Throng

Channel Nine and FremantleMedia Australia announced today the conclusion of Ben Elton Live From Planet Earth.

A Nine spokesperson said: “Ben and his team have done a fantastic job uncovering new Australian talent and we appreciate all of their hard work and dedication. We are all very proud of the show but unfortunately it has not found the audience we had hoped for. We thank Ben and all the cast and crew for their commitment and wish them all the best.”

Michael Healy, Director of Television said: “Comedy is always risky, and live comedy is the riskiest of all. We are pleased to have taken the chance to support the local industry.”

Ian Hogg, CEO of FremantleMedia Australia, said: “We have immense respect for Ben. Through our development deal, we look forward to some exciting comedy and drama projects in the future.”

Another new show to premiere on Nine with Harry’s Law set to air at 9.30pm on Sunday March 6, after The Mentalist (thankfully no more double episodes).

It replaces new CSI: Miami which will now move into Monday nights at 9.30pm, following This Is Your Life – which will be airing Monday nights at 8.30pm from Mon Feb 28.

That means, unless changed prior, new episodes of CSI: Miami air on Thur Feb 24, then Thur Mar 3, then Mon Mar 7 – all at 9.30pm.

Harry’s Law: Academy Award winner Kathy Bates stars in this quirky legal drama as a once-successful patent attorney searching for a fresh start in down and out Cincinnati, setting up her unconventional practice in an abandoned shoe store.

This has to be a record for encores, and the first free to air show to be encored over three channels at four different times.

Encores of Conviction Kitchen can be at the following times, on the following channels:

10.30pm Friday Feb 25 on Seven

12.30pm Sat Feb 26 on 7TWO

10.00am Sun Feb 27 on Seven

3.00pm Mon Feb 28 on 7mate.

The show itself – as in the first run episodes – airs Tuesdays at 9.30pm.

And don’t forget, there will be a My Kitchen Rules encore on 7TWO from 8.20am – this will still show up in guides as TBA – as they usually do not confirm the encores until after the Wednesday night episode has aired.

Just as I was praising ELEVEN for having one of the most stable schedules out of any of the commercial TV channels, they have made some changes affecting weekday afternoons and Sunday nights.

From this Sunday February 27, Smallville will move to 10.30pm and Angel is out of the schedule. At 8.30 will be the movie You, Me and Dupree.

With ELEVEN now adding movies to Sunday nights, there are movies on five out of six of the commercial digital multichannels.

From Monday Feb 28, Family Ties and Sabrina the Teenage Witch will swap timeslots.

Sabrina will move to 6pm, Family Ties to 4pm. At this stage, the late night replays remain as scheduled.

So what do GO! do when movies are not doing as well as they would like?

Fill up some of the time with The Big Bang Theory.

Last Monday (Feb 21), with a movie at 7.30pm, GO! managed a channel share of just 1.9%. Considering the share averages around 4% usually, 1.9% is disastrous.

Honestly, outside of school holidays and with so much competition now, did they seriously think movies on a Monday evening will do them any ratings favours?

Next Monday (Feb 28), instead of the movie Bring it on, Total Wipeout UK moves into 7.30. This is the first episode of season 4, and is first run content. Bring it on will air on a weekend soon.

Following Total Wipeout, at 8.30pm, is two episodes of The Big Bang Theory.

Vampire Diaries remains at 9.30, with the movie Cellular following instead of Two and a Half Men.

Now GO appear to be ditching the Monday night movie, why not give fans what they want – The Vampire Diaries at 8.30pm, not 9.30pm? Wouldn’t be too hard to do that now… many on the GO Facebook page ask why they have to wait for 9.30 for their weekly Vampire fix.

Yes, 8.30 Monday is a clash with Supernatural on ELEVEN, but how many actually watch both? And besides – it’s easy to record one and watch the other now anyway.

The Vampire Diaries is off during March due to a break in the US. Maybe when it returns, the timeslot could be reconsidered.

James Franco and Anne Hathaway are “in training” for their upcoming job as hosts of the Academy Awards  this weekend.

Tuesday February 22, 2011

Shares:
1 Seven 29.9% (nw 35.5%)
2 Ten 17.0% (nw 21.4%)
3 Nine 16.5% (nw 23.3%)
4 ABC1 10.5% (nw 14.5%)
5 SBS ONE 4.5% (nw 5.4%)

6 GO! 4.3%
7 ELEVEN 3.1%
8 7TWO 2.9%
9 7mate 2.7%
10 GEM 2.5%

11 ABC News 24 1.9%
12 ABC2 1.5%
13 ONE HD 1.3%
14 SBS TWO 0.9%
15 ABC3 0.6%

Top shows for the night:
Ranking Ch: Program 5 City Metro Sydney Melbourne Brisbane Adelaide Perth
1 Ch: 7 PACKED TO THE RAFTERS 1,796,000 468,000 589,000 313,000 214,000 211,000
2 Ch: 7 MY KITCHEN RULES-TUE 1,626,000 428,000 528,000 290,000 180,000 199,000
3 Ch: 7 SEVEN NEWS 1,352,000 325,000 379,000 271,000 165,000 213,000
4 Ch: 9 NINE NEWS 1,196,000 327,000 359,000 261,000 126,000 123,000
5 Ch: TEN NCIS 1,107,000 316,000 273,000 241,000 123,000 153,000
6 Ch: 7 TODAY TONIGHT 1,031,000 291,000 275,000 188,000 132,000 145,000
7 Ch: ABC1 ABC NEWS-EV 970,000 283,000 293,000 177,000 106,000 111,000
8 Ch: 9 A CURRENT AFFAIR 951,000 282,000 351,000 186,000 66,000 66,000
9 Ch: 7 CONVICTION KITCHEN-TUE 825,000 248,000 261,000 127,000 94,000 95,000
10 Ch: TEN TALKIN’ ‘BOUT YOUR GENERATION 812,000 200,000 264,000 134,000 86,000 127,000
11 Ch: TEN TEN NEWS AT FIVE 762,000 172,000 281,000 108,000 76,000 124,000
12 Ch: 9 TOP GEAR 709,000 166,000 240,000 168,000 63,000 72,000
13 Ch: ABC1 7.30 REPORT-EV 709,000 198,000 219,000 146,000 64,000 82,000
14 Ch: 9 NINE NEWS SPECIAL -NZ EARTHQUAKE 2011 7PM  -EV 702,000 181,000 236,000 150,000 103,000 30,000
15 Ch: TEN THE 7PM PROJECT 695,000 128,000 310,000 127,000 57,000 73,000
16 Ch: 9 HOT SEAT 648,000 160,000 174,000 173,000 74,000 68,000
17 Ch: 9 THE BIG BANG THEORY / NEWS* -RPT 645,000 165,000 214,000 159,000 47,000 61,000
18 Ch: TEN LIE TO ME 639,000 187,000 177,000 104,000 89,000 82,000
19 Ch: ABC1 FOREIGN CORRESPONDENT-EV 588,000 174,000 184,000 106,000 53,000 73,000
20 Ch: ABC1 QI-LE 571,000 160,000 178,000 92,000 65,000 76,000
21 Ch: 9 NEWS SPECIAL 9.30PM* 491,000 129,000 175,000 83,000 45,000 59,000
22 Ch: ABC1 LIFE AT 5-EV 476,000 170,000 150,000 64,000 35,000 58,000
23 Ch: TEN THE BOLD AND THE BEAUTIFUL 413,000 115,000 147,000 67,000 28,000 55,000
24 Ch: 7 SUNRISE 403,000 109,000 97,000 98,000 45,000 54,000
25 Ch: TEN 6PM WITH GEORGE NEGUS 374,000 82,000 162,000 54,000 27,000 50,000
26 Ch: 9 NINE AFTERNOON NEWS -NZ EARTHQUAKE 2011 366,000 104,000 99,000 125,000 39,000 0
27 Ch: ELEVEN NEIGHBOURS 343,000 75,000 136,000 46,000 37,000 48,000
28 Ch: 9 TODAY 330,000 121,000 92,000 65,000 24,000 28,000
29 Ch: TEN TEN EVENING NEWS 311,000 64,000 134,000 52,000 24,000 37,000
30 Ch: 7 SEVEN NEWS SPECIAL DAY 307,000 88,000 95,000 48,000 36,000 39,000
31 Ch: TEN TEN LATE NEWS – CHRISTCHURCH EARTHQUAKE SPECIAL 292,000 81,000 101,000 34,000 37,000 39,000
32 Ch: ABC1 THE GRADUAL DEMISE OF PHILLIPA FINCH-LE 264,000 87,000 75,000 33,000 34,000 36,000
33 Ch: ABC1 BEST OF COLLECTORS-EV 242,000 63,000 91,000 46,000 23,000 17,000
34 Ch: TEN GOOD CHEF BAD CHEF 238,000 68,000 74,000 27,000 27,000 40,000
35 Ch: ELEVEN EVERYBODY LOVES RAYMOND 235,000 56,000 101,000 17,000 31,000 31,000
36 Ch: 9 NINE NEWS SPECIAL -NZ EARTHQUAKE 2011 – DAY 234,000 62,000 79,000 54,000 24,000 15,000
37 Ch: GO! HARRY POTTER AND THE ORDER OF THE PHOENIX -EV 232,000 45,000 99,000 35,000 24,000 29,000
38 Ch: TEN JUDGE JUDY 208,000 67,000 78,000 31,000 0 31,000
39 Ch: 9 BEN ELTON LIVE FROM PLANET EARTH* 204,000 49,000 77,000 35,000 23,000 20,000
40 Ch: 7 SUNRISE-EARLY 201,000 50,000 34,000 71,000 18,000 27,000
41 Ch: TEN TWO GUYS AND A GIRL RPT 194,000 54,000 59,000 20,000 28,000 33,000
42 Ch: SBS ONE WORLD NEWS AUSTRALIA 193,000 54,000 64,000 36,000 13,000 27,000
43 Ch: ABC2 GRANDPA IN MY POCKET-PM 187,000 41,000 79,000 31,000 18,000 18,000
44 Ch: SBS ONE JAMES MAY ON THE MOON RPT 180,000 59,000 42,000 36,000 19,000 23,000
45 Ch: ABC2 THOMAS AND FRIENDS-PM 178,000 40,000 81,000 22,000 14,000 20,000
46 Ch: 9 TODAY-EARLY 177,000 54,000 28,000 68,000 7,000 19,000
47 Ch: SBS ONE WORLD NEWS AUSTRALIA LATE 174,000 49,000 59,000 35,000 18,000 12,000
48 Ch: ELEVEN THE SIMPSONS 172,000 50,000 75,000 7,000 18,000 21,000
49 Ch: ABC2 PLAY SCHOOL-PM 167,000 40,000 73,000 26,000 15,000 14,000
50 Ch: ABC1 LATELINE-LE 167,000 69,000 38,000 25,000 16,000 18,000

Top shows in 16-39s:
Ranking Ch: Program 5 City Metro Sydney Melbourne Brisbane Adelaide Perth
1 Ch: 7 PACKED TO THE RAFTERS 579,000 171,000 187,000 86,000 59,000 76,000
2 Ch: 7 MY KITCHEN RULES-TUE 525,000 141,000 173,000 78,000 57,000 77,000
3 Ch: 7 CONVICTION KITCHEN-TUE 341,000 107,000 103,000 47,000 35,000 48,000
4 Ch: TEN NCIS 279,000 78,000 60,000 78,000 37,000 26,000
5 Ch: 9 TOP GEAR 268,000 70,000 89,000 62,000 26,000 21,000
6 Ch: 7 TODAY TONIGHT 237,000 76,000 65,000 25,000 31,000 40,000
7 Ch: 7 SEVEN NEWS 232,000 66,000 63,000 43,000 25,000 36,000
8 Ch: TEN TALKIN’ ‘BOUT YOUR GENERATION 225,000 52,000 85,000 34,000 21,000 33,000
9 Ch: TEN THE 7PM PROJECT 222,000 32,000 124,000 43,000 10,000 15,000
10 Ch: 9 NINE NEWS 205,000 72,000 54,000 41,000 16,000 22,000
11 Ch: TEN LIE TO ME 196,000 59,000 40,000 41,000 28,000 28,000
12 Ch: 9 A CURRENT AFFAIR 173,000 61,000 68,000 23,000 13,000 8,000
13 Ch: 9 THE BIG BANG THEORY -RPT / NEWS* 171,000 46,000 45,000 56,000 14,000 10,000
14 Ch: 9 NEWS SPECIAL 9.30PM* 169,000 50,000 65,000 28,000 10,000 17,000
15 Ch: TEN TEN NEWS AT FIVE 161,000 41,000 68,000 14,000 17,000 21,000
16 Ch: ELEVEN NEIGHBOURS 147,000 25,000 64,000 20,000 18,000 21,000
17 Ch: ABC1 ABC NEWS-EV 146,000 42,000 41,000 26,000 16,000 20,000
18 Ch: 9 NINE NEWS SPECIAL -NZ EARTHQUAKE 2011 7PM-EV 144,000 46,000 44,000 33,000 17,000 4,000
19 Ch: ABC1 LIFE AT 5-EV 114,000 46,000 35,000 15,000 5,000 13,000
20 Ch: ABC1 7.30 REPORT-EV 110,000 32,000 42,000 26,000 3,000 8,000
21 Ch: TEN 6PM WITH GEORGE NEGUS 109,000 23,000 52,000 14,000 10,000 9,000
22 Ch: 9 HOT SEAT 107,000 29,000 38,000 22,000 8,000 10,000
23 Ch: 7 SUNRISE 104,000 29,000 35,000 19,000 12,000 9,000
24 Ch: TEN TEN EVENING NEWS 103,000 19,000 48,000 20,000 3,000 13,000
25 Ch: ABC1 QI-LE 92,000 26,000 28,000 13,000 14,000 11,000
26 Ch: GO! HARRY POTTER AND THE ORDER OF THE PHOENIX -EV 91,000 21,000 35,000 18,000 8,000 10,000
27 Ch: ELEVEN EVERYBODY LOVES RAYMOND 90,000 17,000 36,000 8,000 15,000 13,000
28 Ch: TEN THE BOLD AND THE BEAUTIFUL 87,000 23,000 42,000 11,000 5,000 7,000
29 Ch: TEN TEN LATE NEWS – CHRISTCHURCH EARTHQUAKE SPECIAL 87,000 22,000 30,000 12,000 6,000 16,000
30 Ch: 9 BEN ELTON* 77,000 15,000 35,000 13,000 7,000 6,000
31 Ch: 9 NINE AFTERNOON NEWS -NZ EARTHQUAKE 2011 75,000 26,000 17,000 27,000 6,000 0
32 Ch: ABC1 FOREIGN CORRESPONDENT-EV 73,000 27,000 27,000 15,000 0 4,000
33 Ch: ELEVEN THE SIMPSONS 72,000 8,000 42,000 1,000 15,000 7,000
34 Ch: 7mate THAT ’70S SHOW 72,000 17,000 25,000 17,000 7,000 7,000
35 Ch: 7mate HOW I MET YOUR MOTHER-TUE 71,000 14,000 27,000 11,000 14,000 4,000
36 Ch: 7mate FAMILY GUY-TUE 70,000 9,000 34,000 13,000 7,000 8,000
37 Ch: TEN GOOD CHEF BAD CHEF 69,000 18,000 24,000 7,000 8,000 12,000
38 Ch: 9 TODAY 67,000 28,000 19,000 11,000 4,000 5,000
39 Ch: TEN TWO GUYS AND A GIRL RPT 63,000 15,000 28,000 8,000 5,000 8,000
40 Ch: ELEVEN FUTURAMA 62,000 11,000 39,000 1,000 8,000 3,000
41 Ch: 7 SEVEN NEWS SPECIAL 61,000 16,000 19,000 11,000 7,000 8,000
42 Ch: ABC2 THOMAS AND FRIENDS-PM 59,000 19,000 22,000 9,000 2,000 8,000
43 Ch: Gem HOARDERS -EV 57,000 6,000 33,000 5,000 5,000 7,000
44 Ch: 7mate AMERICAN DAD-TUE 55,000 7,000 23,000 11,000 4,000 9,000
45 Ch: GO! THE BIG BANG THEORY -LE 54,000 2,000 23,000 15,000 10,000 5,000
46 Ch: 7 KEEPING UP WITH THE KARDASHIANS 51,000 15,000 11,000 17,000 2,000 5,000
47 Ch: Gem FRIENDS -EV 49,000 10,000 12,000 14,000 5,000 8,000
48 Ch: GO! AUSTRALIA’S FUNNIEST HOME VIDEOS – DAILY EDITION -EV 48,000 9,000 10,000 21,000 4,000 4,000
49 Ch: 9 NINE NEWS SPECIAL -NZ EARTHQUAKE 2011 48,000 17,000 12,000 12,000 6,000 2,000
50 Ch: ABC1 OLIVIA-AM 48,000 15,000 17,000 5,000 6,000 4,000

* CHANGES AS A RESULT OF EARTHQUAKE COVERAGE.

Top shows on digital channels:
Ranking Ch: Program Average Peak
1 Ch: ELEVEN NEIGHBOURS 343,000 420,000
2 Ch: ELEVEN EVERYBODY LOVES RAYMOND 235,000 390,000
3 Ch: GO! HARRY POTTER AND THE ORDER OF THE PHOENIX -EV 232,000 388,000
4 Ch: ABC2 GRANDPA IN MY POCKET-PM 187,000 207,000
5 Ch: ABC2 THOMAS AND FRIENDS-PM 178,000 187,000
6 Ch: ELEVEN THE SIMPSONS 172,000 244,000
7 Ch: ABC2 PLAY SCHOOL-PM 167,000 208,000
8 Ch: 7TWO ARE YOU BEING SERVED? 156,000 205,000
9 Ch: 7TWO SOME MOTHERS DO ‘AVE ‘EM 152,000 215,000
10 Ch: ABC2 DIRTGIRLWORLD-PM 150,000 178,000
11 Ch: 7TWO PORRIDGE 143,000 208,000
12 Ch: GO! THE BIG BANG THEORY -LE 141,000 237,000
13 Ch: 7mate THAT ’70S SHOW 140,000 199,000
14 Ch: 7mate HOW I MET YOUR MOTHER-TUE 137,000 227,000
15 Ch: ELEVEN FUTURAMA 136,000 182,000
16 Ch: 7TWO TO THE MANOR BORN 135,000 169,000
17 Ch: ABC2 BALI-PM 133,000 175,000
18 Ch: ABC News 24 STATELINE SUMMER-PM 133,000 179,000
19 Ch: Gem THE ZOO -EV 130,000 175,000
20 Ch: GO! AUSTRALIA’S FUNNIEST HOME VIDEOS – DAILY EDITION -EV 128,000 181,000
21 Ch: 7mate FAMILY GUY-TUE 127,000 186,000
22 Ch: ABC News 24 AFTERNOON LIVE-PM 120,000 199,000
23 Ch: ABC2 OCTONAUTS-PM 119,000 202,000
24 Ch: 7mate AMERICAN DAD-TUE 116,000 170,000
25 Ch: Gem HOARDERS -EV 113,000 189,000
26 Ch: ABC News 24 THE DRUM-EV 112,000 158,000
27 Ch: ABC2 ANGELINA BALLERINA: THE NEXT STEPS-PM 110,000 133,000
28 Ch: Gem THE CLOSER -EV 108,000 199,000
29 Ch: ABC2 SAMSAM-PM 108,000 122,000
30 Ch: 7TWO HALE AND PACE 106,000 155,000
31 Ch: ABC2 SPICKS AND SPECKS-EV 106,000 141,000
32 Ch: GO! TWO AND A HALF MEN -LE 106,000 169,000
33 Ch: ABC2 PEPPA PIG-PM 103,000 132,000
34 Ch: ABC News 24 THE QUARTERS-EV 100,000 126,000
35 Ch: ELEVEN CALIFORNICATION 99,000 139,000
36 Ch: ABC2 FLORRIE’S DRAGONS-EV 96,000 116,000
37 Ch: Gem THE CLOSER -LE 93,000 125,000
38 Ch: ABC2 THE WOTWOTS-EV 93,000 106,000
39 Ch: ONE ICE ROAD TRUCKERS 92,000 159,000
40 Ch: ABC2 THE MAGIC ROUNDABOUT-AM 91,000 93,000
41 Ch: ABC2 CONNIE THE COW-PM 90,000 98,000
42 Ch: 7mate MY NAME IS EARL-TUE 90,000 165,000
43 Ch: Gem FRIENDS -EV 88,000 131,000
44 Ch: ABC2 CHUGGINGTON-AM 88,000 98,000
45 Ch: GO! BEWITCHED -PM 87,000 133,000
46 Ch: ABC2 SESAME STREET-PM 87,000 113,000
47 Ch: 7TWO THE BENNY HILL SHOW 87,000 148,000
48 Ch: ELEVEN HAPPY DAYS 86,000 119,000
49 Ch: ABC2 MISTER MAKER-PM 85,000 112,000
50 Ch: ABC2 BLANCHE-PM 85,000 93,000

OzTam Five city Live and As Live Preliminary Ratings Figures. Five Cities are Sydney (S), Brisbane (B), Melbourne (M), Adelaide (A) and Perth (P). Figures are shown in order Total, Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide, Perth. Shows not aired in certain cities denoted by 0 or n/a (not aired).  Does not take into account overruns or extreme last minute programming changes. Shares are 6pm – Midnight unless otherwise stated. Network abreviated to “nw”.

Tonight’s first elimination on My Kitchen Rules will feature live tweets from fans on Twitter.

Seven have confirmed that the top tweets with the tag #mkr will feature on screen during the 90-minute special.

Tonight’s episode features West Australian team Kerry and Holly cooking with a sudden death cook-off following.

Source: TV Tonight

Hamish and Andy are extremely close to sealing a deal with Channel Nine which would see them attached to the network for two-years.

Under the $15 million deal, the comedy duo would be required to produce a minimum of 10 hours of television content per year through their Radio Karate production company.

If the pair were to sign with Nine, they would have access to the vast recourses the network has in regard to the 2012 London Olympics.

Nine looks set to win the bidding war for the pair, who have fielded offers from all the major networks over the past six months.

Source: HeraldSun

Rupert Murdoch’s News Corporation has confirmed the agreement to purchase UK TV production company Shine Group.

The two companies will continue to negotiate the terms of the $667 million deal which is also subject to regulatory approval.

The move will bring Shine chairperson and chief executive Elisabeth Murdoch back into News Corp after she departed in 2001.

Shine is responsible for producing MasterChef on Channel Ten in Australia along with The Tudors, which screens on ABC.

Source: B&T