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TV Tonight turns 10!

Industry faces come together to mark a TV milestone...


Standing L to R:
Fiona Choi (The Family Law), Harrison Feldman (Upper Middle Bogan), Brett Climo (A Place to Call Home), Matthew Richardson (Seven’s AFL), Brian Nankervis (RocKwiz), Mal Walden (TEN News), Joel Creasey (I’m A Celebrity Get Me Out of Here!), Jo Hall (Nine News), Gamble Breaux (The Real Housewives of Melbourne).

Seated L to R:
Joe Klocek (Nowhere Boys), Kat Stewart (Offspring), John Deeks (Seven), Colette Mann (Neighbours), Shareena Clanton (Wentworth), Keegan Joyce (Please Like Me), Barry Cassidy (Insiders).

TV talent from all networks have come together to mark 10 years of TV Tonight.

Since January 5th 2007 the site has now racked up nearly 50,000 posts, over 400,000 comments and broken more than a few scoops. More on the retrospective soon…

I thought long and hard about the best way to mark 10 years for my blog.

The date falling in the first week of January meant any kind of physical event was difficult -and in the end I decided it should all be focused online for readers, wherever they are.

So I settled on a group talent photo. Coming together in one place for one purpose would be a statement in itself.

I began discussions with networks about who we could corral. Wow, what a task. Having dealt with publicists for a decade I certainly got a quick lesson in just how hard it was to orchestrate smoothly. I now appreciate their work a little bit more!

Collectively we had to juggle the right mix, availability, concept, approval, fees (nobody took any), hair & make-up, outfits, transport, refreshments. With late cancellations it was a moving feast right to the end. Finally with 16 people all posed on the floor, a 17th was on the phone saying they were running late, could we please hold? Sorry, no! Click!

But I am proud as punch of the final shot -snapped in record time. Nobody could quite believe how smoothly it went.

The 16 personalities you see are drawn from Drama, Comedy, Reality, Light Entertainment, News, Sport, Music and Children’s Television.ABC, Seven, Nine, TEN, SBS & Foxtel are all represented. I wanted a range of Diversity, with veterans sitting alongside rising stars – hallmarks of the site for the past decade.

It’s also fitting that Colette Mann is sitting front and centre. Decades ago Colette was instrumental in helping me attend the set of Prisoner for an article for the school newspaper. Guess I’ve come full circle….

Thank you to the talent, publicists, agents and pals who assisted on the day in making this happen, plus photographer James Penlidis & Sanjeev.

You will also see industry birthday galleries & posts today and beyond, with posts acknowledging the occasion for a while to come.

Of course today is my day to thank you, loyal readers, who are here day in and day out, on weekends, public holidays, after hours, most more than once a day. Whether in the industry or audience, it’s a mutual passion that has kept the site alive.

If you wish to send any birthday messages via social media feel free to use the hashtag #TVT10.

David.

Photo: James Penlidis

73 Responses

  1. Congrats Buddy! Although I don’t visit as much as I used to I still pop by every now and then to get a good fix of TV News & ratings + some exclusives 🙂

  2. Glad I found TVT a few years ago. It’s a superior replacement from all my previous TV news sources [TV Week, Newspaper “liftouts” and Radio segments] of which have become redundant, mere promotion pieces or bias on too few shows, so I no longer use any of these!

    Keep up the great great work!

  3. Congrats David, my, how time flies. I must admit, like a few others here, that I’m a migrant from David Dale’s Tribal Mind blog. His editors at the SMH stuffed his column around so much that I gave up and searched for another blog with sense and stability. I found it here. Keep up the good work.

  4. Wooo hooo!

    Huge congratulations David, what an innings 🙂

    I’ve followed your website for years and am still amazed at all the research, information and access you have, this site is one of a kind.

    Especially all the interviews, including with executives. Great insight and sneak peeks.

    To think shows like MasterChef and My Kitchen Rules hadn’t even started in Australia when TV Tonight launched… Seven were in their first year of ratings dominance… Channel 7 got the AFL back… Ten had completely diffetent shows and personalities… Among many more obvious points.

    Wow.

  5. Wow, ten years!!! Congratulations David and thank you so much for the most excellent blog you run. Not sure when or how a stumbled onto this but it must be at least 7 years and still enjoy every (daily) visit.

  6. Congratulations on 10 years of TV Tonight! It is the first site I visit each and every morning (ahead of Yahoo7 finance and Herald Sun websites) and I also come back 2-3 times during the day. You certainly have earned the respect of viewers and the TV industry alike. Keep up the good work.

  7. Congrats on such a well deserved milestone. It is a true testament to the quality of your work David that you are able to celebrate such a milestone and have a great range of talent come together to honour the occasion and to be honest you just keep getting better as the years go by.

  8. Happy 10th birthday,Tv Tonight.Still by far the best tv website on the internet in my opinion.The only place you want to turn to when you want to find out what is really happening in the world of television.

  9. Congrats on your 10 year milestone David and thankyou for everything that you do. TV Tonight is my only source for all things TV these days, thoroughly informative, professional and lots of fun !!

  10. Congrats on 10 fantastic years David!
    I don’t know exactly when I stumbled onto this site but I’m very glad I did. With reduction of actual reporting in TV guides and magazines it’s the only place where we can get good info on what’s happening on Australian TV. It’s also a great community resource, reflected in the TV lounge section. Here’s to another 10.

  11. Congrats David on an amazing 10 years and here is to 10 more 🙂 . I honestly don’t know what did before I found TV Tonight or what I would do if it was ever to end! Keep up the amazing work!

  12. One (ie., me!) does not realise how influential TVT is until one saw the picture above. To get so many people in one photo to celebrate a webblog and news site isn’t just an achievement- it’s a sign how much your site is respected. Long live TV Tonight!

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