The Seven Network, in partnership with Yahoo!7, have followed through with their plans to launch a new catch-up TV portal. The service launched today, under the name PLUS7.

The service, similar to ABC’s iView, will allow viewers to catch-up on all Seven’s most popular television shows online.

The shows will be free and ad-supported with an estimated 3-4 mid-roll ads per episode. The latest episodes will become available immediately after broadcast and remain online for 7-28 days (depending on online delivery rights).

Shows currently on offer are 30 Rock, Airways, Better Homes and Gardens, Border Security, Brothers and Sisters, Castle, Cougar Town, Criminal Minds, Desperate Housewives, Flash Forward, Gangs of Oz, Grey’s Anatomy, Heroes, Home and Away, LOST, My Kitchen Rules, Parks and Recreation, Private Practice, RSPCA Animal Rescue and Ugly Betty.

Seven have yet to partner with any ISPs (unlike ABC iView), so viewers should take note of the expected data requirements per episode. A 22 minute episode will consume between 45mb and 160mb, while a 42 minute episode will consume between 90mb and 370mb.

PLUS7 can be accessed from yahoo7.com.au/plus7

The cast of 'The Deep End'

Freshman dramas ‘V’ and ‘FlashForward’ have had their episode orders cut by one. This follows the news that ‘V’ and ‘FlashForward’ won’t be returning until March.

Other confirmed orders are:

‘The Deep End’ – 7
‘Romantically Challenged’ – 7
‘Happy Town’ – 8
‘Grey’s Anatomy’ – 24
‘Desperate Housewives’ – 23
‘Private Practice’ – 23
‘Lost’ – 18
‘The Forgotten’ – 17
‘Scrubs’ – 13
‘Better off Ted’ – 13

The remainder of ABC’s shows have 22 episode orders, ‘Brothers and Sisters,’ ‘Castle,’ ‘Cougar Town,’ ‘The Middle,’ ‘Modern Family’ and ‘Ugly Betty.’

Further, legal drama ‘The Deep End’ will take ‘FlashForward’s’ Thursday 8/7c slot after ABC announced, ‘FlashForward’ will be ‘rested’ after its fall finale last week.

David Hemingson is behind the Twentieth Century Fox drama.

Source: The Futon Critic

by Mathew Muratore

'Desperate Housewives' The Complete Fifth Season is out now.

Fans of ‘Desperate Housewives’ were left in shock at the end of season four when the show unexpectedly leaped forward five years into the future  giving  ’Desperate Housewives: The Complete Fifth Season’ a fresh new start for the residents of Wisteria Lane.

The lives of the main housewives has changed dramatically Bree (Marcia Cross) has now received Martha Stewart type fame with a successful catering company and a cook book on the way, Lynette (Felicity Huffman) is now dealing with her rebellious teenage sons, Susan (Teri Hatcher) has separated from Mike (James Denton) and Gabrielle (Eva Longoria Parker) has undergone the most significant change losing her looks as a result of having two children.

Eva Longoria Parker was the real standout of the season the transformation her character had undergone was in typical ‘Desperate Housewives’ fashion both humorous and touching at the same time. Its fascinating looking back on the way Gabrielle was in season one to what she had become in season five even though Gabrielle re-gains her looks she never fully reverts back to her old self with many lessons learnt along the way by dealing with financial struggles, her husband’s blindness and raising her two daughters.

Despite the lives of the housewives sustaining enough interest across thye 24 episodes it is unfortunate that the mystery does not live up to ‘Desperate Housewives’ standards. The mystery surrounding Edie’s (Nicollette Sheridan) husband; Dave Williams (Neal McDonough) seeking revenge for the death of his wife and daughter was predictable and the individual he was after was obvious from the beginning and it lacked any of the show’s trademark twists and turns.

The show celebrated its 100^th episode during season five and the episode remains a standout of the entire series. The episode involved a series of flashbacks centred around resident handyman Eli Scruggs wonderfully played by Beau Bridges and how he touched the lives of each of the housewives. The flashbacks allow us to see the return of old favourites including Rex Van De Kamp (Steven Culp), Martha Huber (Christine Estabrook) and one of the few appearances of Mary Alice Young (Brenda Strong).

The various flashback episodes including the episode ‘Mirror Mirror’ that fills in the gaps during the five year jump are the real standouts of the season including a tribute episode after the surprise death of one of the housewives.

Special Features

The amount of special features is impressive with audio commentary with cast and crew on the premier episode “You’re going to love tomorrow” and the 100^th episode “The best thing that ever could have happened.” There is also an interesting look at the celebrations surrounding the 100^th episode along with Marc Cherry’s favourite scenes, Bloopers, deleted scenes and a feature on Teri Hatcher.

Summary

Spanning across eight discs ‘Desperate Housewives: The Red Hot Edition- the Complete Fifth Season’ is a must for any fan and a great way to introduce new viewers to the show with its fresh start. Despite some of the season’s short comings including the lack of Katharine Mayfair (Dana Delany), the predictable mystery and the sometimes sitcom style the show evoked the fifth season is a great starting point for a new chapter of the show with only better things to come.

4 out of 5 stars

The highly anticipated mini-series 'The Pacific' premieres in 2010 on Seven. From Tom Hanks, Steven Spielberg and Gary Goetzman, producers of 'Band of Brothers'.

Seven will announce their complete 2010 programming line-up later in the coming weeks.

New Local Drama

• The Pacific (Miniseries) - Co-production with HBO, Playtone, Dreamworks

New Local Series

• Damage Control
• The Marriage Ref
• My Kitchen Rules

New International Series

• 100 Questions
• Cougar Town
• Day One
• Happy Town
• Hung
• The Marriage Ref (US)
• Parenthood

Sporting Events

• Australian Open
• AFL Grand Final

Returning Local Series

• Better Homes and Gardens
• City Homicide
• Deal or No Deal
• Double Take
• Home and Away
• The Morning Show
• New Idea TV
• Packed to the Rafters
• Sunrise
• Saturday Disney
• Thank God You’re Here

Returning International Series

• Bones
• Brothers and Sisters
• Castle
• Criminal Minds
• Desperate Housewives
• Family Guy
• FlashForward
• Grey’s Anatomy
• Private Practice

*Incomplete/subject to change

Fans of ABC Studios hit series have plenty to celebrate, with a number of new titles that have just been released or are due for release over the next 2 months under the TV 4 Me on DVD brand.

This month saw the release of the Seven Network’s hit dramas ‘Desperate Housewives’ Season 5, ‘Lost’ Season 5 and ‘Brothers and Sisters’ Season 3.

November will see the release of Seven’s medical duo ‘Grey’s Anatomy’ Season 5 and ‘Private Practice’ Season 2; and the final season of the short lived dramedy ‘Dirty Sexy Money’ Season 2.

You can also expect to see the release of FOX8’s popular teen dramas ‘Greek’ Chapter 2 and ‘Kyle XY’ Season 3 in November.

Finally, December is all about comedy, with the release of ‘Scrubs’ Season 8, ‘Scrubs’ Seasons 1-8, ‘Home Improvement’ Season 8 and the season premieres of ‘Smantha Who?’ Season 1 and teen drama ‘The Secret Live of an American Teenager’ Season 1.

Hit the links below for more details about each set.

21 October 2009

• ‘Desperate Housewives’ The Complete Fifth Season
• ‘Brothers and Sisters’ The Complete Third Season
• ‘Lost’ The Complete Fifth Season

4 November 2009

• ‘Grey’s Anatomy’ The Complete Fifth Season
• ‘Private Practice’ The Complete Second Season
• ‘Greek’ Chapter 2
• ‘Kyle XY’ The Complete Third Season
• ‘Dirty Sexy Money’ The Complete Second Season

2 December 2009

• ‘Scrubs’ The Complete Eighth Season
• ‘Scrubs’ Mega-Set 1-8
• ‘Home Improvement’ The Complete Eighth Season
• ‘Samantha Who?’ The Complete First Season
• ‘The Secret Life of the American Teenager’ The Complete First Season

'Desperate Housewives' The Complete Fifth Season

Years may pass, but desperation is timeless. ‘Desperate Housewives’ The Complete Fifth Season’ fast forwards five years where new mysteries bind true friendships with a balance of humour and drama, twists and surprises.

The series stars Marcia Cross, Teri Hatcher, Felicity Huffman, Eva Longoria and Nicollette Sheridan.

The 7-disc set is rated M and retails for RRP $89.95 — out October 21 (in stores now).

Bonus Features

• Cherry-picked: Creator Marc Cherry’s favourite scenes from Season 5
• So Very Teri: A look at Wisteria Lane’s favourite girl next door, Teri Hatcher
• I Know Things Now: Desperate Housewives celebrates 100 episodes.
• What More Do I Need?: Table read piece.
• Audio commentaries
• Bloopers
• Deleted scenes

Marc Cherry

‘Desperate Housewives’ helped turn around ABC’s ratings hell, along with ‘Lost’ and ‘Grey’s Anatomy’ back in 2004.

Now the ‘Housewives’ creator, Marc Cherry, is developing a new series for the network which is being targeted for next season.

The project, originally thought to be a spin-off of ‘Desperate Housewives’, has now been confirmed as a stand alone show — though is expected to have a similar tone.

The premise for the new series is still being developed, but will written by Cherry and fellow ‘Housewives’ executive producer Alexandra Cunningham.

Cherry will continue to serve as an executive producer on ‘Desperate Housewives’ should the new series be picked up for series.

Source: The Hollywood Reporter

I didn’t leave the toilet seat up, I swear!

'The Vampire Diaries' coming soon to The CW and GO!

The season will kick-off with The CW’s sophomore drama ‘90210’. You might remember that ‘90210’ premiered to The CW’s biggest numbers in history (4.65M, A18-49: 2.6/7) but those viewers abandoned it in droves with the finale only mustering a little more than half that audience (2.49M, A18-49: 1.3/3). This is a make or break season for the remake and if it continues to shed viewers it will not only damage The CW’s brand but will have a detrimental effect on the heavily promoted freshman drama ‘Melrose Place’ 2.0. The CW is pinning their hopes on ‘Melrose Place’ and their other fall freshman ‘The Vampire Diaries’, which was inexplicably added to their Thursday line-up at the expense of The CW’s highest rating drama ‘Smallville,’ which has now been bumped to Fridays. If both ‘Melrose’ and ‘Vampire’ fail, it may well be the final year for the struggling network as CBS and WB cannot continue to run a network at a loss in this sort of climate. Elsewhere, Tuesdays will be a little dull with procedurals occupying CBS and reality on ABC, NBC and Fox. However, recently the alphabet made a late change noticing a chance to pounce in that timeslot, by pushing mid season sci-fi drama ‘V’ forward for a November 3 start.

The following night sees the fall premiere of summer reality show, ‘So You Think You Can Dance.’  Fox’s decision to air a second cycle of ‘So You Think You Can Dance’ was quite bizarre, the show captures a solid but not spectacular audience during the summer and who’s to say airing it twice a year won’t damage the franchise? Fall has always been the achilles heel for the News Corp. Network and no doubt ‘Dance’ will improve on past year offerings, but will viewers return for future seasons? The decision to move ‘Dance’ to fall was to provide some lead-in support for freshman drama ‘Glee,’ which squandered its ‘Idol’ lead in when Fox aired a sample episode behind one of Idol’s final 2009 episodes, in the ended it averaged only 9.62M, A18-49: 4.4/11.

The aforementioned ‘The Vampire Diaries’ has its series premiere on Thursday, September 10 and it will be partnered with The CW’s other sci-fi drama ‘Supernatural’. The CW greenlighting ‘Diaries’ was no surprise as they wanted to capitalise on the ‘Twilight’ and ‘True Blood’ hype. Even though ‘Diaries’ has generated a lot of negative press, initial sampling will be large but the million dollar question is how long will the audience give it? The following Thursday sees the return of JJ Abram’s latest demo hit ‘Fringe’. ‘Fringe’ will have its work cut out going up against heavyweights, ‘CSI’ and ‘Grey’s Anatomy,’ which both return on September 24. ‘Fringe’s’ departure from a solid lead in indicates the confidence Fox has in the sophomore drama, however in comparison to Abram’s previous projects, ‘Fringe’ focuses less on mythology and more on individual episodes which should make it easier to follow but less intriguing to the dedicated fans. Another huge Thursday development is the movement of last year’s freshman hit ‘The Mentalist’ to 10/9c following CSI. CBS is grooming it as the next CSI, which I might add has lost a lot of steam since the departure of William Petersen, however the timeslot is somewhat of a bogey one for CBS as nothing has remained there for more than one year.

Thursdays also see the return of ‘Survivor’ for its 19th season, the 6th season of the Office, the 2nd season of ‘Parks and Recreation’ and the debut of critical darling ‘Community’ which all premiere on September 17. For those waiting for ’30 Rock’ it returns on October 15. The biggest premiere to Thursdays is ‘Flash Forward’, which is being promoted by ABC as the new ‘Lost.’  ‘Flash Forward’ looks to be the biggest show to come out of the states since ‘Lost’ and ‘Desperate Housewives’ and it comes with a lot of buzz. Just recently, the directors noted, they will need at least three seasons to complete the arc they have planned. In a nutshell, ‘Flash Forward’ follows the life of an FBI agent who investigates the reason for a mysterious event, which sees everyone blackout for two minutes and seventeen seconds, travelling six months into the future.

The following two Mondays see the return of ‘WTF’ (No, not What The Beep, but Watch This Fall) drama ‘Gossip Girl’ and veteran ‘One Tree Hill’. This fall, Dawn has decided to do a switcheroo with the two, moving her baby ‘Gossip’ to a higher household viewing time and avoiding direction competition with ‘House’. The aforementioned ‘House’ and the trouble ridden ‘Heroes’ both return with two hour premieres on September 21. It has been quite a steep fall for ‘Heroes’, if Kring can’t stop the bleeding, this might be the end of the one season wonder. The following Monday sees NBC launch their new high-octane medical drama ‘Trauma,’ a number of photos/clips for this show have being doing the rounds on the internet, so expect a large initial sampling. ‘Lie to Me’ will occupate the post ‘House’ slot as Fox tries to groom this as a replacement for ‘House’. Over at CBS, ‘How I Met Your Mother’ has been moved to 8/7c providing some lead in support for the dead on arrival ‘Accidently on Purpose’. ‘Two and a Half Men’ remains, but ‘The Big Bang Theory’ moves to the post ‘Men’ slot. ‘Bang’ was trialled in the slot late last year or early this year and maintained close to 100% retention, so look for ‘Bang’ to reach series highs again.

Wednesdays will be interesting for a number of reasons, ABC has a completely new line up with critical darlings ‘Modern Family’ and ‘Cougar Town’ occupying the key 9/8c and 9:30/8:30c timeslots. ‘Cougar Town’ follows Jules (Courtney Cox), a recently divorced single mother exploring honest truths about dating and aging in our beauty and youth obsessed culture, while ‘Modern Family’ explores the complications that come with being in a family in this day and age. The entrees ‘Hank’ and ‘The Middle’ debut the following week. ‘Eastwick’ a cross between ‘Valentine’ and ‘Sex and the City’ also debuts in the same week as ‘Modern Family’ and ‘Cougar Town’, but things don’t look good for the romantic drama.

The landscape for Fridays has completely changed; networks are finally getting aggressive with their programming. There is less reality from the other three networks which might finally give CBS’ combo of Ghost Whisperer, Cold Case and Numb3rs some headaches. Fox kicks off with a comedy hour with waiting to be cancelled ‘’Til Death’ and ‘Brothers’ followed by the ever improving and surprise renewal ‘Dollhouse’ which all premiere on September 25. The CW veteran ‘Smallville’ has been yanked to Thursdays along with the ever fading ‘Ugly Betty’.

Nothing much has changed on Sundays, with ABC’s ‘Desperate Housewives’ and ‘Brothers and Sisters’ starting on September 27. Fox has shuffled their line up knocking out the every reliable – ‘King of the Hill’, for Seth McFarland’s new, albeit belated project ‘The Cleveland Show’. ‘The Simpsons’, ‘Family Guy’ and ‘American Dad’ all return for their 21st, 8th and 5th season respectively. ‘The Cleveland Show’s’ pilot has been leaked for a while and it doesn’t look too different to ‘Family Guy’ or ‘American Dad’.

Finally, the biggest news this fall is Jay Leno moving to primetime, which begins daily from September 14, 10/9c. All eyes will be on the ratings for ‘The Jay Leno Show,’ but NBC isn’t expecting much, as long as it remains profitable, NBC will be satisfied. Jay Leno recently said he doesn’t expect his show to beat first run CSI, but hopes to push CSI repeats to the limit. The format of the show is: Leno will begin with a 10 second opening sequence which leads into a monologue. He will have at least one special guest a night and music will come from multiple acts. Jaywalking and newspaper headlines will be held until the end of the show to give News affiliates a strong lead in. Leno also gave us a snippet of the ‘Green Car Challenge’ where you can see, as Leno puts it, “who is faster, Shaquille O’Neal or Cameron Diaz.” There will be pre-recorded segments from D.L Hughley and Rachel Harris.As always, this is will be an interesting fall, with networks trying something different.

I hope everyone enjoys the fall TV season and wish for everyone’s favourite TV show to survive.

Premiere Dates

• ‘90210’ 2nd Season Premiere September 8
• ‘Melrose Place’ Series Premiere September 8
• ‘So You Think You Can Dance’ Fall Premiere September 9
• ‘Glee’ Series Premiere September 9
• ‘The Vampire Diaries’ Series Premiere September 10
• ‘Supernatural’ 5th Season Premiere September 10
• ‘One Tree Hill’ 7th Season Premiere September 14
• ‘Gossip Girl’ 3rd Season Premiere September 14
• ‘The Jay Leno Show’ Series Premiere September 14
• ‘The Beautiful Life’ Series Premiere September 16
• ‘Bones’ 5th Season Premiere September 17
• ‘Survivor’ 19th Season Premiere September 17
• ‘Parks and Recreation’ 2nd Season Premiere September 17
• ‘Fringe’ 2nd Season Premiere September 17
• ‘The Office’ 6th Season Premiere September 17
• ‘Community’ Series Premiere September 17
• ‘Heroes’ 4th Season Premiere September 21
• ‘House’ 6th Season Premiere September 21
• ‘How I Met Your Mother’ 5th Season Premiere September 21
• ‘Accidently on Purpose’ Series Premiere September 21
• ‘Two and a Half Men’ 7th Season Premiere September 21
• ‘The Big Bang Theory’ 3rd Season Premiere September 21
• ‘Castle’ 2nd Season Premiere September 21
• ‘CSI: Miami’ 8th Season Premiere September 21
• ‘NCIS’ 7th Season Premiere September 22
• ‘The Goode Wife’ Series Premiere September 22
• ‘The Forgotten Series’ Premiere September 22
• ‘Mercy’ Series Premiere September 23
• ‘Criminal Minds’ 5th Season Premiere September 23
• ‘Modern Family’ Series Premiere September 23
• ‘Cougar Town’ Series Premiere September 23
• ‘Eastwick’ Series Premiere September 23
• ‘Flash Forward’ Series Premiere September 24
• ‘The Mentalist’ 2nd Season Premiere September 24
• ‘Grey’s Anatomy’ 6th Season Premiere September 24
• ‘Brothers’ Series Premiere September 25
• ‘Smallville’ 9th Season Premiere September 25
• ‘Dollhouse’ 2nd Season Premiere September 25
• ‘The Amazing Race’ 15th Season Premiere September 27
• ‘The Simpsons’ 21st Season Premiere September 27
• ‘The Cleveland Show’ Series Premiere September 27
• ‘Desperate Housewives’ 6th Season Premiere September 27
• ‘Brothers and Sisters’ 4th Season Premiere September 27
• ‘Family Guy’ 8th Season Premiere September 27
• ‘American Dad’ 5th Season Premiere September 27
• ‘Lie to Me’ 2nd Season Premiere September 28
• ‘Trauma’ Series Premiere September 28
• ‘Hank’ Series Premiere September 30
• ‘The Middle’ Series Premiere September 30
• ‘Private Practice’ 3rd Season Premiere October 1
• ‘Ugly Betty’ 4th Season Premiere October 9
• ‘30 Rock’ 4th Season Premiere October 15
• ‘V’ Series Premiere November 3
• Cable Premiere Dates
• ‘Dexter’ 4th Season Premiere September 27
• ‘Californication’ 3rd Season Premiere September 27
• ‘Stargate Universe’ Series Premiere October 2
• ‘Sanctuary’ 2nd Season Premiere October 9

Brothers & Sisters

“Brothers & Sisters” continues to follow the California-based Walker family through the complicated maze of American life today. The compelling one-hour drama series is about a collection of five enmeshed and somewhat damaged adult siblings, their spouses and their strong and passionately devoted mother, Nora Holden (Oscar and Emmy Award winner Sally Field).

The Walkers’ lives have not been without challenge; romance, parenting, divorce, infidelity, addiction, war, birth and even death have pushed each of them to the limit, but they continue to work toward living their lives as individuals, while loving each other unconditionally and trying to maintain some semblance of normalcy after the loss of their larger-than-life family patriarch, William Walker.

“Brothers & Sisters” stars Dave Annable as Justin Walker, Maxwell Perry Cotton as Cooper Whedon, Kerris Lilla Dorsey as Paige, Sally Field as Nora Holden, Calista Flockhart as Kitty Walker, Balthazar Getty as Thomas Walker, Rachel Griffiths as Sarah Whedon, Rob Lowe as Senator Robert McCallister, Sarah Jane Morris as Julia Walker, Matthew Rhys as Kevin Walker, Ron Rifkin as Saul Holden, Emily VanCamp as Rebecca Harper and Patricia Wettig as Holly Harper.

The series produced by ABC Studios. Ken Olin (“Alias,” “thirtysomething”), Greg Berlanti (“Dirty Sexy Money,” “Everwood”), Monica Owusu-Breen (“Alias”), Alison Schapker (“Alias”), Sarah Caplan and Molly Newman are executive producers.

Castle

When viewers first met Richard Castle (Nathan Fillion) — a famous mystery novelist and divorced father raising his teenage daughter (Molly Quinn as Alexis), while being kept grounded by his Broadway diva mother (Susan Sullivan as Martha Rodgers) — he was bored with his own success. He then found out that a real-world killer was staging murder scenes depicted in his novels. Castle was questioned by NYPD Detective Kate Beckett (Stana Katic), a bright and aggressive detective who kept her investigations under tight reins, especially the years-old unsolved murder of her own mother. Though they instantly clashed, sparks of another sort began to fly, leading both to danger and a hint of romance as Castle stepped in to help find the copycat killer. Once that initial case was solved, together Castle and Beckett built on their new relationship investigating more strange homicides in New York as much fun as one could have with death and murder. In the season finale, Castle, against Beckett’s direct order to stay out of her mom’s case, unearthed information in that homicide which may end his relationship with her forever.

Also starring in the series are Ruben Santiago-Hudson as NYPD Captain Roy Montgomery, Tamala Jones as Medical Examiner Lanie Parish, Jon Huertas as NYPD Detective Javier Esposito and Seamus Dever as NYPD Detective Kevin Ryan.

“Castle” is produced by ABC Studios. Andrew Marlowe serves as executive producer/writer, along with executive producers Rob Bowman, Armyan Bernstein and Laurie Zaks.

Desperate Housewives

After jumping five years ahead into the lives of the women of Wisteria Lane, critically acclaimed series “Desperate Housewives” returns for its sixth season on ABC. Susan (Teri Hatcher) and Mike (James Denton) are brought together by their worst fears; Lynette’s (Felicity Huffman) unexpected pregnancy tests her family; as Bree’s (Marcia Cross) marriage dissolves, she finds herself in the arms of another man; Gabrielle (Eva Longoria Parker) is in for a surprise when she and Carlos (Ricardo Antonio Chavira) welcome their niece into their home; and Katherine (Dana Delany) struggles over the thought of losing Mike.

“Desperate Housewives” stars Teri Hatcher as Susan Mayer, Felicity Huffman as Lynette Scavo, Marcia Cross as Bree Hodge, Eva Longoria Parker as Gabrielle Solis, Ricardo Antonio Chavira as Carlos Solis, Doug Savant as Tom Scavo, Kyle MacLachlan as Orson Hodge, Dana Delany as Katherine Mayfair, Shawn Pyfrom as Andrew Van De Kamp, Brenda Strong as Mary Alice Young, James Denton as Mike Delfino, Charlie Carver as Porter Scavo, Max Carver as Preston Scavo, Joshua Moore as Parker Scavo, and Kendall Applegate as Penny Scavo.

Marc Cherry serves as executive producer and creator. Sabrina Wind, George Perkins, Larry Shaw and David Grossman are executive producers. “Desperate Housewives” is produced by ABC Studios and is the winner of both the 2005 and 2006 Golden Globe Award for Best Television Series Musical or Comedy.

Grey’s Anatomy

“Grey’s Anatomy” is the recipient of the 2007 Golden Globe Award for Best Television Series Drama, and multiple Emmy nominations including two for Outstanding Drama Series.

The doctors of Seattle Grace Hospital deal with life-or-death consequences on a daily basis – it’s in one another that they find comfort, friendship and, at times, more than friendship. Together they’re discovering that neither medicine nor relationships can be defined in black and white. Real life only comes in shades of grey.

“Grey’s Anatomy” stars Ellen Pompeo as Meredith Grey, Patrick Dempsey as Derek Shepherd, Sandra Oh as Cristina Yang, Katherine Heigl as Isobel “Izzie” Stevens, Justin Chambers as Alex Karev, T.R. Knight as George O’Malley, Chandra Wilson as Miranda Bailey, James Pickens, Jr. as Richard Webber, Sara Ramirez as Callie Torres, Eric Dane as Mark Sloan, Chyler Leigh as Lexie Grey and Kevin McKidd as Owen Hunt.

“Grey’s Anatomy” was created and is executive produced by Shonda Rhimes (“Introducing Dorothy Dandridge”). Betsy Beers (“Casanova”), Mark Gordon (“Saving Private Ryan”), Krista Vernoff (“Law & Order”), Rob Corn (“Chicago Hope”), Mark Wilding (“Jake: 2.0″) and Allan Heinberg (“The O.C.) are executive producers. “Grey’s Anatomy” is an ABC Studios production.

LOST

After Oceanic Air flight 815 tore apart in mid-air and crashed on a Pacific island, its survivors were forced to find inner strength they never knew they had in order to survive. But they discovered that the island holds many secrets, including a mysterious smoke monster, polar bears, housing and hatches with electricity and hot & cold running water, a group of island residents known as “The Others,” and a mysterious man named Jacob. The survivors have also found signs of those who came to the island before them, including a 19th century sailing ship called The Black Rock, a downed Beechcraft plane from a failed drug run, the remains of an ancient statue, as well as bunkers belonging to the Dharma Initiative — a group of scientific researchers who inhabited the island in the recent past. They also encountered a freighter stationed off the island that some thought would lead to their rescue, but ultimately almost caused their extinction. The band of friends, family, enemies and strangers must continue to work together against all odds if they want to stay alive. But as they have discovered during their journey, nothing is what it seems, and danger and mystery loom behind every corner, with even those they thought could be trusted turning against them. Even heroes have secrets.

“Lost” stars Naveen Andrews as Sayid, Henry Ian Cusick as Desmond, Michael Emerson as Ben, Matthew Fox as Jack, Jorge Garcia as Hurley, Josh Holloway as Sawyer, Daniel Dae Kim as Jin, Yunjin Kim as Sun, Ken Leung as Miles, Evangeline Lilly as Kate, Elizabeth Mitchell as Juliet and Terry O’Quinn as Locke.

A 2008 recipient of the prestigious Peabody Award, “Lost” was created by Jeffrey Lieber and J.J. Abrams & Damon Lindelof. Abrams, Lindelof, Bryan Burk, Jack Bender, Edward Kitsis, Adam Horowitz and Carlton Cuse serve as executive producers. “Lost,” which is filmed entirely on location in Hawaii and premiered on September 22, 2004, is from ABC Studios.

Private Practice

From Shonda Rhimes, the Golden Globe-winning creator of “Grey’s Anatomy,” comes a story about finding a way to begin the rest of your life. Addison Forbes Montgomery is a renowned neonatal surgeon at the pinnacle of her profession. Having left behind Seattle Grace Hospital and a broken marriage, Addison has moved to Los Angeles for sunnier weather and happier possibilities. Now reunited with her friends from medical school, Naomi and Sam Bennett, Addison has joined their co-op practice at Oceanside Wellness Group in Santa Monica. The practice’s resident pediatrician is Dr. Cooper Freedman, Dr. Pete Wilder is the alternative medicine specialist, psychiatrist Dr. Violet Turner and office manager/nurse, William Dell Parker, round out the tightly knit group of professionals. The doctors of Oceanside work together to find solutions to their patients’ needs, but along the way they encounter medical cases that challenge their ethical and moral ideals and their abilities as doctors. For Addison, an old friend’s invitation has brought her to a new city and a new life full of promise – now it’s up to her to take chances in dating and find her place in this new medical environment. At Oceanside Wellness Group, the doctors are dedicated pros; it’s their private lives that need a little practice.

“Private Practice” stars Kate Walsh as Dr. Addison Forbes Montgomery, Tim Daly as Dr. Pete Wilder, Audra McDonald as Dr. Naomi Bennett, Paul Adelstein as Dr. Cooper Freedman, KaDee Strickland as Dr. Charlotte King, Chris Lowell as William Dell Parker, with Taye Diggs as Dr. Sam Bennett and Amy Brenneman as Dr. Violet Turner.

“Private Practice” was created and is executive-produced by Shonda Rhimes. Betsy Beers, Mark Gordon, Mark Tinker, Jon Cowan and Robert Rovner are executive producers. The series is produced by ABC Studios.

Ugly Betty

In the superficial world of high fashion, image is everything. Styles come and go, and the only constants are the super thin beauties who wear them. How can an ordinary girl from Queens possibly fit in? Sweet, intelligent, hard-working and undoubtedly fashion-challenged, Betty Suarez dreams of a successful career in magazine publishing. After taking a job at Mode Magazine, the bible of the fashion industry, Betty’s indomitable spirit and bright ideas win over the respect of her Mode cohorts despite continuous predictions of failure. She thrives in the ultra-competitive environment in spite of her lack of fashion sense. Betty forms an unlikely team with her boss, Daniel Meade, the co-editor in chief of Mode Magazine, as they help one another navigate the choppy waters of NYC’s shark infested fashion scene. Now she must prove that she is not just a super assistant with no fashion sense, but an aspiring career woman and editor-to-be while balancing her tumultuous love life and her family responsibilities.

“Ugly Betty” stars America Ferrera as Betty Suarez, Eric Mabius as Daniel Meade, Vanessa Williams as Wilhelmina Slater, Ana Ortiz as Hilda, Tony Plana as Ignacio, Becki Newton as Amanda, Mark Indelicato as Justin, Michael Urie as Marc and Judith Light as Claire Meade.

Based on “Yo Soy Betty La Fea,” the groundbreaking Colombian telenovela that became an international phenomenon, “Ugly Betty” is from ABC Studios. The series has been awarded the Golden Globe, Peabody, NAACP, ALMA, GLAAD and Imagen awards and earned 3 Emmy awards and 17 nominations. Executive producers are Silvio Horta (“Urban Legend”), Academy Award-nominee and Emmy Award winner Salma Hayek, Jose Tamez, Richard Heus, Ben Silverman, Teri Weinberg, Tracy Poust and Jon Kinnally.

Better Off Ted

“Better Off Ted” is a satirical office comedy about successful good guy, Ted, who runs research and development at the morally questionable Veridian Dynamics. No achievement is too far-fetched and no invention too unorthodox for Veridian. Need cow-less meat grown in a test tube? Done. Need pumpkins that also double as weapons of mass destruction? No problem. Ted’s a single dad to a seven-year-old girl, and he loves his job, but he’s starting to take a closer look at the company’s extremely dubious practices. Do you manufacture the best teeth whitener ever if it could also kill off all of the planet’s fish? Probably not, but…

Ted’s also fighting an attraction to co-worker Linda, who enjoys small acts of rebellion against Veridian (she’s secretly stealing and hoarding all the company’s creamer packets). But he holds back about his true feelings. He’s already had his self imposed “one office affair” with berboss Veronica. Incredibly beautiful (if seemingly devoid of conscience and also emotion-free), Veronica lets nothing get in her way when it comes to serving Veridian’s needs even if it means doing something like cryogenically freezing an employee for testing purposes. And after all, the employee, research scientist Phil, survived (after he thawed out). So what if he screams like an eagle at the slightest provocation? He and his best friend, fellow research scientist Lem, are both geniuses and when they’re not bickering, they’re responsible for many of Veridian’s miracles of weird science.

“Better Off Ted” stars Jay Harrington as Ted, Portia de Rossi as Veronica, Andrea Anders as Linda, Jonathan Slavin as Phil, Malcolm Barrett as Lem and Isabella Acres as Rose.

“Better Off Ted” is produced by Twentieth Century Fox Television. Victor Fresco (“My Name Is Earl,” “Andy Richter Controls the Universe”) is executive producer and creator of the series.

Scrubs

This irreverent and offbeat comedy received two consecutive Emmy nominations for Outstanding Comedy Series in 2005 and 2006, and was named TV.com’s “Best of 2007″ in Comedy.

“Scrubs” focuses on the unique point of view of Dr. John Dorian, or “J.D.” (Zach Braff). After surviving his internship and residency, and year as an attending physician with his own class of unmanageable interns at Sacred Heart Hospital, J.D. is moving on to greener pastures. He continues to face many challenges in his personal and professional life trying to balance his roles as doctor, father to Sam, devoted live-in boyfriend and friend to his very quirky companions at Sacred Heart.

In its debut year, “Scrubs” was nominated for two Emmy Awards and a People’s Choice Award. It has received a total of 16 Emmy nominations, and it won an Emmy for Outstanding Multi-Camera Picture Editing in 2005 and another for Outstanding Sound Mixing in 2007. In 2004 the series was honored with a prestigious Humanitas Prize. Beginning that same year, it received three consecutive Producers Guild Award nominations, from 2004-2006.

“Scrubs” is produced by ABC Studios. Bill Lawrence (“Spin City”) is the executive producer and creator.

America’s Funniest Home Videos

“America’s Funniest Home Videos” will celebrate its 20th season when it returns in the fall. Hosted by Tom Bergeron, “America’s Funniest Home Videos” is the longest-running primetime show in ABC history and has been entertaining viewers for decades by showing what happens when adults, children and even inanimate objects are at their spontaneous best, “America’s Funniest Home Videos” has given away over $10 million in prize money and evaluated more than half a million videotapes from home viewers. Viewers wishing to submit home videos to “America’s Funniest Home Videos” should visit www.ABC.com for details.

Vin Di Bona is executive producer, with Todd Thicke and Michele Nasraway serving as co-executive producers.

The Bachelor

ABC’s “The Bachelor” is the original primetime romance reality series that offers one lucky man and 25 lucky women the unique opportunity to find true love. The new Bachelor will get to know 25 women via a series of social gatherings and exotic, romantic dates some in groups, some individually. He will introduce some of the women to his family, and will visit their hometowns for a slice of their life in an effort to determine the woman with whom he is most compatible.

“The Bachelor” is hosted by Chris Harrison and produced by Next Entertainment in association with Warner Horizon Television. Mike Fleiss and Martin Hilton are executive producers.

Dancing with the Stars

Hosted by Tom Bergeron (“America’s Funniest Home Videos”) and Samantha Harris (“The Insider”), “Dancing with the Stars” challenges celebrities from the worlds of Hollywood, sports, and beyond, to perform choreographed ballroom routines ranging from the foxtrot to the cha cha cha. Celebrities are paired with some of the top professional ballroom dancers in the world and their live televised performances are judged by renowned ballroom judge Len Goodman and dancer/choreographers Bruno Tonioli and Carrie Ann Inaba.

“Dancing with the Stars” is the U.S. version of the international smash hit series, “Strictly Come Dancing.” This version is produced by BBC Worldwide Americas. Conrad Green serves as executive producer and Rob Wade and Matilda Zoltowski are co-executive producers. Alex Rudzinski directs.

Extreme Makeover: Home Edition

Put together one very run-down house, a deserving family, several opinionated designers, seven days and what do you get? The answer is “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition.” The show has won two Emmy Awards for Outstanding Reality Program, plus the People’s Choice Award for Favorite Reality Show/Makeover and the Family Television Award for Best Alternative/Reality Program. Each episode is self-contained and features a race against time on a project that would ordinarily take at least four months to achieve, involving a team of designers, contractors and several hundred workers who have just seven days to totally rebuild an entire house every single room, plus the exterior and landscaping. The lives of the lucky families are forever changed when they learn that they’ve been selected to have their home walls moved, their floors replaced and even their facades radically changed. The result should be a decorator’s delight if it can be done in time.

The design team includes team leader Ty Pennington, with designers Paul DiMeo, Paige Hemmis, Michael Moloney, Ed Sanders, Tracy Hutson, Eduardo Xol, John Littlefield, Rib Hillis and Didiayer Snyder.

“Extreme Makeover: Home Edition” is produced by Endemol USA, a division of Endemol Holding. David Goldberg is Chairman, Endemol North America. The executive producer is Anthony Dominici (“America’s Next Top Model,” “The Amazing Race”).

Supernanny

“Supernanny” is in its fifth season with Jo Frost criss-crossing America, taking on some of its toughest parenting challenges. She can tame the wildest toddler, soothe the savage six-year-old and get the most difficult child to overcome problems with behavior, sleep, mealtime, potty training and other challenges that have vexed parents around the world for centuries. The series debuted in America in early 2005 and captivated the country with Jo’s practical, no-nonsense style, honed over 20 years of nannying. “Supernanny” is now an international phenomenon; it airs in 172 territories, almost all of them with Frost as Supernanny. The series has been nominated for a People’s Choice Award.

Nick Powell is the creator and executive producer of both the American and British versions of the show. Nick Emmerson and Stephanie Schwam are executive producers of the American version. “Supernanny” is produced by Shed Media US.

True Beauty

What makes a person truly beautiful? From executive producers Tyra Banks (“The Tyra Banks Show,” “America’s Next Top Model”) and Ashton Kutcher (executive producer of “Punk’d” and “Beauty and the Geek”), beauty is redefined in the popular ABC series “True Beauty.”

Gorgeous female and handsome male contestants assume they’re being judged solely on their outer appearance, but they’re only half right; outer beauty is just one component the judges are looking for. Contestants, unbeknownst to them, are also being evaluated for their INNER beauty as they’re tested in challenging situations that require them to make moral decisions.

Each episode will showcase an outer beauty and an inner beauty challenge, during which contestants will be judged on everything from how well they perform in photo shoots to how well they respect their elders. The three judges will observe and critique the contestants’ behavior and eliminate one person each week. Only after someone is eliminated will the truth about the show be revealed to him/her, as they watch a video montage of their behavior captured by a hidden camera during the shoot. At the end of eight episodes, one winner will be declared, a person who is truly beautiful inside and out. That person will receive a cash prize and a spot in PEOPLE magazine’s 100 Most Beautiful People issue.

Executive producers of “True Beauty” are Denise Cramsey (“Extreme Makeover: Home Edition”), Tyra Banks and Laura Armstrong for Bankable Productions, and Ashton Kutcher, Jason Goldberg, Karey Burke and Rod Aissa for Katalyst Productions. The series is a production of Warner Horizon Television.

Wife Swap

Each week two very contradictory families from across the country participate in a two-week-long challenge: The wives exchange husbands, children and lives (but not bedrooms) to discover daily life in another woman’s shoes. This astonishing experiment repeatedly changes lives and redefines families.

In the first week of the swap, the wives move in and adopt their new family’s lifestyle, no matter how different it may be. They agree to follow a manual written by the departing wife that sets out the rules of their new household how they parent, shop, do the house work, manage their budgets and their social life. In the second week, everything changes. The new wives take charge. They introduce their own set of rules and get to run the new household their way. It’s a radical shock to both families. The results are explosive, enlightening, emotional and often comical.

At the end of the show, the two couples meet for the first time. In a highly-charged exchange of views, both couples make a frank assessment of each other and talk about what they’ve learned from the experience.

“Wife Swap” is an RDF USA production. The show was created by Stephen Lambert and is executive-produced by Mike Gamson, and Michael Davies of Embassy Row (“Who Wants to be a Millionaire”). Neil Regan, Julie Cooper and Will Nothacker are co-executive producers.

20/20

ABC News’ acclaimed series “20/20″ has distinguished itself as one of the most esteemed news programs in broadcast journalism. Amid the heated, competitive environment of primetime entertainment, “20/20″ has demonstrated its ability to consistently attract a significant segment of the viewing audience by offering viewers more choices and more chances to learn about the world around them. Copy/pasted from Futon Critic For over three decades, “20/20″ has continued to combine hard-hitting investigative reports, newsmaker interviews and compelling human interest and feature stories that have changes lives.

The program is co-anchored by the broadcast team of Elizabeth Vargas and John Stossel, both award-winning journalists.

The series finale of ‘Underbelly: A Tale of Two Cities’ screened last night with a solid audience figure of 2.07 million viewers.

The finale beat out Seven’s ‘Desperate Housewives’ with 1.10 million and Ten’s ‘Good News Week’ with 817,000.

Nine topped the night with an overall audience percentage of 29.1, over Seven’s 26.2, Ten’s 21.5, ABC’s 15.4 and SBS’ 7.8.

The ‘Underbelly’ finale fell short of the 2.58 million that tuned in for the series premiere, but was an improvement over the ratings slum of under 1.85 million over the past few weeks.

The Nine Network are currently in development with Screentime on a third series of ‘Underbelly’, which will bridge the gap between series two and the original.

Australia's Rachel Griffiths stars on ABC's hit drama series 'Brothers and Sisters'.

Staple series ‘Brothers and Sisters’, ‘Desperate Housewives’, ‘Grey’s Anatomy’, ‘Private Practice’ and ‘Ugly Betty’ have all been renewed for the 2009/2010 season by ABC.

The five series join the final season of ‘Lost’ which was given a three season pick-up back in 2007.

Conspicuously, all of ABC’s current midseason programs have yet to receive a pick-up from the alphabet, including ‘Scrubs’, ‘In the Motherhood’, ‘Samantha Who?’, ‘The Unusuals’, ‘Better Off Ted’ and ‘Castle’.

Also on the pick-up list are gangbuster reality series ‘Dancing with the Stars’ and ‘The Bachelor’; as well as ’Extreme Makeover: Home Edition’, ‘Wife Swap’, ‘Supernanny’ and ‘America’s Funniest Home Videos’.

Dash Mihok joins the cast of CBS' comedy pilot, 'The Fish Tank'.

Dash Mihok (‘William Shakespeare’s Romeo + Juliet’) will play the offbeat neighbour on CBS’ comedy pilot ‘The Fish Tank’, which centers on a teenager (Drake Bell) living alone in his family’s house.

The Ben Stiller-directed comedy pilot ‘The Station’, is gaining momentum with Rob Huebel (‘Curb Your Enthusiasm’) and Julio Oscar Mechoso (‘Cane’) joining the cast. The 20th Century Fox TV pilot revolves around covert CIA operatives in South America, which includes Mechoso. Huebel will play an assassin.

Kevin Rahm (‘Desperate Housewives’) and Jeff Davis are joining ABC Studios’ comedy pilot presentation ‘This Little Piggy’, about a man (Davis) and his sister who move in with their eldest brother (Rahm).

Alison Brie (‘Mad Men’) has joined the cast of Sony Pictures Televison’s ‘Community’, as a student at the community college set comedy pilot.

'7 is Heaven' will be the new name for daytime programming on digital channel '72'. While bizarre, not entirely unbelievable from the network with "Mr. TV Man" as their main mascot.

The Seven Network have finally put their money where their mouth is, and have announced their multi-channelling plans for the Freeview platform.

The network will launch with three distinct channels from November, including their current SD digital channel ‘7′, a re-launched ’7 HD’ and an all new ‘7 Extra’.

While speaking at the “Get ready for digital TV” forum in Sydney this morning, Seven’s CEO David Leckie said “the current economic crisis has put a lot of things into perspective. Our multi-channelling plans will address these issues.”

First up is the new HD channel. The network will continue using the ‘Seven HD’ moniker for channel ‘70′, which will be dedicate to all Australian content.

It will screen new first run lifestyle programs, time-shifted news and re-runs of Australian drama including ‘City Homicide’, ‘Packed to the Rafters’, ‘All Saints’, ‘Home and Away’ and older series like ‘Last Man Standing’, “HeadLand” and ‘A Country Practice’.

The channel will also show a simulcast of Seven’s regular channel ‘7′ in HD for select content, i.e., movies and other “must-see TV.”

Seven will re-launch ‘The Great Outdoors’, which has been MIA for some time now. Naomi Robson (‘Today Tonight’) and Charlie Delaney (‘Hi:5′, ‘Battle of the Choirs’) will be joining the travel show as globe trotting presenters.

‘Out of the Red’, is a new first run lifestyle program that will screen on the new 7HD. It will feature ‘Sunrise’ hosts, Mel and Kochie, as they help people bogged down by the current economic crisis. The new series will see the duo help families with their debts and give them tips for getting”out of the red”.

The network announced that they have several other new lifestyle programs in development which will be announced at a later date.

“Lifestyle programs are much more cost effective for us to produce in this current economic climate. The smaller budgets mean we can experiment with various concepts and ideas without breaking the bank” said Leckie. “We’ll offset our new lifestyle programming on the new 7HD with our large back-catalogue of great Aussie drama,” he added.

The network’s plans for their second standard definition channel, ‘7 Extra’ (‘72′), is a little more interesting.

In a bold move for the commercial broadcaster, the new channel will outsource its programming blocks to various content producers.

Deals have been struck with Walt Disney, Bloomberg Television, the Australian Christian Channel and various community television stations from around the country.

“By outsourcing the programming to different content providers, we’ll be able to create a diverse programming line up,” Leckie added. ”We’ve established a new shared advertising revenue scheme with the content producers, which will see lower up front costs for content.”

Each programming block will be themed depending on the content producer. The four banner names will be: ‘7 is Finance’, ‘7 is Heaven’, ‘7 is Adventure’ and ‘7 is Community’.

‘7 is Finance’ will run during the morning programming block (6 am to 11 am) and will feature non-stop finance reports from Bloomberg Television.

“Keeping people up to date with the markets is just another way we’ll be helping people during these troubled times,” said Leckie.

‘7 is Heaven’ will run during the daytime programming block (11 am to 5 pm) and will feature a schedule developed by the Australian Christian Channel. The ACC have several new programs in development including a new music program produced in conjunction with the Hillsong Church. It will be hosted by ‘Australian Idol’ winner and renowned Hillsong member Guy Sebastian.

Classic TV dramas including ‘Touched by an Angel’, ‘Joan of Arcadia’ and ‘7th Heaven’ will run throughout the week, while Sunday’s will feature live sermons from around the country.

“All of our daytime programming will be aimed at spreading hope and optimism to our viewers,” said Leckie.

“But the ‘adventure’ really begins on ‘7 Extra’ during prime-time,” he announced.

‘7 is Adventure’ will run between 5 pm and 1 am. It’ll feature content from the network’s output deal with Disney/ABC Studios. It will screen all of Disney’s classic animations like ‘Sleeping Beauty’ and ‘The Lion King’, as well as more mature content from Walt Disney Pictures, Touchstone Pictures and Miramax Films. Titles will include film franchises ‘Pirates of the Caribbean’,'The Chronicles of Narnia’ and ‘Kill Bill’, as well as box office hits like ‘Pearl Harbour’ and ‘Gangs of New York’.

TV series from ABC Studios will join the ‘7 is Adventure’ block, with ‘Desperate Housewives’, ‘Lost’, ‘Grey’s Anatomy’, ‘Brothers and Sister’, ‘Ugly Betty’, ’Scrubs’, ‘Commander in Chief’ and ‘Alias’ will all be getting a re-run on the new channel. ‘Night Stalker’, ‘Dirt’, ‘Kyle XY’ and ‘Greek’ will also make the move to free-to-air under the new ‘7 is Adventure’ block.

Disney channel movies and TV series like ‘High School Musical’, ‘Camp Rock’ and ‘Hannah Montana’ will air Saturday nights under the new ‘adventure’ banner.

From 1 am to 6 am, ‘7 is Community’ will screen, with original programming from Sydney’s TVS, Melbourne’s C31 and other community stations from around the country.

“We really want to embrace the community as a source of great entertainment,” said Leckie. “The new shared revenue scheme will really benefit independent content makers and allow them to create more ambitious programs.”

‘7 Extra’ will be broadcast on digital channel ‘72′.

“As the leaders in television, our mission is to bring viewers diverse and entertaining programs.”

“We believe that we’ve come up with a great strategy for our multi-channelling line up, which will provide both variety and quality,” Leckie concluded.

So after several long months, Seven’s digital TV plans have finally been unveiled and the all-Aussie channel and the outsourced programming channel are both pretty bold ideas for the network. It’s definitely the most comprehensive and unique plan we’ve seen from a free-to-air broadcaster so far.

Too bad we’ll have to wait until November.

Oh, and by the way…April fools!

Walt Disney Home Entertainment have announced a batch of new TV series DVD sets. Check out some early cover art below.

The podcast returns with the first episode of 2009. We discuss all the new and returning series, including Underbelly: A Tale of Two Cities, Sunday Night, Life On Mars, Bondi Vet, Guerilla Gardeners, So You Think You Can Dance, LOST, Kyle XY, Packed to the Rafters and Ugly Betty. We also delve into the issues surrounding Freeview and make our predictions for the 2009 television season.

The highly anticipated launch of Nine’s follow up to last years mega success Underbelly will launch this year on Monday Feb 9th at 8.30 p.m.

The timeslot has been up in the air for a while now with reports that it would begin airing on Wednesday Feb 11 for two weeks before being flicked across to anchor the 8.30 timeslot on Sundays.

Monday will see the show prosper against weaker competition in Desperate Housewives and Good News Week.

The episode on Feb 9 will be a 2-hour premiere.

So will Underbelly put a nail in the coffin of Desperate Housewives? Seven have a pretty weak Monday night schedule – lucky for them Underbelly will only be a 12 episode run compared to the 22-24 episode order of Desperate Housewives.

News, families, murder and wives…sounds like it could be a description for the Nine Network’s upcoming series, Underbelly: A Tale of Two Cities. In actual fact, this is exactly what Underbelly will be up against in its time slot.

The Nine Network today announced that their hugely anticipated follow up to last year’s controversial drama, Underbelly, will premiere with a 2-hour premiere on Monday February 9th.

This will pit it directly against Seven’s long time Monday night line up of Desperate Housewives and Brothers & Sisters. It will also see it face off against Ten’s Good News Week and Dexter.

Now considering that all these U.S. drama’s are about 5 months old, I wonder what people will be watching? Any guesses?

Underbelly: A Tale of Two Cities, premieres 8:30pm Monday, February 10th on Nine.

• Grey’s Anatomy lead out program Private Practice managed a healthy 9.03M, A18-49: 3.4/8, A18-34: 3.3/9 on its first Thursday night airing.

• Up against The Golden Globes and 24, Desperate Housewives hit a series low with 13.5M, A18-49: 5.2/12, A18-34: 4.8/12.

• After being off the air for 18 months, Sunday’s airing of 24 garnered 12.52M, A18-49: 4.2/10, A18-34: 3.5/10 followed by 11.95M, A18-49: 3.9/10, A18-34: 3.4/9 on Monday.

• After a solid debut Superstars of Dance on Monday fails, losing nearly 3M viewers with 7.1M, A18-49: 1.9/5, A18-34: 1.7/4.

• American Idol premiered to massive ratings with its Tuesday episode pulling in 30.074M, A18-49: 11.8/28 and A18-34: 9.9/26 and 29.854M, A18-49: 11.7/29 and A18-34: 10.7/29 on Wednesday. Casualties include 90210, Privileged, Scrubs and Homeland Security, all losing a large chunk from its previous airings.

Source: Nielsen TV Ratings

         
• An official announced hasn’t been made yet, but Desperate Housewives will be around for at least another four years. Creator Marc Cherry is currently in talks with ABC in regards to a deal extension which will see the Housewives remain on our small screens until 2012-2013. The current season, which fast-forwarded five years has received a lot of positive feedback and has opened a can of worms for the writers.

• NBC recently announced they would be scrapping their 10pm shows for a talk show hosted by Jay Leno. For weekending December 5th , the Tonight Show finished with its highest ratings since February – 5.3M A18-49: 1.4 and won its timeslot against The Late Show with David Letterman and Nightline, 4.2M A18-49: 1.0/4 and 4M A18-49: 1.1/4 respectively.

• On Friday, The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced our Hugh Jackman will be hosting the Oscars.

• HBO’s critically acclaimed Tru Blood will be back for a second season and creator Alan Ball has dropped a few secrets in regards to season two: 

WARNING SPOILERS “Jason goes into the Fellowship of the Sun church in a big way and is surprised by what he finds there. There’s a new creature in town that is unlike any other. Nobody knows what this creature is, I’m not sure if it will be entirely explained in the show — it’s not a werewolf. There are new romances for Tara, Jason and Sara. Bill and Sookie have a lot of issues to sort out — including having made a new teenage vampire that’s living in their house. Bill and Sookie also go to Dallas to find one of their own who has gone missing.”

• Showtime is developing a new reality series concerning gay people coming out to friends and family. It will be led by Bryn Freedman and will be titled Way Out.

• Privileged hasn’t been doing too well out of a friendly Gossip Girl lead-in, with the first episode mustering only 2.20M A18-49:1.0/2 A18-34:1.5/4 and the second episode slipping even further to 1.90M A18-49: 1.0/2 A18-34: 1.5/4. Fans should enjoy the remaining episodes as I don’t see The CW renewing it.

What an interesting fall it has been, with a number of good performances from The Mentalist, Smallville, Supernatural and Gossip Girl to name a few and many casualties in My Own Worst Enemy, Dirty Sexy Money, Eli Stone, Pushing Daisies, Do Not Disturb, Lipstick Jungle, The Ex-List, Easy Money, Valentine, In Harm’s Way and Til Death. Here is how I rate each show.

Winners

The Simpsons: Back for its 20th season, The Simpsons has been Fox’s Sunday night stable mate pulling in an average of ~9M viewers this season. Couple this with the highest rating Treehouse of Horror episode in five years. Simpsons is definitely a winner for Fox even though the jokes seem to be recycled over and over again.

Family Guy: Has not dropped out of the weekly top 10 in the 18-49 bracket and dominates the 18-34 demo against the likes of Desperate Housewives and NFL. Has a number of years left in it.

Desperate Housewives: Now into its fifth season, the housewives seem to never age. Viewership has diminished due to a lacklustre third season (?), nevertheless it is Sunday’s night top scripted drama in total viewers and 18-49 demo.

Chuck: Against some tough opposition, Chuck managed to remain around the 6.5M mark and over the 2 rating in key demos in the fall.

Big Bang Theory and How I Met Your Mother: Continually defies the critics, occasionally winning the timeslot in the key demos and has slowly built an audience over the fall season.

Two and a Half Men: Veteran CBS comedy which defies logic and reaps in excess of 14M viewers every week.

CSI: Miami and CSI: NY: The two spin-offs constantly pull in the masses and in Miami’s case building on its lead in.

Gossip Girl: Season 2 has been somewhat of a break through season for the teen drama, hitting series high numbers and providing a suitable and beneficial lead in for One Tree Hill.

One Tree Hill: After falling below the 3M mark during its 3rd, 4th and 5th seasons, One Tree Hill has bounced back nicely, regularly rating in the mid to low 3M range.

House: The move to 8/7c hasn’t helped its numbers, but it is taking one for the team as Fox continue to develop Fringe. Still pulls in massive demos for the news corp. network.

The Mentalist and NCIS: Against the House and Dancing juggernauts these two dramas have performed admirably, especially The Mentalist which does particularly well for the eye in the demos.

90210: Was off to a flying start, but numbers have settled around the 3M mark. Occasionally out-rates CW’s other teen dramas in One Tree Hill and Gossip Girl.

Criminal Minds: Behind the CSI franchise, it is CBS’s best rating demographic show amongst all the crime procedurals.

30 Rock: Has been nurtured nicely and off the back of the US election and Tina Fey’s extra exposure, numbers have soared to series highs.

The Office: The peacock’s best rating show in the fall, challenges the likes of Grey’s Anatomy, House and Desperate Housewives for the 18-49 crown.

ER: In its final season and still pulling in the viewers left, right and centre. Also defeats the likes of lead in assisted shows Life on Mars and Eleventh Hour in the key demos. One of NBC’s top rating shows of the fall.

CSI: Still pulling in the masses in its ninth season, also stays competitive in the demos against the demo king Grey’s Anatomy.

Grey’s Anatomy: Numbers have died down for the once ratings juggernaut, but it is still the week’s top rating demo show.

Supernatural and Smallville: Are up year-on-year and ratings can not be better with Supernatural soaring to series highs. Well deserved winners.

On the Bubble

King of the Hill: The recently cancelled animated comedy just misses out on the winners list. Regularly winning its timeslot in the 18-34 demo and hovering around the 6-7M mark week in week out. What were the execs at Fox smoking when they swung the axe?

American Dad: My favourite animated comedy of them all, does well in the demos but poor retention out of Family Guy has it a bee’s d**k away from a winner.

Amazing Race: Has slipped significantly in the demo, sometimes even dropping below the 2 rating in the 18-34 demo.

Cold Case: Solid numbers for veteran CBS, but its demos aren’t what CBS are looking for. If not for NFL overrun, CBS would be dead last in the demos on Sundays.

Brothers and Sisters: Averages 10M every week and a 4 rating in the demos, but losing a third of a compatible lead in is not good enough. Anymore it would’ve been a loser.

Heroes: Has lost a lot of steam, in previous seasons in has dominated the demos with nothing coming close to it, but this season Two and a Half Men constantly beats it in the key demos.

Prison Break: Has been stable across the fall season and regularly clears the 2 rating in the demos.

Old Christine and Gary Unmarried: Numbers for a relatively easy timeslot are soft, but CBS haven’t had another comedy block outside of Mondays, so this deserves a little credit, only just.

Samantha Who?: Just makes it into this list, retention out of Dancing with the Stars is a paltry 50 odd percent, but nothing else has done better out of Dancing. My judgement on Samantha Who? might change when the ratings for last night are released early tomorrow morning our time.

Boston Legal: After surviving the culling last year, Boston Legal continues to out perform a number of the alphabet’s other shows even though it is in its final season.

Fringe: Still a work in progress and if it weren’t for a House lead-in would be in the trash by now. Nevertheless, does well in the demos and is Fox’s best rating drama since House itself.

Law and Order SVU: Has tumbled to series low numbers, but still a consistent performer for an otherwise struggling network.

The Biggest Loser: Constantly slides under the radar for NBC, it is one of NBC’s best performers in demos.

America’s Next Top Model: Initially numbers were soft but has built as the season progressed, with the finale pulling in 4.8M and was the night’s top rating program amongst the 18-34 demo.

Private Practice: Best of a bad bunch on a Wednesday night, numbers will improve once it proceeds its sister show, Grey’s Anatomy.

Ugly Betty: Hasn’t reached the highs of its inaugural season, but still one of ABC’s better shows.

Life on Mars and Eleventh Hour: Poor retention out of lead in, but numbers have been acceptable.

Survivor: The reality veteran continues to kick off CBS’s Thursday night with a bang.

Ghost Whisperer and Numb3rs: Solid but not spectacular Friday night performers.

Everybody Hates Chris and The Game: Numbers are down on Smackdown, but approx 1.5-2M isn’t a bad effort for The CW.

Losers

The Unit: Moving it from Tuesday night to Sundays has sugar coated some flaws but retention out of Cold Case is good, however demos are a worry.

In Harm’s Way, Easy Money and Valentine: all lasted less than 6 weeks, could only muster 1M or so viewers and couldn’t even crack a point in the demo.

My Own Worst Enemy: The recently cancelled drama had a lot of potential, but numbers just didn’t stack up.

Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles: Continues to bleed viewers from its series premiere, with its last airing netting less than 5M viewers. It might have a core fan base, but that is where it ends.

Privileged: Even though its one of my favourites of the new fall season, numbers have been poor out of a compatible 90210.

Eli Stone: Poor retention out of Dancing which eventually led to its cancellation.

Without A Trace: No longer appeals to the masses, but averages reasonable numbers for procedural kings CBS.

Pushing Daisies: Struggled in a relatively easy slot, with figures slipping below the 5.5M mark and 2 rating in the demo.

Dirty Sexy Money: Another sophomore drama culled due to ABC’s stupidity, however ratings were poor and cancellation was justified.

Stylista: What were The CW thinking here? Project Runway, Shear Genius to name a few.

Knight Rider: Exciting show which hasn’t caught on to the masses.

Life: Has lost its oomph factor from its freshman season and even with the shift to a more viewer friendly timeslot, numbers have been poor.

Lipstick Jungle: Numbers have headed south since its season two premiere.

Do Not Disturb and Til Death: Should have never green lit these two shows.

Deal or No Deal: Viewer fatigue has finally set in for this once stable performer.

My Name is Earl: Novelty is wearing off this once funny comedy.

Kath and Kim: Hasn’t worked out for NBC, but has the potential to be a good comedy.

Kitchen Nightmares and Hole in the Wall: Down year-on-year in that timeslot.

The Ex-List, Crusoe, Are you Smarter than a 5th Grader and Don’t Forget the Lyrics: Crusoe and Ex-List both couldn’t crack it on Friday, averaging ordinary numbers. The shift to Fridays for 5th Grader and Lyrics hasn’t worked out with both pulling less than its Thursday numbers.

Worst Week: Poor retention out of Two and a Half Men.

ABC’s official mid-season schedule has been released and WTF.

ABC says this schedule can still change if The Unusuals and The Goode Family don’t make it to February or March, but where on earth is Life on Mars?

Full Schedule after the break

Mondays
8:00/7:00c – The Bachelor (New Season)
9:30/8:30c – Samantha Who?
10:00/9:00c – True Beauty (New Series)

Tuesdays
8:00/7:00c – Border Security USA (New Series)
9:00/8:00c – According to Jim (New Season)
9:30/8:30c – According to Jim (New Season)
10:00/9:00c – Eli Stone

Wednesdays
8:00/7:00c – Scrubs (New Season)
8:30/7:30c – The Goode Family (New Series)
9:00/8:00c – Lost (New Season)
10:00/9:00c – The Unusuals (New Series)

Thursdays
8:00/7:00c – Ugly Betty
9:00/8:00c – Grey’s Anatomy
10:00/9:00c – Private Practice (New Time Slot)

Fridays
8:00/7:00c – Wife Swap
9:00/8:00c – Supernanny
10:00/9:00c – 20/20

Saturdays
8:00/7:00c – Saturday Night Movie

Sundays
7:00/6:00c – America’s Funniest Home Videos
8:00/7:00c – Extreme Makeover: Home Edition
9:00/8:00c – Desperate Housewives
10:00/9:00c – Brothers & Sisters

Has Sanity finally prevailed over at the ABC? An unconfirmed leak of their mid-season schedule suggests so. This will see the shuffling of numerous shows including Grey’s Anatomy spin-off Private Practice, which is tipped to follow it’s original in the mid-season, and freshman drama, Life on Mars proceeding Lost at 10pm on Wednesdays.

The rumour mill also suggests ABC Studios are planning to have multi episode crossover story lines for Grey’s and Private, during the February sweeps.

The new schedule also sees the return of the final season of Scrubs and the debut of America’s spin-off of Border Security.

Also Dirty Sexy Money fans should still have some faith as according to a couple of sources, it might be given a full season.

What are your thoughts? I would love to hear them, in my opinion it looks like a strong line up except for Mondays and Tuesdays, where anything can happen.

Entire Schedule after the break:

Mondays
8:00/7:00c – The Bachelor (New Season)
9:30/8:30c – Samantha Who?
10:00/9:00c – True Beauty (New Series)

Tuesdays
8:00/7:00c – Border Security USA (New Series)
9:00/8:00c – According to Jim (New Season)
9:30/8:30c – According to Jim (New Season)
10:00/9:00c – Eli Stone

Wednesdays
8:00/7:00c – Scrubs (New Season)
8:30/7:30c – Scrubs (New Season)
9:00/8:00c – Lost (New Season)
10:00/9:00c – Life on Mars (New Time Slot)

Thursdays
8:00/7:00c – Ugly Betty
9:00/8:00c – Grey’s Anatomy
10:00/9:00c – Private Practice (New Time Slot)

Fridays
8:00/7:00c – Wife Swap
9:00/8:00c – Here Come the Newlyweds (New Season)
10:00/9:00c – 20/20

Saturdays
8:00/7:00c – Saturday Night Movie

Sundays
7:00/6:00c – America’s Funniest Home Videos
8:00/7:00c – Extreme Makeover: Home Edition
9:00/8:00c – Desperate Housewives
10:00/9:00c – Brothers & Sisters

During the spring, newcomers Better Off Ted, Castle, Cupid, The Goode Family and The Unusuals are due to premiere.

Again, keep in mind this is pure speculation and hasn’t been confirmed. An announcement is due tomorrow morning American time and in a few hours for us down under.

Sources: Hollywood Reporter and The Futon Critic

Desperate Housewives actor Gale Harold is in hospital today recovering from a severe motorcycle accident on Tuesday.

His publicist Nancy Seltzer said “We can confirm that Gale Harold was in a motorcycle accident yesterday…”

“He has fractured his shoulder and is under observation to assess any possible further injuries. Everyone is hopeful for a full recovery.”

It’s believed the accident will not affect the filming of the series, sources say, “It’s something they can work around – production schedules are changing all the time and they will work it out.”

Harold is famous for his role in Queer As Folk, but currently stars as the love interest of Teri Hatcher on Desperate Housewives.

Source: Entertainment Weekly

With only weeks until new episodes of ABC’s hottest shows begin, we thought we’d take this opportunity to recap on all you favourites so that you’re all caught up for the new season.  What better way to recap than to point you in the direction of ABC’s starter kits. If you have a US iTunes account you can download some of these great little recaps in HD to your computer, iPod or to AppleTV. Otherwise, click more to start your revisions.

Brothers and Sisters

Ugly Betty

Desperate Housewives

Grey’s Anatomy

Private Practice

Eli Stone

Samantha Who?

Dirty Sexy Money

Pushing Daisies

Universal Studios today announced that they would be adding a large collection of their television series, including current NBC and Sci-Fi Channel shows to the Australian iTunes store. Their offerings include The Office, House, Battlestar Galactica, Monk, Psych, Law and Order SVU, Eureka, Sliders, Hercules, Xena, The Munsters, Miami Vice, Knight Rider, The A-Team and more.

Universal Studios are the third of the big six US television content producers to be added to the iTunes store, after Disney’s ABC Studios who currently offer hit series including Lost, Desperate Housewives and Grey’s Anatomy; and Viacom who offer shows from MTV, but currently no scripted drama or comedy content from its CBS Paramount subsidiary.

See entire the Universal catalogue on iTunes.

Gail O’Grady roughed the city streets of New York in ABC’s NYPD Blue, then donned a 60’s hairdo in Philadelphia on NBC’s American Dreams, she moved once again to Palm Springs on The CW’s Hidden Palms. But now she in for another big move. Where to you ask?

Wisteria Lane. That’s right! The television veteran is about to become one of TV’s most talked about housewives in a possible story line which could blow Gabrielle and the gardener’s fling out of the water.

Here’s a hint. With the 5 year jump, Lynette’s terrorising twins will suddenly be hormone-ridden teens. Any guesses?

Desperate Housewives returns for its fifth season, September 29 on ABC.

(Source: EW.com)

Here is quick list of season and series premieres to get you started.  Let us know of any other premiere dates in the comments.

Hit more to see the list.

All dates are local time.

24th August

• Australian Idol – TEN

2nd September

• Prison Break –  FOX
• Gossip Girl – CW
• One Tree Hill – CW

19th September

• Smallville – CW
• Supernatural – CW

23rd September

• How I Met Your Mother – CBS
• The Big Bang Theory – CBS
• Boston Legal – ABC

25th September

• Lipstick Jungle – NBC
• Criminal Minds – CBS
• Knight Rider – NBC
• The New Adventures of Old Christine – CBS

26th September

• Ugly Betty – ABC
• Grey’s Anatomy – ABC
• The Office – NBC

29th September

• Desperate Housewives -ABC

30th September

• The Amazing Race – CBS
• Chuck – NBC

2nd October

• Private Practice – ABC
• Pushing Daisies – ABC
• Dirty Sexy Money – ABC

4th October

• Ghost Whisperer

7th October

• Samantha Who? – ABC

11th October

• Kath & Kim  - NBC

15th October

• Eli Stone – ABC

31st October

• 30 Rock – NBC