Good Morning Australia (or ''GMA''), also known as GMA with Bert Newton, originally titled ''The Morning Show'', was an Australian breakfast television variety program on

Network Ten Network 10 (commonly known as Ten Network, Channel 10 or simply 10) is an Australian commercial television network owned by Ten Network Holdings, a division of the Paramount Networks UK & Australia subsidiary of Paramount Global. One of five ...

hosted by Bert Newton between 20 January 1992 and 16 December 2005 featuring regular segments and celebrity guests The program aired from 9:00am – 11:00am (9:00am – 11:30am for most of its run). The show was a lead in to the 11:30 News.

Program history

Good Morning Australia (GMA) 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 after the breakfast news program with the same name on the same network had previously aired between 1981 and December 1992. ''Good Morning Australia'' itself replaced the long running Sydney based Til-Ten which was presented by Joan McInnes. ''GMA'' was Australia's first national morning talk program, unchallenged ratings wise until October 2002, until the

Nine Network The Nine Network (stylised 9Network, commonly known as Channel Nine or simply Nine) is an Australian commercial free-to-air television network. It is owned by parent company Nine Entertainment and is one of five main free-to-air television netw ...

launched '' Mornings with Kerri-Anne''. For most of 1992, the program was produced in Melbourne from Ten's Nunawading Studios, from 1993 following the changing of the name to ''Good Morning Australia'' (aka ''GMA with Bert Newton''),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 ''

r ‘Monday’ on Friday's show R, or r, is the eighteenth letter of the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is ''ar'' (pronounced ), plural ''ars'', or in Irelan ...

' 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

. 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

John Foreman 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.

Musicians, entertainers and singers

Some of the musicians that have performed on the show include:

Regular segment contributors

The program had many regular contributors to various topical segments.

Robert Mascara Robert "Belvedere" Mascara (born 6 April 1972) is an Australian television floor manager and assistant director. Of Italian descent, Mascara was born in Melbourne and began his career in December 1989 at the Nine Network where he was working as ...

, the floor manager and assistant director for the programme's entire run, appeared as "Belvedere", the official food taste tester during the cooking segments.

Celebrity chefs

Cast Regulars

Shannon Watts joined ''GMA'' in May 2005 replacing Ed Phillips who went on to host ''

Temptation Temptation is a desire to engage in short-term urges for enjoyment that threatens long-term goals.Webb, J.R. (Sep 2014). Incorporating Spirituality into Psychology of temptation: Conceptualization, measurement, and clinical implications. Sp ...

'' for the

. Shannon was soon put out in the field hosting segments from the AFL Grand Final, the

Australian Grand Prix The Australian Grand Prix is an annual motor racing event which is under contract to host Formula One until 2035. One of the oldest surviving motorsport competitions held in Australia, the Grand Prix has moved frequently with 23 different venu ...

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''.

Fill-in presenters

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:

Advertorials

The show featured a number of advertorial presenters The advertorials were for products from various local and international direct selling companies '' Danoz Direct, Guthy Renker'' and '' Global Shop Direct.''

Related shows

Prior to Newton's tenure as host of ''GMA'' Network Ten in Melbourne ran a similar program titled ''Good Morning Melbourne'' hosted by Roy Hampson and Annette Allison During Hampson's tenure. The program had a number of different titles, such as ''The Roy Hampson Show'' and ''Roundabout''.

Seven Network program

The Morning Show (TV program) Good Morning Australia's former title ''The Morning Show'' was adopted by a rival show on the Seven Network, presented by Larry Emdur and Kylie Gillies

Successor

Network Ten successor to ''GMA'' was '' 9am with David & Kim'', hosted by musician

David Reyne David Nicholas Reyne (born 14 May 1959) is an Australians, Australian actor, musician, television and radio presenter. Reyne was born in Lagos, Nigeria to an Australian mother and English diplomat father. The family moved to Victoria (Australia), ...

and journalist/news anchor Kim Watkins, which had a similar format, however 9am was not filmed in front of the live studio audience.Ten pins daytime hopes on 9am
Robert Fidgeon, ''

Herald Sun The ''Herald Sun'' is a conservative daily tabloid newspaper based in Melbourne, Australia, published by The Herald and Weekly Times, a subsidiary of News Corp Australia, itself a subsidiary of the Murdoch owned News Corp. The ''Herald S ...

'' via '' Vogue Australia'' website, 12 January 2006. Accessed 30 April 2017.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Good Morning Australia (1992 Tv program) 1992 Australian television series debuts 2005 Australian television series endings Australian variety television shows English-language television shows Network 10 original programming Television shows set in Melbourne