Same Name

At the Movies, 10pm, ABC1
This week Margaret and David report from the Venice Film Festival, where they catch up with Madonna.

Who Do You Think You Are? – Gwyneth Paltrow, 10pm, Nine
Academy Award-winning actress, Gwyneth Paltrow traces the roots of her beloved paternal grandfather, a man driven to succeed in the face of adversity and uncovers a string of events that give her insight into her great grandmother’s character.

Same Name – Kathy Griffin, 7.32pm, GO!
In a reality series in which celebrities trade lives with strangers who share their name, Kathy Griffin trades places with a working mother from the US.

Kill it, Cook it, Eat it – Fast Food, 9.30pm, ABC2
UK presenter Julia Bradbury hosts a series that shows exactly what it takes to turn a living animal into meat for the table. In this Fast Food series, we see how they become burgers, kebabs, sausages and nuggets.

Poh’s Kitchen on the Road, 8pm, ABC1
Poh’s on the road to Port Willunga on SA’s Fleurieu Peninsula to attend the One Magic Bowl, an event where eleven local chefs are creating 11 seafood dishes to be served in one bespoke bowl on the beach.

After Same Name was dumped off channel Nine last week, the series will continue in the same timeslot of 7.30pm Wednesday on GO! pushing back The Voice to 8.30pm.

The Voice, as a result, suffers its thrid programming change in two weeks. The Voice now remains at 7.30pm Tuesday, as well as 8.30pm Wednesday, and nothing on Thursday night.

On Wednesday night, it is three hours of The Voice, with two hours of performance, followed by an hour of result. Late night for fans.

Thursday 7.30pm on GO! is TBA.

Try not to look too surprised here.

Nine have taken off $#*! My Dad Says from Tuesday nights, replacing it with The Big Bang Theory at 8pm. That now means there are two nights a week in Nine’s schedule with triple episodes of Big Bang from 7pm – Tuesdays and Thursdays.

Same Name – Lame programming. Why is it, that just about everyone who comments on sites like this and Nine’s own Facebook page knew that Same Name would have been a flop in ratings?

Last Wednesday, the show managed 525,000, and dragged down Nine’s night with it. Expect to see it on GEM one day! Same Name will be replaced by documentary series Ocean Giants: Giant Lives – the fourth change to 7.30 Wednesday in as many weeks. Methinks Top Gear Australia might work better at this time, when it is not against Packed to the Rafters on Seven?

Speaking of Top Gear Australia, Nine have moved that as well from 8.30 to 9.30 on Tuesday night. No idea why they thought it would do well in that timeslot either. At 8.30, Under Surveillance airs, with an episode called Charlotte’s Web.

10.30 that night is a repeat episode of Top Gear.

Source: Many EPGs.

Questions: Why do I now have to find out this information from EPG’s? Why aren’t Nine sending out amendments to bloggers anymore? Whether they send them out or not, it’s not going to change anyway at all what we post and write about these excessive programming changes.

Ratings predictions: Ocean Giants 600,000. Under Surveillance 600,000. Top Gear Australia 300,000.

At this stage, no clue as to what will happen the week after next as the Foxtel advance guide ap – which allows you to look 14 days in advance – still has the programming unchanged – that is, Same Name is still on, Top Gear Australia at 8.30 Tuesday. Obviously that is all wrong now.

I don’t think Nine have any clue what to air that week either – they’ll watch and see what happens with ratings and then decide.

Same Name, Nine, 7.30pm
David Hasselhoff trades places with an electrical technician and landscaper from Texas in the opener of a reality series in which celebrities trade lives with strangers who share their name.

Heston’s Mission Impossible, Seven, 9.30pm
Heston tries to transform the food at one of the UK’s biggest cinema chains, Cineworld. His challenge is to inject fun and excitement into the movie experience by overhauling the snacks on offer.

Ruth Rendell Mysteries, Lake of Darkness, 7TWO, 8.40pm
Accountant Martin Urban wins a substantial amount of money in a lottery and is determined to give some of it away to deserving causes. Generosity has its rewards and for Martin it is flower delivery girl Francesca, with whom he quickly falls in love.

What Would You Do?, Nine, 12.30am
Using hidden cameras, host John Quinones observes and comments on how ordinary people behave when they are confronted with a dilemma that requires them to either take action or walk by and mind their own business.

Mob Wives, Lifestyle You, 8.30pm
Made in Staten Island: This series follows the lives of four women at a crossroads, having to pick up the pieces and carry on while their husbands or fathers do time for Mob-related activities.

Same Name, an engaging new series about trading places where celebrities swap lives with ordinary people who have the same name, premieres Wednesday, August 31, at 7.30pm on Channel Nine.

Each week a different celebrity will fly to the home of their namesake, who shows the celebrity around before handing over the house keys. The celebrity will move into their namesake’s place, take care of their kids, work their job, meet their friends, take on all the family responsibilities – and even sleep next to the wife or husband.

From working on a high-voltage transformer to changing nappies at 3.00am, each celebrity will get a first-hand look at what life is like as a regular Joe or Josephine who just happens to have the same name.

In the premiere episode Baywatch’s David Hasselhoff exchanges his glamorous Los Angeles lifestyle with 27-year-old David Haselhoff from Texas. Other celebrities include comedienne Kathy Griffin, American footballer Reggie Bush, and Mike Tyson, the former world heavyweight boxing champion.

Meanwhile the namesake trades places with the celebrity and heads off to Hollywood to indulge in the lifestyle of the rich and famous – from mansions and parties to VIP seats and pampering wherever they go. But sometimes life in the fast lane has its own problems. Dealing with agents and pushy reporters and enduring gruelling workouts to keep fit shows the glamour life isn’t always what it’s cracked up to be.

After living the heady Hollywood life our everyday namesakes come home to reunite with the family, trade stories and find out how their celebrity counterparts are handling being a plain working guy or gal. But before the celebrities return to their high-profile lives they will reveal a surprise that might just help their namesakes achieve a goal or a dream of their own.

For the celebrities, it’s a chance to escape their fishbowl existence and walk a mile in someone else’s shoes. Stripped of the credit cards and fancy cars, do they find the grass any greener in ordinary everyday land? And for their unsung counterparts, it’s a rare opportunity to cash in on the benefits of sharing a famous name that can become an annoying burden throughout life.

How will the stars and the stand-ins handle the swap? Find out each week when a new celebrity comes face to face with a person who has the Same Name.

Same Name: Wednesday, August 31 at 7.30pm on Nine

Nine programming are all over the place at the moment.

The Farmer Wants a Wife, was advertised as continuing Wednesdays, but the network have changed their mids and will now air Farmer on Mondays at 7.30pm, from next Monday August 29.A strange move from Nine, seeing that the show has usually aired on Wednesday nights.

In its timeslot of 7.30pm next Wednesday August 31 will be a show called Same Name which sees celebrities move into the life of people with the same name as them, and try doing what they do for a day. The first episode features David Hasselhoff.

Ratings Gold? I think not!

This week. The Farmer Wants a Wife aired at 7.30pm Wednesday, the week before, Top Design. Looks like a new troublesome timeslot for Nine. Next week Same Name, the week after? Will Same Name make it more than a week?

Another show coming to Nine that looks questionable is 2 Broke Girls. Already slammed in the US as likely to flop, the new sitcom is possibly set to join the ranks of Mike & Molly, $#*! My Dad Says and Hot In Cleveland as failed sitcoms on the main channel.

Honestly Nine, why not put all these second rate US sitcoms on one night on GO! or GEM? They just don’t stand up on the main channel.