Jessica Mauboy honoured

Australian Idol favourite Jessica Mauboy was named as as Artist of the Year at the Deadly Awards 2007.

The Deadly Awards honour achievers in the Aboriginal sports, arts, and community.

It caps off a big week for Mauboy who was named as the replacement singer in the Young Divas, following the departure of Rickie-Lee Coulter.

Other winners included Deborah Mailman, Aaron Pedersen and Luke Carroll.

They will be broadcast soon on SBS.

Source: Yahoo. Read more...

SBS joins global democracy broadcast

SBS is to screen a series of documentaries and short films as part of an international broadcast series on the theme of Democracy.

25 other networks around the globe will screen the same films to an audience of 300 million viewers between October 7 and 18.

The diverse films include Please Vote for Me (China), Iron Ladies of Liberia (Liberia) and Dinner with the President (Pakistan).

The films were commissioned globally and do not represent a solely European or Western point of view. The series has two purposes: to examine the real prospects for global democracy, the dominant idea of our time, and to debate a new style for this emerging democracy, which may not necessarily be based on Western ideals.

The first film of 'Why, Democracy?', Please Vote For Me, looks at electing a class monitor in a school in China. It screens at 7:30pm on Sunday October 7.

More info: whydemocracy.net Read more...

Nielsen changes the ratings

NBC is the first US network to take advantage of a new change to Nielsen ratings which allows the figures for repeats to be added to a first-run episode in the same week.

Heroes aired on Monday night in the US but its repeat screening this Saturday will allow it to boost its aggregate audience.

The move is legitimate under a new ruling by ratings kings Nielsen, but rival networks and ad agencies are already disapproving.

"Morally, they're playing with the weekly averages. ... You could see where this could lead to abuse," said a spokesman for ABC.

In Australia combining figures is prohibited in both Free to Air and Subscription. In cable TV, where repeats (and timeshift) are the norm, the final ratings tally is an average, depending on the number of screenings.

Its one of the reasons Foxtel says it is so protective of 'misunderstood' figures.

Source: Variety.
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First Review: K-Ville

Cop shows love to depict cities as a character in their dramas. Whether its The Streets of San Francisco, Hawaii Five-0, Miami Vice or CSI, the backdrop is as much a participant as it is silent observer.

So it was really only a matter of time before somebody set a prime time cop show in New Orleans. It's full of colour and music from its high-class French quarters to its low-rent African American 'hoods. After Hurricane Katrina the city was never the same, and this cop show, set two years from that disaster, seeks to maximise on the shifting city.

But that's where its point of difference stops and starts. Sure, this is a confident, well-executed cop show. Anthony Anderson is Marlin, a policeman who was abandoned by his partner in the middle of Hurricane Katrina. It was a moment that has haunted him ever since. He is now partnered by Trevor (Cole Hauser) whose background, which is something of a spoiler, puts him at odds when it comes to resolving conflict.

The look and mood of K-Ville is suitably bleak, drawn of its colour as a city hanging on by a thread. Urban and hip-hop music clash with Dixie music. The two cops are thrown into an urban war as a charity fundraiser seeks to rebuild its community.

In a genre that is, pardon the pun, flooded with both competition and sex appeal, K-Ville will struggle to find an audience seeking escapism and crime-solving. Like New Orleans itself, there is a sense of hopelessness, which I suspect will not translate well for a weekly drama. Its tough going, but so far, satisfying for those who want brutal storytelling.

Whether this can float to the top of the heap remains to be seen.

K-Ville premieres at 9pm on Sunday October 7 on FOX8. The TEN Network has re-screening rights later.
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Vale: Michael Evans

British born actor Michael Evans, best known as Colonel Douglas Austin in The Young and the Restless has died.

He was 87.

He played the role from 1980 to 1995, but made his London stage debut in 1948.

Evans died of old age complications in LA.
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Love, Death and John Waters

The iconic John Waters (of 'Hairspray' fame) will play the Groom Reaper in a twisted and murderous drama series Love You to Death which has been picked up by Foxtel.

Waters appears as a narrator in the series based on true-life love and death mysteries. In many of the episodes, the groom or bride ends up killing the other. It comes complete with over the top dialogue and over-acting!

Sounds bent, and with Waters at the helm why wouldn't it be?

Foxtel also picks up season two of the college drama The Best Years; and the Christmas special episode of fly-on-the-wall entertainment show, The Janice Dickinson Modelling Agency.

In the US the original title of the Waters' series is Til Death Do Us Part.

Source: C21 Read more...