The 4400 at 4am

This is one of the most puzzling scheduling moves so far this year.

TEN is returning new episodes of The 4400 to our screens -at 4am on a Saturday morning!

What the???

Now I know the show didn't exactly set the world on fire. After a huge premiere with a 1.99m audience it quickly fell away. The network then pulled it before retrying it in new timeslots including late on Sunday nights.

But now it's bringing it back in a ludicrous timeslot sandwiched between Home Shopping and the religious programme This Is Your Day with Benny Hinn.

TEN's love / hate affair with sci-fi is very puzzling indeed. It's stuck with Smallville and committed to two series of Torchwood. Then a noir series like Battlestar Galactica attracts great reviews and a surprised audience doesn't really get it. So it got lumbered to 1am on Monday mornings.

I guess the Programmers would argue they are just responding to audience figures. However the audience responds to marketing and scheduling too.

The 4400 promised much, but delivered slowly. However I don't think it deserves such an alien timeslot as 4am on a Saturday morning. Are we supposed to watch it when we come home from a big night out?

It returns 4am Saturday morning March 31.

For more shows abducted by programmers check Missing in Action.
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Boning Eddie rumors back

There's again talk of Eddie McGuire being replaced as CEO of Nine. The rumours just won't seem to go away. This time the talk is the he will be replaced by David Gyngell, who walked out of Nine 2 years ago citing difficulties with PBL's John Alexander and went to LA to run Granada.



Gyngell met with James Packer last week and word is he accepted an offer as CEO so long as he answers only to Packer. But then we've heard such tales before, right?

Gyngell is reportedly putting together a "dream team" of executives including Mark Fennessy of Crackerjack (Fremantle). Rory Callaghan recently of Southern Star has also been mentioned.

Eddie replaced Gyngell when he left, but earning a much bigger pay packet than his predecessor.

The suggestion is Eddie would return to hosting 1 vs 100 and The Footy Show with a $4m salary.

UPDATE: Crikey is now reporting that Gyngell specifically denies Crikey's own claim. Add to it a very long list of rumours and denials, including several by Eddie that he was ever gonna take the CEO job in the first place. I need a Bex and a lie-down.
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Idol's Simon to Host Ryan: "Come Out"

Been a lot of talk about "outing" lately, and I decided not to participate in a recent debate that's made local news.

But when it makes prime time American TV it's a slightly different thing. It's on air, there's footage and millions of people are suddenly privvy to the topic at hand.

So have a look what went down on American Idol this week. A picture paints a thousand words (unfortunately).



The irony is its camp Cowell who has always attracted more rumours than Seacrest.
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8:40 timeslots are back

Seven is up to its old scheduling tricks again.

Half your favourite shows will no longer be starting at standard 7:30 or 8:30 times.

Ugly Betty, Desperate Housewives, Grey's Anatomy, What About Brian, Brothers and Sisters, Heroes, and Prison Break are moving by ten minutes.

Yep, 7:40, 8:40 and 9:40pm in the week of March 25.

Why?

Audiences won't be happy with this "strategy." Many see this scheduling tactic as a move to thwart opposition programming. Frankly, I see it as a move to alienate a loyal audience. Smart idea when you are already winning.

The last time I discussed 70 minute programming with a Seven spokesperson, the answer I was given was that shows like The Great Outdoors had "more story to tell." It's strange that they didn't have more story to tell the week before. It's also crazy that a show can't EDIT or needs 70 minutes to relate information it couldn't communicate in 60.

So now we will have 70 minute editions of Australia's Got Talent, The Rich List and Air Crash Investigations. Whacko.

This is on top of Seven's Tuesday moving target when poor fans of All Saints have to tune in at a different time every week with Dancing with the Stars overruns. At least that show is live, there is some logic there.

So what do you think about 7:40, 8:40 and 9:40 times? Leave a comment.
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Silverchair joins Rove

Silverchair will perform on Rove Live April 1 in a rare TV appearance.

The band will sing "Straight Lines" from their soon to be released album "Young Modern."

As producer of the Arias, Rove has always had a close connection with the music industry and this will be Silverchair's second appearance on the show.


The return of Rove Live to Sundays is a bold move by TEN as a way to rejuvenate the show after struggling figures last year.

Press Release follows:

As ROVE returns in its brand new Sunday night timeslot, the highly anticipated event will be celebrated with an explosive performance by one of Australia’s most successful music phenomena.

In a rare and exclusive television appearance, silverchair will perform their smash hit single STRAIGHT LINES from their soon to be released album YOUNG MODERN.

The appearance will be the band’s first television performance of their own material since 2002 and is their second visit to studio Rove.

“Music has always been a vital element of ROVE and it will continue to be a mainstay of the program this year. It is brilliant that Daniel, Ben and Chris can join Rove for his first show back and help celebrate our Sunday night debut.” Craig Campbell, Executive Producer, ROVE.
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Thu Mar 15

[Ten/7:30pm] Jamie At Home. New Series. Jamie Oliver is doing what he does best - cooking, at home. He explains how easy it is to grow your own produce; sometimes in weird and wonderful ways. Also, how simple it is to make something around only one primary ingredient.
[Ten/8:30pm] Law & Order: S.V.U. “Underbelly.” After a third young teen is found dead, Stabler and Beck investigate a paw print tattoo on her lower back, which leads them to Broder House, a foster home for young girls.They learn that she had ended up working the street.
[Ten/9:30pm] Law & Order: Criminal Intent. "Country Crossover" Logan and Wheeler investigate the death of a hip-hop producer which is initially believed to be connected to his professional interests, but later the attention turns to his romantic interests.


[SBS/8:30pm] The Eagle: A Crime Odyssey. As the boundaries between international terrorism and organised crime become more and more blurred, Western nations find themselves increasingly threatened by violence and lawlessness on an unimaginable scale. In Denmark, a special unit is set up to fight international crime with links to similar teams across Scandinavia and around the world. On Thursday 15 March at 8.30pm, SBS Television will begin screening a new detective series, The Eagle: A Crime Odyssey. The Eagle is the code name for the charismatic detective Hallgrim Hallgrimsson (Jens Albinus). Called The Eagle for his unerring intuition, Hallgrimsson leads a team of crime fighters equipped with the most advanced technology and high-tech weapons. However his dynamic, self-assured and competent façade hides a tormented soul. The cases that he and his team tackle involve child pornography and the Israeli mafia in Berlin; a Congolese war criminal setting up shop in Europe; illegal arms trading within a respected corporation; and a suicide terrorist commando in Copenhagen. The cases are as varied as the international locations used in the series. The Eagle: A Crime Odyssey won the International Emmy for Best Drama in 2005. Creators Mai Brostrøm and Peter Thorsboe liken the character of Hallgrimsson to the mythical figure of Odysseus, whose travels not only lead him into danger but who also must wrestle with events from his past. The first episode sees Hallgrimsson, who is on his way to Iceland to visit his dying mother, called back to duty after a policeman is killed at Copenhagen airport. An anonymous English-speaking caller has told the police where to find the body and finished his call with one word – Jihad. Back in the capital, Thea Nullemann, the newly appointed Commissioner of Police is setting up a new section to fight crime on an international scale. The one person she wants on the team is Hallgrimsson.
Meanwhile, Sandberg, a well-known criminal identity, wins a court case and is about to leave Copenhagen airport on board his private jet. At his temporary command unit, Hallgrimsson slowly begins to fit the pieces of these seemingly disparate incidences together.

[SBS/10:00pm] The Mighty Boosh - Nanageddon - Vince persuades two Goth girls that he is a sorcerer and invites them to his house to prove it. In order to maintain the charade he persuades Howard to 'Goth up' and borrows Naboo's book of Black Magic. To impress the girls, Vince summons a demon, which turns out to be a little old lady. Unimpressed, the girls leave, but then Vince and Howard realise the old lady has disappeared along with the book. When Naboo hears about it, he realises that it's Nanatoo, the evilest demon known to man, and predicts blood on the street. (From the UK, in English) (Comedy Series) (Part 3) M (A, L) CC WS

[SBS/10:30pm] Anatomie 2 - A sequel to Anatomy, recently shown on SBS. Jo Hauser is an idealistic young intern who goes to work in a large hospital in Berlin. His goal is to find a cure for the muscle-wasting disease which afflicts his younger brother. He gets caught on an exhausting treadmill of work until he attracts the attention of Professor Muller-Larousse. Larousse is doing research on artificial muscles. Naturally Jo is interested and joins the professor's special research group. Things hot up when the professor, who is desperate to get an edge on a rival research group, hounds his young doctors into getting more implants and testing more drugs. Slowly people's bodies start to fall apart. And when one young doctor is found to have committed suicide and one is murdered, the scales finally fall from Jo's eyes and he realises that he is in extreme danger. (From Germany, in German with English subtitles) (Thriller) MA (V, S, L) CC WS

[ABC/9:30pm] Derek Tastes Of Earwax. Looks at the bizarre condition Synesthesia - in which the senses become intermingled. Some people can actually hear colours, others can taste shapes, smell sounds and feel smells.

[Nine/7:30pm] Getaway.
[Nine/8:30pm] Missing Persons Unit
[Nine/9:30pm] The Footy Show. New Series.

[ABC/11:25pm] Live At The Basement : Wendy Matthews. Wendy Matthews recorded live at The Basement, Circular Quay, Sydney. Rpt.

[Seven/8:00pm] My Name is Earl. VAN HICKEY. While trying to make amends for kicking the lead singer out of his band, Earl unexpectedly comes to face to face with 51 on his list: slept with Ralph's mom. Guest starring GIOVANNI RIBISI.
[Seven/8:30pm] Lost. THE COST OF LIVING. A delirious Eko wrestles with demons from his past, while Locke and some of the other castaways head back to The Pearl - one of the Dharma Initiative's island stations - hoping to find a computer that they can use to locate Jack, Kate and Sawyer. Meanwhile, Jack doesn't know whom to trust when two of 'The Others' seem at odds with one another.
[Seven/11:00pm] Starveillance. Using classic claymation and a very wild imagination, viewers will have a fly on the wall view of sorta-actual celebrity events. In this episode, get the inside look as Linsday Lohan is confronted about her issues and witness the on going feud between Naomi Campbell and Tyra Banks.
[Seven/11:30pm] Stargate Atlantis. CONVERSION. A mission goes wrong when Sheppard begins transforming into a Wraith after being attacked. The Atlantis team races against time to reverse the conversion.

[31/10:30pm] Studio Q. We preview several of the films in the leadup to the festival, which opens this Thursday night. Then we chat with a couple of local film directors: John Richards talks about the making of his short film 'Outland', a comedy about the romantic perils of being a closeted sci-fi fan. It's made locally and stars some of Melbourne's best known gay performers (ie Adam Richards, Anthony Menchetti, Scott Brennan, etc). Then director Adrian Francis talks about his biographical film 'Aly M', in which Aly, a young Australian Muslim lesbian, tries to reconcile her opposing lives and beliefs. Aly herself is also on hand to give her insights into the making of the film.

[Arena/7:30pm] Dirty Dancing.
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