australian television information archive

Jason moves on

WHEN the makers of the new medical/legal drama MDA were casting for a male lead, you can see why they called on Jason Donovan to play a lawyer who deals with those people near death.

Given the way his career has gone, who knows more about the process of resurrection than the bloke who got to see Kylie's bum in the years before the rest of the world got sick of seeing Kylie's bum?

While there's no doubting the former Scott Robinson has persistence, Donovan's comeback has had a boost from a very unusual ally–the British tabloids.

That bastion of the world's free press, a.k.a. The Sun in London, has led the campaign to get the fallen pop idol back on to his perch, even if he's given up groping singing budgies.

In an article about The Sun's Let's Get Donovan On Again campaign which kicked off in February, the paper reveals it received "masses of e-mails" from fans around the world in support for the former Neighbours star.

And while Jason admits he has less hair on his head and fewer drugs in his bloodstream than during his heyday, the former king of pop is ready for the ride to the top again.

You can follow Donovan's latest career move at the website for his new show, MDA.

The site was not much to talk about when we checked it out but it promised a revamp in time for the show's upcoming premiere which would include such apparently exciting features as an online chess game.

Presumably the site's creators think that if you are the sort of person who is excited about a balding soap star, you probably think online chess is a real adrenalin rush.

While Donovan's career has slumped, his loyal fans are still out there, such as the people behind The Jason Donovan Files and a British-based Jason Donovan fan site.

And for looking for a Neighbours fix, there is a stack of fan sites out there, including Erinsborough.com where you can talk about old and new episodes of the show that helped launch countless soon-to-fail careers.

But for the serious fan, you can't go past the official Neighbours site.

This site has details of all of the old cast members including Donovan, who would have clearly won the award for worst mullet on Australian television if Peter O'Brien, sporting a horrendous do, had not joined the Neighbours cast.

What's more, this site says Bouncer the Labrador also beats Jason for the title of the most loved "neighbour" of all time.

One of the best parts of the official site is the archive, where you can relive each episode of the past 2 ½ years.

There are episode descriptions such as "Michelle farewells her chickens, Passion erupts between Tess and Darcy" and "Steph tries hard to pretend that everything is fine. Toadie needs to learn how to play golf."

Clearly, Jason has moved on while Neighbours stays in a world of its own.

Rodney Chester
July 11, 2002
The Courier Mail