22/02/2012

Interview with @bajopants & @hexsteph (@GoodGameTV #GGTV)

Good Game

Steph "Hex" Bendixsen and Stephen "Bajo" O'Donnell - host of ABC2's Good Game and ABC3's Good Game SP (Spawn Point) - are passionate people. Speaking with them you learn very quickly that they aren't just "presenters" who turn up for filming and that's it; they're gamers of note in their own right and spend hours playing to review games thoroughly and log footage for the show, as well as editing and pre-recording for the show. Bajo & Hex have become a very popular team, inundated with fans when they attended the EB Games Expo on the Gold Coast in 2011. They've worked hard to gain the support of the Australian gaming community and this is … [Read more...]

A&E Network Launch (#Foxtel)

Jon Kelly - Megatruckers

Foxtel launched a new channel to its suite last night (Thu 16 February), targeted very specifically at the male 16-39 demographic A&E offers high-definition, first run factual content from parent US network A+E and will include local content to bolster the brand. Launching with new Cordell Jigsaw production Megatruckers A&E is a solid addition to the Foxtel package offering. The launch event was held at the Carriageworks in Darlinghurst in Sydney, and featured one of the trucks from the Megatruckers franchise and owner/star Jon Kelly. A vast smattering of Sydney media attended the launch and got to feel some of the excitement … [Read more...]

@ExcessBaggage9 – failure, flop or foul play?

Excess Baggage 2012

The first casualty of the 2012 ratings season - even before it starts - will forever be noted as Channel 9's foray into the reality weight loss genre with Excess Baggage. It's an ignominious start for the network who were attempting to "own" 7pm by running the year entirely with stripped format reality: Baggage; season two of Celebrity Apprentice Australia; season five of The Block; and the granddaddy of them all, Big Brother. The only exception was to be during the network's telecast of the 2012 London Olympics, and that's a reality show in itself. In the end though, Excess Baggage didn't fail because it was an inferior product - it was … [Read more...]

Interview with @BrettMason10

Brett Mason

Brett Mason, by his own admission, has gotten where he has so far through tenacity and hard work. Taking the chance to work for the local paper as a cadet journalist during school paid off and opened a career the young journalist could have only dreamed of. Currently stationed in London as Network Ten's European Correspondent means long hours for live crosses and journeys into Libya and Egypt at some of the most dangerous times in recent history. It's worked out well though as he stares down a massive year for all the right reasons... being stationed in the UK for the London Olympics and HRH Queen Elizabeth II's royal jubilee celebrations … [Read more...]

When Mike Met Julia (@SundayNightOn7)

When Mike Willesee met Julia Gillard

"Over half a century in this business, I've got to know a dozen Prime Ministers of Australia. But rarely have I seen a leader under such pressure and so little understood as our first woman PM. So it's time to find out who Julia Gillard really is and whether she can survive." Much was made (quite rightly) of Mike Willesee's return to television as a special reporter for Channel 7's current affairs program Sunday Night. His journalistic lineage is longer than most in television, and helped make serious weeknight current affairs must watch nightly TV. To have him join the Sunday Night team was a great get, and to have him start his tenure on … [Read more...]

The reality of the situation

My Kitchen Rules, Excess Baggage, Biggest Loser Australia

From Monday 30 January 2012, if you don't like reality TV programming you'll be doing exactly what the free-to-air networks don't want you to do - turning off the box and doing something else. With the Australian Open Tennis finishing the night before it opens the way for a charge of Ch7 programming that's been waiting to start "after the tennis". Welcome to the screen My Kitchen Rules and Please Marry My Boy. With Channel 10 launching its 2012 ratings assault the week before, it has already rolled out previous ratings juggernaut The Biggest Loser though early indications are that the market aren't that interested in the show as they've … [Read more...]

Seven Network 2012 program schedule launch (BNE)

Channel 7 2012 schedule launch

Channel 7 enter 2012 riding the wave that has carried them to the top over the last 5 years. It's taken a lot of hard work by the network but some risks and some good fortune have helped the "big red train" gain momentum and cruise through 2011, seemingly unstoppable. Attending the 2012 program launch in Brisbane last night the network showed off it's coming schedule with a confidence befitting the number one network in the country. Held at The Powerhouse in New Farm, all guests were encouraged to wear a "splash of red" and the venue reflected that in a glowing vision of positivity - massive posters of the big new local & international … [Read more...]

Hot Potato, Hot Potato indeed (#Wigglegate)

Greg Page - The Wiggles

The Wiggles have been the nice guys of the Australian entertainment industry for over 20 years. In the last 24 hours they've managed to cast a very dark cloud over their relationships and business dealings with the very poor handling of the return of original member Greg Page to the group (and the ousting of replacement Sam Moran). Five years ago, Greg felt he needed to leave The Wiggles due to a health issue that would cause him to pass out and not be able to perform at gigs. A ceremony of sorts was held showing Greg hand over the coveted yellow skivvy to his understudy Sam Moran, with an explanation that Greg was unable to perform and so … [Read more...]

Only skinny people experience “real love”?!?!

The Biggest Loser 2012

The promotion for the new series of The Biggest Loser has been appalling, and if it is indicative of what we'll get this season it's setting itself up for an audience backlash the show has not seen in its seven year history. With each new series there's a twist and in 2012 it's the delivery of 16 contestants who are all single and all seeking to lose weight. Not outrageous in itself as when you sign up for Loser your relationship status is noted but not necessarily drawn out as your motivation. Until now. The assertion that people who are overweight cannot find "real love" is absurd. Yes obese people suffer from self-esteem issues, but … [Read more...]

Peter Overton (McKnight Tonight E04)

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Twenty years at Channel 9, and still a career before that, Peter Overton is a nightly fixture in many Sydney households as he reads the 6pm News. His on-screen life started with Ch9 as a sports reporter and developed for him to include news reporting, 60 Minutes, celebrity interviews, & the somewhat controversial move to have him at the big desk every night (and interesting to review this article given Overton just led Ch9 to a ratings win in Sydney for their 6pm News service in 2011). In this interview he speaks candidly about life on the road, his family, and his feelings around the time his wife Jessica Rowe was sacked from Channel 9 … [Read more...]