Peter Rowsthorn

Biography

Movies

Kath & Kim is a character-driven Australian television situation comedy series. The series was created by, and is written by Jane Turner and Gina Riley who play the title characters: a suburban mother and daughter with a dysfunctional relationship. The series main characters consist of Kath Day-Knight, a cheerful 50-year-old woman, her self-indulgent daughter Kim Craig, Kath's boyfriend and second husband, the metrosexual Kel Knight, as well as Kim's estranged husband Brett Craig and her lonely, overweight "second best friend" Sharon Strzelecki. The series is set in the fictional suburb of Fountain Lakes in Melbourne. It is primarily filmed in Patterson Lakes. The series was conceived by Turner and Riley in the early 1990s as a weekly segment of the Australian comedy series Fast Forward. The skit was then developed into a full-series. The first series of Kath & Kim premiered on ABC TV on 16 May 2002, with three further series following, while a television movie, entitled Da Kath and Kim Code, was broadcast nationally on 25 November 2005. Kath & Kim has garnered much critical acclaim since its debut, winning two Logie Awards, for "Outstanding Comedy Programme" and the "Best Television Drama Series" award at the Australian Film Institute Awards. In Australia, it has become a pop culture phenomenon, and is a success with audiences nationwide. Internationally, the series has spawned a cult fanbase, and in 2006 it was announced an American version of the series would be produced, to air on NBC. Riley and Turner served as executive producers on the US version. The American version was also picked up by Seven, which debuted the program on 12 October 2008, just three days after its debut in the United States.

More info
Kath & Kim
2002

Bert's Family Feud was the third Australian version of the game show Family Feud. The series was produced by Grundy Television in conjunction with FremantleMedia. It was broadcast on the Nine Network and hosted by Bert Newton. The show intended to feature celebrities and their families as contestants. A principal motivation for establishing the show was that the Nine Network had the highest-rating Australian television news service for many years, but has seen its viewing audience abandon the network in favour of the Seven Network's Seven News and Today Tonight. This is not only due to Seven's increasing ratings for its news programming, but also due to their highly successful game show Deal or No Deal which airs in the 5:30pm timeslot, leading into the news. Leading up to the program's February 2006 launch there was speculation that the network may delay the program until mid-year and instead show reruns of Friends in the 5:30pm timeslot. Network executives are hoping that Friends reruns will reignite the timeslot and allow Bert's Family Feud to premiere to a solid audience. It debuted 13 February 2006. It was cancelled in 2007 due to low ratings. The final episode was taped on 23 May 2007 in the GTV studios in Melbourne and aired on 1 June 2007. 274 episodes were recorded, with the Castricum family being the final contestants, winning $85,000 in total. After the demise, 'the best-of' episodes continued to air on Mondays to fulfil the show's commercial obligations.

More info
Bert's Family Feud
2006