News Archive:
Final week (almost) a Seven sweep
It was the last week of ratings for 2008, and the week all the free to air broadcasters bonded (temporarily) for Freeview with 4 of 5 metro CEOs there for the party, Nine scrambled to refinance its loans, an Australian actress was trapped in international terror, Seven sacked a reporter, former Sunday journos won the Gold Walkley, Nine let go another network celebrity, ACMA slapped Nine three times for A Current Affair, Ramsay’s Kitchen Nightmares and Spiderman, TEN dumped 90210 and rearranged its summer schedule again, a gangster’s wife was at …
Monday surge for SBS and ABC
Maybe it’s a sign of things to come over summer. SBS and ABC had a strong Monday.
The return of the British Top Gear came racing down the ratings freeway, attracting a whopping 1.06m viewers -third in its timeslot. Last week’s Aussie version was further down the road with 662,000 viewers. As if it didn’t already know it, that’s a clear message to SBS about the popularity of the Clarkson, Hammond and May.
SBS managed an 8.8% share for Monday, it’s best in quite a while.
ABC had some strong wins with The Howard …
Packered by the Rafters
It was the week the Packer family parted ways with Nine causing David Gyngell to vow to prove James Packer wrong, TEN announced a new channel, Pay TV launched another three, Minister Stephen Conroy signalled support for increased ABC & SBS funding, commercial networks (briefly) found a conscience but upset David Leckie, WIN sat down at the gambling table, Kath & Kim (US) got a greenlight for a full season, Andrew Denton announced the end of Enough Rope, David Tennant set his exit from his iconic role, Rove visited …
NRL wins it but Seven takes glory
It was the week that TEN was in breach of subliminal ads (a ruling first leaked by TV Tonight), ACMA instructed Nine to sell part of its Darwin operation, two former premiers will now defend Pay TV v Free to Air battles, while two television gardeners faced off over the environment, a Footy Show comedian defended a school principal under fire, a musical about the media in Beaconsfield was branded as tasteless, a former Idol died in tragic circumstances, Perth’s Telethon broke its own record, SBS lost a top Drama …
“Encores” not Out of the Question
“Encore” episodes are a sure sign a network isn’t happy with the performance of a programme and Seven has announced several for the newly returned Out of the Question.
On Monday the Glenn Robbins-hosted show managed 468,000 viewers at 10:30pm which was a lift on 438,000 the week before.
Seven slated repeats on its 7HD channel originally for Wednesday nights, but now to air 1:30am Tuesday, three hours after the original screens.
This is the second block of episodes for the panel show which was taken off after Easter following disappointing ratings. It’s …
ABC beats TEN as Seven wins
It was the week that American critics began to knife Kath & Kim (officially), ABC told staff it would cut up to 35 production jobs, Nine denied having a contract with the wife of a convicted crim, an actor lambasted his former soap, Today Tonight announced its next host would be a sports presenter and said its film crew helped -not hounded- an interviewee, Seven ’streamlined’ its Lotto results, buyers eyed a key production company, the Imparja / Nine Darwin deal fell apart, a TV critic died, and suddenly so did …
30 CRock. Seven bumps Tina Fey finale.
Fans of 30 Rock are about to be disappointed with word that Seven has bumped the season finale due tonight by one week.
Instead it will air a Seven News special on the financial woes in the US at 11:30pm AEST.
Seven is planning a news special hosted by Chris Reason which will cross live to the opening of Wall Street. Michael Pascoe will be in studio for analysis.
The switch is a shame given the finale, “Cooter”, guest stars Matthew Broderick and won Tina Fey an Emmy for series comedy writing just last …
Reminder: 30 Rock, Boston Legal new times
Now Liz Lemon and Jack Donaghy fans don’t forget the current season of 30 Rock is drawing to a close on Seven, with two - count them two - episodes slated outside its normal Monday slot:
Friday Sept 26 11:15pm “Sandwich Day”
Tuesday Sept 30 11:30pm “Cooter” season finale
Also having an adjusted time are the last two episodes of Boston Legal at 11pm Monday night Sept 29 and Oct 6. At 10:30pm Seven returns Out of the Question with Glenn Robbins.
The “Cooter” episode won an Emmy this week for writing in a comedy series. It …
Returning: Out of the Question
Good to see Glenn Robbins is getting a second shot at his light entertainment format, in a sensible timeslot.
Out of the Question was too relaxed to fire in its original 8:30pm timeslot earlier this year. Together with some less-than-slick presentation it seemed like the show had been rushed to air too soon. But Robbins is still a likable performer and in its new 10:30pm timeslot (the same time TV Tonight suggested back in February) it has half a shot at finding a loyal audience.
The show returns on Monday September 29 …
Back in Question?
TV Tonight hears Glenn Robbins’ panel show is going back before the cameras, which is what the network always told us would happen.
Out of the Question will be back in the studio next week at Seven Melbourne.
The panel / quiz show had a difficult start, never really finding a rhythm, and the viewing audience was pretty decisive in its collective disappointment. It was taken off air after a short, initial run.
One of the biggest problems for the show was the 8:30pm timeslot. Like The Panel, on which Robbins also appeared, the …