Throng

$#*! My Dad Says, the hilarious and heartfelt new sitcom based on the Twitter account of the same name that has over a million followers, premieres Monday, January 31, at 8.00pm on Channel Nine.

From the executive producers of Will and Grace, $#*! My Dad Says is the story of a son searching for approval from a standoffish father who has seen it all and a father who realises it is never too late to be a dad – even if that means letting your unemployed, post-graduate son shack up with you.

The legendary William Shatner (Boston Legal, The Practice, Star Trek) stars as Ed, a 72-year-old living, breathing fountain of wisdom with the pressure of a fire hose. A thrice-divorced ex-doctor and veteran of three wars, Ed hates beating around the bush. Forthright and opinionated, he’ll express his unsolicited and often wildly politically incorrect observations to anyone within earshot. And speaking of shots, if you’re on his property after 9.00pm without prior notification, chances are he’ll greet you with his shotgun.

Nobody is safe from Ed’s rants, including his son Vince (Will Sasso), the meek half of a husband-and-wife real estate duo. The other half is the domineering Bonnie (Nicole Sullivan).

Enter Henry (Jonathan Sadowski, Friday the 13th), Ed’s estranged, twentysomething other son from his third marriage. Henry’s a good kid who has spent his life doing everything right. But he’s been dealt a bad hand by the economy and is forced to seek help from his father – a man whose approach to parenthood has meant never doing his children any favours. Yet Ed reveals a surprising soft spot and invites Henry to move in with him. Henry agrees, knowing that the verbal assault will not abate and now there will be no escape from Ed’s outrageous tirades.

Describing this father/son relationship is tricky … but Ed could easily come up with a few choice words.

ALL NEW TWO AND A HALF MEN: Monday, January 31 at 7.30pm

$#*! MY DAD SAYS: Monday, January 31, at 8.00pm

CONVICTION KITCHEN is a groundbreaking, inspirational new program for Seven in 2011, offering twelve convicted criminals the opportunity to redeem themselves and reclaim their lives. 

The trainees of CONVICTION KITCHEN have not only hurt others through their past actions but also themselves, shattering the confidence of their family and the greater society. And while many have served their time, an enduring, unspoken stigma still remains – particularly when seeking legitimate work. 

Hailing from a variety of diverse backgrounds, many of the CONVICTION KITCHEN trainees have experienced homelessness, chronic unemployment and drug abuse. Their crimes include fraud, stealing, dangerous driving and drug offences. 

Helmed by renowned chef Ian Curley, CONVICTION KITCHEN follows the redemptive journey of the trainees as they are taught the skills to man a high-end a la carte restaurant. Six trainees will join Ian behind- the-scenes in the kitchen while six wait front- of-house under the watchful eye of restaurant manager Lisa Parker. 

Five nights a week for six weeks, the trainees will operate the ‘Conviction’ restaurant, based in Brisbane’s prestigious Emporium complex. Here they will fully understand the stresses of the hospitality industry and a new change of life. 

CONVICTION KITCHEN will follow the trainees along every step of their new path – including unprecedented into prison life and access to their parole appointments – looking at how they incorporate their learning experiences both at work and at home. 

If anyone can truly relate to the trainees, it is executive chef Ian Curley. As a teenager, Curley was incarcerated in a English borstal (juvenile delinquency facility) after becoming involved in a gang fight. It was through a vocational cooking course where he realised his passion and ability in the kitchen. 

Curley said: “I didn’t have the best start, so this is my way of giving something back. I strongly believe that you can turn people’s lives around – if you have the chance to help someone, you should.” 

With pride and the possibility of a new work future on the line, each day is another important step for the trainees as they attempt to reshape their lives through sheer determination and courage.

This Friday Leigh Sales returns to her hometown of Brisbane to host a community forum at Graceville Public School. Leigh is joined by Brisbane Lord Mayor Campbell Newman.

She speaks with local residents to discuss how they are coping with the aftermath of the Queensland floods and looking forward to how they can start rebuilding their community.

The forum will include about 40 people chosen from a cross section of the community.

Leigh says:  

“The past week has been a harrowing experience for people in Queensland. Growing up 

in Brisbane, of course I feel a connection to what has happened. I hope that this forum 

will be a chance for people to tell some of their stories but also reflect on how people 

can start to move and rebuild their lives.” 

The show will air from 7.30‐8pm on Friday on ABC1.

Australia’s everyman comedian, Peter Helliar, will be celebrating Australia Day in most true blue manner – playing backyard cricket with family and friends, while enjoying a few snags from the BBQ, and listening to Triple J’s Hot 100 amid the fresh air.

Later on he’ll be settling a few friendly arguments on ABC TV’s The Trophy Room where his guests will be:

Lauren Jackson (Olympic basketballer – Australia’s best all-time female player)

Lee Kernaghan (Singer/Aust of Year 2008)

Tom Gleeson (Comedian)

Rebecca DeUnamuno (Comedian)

Tonight, the whole program will be dedicated to Australian sporting trivia in a special “Aussie Made” show. Joining the ringmaster, Peter Helliar, as usual, will be team captains – ABC sports reporter Amanda Shalala and broadcaster Adam Spencer.

Playing alongside Amanda and Adam for sporting trivia supremacy in The Trophy Room arena will be a swag of true blue Aussies and mystery guests.

After a hard day around the BBQ, kick back and celebrate all things Australian.

The Trophy Room will get you into the mood with a fun-filled show jammed packed with Aussie sporting trivia, surprise mystery guests and an Australian icon or two.

Grab a lamington and let the games begin!

The Trophy Room: Aussie Made - Special Australia Day Show

Guests include Lauren Jackson & Lee Kernaghan

Wednesday January 26th at 8:30pm on ABC1

Hosted by comedian Peter Helliar

ARIA Award winner Kate Ceberano has joined Channel Nine’s Getaway travel program for 2011.

With a voice like velvet and a warm, magnetic personality, Ceberano, one of Australia’s favourite singers, will put her 25 years of experience on the road touring and performing all over the world to use as she reports for Australia’s longest running lifestyle program.

Ceberano departs today to film her first domestic story for Getaway and flies out late in February for her first international trip for the popular travel program. In 2011, she will follow her paternal heritage to Hawaii and the Philippines and also join Jason Dundas to visit Disneyland and Disney World in the United States.

“To say that I’m excited about joining Getaway is a significant understatement,” Ceberano said.

“Travelling as much as I have throughout my career – I just love it. But the one thing I’ve always longed for is a witness, someone to say, ‘Hey are you seeing what I’m seeing?’ I can’t wait.”

Executive Producer, John Walsh, said: “We are thrilled to have someone of Kate’s calibre joining the show. She is one of the warmest, best loved entertainers in Australia and I think the Getaway audience is really going to love her.”

Also joining the Getaway team as a special guest reporter in 2011 is former Miss Universe, Jennifer Hawkins, who will file stories from the United States, Tahiti and England.

Hawkins said: “I’m looking forward to working as a guest reporter on Getaway. I can’t wait to kick off 2011 with travel and new adventures. Getaway is truly my dream job.”

Viewers get the first-class domestic and international travel experience right in their lounge rooms on Getaway each Thursday evening. They luxuriate in the opulence of five-star escapes, seek thrills in trips filled with adventure, and see how to enjoy quality time during family-friendly vacations.

Kate Ceberano and Jennifer Hawkins join Getaway presenters Catriona Rowntree, Natalie Gruzlewski, Kelly Landry, Jules Lund, Dermott Brereton and Jason Dundas. They’ll be providing more expert travel advice on the best holiday destinations and leisure activities for Australian audiences as Getaway celebrates 20 consecutive years on air in 2011.

Getaway returns this week with a one-hour program on the best things to do in Australia.

Getaway returns: Thursday, January 20, at 7.30pm on Channel Nine

Ten have released programming for the night of Sunday January 30, 2011 – the same night that Seven will be airing the Australian Open Men’s Final, and Nine will have One Day Cricket on.

It’s a big premiere night on Ten including the premiere of The Biggest Loser Families, new Modern Family, Hawaii Five-O premiere and new NCIS: LA.

TEN evening news at 6pm, as is the case on weekends from Sat Jan 29 onwards.

The Biggest Loser Families premieres at 6.30pm. Veteran trainers, Michelle and Shannan, are joined by new recruits, The Commando and Tiffany, as they meet the four families ready to take part in the weight loss journey of a lifetime.

At 7.30, after a summer of repeats, we get the first new episode of Modern Family in ages. The episode is called Mother Tucker in which Mitchell feels awkward around Cam’s inappropriate mother; meanwhile Phil is heartbroken when Hayley dumps Dylan, and Gloria teases Jay for being a cry-baby.

At 8pm, another new Modern Family – Dance Dance Revelation. Claire is relishing her position as chair of the school dance committee … that is until Gloria arrives to help. Meanwhile, Jay and Phil argue over what makes a “man” on a boy’s shopping trip.

8.30pm is the season premiere of Hawaii Five-O. Pilot. Australia’s own Alex O’Loughlin is Steve McGarrett, a highly capable Lieutenant Commander who is asked by the Governor of Hawaii to lead an elite and special task force.

9.30pm new NCIS: LA (no details yet). That is followed by a repeat at 10.30.

With Tennis on Seven and cricket on Nine, Ten will hope to lure some viewers away from those big events. The Men’s Final of the Australian Open traditionally rates very well, the one day cricket is also attracting a lot of viewers, add to that all the multi channels – and premieres on Ten may not do as well that night as they otherwise would.

Many have criticised Ten for launching new shows on such a night in past years, but they do have to remain competitive. If shows don’t do well on that night, expect encores during the week.

And now some VERY BAD NEWS for those of us who enjoy NEW CONTENT on our digital channels as opposed to endless repeats and randomly placed movies.

Pretty Little Liars – scheduled for 8.30pm January 31 – will no longer be on that night. Pretty Little Liars is in fact not scheduled to be on at any time now after Monday January 24. According to GO! it will be on at a later date to be confirmed.

Make the most of the episode on Jan 24, as it may be the last for a while – hoping GO! don’t wait too long to air the show, as anyone who has been watching the show is dying to find out who “-A-” is and the truth behind all the goings on. In the US, Pretty Little Liars has in fact been confirmed for a second season.

Instead, GO has a Scooby Doo movie on from 7.30 – 9.30pm.

Not trying too hard for the 13-29’s here are we? What’s that other channel doing well with that age group? GO! feeling threatened?

I’m hoping the end of school holidays and resumption of ratings season for 2011 might bring some programming stability and allow new shows to settle in their time slots. Yes – Pretty Little Liars does not get the 200,000+ or more that some of these movies and repeated animations are getting on digital channels, but there are 130,000 loyal weekly followers to that show who will be extremely upset (putting it nicely) to see the show is gone from the schedule.

Now – If V and Fringe on tonight (and subsequent Wednesdays) don’t rate as well as new Simpsons on ELEVEN or American Dad / Family Guy on 7maaate, then are these two first run shows also going to suffer the same fate?

New MasterChef recruit Matt Moran has joined the same club as that of Gary Mehigan in injuring himself during the reality show’s filming schedule.

Moran will now limp about the set on crutches in much the same fashion as Mehigan did last season after injuring his leg in a skiing accident in Aspen this week.

The ARIA head chef and newest hosting recruit for MasterChef is thought to have torn his anterior cruciate ligament and suffered a minor fracture which will leave him crutch-bound for the next few weeks while filming.

TEN says the injury will not keep Moran from the show and that he will be able to complete his tasks on the show with the help of a few minor adjustments.

Mehigan was in the same position during last year’s season, after injuring his leg while walking to his car.

Source: News.com.au

Tuesday January 18, 2011.

As ELEVEN moves into its second week, it was the most watched digital channel for the night, but there were 5 channels all within 0.3% of each other between 4.2% and 4.5%.

A classic tennis match on Seven helped Seven win the night.

Please note that shares in the daily ratings results are for 6pm – midnight, while shares in press releases put out by the Ten network in relation to how their channels have performed are for 6pm – 10.30pm. The shorter definition of prime time helps increase apparent shares particularly for younger skewing channels.

Shares:
1 Seven 28.9% (nw 37.4%)
2 Nine 18.0% (nw 25.7%)
3 Ten 14.2% (nw 19.1%)
4 ABC1 10.1% (nw 12.9%)
5 ELEVEN 4.5%

6 7mate 4.3%
6 GO! 4.3%
8 7TWO 4.2%
8 SBS ONE 4.2% (nw 5.0%)
10 GEM 3.4%

11 ABC2 1.6%
12 SBS TWO 0.8%
13 ABC News 24 0.7%
14 ABC3 0.5%
14 ONE 0.5%

Top shows for the day:
1 Ch: 7 SEVEN NEWS 1,285,000 300,000 356,000 294,000 156,000 179,000
2 Ch: 7 TODAY TONIGHT 1,215,000 285,000 362,000 270,000 144,000 154,000
3 Ch: 9 NINE NEWS 1,198,000 317,000 347,000 323,000 121,000 90,000
4 Ch: 9 A CURRENT AFFAIR 988,000 295,000 293,000 258,000 90,000 53,000
5 Ch: 7 SEVEN’S TENNIS: 2011 AUST OPEN – DAY 2 NIGHT SESSION 958,000 272,000 351,000 146,000 111,000 79,000
6 Ch: ABC1 ABC NEWS-EV 948,000 291,000 282,000 161,000 104,000 111,000
7 Ch: TEN TEN NEWS AT FIVE 863,000 210,000 250,000 196,000 94,000 112,000
8 Ch: 9 THE BIG BANG THEORY 830,000 219,000 234,000 204,000 81,000 93,000
9 Ch: TEN THE 7PM PROJECT 772,000 232,000 260,000 111,000 77,000 92,000
10 Ch: TEN TALKIN’ ‘BOUT YOUR GENERATION TUES RPT 755,000 224,000 256,000 124,000 53,000 98,000
11 Ch: ABC1 7.30 REPORT SUMMER EDITION-EV 702,000 220,000 196,000 136,000 77,000 73,000
12 Ch: 7 SEVEN’S TENNIS: 2011 AUST OPEN – DAY 2 NIGHT SESSION – LATE 692,000 209,000 324,000 0 97,000 63,000
13 Ch: 9 TOP GEAR 656,000 181,000 225,000 125,000 54,000 70,000
14 Ch: TEN NCIS: LOS ANGELES RPT 617,000 161,000 194,000 111,000 71,000 80,000
15 Ch: 9 TWO AND A HALF MEN -RPT 551,000 237,000 193,000 0 64,000 57,000
16 Ch: 9 HOT SEAT 505,000 129,000 122,000 142,000 72,000 40,000
17 Ch: 7 NOT GOING OUT 505,000 139,000 191,000 71,000 62,000 42,000
18 Ch: 9 ADULTS ONLY 20 TO 1 496,000 133,000 162,000 93,000 64,000 43,000
19 Ch: TEN JAMIE’S THIRTY MINUTE MEALS 455,000 136,000 136,000 71,000 40,000 73,000
20 Ch: TEN LIE TO ME TUES RPT 441,000 107,000 147,000 58,000 66,000 64,000
21 Ch: TEN THE SIMPSONS 437,000 107,000 160,000 68,000 47,000 56,000
22 Ch: TEN THE BOLD AND THE BEAUTIFUL 425,000 108,000 125,000 94,000 44,000 53,000
23 Ch: ABC1 POH’S KITCHEN RPT 408,000 94,000 128,000 86,000 41,000 59,000
24 Ch: 7 SUNRISE 401,000 107,000 102,000 89,000 42,000 63,000
25 Ch: ABC1 THE MOST DANGEROUS MAN IN AMERICA: DANIEL ELLSBERG-EV 396,000 124,000 144,000 42,000 37,000 50,000
26 Ch: 9 TODAY 348,000 96,000 117,000 79,000 20,000 36,000
27 Ch: 7 SEVEN’S TENNIS: 2011 AUST OPEN – DAY 2 344,000 88,000 115,000 67,000 40,000 34,000
28 Ch: ELEVEN NEIGHBOURS 319,000 73,000 138,000 42,000 29,000 37,000
29 Ch: TEN JUDGE JUDY 314,000 97,000 88,000 61,000 31,000 36,000
30 Ch: TEN TEN LATE NEWS WITH SPORTS TONIGHT 296,000 59,000 124,000 43,000 28,000 42,000
31 Ch: 9 NINE AFTERNOON NEWS 270,000 65,000 71,000 75,000 37,000 23,000
32 Ch: 9 RAMSAY’S KITCHEN NIGHTMARES REVISITS 269,000 91,000 89,000 24,000 45,000 20,000
33 Ch: 7TWO ARE YOU BEING SERVED? 266,000 65,000 58,000 44,000 39,000 60,000
34 Ch: 7TWO TO THE MANOR BORN 261,000 57,000 64,000 54,000 42,000 44,000
35 Ch: ELEVEN FUTURAMA TUES 254,000 63,000 97,000 39,000 28,000 27,000
36 Ch: 7mate AMERICAN DAD 253,000 35,000 99,000 52,000 34,000 33,000
37 Ch: 7mate FAMILY GUY-TUE 244,000 37,000 91,000 52,000 36,000 27,000
38 Ch: SBS ONE OUTBACK FIGHT CLUB 243,000 83,000 73,000 53,000 14,000 20,000
39 Ch: ELEVEN EVERYBODY LOVES RAYMOND 228,000 46,000 107,000 25,000 24,000 27,000
40 Ch: 7mate HOW I MET YOUR MOTHER-TUE 228,000 26,000 90,000 52,000 26,000 34,000
41 Ch: TEN GOOD CHEF BAD CHEF 226,000 65,000 60,000 48,000 18,000 34,000
42 Ch: ABC1 THE HUNT FOR THE TIGHTEST PERSON IN BRITAIN-LE 221,000 67,000 68,000 34,000 24,000 28,000
43 Ch: SBS ONE MONEY: WHY DO WE TAKE RISKS? 209,000 70,000 78,000 24,000 18,000 17,000
44 Ch: ABC1 SHAMWARI: A WILD LIFE-EV 207,000 63,000 57,000 37,000 23,000 27,000
45 Ch: ELEVEN THE SIMPSONS 205,000 39,000 95,000 26,000 24,000 21,000
46 Ch: 7mate MY NAME IS EARL 204,000 21,000 121,000 24,000 14,000 24,000
47 Ch: 7 DEAL OR NO DEAL 203,000 0 0 91,000 48,000 64,000
48 Ch: GO! WIN A DATE WITH TAD HAMILTON! -EV 202,000 67,000 42,000 46,000 18,000 29,000
49 Ch: 7TWO SOME MOTHERS DO ‘AVE ‘EM 201,000 57,000 44,000 28,000 32,000 40,000
50 Ch: 7 SUNRISE-EARLY 200,000 47,000 35,000 69,000 18,000 32,000

OzTam Five city Live and As Live Preliminary Ratings Figures. Raw data sourced from TV Central. 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”.