Throng

Channel Ten are at it again, changing their schedule for the last week in January (Week 5).

This time, it is the Office which suffers, being taken out of the schedule that week, probably either never to return or to return to a late night timeslot. Also out, is Accidentally on Purpose which is more likely because Ten have caught up to the US in aired episodes.

Malcolm in the Middle, however, gets even more episodes on with a double from 7.30pm Thursday. That is on top of five days a week at 6pm and Friday’s double at 7.30pm. That’s 9 of them in one week.

On Tuesday Jan 26, a 1 hour special called “I Get That A lot” is on at 7.30pm. The show features stars that play practical jokes on unsuspecting fans in a case of mistaken celebrity identity.

The rest of the week now looks like:

Wed Jan 27:
7.30 New Simpsons
8.00 Futuruama RptRead more

Channel Ten are now regularly coming fourth in the ratings behind Seven, Nine and the ABC. Last week, the first week of 2010 as far as TV weeks are concerned, Ten ranked fourth for the week overall. The majority of shows on Ten in prime time (6pm - 10.30 by their own definition) are being watched by between 350,000 and little over 500,000 viewers which translates to shares about half of those enjoyed by Seven and Nine. Both Seven and Nine (moreso Seven) still have a few shows rating over a million.

The result is that Ten sees the way of fixing the problem is by changing their schedule. Ten already so far have removed Stargate Universe - which was actually one of their better rating shows - and Supernatural from Monday nights.
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Last night in Melbourne, Ten put on their night to launch their 2010 programming.

Ten programmer David Mott had confirmed that the following shows will be returning to Ten in 2010:

Masterchef season two, The Biggest Loser - which should start in February, So You Think You Can Dance Australia, Australian Idol - yes - despite poor performance this year, it will be back, Talkin’ ‘Bout Your Generation, Rove, Recruits Bondi Rescue and Rush - for which a third season was recently confirmed in any case. Neighbours, of course, is back after being on air now for 25 years.

International shows in 2010 include: Merlin, House, NCIS, NCIS:LA, Dexter, Californication, Burn Notice, Numb3rs, The Simpsons, Jamie Oliver, Lie to Me and Law and Order SVU.

Channel Ten Programming for week 43 (Oct 18 - 24)

1. Australian Idol - Sunday 7.30pm: The final 6 perform the biggest hits from the movies and theatre in stage and screen night. Guest judge yet to be announced.

2. Rove - Sunday 9.30pm: Guests this week include Seth Green promoting his animated TV series “Robot Chicken” and Barry Humphries promoting his new book “Handling Edna”.

3. Are You Smarter than a 5th Grader - Monday 7.30pm - Season Finale. Dr Chris Brown playing for the charity Assistance Dogs Australia is the last this year to take on the 5th Graders.

4. Celebrity Master chef - Wednesday 7.30pm: Cooking off this week are fashion guru Alex Perry, cricketer Simon Katich and comedian Wendy Harmer. The Pressure Test challenge will be based around a dish prepared by one of Australia’s favourite cooks, Stephanie Alexander.

Channel 10 programming for the week starting October 11

1. Australian Idol - Sunday Oct 11 7.30pm. The final 7 will take part in “Big Band” night with Harry Connick Jnr as guest judge and Mentor.

2. Rove - Sunday Oct 11, 9.30pm. More of Hamish and Andy feature. Mrs Rove - Tasma Walton is also on the show talking about her new book “Heartless”.

3. Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader? Mon Oct 12 7.30pm. Celebrity contestants are Merrick and Rosso.

4. Good News Week, Mon Oct 12, 8.30pm. The show will feature the exclusive announcement of the new name of the NRL (National Rugby League). The NRL has been so badly damaged by a litany of off-field scandals there are calls for the game to trade under a new name (because clearly that was the problem!). Good News Week will tell us what that will be. Also on the show the search for Miss Chiko Roll and Feather Plucking Mother Plovers - something to do with birds and Spring…

[Updated to reflect new information received Sept 18]

[Updated to reflect changes to Australian Idols' time slot as well as other flow on changes.]

Channel 10 programming for the week starting September 27.

1. Sunday Sept 27, 7.30pm. P!nk night has been moved back one week to Oct 4. Sept 27 is 80's night. Rove follows at 9.30pm.

2. Monday Sept 28, 7.30pm. On Are You Smarter than a 5th Grader, Ian Thorpes appearance draws to a close. He is then followed by Ian “Dicko” Dickson and Dave Hughes later in the show.

3. Monday Sept 28, 10.00pm after Good News Week. Originally it was planned that the season 5 premiere of Supernatural was to air with its 1st episode, picking up where the last season left off. This is one week after it’s US premiere.

Confirmed by Dicko on channel 10's The 7pm Project tonight - Australian Idol will be moving back to 7.30pm Sundays effective immediately.

Dicko said he wasn't sure if he could say so or not, but what could they do - sack another judge? He said the old time slot of 7.30 was more family friendly and that the move was as a result of listening to public opinion.

In recent weeks, Australian Idol has failed to crack 1 million in the ratings and has been the lowest rating season of the show since its inception. The earlier time slot has been blamed on its ratings demise as the 6.30 time is too early for many of the shows demographic. Further more, channel 10's viewer share on Sunday nights has slipped to 4th overall on Sunday nights behind Seven, Nine-GO and the ABC.

With the days warming up and daylight saving soon to start in many states, the 7.30 start time makes alot more sense.

Keeping you up to date with what is going on at channel 10, here is the latest summary of programming changes and other relevant information.

1. Sunday September 13. After Rove, scheduled at 9.50pm, Little Britain USA premieres on Ten. This is followed by the premiere of Nurse Jacky at 10.20pm. Note these times may vary by 10 minutes or so depending what happens on Rove and Idol.

2. Sunday September 20. A special episode of Rove, celebrating the 10th birthday of the show. A myriad of special moments, flash backs and other specially prepared material will feature.

3. Thursday September 17. Glee starts at 7.30pm. The series was previewed after the Masterchef finale back in July. The show comes to its regular time slot of 7.30 Thursdays with the directors’ cut of the pilot episode. Watch out for the cast of Glee on Australian Idol Sunday Sept 20.

Updated. In September, channel 10’s schedule will start to transform as some of their new shows for the rest of the year premiere.

Summary:

1. Next week, Australian Idol takes over the 7.30pm timeslot for every night except Friday. Week 3 of Australian Idol sees the top 100 cut down to the top 24 in Sunday then from 24 to 12 over 4 nights, starting from Sunday Aug 23 6.30pm.

2. Are You Smarter than a 5th Grader returns to Monday nights at 7.30 Aug 31.

3. The final of Talkin’ ‘Bout Your Generation airs Tuesday Sept 1 at 7.30pm.

4. The premiere of Magda Szubanski’s The Spearman Experiment is on Tuesday Sept 8 at 7.30pm.

5. Hamish and Andy return to 10 in the first of two specials - this one called: Rove Presents: Hamish and Andy’s American Caravan of Courage. The show airs Thursday September 10 at 7.30pm

If channel 9 have the intention of keeping as many viewers away from their network on Tuesday nights, then they are doing a GREAT job of it.

Their Tuesday night line up has changed AGAIN, and at very short notice AGAIN.

Two weeks ago, they had Dance Your Ass Off at 7.30pm. That show was axed a few days later. Last week, they had Two and a Half Men on at 7.30, then the New Adventures of Old Christine at 8, followed by 20-1 at 8.30, then CSI: NY at 9.30 and 10.30.

This line up failed and gave 9 the worst Tuesday night ratings that I can remember. WHY? Simple: noone knew what was on. Printed guides wrong. EPGs updated sometime over the weekend. And out of those who did know what was on, many would have chosen not to watch any of the shows knowing full well that it is unlikely the same show will be on the following week.

Channel Ten has revealed their programming line up for the rest of the ratings year, which will include shows like Celebrity Masterchef, The Spearman Experiment to be hosted by Magda Szubanski and the NCIS spin off NCIS LA.

Celebrity Masterchef is set to kick off on Wednesday nights from September and will be a one hour once per week, 10 show offering drawing on celebrities who have some idea how to cook from not just channel 10 but other networks as well. The final list of contenders will be revealed at a date closer to the air date.

Replacing Talkin’ ‘Bout Your Generation when the current season concludes shortly will be a pop culture trivia clip based show hosted by Magda Szubanski called The Spearman Experiment.

Despite suggesting we would have to wait until next year, 10 has decided to fast track the new NCIS spin off NCIS LA to air this year, just weeks after its US premiere. NCIS LA will air on Wednesday nights.

During the Masertchef finale, channel 10 took the opportunity while most of Australia were tuning in to promote up and shows, especially Australian Idol.

This is the summary:

1. Australian Idol starts 6.30 pm Sunday August 9 with 2 two hour show. This year promises a new format as well some other changes to win viewers back after a poor performance last year. Furthermore, the Monday night elimination show is out this year.

2. Next Sunday night, July 26, sees the season finale of Merlin at 6.30pm.

3. Channel 10 is going to join channel 9 for the next three weeks with Sunday night movies. Next Sunday, at 7.30pm, is the movie “A Night at the Museum”.

Here’s what’s happening at channel 10 in coming weeks.

1. Masterchef.

If you can’t get enough of Masterchef, then this coming week - the final week will see the show on for nearly 7 hours, with one hour episodes every night from Sunday July 12 to Friday July 17. On Wednesday, a 90 minute episode will air - and no doubt rate a lot better than State of Origin on 9.

The final of Masterchef is on Sunday July 19 at 7.30 and runs for 100 minutes, finishing at 9.10pm.

Yet to see what will be on Sunday nights at 7.30 from July 26. Possibly celebrity Masterchef, but that may not be ready yet. We’ll find out soon enough. Suggest 10 will make their decision after they see how this Sunday goes with ratings.

2. Merlin.

6.30 Sunday July 26 sees the final episode of series 1 of Merlin.

3. Rush

Returns for a new season Thursday July 16.

4. Are You Smarter than a 5th Grader?

With channel 7 having numerous season finales in the coming 2 weeks, and 9’s programming varying each week, lets not forget about channel 10!

In coming weeks on 10, we see the season finale of Masterchef, the season premiere of Rush, the debut of the 7pm Project and Rove takes a break for a few weeks.

Here are the highlights.

1. Sunday July 12 will be the last Rove for a few weeks, as Rove takes a break from his very busy schedule. Recent weeks has seen Rove travel to London for an exclusive Harry Potter interview with Daniel Radcliffe on the Hogwarts set, film an entire season of Are You Smarter than a Fifth Grader as well as attend to his many commitments for his weekly Rove show. Not only that, but somewhere in between, he managed to get married as well. Now maybe its time for a honeymoon. Rove will return in August.

2. Thursday July 16 at 8.30pm sees the season 2 premiere of Rush.