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TV Lounge

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The TV Lounge is an Open Forum for you to add comments or ask questions on TV that you can’t see anywhere else on the site.

So if there’s something TV-related you’ve been meaning to get off your chest, or a TV question that doesn’t seem to fit anywhere else, here is where it goes! Please check Programming & Calendar before duplicating programming info.

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  1. Fox Sports currently have 2 cricket channels – FoxCricket (501) & FoxCricket+ (505). One of the programming decisions that frustrates me is the obsession with live coverage changing channels mid game. Tonights programming was: 501 6:45-10:45pm – BBL 10:45-11:05pm – Women’s ODI – (cont. 5 mins after scheduled finish on 505) 11:05-11:25pm – BBL Mini highlights (during ODI Innings Break) 11:25pm-3:00am – Women’s ODI (cont.)

    505 6:50 – 10:40pm – Women’s ODI – India v Australia 10:40 – 11:00pm – The Fox Box 11:00pm – 12:00am – BBL highlights (x3) 12:00 – :3:00am – BBL replay (of the match shown on 501)

    As it turned out, the BBL ran over so the post game didn’t finish until 11pm & the ODI was already in the innings break by then, but what’s the point of moving the ODI from 1 cricket channel to another? It can get messy when either game isn’t to time. If someone is watching the BBL & wants to watch the ODI they can change the channel, why make them change to keep watching the same game?

  3. Disappointed that Channel 9 cut away from the Melbourne fireworks before it even finished, to start the movie. Hours and hours of pre-show stuff only to cut away halfway through the main event!

    The ABC showed Sydney’s fireworks in full. What’s wrong with Channel 9?

    2. All controlled by the National Playout Centre in Sydney now. Sydney didn’t take the Melbourne show. Guess someone said “We’re starting the movie now so GTV9 had better join us, we’re not waiting for them!”.

  4. Dear Channel 9
    Contact me later this year and I’ll lend you my blu ray copy of Can’t Stop The Music.

    The fuzzy copy you play (also some of Gem’s British afternoon movies that I’ve purchased) is far from the best print available.

    Perhaps you and Studio Canal could come to some arrangement.

      1. As a long time long time TV fan, Can’t Stop the Music has been played on 9 for so many years now. But I assume that this is part of the tradition on NYE.

    2. It’s actually licenced by Madman Australia and given how many times Nine have run it, would most likely be an old master tape digitally transfered (whether it’s true widescreen or HD or not) and I can tell you Madman’s latest print isn’t any better than Nine’s broadcast.

      1. The blu ray put out in the USA by Shout (copyright Studio Canal) is 2.35:1.
        Sound is DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 (definitely not tinny).

        Blu.ray.com rates both picture and sound qualities as 4 1/2 stars out of 5.

        Those Gem afternoon movies released by EMI (now Studio Canal) probably came from the same “master tapes”

  5. Trying patiently to watch Entitled on Foxtel Go whilst on holidays ….first time I have had to endure ads every ten minutes in a thirty minute show … paying full price for Foxtel and put up with them on their premium channels at start and end of shows but am not happy to do so every ten minutes …. Think only started today so perhaps a 2024 gift from Foxtel ?

    1. They have been doing it some time, some shows have ads, some don’t. Their server also tended to freeze a lot. Along with the loss of BeIN was a reason I cancelled my subscription.

      1. Yep server still freezing and then replaying parts you had already seen before the ads then going to another block of ads …. I have stopped bothering to watch and will record when home on Showcase and fast forward through ads …. But I thought showcase and BBC First only had advertising at beginning and end of an episode not littered throughout….. another cancelled subscription looks likely thanks for your reply Pertinax

        1. There are no ads in stuff like House of Dragon or Shetland but there were shows on those channels with ads, which didn’t matter because you could stream anything without ads, now there are ads in some of those shows. I shall be hoping the ABC gets Shetland S8 next year, a SBS gets S2 of Vigil. The only thing I’ve missed is the Darts World Championships over the holidays.

    2. Not poached, but bought the rights to re-runs of all the old series of Vera which the ABC have repeated many times. Any new series though will be on the ABC.

        1. The ABC bought the rights to Vera and Endeavour in this country when 13th Street was driven out of business. The ABC will only own the rights for a period of time, an exclusive rights only for shorter period. After that anyone can buy them from the ABC, if they are acting as ITV’s agents in this country, or from ITV if the rights have reverted back to them. Sleuth has already show many repeats of Vera. Seven is also promoting repeats of Shetland on 72 for 2024.

    1. Haha welcome to Disney+, I tried everything as it was defaulting to French subtitles and months later it stopped. Good luck, enjoy your free language learnings for 2024

    2. All device interfaces are slightly different but what you are looking for is a settings button. When playing something pause it & look around on your screen. There should be a little white box with a couple of black text lines somewhere on the edges of the picture that when you hover over says settings. Click on this settings button and you should have a Subtitles tab / menu where you can turn them off.

  9. Just watched the last year of television, it’s very… um… he’s so much smarter than society and that everyone in history is wrong… he’s funny but for an hour of it not changing his comedy style I found it draining

  10. Guys, I am not sure, but does disney+ have the rights for the classic era doctor who(that is William Hartnell through to Sylvester McCoy)? If not, then who has the rights in australia, as britbox is no longer showing it, and not sure if UKTV on foxtel still has the rights for the earlier seasons.

  11. For all those people who are wondering which FTA channel has the rights to which Hollywood film studio and local distributor:

    Sony Pictures: Channel 7
    Universal Pictures: Channel 7, Channel 9
    Paramount Pictures: Channel 10 (obviously…)
    Disney/20th Century Studios: Channel 7
    Warner Bros. Pictures: Channel 7, Channel 9
    Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer: Channel 9
    Regency Enterprises: Channel 9
    Village Roadshow: Channel 9, Channel 10
    StudioCanal: Channel 7, ABC
    Icon Film Distribution: Channel 7, ABC
    eOne: Channel 7, ABC
    Transmission Films: Channel 7, ABC, SBS
    Madman Films: ABC, SBS

  12. Does anyone know if Pluto TV that launched on September 1, 2023, is still happening?
    Can’t find any of the shows they raved about on the 10 Play home page – searches reveal nothing either. Perhaps I’ve enjoyed too much eggnog over Xmas.

    1. I usually use the Wayback Machine web archive site for discontinued TV data. Not sure if it will have what you’re after, though that’s what I’d at least try for archival content.

      Unfortunately for whatever reason, being maintenance, storage capabilities etc., some networks don’t keep the previous data live. Also on some occasions, I’d like to find out what was broadcast in the previous day, week, years or decades and it’s not retained by the TV guide sites.

      1. I’m not looking for anything specific, but like you thought that people would like to have a look back at previous guides on occasions, and having an active archive would be interesting.

        I did have a look at wayback machine and there were some snapshots of the Foxtel guide, which brought back memories of shows and channels, so reaffirmed my view that having an archive would be a good idea.

  14. For the second night this week, it is well after 6pm and Channel 7’s No. 1 rating news is nowhere to be seen.

    No apologies, no mention of when the news might start.

    The 6pm News is important for regional areas, as it is the only time of the day their news prominently features.

    Maybe Channel 7 is sick of being No. 1.

        1. What’s the point on an estimation if its inaccurate? In Perth they always had 7 News after the Australian Open tennis finals. The Djokovic v Nadal mens final one year went just shy of 6 hours. No one would’ve estimated the main news bulletin starting somewhere around 10.30pm.

        2. The cricket is scheduled to finish at 5:30, but there is 30 mins extra time allowed to get all the overs in (which is used nearly every day). This means the game should finish between 5:59-6:03, so ‘straight after the cricket’ should mean only a few minutes.

          However, there was a large rain delay on the first day of this match, so additional time has been added to play each day, which has meant a much longer overrun past 6pm.

          Agree an estimation would be helpful if it is going to be longer than a few minutes.

    2. Sorry mate but you are way off the mark for Western Victoria. I’m not sure where you are from, but I live in the Wimmera and and 7 do not have any local news bulletin at 6pm. All we get is the irrelevant Melbourne stuff. We do get a local weather bulletin at 6.53pm nightly and 60 sec local news updates during the evening, but certainly nothing at 6pm. 9 have a dedicated local bulletin at 5.30pm and 10 do local news updates from about 2pm daily.

  15. remember when channel 9 would air SOS titanic(1980 tv movie), and channel 7 would air titanic 1996 miniseries with catherine zeta jones, now these two shows are no where to be found on australia streaming services, only on youtube as user uploads. does channel 7 still air volcano fire on the mountain, they used to air this every year

  16. The great ‘Scrubs’ is coming to SBS Monday nights-even showing it 8 eps a night, it’s going to take a while to get through 9 seasons of 182 episodes in total. Fully worth it though…

  17. Thank you ABC for running the end credits of Brooklyn and also not racing through them, allowing my emotions to gently come down….and not get stomped on….I have watched this many times before….on SBS and my son brought the BluRay to my house just after it was released.

    1. Thank you. Checking the EPG for SBS Viceland, looks like the first two eps of this season will be shown Saturday 30th December from 10.20pm. And would you believe Scrubs is making a comeback on the same channel, starting 1st Jan at 9.25pm. I was hoping Scrubs would make it back to free-to-air at some point, classic show.

    1. I hope they get true fans on the show. The people that watched or played the game at home so much that they can solve the puzzle with the least amount of revealed letters and characters. That’s what the true fans would want. Something impressive. That’ll reel in the viewers. Make it intellectual. This goes for game shows like The Chase as well. It should be if you think you can truly outsmart the chaser, not random people going on for the sake of going on. Make it worth viewing. I don’t think viewers want the silly guesses. The Chase is a bit different where you have to dig deep for the most appropriate answer if unsure, as there are tough questions, though Wheel of Fortune is different in that you can guess based on language knowledge and skill. WoF is a game where practice makes perfect.

  20. A few days late, but wanted to say that Tipping Point Australia looked ok from the sneak peak episode – the temptation twist gives it something new and the back and forth between contestants and Todd was entertaining.

    Also a nod to Channel 9 for the Olympics promo that aired afterwards with Down Under tune – very nice piece of production and will be a great build up advert as we head towards Paris.

    The C10 promo for Deal or No Deal on the other hand…oh boy, sick of that one already!

  22. 10 are resting The Bold and the Beautiful for two weeks like they usually do. However this year, they will screen Bold repeats at 2:30pm. Why wouldn’t they just screen Bold repeats in the usual 4.30pm slot instead of Jamie’s cooking series. So much for the Neighbours/Bold soap hour they wanted. Bizarre scheduling.

    1. Bizarre scheduling is10’s middle names. Why wouldn’t they run the bizarre Jamie Oliver hot, fatty, stomach-turning ‘cooking’ series at 2:30, Bold repeats (if you must) at 4:30? And while you’re about it 10, how about cooling it a bit with those Gladiators and Deal promos. I mean, often two in every break is really a turn off.

  24. If U watch the end (closing credits) of the 7 regional Queensland news on 7 plus , ( like the Cairns or Townsville bulletins ETC) , they played a special Christmas remix of the seven news theme on Friday for the closer when they say goodnight, U don’t have to live in those regions to watch it on 7 plus it’s a cool Christmas version with jingles and Christmas instruments

    2. Definitely Carols by Candlelight…would have previously have been Carols in the Domain, but ever since it has been pre-recorded it doesn’t feel anywhere near as fun as it once was – next year, Seven should return back to airing it live again.

    3. I think part of it might depend on whether you’re from Sydney or Melbourne because of familiarity. It might be best to ask people from other states or territories, other than VIC or NSW to seek a more neutral opinion.

        1. I am from Sydney and the Melbourne show is far and away the best ….except for the ridiculous over long kids segment …. The talent and audio quality is superior …. Watched last night Sydney show and thought Nat and Shirvo were overly cheesy and over scripted compared to David and Sarah who are doing a great job

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