News Archive:
Guy and Shannon who?
Bit of a silly blunder from TEN publicity this week. In its info for the Australian Idol final, it reckons: “For the first time in Australian Idol history, the final comprises of two males.”
How quickly we forget.
In 2003 the very first Idol finale was a battle between Guy Sebastian and Shannon Noll. After omitting Neighbours from the 2009 Programming Press Release it is the second proof-reading blunder this week.
Ah well… nobody (including TV Tonight) is perfect!
Press Release:
From over 38,000 people who auditioned for Australian Idol in 2008, two finalists remain. Both …
Biggest Loser’s biggest question
Sometimes network launches are as significant what they leave out as for what they announce.
In TEN’s 2009 programme launch one face was oddly absent from print, video and visual material: Ajay Rochester.
TEN’s official Press Release names trainers Shannan and Michelle, but neglects to mention Rochester.
Nor was her face included on the launch invitation (it had a montage of TEN personalities). During the media launch a video sequence of The Biggest Loser included moments from the last series, including Rochester’s voice announcing the winner -but no shot of the host.
This year Ajay …
Good Neighbours become good targets
Actor Ian Smith has told The Sun newspaper in Britain of strangers yelling insults at him and revving their cars outside his home. It all contributed to him wanting to quit Neighbours.
“You know it’s time to move on when you’re being hassled outside your home every night by drunk idiots screaming abuse,” Smith told the newspaper.
“I got so fed up I ended up calling the police. They were making my life hell. Every night at the same time they would drive up to my house and start revving their engines really …
Airdate: Elephant Princess
TEN’s newest kid’s series begins soon, Elephant Princess.
The 26 x half hour episodes follow Alex Wilson, played by 19yo Emily Robins (Shortland Street), as a girl who wants to make it in a band, until an exotic young man Kuru played by Miles Szanto (Love My Way) arrives to tell her she’s really a princess from the Kingdom of Manjipoor. He’s also come to bring her home to rule. But the last royal relative Vashan, Neighbours’ Damien Bodie, wants to stop her from claiming her inheritance.
Oh and there’s an elephant …
TV Forums report card
Since the advent of online, television fans have had ways of letting networks know what they think. No more writing letters to newspapers, it’s as easy as logging onto a network website anonymously and speaking your mind.
TV Tonight has been looking at how our networks embrace free and open discussion. Here’s how they stacked up.
ABC:
Within the ABC site there are individual show pages, many of which have open forums. Shows including Enough Rope, Compass, Can We Help?, At The Movies, Life at 3, Good Game, Media Watch, Spicks and Specks and …
ONE HD bumps TEN HD into limbo
TEN’s “science fiction Thursday”, Neighbours catch-up, timeshifted News and documentaries on TEN HD could become a thing of the past with confirmation that there is no contingency plan announced alongside the launch of ONE HD.
TEN HD will continue on air until April when it is overtaken by TEN’s 24hr sports channel ONE HD. The current home of TEN HD, Channel 12, will broadcast the sports content in standard definition.
That leaves Smallville and other fan favourites in television limbo. Other shows including Torchwood, Battlestar Galactica, Eureka, One Tree Hill, Friday Night Lights …
Joe Mangel rules out return
And to think we were really worried it might happen too….
Mark Little has confirmed that he has no plans to return to a stint as Joe Mangel in Neighbours.
Little played the role from 1988 until 1991 and reprised it in 2005 for the show’s 20th anniversary.
“I think I’ve done my bit in Neighbours,” Little is quoted by The Press Association as saying. “Joe Mangel is just a fond memory, and he certainly is that for a lot of people who still remember Joe. I was only three years in that soap, …
Can you pick the face?
A little quiz today, to see how well you know your telly.
Does this face look familiar?
Leave a comment with your answer as to who you think this is.
Just so everybody gets a chance to have a stab at who it is, TV Tonight will hold off publishing your comments on this post until after midday today.
Extra brownie points awarded if you are able to name the new show he is set to appear in.
Damien Bodie, formerly of Neighbours is the correct answer. …
Out of the Blue gets a lifeline
EXCLUSIVE: Australian soap Out of the Blue is getting a second shot on UK television, despite slumping on the BBC earlier this year.
The Manly-based serial, commissioned by the British broadcaster, will move to Five in the UK alongside other Aussie soaps, Neighbours and Home and Away.
The lifeline for the 130-episode drama will see the show re-aired from Episode One in a bid to find a new UK audience. With an ensemble cast including Sophie Katinis, Zoe Carides, Diane Craig and John Atkinson, the plot kicks off with a murder amongst a …
Sneak Peek: Michala Banas as ‘Libby’
And here is your first look at actress Michala Banas in the role of “Libby” on Neighbours.
Banas stepped into the role when Kym Valentine took suddenly ill after a holiday in New York.
Her storylines were too central to the plot to be dropped so quickly, causing producers to hurriedly find another actress to fill in for the part. It’s a rarity in television soap, but it has happened before…
Banas’ appears in the role for a month beginning Tuesday November 11th.
Gay ‘Toadie’? What the?
He’s certainly one of the soap’s better actors, but Ryan Moloney has been on Neighbours so long they’re really tossing him some weird storylines.
Tonight he’s mistaken for being gay.
Toadie?
What are they smokin’ down Erinsborough way?
Suitably, Rebecca (Jane Hall) roars with laughter when she hears the mistake, made by a new gal on the block. She even tries to hook him up with one of her mates.
It wasn’t so long ago Harold and his pal Gino were mistaken for ‘more than friends’, after they would shack up together and watch musicals on …
Writer’s opportunity on CSI
Having already offered a Victorian writer the chance to work alongside the writing team of NCIS, Film Victoria is now offering an opportunity on CSI: Crime Scene Investigation.
The International Fellowship is a 12 week opportunity for a writer to shadow key CSI writing staff. The lucky recipient will be granted confidential access to breaking stories in the CSI writer’s room, reading outlines/drafts and then following a writer through the production and post-production process.
The stint is from January to March, 2009 in Los Angeles, with up to $25,000 …