TV Tonight turns 4!

TV Tonight chalks up its fourth year of online television commentary today – thankyou to everyone who has supported me along the way.

The site continues to be read by a wide mix of industry and general public.

I am constantly surprised when I visit sets or meet execs how familiar they are with the tone, content and even comments available here. Things have come a long way since starting as a radio segment in 2003, before migrating online in 2007.

There are now more than 14,000 separate posts and 160,000 comments published. Thankyou for the passion. 2010 was another big year, reaching 1m hits a month, breaking a number of industry stories, many of which resonated in the wider industry, including:

– Conviction Kitchen,
– Winners and Losers,
– Wild Boys,
– Don’t Stop Believing (both the pick-up and the axing),
– Underbelly: Razor,
– Underbelly telemovies,
– new Sunrise producer,
– SBS dumps World News presenter,
– production trouble on The Bounce,
– Kristy Hinze out of Project Runway Australia,
– SBS cold feet over Swift & Shift Couriers,
– sneak peek of ABC News 24 studio,
– Bert Newton to host the Logies,
– Brian Naylor inducted into the Logies Hall of Fame,
– Shine Australia wins Australia’s Next Top Model contract,
– cuts to Neighbours crew,
– GTV9 party,
– George Negus quits SBS,
– GO!’s plans to screen South Park‘s “Bloody Mary” episode (which it then instantly dumped),
– Kevin Rudd’s return to Sunrise,
– Promos for The Event (a global scoop).

TV Tonight was also the media source referenced by ACMA in defending its ruling over an episode of Dante’s Cove, after Nine complained to this site about their decision-making.

The interviews included actors, writers, directors, producers and execs from both Australia and abroad:

Adam Boland, Adam Hills, Adam Liaw, Adam Richard, Adam Zwar, Alan Brough, Amanda Duthie, Andrew Winter, Anna Gare, Anthony Callea, Brendan Dahill, Cal Wilson, Charlie Boorman, Chris Uhlmann, Cindy Waddingham, Claire van der Boom, Clint & Noah, Corrine Grant, Dan Ilic, Daryl Somers, David Koch, Deborah Mailman, Denise Drysdale, Dieter Brummer, Don Hany, Eddie McGuire, Eden Gaha, Elmo, Emma Nolan, Eric Stonestreet, Gavin Morris, Geoff Browne, George Negus, Gerry Travers, Grant Denyer, Greg Haddrick, Guy Sebastian, Jane Badler, Janet Andrewartha, Jo Horsburgh, John Edwards, Jordan Rodrigues, Josh Mapleston, Josh Thomas, Julia Zemiro, Karl Stefanovic, Kat Stewart, Leigh Sales, Les Murray, Les Sampson, Libby Tanner, Lisa McCune, Lisa Wilkinson,  Louie Spence, Lynne McGrainger, Magda Szubanski, Marion Grasby, Martin Freeman, Matt Passmore, Matt Preston, Matt Smith, Matthew Weiner, Mossy, Natalie Imbruglia, Noni Hazlehurst, Pam Barnes, Pauley Perette, Richard Lyle, Robyn Butler, Ronan Keating, Roy Billing, Santo Cilauro, Scotty Tweedie, Shaun Micallef, Stefan Dennis, Steven Moffatt, Sue Johnstone, Tina Arena, Tom O’Sullivan, Tony Martin, Wayne Hope, Wil Anderson, William McInnes.

The site was again referenced by media including The Australian, The Daily Telegraph, The Age, The Herald Sun, The Courier Mail, ABC Radio, 2UE, MTR, 3AW, 6PR, a number of regional radio stations, Media Week, The Drum, Crikey, Digital Spy, Mumbrella, Screen Hub, Media Spy, Lifehacker and numerous websites.

Most recently readers voted in the annual TV Tonight Awards, with 90% voting the site “Excellent / Very Good” -just 2% voted “Fair/ Disappointing.” 70% also said they visited the site once a day or more. Thankyou for the generous comments, many of which commented on the site being run by one person. That’s in contrast to the early days when many had presumed there was a small team running everything.

The results of the 2010 Awards will be published tomorrow.

This is a good time to remind readers that a Twitter feed is available with headlines of each story. As I prefer to direct dialogue via the long-form features of the blog please continue to use the site for questions and answers. This archives the information for all to see.

The iPhone feed will soon undergo another upgrade and yes there are revamp plans for the site itself, including more videos you won’t find anywhere else.

In 2011 TV Tonight will continue to champion the viewer, the Australian industry and provide an insight into the deconstruction of television. I love to look at how TV is put together and so do you. Then there are a few whimsical stories thrown in just to keep a sense of fun (they’re the ones where people ask “slow news day?” -nope, just light and shade).

Some readers prefer their news without opinion -others love it for that very reason. I seek to write with passion, hindsight, humour and that isn’t changing anytime soon.

Should you be interested in returning the love, nominations are now open for the 2011 Bloggies until January 16. There are two key categories for your consideration: Best Australian & NZ Weblog / Best Entertainment Weblog.  I’m never that optimistic that a site which is actually part-aggregation, part-original editorial will impress judges, but it would be cool to be nominated (let’s face it, the Walkleys haven’t been knocking!).

So roll on year five. Summer hiatus will end later this month ahead of the official 2011 ratings season.

Happy Birthday everyone!

David.