With Easter just two weeks away, the networks are starting to promote shows that will air after Easter, in May and beyond. Seven lead the way with the most titles, Ten are aggressively promoting Masterchef’s return, while Nine are spruiking the return of two of their local productions Rescue and Sea Patrol.
Here is the run down of some of the shows that will grace our screens in May.
Masterchef, series three. Ten from Sunday May 1st.
The third series of Masterchef promises to be the best yet with new challenges, new guests, more sponsors – watch out for product placement – and plenty of the drama that has helped make Masterchef the highest rating series on Australian television.
Offspring, second season. Ten in May.
Ten have just started promoting the return of season two of Offspring, retuning in May. At this stage the timeslot is not known. Chances are, Ten will try the show on a different night as Hawaii Five-O currently occupies Offspring’s 2010 timeslot of 8.30pm Sundays and has still has enough episodes to play to continue in that timeslot until the end of May. Despite the second season not even airing yet, Offspring has been renewed for a third season.
Stars: Asher Keddie, Kat Stewart and Don Hany.
Dancing With the Stars 11. Seven in May.
The celebrity dancing contest returns for another year, with eleven more hopeful “celebrities” including My Kitchen Rule’s Manu Fiedell vying for that elusive mirror ball trophy. Dancing with the Stars will almost certainly return to its regular timeslot of 6.30pm Sundays. Premiere date is most likely May 1, the night of the Logies and the premiere of Masterchef season 3.
Australia’s Got Talent. Seven in May.
Judges Kyle Sandilands, Danii Minogue and Brian McFadden return as judges in an effort to find who’s got talent in 2011. The level of promotion for the show suggests a return in the first week of May.
The Amazing Race Australia. Seven late May.
Seven are certainly rolling out the local productions this year. The Amazing Race Australia has already been filmed, and will premiere on Seven after the conclusion of the current US series which is airing on 7mate. The US series has 6 episodes to go, with the next episode airing Wednesday April 20, 7.30pm. Hot tip for timeslot is Mondays, 7.30pm from May 30.
No Ordinary Family. Seven soon.
This show is about the Powell family who mysteriously obtain hero-like super powers after the crash of their plane in the Amazon River. The father Jim has the power of super-strength, mother Stephanie speed, 16 year old daughter Daphne telepathy and 14 year old son JJ who once had a learning disability is graced with genius level mental abilities. The series deals with how the family handle their powers, as they try to come to terms with their new found abilities.
Stars: Michael Chiklis, Julie Benz, Kay Panabaker and Jimmy Bennett.
Downton Abbey. Seven soon.
Downton Abbey is an English produced period drama set in pre-WWI England, centred on the Crawley family and their servants. The seven part series starts off in April 1912, when the heir to the title of Earl of Grantham, long term inhabitants of Downton Abbey perishes on the Titanic. In order to inherit the wealth, the current earl, who owes his wealth to his rich American wife only has three daughters who cannot inherit by law. The challenge is to find a husband for the eldest, but the most likely candidate turns out to be gay. Donwton Abbey has a second season which airs in the UK late 2011. Stars Hugh Bonneville, Laura Carmichael, Michelle Dockery, Elizabeth McGovern and Maggie Smith.
Rescue. Nine, soon.
Rescue, formerly known as Rescue Special Ops, returns to Nine for its third season most likely in May. Stars Peter Phelps, Andrew Lees, Les Hill, Gig Edgley and Libby Tanner.
Sea Patrol. Nine, soon.
Sea Patrol returns to Nine for its fifth and final season soon, also most likely in May. Stars Lisa McCune, Matthew Holmes and John Batchelor.
Seven by FAR have the most new content coming up in May with five titles currently being promoted. On top of those five, there is also Jersey Shore coming soon to 7mate, while 7TWO will expand its British crime library with the addition of The Bill and Doc Martin to its line up in May.
Meanwhile GO! continue to promote new shows like Glory Daze yet to be given an air date. Questions remain as to when numerous new content titles return to GO! including The Vampire Diaries, Pretty Little Liars, Hellcats, Community and the second season of Spartacus.
On SBS ONE in May is the 2011 Eurovision Song Contest, The Secret History of Eurovision, the FA Cup final and new Monster moves. A new (to free to air) nine part series of the UK version of Who Do You Think You Are? returns in May featuring Alan Cumming, Jason Donavon, Rupert Everett, amongst others.
Critically acclaimed East West 101 returns for a new seven part season, Tuesday April 19, 8.30pm on SBS ONE. The return of the multi-award winning series explores the fallout from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan through a series of violent crimes committed in Australia. In the first episode, a sophisticated robbery of an armoured guard van leaves four dead, including some of the robbers themselves. Meanwhile Malik clashes with new detective on the squad, a former army officer, Neil Travis, in his impassioned pursuit of those who have hurt him and his family. Stars Don Hany, Susie Porter and Matt Nable
Coming to ABC1 in May is the four part series, The Kennedys starring Katie Holmes as Jacqueline Kennedy and Greg Kinnear as John F Kennedy. It will air as a four part mini series, with each episode being 90 minutes long.
May will also see ONE HD relaunched with more general entertainment – read more about the ONE HD makeover here.
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