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Written by Aaron Darc
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Wednesday, 02 April 2008 |
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The Nine Network takes on Ten's "watercooler" programming, and comes up trumps. Over the next few days, we'll take a look at three new shows currently causing a storm...  I think it's fair to say that because of this site's origins, the readership of this website is comprised predominantly of those of the Network Ten demographic. But Ten have been in trouble, for the past year or so, and has partly kept the audience it has had pretty much under it's thumb (that may mean you, of course), only because the two other major commercial networks have steered clear of that distinctly Ten programming - the controversial, the gimmicky, the trashy, and, yes, perhaps a little bit nasty. But with Big Brother stumbling, Australian Idol's star falling, and The Biggest Loser, well, losing, there has been a new opportunity to grab the watercooler right out of Ten's hands. So You Think You Can Dance? has come through for Ten; but with Nine's 2008 programming schedule, so far, it has begun to steel the attention from its younger rival. And while it goes without saying that Underbelly will go down in TV publicity history, Tuesday nights on Nine have become very (dare we say) Ten-ish, and if you're yet to jump on the latest TV shocker bandwagons, you're in an increasingly small percentage of the 18 - 40 commercial demographic. I tuned in, this evening, to see what all the fuss is about, and found three back to back shows that, yes, I happily ate my Dominoes pizza right through. Let's pull up a couch, and have a look at the kind of programming that must be making the boys at Ten a tad nervous.
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Written by Aaron Darc
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Wednesday, 05 March 2008 |
"I feel like none of this is real."Mark Holden Well, that's it, Idol fans. No more touchdowns. Apparently, the Ten network thinks it will be "re-invigorating" for the Idol format, if one of its core elements - responsible for so much of the show's idiosyncratic catch-phrases and cheesy cliches - is gone from the phenomenon. What morons. While Kyle Sandilands' injection into the tiring Big Brother farce is, I must admit (as awful as you and I know it's going to be), a clever move that I, for one, am suspecting may work; the removal of Holden is surely a faux-pas that anyone with half a brain can see the problem of. I'm so glad that I'm about to begin a new online adventure into a genre so clearly reaching the end of its run! |
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Written by Aaron Darc
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Wednesday, 27 February 2008 |
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Big Brother 07's Zach Douglas is dumped from the bottom of the TV barrel, 7HD's The Night Cap.
"I'm thuper! Thanks for asking..."Big Gay Al A few nights ago, unable to sleep, I stumbled into the world of 7HD's all-new, all-exclusive, The Night Cap. This is their pitiful attempt to justify the marketing pitch leading up to the major networks' arrival into HD territory, what was ultimately a somewhat vacant promise of HD-only programming. For the most part, that hasn't happened; unlike ABC2, which has genuinely different content (with the odd repeat thrown in), the commercial HD channels pretty much offer nothing more than a slightly sharper parallel run of whatever is showing on the non-HD channel. In the end, all we've really got is a late night panel show, featuring the fascinating dialogue of a couple of people I've never heard of; that aggressive, homophobic, misogynist wanker that rears his head on Sunrise, every so often (and, even worse, Larry Emder's Morning Show); the post-boned Jessica Rowe (and that really says it all, in regards to how high an esteem the production is regarded, doesn't it?); and, last but not least, an ex Big Brother housemate (I suppose it beats hosting late night gambling shows). Well, I should say that it did feature an ex Big Brother housemate. Zach Douglas, The Camp Fag™, has had his commercial network career cut short, by the powers that be. And oh, what a career it was.
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