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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 …
Gallery: Commander in Chief
Some are fictional, some are actors in biographic roles, but all have been American Presidents on television.
Dennis Haysbert (pictured) portraying President David Palmer in 24 was so impressive in the role that some online polls (including in the UK) put him as “television’s favourite president.” Not a bad feat considering Martin Sheen played the role for 148 episodes on The West Wing.
Here are some others who have spent time in the oval office (and a few presidents without a White House)….
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 …
Gone: Prison Break. Bumped: Heroes
Wentworth Miller’s Prison Break is the latest casualty of network programmers with Seven removing it from the schedule until summer. Earlier this month Nine did the same thing to Fringe.
The drama attracted 427,000 viewers last night, which was actually up from 389,000 the week before. Seven lost the night to the Nine Network.
But Seven has had problems with Heroes, netting a disappointing 624,000, dropping from The Amazing Race’s 902,000. It was beaten by RPA’s 1.02m and a repeat of Law & Order: SVU on 930,000.
Race was #1 in key demographics 16-39, …
Bumped: Prison Break, Scrubs.
Update: Prison Break now out. Scrubs stays at 11:30pm.
Seven is swapping the start times for Prison Break and Scrubs from Thursday November 6.
Scrubs will start at 10:30pm while Prison Break is pushed back to 11pm.
Last week Prison Break managed a lowly 389,000 viewers. Now in its fourth season the show is struggling to uphold its premise -so far there isn’t even a prison on the current series.
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 …
US dramas struggling for Heroes
As the global financial market continue to slide, so too are ratings for American television programmes in Australia.
Despite the recent cast member promo visit, last night’s premiere of Heroes’ supposedly revamped series managed a rather paltry 878,000. A second episode took 785,000. At 10:30pm the new season of Prison Break tanked at a lousy 387,000. Thanks to its early evening shows, Seven will be pleased it still won the night in 16-39, 18-49 and 25-54 demographics.
These are shows that two and three years ago were hailed as shining beacons for Channel …
Returning: The Amazing Race
Good news, racers. Seven will fasttrack the newest season of The Amazing Race, which launched this week in the US.
It premieres 8:30pm Thursday October 16th.
Kicking off from LA this is the 13th season of the show, and a repeated winner of the Emmy’s “reality” category.
You can read more on the pitstops of the series here and the competitors here.
The return of Race means that Heroes will sit in the 9:30pm timeslot following its 2 hour premiere next week. Prison Break remains at 10:30pm.
That just leaves Knight Rider still to …
The Mentalist
Simon Baker (without the hyphenated “Denny”) is a cool customer in The Mentalist.
As Patrick Jane, he can walk into a crime scene and see things the cops miss. As a phony, celebrity psychic, he knows all the tricks in the book. The opening scene shows Jane working his stuff when a grieving mother and father shed tears for their murdered daughter to the media. He knows something more is goin’ on. In this scene, Baker displays an unassuming confidence that no doubt won him the role. It’s a deftly-directed opener.
Once the …
Returning: Heroes, Prison Break
As expected Seven has slated its two new seasons of Heroes and Prison Break on Thursday nights in October.
The dramas will air back to back on from Thursday October 9th with a two hour Heroes premiere at 8:30pm followed by Prison Break at 10:30pm.
In the US Heroes launched with a two hour season premiere “Villains / Fugitives” earlier this week.
Prison Break returned with a two hour season premiere on September 1. Five episodes have now aired.
But Seven will only return it with a one hour episode, with new Scrubs episodes to …
Prison Break ready for axe
Prison Break’s executive producer Matt Olmstead has admitted that the show may be axed in the near future.
In the wake of average ratings for recent US episodes, Olmstead told Entertainment Weekly: “There’s a shelf life to serialised drama. If this is the last season, we’re not mourning that because it’s been a great ride and we have a great season [ahead].”
Should the series be cancelled midseason, Olmstead says the writers will “definitely have enough time to prepare for an appropriate ending. The season finale we have in mind could play as …
Airdate: The Mentalist
Nine will premiere one of its key US acquisitions at 8:30pm Sunday October 5th.
Aussie Simon Baker stars as an independent consultant with the California Bureau of Investigation (CBI), who has a remarkable track record for solving serious crimes by using his razor sharp skills of observation, a concept not so dissimilar to Psych. He is joined by Robin Tunney from Prison Break. It is created by Bruno Heller who co-created Rome.
The CBS drama has just aired in the US in the last 24 hours.
Nine will air the NRL Grand Final …