Gallery: Nip / Tuck

TV Tonight is pleased to bring you these hot-off-the-scalpel photos and clips of Nip / Tuck season 5 which airs in the US later this month.

Thanks to our friends at FX Network I have received these sexy promo pics and clips of the forthcoming season, even though there is no sign of them airing here in Australia just yet.

Australia still has not had Series 4 on free-to-air TV, - in fact the identity of the shocking, serial Carver still has not been revealed from Series 3! So be warned the following contains spoilers (but relax, no Carver hints).

In Series 5 McNamara / Troy moves its practice from Miami to LA.

As you can see in the land of the perfect, the show will revel in bright scenery and gloriously indulgent characters! There are also a string of guest stars in this longest 22 episode season of the drama.












Please avoid any detailed spoilers in any comments.

Nip / Tuck premieres in the US at 10pm Tuesday October 30 on FX Read more...

Nielsen backflips on new US rating rule

That new ruling by US Ratings kings Nielsen which allowed repeat episodes to combined is no more.

The ruling, which recognised combined audiences if a show was repeated in the same week with the same advertising content, was used by NBC for Heroes -boosting the show's season premiere to 17m viewers. Without the repeat the following week it had 12m.

But Nielsen copped so much flak for the idea from clients it's done away with the idea effective immediately. The strategy was introduced to adapt to shifting audience patterns. Unlike years gone by, we no longer watch a free to air episode at the same time, or even from the same medium, as we used to.

Nielsen says it will continue to move with technological change to measure audiences.

Source: Mediaworks
Read more...

Bumped: Damages. Returning: Without a Trace.

Hate to say I told you so.

Only hours ago TV Tonight speculated that Damages would move to 10:30pm following lowly figures of only 463,000 viewers last night.

Nine has just announced that's exactly what it will do.

The show moves by one hour to make way for the return of Without A Trace effective immediately. The first episode from Season 6, "Lost Boy, will air next Wednesday at 9:30pm. It aired in the US on September 27.

Moving from 10:30pm is Comedy Inc which heads off to 11pm Sunday nights as from this weekend. In this deadzone timeslot it now matches TEN's 10:50pm Saturday timeslot for The Wedge. Yep, first-run Aussie comedy is really a winner. At least in terms of their local quota value, anyway.

And the domino effect is all bad news for any fans of Close to Home (hands up the four of you) which is out of the schedule after all this switcheroo.

Kindly link to this website when sourcing or posting in messageboards, thanks!
Read more...

More downloads offered for 2008.

Channels Nine and TEN will be offering more full-episode television programmes for download next year, as networks ramp up their online offerings.

Both networks expect to offer free downloads supplemented by advertising.

Seven's position on full-length episodes remains unclear.

Nine has so far offered a largely fee-based service for McLeod's Daughters, Sea Patrol, CSI and Madmen (pictured). But its free, online premiere of Sea Patrol triggered four times the downloads than its pay service of around $2 an episode.

TEN has so far had Supernatural and Thank God You're Here on offer. "The reality is the mass audience is still with the broadcast channel. Then you've got the passionate 20 [per cent] who clearly want more and that's where online and mobile steps in," TEN's general manager of digital media, Damian Smith told the Australian.

Nine's Jane O'Connell agreed. "The only thing holding us back is broadband speeds. Audiences would love it."

US networks continue to see a ferocious appetite for downloaded television programmes with a variety of online platforms. ABC.com has had 140 million views since it replaced its paid online service for a broadband video player.

Source: The Australian.
Read more...

Channel V iced with embarrassment

A 'harmless' SMS question on music Channel V's What U Want backfired after viewers were outraged with the text answers that scrolled across their screen last weekend.

Following a clip of the skating movie Blades of Glory viewers were asked to message "their favourite memories on ice."

What followed were drug-related answers scrolling across the bottom of the screen including "Everything's great on meth!", "Lots of sex" and "Too many to name."

Channel V has apologised for a failure in its moderation process.

"Channel V in no way endorses the use of drugs and in fact it is currently in development on an educational series for a youth audience on the drug ice," Foxtel's general manager of music channels Tara King said in a statement yesterday.

Source: Daily Telegraph
Read more...

Too smart for its own good?

It's easily one of the best on the box.

Classy, dark, malicious and chockful of powderkeg performances.

But is the sprawling, complex plot of Damages too smart for its own good? Ratings for the legal thriller both in Australia and the US have failed to match the critical acclaim.

Last night against tough competition, Damages had only 463,000 viewers nationally. In TV's newest competitive slot it was crushed by the ABC's Summer Heights High with just under 1.2m viewers. TEN's Life performed admirably in its second week with just over 1.1m viewers. Prison Break had around 800,000. All four shows have positive critical acclaim. And SBS has now even weighed in to the timeslot with Shaun Micallef's Newstopia at 10pm.

A figure of 463,000 is certain death at 9:30pm, but Nine is dogged by the humiliation that one of its biggest new acquisitions, screened just weeks after its US premiere will be seen as a failure. It also dropped from its Cold Case lead in of 878,000.

Damages is defined by the unravelling of a twisted, Shakespearean-like crime in which the lines between good and evil blur and switch. It is further layered by its predominantly flashback plot. Anyone who isn't up to speed on the "story so far" is likely to have been left behind in a backwash of intricate legal manoeuvres.

In the US it's the same problem. "The ratings are pretty middling," said John Landgraf, president of cable's FX Network. "It's nothing to write home about. The very thing that makes people so excited about it, the heavily layered serialization, makes it a challenge in the current environment," Landgraf said.

There are three episodes remaining in the US but no guarantees of a second season. The premise of Damages has always been to focus on one legal case per season. The show's fates are now pinned on it winning awards to help greenlight a second series. If Glenn Close isn't interested bet your bottom dollar the show will be over.

Meanwhile should Nine move this show, and regrettably on those figures it should, please god let it air at 10:30. Killing it off altogether would be criminal.

Ratings Week 41

Additional source: LA Times
Read more...

First Review: The Abbey

How do you solve a problem like living with Benedictine nuns?

33 days is practically the length of the endurance test a Survivor winner waits to win $1Million. It’s the same duration that five Aussie women will spend in a monastery, shunning modern luxuries, mobile phones, and even conversation for not one red cent. Who on earth would agree to this?

And more to the point, why would humble nuns allow a TV crew shooting their every move? Such is the fascination of The Abbey, the ABC’s new 3 part observational series.

I presume, like the Customs and Quarantines or RSPCA have found, this is an exercise in TV PR. If this series resonates with viewers it may unlock a wider communal spirituality.

Heading up The Abbey is Sister Hilda, a straight-forward, dinky-di character who will oversee the womens’ indoctrination. “They are going to die!” she assures us. Yikes. Hilda serves as Narrator, a new-found skill given her heavy-handed approach to “Spelling! Out! The! Drama!” Nuntheless, (oh the array of puns…) Hilda is a dear old thing, relishing the charge of her five Benedictine proteges.

The sisters arise at 4am daily -to pray for the rest of us who are about to start our day. Talk about Catholic guilt. They also go to church seven times a day. A DAY! And they are almost-universally silent, even during communal meals. Julie Andrews would be impaling herself with her guitar by the second day with this lot.

Our five women are diversely cast: from Gold Coast socialite to divorced country woman facing 50 (she was particularly interesting, there may well be more to her story…). In an idyllic setting their routine is regimented to an inch of its life, from prayer to gardening to candlework and more prayer. Such self-sustaining sisters could probably commandeer the QEII without batting a habit.

That said, I couldn’t help but wonder how the presence of camera crews affected them –were these nuns really so godly, or did they have wine racket with the greenies on the side?

The Abbey is an intruiging exercise, and a world the ABC is more than chuffed to access. It’s certainly interesting to see what lengths some will go to to attain sprituality and seeing what others will endure just to define their own community.

Compass: The Abbey premieres 9:25pm Sunday on ABC. Read more...

Towering trouble for TCN

Following moves by City of Yarra Council in Melbourne to review planning regulations over the future use of the GTV9 site, now Willoughby Council is similarly keen to see Sydney's TCN site given to low-scale residential use if the site is redeveloped.

The council may allow medium to higher density housing to the centre and east parts of the site.

A report in today's Australian also said the transmission tower at Willoughby could not be moved. "The Channel Nine (Sydney) tower can't be relocated, because the towers need to stay in one geographic location; otherwise, the viewers would need to re-point and optimise the antenna relief system," said Joe Giovenco, the chief executive of TX Australia.

But the value of the 233ha site may not be fully realised without the removal of the Nine tower.

"It's a bit of a unique case," said commercial valuer Wayne Wotton. "It's just a turn-off. It detracts from the presentation of the property."

Source: The Australian
Read more...