Daryl Somers and Ossie Ostrich

Last night the ‘Hey Hey’ Reunion rated beyond expectations. The first off special rated 2.169 million viewers while ‘MasterChef’ rated 1.357 million, ‘City Homicide’ 0.796 million, ‘Worlds Strictest Parents’ 0.912 million and the new ‘NCIS: LA’ .943 million.

Smashing its opposition on such a strong night is evident but these demographics are even more surprising for 9 throughout the night:

18-49 Commercial Share 6pm – 10.30pm

Seven – 21.2%
Nine – 50.9%
Ten – 28.0%

16-39 Commercial Share 6pm – 10.30pm

Seven – 20.5%
Nine – 48.5%
Ten – 31.0%

25-54 Commercial Share 6pm – 10.30pm

Seven – 21.5%
Nine – 51.6%
Ten – 26.9%

50+ Commercial Share 6pm – 10.30pm

Seven – 32.8%
Nine – 48.7%
Ten – 18.5%

Those numbers indicate that the show can perform extremely well demographically. Evenly rating highly in the important demo 18-49.

Daryl looks like you may have some further negotiating to do if the next special can rate just as highly.

'Hey Hey It's Saturday'

The return of, ‘Hey Hey It’s Saturday’ was back to the delight of many of its devoted fans, including over 200 thousand on Facebook, however many ridiculed it, as a bunch of has been coming back to relive their glory days.

The show began with a comedy skit which seemed a little try hard, and it felt very painful to watch. The opening by Daryl began with him saying sarcastically as if the show had ended rudely and now they are back better than ever. Daryl looked like a kid on Christmas Day, happy as can be however still mumbling through his lines like he always has.

Jimmy Barnes was introduced to sing one of his songs from his newest Rhythm and Blues CD. The show definitely had a 90s feel about it, reliving old acts of the past. However later on the show introduced Eskimo Joe and tried to unearth a couple of new musical acts.

Celebrity Heads was back, better than ever? Well not quite, I can’t remember the segment from years ago, but it felt a little stretched and tedious, Wilbe Wilde and Akmal were trying to make gags rather than playing the game properly.

Throughout the show there was continual talk about how the show is finally back and how it managed to do so. All this was interesting enough but got a bit old after it was mentioned a couple of times.

Molly’s Melodrama was back trying to unearth some new talent. It looked at the current Aria Charts and said that around 10 or so acts were back from Hey Hey days with the eerie music playing in the background. Yes Hey Hey did a lot of good for music, especially Australian Music, but the longevity isn’t all due to show.

Red Faces was back the opening act, “The Carabean Kings” were somewhat horrible, with the John Blackman voice over paying out the lead singers weight. Of course mean judge Red Symonds gonged them out early just like the good ol’ days. Second up “Sam the Man” a young kid with a vegemite gag, ‘5 uses of vegemite”. Another poor segement but some good ol’ Hey Hey moments of course. The third segment “The Dung Beatle Song” was a clever little song and probably the best of the bunch but the humour a little on the gross side. The fourth act, “I still call Australia Home” which was interesting to say the least, not sure what more to say about it. The young vegemite boy ended up winning the segment taking home $1000 from Kraft, appropriately.

The show then continued with the usual frivolitys and music acts and later ended off with the classic Plucka Duck segment before a couple more musical numbers.

All in all a nice reunion special, the fans seem extremely divided, half would love to have it back, the other half are appalled by the show. Time will tell when ratings come through as to whether it could possibly be resurrected.

3 out of 5 stars

'The Vampire Diaries' premieres September 28 on GO!

As the major launch of GO! rolls closer, the channel have started lining up a number of new programs set to air on the youth targeted channel.

‘The Vampire Diaries’, which made its US debut on The CW last week, will bow 8.30pm Monday, September 28 on GO!, while ‘Weeds’, ‘South Park’ and ‘Curb Your Enthusiasm’ are all set for an October 4 launch.

An air date for ‘The Wire’ is yet to be announced.

The channel announced the acquisition of ‘South Park’ on its official Twitter and Facebook feeds, saying ”GO! Goes off in October! The hit series #Southpark has just been added to the schedule.”

SBS currently hold the rights the most recent episodes of the animated comedy, so its likely that GO! will begin broadcasting from  earlier seasons.

‘Weeds’, ‘Curb’ and ‘The Wire’ will begin screening from Season 3, Season 6 and Season 5 respectively.

Source: TV Tonight, Facebook

Sources are telling us that ‘Scrubs’ will soon be moving to 8pm Monday nights on Seven, following ‘How I Met Your Mother’.

This will be the first time ‘Scrubs’ has seen a primetime slot since the first season debuted in the summer off season.

It’s a risky move by Seven with ‘How I Met Your Mother’ performing fairly well on it’s own, but it will be interesting to see how it works out.

Chris Bath hosts 'Sunday Night' with Mike Monro.

Sunday the 8th of February at 6:30pm Sunday Night premiered for Channel 7.  Hosted by Mike Munro and Chris Bath. Produced by Adam Bowland, successful creator of Sunrise and The Morning Show.

The show began a little unstable at first, Mike Munro seemed a little nervous, he was live to air discussing the Victorian Bushfires.  Within the first 5 minutes there were a couple of stumbles and stutters however Mike is a consumate professional.  He then passed it onto Monique Wright, yes she is a blonde, however quite an intelligent blonde, has always been a reasonable presenter on 7 news and Sunrise.  She interviewed some of the survivors and discussed their stories.  Quite a heartfelt interview in such hard times.  She managed to show a great deal of compassion but at the same time convey her professionalism.

It was then onto Britt Lapthorne, the main story of the night.  Quite an indepth analysis on the case, with some new evidence analysed on the show.

Overall the show is quite well presented and should be a reasonably successful show for Channel 7.  Ideally if it could rate 1.4 million a week they should be really happy with that as it will launch their Sunday Nights quite nicely along with Seven News.

For those looking to find out more about the Brit Lapthorne case there is a Q and A after Sunday Night on 7HD starting at 7:30pm.  Also viewable online at Yahoo Seven.

3 out of 5 stars

Popular Prison Break character Paul Kellerman (played by Paul Adelstein, currently  starring in ABC’s Private Practice) is set to return in the final episodes of the series.

Season 1 he was the enemy, however Season 2 he developed an alliance with brothers Lincoln Burrows and Michael Schofield.  The boys need a fair bit of help on their hands to get themselves out of trouble and he should be the one to help them.  However who knows, he could be set to his evil ways, although I certainly hope not.

Other Characters including LJ, C-note and Surce also look to return.  There are currently 6 episodes scheduled to conclude the series however there is a small possibility they could add a couple of extras to wrap things up.

Prison Break returns April 17th, on the FOX network.

Source: prisonbreakmanhunt.com

We all know about the whole freeview debacle. 10 are really the only network to be launching their extra channel so far.  If all the networks truly did combine together freeview should be done as follows:

Here is how I would do it: 

ABC 
Stays normal, we love it how it is, let’s keep it that way 

ABC2 
Same as above, they have a few extra shows plus some repeats of ones you missed, they do a good job of it, hopefully it will continue to grow. 

ABCHD(3) 
I’m not sure whether ABC will have an HD channel but this should be a channel dedicated to kids. Get remakes of all the old kids tv shows, plus the new. They early morning slots would be for the real young ones with shows such as play school, and other educational shows. The afternoon slots with Degrassi new and old, plus other rollercoaster shows currently on ABC1. With evening slots filled with pre-teen shows such as Kyle XY, Secret Life of the American Teenager, Icarly, Greek etc. Sort of like an ABC family/Nick at Nite/Nickoldeon evenings. 

SBS 
Keep the same, no problems there. 

SBS(2) 
Make it like ABC2, with lots of reruns plus a few extra new shows if they can. 

SBSNews 
All the news from around the world, every hour a news service from a different country. Including other English speaking nations such as US News, UK News etc. 

Seven 
Same as normal 

Seven(2) 
With Seven(2) I’m going to be realistic, for there to be 3 stations for each FTA network it simply isn’t going to work as there won’t be enough content. Seven(2) should be a lifestyle/Documentary network. This could be filled with both repeated and new programs from all 3 FTA networks combined. For example Lifestyle – Great Outdoors, Getaway, Bondi Rescue and Crime Investigation Australia daytime repeats. The evenings would be filled with Documentaries these could be from National Geographic, Crime and Investigation Network Premiere type shows and Informational shows. Any shows not played out on either of the Free to Air networks that are of the lifestyle/documentary category would be dumped to this network to be played in the evening slots. 

SevenHD 
Would be the same as Seven regular however it would be +2 hours. This would give the people who love watching their shows in the top notch quality of HD the opportunity to do so, plus give viewers the option of catching something if they got home to late. 

Nine 
Same as regular. 

Nine(2) 
9 would have the Drama, Comedy and Reality Channel. During the day and night it would be filled with repeats of your favourite shows. This would include all 9s current comedy crop – The Nanny, Seinfeld, Just Shoot me etc could be repeated throughout the day. Plus other dumped comedies from other stations such as Will and Grace, King of Queens etc. Reality TV could also be plus in the possible evening slots, UK and US Big Brother, US American Idol, X-factor, Celebrity Apprentice could all be a big part of this network. Even if it was months after it would give people an opportunity to watch these shows at night. Any of the axed shows on other stations would slot somewhere on this channel to finish up preferably in the evening slots. 

NineHD 
Again like 7HD would be 2 hours in advance. 

10 
Keep the same 

10(2) 
Same as the HD channels for 7 and 9 except in SD. If the government gives the networks the opportunity to have every station viewed in HD then this should be done in HD too. 

10HD 
Should be the sport station which is the only thing that is changing so far with freeview. 

I feel with these changes it would work perfectly keeping everyone happy. 

Feel free to leave feedback and other suggestions.

It appears Prison Break will finally be ending this season with the final six episodes from February.  Check out the preview.

A few days ago I tallied the TV Show Download Ratings according to the main TV show download website(s). I spoke about them on the TVAUSCAST Christmas Edition Live and soon to be available on this website - tvauscast.com . But for those of you who want to look into the stats I tallied into further detail here they are: 

Top 15 US TV Show Downloads 

1. Heroes ep 12 427,000 
2. Prison Break ep 14 347,000 
3. Dexter ep 11 193,000 
4. House S05E10 175,000 
5. Smallville S08E10 152,000 
6. Terminator ep 12 115,000 
7. Fringe S01E10 114,000 
8. Desperate Housewives Ep 10 111,000 
9. 24 Redemption 107,000 
10. Supernatural S04E10 106,000 
11. Californication S02E11 104,000 
12. How I met your mother ep 10 98,000 
13. Big Bang Theory ep 10 94,000 
14. Gossip Girl Ep 13 93,000 
15. Greys Anatomy S05E10 85,000 

I used the standard quality of tv show downloads. For example 175MB for a 20 minute show and 350MB for a 40 minute show. Therefore for action type shows the figures would be even larger as there are files available at a higher quality. 

I looked at the most recent US ep or the second most recent as long as it had least had a week for people to download it. The figure is rounded to the nearest 1000. 

If you want me to keep this going I’d be happy to try my best in the future. 

Here are the rest of the ones I tallied.  If you are looking for any others just send a comment and i’ll try to get your answer asap.

Family Guy Ep 6 67,000 
Simpsons 66,000 
The Office ep 9 64,000 
Chuck ep 11 60,000 
CSI Ep 8 50,000 
American Dad ep 7 48,000 
The Unit Ep 10 44,000 
The Mentalist S01E09 44,000 
Two and a half men ep 10 42,000 
30 Rock Ep 6 41,000 
Private Practice ep 9 41,000 
Dirty Sexy Money ep 8 39,000 
NCIS ep 10 38,000 
My Name Is Earl ep 12 37,000 
Brothers and Sisters 36,000 
Pushing Daisies Ep 9 31,000 
Criminal Minds Ep 10 30,000 
CSI Miami ep 10 30,000 
CSI New York ep 10 30,000 
Bones ep 11 26,000 
Samantha Who Ep 9 23,000 
Ghost Whisperer ep 9 20,000 
Boston Legal Ep 12 and 13 Final 20,000 
Privileged ep 12 18,000 
My Own Worst ep 8 Enemy 17,000 
Cold Case 10,000 
Gary Unmarried Ep 10 10,000 
Worst Week ep 10 8,000 
Without a Trace ep 9 8,000 
King of the Hill Ep 7 7,000 
The New Adventures of Old Christine Ep 11 6 thousand 
Kath and Kim US Ep 9 5,000

For those AFL lovers out there, you would probably all know that Geelong will play Hawthorn this Saturday at the MCG, 2:30pm EST.  However we thought you might also like to know the complete list of television coverage building up to the Grand Final, which starts this evening on Nine’s AFL Footy Show.

Click more for the full run down.

Melbourne Times

Channel 9

Footy Show Grand Final Edition 8:30pm Live Thursday

Channel 7

12 midday Grand Final Day Parade

Channel 10

Before the Game 8:30pm Friday

Channel 7

Midnight Grand Final Footy Marathan

North Melbourne Breakfast 8am

9:30am AFL Game Day

12:30pm AFL Grand Final Pre-match Entertainment

2:30pm Official Starting time of the big game.

Adelaide Times:

Channel 9

Footy Show Grand Final Edition 9:30pm Thursday

Channel 7

12 midday Grand Final Day Parade

Channel 10

Before the Game 8:30pm Friday

Channel 7

Midnight Grand Final Footy Marathan

North Melbourne Breakfast 7:30am

9am AFL Game Day

12 midday AFL Grand Final Pre-match Entertainment

2pm Official Starting time of the big game.

Perth

Channel 9

Footy Show Grand Final Edition 9:30pm Thursday

Channel 7

12 midday Grand Final Day Parade

Channel 10

Before the Game 8:30pm Friday

Channel 7

Midnight Grand Final Footy Marathan

North Melbourne Breakfast 6am

7:30am AFL Game Day

10:30am AFL Grand Final Pre-match Entertainment

12:30pm Official Starting time of the big game.

Sydney and Brisbane

Channel 9HD

Footy Show Grand Final Edition 9:30pm Thursday

Channel 10HD

Before the Game 8:30pm Friday

Channel 7HD

Midnight Grand Final Footy Marathan

Channel 7

North Melbourne Breakfast 8am

9:30am AFL Game Day

12:30pm AFL Grand Final Pre-match Entertainment

2:30pm Official Starting time of the big game.

Note

* Grand Final Day Parade will not air in Brisbane and Sydney

* Programs on networks HD Channels in both Sydney and Brisbane can only be viewed on High Definition Digital Set Top Boxes.  These are available from your local electronics store for $100-$200.

Enjoy the game!

Kyle XY is currently airing on FOX8 at 7:30pm Thursdays.   So far we know Kyle XY is some sort of strange being with no memory at all, no belly button, no prevoius life.  We know people are following him, watching his every move, but so far, we don’t exactly know why.  Some possible theories on who is Kyle XY could be the following:

• Is an Alien from outerspace accidently released by the government but still being kept a close eye on.
• Is suffering from a serious case of amnesia after commiting a murder and doesn’t want to face his consequences.
• Is some sort of genetic clone with an adjustment made to his brain so he is now able to learn everything at an accelerated rate.
• Is something to do with the professor, maybe a creation of his workings.

The Trager family has taken him in with no where else to go and he is adjusting nicely, learning at a rapid rate.  Whatever it is the mystery is intriguing.  Kyle XY, the simple boy, who is extremely smart, yet has an extremely large heart will continue to capture the imagination of viewers.  The first season has 10 episodes.  Whether Foxtel will show the full 23 episode second season straight after the first is still yet to be decided.

If you have any Kyle XY theories we’d love to hear about them.  For those of you who have seen past the episodes currently airing on FOX8 please try not to spoil us.

Well Australian Idol has now knocked out 2 of the top 12, so we decided it was time for a short run down of the contestants still in with the chance to win some Australian Idol glory.

Wes Carr

Born in South Australia, now living in Bondi, NSW, Wes Carr, 26, is a seasoned musician amongst bars and clubs.  Wes can sing, play the piano and the guitar, he is a strong contender to take out Idols 6th season with betting odds currently sitting at $3.

Chrislyn Hamilton

Chrislyn is 17, from Scarborough, Queensland, she is this years Aussie Idol big girl with a big voice.  She has a lot of heart and soul.  Her confidence is high and she could very well go all the way.  Chrislyn is paying $7.

Mark Spano

Mark, 26 from Brighton, Victoria, is this years rock performer.  His strong vocal abilities and vocal experience mean he has a real chance for Idol glory this year.  Mark is paying $5.

Tom Williams

Adelaide’s only contestant, Tom is a teeny bopper fav, at only 16 he is the youngest male contestant of the bunch.  His vocal abilities aren’t the strongest but his good boy looks make up for it.  Tom is paying $16.

Thanh Bui

Thanh is 25 from Abbotsford, Victoria, he wears his heart on his sleeve.  He tries to sing with a lot of emotion but can often be pigeon holed as a boy band type singer.  If Thanh is to make it he needs to continue to put his soul into his performences.  Thanh is paying $21.

Teale Jakubenko

Teale is 22, from Yatala, Queensland, he was the publics choice on a very strong night during the semi finals.  however his vocal talent isn’t quite as strong as some of the other contestants.  Teale is paying $15.

Madam Park

Madam is 23 from Beverly Hills, NSW.  She is one of two Australian Idol diva performers.  She is certainly an awesome vocalist however does not quite have the confidence yet of a true diva.  If she improves her confidence she certainly is a real chance.  Madam is paying $6.50.

Roshani Priddis

Roshani 21 from Ashfield, NSW, previously from Sri Lanka she was adopted at 6 weeks old from an Australian family.  She is the other Australian Idol diva performer this year, with a fantastic vocal ability and a strong stage presence.  Roshani is paying $9.

Luke Dickens

Luke 25, from Young, NSW is a real Aussie bloke.  He is a sheep shearer but always had a love of singing and even managed to teach himself the guitar.  He was one of the judges picks this year as they thought he had something that the public may warm to.  His husky tones could be described to be similar to Jimmy Barnes.  Luke is paying $17.

Sophie Patterson

Sophie 23, from London, United Kingdom, originally from Victoria is the last one left from the London auditions held for the first time this year.  She loves to sing jazz music with her strong voice however the public hasn’t quite warmed to her yet being in the bottom three on both of the top 12 occasions.  Sophie is paying $26.

So that sums up this years contestants.  The group this year seems to be quite diverse but the jury is still out on whether Idol will lead them to much success.  Having said that, this is their chance to shine.

Greek the ABC Family television show which airs alongside The Secret Life of the American Teenager is now coming to Australia on FOX8.

The show revolves around the life of Rusty Cartwright, a self proclaimed geek from high school trying to start a new life in college.  To begin his new life he pledges a fraternity hoping to gain popularity.  However Rusty’s sister who is beautiful and popular already deeply associated with the top Sority.

For more information on the show, listen to Episode 13 of the podcast. Follow the links on the main page.

Greek premieres 8:30pm Thursday, September 18th on FOX8.

After 6 days of tvaus.com.au being down it is finally back up and running!  I’m sure many of you are relieved out there.  Looks like nothing has been lost thankfully.  We hope to get an answer as to why it was down for so long in the coming future.

Well it has been about 5 days since the tvaus.com.au site went down with a ‘critical error’, and no sign of it coming back anytime soon. I’m sure a lot of you out there are missing it terribly.

I myself have no news on when it will return, if at all. However if any of the posters of the TVAus forum could shed some light on the matter, I’m sure it would be greatly appreciated.

In the mean time please enjoy this site to keep up to date with all television happenings and to socialise with some of the TVAus community who’ve taken refuge in our comments sections.

Last night Packed to the Rafters aired for the second time on Australian television.  The majority of new shows peek at their first episode then slowly decrease to find a solid audience. Packed to the Rafters which last week premiered with 1.945 million viewers this week increased with 2.045 million viewers.  That’s an increase of 100 thousand viewers and a huge boost to Australian television drama. I think it’s official, Packed to the Rafters is an Australian hit. 22 episodes have been filmed for the first season.

Meanwhile Rush premiered on Ten last night at 9:30 following Ten’s popular US crime drama NCIS.  It’s opening numbers were solid with 1.61 million viewers. As long as it can keep those solid numbers for the rest of the season it too should be an Aussie hit.

After a discussion with my fellow blogger Cam, it appears that the most searched phrase on google to hit the TV Auscast blog is ‘Packed to the Rafters Song’. We do have a few posts on Packed to the Rafters as it has just debuted in Australia, however many of you probably don’t know who actually sings the song they use in the promotion.  In case you were wondering it is by a singer named Jason Mraz. He has also previously released the song ‘The Remedy’ (I Won’t Worry) four or five years ago. You would expect Jason to be an Aussie considering it does have an Australian sound to it and the song is currently promoting an Australian television show, however Jason Mraz is actually from the US.

Here is the vid of his song ‘I’m Yours’ currently promoting Packed to the Rafters airing on Channel 7 at 8:30pm, Tuesday nights.