Channel Nine's blog

Premieres 8.30pm Thursday, July 10 on Channel Nine

With a flick and a high kick, the new series Celebrity Singing Bee premieres Thursday, July 10 at 8.30pm on the Nine Network.

Host Tim Campbell is in his element as the consummate entertainer, taking celebrity guests through the lyrics of our favourite hits. The key element is fun, and with an audience ready to clap, cheer and dance in the aisles, each episode is a rollicking hour of family entertainment.

The rules of the game are simple: “You don’t have to sing it well, you just have to sing it right.”

Human cannonballs! Human pinballs! Crashes, smashes and mud splashes!
Twenty-four thrillseekers will compete on the world's largest extreme obstacle in WIPEOUT, a painfully funny new reality series that premieres on Channel Nine, Tuesday July 8 at 7.30pm.

WIPEOUT is designed to provide the most spills, face plants and wipeouts ever seen on television. The program premiered this week in the United States on the ABC Network, with over 10 million viewers, making it the highest rating debut of the US 2008 summer season. The show was ABC’s best premiere for a summer show since 2005, and took the network to a strong victory on Tuesday night.

Each week 24 daring new contestants of all ages, shapes and sizes go head-to-head through four rounds of gruelling and physically demanding, but wildly hilarious, obstacle courses to win the title of Wipeout Champion and the grand prize of $50,000.

Hi-5 will have kids singing and dancing in their lounge rooms when it returns to Channel Nine with its tenth series on Monday, July 7 at 3.30pm.

The new series will introduce a brand new Hi-5 face, Stevie Nicholson. Stevie will join Hi-5 favourites Nathan Foley, Kellie Crawford (formerly Kellie Hoggart), Sun Park and Charli Delaney.

Hi-5 encourages children to develop their own potential and take a joyous and active part in life. Each week Hi-5 explores a contemporary theme, examining issues relevant to children aged from two to six and the world around them. Series 10 specifically explores such concepts as different family structures; planet earth at a local and world level; the future – growing up and what’s new; and technology, while also covering topics like sharing, sport, confidence, story telling and play time.

A Mother's Story
Is it just us, or has something gone terribly wrong with the way we protect our kids. Why can't we prevent these nightmares? Little ones starved to death, others left to fend for themselves like animals. Then, this past week, the horror that claimed two young lives. And just a few days earlier, three children - aged seven, five and 18 months - killed by their own father. Another terrible case of vulnerable children left in a perilous situation. On Sunday night, we'll try to make some sense of it all, with a mother's own story. A courageous Karen Bell tells how a moment of madness destroyed her family.
Reporter: Liz Hayes
Producers: Phil Goyen, Stephen Rice

Still Life

A peak audience in excess of 2.5 million tuned in to see the Queensland XXXX Maroons win the 2008 Harvey Norman State of Origin series for the third year in a row, beating the NSW Wizard Blues 16-10.

An average 2.144 million viewers (Total People) watched Channel Nine's exclusive coverage across the 5 City Metro - the highest result for a State Of Origin game since the introduction of OzTam ratings.

The 2008 Origin series has been a record-breaker for Nine, with the audience of each game increasing throughout the series (Game I - 2.092 million, Game II - 2.096 million, Game III - 2.144 million). This State of Origin series now occupies the three highest rating programs for Total People for survey to date in 2008.

Channel Nine announced today it had ceased production of the 5.30pm game show Million Dollar Wheel of Fortune.

A Channel Nine spokesperson said, “We are disappointed that Million Dollar Wheel of Fortune has not done as well as we had hoped. It is best in these circumstances to make the tough decisions and move on – so we have.

We are delighted, however, that the show has brought two great talents to the network in Tim Campbell and Kelly Landry, who are both staying at Nine.”

All-round entertainer, Tim Campbell, is the host of a new series Celebrity Singing Bee, that premieres Thursday July 10, at 8.30pm, on Channel Nine.

While talented Kelly Landry will be joining the team at Getaway as a reporter.

The final episode of Million Dollar Wheel of Fortune airs this evening.

Friday, July 11 at 7.00pm

When Alan dates a cooking instructor, Sandy (JOSIE DAVIS - "Beverly Hills 90210"), both he and Charlie gain weight. But even as it becomes clear that Sandy is mentally unstable, Charlie refuses to allow Alan to break up with her, fearing the loss of her fabulous meals. Meanwhile, as usual, the brothers agonize over whether or not to visit their mother for Christmas.

Thursday, July 10 at 7.00pm

Alan organizes a family dinner to celebrate the publication of a newspaper article that describes him as a "good doctor, good neighbour and a good guy," but he's crushed when his mother, Evelyn, isn't impressed. After getting drunk, Alan experiences a life-changing epiphany and vows to a sceptical Charlie that he is no longer going to grovel for validation from his mother and the other women in his life.

Wednesday, July 9 at 7.00pm

A wealthy, elderly woman named Norma (Academy Award and multiple Emmy Award winner CLORIS LEACHMAN - "Malcolm in the Middle," "Spanglish") is romantically interested in Alan.

Tuesday, July 8 at 7.00pm

After Charlie's romantic overtures towards Mia (recurring guest star EMMANUEL VAUGIER - "Smallville," "One Tree Hill," "Saw II"), an attractive ballet teacher, are rejected, Charlie tries to prove to Alan that he can persuade Mia to go on a date with him. Charlie cons Jake into taking her ballet class so Charlie can get close to her, but his plan is derailed when Jake becomes infatuated with her.

Monday July 7 at 7.00pm

Charlie finds himself in a compromising position after getting drunk and spending the evening with his stalker, Rose, celebrating her birthday. He ends up being confronted by her father, Harvey (Golden Globe and Emmy Award winner MARTIN SHEEN - "The West Wing"), who demands to know Charlie's intentions towards Rose.

Sunday, July 6 at 9.30pm

The team tries to locate a tow truck driver who rescues a young boy and becomes a hero -- and then vanishes. LINDA HUNT ("The Year of Living Dangerously") guest stars as Clare Bryson, a psychiatrist with the FBI. Recurring guest star ADAM KAUFMAN appears as Brian Donovan.

Sunday, July 6 at 8.30pm

Warrick is accused of murdering a famous Vegas gangster and even he is uncertain of his guilt or innocence, on the eighth season finale of CSI: Crime Scene Investigation.

Wednesday, July 9 at 8.30pm

The team reopens the 1998 case of a murdered teenage girl after her father is arrested for savagely beating the teen's stepsister, who is just 3 years old. The father is, at first, the team's primary suspect for the decade-old murder, but they soon uncover that the victim had run off with a neo-Nazi ex-con shortly before her slaying.

Wednesday, July 9 at 10.30pm

Thinking a man standing on a railing of a footbridge outside Canal Road is about to commit suicide, Bridget and Tom help him down, only to discover he has amnesia. As Olivia tries to get “John Doe” to open up, Bridget reveals why she has an N.F.R (Not for Resuscitation) tattoo on her breast – she never wants to end up like that guy. Bridget is further annoyed when Olivia gives her the task of taking him back to the address they found in his clothes. On the way, “John” exhibits some humour and intelligence, but Bridget refuses to get involved. As she drops him off at a men’s halfway house, he clutches her arm and pleads – please help me find out who I am!