Format
Each episode of Simon Townsend's Wonder World! featured an introduction by Townsend as the studio host, accompanied by his pet and companion bloodhound Woodrow (Woodrow died in 1986 and was replaced at first with a sulphur-crested cockatoo and then with a baby labrador retriever. A competition was run amongst the viewers to name the new puppy and seeing as though Townsend had recently won a Logie award, the puppy was named Logie.) Simon would then present four individual magazine-style stories, each presented by a different reporter.
The stories covered any and every subject imaginable, from the most amazing pets, to the meaning of one hand clapping. Two researchers, two cinematographers, two sound recordists, four reporters and four editors worked on the time equivalent of a feature film every week - about eighty minutes of screen time shot on 16mm reversal film. Stories were not scripted, relying upon the ingenuity of the reporter and the two-man crew. If a story fell through the trio found another; no-one ever returned to the office at the end of the day without two stories. Every show also contained a viewer segment, and a music segment - often produced by the program itself. For instance Simon Townsend's Wonder World! made the first ever music video to feature Australian band INXS. During the course of the series, Townsend and his reporters traveled all over Australia and to many and varied locations in America, the UK, Europe, India, Asia and the Pacific region.
Simon Townsend would always end every show with the same signature farewell - "And remember, the world really is wonderful!"
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