“New-look” SBS TWO schedule from Sept.
SBS TWO will introduce themed nights across the week from September 1st. with a mix of food, film and documentary programming.
- Published by David Knox
- on
- Filed under Programming
SBS TWO will introduce themed nights across the week from September 1st. with a mix of food, film and documentary programming.
Shaun Brown, SBS Managing Director, said: “SBS TWO has enabled us to broaden and deepen the range of global content that we deliver to Australian audiences. Launched with modest means, we are now committed to further investment in SBS TWO over the next 12 months.
“This means more of the world’s best food, film and documentary programming to complement SBS ONE’s formidable reputation as the home of quality content sourced from across the globe as well as award winning locally produced content that reflects the true multicultural nature of Australia.”
The new schedule will be built around:
Sunday – Entertainment
Monday – Science
Tuesday – History
Wednesday – Politics
Thursday – Arts
Friday – Culture
Saturday – Personal Interest
World News Australia will no longer be simulcast at 6.30pm with a lifestyle and food hour to be introduced, comprising:
Made In Spain with Jose Andres – starts Wednesday 1st September
Spanish chef Jose Andres, who trained at El Bulli in Spain, explores the culinary and cultural riches of Spain, highlighting the extraordinary cooking traditions of a country whose food and wine captures the imagination of nations across the world. In every episode Jose brings the exciting flavours of his native Spain to the audience.
Food Trip with Todd English – starts Thursday 2nd September
Join acclaimed chef and restaurateur Todd English on his travels around the world as he shares his taste and talent for reinventing traditional cooking. Todd explores a different dish or culinary tradition, drawing inspiration for new recipes from each locale’s native cuisine and ingredients.
Taste Takes Off – starts Friday 3rd September
New Zealand travel writer and television presenter Peta Mathias explores the flavours, the style and the sights of various destinations of the Pacific, including Thailand, Vietnam, Australia, California and Canada.
From 7.30 to 9.30pm, SBS TWO will show documentaries including:
The Year of Anish Kapoor makes its debut on the channel on 2nd September at 8.30pm. Anish Kapoor is one of the most influential sculptors of his generation, known for works of staggering complexity and scale. He now faces his biggest challenge yet as the first living British artist to have a solo show occupying the entire Royal Academy gallery. His response is a series of audacious installations. With exclusive access to his studio, Alan Yentob follows him through a period of intense productivity. Kapoor talks candidly about his childhood in India, his early years as an artist and his creative process.
Brand new Syrian School starts on 3rd September at 7.30pm. In this five-part series, Syrian School follows a year in the life of four schools in Damascus, a high-pressure cross roads in the Middle East. It concentrates on some remarkable characters finding their way in a country that has never before opened ordinary life up to cameras in this way and challenges the usual clichés of Arab life charting the highs and lows of the school year.
Further original documentaries are yet to be announced.
Despite the fact it has already been heavily dominated by foreign language films, SBS TWO will now theme its nights with films from 9.30pm every night except Mondays:
Sundays will be dedicated to European Cinema, with films from a slate of popular contemporary titles. Films from cultural and cinematic powerhouses such as France and Germany will be shown along with quality productions from Scandinavia and the former Eastern Block. Films including The Swimsuit Issue and Crossed Tracks make their TV debut on the channel.
On Mondays at 11pm, Asian Retrospective features a treasure trove of classics from the Far East featuring some of the greatest directors, production houses and film styles that the region has given us over the past decade.
Tuesday nights becomes Film Focus night and each month we shine the spotlight on the cinema of a different country or region exploring specific cultures, themes and events in greater detail. Each monthly season will bring together a range of different titles – drama, comedy, even cult – as a snapshot of contemporary world cinema.
Wednesday nights is Film Festival night which will see SBS TWO showcase a selection of quality art house titles from the preeminent film festivals worldwide – Cannes, Venice, Berlin, Toronto and more. Titles to come include Buddha Collapsed out of Shame and September.
Thursdays becomes Latin Night with a selection of contemporary cinema from South America, Portugal and Spain. With Latin cinema experiencing a massive renaissance and big Hollywood exposure, SBS will screen some of the best film from the region including the Oscar nominated The Milk of Sorrow and Bad Education.
Film on Friday is Asia Wide with the best film from Asian cinema. SBS TWO presents a range of titles from tradition cinematic players like Japan and Hong Kong as well as rising stars such as Korea, Taiwan, mainland China and beyond. The first Friday of the month is dedicated to a Bollywood film night featuring hand picked titles that India has become famous for.
Saturday night is home to Films on the Edge with edgy crime, thriller and film noir cinema finishing off the evening.
The World Game will remain airing first on SBS TWO on Mondays at 9.30pm.
The revised schedule takes effect from Wednesday September 1st.
24 Responses
Hi Mike,
The Circuit, Lani’s Story, In My Father’s Country, First Australians, Living Black – heard of any of these?
I would love to see ABC and SBS merged.
Imagine the synergies of merging the two public broadcasters.
We now have multi channel capability – ABC could have a multicultural channel. Other SBS content could be integrated into the other ABC channels.
SBS is full of repeats, every Friday 10pm XY repeat docos, plus a WW2 doco repeats. SBS 2 wont be much better again full of repeats, Aussie Top Gear the other night. I couldnt understand with the Soccer why they were always showing a repeat of the game straight afterwards on SBS 1, again full of repeats. They could have whacked a flick or a doco on before the next game.
Why on earth have news again on at 9:30pm?
Stan this is exactly what I hate, SBS and ABC bleating poverty at every available opportunity despite government handouts and for SBS, advertising revenue. Indigenous Australian content does not need to be that expensive. Years ago the ABC gave Indigenous kids camcorders to film around Alice Springs and talk about their life. Cheap and interesting. Also, perhaps if they didn’t waste money on foreign crap all the time they might have some money in the coffers to produce Australian content or purchase cheap NZ drama that has more cultural relevance than a foreign film that has been repeated a handful of times. They can manage it, but obviously they see fit to waste money elsewhere.
Sorry, even if you put lipstick on a pig it’s still a pig and SBS has scrapped the barrell just as much as the commercial networks. I mean Pizza, Skins, South Park, Dead Set, smut ‘documentaries’, nearly pornographic foreign films. Where’s the cultural significance in those programmes? SBS tries to justify their existance by claiming altruistic cultural and artistic benefits but in reality it is nothing of the sort. SBS just purchases cheap foreign filler crap that no other networks touch because other networks appreciate that they have to keep the majority content. The SBS is so out of touch thinking a very niche audience is able to justify its significance and indeed exisistance. It should be relegated to a digital channel and adopt a more Australian positive focus which should include its culture of both Indigenous and Anglo-Saxon as well as that of countries that are culturally important or play a significance in Australian life such as NZ and various surrounding Asian countries. Innumerable repeats of Inspector Rex are not of some cultural significance Stan.
I’m sick & tired of reading the anti-SBS rants on this site from people like Mike. Sure, they’ve made some mistakes (like sacking twenty-odd subtitlers a few months ago), but they’ve got a long way to fall before they get to the cultural lows of Seven, Nine & Ten. Mike, you say SBS need to air more Australian Indigenous programming, but if it’s new, last time I checked, the orignal broadcaster needs to commission it while stumping up the money to pay for production. That’s a lot more expensive than simply purchasing ready-made overseas material. Where’s the money to pay for this first-run Australian content? Please think & be more realistic before posting next time, Mike!
Btw, I’m just glad they dropped the simulcast of World News Australia. That was a waste of time. It would’ve been better if they just replayed it late at night.
Sorry, I have just seen a mistake. Go Girls does have a half Maori has a main cast member, just not a full Maori.
Continued…
You also fail to address the point of me actually wanting More cultural diversity relevant to Australians. I actually called for more Indigenous Australian content and more Maori content on SBS2, rather than repeats of irrelevant crap and non English speaking content that is too niche for advertising and certainly not warranted taking up two channels.
So perhaps you should stop comparing Australian content to other countries, because you just get caught out. I mean Italy, China, Japan all have television channels and migrants/immigrants yet they are hardly inclusive of all and every sexuality, race & religion. Just because other countries do something does not mean Australia should copy them blindly and at every available opportunity.
Bill, this is the exact sort of comment that really grates on me. You post a patronising paragraph assuming I’m totally naive on other countries and their ethnic diversity and also how it is relayed on their television screens. I’m not even Anglo-Saxon, so I have a pretty clear view of what it feels like to be an ethnic minority. Yet, I don’t feel the need to whine when an Australian drama does not include a character from a different ethnic background. In fact speaking as an ethnic minority it is even more patronising seeing a token ethnic character existing for the sake of existing just to tick some box like most American shows. Television is not real, it is just escapism in its natural form. You can’t shoehorn every race under the sun into an Australian drama, otherwise you would compromise on storylines and acting.
Speaking of which I do watch Shortland Street and yes they have many ethnic characters, but considering their cultural history it is not surprising. Maori groups even put political pressure on television executives to include more Maori characters. Even a couple of years ago Shortland Street was still branded as too white despite 3 regular Maoris, 1 Indian and numerous recurring non-white characters. You just can never please some people. Also Shortland Street is a prime example of hiring people based solely on their ethnicity even though they are terrible actors. FYI Go Girls has no ethnic characters as the main cast and Outrageous Fortune has only a token Maori. So NZ television isn’t that much different on the whole.
I like the idea behind trying to beef up the SBS TWO schedule, and refine it a little, but much work still needs to be done.
The SBS brand is not that strong to hinge a second network off it, AKA SBS TWO.
I think the SBS TWO should ditch the SBS brand altogether and go with something completely different like the Nine/Go model.
Kind of base it on Sundance Channel in the US, known for it’s quirky, independent international fare. Or AMC now known for bold daring television.
Some channel name and positioning ideas could be:
Fringe. TV on the edge
UOTV. Unexpected. Original. TV
@Mike – SBS has a very important role to play and it is not showing Anglo content. Look at any of the commercial networks and see how many non-whites you see? The face of Australia has changed dramatically over the last few decades, but you wouldn’t know it watching most Australian TV programmes. You only need to compare the situation here with that in other migrant countries to see how abysmal it is. New Zealand is a good example being pretty much culturally identical to Australia and having similarly received many non-Anglo migrants in recent decades – its multiculturalism is reflected on its TV screens whether as characters on scripted TV programmes (compare the multiracial Shortland Street to the very Anglo Neighbours and Home & Away) and as news and current affairs presenters. The same could be said of the US or Canada or even Britain.
Why bother SBS. Hardly anyone watches this crap. When will they realise garbage foreign language movies and tv, food programmes and other embarrassing tat is not what viewers want to see. SBS is such a waste and the whole premise is so outdated.
I am completely disgusted it hardly has any Australian cultural programmes or drama. They harp on about ethnic diversity, yet where is the Indigenous Australian or Anglo-saxon content? Hell, even programme Maori crap. They are culturally more significant to Australia than god awful Latin American movies that have probably been repeated numerous times.
You know a station should disband when it gets beaten by digital channels. I wonder how long the government will prop up SBS, because looking at their pitiful audience share it sure isn’t the advertisers.
Makes you wonder why they didn’t do this when they launched the channel.
SBS do take their movies a little too seriously sometimes. They need to throw in some classic or lighter fare.
Movies like Monsieur Hulot’s Holiday or Mon Oncle haven’t been seen on FTA for years. And I remember many years ago on SBS stumbling on a German 1960s musical “Hot Summer” (apparently ‘the East German Grease’!) which was so bad but I watched the whole thing (and I found out that it was showing recently at ACMI, had I known in time I’d have gone to see it).
Maybe SBS (One or Two) should reinstate the Saturday matinee movie or even run some of this lighter fare late at night.
Good to hear. I have seen a number of great films on SBS over the years that would never be shown on the other networks simply because they aren’t in english. Looking forward to many more.
La Vie En Rose this Saturday night. Gold.
SBS should re-play Bogan Pride, I loved that show so much!
Looks good to me. I love SBS!
@vinny as it says above the new shows are
Made In Spain with Jose Andres, Food Trip with Todd English, Taste Takes Off, The Year of Anish Kapoor, Syrian School
Sorry what I meant to ask David , are Made in Spain, Food Trip and Taste Takes off , new ?
@newtaste: there are Asian language news bulletins on early mornings on SBS ONE that are often interrupted by sports programming (especially soccer), hence the need to repeat them on SBS TWO.
how many of those shows are repeats david ?
Sorry Vinny….don’t have their Sept guide yet. I doubt all the movies will be first run but the food titles are.
Great to see that they will have a new schedule for the evening – hopefully this will improve their current dismal ratings.
Their daytime schedule also clearly needs work as we really don’t need to see exactly the same foreign news bulletins repeated multiple times across two channels. If they want to continue with news throughout the day, they should show programmes in languages not already available on SBS 1 and some in English from NZ and the UK – these are Australia’s two largest sources of migrants, yet news programmes from these countries are not available on Australian FTA TV.
There is a stack of foreign language programing that SBS TWO could show – a mix of good and trash. eg. German and French programs, like the German version of “I’m a Celebrity Get Me Out of Here”. They would have rehire the subtitlers they sacked, but that’s ok. And they need to drop World Watch on ONE or TWO, what is the point of showing it on both channels (and on HD)?