The Sydney Morning Herald from Sydney, New South Wales, Australia • Page 56

Mr Macho talking to the animals now r3 CTOR John Orcsik laughs wryly at mediator in the series is the director, a the old adaee "never work with JOHN Orcsik with Rebecca Gibney and a baby gorilla. Mzuri, on the Melbourne Zoo set for the new series. Zoo Families "this is different in a gentle sort of way." man who has escaped the executive ratrace to find harmony in the sane world of his zoo. "Most of the shows we have had lately have been so damn heavy but this is different in a gentle sort of way," John said. "I do love it.

It is quite a break playing this diplomat instead of being Mr Butch and Mr Macho I found immersing myself into this character quite 'v kids or animals" his new role demands he works with plenty of both. Associated mainly with tough-guy roles in shows such as Cop Shop, Division 4 and Matlock Police. Orcsik is currently playing the director of a zoo in a new Disney-type series being filmed for the Nine network. Zoo Families, to be seen mid-year, revolves around the lives of a zoo vet, his children, a grasping patron, the keepers and the animals of the zoo. The LAST year, Channel 7 screened a one-hour special called Children On the Edge of Survival, highlighting the problems of starvation, poverty and ignorance facing millions in the Third World.

Rowena Wallace and Shane Withington host another special in this vein on Good Friday night. Premiering at 7.30. Return to Children In Crisis looks at how Australian aid is being spent in Ethiopia and Kampuchea, and appeals to us to open our hearts and wallets a little wider. i I 1 til the girl it likely Cfe iLliliCLP DONNA Reed, the shapely Mom from the sixties reappears this week as another all-American Mom Miss Ellie in Channel 10a Dallas. No plastic surgery, no look-alikes for the producers of Dallas instead Miss Reed turns up as a revitalised Miss Ellie after a European honeymoon.

The former Miss Ellie. Barbara Bel Geddes. underwent heart surgery in 1982 and left the role at the end of last season. Make no mistake about it, sex always plays a powerful role ia Hollywood and the casting couch still reigns supreme," says Angle Dickinson, who starred ia the mini-series Hollywood Wives And although Angie isn't prepared to spill the beans, she does concede that events in the show do bear an uncanny resemblance to incidents that have caused recent Hollywood gossip. "The real power lies with the people who can place other people on television and in the movies.

If you're in a position to do so, then you attract the young and ambitious. I ty ANGIE Dickinson: Old enough to be Bo's mother. "I sometimes think I'm getting too old for this cheesecake business," she adds. "I certainly don't ever want to embarrass myself by appearing ridiculous. "But as long as there are guys who think I'm still sexy, then I guess I'll go along with it.

"I always want to look sexy, beautiful and luscious no matter what my age. I'm warmblooded and passionate by nature, I enjoy romance and passion and I hope I'll never change." Angie was married to award-winning Hollywood composer and songwriter Burt Bacharach for 18 years, the final five years of which were spent attempting to save their marriage before it ended in the divorce courts. "But the men I go for now are the same type that I liked when I was 20 good-looking, amusing, intelligent and interesting. "And yes I DO date younger men," she adds. "Whenever they try to date me and I point out that I'm too old for them, they all argue that I'm not.

"Well, I never could win an argument very often "The nice thing now is that I no longer have to go looking for them they come and find me." because they need you most. "To get what they want, they're prepared to offer the only thing they have to give themselves," she said. Angie says she was amused recently to find that she had become the subject of a serious scientific analysis Hollywood style! A panel of top American medical and anatomical scientists set out to discover the world's most beautiful body. They spent months examining photographs and the vital statistics of dozens of actresses including Bo Derek, Dolly Parton, Loni Anderson, Linda Evans, Victoria Principal and Angie Dickinson. Their decision was unanimous the winner was 52-year-old Angie.

Chairman Dr Ross McClung, a leading physician from the University of Virginia, explained: "Angie won because she still has those million-dollar legs and, despite her age, her trim body, hips, shoulders and bust, match perfectly her beautiful face On hearing the news, Angie was delighted to point out that she is old enough to be the mother of the actress who came second, Bo Derek! kH -N p.vv )y Nk OVER at Channel 9. in Dallas's rival. Dynasty, another newcomer makes an entrance. Who is the bewitching Amanda, played by Catherine Oxenburg? What is Alexis's fate to be in jail? Is Dominique's marriage over? Where will it all end? Bite iMrrrff SBS-TVs new series Frontiers takes an interesting idea and turns it into an absorbing six hours of television. The one-hour documentaries examine different industries in Australia that owe their existence largely to migrant settlers.

And while this sounds like a heavy lecture series on the Wollongong or Newcastle steelworks, it is delightfully different The first episode, 16 and a Smile, premiering tomorrow night at 7J0, deals with the Australian ski-ing industry. Using photographs, newsreels and interviews, with narration by Austrian-born actress Gertraud Ingerborg. the episode traces the development of the fastest growing leisure industry in Australia. From the Norwegians who demonstrated ski-ing at Kiandra during the gold rush, to modern-day resorts such as Falls Creek and Mt Buller, the development of the Australian Alps owes much to European migrants. Future episodes examine the sugar, oil, life of maintenance workers on the rail mining and automobile industries, and the gangs in outback Australia.

DD3 mv Suburban soap can't compete with termites A DAPHNE to Des: "Now bang ob, Des. I pay for that bedroom. If I want to take a priest ia there to talk, it's vp to me." That's just some of the froth and bubble from the "ordinary" folk of the latest soap, Neighbours, Channel Seven's answer to Ten's nltra-popular Perfect Match at 5 JO pin weekdays. It's supposed to be about "ordinary families living in a normal suburban As that is an essentially boring idea, writerexecutive producer Reg Watson has given these mediocre individuals some pretty extraordinary problems. FOR really juicy gossip about our far-flung neighbours' misfortunes, the ABCs The Investigators on Wednesday nights is much meatier.

Last week there was the couple with five children and a house so riddled with termites despite a pest company's OK before they bought it, that the woman wept on camera. There was the Adelaide man who sold his Falcon through a dealer and was still waiting for the cash. Asked what he would do if he could have 10 minutes with the offending company's boss, the man said: "He's a big bloke, you know." given about a minute. To keep it ordinary, little domestic dramas get equal prominence with the robbers and the runaway. (Julie throws a tantrum when Scott and Danny don't come home to eat the meal she cooks).

It strikes me that if you relish this kind of gossip, it would be better to get it live over the back fence. We had Danny the soppy son who can't impress macho Dad, no matter bow hard he tries, caught allegedly shop-lifting, only to be saved by his Olympic diving medal prospect brother Scott. And we had bank workers Julie and Des (who might be a number yet) about to be embroiled ia a stick-up. To keep it snappy, each scene is DEBRA JOPSON looks at last week on TV In just one episode last week, for instance, we had runaway teenager Kira refusing to leave a squat for her "normal suburban despite the pleas of Kevin, the trendy priest (the one ia Daphne's bedroom). 62 THE SUN-HERALD, Mar 31, 1985 62.