TV Week Logie Awards–the nominations

Last night saw TV Week reveal the list of nominees for this year’s TV Week Logie Awards to take place at the Crown Entertainment Complex, Melbourne, on Sunday 15 April.

 

Publicly-voted categories:

GOLD LOGIE

Most Popular Personality on Television
Adam Hills (Spicks And Specks/Adam Hills In Gordon St Tonight, ABC1)
Asher Keddie (Offspring, Network Ten / Paper Giants: The Birth Of Cleo, ABC1)
Carrie Bickmore (The Project, Network Ten)
Esther Anderson (Home And Away, Channel Seven)
Hamish Blake (Hamish & Andy’s Gap Year, Nine Network)
Karl Stefanovic (Today, Nine Network) (pictured)
(Last year’s winner: Karl Stefanovic, Today)

SILVER LOGIES

Most Popular Actor
Daniel MacPherson (Wild Boys, Channel Seven)
Eddie Perfect (Offspring, Network Ten)
Erik Thomson (Packed To The Rafters, Channel Seven)
Hugh Sheridan (Packed To The Rafters, Channel Seven)
Ray Meagher (Home And Away, Channel Seven)
(Last year’s winner: Hugh Sheridan, Packed To The Rafters)

Most Popular Actress
Asher Keddie (Offspring, Network Ten / Paper Giants: The Birth Of Cleo, ABC1) (pictured)
Danielle Cormack (Underbelly: Razor, Nine Network / East West 101, SBS)
Esther Anderson (Home And Away, Channel Seven)
Jessica Marais (Packed To The Rafters, Channel Seven)
Rebecca Gibney (Packed To The Rafters, Channel Seven)
(Last year’s winner: Asher Keddie, Offspring)

Most Popular Presenter
Adam Hills (Spicks And Specks/Adam Hills In Gordon St Tonight, ABC1) (pictured)
Carrie Bickmore (The Project, Network Ten)
Chrissie Swan (The Circle, Network Ten)
Hamish Blake (Hamish & Andy’s Gap Year, Nine Network)
Karl Stefanovic (Today, Nine Network)
(Last year’s winner: Karl Stefanovic, Today)

LOGIE AWARDS

Most Popular New Male Talent
Dan Ewing (Home And Away, Channel Seven)
James Mason (Neighbours, Network Ten)
Peter Kuruvita (My Sri Lanka With Peter Kuruvita, SBS)
Steve Peacocke (Home And Away, Channel Seven)
Tom Wren (Winners & Losers, Channel Seven)
(Last year’s winner: Firass Dirani, Underbelly: The Golden Mile)

Most Popular New Female Talent
Anna McGahan (Underbelly: Razor, Nine Network)
Chelsie Preston Crayford (Underbelly: Razor, Nine Network)
Demi Harman (Home And Away, Channel Seven)
Melissa Bergland (Winners & Losers, Channel Seven)
Tiffiny Hall (The Biggest Loser Australia, Network Ten)
(Last year’s winner: Chrissie Swan, The Circle)

Most Popular Drama Series
Home And Away (Channel Seven)
Offspring (Network Ten)
Packed To The Rafters (Channel Seven)
Underbelly: Razor (Nine Network)
Winners And Losers (Channel Seven) (pictured)
(Last year’s winner: Packed To The Rafters)

Most Popular Light Entertainment Program
Australia’s Got Talent (Channel Seven)
Hamish & Andy’s Gap Year (Nine Network)
Spicks And Specks (ABC1)
Sunrise (Channel Seven)
The Project (Network Ten)
(Last year’s winner: The Circle)

Most Popular Lifestyle Program
Better Homes And Gardens (Channel Seven)
Getaway (Nine Network)
iFISH (Network Ten)
Ready Steady Cook (Network Ten)
Selling Houses Australia Extreme (LifeStyle Channel, Foxtel)
(Last year’s winner: Better Homes And Gardens)

Most Popular Sports Program
2011 AFL Grand Final (Network Ten)
Before The Game (Network Ten)
The AFL Footy Show (Nine Network)
The NRL Footy Show (Nine Network)
Wide World Of Sports (Nine Network)
(Last year’s winner: The Footy Show (AFL))

Most Popular Reality Program
Beauty And The Geek Australia (Channel Seven)
MasterChef Australia (Network Ten)
My Kitchen Rules (Channel Seven)
The Block (Nine Network)
The X Factor Australia (Channel Seven)
(Last year’s winner: MasterChef Australia)

Most Popular Factual Program
Bondi Rescue (Network Ten)
Bondi Vet (Network Ten)
Border Security: Australia’s Front Line (Channel Seven)
RPA (Nine Network)
World’s Strictest Parents (Channel Seven)
(Last year’s winner: Bondi Rescue)

Industry-voted categories:

SILVER LOGIES

Most Outstanding Drama Series, Miniseries or Telemovie
Cloudstreet (Showcase, Foxtel)
Offspring (Network Ten)
Paper Giants: The Birth Of Cleo (ABC1)
The Slap (ABC1)
Underbelly: Razor (Nine Network)
(Last year’s winner: Underbelly: The Golden Mile)

Most Outstanding Actor
Alex Dimitriades (The Slap, ABC1)
David Wenham (Killing Time, TV1, Foxtel)
Don Hany (East West 101, SBS)
Geoff Morrell (Cloudstreet, Showcase, Foxtel)
Rob Carlton (Paper Giants: The Birth Of Cleo, ABC1) (pictured)
(Last year’s winner: Richard Roxburgh, Rake)

Most Outstanding Actress
Asher Keddie (Paper Giants: The Birth Of Cleo, ABC1)
Diana Glenn (Killing Time, TV1, Foxtel)
Essie Davis (The Slap, ABC1)
Kat Stewart (Offspring, Network Ten)
Melissa George (The Slap, ABC1)
(Last year’s winner: Claire van der Boom, Sisters Of War)

LOGIE AWARDS

Graham Kennedy Award – Most Outstanding New Talent
Anna McGahan (Underbelly: Razor, Nine Network)
Chelsie Preston Crayford (Underbelly: Razor, Nine Network)
Hamish Macdonald (Senior Foreign Correspondent, Network Ten) (pictured)
Hamish Michael (Crownies, ABC1)
Melissa Bergland (Winners & Losers, Channel Seven)
(Last year’s winner: Firass Dirani, Underbelly: The Golden Mile)

Most Outstanding News Coverage
“Lockyer Valley Flood” (Brisbane News, Channel Seven)
“Qantas Grounded” (Sky News National, Sky News Australia, Foxtel)
“Skype Scandal” (Ten News At Five, Network Ten)
“The Queensland Floods” (Nine News, Nine Network)
“Unfinished Business” (SBS World News Australia, SBS)
(Last year’s winner: “New Zealand Mine Disaster”, Seven News)

Most Outstanding Public Affairs Report
"A Bloody Business" (Four Corners/Sarah Ferguson, ABC1)
After The Deluge: The Valley (Paul Lockyer, ABC1)
"Rescue 500" (Sunday Night, Channel Seven)
"Salma In The Square" (Foreign Correspondent/Mark Corcoran, ABC1)
Tour Of Duty: Australia’s Secret War (Network Ten)
(Last year’s winner: “Smugglers' Paradise”, Four Corners)

Most Outstanding Light Entertainment Program
Australia’s Got Talent (Channel Seven)
Gruen Planet (ABC1)
Spicks And Specks (ABC1) (pictured)
Talkin’ ’Bout Your Generation (Network Ten)
The Project (Network Ten)
(Last year’s winner: Spicks And Specks)

Most Outstanding Sports Coverage
2011 Australian Open Tennis (Channel Seven)
2011 Bathurst 1000 (Channel Seven)
2011 Melbourne Cup Carnival (Channel Seven)
State Of Origin III (Nine Network)
Tour de France 2011 (SBS)
(Last year’s winner: The Ashes 2010 First Test – Day One at the Gabba)

Most Outstanding Children’s Program
Camp Orange: Wrong Town, (Nickelodeon, Foxtel)
Lockie Leonard (Nine Network)
My Place (ABC3)
Saturday Disney (Channel Seven)
Scope (Network Ten)
(Last year’s winner: Dance Academy)

Most Outstanding Factual Program
Go Back To Where You Came From (SBS) (pictured)
Leaky Boat (ABC1)
Mrs Carey’s Concert (ABC1)
Outback Fight Club (SBS)
Tony Robinson Explores Australia (The History Channel, Foxtel)
(Last year’s winner: Trishna & Krishna: The Quest For Separate Lives)

TV Week is yet to announce this year’s inductee into the Logie Awards’ Hall of Fame.

The 54th annual TV Week Logie Awards will be held on Sunday 15 April and telecast on the Nine Network.

Source: The Age.

Geoffrey Rush – our Australian of the Year

Oscar-winning actor Geoffrey Rush (pictured) was last night announced as our Australian of the Year in recognition of his contribution to the arts.

The 60-year-old, who this year celebrates 40 years in the industry, gained international fame in 1996 for his portrayal of pianist David Helfgott in the movie Shine which led to him winning the Academy Award for Best Actor.

Despite much of Rush’s acting work being in the theatre and on film, the Queensland-born actor has also worked in television.  He made his TV acting debut in the ABC mini-series Menotti in 1981.

He later appeared in Twisted Tales and played the lead role of newspaper editor Bill Wyatt in the 1996 series Mercury.

Rush also made a guest appearance in Kath And Kim in 2004.

Also on this Australia Day, a number of television identities were among the hundreds recognised in this year’s Australia Day honours list:

Maggie Beer – “For service to the tourism and hospitality industries as a cook, restaurateur and author, and to the promotion of Australian produce and cuisine.”  Beer was a co-presenter on the popular ABC series The Cook And The Chef for five years and has also been a regular guest on MasterChef Australia.

Jamie Durie – “For service to the community as an ambassador and supporter of a range of charitable and environmental organisations, and as a landscape designer.”  Durie came to national fame as the presenter of Backyard Blitz and The Block.  He has more recently appeared on the Seven Network’s The Outdoor Room and gained international fame when he caught the attention of Oprah Winfrey.

Gus Mercurio (posthumously) – “For service to boxing as an administrator and sports commentator, as a film, television and stage actor, and to the community.”  Mercurio appeared in numerous television series over his career, including period dramas Cash And Company, The Sullivans, Power Without Glory, Tandarra, Five Mile Creek and All The Rivers Run, and was a boxing commentator for 12 years.

Oscar Whitbread – “For service to the Australian film and television industry.”  Whitbread has been a television producer since the 1960s, working on ABC dramas including Bellbird, Marion, And The Big Men Fly, Power Without Glory, Rush, Catspaw, The Truckies, Outbreak Of Love and I Can Jump Puddles.  He later worked on The Flying Doctors, Ratbag Hero, Cluedo and Acropolis Now.

Source: ABC, Governor-General of Australia, IMDB, IMDB.

Another year gone… already…?

It doesn’t seem that long since we welcomed 2011!

Australian television reached a number of milestones this year: Ten years of digital TV; 40 years of Sesame Street on the ABC; Mal Walden celebrated 50 years in broadcasting and Tracy Grimshaw reached 30 years at Nine; Play School turned 45; Four Corners turned 50; TV turned 40 in Darwin; David Stratton and Margaret Pomeranz celebrated 25 years together on television; and it was 50 years since the launch of regional stations GLV10, BCV8 and GMV6.

Ratings-wise, it was all about Seven, winning their fifth year in a row.  There was little they could do wrong, while at Network Ten there was not much that they could get right – even MasterChef took a battering – with Nine falling somewhere in between.

ABC’s Spicks And Specks made a dignified exit off the stage, while Ten’s Video Hits was pushed off the stage – after 24 years – in a bout of cost cutting.  ABC put the axe to Collectors, The New Inventors and Arts Nation.

Showbiz stalwarts Denise Drysdale and Kerri-Anne Kennerley signed off from their respective daytime programs.

Network Ten launched its new digital channel Eleven, and attempted to raise the bar in current affairs reporting with 6PM With George Negus (later 6.30).  It was a tumultuous year at a management level for Ten with the dismissal of CEO Grant Blackley and the appointment of interim CEO Lachlan Murdoch before James Warburton, a former Seven Network executive, takes over the role in January.  Under Murdoch’s watch, sports channel One HD was re-worked into a general entertainment and special interest channel, Ten News suffered a number of format changes, budget cuts and staff departures (including Deborah Knight and George Donikian), while Late News and 6.30 With George Negus were both axed.  Newspaper columnist and blogger Andrew Bolt was given his own show, and the network walked away from AFL after ten years.

Nine’s A Current Affair revisited some TV classics during the year, including Young Talent Time (pictured) and Big Brother (coincidentally both programs are to make a comeback in 2012).  ACA also took a trip to Wandin Valley to remember A Country Practice.  Meanwhile, Today Tonight took ‘70s sex symbol Abigail to task for no good reason.

There were cosmetic changes made to ABC1, ABC2 and ABC 4 Kids, and SBS appointed a new Managing Director.

Karl Stefanovic (pictured) won the TV Week Gold Logie, and veteran political journalist Laurie Oakes was inducted into the Hall of Fame.

After a quiet few years in drama, ABC made a stellar comeback this year with Paper Giants: The Birth Of Cleo and The Slap both receiving critical acclaim and good ratings.  The broadcaster also launched a new legal drama, Crownies.  SBS scored a hit with its reality-documentary series Go Back To Where You Came From, triggering a wave of social commentary on what has always been a controversial topic.

Regional Victoria and Regional Queensland made the final switch from analogue to digital television – while remote area networks Imparja and Southern Cross have only now switched on to digital transmission and Regional WA is now seeing the roll-out of the digital multi-channels from the commercial networks.

Millions watched the royal wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton – it was an event that was hard to miss with saturation coverage on free-to-air and multiple pay-TV channels.

So what will 2012 bring?

Network Ten will hope for a better, more stable year with a new CEO and News Director on board.  Last year the network took a gamble with George Negus and more News bulletins.  This year Ten is taking a gamble with launching a new breakfast show up against Sunrise, Today and ABC News Breakfast – will this risk pay off?  And will the re-named and expanded The Project lead to improvement in Ten’s embattled 6.30 timeslot?

Also, will MasterChef be able to knock out the few dents it copped in its armour this year?  And how will Young Talent Time fare with its return after 23 years off our screens?  As Hey Hey It’s Saturday and more recently It’s A Knockout have shown, the nostalgia factor can bring high ratings but the novelty can wear off pretty quickly. 

Nine had something of a late-year resurgence this year with The Block winning ratings in its new 7.00pm timeslot and Celebrity Apprentice also bringing in strong figures.  The success of these will see Nine delve further into the reality genre in 2012 with another series of The Block, the return of Big Brother and an Australian version of singing contest The Voice.

In Aussie drama there will be more Neighbours, Home And Away, Packed To The Rafters, Offspring and Winners And Losers.  Nine will launch a new series, Tricky Business, and is set to present another instalment of the Underbelly franchise as well as its dramatisation of the Beaconsfield mine disaster of 2006.  Nine will also relive former owner Kerry Packer’s 1970s challenge to the cricket establishment with Howzat! – The Kerry Packer Story.  Ten will have a mini-series Bikie Wars: Brothers in Arms as well as an updated adaptation of the book Puberty Blues.  The network is also to launch a new series, Reef Doctors, starring Lisa McCune.

Andrew Denton and Shaun Micallef are set to return to ABC with new programs – and there will be another series of Adam Hills In Gordon Street Tonight.

In sport, Seven becomes the sole free-to-air broadcaster of AFL for the first time since 2001, while sharing the rights with Foxtel – while Nine and Foxtel are off to London for the Olympic Games.  It will be Nine’s first coverage of the Summer Olympics since 1976.

2012 will mark 50 years of television in regional New South Wales, Queensland, Tasmania and in Canberra.  Analogue television will be switched off in regional New South Wales and the ACT.

The ground-breaking drama of the 1970s, Number 96 (pictured) will have its 40th anniversary commemorated with another DVD release of episodes – this time revisiting some of the few black-and-white episodes to still be in existence, as well the episodes surrounding the bomb-blast storyline of 1975.

And right here we will be continuing the theme of documenting the TV year of 20 years ago as reported in the pages of TV Week.

Happy New Year to you all and best wishes for the year ahead!

Seven wins ‘11

No surprises for anyone to read that the Seven Network has come out as the overall winner in the 2011 ratings battle – its fifth annual win in a row.

Seven ends the year (Weeks 7-48, excluding Easter, 6pm-12mn, 5 cities) with a 31.0% share, followed by Nine (26.3%), Ten (21.4%), ABC (15.9%) and SBS (5.4%).  For Seven it’s an increase from last year’s share of 28.7% while Nine, ABC and SBS recorded drops compared to 2010, and Ten rose only slightly from 21.2% as it launched its new channel Eleven this year and revamped former sports channel One.

Broken down to individual channels, Seven (23.0%) was ahead of Nine (19.5%), Ten (15.8%), ABC1 (12.4%), SBS One (4.6%), 7TWO (4.6%), GO! (4.0%), Eleven (3.5%), 7mate (3.4%), Gem (2.8%), ABC2 (2.3%), One (2.1%), SBS Two (0.8%), ABC News 24 (0.7%) and ABC3 (0.6%).  The growth in the multi-channel audiences has seen all primary channels recording a decline on 2010’s numbers.

7TWO overtook Nine’s GO! as the top-rated multi-channel, while Ten’s new youth-themed channel Eleven ends its first year in third spot.

It was a year where Seven could do little wrong, achieving a clean sweep of 40 overall prime-time wins out of 40 weeks, due to a strong early evening line-up of Seven News, Today Tonight and Home And Away and its reality portfolio – The Amazing Race: Australia, Dancing With The Stars (pictured), My Kitchen Rules, Australia’s Got Talent and a revamped The X Factor – all performing well giving the network a massive lead up to mid-evening.  Thursday nights got a boost with Beauty And The Geek, and the long-running Better Homes And Gardens gave Seven a boost on Fridays.

Seven also scored a massive hit on Sunday nights with British series Downton Abbey.

Drama series Packed To The Rafters was still a standout performer but didn’t rate quite as well as in 2010, having lost a number of key cast members in the last year, and with some risky scheduling by Seven that saw the series given a lengthy mid-season break and then winding up the 2011 series prematurely.  But the mid-season break for Rafters saw it replaced by the new series Winners And Losers, a strong ratings performer though not a match for Rafters.

In the morning battle, Sunrise is still dominant in the breakfast timeslot nationally but Nine’s Today is performing stronger in Sydney and Melbourne.  The Morning Show continues to rule the mid-morning timeslot, claiming victory over Nine’s Kerri-Anne (which was cancelled last week) and The Circle.

But not everything quite went Seven’s way.  The network’s new period drama Wild Boys, featuring Daniel MacPherson and former Rafters star Zoe Ventoura, got off to a strong start but failed to maintain an audience and will not return in 2012.  Game show Deal Or No Deal, once a dominant performer at 5.30pm, is fading against Hot Seat, and drama series City Homicide went out with a whimper.  And last week’s special Kyle And Jackie O’s Night With The Stars was presented with a lead-in of two million viewers (with the “winner announced” on The X Factor) but saw viewers switch off in droves.

New imported series No Ordinary Family, Detroit 187, Teen Wolf, Suits and Law And Order: LA all failed to click with viewers. 

For the Nine Network the year started confidently, with promises that the network would be the “home of comedy” in 2011.  It was soon apparent, however, that the only ones laughing were the other networks.  The supposed flagship of the new comedy line-up, Ben Elton Live From Planet Earth, was a spectacular dud, even leading to a public apology by Elton himself, and was axed after only three weeks.  New US shows $#*! My Dad Says and Mike And Molly also failed.

The once dominant US sitcom Two And A Half Men was on the decline on the back of the Charlie Sheen scandal and his subsequent sacking from the series, but The Big Bang Theory – ironically from the same producer as Men – became a strong performer, to the point where Nine has become somewhat over-reliant on its popularity, ended the ratings year with 14 episodes scheduled in prime-time over five nights.

The multi-million dollar deal which saw Hamish Blake and Andy Lee come across from the Ten Network saw their new series Hamish And Andy’s Gap Year start to a strong ratings result but overall popularity waned as the series progressed, although it rated well in younger demographics.

The Joy Of Sets with Tony Martin and Ed Kavalee promised a humourous and affectionate look at the various aspects of television, but viewers didn’t take to it at all with later episodes playing out in a late-night timeslot.

Nine’s first half of the year was also not helped by lack lustre performances by new Eddie McGuire vehicles Million Dollar Drop, Between The Lines and a revival of This Is Your Life.

Nine had some smiles, however, by strong ratings for the ongoing Underbelly franchise, with a series of telemovies and the 1920s-themed series Underbelly: Razor rating well. 

The TV Week Logie Awards rated well (1,323,000, over four hours) up against the series return of MasterChef Australia (1,569,000, 90 minutes), while the NRL State Of Origin series returned excellent figures with all three games well exceeding the 2 million viewer mark.

But while the first half of the year was not a great one for Nine, its second half was  somewhat better and can be largely attributed to adopting the reality genre in the stripped 7.00pm timeslot, starting with a new-look The Block which became a ratings hit.  Some strategic coding by Nine in the ratings system has seen The Block – The Winner Announced claim the #1 program of the year – all seven minutes of it.

(Such coding of programs, a tactic employed by all three commercial networks, have made a mess of the Top 20 list – as below – where individual episodes of series and specific segments of special events are singled out to give them higher or multiple positions in the rankings.)

Nine then used the 7.00pm timeslot for its late-year series Celebrity Apprentice, also returning strong results. The popularity in the reality genre for Nine will see it launch an Australian version of singing competition The Voice, and reviving Big Brother in 2012.

But while it was a year that Seven could do little wrong, for Network Ten it was a year where there was little they could get right.  The network’s heavy investment in expanding its news and current affairs portfolio saw 6PM With George Negus (later 6.30) fail to maintain any audience traction up against the tabloid opposition, although the network should at least be credited for attempting to lift the bar in the standard of prime-time current affairs reporting and giving the show a fair run before finally axing it in October.

The 6.30pm Ten Evening News failed to click with viewers and was axed after two months, and Ten’s subsequent extension of the 5.00pm bulletin to a 90-minute format saw its numbers drop considerably.  The mess of the network’s weekend newscasts, which saw the national 5.00pm newscast dropped and then re-instated and the 6.00pm state-based bulletins launched and then dropped in favour of an extended national news bulletin, has not done it any favours either. 

The 7PM Project has now been extended to an hour, and re-named The Project.  Its overall average has dropped as a result and it is to be seen if the expanded format can build on its numbers in 2012.

Ten’s reality giant MasterChef Australia was back for a third series this year.  Although the program continued to rate well, the mood of the audience was well down on previous years and the show’s finale – split into two shows to ‘force’ viewers to sample The Renovators sandwiched in between – rated well lower than the two previous season finals and its Junior MasterChef spin-off also failed to maintain a strong audience.

The new show The Renovators (pictured) promised to do for home makeovers what MasterChef did with cooking – crank the challenges, production values and the budget to the hilt, and to saturate the schedule.  The problem was that viewers didn’t take to The Renovators as they had come to adopt MasterChef, therefore dragging down Ten’s entire schedule.  It will also be no coincidence that Nine’s revamped The Block made its debut just prior to The Renovators and hence stole much of its thunder.

Ten’s drama slate has looked somewhat depleted this year, with Neighbours being moved across to Eleven.  Ten’s second series of Offspring was a strong performer and will be back next year, but action-packed police drama Rush again failed to gain a decent audience and will not appear in 2012.

Apart from MasterChef’s two-part finale, Ten’s only appearance in the year-end Top 20 was the AFL Grand Final, ending the network’s ten-year association with the league as the free-to-air rights next year go solely to Seven.

Ten’s re-working of comedy show Good News Week into Good News World was a critical and ratings disaster, while the new topical discussion show Can Of Worms got a modest audience response but was not helped by some erratic scheduling.  The second series of the Australian version of Undercover Boss also failed to rate with viewers.

The network did have better results with the return of The Biggest Loser and Talkin’ ‘bout Your Generation.

Imported shows Blue Bloods, Hawaii Five-O, The Defenders and Ringer have also returned poor results, while the big-budget series Terra Nova – filmed on location in Australia – started strongly but has failed to maintain viewers’ interest.

Over at ABC ratings are not of primary concern but the ABC1 channel has scored some critical and ratings hits during the year.  The two-part series Paper Giants: The Birth Of Cleo (pictured) was a ratings hit in April, while the eight-part adaptation of the book The Slap was widely acclaimed and received strong Thursday night figures for the broadcaster.

The long-running Spicks And Specks also rated well during the year with its final-ever episode last week scoring over 1.5 million viewers.  The Gruen Transfer and its spin-off Gruen Planet were also popular on Wednesday nights.

Highlights for SBS during the year included Cadel Evans’ victory in the Tour de France (704,000), followed by documentary series Go Back To Where You Came From (pictured), where six Australians were taken on a reverse journey of those taken by refugees that have landed at our shores.

In digital multi-channels, the most-watched broadcast was Day 9 of Wimbledon on 7TWO, attracting 737,000 viewers, followed by movies Transformers and 2012 on GO!.  Neighbours was a consistent performer for Eleven, often winning nightly digital channel rankings but its average over the year saw it ranked at the 10th most popular program on digital channels for the year.

But the biggest TV event of the year is one that fell outside of the official ratings survey.  The April wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton, with coverage across four free-to-air networks and a number of pay-TV channels, was watched by millions but took place during the two-week ratings break taken around Easter so its numbers are not included in the year-end tally.

From today networks go into summer non-ratings mode, though viewing data is still collected and reported to networks over the non-ratings period.

The 2012 ratings year begins on 12 February and continues through to 1 December, with a two-week Easter break in April.

Seven wins 2010, 2009, 2008, 2007

Free-To-Air Top 20 Programs (Rank, Title, Network, Duration, Audience (five cities)):

1 THE BLOCK -WINNER ANNOUNCED (Nine) 0:07:06 3,370,000
2 AUSTRALIA'S GOT TALENT-THE WINNER ANNOUNCED (Seven) 0:10:06 2,980,000
3 UNDERBELLY: RAZOR -EP1 (Nine) 1:01:21 2,794,000
4 MASTERCHEF AUSTRALIA - THE WINNER ANNOUNCED (Ten) 0:16:00 2,745,000
5 THE BLOCK -AUCTION (Nine) 0:45:50 2,736,000
6 THE 2011 MELBOURNE CUP CARNIVAL: MELBOURNE CUP-THE RACE (Seven) 0:06:05 2,667,000
7 TEN'S AFL FINALS 2011: GRAND FINAL COLLINGWOOD V GEELONG (Ten) 3:02:30 2,641,000
8 STATE OF ORIGIN RUGBY LEAGUE QLD V NSW 3RD - MATCH (Nine) 1:50:58 2,492,000
9 MASTERCHEF AUSTRALIA - FINALE NIGHT (Ten) 1:01:34 2,402,000
10 UNDERBELLY: RAZOR -EP2 (Nine) 1:01:16 2,352,000
11 THE BLOCK -GRAND FINAL (Nine) 1:07:10 2,309,000
12 STATE OF ORIGIN RUGBY LEAGUE QLD V NSW 1ST - MATCH (Nine) 1:41:24 2,245,000
13 RUGBY LEAGUE GRAND FINAL (Nine) 1:51:01 2,172,000
14 STATE OF ORIGIN RUGBY LEAGUE NSW V QLD 2ND - MATCH (Nine) 1:44:00 2,165,000 
15 MY KITCHEN RULES-WINNER ANNOUNCED (Seven) 0:10:00 2,127,000
16 THE X FACTOR - THE WINNER ANNOUNCED (Seven) 7 0:08:00 2,026,000
17 THE 2011 MELBOURNE CUP CARNIVAL: MELBOURNE CUP-RACE PRESENTATIO (Seven) 0:33:27 1,967,000
18 AUSTRALIA'S GOT TALENT-TUE (Seven) 1:34:32 1,936,000
19 THE 2011 GRAND FINAL PRE GAME (Ten) 0:20:58 1,914,000
20 DOWNTON ABBEY (Seven) 1:11:48 1,906,000

Free-To-Air Digital Multi Channel Top 20 Programs (Rank, Title, Channel, Duration, Audience (five cities)):

1 WIMBLEDON 2011 - DAY 9 (7TWO) 1:37:11 737,000
2 TRANSFORMERS -EV (GO!) 3:00:14 486,000
3 2012 -EV (GO!) 3:14:57 441,000
4 AUST FIA FORMULA ONE WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP 2011 - RACE (One)2:00:00 428,000
5 WIMBLEDON 2011 - DAY 7 (7TWO) 2:46:45 408,000
6 SURVIVOR: REDEMPTION ISLAND -EV TX1 (GO!) 0:58:00 371,000
7 HEARTBEAT-SAT (R) (7TWO) 1:07:09 350,000
8 JONATHAN CREEK (7TWO) 1:07:32 349,000
9 SURVIVOR: REDEMPTION ISLAND -EV (GO!) 1:36:15 344,000
10 NEIGHBOURS (Eleven) 0:30:35 343,000
11 M-FIRST BLOOD (7mate) 2:00:51 338,000
12 PAUL BLART: MALL COP -EV (GO!) 1:56:36 337,000
13 HARRY POTTER AND THE PHILOSOPHER'S STONE -EV (GO!) 3:20:46 337,000
14 DOC MARTIN-EP.2 (7TWO) 1:02:01 335,000
15 HEARTBEAT (R) (7TWO) 1:06:18 330,000
16 HEARTBEAT-EP.2 (R) (7TWO) 1:05:31 325,000
17 THE VICAR OF DIBLEY-TUE (R) (7TWO) 0:49:38 322,000
18 HEARTBEAT-SAT EP.2 (R) (7TWO) 1:02:40 315,000
19 HEARTBEAT-WED (R) (7TWO) 1:08:04 314,000
20 DOC MARTIN (7TWO) 1:03:09 308,000

Data © OzTAM Pty Limited 2011. The Data may not be reproduced, published or communicated (electronically or in hard copy) without the prior written consent of OzTAM.

The 53rd TV Week Logie Awards

Today host Karl Stefanovic (pictured) was last night awarded the TV Week Gold Logie for Most Popular Personality on Australian Television at this year’s presentation of the TV Week Logie Awards.

It is the Nine Network’s first Gold Logie win since Ray Martin last won the award in 1996.

Stefanovic’s Gold win comes on the back of an aggressive marketing campaign by Nine which encouraged viewers to send in SMS votes to get him over the line.  Other nominees Rebecca Gibney, Jessica Marais, Chrissie Swan, Adam Hills and Asher Keddie were also promoted by their respective networks, but Nine’s “Vote for Karl” campaign was certainly the most prolific.

The Today host even mentioned the campaign in his acceptance speech.

The campaign attracted some criticism as being a “tacky” stunt as opposed to having talent judged on its own merits.  Seven news chief Peter Meakin told Crikey, “Karl’s a really nice guy, I regard him as a mate. But I just think this was tacky.”

Stefanovic’s Gold was his second Logie on the night.  Earlier in the evening he’d been awarded the Silver Logie for Most Popular Presenter, and in accepting that award made mention of his wife, remarking that '”she's also got the best arse I've ever seen.”  Not the most elegant of acceptance speeches.

The Nine Network also scored three Logies for last year’s Underbelly instalment, Underbelly: The Golden Mile, including Most Outstanding Drama and Firass Dirani walking away with the two New Talent awards.

Seven’s popular Packed To The Rafters won Most Popular Drama, and actor Hugh Sheridan was awarded Most Popular Actor. 

The Seven Network was also awarded Most Outstanding Factual Program for the special Trisha And Krishna: The Quest For Separate Lives, and the long-running Better Homes And Gardens won Most Popular Lifestyle Program.

Seven News won the Logie for Most Outstanding News Report for its coverage of the New Zealand mine disaster.

Ten’s reality hit MasterChef Australia, which returned for its third season last night up against the Logies, not surprisingly won the award for Most Popular Reality Program.  Ten also picked up awards for Bondi Rescue for Most Popular Factual Program, and Offspring’s Asher Keddie for Most Popular Actress. 

Ten’s morning show The Circle won Most Popular Light Entertainment Program, while co-host Chrissie Swan (pictured, far right, with colleagues Denise Drysdale, Yumi Stynes and Gorgi Coghlan) may have missed out on the Gold but did take the Most Popular New Female Talent award.

ABC collected a number of awards this year.  Richard Roxburgh won Most Outstanding Actor for his role in Rake, and Claire van der Boom won Most Outstanding Actress for her role in Sisters Of War.  ABC3’s Dance Academy won Most Outstanding Children’s Program, and Spicks And Specks won Most Outstanding Light Entertainment Program.  The Four Corners story “Struggler’s Paradise” won Most Outstanding Public Affairs Report.

Jana Wendt appeared on stage to induct former colleague Laurie Oakes (pictured) into the TV Week Logie Awards’ Hall of Fame.  There were congratulatory messages from Prime Minister Julia Gillard, opposition leader Tony Abbott, former prime ministers John Howard and Kevin Rudd and ABC presenter Kerry O’Brien.

Performer Eddie Perfect and comedy trio Tripod presented a moving tribute to those in the television and showbusiness industries that have left us over the past twelve months.

Other music performances on the night came from Katy Perry, Maroon 5 and Jessie J. 

Megan Gale, Andre Rieu and Rachel Griffiths were among the guest stars to hand out awards.

Credit to Shane Bourne for courageously taking on the role as host that invariably draws criticism, and succeeding to lead the night with good humour and without wearing out his welcome.

One aspect of the telecast that did wear out its welcome, however, was the “Logies Minute” segment which appeared at various stages of the night as advertorials for the telecast sponsors but came across as awkward and unnecessary and mostly went beyond their promised “Minute” of airtime.  Said sponsors might have got more value by the network just running their commercials.

Across the five major capitals the awards presentation averaged a preliminary overnight rating of 1,323,000 viewers over four hours – including both the red carpet arrivals and the Awards themselves – while the return of Ten’s MasterChef averaged around 1,569,000 viewers over its 90 minutes.

Nine won the night overall with a rating of 28.2 per cent, followed by Ten (18.9%), Seven (18.7%), ABC1 (11.8%), SBS1 (3.6%), GO! (3.5%), GEM (3.3%), 7mate (3.1%), 7TWO (2.7%), Eleven (2.4%), One (1.7%), ABC2 (0.9%), SBS2 (0.6%), ABC3 (0.4%) and ABC News 24 (0.4%).

TV WEEK GOLD LOGIE – Most Popular Personality on TV
Karl Stefanovic (Today, Network Nine)

TV WEEK SILVER LOGIE – Most Popular Actor
Hugh Sheridan (Packed To The Rafters, Channel Seven)
TV WEEK SILVER LOGIE – Most Popular Actress
Asher Keddie (Offspring, Network Ten)
TV WEEK SILVER LOGIE – Most Popular Presenter
Karl Stefanovic (Today, Nine Network)

MOST POPULAR NEW MALE TALENT
Firass Dirani (Underbelly: The Golden Mile, Nine Network)
MOST POPULAR NEW FEMALE TALENT
Chrissie Swan (The Circle, Network Ten)
MOST POPULAR DRAMA SERIES
Packed To The Rafters (Channel Seven)
MOST POPULAR LIGHT ENTERTAINMENT PROGRAM
The Circle (Network Ten)
MOST POPULAR LIFESTYLE PROGRAM
Better Homes And Gardens (Channel Seven)
MOST POPULAR SPORTS PROGRAM
The Footy Show (AFL) (Nine Network)
MOST POPULAR REALITY PROGRAM
MasterChef Australia (Network Ten)
MOST POPULAR FACTUAL PROGRAM
Bondi Rescue (Network Ten)

OUTSTANDING AWARDS

TV WEEK SILVER LOGIE – Most Outstanding Drama Series, Miniseries or Telemovie
Underbelly: The Golden Mile (Nine Network)
TV WEEK SILVER LOGIE – Most Outstanding Actor
Richard Roxburgh (Rake, ABC1)
TV WEEK SILVER LOGIE – Most Outstanding Actress
Claire van der Boom (Sisters Of War, ABC1)
GRAHAM KENNEDY AWARD FOR MOST OUTSTANDING NEW TALENT
Firass Dirani (Underbelly: The Golden Mile, Nine Network)
MOST OUTSTANDING NEWS COVERAGE
“New Zealand Mine Disaster” (Seven News)
MOST OUTSTANDING PUBLIC AFFAIRS REPORT
“Smugglers' Paradise” (Four Corners, ABC1)
MOST OUTSTANDING LIGHT ENTERTAINMENT PROGRAM
Spicks And Specks (ABC1)
MOST OUTSTANDING SPORTS COVERAGE
The Ashes 2010 First Test - Day One at the Gabba (Nine Network)
MOST OUTSTANDING CHILDREN’S PROGRAM
Dance Academy (ABC3)
MOST OUTSTANDING FACTUAL PROGRAM
Trishna & Krishna: The Quest For Separate Lives (Channel Seven)

TV WEEK LOGIE AWARDS’ HALL OF FAME
Laurie Oakes

Source: TV Week, Crikey

Farewell 2010… and “hello” to ‘11

It’s New Year’s Eve and another year comes to a close.  We saw the launch of more digital channels – 7mate, GEM, ABC News 24.  There was another hit season of MasterChef Australia, joined this year by Junior MasterChef.  Hey Hey It’s Saturday was back for a longer run but failed to match the ratings high of its reunion shows of 2009.

Neighbours celebrated 25 years and SBS turned 30.

Bert Newton was back as host of the TV Week Logie Awards.  Home And Away’s Ray Meagher won the Gold Logie and the late Brian Naylor was posthumously inducted into the TV Week Logie Awards’ Hall of Fame.  A Current Affair celebrated Reg Grundy.

GTV9 said farewell to 22 Bendigo Street and ATN7 moved out of Epping.

Television turned 50 in Tasmania.  ABC celebrated 50 years in Adelaide, Perth and Hobart – and analogue television was switched off in Mildura, regional South Australia and Broken Hill.

Kerry O’Brien signed off from The 7.30 Report.  Talking Heads wound up after six years. 

The Winter Olympics were on Nine, and the Commonwealth Games were on Ten.  Nine said farewell to Wimbledon after more than thirty years.  Sport was given the 3D treatment on free-to-air and Foxtel.

Right here we documented the year 1990 as reported in the pages of TV Week – and will continue the theme into 2011 as we follow the corresponding period in 1991.

2011 brings with it the long-awaited launch of Network Ten’s new digital channel, Eleven, across most of Australia – and the launch of Ten’s expanded news portfolio with a new 6.00pm program with George Negus and city-based 6.30pm news bulletins.

There will be more MasterChef, but will Hey Hey It’s Saturday be back?  Will Neighbours survive the transition to Eleven?  Will the revamped The 7.30 Report make up for the loss of Kerry O’Brien?   

Will Hamish and Andy, having walked away from most of their radio commitments, make a determined shift into TV?

There will be more drama from Underbelly on Nine, East West 101 on SBS and a new series, Winners And Losers, on Seven. Packed To The Rafters will try to move on from the death of character Melissa (Zoe Ventoura) – and what will become of the bubbling sexual tension between Nina Proudman (Asher Keddie) and Chris Havel (Don Hany) in Offspring?  Will Ten’s planned prison drama come to fruition?

ABC’s Four Corners will celebrate its 50th anniversary, while ABC News Breakfast plans to move from ABC2 to ABC1.  Regional television in Victoria will turn 50 and will farewell analogue transmission. Television in Darwin will turn 40.  And it will be 20 years since aggregation came to Northern NSW and the Gold Coast.

US show Sesame Street will reach 40 years on Australian television – and The Simpsons turns 20.

Digital television turns ten years old on 1 January – while certain areas of Australia are still yet to see the benefits of the new technology.

And one blogger will – shudder – turn 40 years old!

May you all have a happy new year and a great 2011!

Will Ten’s axe swing again?

It is almost twenty years ago – 26 November 1990 – since the Ten Network made headlines (pictured) as new chief executive Gary Rice announced some dramatic cost-cutting measures to save the ailing network.

Mr Rice, a former Nine Network executive called in to rescue Ten from a lengthy period of poor ratings and financial instability, had sacked 300 staff from across Ten’s Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane stations – but it was the network’s news and current affairs portfolio that suffered the most severe cutbacks with the axing of the 10.30am bulletin, the axing of weekly program The Walsh Report, the reduction of the Melbourne-based Ten Evening News from one-hour to 30 minutes and the axing of local current affairs programs Sydney With Mike Gibson and Brisbane With Anna McMahon.  Almost half of the 300 sacked workers were from the news and current affairs department alone.

The morning program Good Morning Australia was left hanging by a thread – with hosts Kerri-Anne Kennerley and Terry Willesee greeting viewers at the start of the two-hour program, not knowing if they would still have a job at the end of the show.  The show was ultimately maintained, though with a tighter budget.

Other savings were anticipated to come from the sale of Ten’s Nunawading studios and the relocation to smaller facilities. 

The radical cutbacks, expected to save Ten from losing $2 million a week, came a year after Ten sacked 350 staff and two months after the network was placed in receivership and 15 executives were sacked.

"This action gives us no pleasure,” Mr Rice said.  “But it is one of several responsible decisions… to revive the network and to provide the basis for its financial recovery and future growth.  The network will be slimmer… but its quality will be maintained and ultimately enhanced.”

There were also suggestions of trimming back the network’s schedule to cease broadcasting during off-peak periods such as mornings and overnights, and replacing each state’s 6.00pm news bulletin with a single national bulletin based in Melbourne.  Another radical proposal was for Ten to merge with the Seven Network, also in receivership, thus reducing the number of commercial networks from three to two.  Thankfully, none of these extreme measures were implemented.

Local dramas Neighbours and E Street were left relatively unscathed in the 1990 cutbacks and would form the basis for Ten’s new focus on the advertiser-friendly youth market which was to start in 1991 – heralded by the launch of a new logo (pictured) and a new tagline – “The Entertainment Network”.

Twenty years on, Ten is in a much better financial position.  The network has just announced a full-year profit of $150 million, up from a $89.4 million loss in the previous year.  Not a bad turnaround for an entertainment medium that is often thought to be in decline.

But while Ten’s balance sheet is a lot healthier, there is suddenly a large unknown on the network’s horizon. 

James Packer.

James, the youngest generation of Packer moguls after his father Kerry and grandfather Sir Frank, has stunned the industry by making a bold investment in the Ten Network – around $288 million worth, representing around 18 per cent of the company.   And there is a chance he could still buy up more.

It is a surprising move given that only two years ago, Packer sold most of his family’s long-held interest in the Nine Network, apparently to focus on more lucrative foreign and gambling ventures.  He does, however, maintain a financial interest in Foxtel.

The motives for Packer’s move into Ten are unknown, and although he will only have a minority interest in the network, he is set to gain a place on the Ten board – something which has led to a lot of speculation in the media about Ten’s future.

Some have suggested that Packer simply wants to cash in on a slice of Ten’s profit – helped along by the success of Masterchef Australia – while others have suggested that Packer is hoping to get a piece of the AFL and NRL broadcast rights which are up for renewal.  And if Ten is a successful bidder for the rights then its digital sports channel One HD could be well positioned to take advantage, depending on the government review of the anti-siphoning legislation.  Packer could also use his ties to Foxtel to form an alliance with Ten and One HD in securing future rights to AFL or NRL.

At the other end of the spectrum, some are speculating that Packer’s motives are a little more sinister.  Some have suggested that he will use his influence on the Ten board to tear down the One HD channel, a natural rival to his interests in pay-TV channel Fox Sports, or even jeopardise the network’s proposed and costly expansion of its news department.

Ten announced back in August that it is set to expand its news coverage in 2011 with the launch of a national 6.00pm news program, hosted by George Negus, followed by local news bulletins in each capital city at 6.30pm.  The expanded news coverage is expected to cost an expected $20 million a year, including the hiring of additional staff.  It is a strategy that James’ father Kerry might have approved of, but it is not known what the younger Packer thinks of the plan.

Meanwhile, Ten maintains it is business as usual for its plans moving forward – with the launch of youth-focused entertainment channel 11 in the new year coinciding with the launch of the expanded news portfolio and a broader demographic focus for the main Ten channel.  And the network insists that One HD continues to have a valued place in the company’s multi-channel strategy.

Whatever happens, it could be interesting times ahead.

Source: Herald Sun, Sydney Morning Herald, The Australian, Herald Sun 27 November 1990.

The Games were run… but, for Ten, not won!

The XIX Commonwealth Games have come to a close – and while India will be congratulating itself for a successful 11 days of competition, back in Australia the Ten Network might be quietly licking a few wounds.

Not that Ten’s effort in broadcasting the Games was of any inferior nature – in fact, the network has avoided receiving scorn like that encountered by the Seven Network with its heavily-delayed coverage of the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing – but rather that the network was rewarded with fairly lack lustre ratings figures for a competition that usually commands much greater figures.

In some instances, Ten was struggling to stay above ABC in the popularity stakes whereas, at the very least, they might have expected some gold medal ratings figures over the two weeks. Essentially, Ten only won victory on one night of Games competition:

	ABC	Seven	Nine	Ten	SBS
Mon 4	19.4	27.6	25.6	20.8	6.5
Tue 5	15.8	31.6	27.4	21.0	4.3
Wed 6	16.4	29.9	26.0	23.9	3.8
Thu 7	12.9	26.2	27.4	27.1	6.6
Fri 8	16.2	28.5	23.5	27.0	4.8
Sat 9	18.7	24.0	24.2	26.7	6.4
Sun 10	18.8	28.7	25.1	21.3	6.0
Mon 11	18.0	29.1	26.0	20.1	6.8
Tue 12	15.6	35.6	27.6	16.4	4.8
Wed 13	16.3	31.2	29.2	19.1	4.2
Thu 14	14.3	28.6	29.3	21.5*	6.2

* Includes premiere episode of Keeping Up With The Joneses.
Source: OZTAM: Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide, Perth. 6pm-12am. Network shares include multi-channels.

But in Ten’s defence, their coverage has been up against some significant odds. This year’s Commonwealth Games appear to have been met with varying levels of indifference by Australians, possibly not helped by the negative publicity surrounding the final lead-up to the competition.

The free-to-air TV environment has also changed dramatically since the last Commonwealth Games (Melbourne, 2006) and even Olympic Games (Beijing, 2008) in that then there were only five free-to-air networks – presenting only limited alternative viewing options. This time around, there are up to a dozen other free-to-air channels on offer – with two channels, GEM and 7mate, launched only weeks ago.

Also impacting Ten’s performance is the somewhat limiting anti-siphoning legislation – meaning that even though Ten has a secondary channel with One HD, combined they could only really offer a single-channel approach to coverage – something which is often at odds with such a large competition where there are multiple events occurring at the same time – while up against rival networks offering 2, 3 or 4 viewing alternatives. Ten might have helped stop the flow of viewers to other networks if it had launched its new entertainment channel, 11, with its own alternative to Games coverage, but instead the channel is scheduled to launch early in 2011.

And adding to Ten’s competition was Foxtel – with its six channels of Commonwealth Games coverage which, in itself, is nothing new (they had a similar multi-channel offering in 2006) but the difference this time is that Foxtel was offering these channels to existing subscribers at no extra charge.

Despite the challenges, Ten will be pleased with the increase in viewing on One HD where it received some of its best ever ratings.

With the obvious pre-Games expectation of the saturation coverage delivering a ratings dividend leading into the last six weeks of ratings competition for the year, it now appears that Ten will be needing to offer some promises to make good to advertisers wanting more bang for their sponsorship dollars and, with shows like The 7PM Project, Neighbours, Undercover Boss, Talkin’ ‘Bout Your Generation, Junior Masterchef, Modern Family, The Simpsons, Rush and Offspring having been out of circulation for two weeks, now has to work hard to drag viewers back to the network as it heads into the home straight of the ratings survey year. And with daylight saving now part of the equation, that makes the task of attracting viewers’ attention in the early evening even more of a struggle.

Network Ten have the rights to televise the Commonwealth Games when they head to Glasgow, Scotland, in 2014.

Mal Walden back at 6.30

After twenty three years, newsreader Mal Walden (pictured) is heading back to the 6.30 timeslot as the presenter of Ten News’ new Melbourne-based news bulletin to launch next year.

Walden, with over 40 years in Melbourne television, is a firm favourite with Melbourne viewers – never more evident than back in 1987 when a tearful Walden announced to viewers of Seven National News that he had just been sacked by the station’s new management.  Ratings for Seven National News plummeted to zeros and ones after Walden’s dismissal and when he arrived in a minor role at Eyewitness News a month later, ratings for that bulletin hit record highs.  He has been part of Ten’s Melbourne news team ever since, taking over the role of chief newsreader from David Johnston when he left Ten to go to Seven at the end of 1995.

Replacing Walden’s spot in the traditional 5.00pm bulletin is George Donikian (pictured), probably still best known to many as the original SBS newsreader and now the principal newsreader for Adelaide’s Ten News, which is currently based in the Melbourne studio.  Donikian has been the relief newsreader for Walden for some years now and has also read the Saturday evening Ten News bulletins during the AFL season.

A major component of Network Ten’s ratings push for 2011 is its expanded news coverage which will comprise the usual 5.00pm news hour in each city, followed by a national 6.00pm news-based program (with a presenter yet to be announced) and then a locally-based news in each state at 6.30pm leading into The 7PM Project.

Network Ten has been rolling out its announcements for its newsreader appointments for each city as its 2011 launch has been working around the country: 

TVQ10 Brisbane: 5.00pm Bill McDonald and Georgie Lewis; 6.30pm Bill McDonald

TEN10 Sydney: 5.00pm Bill Woods and Deborah Knight; 6.30pm Sandra Sully (pictured)

ATV10 Melbourne: 5.00pm George Donikian and Helen Kapalos; 6.30pm Mal Walden

ADS10 Adelaide: 5.00pm Belinda Heggen; 6.30pm Rebecca Morse

NEW10 Perth: 5.00pm and 6.30pm – Narelda Jacobs

Having Walden reading Ten’s 6.30pm bulletin will certainly give the new bulletin a well-needed kick-start in the ratings in Melbourne as it establishes itself up against the well-entrenched national shows on offer by Seven and Nine in that timeslot.

This expanded news coverage in the early evenings will see Ten’s early evening stalwarts The Simpsons and Neighbours moved to the new digital channel 11 when it launches in the new year.

And just to show that Mal Walden likes to read the news at 6.30, here is a newsbreak from Seven National News back in 1984 where he reminded us no less than four times in the space of one minute that the news is indeed at 6.30pm:

Network Ten is certainly generating a lot of media buzz with its 2011 announcements – as well as the expanded news portfolio and the launch of digital channel 11 the network is also preparing to launch a new reality series, The Renovators, and a new prison drama as well as local versions of overseas shows Undercover Boss, Don’t Stop Believing and Class Of.  Popular shows from this year including Talkin’ ‘bout Your Generation, Modern Family and MasterChef are also set to continue in 2011 and the new Melbourne-based drama Offspring has been given the green light for a second series.  The network certainly looks to be putting on a more aggressive front against Seven and Nine than in previous years, confidently setting some new agendas and taking some bold risks rather than being held back by conservatism.

Source: Media Spy
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