Supernatural

The Vampire Diaries, Supernatural and the yet to be seen here show Arrow have all been given renewals in the USA.

Cult favourites – Supernatural (Eleven) and The Vampire Diaries (FOX8) will be back for their 5th and 9th seasons respectively.

This follows news that a pilot is to be made as a spin-off from The Vampire Diaries called The Originals. Continue reading »

The US 2012/2013 television ratings season returns Monday September 24, 2012. As the new season nears, here is the Throng guide to US premiere dates and when these shows are likely to air in Australia. Continue reading »

Further to yesterday’s major changes on ELEVEN, the channel has released more changes to its line up for the week starting March 4.

On Sunday March 4, 7.30pm is the Simpsons, then 8pm Futurama, 8.30 the movie John Tucker Must Die, then not one, but two episodes of Everybody Loves Raymond from 10.25, then Family Ties at 11.25.

On Monday March 5, Supernatural is out, and Ringer becomes a double episode from 8.30pm.

So waht happens to digital channel ratings when all the main channels are loaded up with their prime new content? And what happens to new content on digitals as a result?

Answer – the main channels take the majority of the viewers while the digitals suffer lowered ratings due to the smaller audience left over. And for new content on digitals airing at the same time, it simply means they rank poorly than they otherwise should.

Which promts the question – why put SO MUCH  new content on one night? Sure the digitals have to compete for ratings points as well – but pitching new shows on digital channels – that are not repwated or even available in catch up services surely is a ratings kiss of death for these shows.

In the days leading up to Monday night, and even subsequent, I have seen comments form many viewers suggesting how difficlut the night was to decide what to watch. Even those with a twin channel PVR found themselves arranging their viewing for the night based on what would be encorred or availble on internet catch up services.

With over 2 million watching Revenge on Seven, and over a million on Nine at the same time, not to mention MKR hammering the 7.30-8.30 timeslot, and Big Bangs doing the same for Nine at the same time, the commercial digitals on Monday night took an absolute hammering. Shares were all pushed down below 3% each other than 7TWO which itself was lower than it has been at 3.5% and the digital channel top 20 only featured four prime time programs with the rest being ABC4 Kids shows – as their figures of course are not affected by the prime time shift of audience.

The digital channel ratings were topped by a repeat of Heartbeat on 7TWO with 329,000 tuning in, followed by Neighbours at 299,000 – so far this year, it has struggeld to get much more than 300,000. Spicks and Specks on ABC2 (which airs at 7pm, right after ABC4 Kids says goodnight) was watched by 184,000.

Comedy nights on Monday continue to pay off for ONE with Straussman Live: Get Chucked reaching 175,000. Doctor Who on ABC2 was just outside the top 20 with 160,000 viewers, while Friends on GEM reached 158,000. GEM’s last minute airing of The Body Guard starring Whitney Houston averaged 146,500.

Brand new Supernatural on ELEVEN was watched by just 146,000 while the last ever episode of Smallville on the same channel had less than 69,000 tuning in.

7mate’s Hardcore Pawn, Operation Repo and Lockdown were trounced – some nights these shows manage over 200,000 or more – Monday night between 105,000 and 111,000 for these shows.

Even a stray Big Bang episode on GO! was on watched by 109,000. Excess Baggage earlier in the evening was watched by just 118,000 for its first night on GO!. SBS TWO made it into the top 100 digital shows for the night with The Moon watched by 91,000.

Shares for the night saw 7TWO lead the digitals on 3.5%, then ELEVEN and GO! levelled on 2.8%, a three way tie on 2.7% for ONE, GEM and SBS ONE while 7mate’s share was 2.5%. ABC2 2.2%, SBS TWO 1.2%, ABC3 & News 24 0.6%.

For those of us who enjoy new content over repeats, is it really fair to cram so much into the one night over so mnay channels? I know I have said this before, but maybe time the free to air digital channels look at Foxtel for some programming guidance and consider replaying prime time shows at other times.

Replays of new content late night or during the day would make a refreshing change to the drival some of these channels offer outside of prime time. They really need to remember, that people watch TV outside of prime time too, and that people these days prefer options when chosing what to watch.

It is wrong to have a night saturated with too much to watch, resulting in shows that would otherwise be watched not be watched, while other nights and times have virtually nothing over 15 channels to watch.

Smallville – a recent mainstay for Monday nights on ELEVEN soon comes to an end.

Double episodes air on Monday January 30 as well as Monday February 6 – with the seocnd episode for that night being part ONE of the final for the show.

Then, on Monday February 13, at 9.30pm, is the last episode ever of Smallville.

It follows NEW Supernatural which will, from February 13, settly into the Monday 8.30pm timeslot.

With Week 7 (Feb 12-18) being the first week of ratings for 2012, the reast of the week on ELEVEN remains much the same as it has been in recent weeks.

New content on ELEVEN includes Supernatural on Monday nights at 8.30 from Feb 13, new episodes of The Office Tuesday nights 9pm, followed by new (to free to air) episodes of Dexter at 9.30pm. Wednesdays at 7.30pm is All New The Simpsons. Friday nights now feature triple Simpsons followed by Sex and The City.

The Loop airs Saturdays from 9am, repeated 10.30pm the same night.

New Neighbours, as always, is at 6.30pm weeknights.

The rest of ELEVEN’s programming remains consistant as to how it has been since the channel’s launch January 11, 2011.

Channel ELEVEN celebrates its first birthday this Wednesday 11 January as the highest rating multi-channel in all key demos, and things just keep getting better.

We couldn’t be more proud of all that we’ve accomplished over the past 12 months. From special events (Lady Gaga in concert) to Sci-Fi (Star Trek Next Generation, SGU); from animation (The Simpsons, Futurama) to the occult (American Horror Story), ELEVEN is the home of digital TV that not only entertains, but challenges the viewer.

Network Ten Head of Programming, Beverley McGarvey, said about ELEVEN: “Channel Eleven ended the survey year significantly ahead of our closest competitors, and in 2012 we plan on going from strength to strength.

We’re looking into some fresh ideas to bring to the table, as well as bringing back some of the best TV the US has to offer.”

Of course, where would we be without our Neighbours? Australia’s longest-running soap is now the highest rating program on ELEVEN, as big numbers continue to tune in to the dramas and daily lives of the residents of Ramsay Street.

Under the twinkling eyes of presenters Labby and Stav, Couch Time remains an integral piece of the ELEVEN puzzle. It is the key element that connects our viewers with the best of ELEVEN programming, and continues to grow in personality.

In 2012, ELEVEN promises to continue being awesome. We’ve got two exciting home-grown developments to celebrate, ELEVEN’s own mini-drama Micro Nation, and the launch of our weekly music and entertainment program coming at the end of January.

But before we get to all that, let’s party.

This week we’re bringing out the big guns. While we’re saying hello to Neighbours for the first time in 2012, we farewell Steve Carell on Tuesday night in back-to-back episodes of The Office. We’re celebrating the season return of The Simpsons, Supernatural and Smallville, and ramping things up in the penultimate episode of American Horror Story.

On Wednesday, we’re airing special birthday episodes of Futurama, Everybody Loves Raymond, The King of Queens, Cheers, Family Ties, Happy Days and The Brady Bunch! Couch Time will also be presenting a special birthday episode, that may or may not involve a giant cake.

Wife Swap Australia (Premiere), 8.30pm, LifeStyle YOU
Read review here.

Freddie Flintoff versus the World, 8.35pm, SBS ONE
This action-packed series sees cricketing legend Freddie Flintoff try his hand at some of the most extreme challenges on offer. But he won’t be trying anything out without turning it into a competition, so he’s also enlisted other recently retired top athletes to see if they can beat him.

Smallville (Premiere), 9.30pm, ELEVEN
After receiving a spiked bottle of champagne from Zatanna, Lois and Clark lose their memories of their bachelorette/bachelor parties.

Becoming Chaz, 9.30pm, LifeStyle YOU
Read review here

Supernatural (Premiere), 8.30pm, ELEVEN
Bobby is close to dying. He must confront his worst memory to escape, before his reaper catches up to him.

New content on ELEVEN in its anniversary week.

For the week January 9-15, 2012, encompassing ELEVEN’s first anniversary on air of January 11, the channel delivers new episodes of many of its shows including The Simpsons, The Office, The Cleveland Show, Smallville and Supernatural.

Here’s when to find all that new content:

Monday Jan 9
8.30 Supernatural
9.30 Smallville

Tuesday Jan 10
8.30 The Office
9.00 The Office
9.30 American Horror Story (note – new episodes continue to air every Tuesday at the moment)

Wednesday Jan 11
7.30 All New Simpsons
8.00 repeats Futurama, Simpsons, Futurama
9.30 The Cleveland Show new
10.00 Cleveland Show rpt

SPOILER ALERT!

It’s official: Misha Collins is set return to The CW’s Supernatural later this season, according to TV line.

Specifically, a spokesperson for Warner Bros. TV says that Collins will appear as a guest star in Episode 17 as well as in “at least two additional episodes” beyond that — though not necessarily as fallen angel Castiel.

“It has always been our intention to bring back Misha in some form,” executive producer Sera Gamble hedged shortly after Castiel famously exited the canvas earlier this season. “We certainly can’t say too much about where the story is going to go, but we love Misha and want to continue to work with him.”

Dual Suspects, 10pm, Seven
Murder Italian Style: Follow the story surrounding the cotroversial Amanda Knox trial in Perugia, Italy.

The Elegant Universe, 8.30pm, SBS TWO
Albert Einstein, dreamed of finding a single theory that would embrace all of nature’s laws, but came up empty-handed. The conflict between general relativity and quantum mechanics has stymied all who’ve followed, until the discovery of string theory.

The Mentalist, 8.30pm, Nine
When the son of a former client from Jane’s days as a psychic is kidnapped, Jane and the CBI team are asked to help find him. Meanwhile, Jane butts heads with his former client’s new “spiritual advisor.”

Australia’s Next Top Model, 7.35pm, FOX8
The girls get a lesson in social media before being flown to an epic photo shoot by helicopter. The next day they visit four of Australia’s top designers in the hope of being booked as the final four becomes the top three.

Supernatural, 8.30pm, ELEVEN
Dean is furious when Sam disappears in order to investigate a case that has similarities to one he solved in his childhood. Meanwhile Sam is facing the same demon he conquered before.