital cities and is produced in the studios of TCN-9 in Sydney. Like its main rival broadcast on the Seven Network, Today Tonight, A Current Affair is often considered to use sensationalist journalism - resulting in parodies such as Frontline.
[edit] History
A Current Affair was first broadcast in 1971 with Mike Willesee, screening weeknights at 7.00pm. When Willesee left Nine in 1974 to move to the rival 0-10 Network, journalist Mike Minehan took over presenting A Current Affair after Willesee's departure. In addition, the comedian and actor Paul Hogan had a comedy segment during the early episodes. The program ended in 1978 following strong competition in the 7.00pm timeslot from Willesee At Seven and Graham Kennedy's Blankety Blanks on 0-10.
In 1984, Willesee returned to the Nine Network to present a mid-evening current affairs program titled Willesee, screening Monday to Thursday nights at 9.30pm. The following year, Willesee moved to the earlier 6.30pm timeslot and extended to five nights a week. In 1988, former 60 Minutes reporter Jana Wendt took over as host of the program and the title A Current Affair was re-instated.
Ray Martin took over from Jana Wendt in 1994. Mike Munro took over the hosting role in 1999 after being a reporter for the program. Mike Munro was removed from the program in 2002 and returned to This is Your Life, 60 Minutes and later National Nine News in Sydney and Darwin. Ray Martin returned in 2003 and signed off at the start of December 2005, after unimpressive ratings.
In 2002, NWS-9 in Adelaide produced a local version of the program hosted by weekend newsreader Georgina McGuinness. It carried national stories, but featured more local stories including the lead up to that year's AFL Grand Final. The program was short-lived due to the strong competition of 7's local Today Tonight.
Over the 2005/2006 summer, ACA was rested to enable a major revamp of the program to take place. A Current Affair had seen its ratings decline for most of 2005 against the Seven Network's rival program Today Tonight[citation needed]. Tracy Grimshaw took over as host of the show on Monday 30 January 2006.
[edit] See also
- List of Australian television series
- List of Nine Network programs
- Media Watch (Australian TV series) (critical analysis)
- The Chaser's War on Everything (humorous analysis)
