July 22nd
7:30pm Matty Johns / Vicar of Dibley (Syd, Bris / Mel, Ade, Per)
8:30pm How I Met Your Mother (new)
9:00pm How I Met Your Mother rpt
9:30pm How I Met Your Mother rpt (Pilot)
10pm Cougar Town dbl ep
11pm True Beauty: The Face of Vegas
12am The Mole / Matty Johns (Syd, Bris / Mel, Ade, Per)

American Dad is out on this night

BUT

July 29 (Updated)
7:30pm Matty Johns / How I Met Your Mother (new) (Syd, Bris / Mel, Ade, Per)
8:00pm How I Met Your Mother rpt (Mel, Ade, Per)
8:30pm How I Met Your Mother new / A Touch of Frost (Syd, Bris / Mel, Ade, Per)
9:00pm How I Met Your Mother dbl ep rpt (Syd, Bris)
10:00 Cougar Town (Syd, Bris)
10:30pm Cougar Town (Mel, Ade, Per)
11:00pm True Beauty (Syd, Bris)
11:30pm True Beauty Mel, Ade, Per)

American Dad is out on this night.

NB: Possibly subject to change if I haven’t been able to make sense of Seven’s fuzzy logic…

Border Security and The Force, which had been airing on Sunday nights move to Monday nights at 7:30pm / 8:00pm from tomorrow. New episodes of the latter will air.

This moves Breaking the Magician’s Code: Magic’s Secrets Revealed to 7TWO. It returns 6:30pm Sunday July 4th.

Tonight’s episode of Russell Brand’s Ponderland is pushed out to next Sunday night, due to a replay of the two Hung episodes.

Also on Mondays, Trauma moves to 11:30pm with The Mole (replay) out.

Next Sunday night will also see Bones and Castle return, but are repeat episodes.

And don’t forget Grey’s Anatomy finale replayed at 8:30pm tonight on 7TWO.

That is all…

The introduction to the channel is now ten minutes instead of five with Michael Jackson: His Latest Televised Concert to commence at 12:10pm.

There have been episode changes to The Jay Leno Show weekdays at 6pm -though it isn’t clear how…

From 1am Wednesday night (Thursday morning) vintage AFL Footy Flashbacks have been ditched, to be replaced with The Mole and followed by Home Shopping at 2am. From 4am it airs The Body Specialists, Medical Rookies and Kids Time from 5am.

AFL Footy Flashbacks are also out a week later on the morning of Thursday November 12  and November 19. But the games remain screening late nights on other days.

“I’ve loved my time at Nine and wish David Gyngell, Michael Healy and their teams every success,” McAvoy said. “After 18 years with the network I’m looking forward to taking a bit of a break.”

Director of Programming, Michael Healy, said: “We’re sorry to see John go. He has been a significant member of our programming department over the last four years. We wish him all the best and support his decision.”

Current Head of Lifestyle and Reality, Karen Dewey, will replace him.

Meanwhile, David Mason has been appointed Head of Development, to oversee new programs. Mason, whose production company Mason Media produced Trouble in Paradise, has been producing television programs for more than 25 years, including Medical Emergency, The Mole,  RSPCA Animal Rescue and Who Dares Wins.

Janine Cooper will also join Nine as Head of Entertainment. Cooper, who produced this year’s Logie Awards and Make Me a Supermodel, is experienced in  live entertainment, reality, lifestyle, current affairs, news, comedy, sport, chat and awards shows.

“I am pleased to announce the appointments of David and Janine, as well as Karen’s newly expanded role,”  Healy said. “They each bring a wealth of experience to their roles and I am delighted that they will apply their considerable talent and knowledge across our production slate.”

TV Tonight

As only one of two stories was supplied by Nine, this isn’t a full review, so much as a teaser of what to expect…

The story entailed two Aussies on a surfing holiday in Mexico, who, in a beach outpost find themselves at the mercy of corrupt local police.

Like true crime tales, such as Crime Investigation Australia, the format here is a mix of witness accounts and re-enactments.

The two men who were subjected to a terrifying ordeal at gunpoint now relive their experience from the safety of a television studio, as actors depict their experience before the cameras.

The incident would certainly be enough to deter anyone from wandering off the beaten track. They were lucky to survive.

The production values in this series, shot by Mason Media Group (The Mole, Who Dares Wins), are very handsome. This is well shot and well packaged, with strong reconstruction. If the sequence wasn’t actually shot in Mexico it certainly passes for it well enough.

A second, unpreviewed story in the first ep will take place in Poland.

While some have commented on the incongruous programming of following an uplifting travel series in Getaway with the foreboding Trouble in Paradise therafter, it shouldn’t detract from what at first glance looks like a promising series.

It airs 8:30pm June 25th on Nine.

In the game of reality television, casting is everything. It can make or break a series. DeVallance, who runs her agency A Cast of Thousands, is the most experienced in the biz. She knows how important it is to look at all the applications that are submitted.

“You have to go and look through every one of those casting applications. Because the cast are in there amongst those thousands, so if you miss one you could miss the best one. We’ve learned to be a lot quicker at it by looking at the key questions that we’ve asked in the application process. And that’s what’s of more interest to me than their age or where they’re from,” she said.

Amongst the more telling questions applicants are likely to be asked on an application form are ‘What’s one of the worst things that’s happened to you?’ Or ‘Tell us one of your best achievements.’

“There’s always a little something about someone’s background that makes you want to know more about them. So I want to bring them into an audition.”

750 people proceeded from the written applications for Masterchef to a live audition where they were required to cook before the show’s judges. DeVallance’s work was in the early stages, leaving producers to choose their cast from a ‘Top 50.’ While she doesn’t know who will make the final cut she is confident they will be diverse.

“Masterchef will be a really good demographic. It is something we were all aiming for. They didn’t want a whole group of 20 year olds. If you’re casting a lot of young people they haven’t always had the life experience to bring to conversations. It creates a better dynamic.”

De Vallance is the number one casting consultant for reality television. Her CV dates back to casting on The Weighting Game, Surprise Wedding, Playing it Straight to three seasons of PopStars (beginning with “the Scandal ‘us years”), The Mole, Project Runway, The Farmer wants a Wife, Life at One, The One, Hotspell, Family Footsteps and few other she would rather forget. She has also been casting long term for SBS’ Insight as well as all four series of The Biggest Loser.

“I’m extremely passionate about The Biggest Loser,” she said. “I hate people bagging it saying ‘how can someone lose weight in 12 weeks?’ Well, they don’t lose weight in 12 weeks it’s actually a 6 month process you just see 12 weeks of television. The care that is behind the scenes is paramount. I’m a staunch supporter of it because everyone who’s involved with it is extremely supportive of the contestants.”

One of the keys to winning a place on the series is in having a support base such as a family, who not only express their support for a loved one on the show’s journey, but who raise the stakes for someone trying to lose weight.

“If you’re a mum on The Biggest Loser wanting to stay alive longer to be with your kids it’s more of a motivation to stay in the house and lose the weight. It is an emotional show so we are always looking for the strong reasons as to why they want to be there.”

She is also a strong believer in ethnic and age diversity in reality television, even if not all producers are.

“I don’t necessarily cast people because they might be Asian, but I do look for that,” she said. “I just think it’s really important and I will always push for that. I’m a bit sick of seeing 12 Anglos on TV. Project Runway was a really good mix, not because of ethnicity but because of their skills and abilities.”

De Vallance is currently casting World’s Strictest Parents for Channel Seven, a show which sends teens to live with another family in either the US, Europe, Africa or Asia. Which brings us to ‘duty of care.’ As more and more reality shows add teenagers to their mix, DeVallance is mindful not all shows have succeeded.

“I felt a bit uncomfortable with the Supermodel one where the girls had to go naked. I just don’t think that was right,” she said.

“A lot of it is who you trust as a producer. I’m working with a great producer at Seven and it’s from a BBC format. I looked at the tapes of the BBC show prior to taking on the casting job. In this one they’re not being exploited as much and they’re being extremely well looked after. A lot of it has been the parents who have contacted us. We put out a lot of ads in the local papers. I’ve done a lot of street casting too, talking to teenagers in shopping malls. A lot of parents have contacted us saying ‘we don’t know what to do with our teenager.’”

Those who pass the casting for World’s Strictest Parents have a psychologist test and will have a chaperone at all times. Families in other countries had police checks.

“It’s not a Big Brother situation where they’re going to have cameras on them 24/7. But they are going to be experiencing life with another family.

“We’re completely open about the idea with the teenagers and the parents. The cameras are going to capture the highs and lows of the week that they’re away so if they have a tantrum and slam the door well of course that’s going to be on television.”

She is still looking for 16-17 year olds willing to trade places temporarily, as well as the next wave of fashion designers for Project Runway Australia. Contact her at casting@acastofthousands.com.au

Her tip for anyone considering applying to reality television is to be genuine about wanting to be in the show “other than just saying they want to be on television,” not expecting it to springboard a TV career and to be yourself.

“I always believe everyone has a story in them.”