News: An Idiot Abroad Season 2 to Premiere in September

Everyone's favourite "idiot" Karl Pilkington will be back on UK screens this September.

Upcoming AFL Guests: Round 15

Here is a guide to the upcoming AFL guests on Free to Air TV this week (Round 15 of the 2011 AFL Premiership Season).

Analysis: Some Breaking Bad S4 Questions

Breaking Bad is in that rare position that most shows never find themselves in.

It has built itself up for three multi-layered, multi-faceted seasons. All episodes are plot-heavy, character-driven masterpieces in their own way.

News: Hung Season 3 To Premiere in October

HBO has finally released a trailer for Season 3 of Hung, starring Thomas Jane. Check it out above. It is typically raunchy and suggestive, but features no new footage. And "ready for more"? Could HBO be any more vague? Anyway, it's something, and at least there's some information about when it will premiere; sometime in October, according to HBO in this recent tweet.

Review: Wilfred (US): Episode One

Wilfred recently premiered in Australia on Ten's digital channel Eleven. It premiered in America last week on FX.

Analysis: Can of Worms: Will Denton open a Can of Beast, Tench or Gruen?

Another month, another "Zapruder's Other Films" program premieres.

In recent times, Andrew Denton and Anita Jacoby's production company has churned out shows including Hungry Beast, AFP, The Gruen Transfer and Gruen Nation, all to varying degrees of success.

On the whole, there is a consensus that shows that they formulate are new and inventive, if nothing else. Before their respective premieres, they are also shrouded in secrecy, with man of the key talent kept under wraps, as well as the format, premise and general feel of the show.

This is one of the reasons why it is difficult to predict the success of the show. Their policy of secrecy is a double-edged sword, as obviously not knowing anything about the show builds up a sort of mystique, and of course builds the curiosity factor. It also encourages people to watch the show for the central premise, rather than fob it off after seeing a personality one dislikes on the promo (Dicko is nowhere to be seen on the talking-head promos, despite the fact that he is the host).

On the other hand, the vague "Australia, we need to talk" tagline is not quite explicit enough for some people to feel an urge to tune in.

The "talking heads" that appear to discuss various issues which touch on "porn", religion and the internet. So its clear that we're in line for some modern, frank discussion. Presumably there is a newfound market for this kind of discussion, what with these type of discussions being brought up frequently on Q and A.

Obviously the show wants "Australia" to start talking. It wants families to start these type of discussions in their own house. This will create further word-of-mouth between friends, etc. etc.

Whether the show is aiming to set the agenda on new issues or rather react to issues in the news is unknown.

So, what do we know we can expect?

Read on to find out...

Opinion: Can Nine Reclaim Some Glory?

Channel Nine is currently undergoing a resurgence of sorts, after a very lacklustre start to the year.

After heavily promoting the fourth series of The Block in its new 7PM timeslot, it has proven a decent new alternative in its first week on air.

Of course, its strong first week figures will be slightly inflated due to the massive publicity push, but it has arguably begun to turn around Nine's fortunes.

And let's face it, any old show that can pull half-decent figures for Nine (we're talking over a million) will be more than welcome on its schedule, as its first half of the year has certainly been one to forget for the network.

After starting the year touting itself as the "Home of Comedy" it put forth its first offering in the form of Ben Elton Live From Planet Earth. And we all know how that one ended:



Low ratings combined with the worst critical reception to a show in recent memory made for a genuine, out-and-out stinker of a show.

Faced with failure, Nine felt it had no choice but to flog the hell out of its imports in Two and a Half Men and Top Gear, two programs that had done very well for the network in 2010.

However, repeating these "hit shows" ad nauseam led to viewer fatigue, and pretty soon they began turning off in droves.

Today, Top Gear is nowhere to be seen on Nine's main channel, with Two and a Half Men pushed late into the night. You can find it now at 10:30PM on a Tuesday night.

Continue reading after the jump...

News: James Spader closing in on The Office boss job

The long and arduous process of deciding who should replace Steve Carell in the hit NBC comedy The Office, and it's firming as James Spader, who appeared as Robert California in the season finale.
More after the jump!

News: Sting, Steve Carrell to appear on Life's Too Short

Today Ricky Gervais announced on his blog that his upcoming show for BBC2 and HBO "Life's Too Short" will feature Sting and Steve Carrell.

News: Breaking Bad S04E01 Title, Synopsis revealed!

With less than a month to go until the Season 4 premiere of Breaking Bad, the details for the first episode have been revealed.

The first episode will be called "Box Cutter", not "El Topo", as it was previously rumoured to be (it could possibly be the name of a later episode).
More after the jump!

Analysis: Before the Game to be handballed?

Today network Ten stated that they would not buy any games off Channel Seven for the 2012 season. This leaves a number of shows and network personalities up in the air.

UPDATED: The Amazing Race Australia Bending the Truth... CONFIRMED!

UPDATE: CONFIRMED:

Check out Sam and Renae's Facebook page to see them admit that the sisters didn't "complete the task" on Monday June 20's episode of The Amazing Race Australia in which it was made out as if Alana landed an arrow and completed the roadblock task.

It turns out she didn't, hence they didn't actually complete the task.
More after the jump!

News: "Life's Too Short" Teaser Trailer Released (New Gervais Sitcom)

Here's the teaser trailer for the latest Ricky Gervais/Stephen Merchant project entitled Life's Too Short.

Of course, as the series is still being filmed, there is no actual footage of the show, however you do get to see series star Warwick Davis along with the two comic geniuses in Gervais and Merchant.

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DyrOr24hdEY&w=560&h=349]
The show itself tells the story of Warwick Davis, a short statured man who runs a talent agency for other short statured actors... Which he also does in real life.

Gervais and Merchant will also play themselves in the show, which will again be in a similar "mockumentary" style to the one pioneered in The Office.

Interestingly, in this trailer Gervais describes it as a cross between Extras and The Office.

Notable guest stars in the series will include Johnny Depp, as well as Cat Deeley in a recurring role.

News: Breaking Bad S4 "gets darker and deeper", No Minisodes: Cranston

Bryan Cranston gave an exclusive interview with Collider which should be a must-read for any Breaking Bad fan. I maintain that there is no-one better at summing up the mood and plot direction of a show that the actual actors themselves. Here is what he has to say about the overall arc of the show;
More after the jump!

TV News Wrap: Wednesday June 22

[caption id="attachment_783" align="alignnone" width="300" caption="Source: The Hollywood Reporter"][/caption]

• Desperate Housewives will be adding another male regular to the cast in Season 8 (on top of the already great addition of Jonathon Cake as Bree's new love interest).

• Hawaii Five-O will also bag another Lost alumnus in the form of Terry O'Quinn (who played John Locke in the hit ABC show). It's also good to see him on TV in some capacity after the Marc Cherry-helmed Hallelujah pilot fell through earlier this year.

• Mad Men has locked down its most valuable asset in Jon Hamm for another three seasons- virtually assuring that the show will run through to Season 7. However, its future after that is on very shaky ground, with the strong word being that it won't continue much further after its seventh season.

• The Office has given The Hollywood Reporter a peek behind the scenes of its final episode. So check out these pics of Ed Helms, Creed Bratton and John Krasinski at work.

• The Walking Dead has cast (another) racist survivor for its second season, set to return in October 2011. His name is Otis and will be played by Pruitt Taylor Vince of The Mentalist fame.

Opinion: How Offspring got it so right, so quickly

It’s easy to see why Offspring isn’t pulling huge numbers.

Not bad numbers, by any stretch, as anything which can consistently pull figures around the 1m mark is valuable to any network.

And this dramatic shift has only been validated by its recent third season renewal after its first five episodes have scored 927,000, 760,000 (in a later timeslot), 905,000 and 953,000 and 954,000, 982,000 and 995,000 respectively.

However, while these seem to be decent numbers, they pale in comparison to the ratings juggernaut that is Packed to the Rafters (its last six episodes rated 1.943, 1.815, 1.796, 1.748, 1.806, 1.709 million repsectively)- a show waiting to burst back on to the scene in the second half of the year.

Offspring in many ways deserves to be up there with Packed to the Rafters, however many still regard it as a "chick show", possibly because of its female lead, as well as its flowery title font, as well as the underlying motifs of pregancy, relationships and commitment... who knows. But the fact is, it's anything but a Sex and the City clone, for want of a better example, and it deserves much more praise than it gets.

But possibly the reason for that is, is that it has suffered from a particularly average first season. Let me refresh your memory;

The first episode of the first season opened to Asher Keddie swimming in a pool, an actress that would have been known for her work on acclaimed Australian drama Love My Way, but possibly better known for her more recent work on the second series of Underbelly, given its run on Free to Air rather than Pay TV.

However, many remarked on the striking similarities between the pool shot and The Secret Life of Us’ frequent activity around similar places.

Then came the inner monologue voice over while Keddie was swimming.

Then came the clumsy bump into the wall at the end of the pool lane.

So that presumably was to tell viewers everything they needed to know about Nina’s personality; words like “awkward”, “clumsy”, “obsessive” and “frazzled” were meant to spring to mind.

And that was just her personality- from then on it wasn’t that hard to guess how the rest of her life was structured.

Hectic yet rewarding job? Check - she’s an obstetrician.

Sibling who is the polar opposite? Check - her sister Billie is seen tearing the clothes off a gardner (this was also used in the promo) soon after we meet her.

Other siblings to add some spice? Check - meet unemployed brother Jimmy.

Separated parents symbolising her fractured personality? Check.

And then there was the work situation, which has also been fused with her love-life and friendships.

There were the somewhat flirty somewhat bitchy somewhat playful nurses.

And then there was the love interest, played by Don Hany, a character which seemed would haunt every one of Nina’s dreams for the entire series.

And it did to some extent, with the “will-they won’t-they” dynamic being well established from the first episode.

There was also a parallel relationship established with her sister Billie and Mick, with a similar dynamic.

Yes, it was one of “those” shows- leaving gender out of it, it was one of those “Oh, isn’t life hard in this day and age? You know, trying to balance our jobs with our personal life, etc. etc.”

But this is not to say that it was a bad show. It was a perfectly fine, even a good Australian drama.

And it burst on to the scene as a fresh new Australian drama with a focus that wasn't directly on a family, nor was it on a bunch of cops, nor a bunch of crooks, or people "rescuing" other people.

But it just couldn’t match the ease with which Packed to the Rafters churned out breezy, yet addictive storytelling. However, it was still head and shoulders above the likes of Rescue: Special Ops, Sea Patrol and even Rush.

So what did Packed to the Rafters have that Offspring didn’t?

Continue reading...

TV News Wrap: Wednesday June 15

• Showtime's new drama House of Lies is shaping up to be a pretty interesting little show, especially when you consider it stars Australia's Josh Lawson (Thank God You're Here). I also hope, for Ben Schwartz's (Parks and Recreation) sake, that he is able to shed his "Jean-Ralphio" tag. Unfortunately, the Hollywood Reporter had misspelt Josh Lawson's name in this edit- so it's fair to say he's not quite a household name yet?

[caption id="attachment_771" align="alignnone" width="300" caption="We all make mistakes..."][/caption]

• It's the TV off-season in the US, so you have to take what you can get here, but Michael Ausiello at TVLine reports that Breaking In will probably not get a reprieve after being axed a short time ago.

• He also reports that Catherine Tate will probably not be the new boss on "The Office". This is very disappointing for some who were holding out hope for Tate to shake things up a bit, but I'd wait just a bit longer before you start jumping to any conclusions about the new boss (let's face it, if it's not her, it would only be between James Spader, Ed Helms and Craig Robinson).

• So, Fran Drescher (The Nanny) has a new show on TVLand entitled "Happily Divorced", which you could almost brush off as another "New Christine" if it wasn't for the semi-interesting fact that it's based on her life in that she and her husband split because he was gay. Hey, if it worked for "Raymond", right?

In Australian news

• You've got to admit that that the (non-?) story about comedian James Brechney popping up on Q and A posing as a climate change-skeptic was a doozy, for a number of reasons. I should state that while I would like to admit to picking him as a fake, I didn't; and let that be a credit to his comedic/acting skills. But at least I didn't jump up and down frothing at the mouth like half of Twitter did on Monday night- especially after he stated that climate change was "just a theory" like gravity. The small problem with his prank/political protest was that it wasn't really that far from what a sceptic would normally say, which caused the panel members to take him all too seriously. Garrett must be red-faced now, as now he appears to be pandering to the questioner- so probably the biggest indictment is on the ABC program. But kudos should go to Brechney for trying to prove a point- he has definitely come out on top. Here's the clip:

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9KkWJYWtk3o]

The Sweetest Plum bumped to 9PM Weekdays

One of the great new shows on radio this year has been the Sweetest Plum on Triple M radio.

Declan Fay and Nick Maxwell started off doing the "Sweetest Plum" podcast in 2010, which rapidly shot up the iTunes charts. This led to them getting a gig on Triple M 104.9 Sydney in the 4-6PM Monday to Thursday "drive" shift (with Roy and HG doing their show on Fridays). They also assembled a show of the week's best bits for Melbourne's Triple M 105.1 on Fridays.

Unfortunately, since starting the show early in the year, they couldn't manage to lift ratings for the Drive slot- it even slipped a few points south.

But this was not an accurate representation of the quality of the show they put together everyday (it is/was the funniest thing currently on radio, with some calling them the next Martin/Molloy)- and it was every week-day, with a Podcast-only "Friday Drinks" podcast being released on, well, Fridays (this is something that dedicated fans really value, such as back in the day when Spoonman had his night show and released a complementary After the Forking Show Podcast every so-often).

Hopefully these continue.

You just have to put this "bump" down to the results-driven cut-throat world of commercial radio.

However, loyal listeners can at least take solace in the fact that they will be on 9PM weekdays nationally, as well as keeping their Friday show in Melbourne.

And speaking of interstate listeners, they will not really notice much of a difference in terms of podcasts, and the 9PM slot will also allow them to work a lot "bluer". The only downside to the move is that they could have built a stronger following in the Drive shift (more people listening, etc.), and it is somewhat of a "sweeter plum" in terms of a gig (if you will), however it seems that all involved are focussing on the positive.

The move will presumably have them after the Peanut Gallery (whose show airs from 7-9PM Monday to Thursday).

And I guess Triple M should be commended for keeping them on board and at least showing some commitment to producing comedy (most of their other shows have a news/sport skew) like the good ol' days of Martin/Molloy, The Cage (Melbourne), Get This, etc.

But I repeat, this is not an obituary, and if anything I hope it serves to draw more pairs of ears (?) to the program in its new timeslot to help it find a bigger following.

Those bloody scallop-industry thugs...

Angry Boys Episode Four Review: An Improvement, But Where To From Here?

I was reluctant to review another episode of Angry Boys.

First of all because it meant that I would have to sit through another episode, and I'm sorry, but so far the series hasn't really done anything for me.

Secondly, from what I had seen in the "next week on Angry Boys" preview, it seemed like things weren't going to get much better; we were told that Nathan likes to look at his mum in the shower (enjoy, families watching!) and the fact that he likes to "wank" a lot... and presumably there was some delightful link to be found there.

And thirdly, I don't really enjoy spraying my particular form of invective out into the blogosphere (if that's still a thing), as "hating on" any show is not fun, especially when it's Australian. Not that Australian shows should be judged less harshly, but when Angry Boys has been the only scripted comedy on screens in 2011, we shouldn't be too quick to shoot it down, and maybe hope for something that's a bit, well, funnier.

But I went into this week's instalment with the same positive mindset as there was yet another character being introduced; that of Japanese mother Jen Okazaki. She is basically a fusion of the stereotype of Asian parents combined with the showbiz-parent character.

Now, the more cynical might say that we've seen it all before with Ricky Wong in We Can Be Heroes (his parents wanted him to work at the CSIRO, but he wanted to be a performer).

But I gave him Lilley the benefit of the doubt in that we are presented with the pushy parent's perspective.

And this time, the parent is pushing her son into being a gay skateboarder.

Oh, did I mention the GAY part? Because the rest of the background information doesn't really matter as long as you know that.

And the character itself is probably fairly original in the context of the series. She's a strong female character, with an intimidating presence similar to Gran. But while Gran takes out her anger in a brash, physical way, Jen uses a searing form of quiet discipline.

It has been said that Lilley's female characters are more impressive than his male ones, and it's hard to disagree, especially after tonight's episode.

And while the character of the mother is typically cold, there is a bit of fun to be had.

TV News Wrap: Wednesday June 1

• Anticipation for the fourth season of Breaking Bad is building slowly but surely. The premiere, titled "El Topo" is still a month and a half away, but there have been hints as to what the season might entail. Here is the trailer that was released today. It is the version from YouTube for Australian viewers, as other sites contain geographic restrictions

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=alFsfEUtDmQ]

• There's also a nifty little interview with series creator Vince Gilligan over at EW. Here are the key points to take out of it:

“(Walt) journeys deeper into this criminal underworld, and then much of season 4 is Walt’s effort to get out from under and overcome in a very dangerous battle of wills.”

"... Jesse is morphing into yet another person within himself, just struggling with his inner demons. It’s pretty intense."

"(Jesse's upcoming relationship with a familiar face is) a budding romance in the drug world... It’s a beautiful thing, and I know people will like it.”

“... even though things look pretty dire (for Hank) in the early going, he will get his mojo back as the season progresses in some fashion, although probably not in the fashion that you’d expect"

“People are going to have nightmares about Gus Fring,”

• Fans of the lavish HBO drama Boardwalk Empire will enjoy this behind-the-scenes peek as well as the Season 2 plot hints in this video from HBO itself. The second season has just begun filming, with i

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=scsqhYeQmck]

• Is Patrick Dempsey leaving Grey's Anatomy at the end of Season Eight or not? Well, the answer so far is pretty well up in the air, as it turns out that most of the cast have their contracts expiring at the end of the season. What this means for the show and people's favourite characters is anyone's guess, but it means that if you're a fan of the show, you would be getting very nervous.