Gallery: The King

Next week The King has its first public outing at a World Premiere Melbourne screening.

As I'm attending look for this site to give you the early word on the telemovie around the middle of the week.

The biopic has had assistance from key players in Kennedy's life including: Val Wesley (Graham’s best friend – widow), John Michael Howson, Nine Network’s Pete Smith, Jim Murphy (television journalist), Bob Phillips (floor manager and producer at Nine), Henry Gaye (Radio 3UZ), Joy and Brian Westmore (IMT), Denis Spencer (son of Norm Spencer who discovered Graham) , and Graham Blundell who wrote KING – The Life and Comedy of Graham Kennedy.

Here are some production photos which certainly look enticing:



Shaun Micallef as GTV9's manager Colin Bednall.


Stephen Curry and Stephen hall as the young Graham and Bert.









Blankety Blanks pics with Jane Allsop as Noeline Brown and Angus Sampson as Ugly Dave Gray.

The King airs Sunday May 20 on TV1 and later on Nine.

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Chris the Biggest Loser

23yo Chris from Sydney has won The Biggest Loser.

He takes out the $200,000 prize from Marty and Pati.

He started the series with a huge 149kg and lost over 70kg.




After ten weeks the show has concluded, but host AJ Rochester has announced a third season, with applications opening soon.

Last year the finale episode rated 2.309m viewers.

So has the show lost or gained itself? The rating is here:

UPDATE: Last night the show attracted 1.995m. It's average figure didn't crack the magic 2 million mark but along with its other shows did deliver a massive 33.2% share over Nine's 23.7% and Seven's 23.5%. For Ten this is a huge booster.

Meanwhile,how will American trainers Bob and Jillian keep a straight face if the show has the same producer next year? They famously dissed Lawrence Yarwood as "the bane of their existence" as encouraging an atmosphere where contestants "cannibalised each other."

Still, the final bunch were all looking trim, taut and terrific on the finale. If there's a healthier way to dramatise people losing weight maybe somebody should go pitch to a network exec.
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Fantastic Three for Logies

Jessica Alba, Michael Chiklis and Ioan Gruffud have been announced as Presenters at the TV Week Logie Awards.

The three are here to promote their new Fantastic Four film.

Oddly, Aussie Julian McMahon, who plays the villainous Victor Von Doom, isn't joining them. Maybe his schedule wouldn't allow?

All three have good TV track records including Dark Angel (Alba), The Shield (Chiklis) and Hornblower series (Gruffudd).

It would have been ironic if McMahon had been joining them. The host broadcaster, Nine, pulled his last series Nip / Tuck off air incomplete. Eddie may have had some explaining to do....

Logie Watch.
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First Review: Who Wants to be a Superhero?

Well shut mah mouth if this isn't the campest little show on the tube.

Yes it's a Superhero Idol.....

And what, you may ask, could contestants in a Superhero reality show possibly win?

They become immortalised as a cartoon character in a comic by none other than Mr. Stan Lee. How cool!

I couldn't keep a straight face watching this. Here are a bunch of Americans seriously focussed on outdoing, outpunching, out-kapowing one another in a bid to win first place. People like this exist?

And in a sense, this is half the fun of the show: watching loonies in tights ponce about with ludicrous names, catchphrases and weaponry. So get ready for self-declared characters like Cell Phone Girl, Nitro G, Major Victory, Iron Enforcer and one single mother who has dubbed herself Fat Momma.

In their mild-mannered other selves, these people are an Interior Designer, Automobile Mechanic, Software Engineer, Bodyguard, Toy Designer, DJ and Investor. One, predictably runs a comic book store (but he doesn't resemble our friend from The Simpsons). Another is a real life Fire Captain. Isn't that hero enough?

In an Apprentice like format, this bunch perform super-human feats for the legendary Stan Lee, like changing into their costume in public and similar death-defying feats. An elderly and frail Lee appears only via video link (check his shirt with shoulder pads, that's a bit of a costume in itself). In the elimination final on a city rooftop he is enlarged on a billboard size video screen. But the budget must have been a bit tight, because beside him is an equally large ad trumpeting the screen is FOR SALE, HUGE SCREEN, HIGH RESOLUTION!!!

Hilarious.

Seriously, this is terrific trash telly. The guy with the Roger Ramjet chin and the perfect hair is a scream in his tights. It's hard to know whether to laugh with or at this lot.

Either way, who cares? I had a ball.

Who Wants to be a Superhero? premieres at 8:30pm Thursday May 10 on Sci Fi Channel

PS. Beware of official site which has the winner on the front page.
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Where Are They Now 2?

Geez Mr. Kelly, I sure am confused.

The cast of Hey Dad are reuniting for the return season of Seven's Where Are They Now? which will replace Australia's Got Talent in the family-friendly 6:30pm Sunday slot from May 6.

Julie McGregor, Simone Buchanan, Chris Truswell, Sarah Monahan and Matthew Krok (yep, the little fat kid) will get back together. Robert Hughes, who played Robert Kelly doesn't appear.

But in a confusing move, Nine also has a new series, RPA: Where Are They Now?

This is clearly a series to capitalise on interest in the medico-reality series. But the title is very similar.

Nine's series catches up with a former patient Nick, who was in a high speed car accident. It airs in the usual Thursday timeslot 8:30pm on May 10.

So make sure you keep your wits about you (that is, assuming Seven doesn't budge Nine with a "we were here first" push).
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Rosie quits The View

Donald Trump will be happy.

Rosie O'Donnell ends her co-hosting gig on The View in June.

Outspoken O'Donnell has given the women's chat show bumper ratings since joining Barbara Walters' tenth season. Never short of opinions on the Iraq War, George Bush, Donald Trump, equal rights for gay men and women and American Idol, she has frequently been the talk of late night hosts and media.

But she says her 1 year stint will come to an end after failing to come to an agreement with ABC.

"It just didn't work, and that's showbiz. But it's not sad, because I've loved it here, and I love you guys, and I'm not going away. I'm just not going to be here everyday," she said.

O'Donnell will continue guest roles on the show and other ABC specials, but won't be a regular after mid-June.

ABC wanted a 3 year contract but O'Donnell only wanted another 1. Hopefully the network will come to their senses and agree to her terms.

The series airs on the W Channel in Australia. Read more...

First Review: The Lost Tribes

"No phone, no lights, no motorcar, not a single luxury. Like Robinson Crusoe it’s primitive as can be."

So went the jingle of Gilligan’s Island.

And that single premise probably led to the modern day version of Survivor. But it’s also a tactic employed by the producers of The Lost Tribes.

Based on a UK series, Ticket to the Tribes, this reality series looks like making three Aussie families watercooler conversation over the coming weeks.

They are the Sherry family of Victoria and the Fraser and Povey families from New South Wales. Each willingly signed up for an adventure holiday, without realising where it would lead.

As it turns out, it led them to far flung corners of the world: in Indonesia, Namibia and Zululand.

The three families were forced to live by tribal rules. And they are a stark contrast to modern Australian standards. Some of them require the women to be subservient to men. Another bans women from using water. No shower, no bathing, no nothing. Suddenly the idea of an adventure holiday goes out the window.

With a series such as this, much is dependent on casting. It is one of the reasons The Block did so well in its first year. And I have to say they’ve done well here.

The reactions of the “ordinary” families are extreme. Shocked faces, shocked responses, anger, a refusal to participate. All the families have teenage children, several with “princess” daughters used to the comforts of modern living, and used to having an opinion. Here they are all denied. These kids don’t react well to being made to sleep on the floor, no pillow, no air conditioning, and worse, in speaking only when they are spoken to. They moan and complain to their parents, already struggling to deal with the extreme conditions for ten days.

For the Fraser Family of New South Wales, living with the Zulu tribe in South Africa sees the women of the family forced to smear a red mud over their bodies all day every day. Here the women hide the colour of their skin and are not permitted to bathe.

There is no interpreter for the families. Simple questions like asking where to go to the toilet become complicated simulations.

Even more interesting to watch are the Povey Family from New South Wales. This family of four (father, wife and 2 daughters) are led on an excruciating boat trip and jungle trek to reach the Mentawai tribe in remote Indonesia. It is an exhausting and enduring trial just to reach the location. They are close to breaking point before they even arrive, and some of their statements are extreme, even hilarious. The mother could be ripped straight out of Kath and Kim, taking an uninformed and opinionated stance on the primitive lifestyle which will see her having to feed pigs.

It’s guiltily delicious at times.

The series is narrated by Charles Wooley, who, like Mike Munro seems to voice many Nine docudramas. His heavy-handed, slowly-worded 60 Minutes style is unnecessary in this series where the pictures are doing all the work for us. Less would have been more here, and Nine needs to find more on-air talent other than its old reliables. And do we really need reminders after every commercial break of what we have seen before. American storytelling habits are taking over here….

Otherwise The Lost Tribes is terrific fun. Nine needs a new hit, can they do it here?

The Lost Tribes premieres 6:30pm Sunday May 6 on Nine.

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Big B drops the Big C

In Tuesday night's Big Brother episode between 7 and 8pm, one of the housemates let fly with the "C" word.

And we're not talking "commitment."

In a muffled, group conversation, Housemate Bodie referred to himself as a "dumb c**t."

The pre-recorded sequence went to air at 7.53pm on the east coast, uncensored and without a bleep.

Under broadcast regulations such language cannot be aired before 9:30pm.

TEN defends that the word was unintelligible, to the point of being missed by their own censor. But it was enough for viewers to call and complain.

The trouble for Big Brother follows a year of criticism and governmental review. Minister Helen Coonan currently has the results of the ACMA review before her but is yet to respond to possible changes.

Certainly this incident is a problem for TEN in its first week of the new series. Were it broadcast after 9:30pm then any objections would need to be aimed at the regulations not the producers. But in this instance the show needs to be bullet-proof and it has obviously dropped the ball.

The word has been used on television by other shows including Sex and the City, Weeds and Wilfred - all of them after 9:30pm.

I haven't been that taken by BB this year. More whitebread 20-somethings all just talking about who they should pair up with, while holding a stubby in their hand. To me that's a re-run. In the portions I have seen this week there is one storyline, all centered around Hayley / Andrew. When the show could have reinvented itself it's gone for the well-worn partykids path, and ratings are already down.

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Thu Apr 26

[Ten/12:00pm] Charmed. Final. "Forever Charmed" Piper and Leo, with help from Coop's ring, must travel back in time to change the events that lead to the deaths of Piper's sisters. Meanwhile, Billie uses her power of projection to do the same thing; many familiar faces gather to help Piper in her time of need.
[Ten/7:30pm] The Biggest Loser. Final.
[Ten/9:30pm] Law & Order: Criminal Intent Rpt. (2004 episode).

[Seven/11:00am] Moonlighting. GUNFIGHT AT THE SO-SO CORAL. David and Maddie accept a simple assignment to find a man's son. Unknown to them, the son is a hired killer who's out to get his father. Special guest star TIM ROBBINS. Also starring CYBILL SHEPHERD, BRUCE WILLIS, ALLYCE BEASLEY and CURTIS ARMSTRONG. Rpt.
[Seven/8:30pm] Lost. STRANGER IN A STRANGE LAND. A power play ensues between Jack and 'The Others' as Juliet's future hangs in the balance. Meanwhile, Kate, Sawyer and Karl continue on their journey away from 'Alcatraz'. How will they cope after leaving Jack behind?
[Seven/9:30pm] The Amazing Race. I'M SORRY I'M WEARING A BATHING SUIT. IT IS VERY WEIRD. Teams must complete a two and a half-mile white water rafting course through raging rapids, throwing one racer to the wild river as their team mate watches helplessly. Hosted by PHIL KEOGHAN.
[Seven/10:30pm] Family Guy. PETER'S TWO DADS. After Peter's dad dies, Thelma tells him that his real father actually lives in Ireland. So Peter and Brian decide to head there in search of his father, who ends up being the town drunk.
[Seven/11:30pm] Stargate Atlantis. CRITICAL MASS. SGC discover that The Trust has placed a bomb in Atlantis that will go off when Atlantis dials Earth. Daedelus must warn Atlantis and the team must find the traitor in their midst. Guest starring BEAU BRIDGES.

[ABC/8:30pm] Andrew Denton’s Gallipoli: Brothers in Arms. Why are more Australians drawn to the shores of Gallipoli each year? The Dawn Service at Anzac Cove, once a modest gathering of souls, has become an event on a scale that rivals the original invasion. The gentle, grassy slopes of this Turkish landmark are thronged with the relatives of those who fought and died, veterans of other conflicts, the merely curious, and a generation of backpackers paying their respects as they circle the globe. In 2006, Andrew Denton went to meet some of these pilgrims, to listen to their stories, to ask why they had made the journey and what they were learning from it. Focusing on the war-time experiences of three pairs of brothers, as told by the families who remember them, Andrew returned with a portrait of a special place, which then as now, is crucial to our understanding of ourselves and our nation. John Boyden's great uncles fought at Gallipoli. John is from Sydney and he is the first of the Boyden family to see where these two brothers went to war. In 1914, the Boyden brothers were unlikely heroes: 22-year-old Stewart Boyden was an accountant, and Rex, - only 18 - worked for a tobacco company. When war broke out, they were keen to enlist. Father and daughter Alf and Fiona Gardiner are from Brisbane. Alf's father and uncle were amongst the first Australians to land at Gallipoli. Dick Gardiner and his older brother Alf had grown up around the Melbourne docks, close mates. When war broke out they were 2,500 kilometres apart, but they both enlisted on the spot. Alf went into the 9th Battalion, Dick joined the 7th. They spent the next months trying to transfer together. Jack and Percy Thompson were working in the timber mills south of Perth when war broke out. Jack was keen to enlist. Percy wasn't interested. So Jack joined up alone. But in time Percy would fight at Gallipoli as well. The Thompson boys were not big letter-writers, but the story of their Gallipoli was passed on in its own way.
[ABC/11:35pm] Live At The Basement : Jon Stevens. Rpt.

[Nine/7:30pm] Getaway
[Nine/8:30pm] Missing Persons Unit

[SBS/10:00pm] VH1 Illustrated - Our Time Pervs - In tonight’s episode, Bill Clinton, Pee Wee Hermann and Larry Flynt go back to the year 1995 to try to prevent Bill having oral sex with Monica Lewinsky; John Kerry comes out with a new video game called Pro Snowboarder; Donald Rumsfeld develops a new fragrance which smells like a sweaty collection of a man's testicular region called "Balls"; Samuel L. Jackson is in a TV commercial; and Ron Jeremy's Living Show deals with life after pornography. (From the USA, in English) (Comedy Series) M (L,A,S)

[SBS/11:35pm] Movie: Monday Morning - (Lundi Matin) - A smash hit at the Berlin Film Festival, a quiet, observational comedy about everyday life. Vincent is fifty, lives in a French village and works at a local factory. Vincent's true passion is painting but he doesn't have much time to give to it. After a drunken evening and an encounter with a transvestite who lives with two huge rats, Vincent finds a job on a ship and starts his journey around the world, sending watercolours postcards home. Directed by Otar Iosseliani and stars Jacques Bidou, Otar Iosseliani. (From France, in French and Italian, English subtitles) (Comedy) (2002) PG WS

[31/10:30pm] Studio Q. Discusses women and online dating with one of the Pink Sofa staff members. Hear from a couple who met online, who tell us their experiences of online dating - the pros and cons, how it compares to meeting through more traditional routes, etc. We also have a couple of short interviews with the Melbourne Rainbow Band and the Melbourne Gay and Lesbian Chorus.

[CI/7:30pm] The Wanda Beach Murders and The Beaumont Children Mystery Read more...