| 54th | Top Australian television series |
| A Current Affair | |
|---|---|
 A Current Affair title card since 2009. |
|
| Also known as | ACA |
| Genre | Current affairs |
| Presented by | Tracy Grimshaw |
| Country of origin |  Australia |
| Language(s) | English |
| No. of seasons | 7 (1971–1978) 21 (1988–2009) |
| Production | |
| Executive producer(s) | Grant Williams |
| Location(s) | National: Sydney (18 January 1988 – 13 June 2008) Melbourne (16 June 2008 – ) State-editions: Adelaide (2002 and 27 October 2008 – 27 November 2009), Perth (20 October 2008 – 27 November 2009) |
| Running time | 25 minutes |
| Broadcast | |
| Original channel | Nine Network |
| Picture format | 576i (SDTV) |
| Original run | 22 November
1971 – 28 April 1978 18 January 1988 – present |
| External links | |
| Official website | |
A Current Affair (or ACA) is a long running Australian current affairs program, broadcast week nights on the Nine Network. It also airs at 10:30 pm on Sky News Australia Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays.
The program is presented by Tracy Grimshaw. Until 2009, Louise Momber hosted the Perth version and Kate Collins was host of the Adelaide edition.
Contents |
A Current Affair was first broadcast on 22 November 1971, with Mike Willesee, screening week nights at 7:00 pm, and was broadcast for GTV-9. For part of its early run, the comedian and actor Paul Hogan had a comic social commentary segment. Under Willesee, ACA was a Transmedia production for the Nine Network.[1]
When Willesee left Nine in 1974 to move to the rival 0-10 Network, journalist Mike Minehan took over presenting ACA. Other hosts included Sue Smith, Kevin Sanders and Michael Schildberger.[1][2][3][4]
The original A Current Affair was axed on 28 April 1978, followed by strong competitions in the 7:00 pm timeslot from Willesee at Seven on Seven Network and Graham Kennedy's Blankety Blanks on the 0-10 Network.
In 1984, Willesee returned to the Nine Network to revive the program under the title Willesee, screening Monday to Thursday nights at 9:30 pm. The following year, Willesee moved to the earlier 6:30 pm timeslot and extended to five nights a week, running until 1986.
A Current Affair was revived again on 18 January 1988, with former 60 Minutes presenter Jana Wendt as host. This was the same week that the Seven Network's soap Home And Away was introduced.
Seven introduced direct competition with Real Life, which later became Today Tonight. Jana Wendt left the program in November 1992, unhappy with an ACA story showing topless women.[5]
In 1993, original ACA host Mike Willesee took over for the whole year. In February 1994 Ray Martin took over. During Martin's tenure further issues arose regarding the mix between tabloid and serious journalism., ratings and target audiences. Martin signed off at the end of November 1998.
After being a reporter for the program for many years, Mike Munro took over the hosting role in February 1999 as part of a major revamp for ACA. When Mike Munro was axed from the program in 2002, he returned to This Is Your Life, 60 Minutes, and later National Nine News in Sydney.
After Mike Munro's departure, Ray Martin returned in February 2003, and signed off again at the start of December 2005. During the 2005/2006 holiday period, the Nine Network announced that ACA was to be rested for four weeks to enable a major revamp of the production to take place. It had seen its ratings decline for most of 2005 against its rival, Seven's Today Tonight. On 30 January 2006, two weeks after the program's return, ACA was re-launched with new host Tracy Grimshaw. ACA's ratings increased in 2007, but fell again in 2008, placing it behind those of Today Tonight.
From 16 June 2008, ACA officially moved to GTV-9 studios with host Tracy Grimshaw returning to Melbourne. For the week prior to Grimshaw's move, Eddie McGuire filled in as host, also from Melbourne. ACA is still often presented from TCN-9 when Grimshaw is in Sydney, or if Leila McKinnon is filling in as host. For several months before the official move, ACA was often presented by Grimshaw from both Melbourne and Sydney.
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 the 2002 AFL Grand Final. The Adelaide edition was short lived due to the very heavy competition of Channel Seven Adelaide's Today Tonight.
In January 2008, WIN Corporation announced that a new local version of ACA would be produced in Western Australia to replace the east coast version hosted by Tracy Grimshaw. The first state based edition since Adelaide in 2002, the program was initially going to be presented by former newsreader Sonia Vinci, but she resigned prior to the show's commencement and was replaced by Louise Momber. The program was launched on 20 October 2008.
In June 2008, WIN Corporation also revealed that a local version of ACA will be also be reinstated in Adelaide to replace the east coast version hosted by Tracy Grimshaw, [6] with Adelaide's National Nine News reporter Kate Collins was announced as presenter in October 2008. The Adelaide version of A Current Affair was launched on 27 October 2008, just one week after Perth launched its edition.
Launching in 1991, QTQ-9 in Brisbane produced a local version of the program, titled Extra. It carried local stories including the lead up to its NRL Grand Finals. Despite its eighteen long years of popularity and ratings success, the local current affairs program was axed, due to a major schedule clean up for making space for Nine's now-scrapped one hour current affairs program, This Afternoon, hosted by Andrew Daddo, Katrina Blowers and Mark Ferguson from 4:30pm weekdays starting the following Monday after its final ever broadcast. The decision was apart of a push to nationalise lead-in content for the network’s struggling news bulletins. The game show Hot Seat was moved to replace Extra at 5.30pm.
The Adelaide edition is having a better run than the Perth edition, but the Adelaide edition is still lagging behind Today Tonight Adelaide having only beaten Today Tonight on one or two occasions. The Adelaide edition is presented by former ABC newsreader Michael Smyth when Kate Collins is on leave.
As of 30 November 2009, the state editions have officially been axed. [7]
Like its main rival broadcast on the Seven Network, Today Tonight, A Current Affair is often considered to use sensationalist journalism – as depicted in the parody television show Frontline – and to confuse advertising with editorial content, as previously exposed on the ABC program Media Watch. [8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15]
Overall in the 2008 Australian TV ratings, ACA achieved 1,124,000 viewers, 200,000 viewers behind the Seven Network's Today Tonight, which achieved 1,374,000 viewers.
Leila McKinnon is the main fill-in presenter when Grimshaw is on leave. Today host Karl Stefanovic, Weekend Today host and sports presenter Cameron Williams and Eddie McGuire have also filled in for Grimshaw in recent times.
Hosts
Michael Smyth was a fill-in presenter for Kate Collins
Hosts
Substitute presenter was Ebbeny Faranda.
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   | Official ''A Current Affair'' Website - A Current Affair > The latest news on Australia's most current affairs |
| | A Current Affair at the National Film and Sound Archive - NFSA - Title Details |
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