Are you smarter than a 5th grader?

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 5^th 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…

5. NCIS S7E03. Tue Oct 13 8.30pm.

6. Lie to Me S2E02. Tue Oct 13 9.30pm. Mekhi Phifer – best known for his role of Pratt in ER joins the Lightman Groups as a permanent partner.

7. NCIS:LA S1E03. Wed Oct 14 8.30pm

8. Celebrity Masterchef. Wed Oct 14 7.30pm. This weeks’ three celebs are: Anna Bligh, Eamon Sullivan and Simon Westaway.

9. Three Rivers. Wed Oct 14, 9.30pm. Premiere S1E01. Three Rivers is a medical drama that goes inside the emotionally complex lives of organ donors, the recipients and the surgeons at the pre eminent transplant hospital in the country, where every moment counts. Stars Alex O’Loughlin. Speaking of medical dramas, ER is back on 9 at 10.30 Thursdays from Oct 8. And then there is Mercy on Channel 7 Mon 9.30pm. Interestingly, there is reference to a hospital called Mercy in ER. While we are at it, Grey’s Anatomy season 6 just debuted in the US for season 6 with a double episode and was one of the highest rating shows in the US for the week. We probably won’t see that here until channel 7 airs it Feb 2010. Private Practice starts next week in the US and follows Greys Anatomy. Detour over.

10. Ten’s Thursday nights. Oct 15. 7.30 Glee. 8.30 Rush. 9.30 Burn Notice. A good night for Ten.

11. Supernatural. No word as to when the promised fat tracking of season 5 will air on Ten. All I can say is that it is not before Oct 17 unless there are late changes.

Programming subject to late change. Programming info here all courtesy Channel 10 except when other shows have been mentioned which are highlighted in other posts on Throng.

Monday September 21 7.30pm

In this episode we get to see James Mathison finish off his stint in Rove’s classroom.

Also joining him is Olympian Ian Thorpe. He is certainly a big hit with the kids, but how much will Thorpie put on the line to win cash for his chosen charity Ian Thorpe’s Fountain for Youth?

[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 5^th 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 1^st episode, picking up where the last season left off. This is one week after it’s US premiere.

As a result of the Australian Idol time slot change, Little Britain USA and Nurse Jackie will be moving to Monday nights after Good News Week which means they will usually air from 10pm. STILL No word yet as to where Supernatural will end up. The two shows will not air on Sunday Sept 20. Mon Sept 28 will be their second episodes.

4. Tuesday Sept 29, 8.30pm. Also fast tracked, will be the premiere of season 7 of NCIS – just one week after they see it in the US. This is followed by a repeat episode scheduled for 9.30pm

5. Wednesday Sept 30, 7.30pm. Celebrity Masterchef kicks off. Returning to judge the 18 celebrity contestants will be Gary Mehigan, George Calombaris and Matt Preston whose opinions, judgement and commentary will not change with this new realm of contestants.

6. Wednesday Sept 30, 8.30pm. The premiere of the new NCIS franchise, NCIS: LA starring Chris O’Donnell and LL Cool J. At 9.30, a repeat of NCIS will follow.

7. Saturday Oct 3, 3pm. One Tree Hill is back for season 6.

8. Dexter is no longer on Monday nights, being moved to 11.30 Saturday from Oct 4.

9. LIE TO ME confirmed for its season 2 return at 9.30 Tuesday Oct 6, after new NCIS. That brings the NCIS episode count back to 3 per week. One new NCIS, new NCIS:LA and one repeat after NCIS:LA.

Programming subject to late change.

Monday September 14 7.30pm

This week in Rove’s classroom we’ll not only see Jane Hall cap off her efforts, we’ll also have The 7pm Project’s very own James Mathison playing for the OASIS Support Network. We’ve seen his talent across many projects, but how will his talent stand up against a stack of primary school questions?

We’ll also see vibrant high school teacher, Shane ‘Hendo’, try his luck. Nothing like putting a real school teacher to the test!

Monday September 7 7.30pm

She is known for her role as Rebecca Napier on the long running series, “Neighbours”, but no amount of acting skills will give Jane Hall an advantage in Rove’s classroom.

How will Jane stack up against a whole lot of primary school questions? Hopefully she plays her cards right as she is playing for a very charitable cause, The Smith Family.

Also facing the chalk board is 73 year old retired school bus driver Des. Will this charming grandfather be able to claim he is smarter than a 5th grader, or have to admit defeat?

Monday August 31 7.30pm

She is our Deputy Prime Minister, but is she smarter than a 5th grader?

It is one thing to be a lawyer, teacher or farmer flunking out of the fifth grader classroom, but the stakes get higher when you are the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Education.

The Honourable Julia Gillard will be looking to our fifth grader class for support and clues when she faces our very special version of question time.

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 5^th 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

6. Go Girls, after being held over while 10 re-arrange their Friday nights to have So You Think You Can Dance at a later time, returns with episode 3 on Friday September 11 at 10.30pm, following the move Nanny McPhee at 8.30pm.

Also on Friday nights, is the Simpsons with two episodes played from 7.30pm.

The final of So You Think You Can Dance is at 10.30pm Friday Sept 3.

7. GLEE will be on Thursdays at 7.30pm from September 17.

8. Celebrity Masterchef is tipped to premier on at 7.30pm Wednesday September 30. NCIS LA will most likely premiere that week as well, just days after it premieres in the US.

9. And jumping way ahead, 10 plan to air a New Years’ Eve special featuring Shaun McCalliff.

Monday August 17 7.30pm

NICOLE LIVINGSTONE, formally one of Australia’s greatest backstrokers tries her luck in She is talented, she is sporty, but is she smarter than a 5th grader?

Rove’s 5th grade classroom. She plays for a very worthy cause, Ovarian Cancer Australia.

Also on the show is Melbourne mother of three, Sonia. Let’s hope World History, 1st Grade arts and Australian geography are right up her alley.

How do you think you’d go answering primary school questions? Would you make the grade or would you have to admit you’re not smarter than a 5th grader?

Monday August 10 7.30pm

This week on Are you Smarter than a 5th Grader we are joined by one of the tallest guests we’ve ever had – WWE wrestler, Big Show.

Rove says of this week’s celebrity guest, Big Show:

“On a show where the host is pretty tiny and the rest of the cast are 10-year-olds, a giant is going to look like King Kong attacking Manhattan. Being a wrestling fan it was exciting having Big Show come in but there was still a slight fear I was going to get walloped with a chair.”

Also on the show is 33 year old Go-Go dancer, Anna, from Melbourne who is hoping she won’t have to look down the camera barrel and admit she is not smarter than a 5th grader.

Monday August 3 7.30pm

“It’s my third year doing the show and this time around I thought I’d allow myself to play with the boundaries a bit more. I have set myself the challenge of seeing what I can get away with in a PG timeslot in a room full of kids. Not swearing in front of them certainly hasn’t gotten any easier.” - Rove

Join Rove, Dylan, Lily, Oliver, Maddie and Liam on Monday nights, 7.30pm.