As always Rove McManus is back with a new class of kids (sorry, sixth graders, you’re banished to the side of the room with the old cast of Skins.. what a heartless industry!).

Fifth Grader replaces Recruits which finishes on July 20.

The return of the show effectively gives Roving Enterprises back to back shows on TEN, following The 7pm Project.

This marks the third season of the show, licensed from Mark Burnett Productions.

The series, narrated by Axle Whitehead, sends troublesome 16 and 17 year olds overseas to spend time living with somebody else’s parents.

Each is chaperoned for the television experiment.

Expect controversy…

Broadly coinciding with the start of the US ‘Fall Season,’ the event will once again be telecast live to air in Australia on pay television at 10am Monday September 21st on Arena. Actor Neil Patrick Harris is set to host.

Arena has exclusive rights to the live presentation. It’s too early to know if there will be a highlights package later on Free to Air (or what coverage it might get on TV Burp for that matter).

So let the tipping begin. Who deserves to make the cut this year?

The Footy Show host is alleged to have been involved in an incident in Middle Park at around 9:15am.

A police spokeswoman confirmed a 63-year-old Docklands man was interviewed by police over alleged criminal damage and later released pending summons.

Newman told waiting reporters, “I appreciate you asking but I can’t make any comment.” At least not without Nine involved perhaps?

Newman has a long string of headline-making stories both on-air and off air, including a tumultuous 2008 ‘distinguished’ by the mannequin stunt and comments about a Tasmanian politician.

Many years ago he had an ongoing run in with neighbours in St Kilda for a facade on a former house that resembled Pamela Anderson.

This post updates.

Source: The Age

The timeslot was the traditional home for Fast Forward’s legendary run.

This series is half the length, 30 minutes, and put together by the team behind Comedy Inc. Produced by FremantleMedia Australia, it will parody TV shows, movies, celebrities, politicians and more. Many of the cast of 7 are theatre performers, and will be relatively new to TV viewers, except for former Comedy Inc’s Paul McCarthy.

It will be followed by Ed Kavalee’s TV Burp, based on a UK format Harry Hills’ TV Burp. This is described as “a comedic trip through the ‘week that was’ in television.”

It insists “no show, no channel, no celebrity is safe!” Good to hear.

It premieres 9pm Thursday July 23rd.

She is the sole Brady kid to decline a reunion invitation from The Oprah Winfrey Show -at least according to her big sis ‘Marcia’ (Maureen McCormick).

In a blog, McCormick wrote, “All of us said yes except for one person, Eve Plumb, who used to be my best friend but now apparently wants to distance herself from the show and, most troubling, from me . . . I have no idea why, unless she’s mad at the joke I made a few years ago that we’d had a lesbian love affair. I made the crack to be funny — and for shock value. I’m sorry if she took offense.”

The gag helped her get a lot of promo for her new biography.

Plumb has certainly appeared in reunions before, although she was notoriously absent from the camp spin-off The Brady Bunch Variety Hour (pictured). Even The Simpsons sent that one up, with a fake Lisa in their parody.

Maybe Oprah should have called in Geri Reschl?

Plumb’s agent, Mark Measures, watered down any hostility: “No one from Oprah called. We haven’t turned down anything. There is no feud.”

Suuuuuuuuure. Like she’s gonna call five and not six?

Not even ‘George Glass’ would buy that one!

Source: NY Post

Production wrapped last night in Melbourne on the 2009 season, extended to 17 episodes, with a cross-network and themed episode featuring Kerri Anne Kennerley, Wil Anderson and Josh Lawson.

TEN Programmer David Mott announced the news to cast and crew at a wrap party.

“Shows come and go, but clearly this one has struck a chord with the Australian public. I can talk about ratings, and yes it averaged over 1.6million people -fantastic.

“But I think one of the things is it has brought families back together in the living room. And for us that’s really important, because it’s so much harder to get kids, families. I’ve got three kids, and it’s really hard to get them in the same room at the same time. This is the one show that does it.

“I don’t think we’ve responded so quickly to a format before and I think that just goes to show what a great format it is,” he said.

Mott congratulated Executive Producers Leonie Lowe, Peter Beck and the team from Granada.

“With formats these days it’s quite easy for an Australian production company to go ‘ok here’s a format from overseas’ but the fact these guys developed the format in house in this country, says a lot about the strength of Granada.”

The series hosted by Shaun Micallef and featuring Amanda Keller, Charlie Pickering and Josh Thomas has been one of the success stories of a rejuvenated network.

Whilst he wouldn’t be drawn on how many episodes it will have in its second season, Mott did announce a Christmas episode to be filmed later this year.

In a taste test on Sri Lankan curry, Andre incorrectly guessed curry powder as an ingredient, allowing Chris to proceed to the final week.

“I can’t believe that a curry would seal my fate in MasterChef,” Andre said. “It’s disappointing but if this is my journey so be it. I wanted to discover if my passion translated into the commercial kitchen and I know it does and I thank the competition for that. There is a real positive for me. I am going to be a chef.”

Gary Mehigan said: “We hope it was a positive experience. You were one of my favourites.”

George Calombaris added: “There is a soft spot I’ve got for you. I love your aggressive positive energy. Please don’t change that. If there was anyone I could bank money on going out there and becoming a chef like me and Gary, it’s you.”

Excitingly, Andre is now considering several opportunities, including a job offer from internationally renowned chef Emmanuel Stroobant of Saint Pierre in Singapore.

TEN now looks to a huge week for the cooking contest, as four contestants will be eliminated over five nights, leaving just two for the final on Sunday July 19th.

The remaining contestants, Justine, Poh, Chris and Julie are re-joined by Lucas and Julia to battle it out.

CHRIS BADENOCH: Beermason Chris from Melbourne has been one of the strongest competitors from the start. Often in the Top 3, Chris has consistently impressed the judges with his inventive style of cooking. Chris has cooked against celebrity chef Alex Herbert and has also been in the pressure test twice, most memorably in the croquembouche episode.

JULIA JENKINS: Food obsessed Julia from Melbourne (originally from Perth) proved that the amateur can do it, when she beat celebrity chef Peter Evans. Fast-tracking to the final week of MasterChef, Julia has spent the past 9 weeks being mentored by Peter, working in his restaurants in Sydney and Melbourne. With invaluable experience of service in professional kitchens under her belt, Julia comes back into MasterChef determined to win.

JULIE GOODWIN: This working mum of three from the Central Coast has been on an amazing journey. Conquering her nerves, Julie has survived several pressure tests and gone on to compete against two celebrity chef’s, the legendary Donovan Cook in Hong Kong, and Adrian Richardson. While she didn’t beat the chef, she has certainly earned her place in the Top 6.

JUSTINE SCHOFIELD: Ex sales executive Justine, from Sydney, consistently proved herself to be among the top of the crop, cooking against Matt Moran and Guy Grossi in celebrity chef challenges and leading her team to victory in several team challenges. Justine was eliminated on a stir fry challenge in Hong Kong after she was pitted against Julie. Returning to MasterChef, Justine has been firmly back on top and her most recent highlight has been winning the navy challenge, where contestants cooked lunch for 200 hungry sailors.

LUCAS PARSONS: Ex professional golfer Lucas, from Sydney, caused a stir in the competition when he beat celeb chef Ben O’Donoghue and fast-tracked to the final week of MasterChef Australia. Rejoining the contestants for a surprise challenge in Hong Kong, Lucas has also spent his time being mentored by celebrity chef Manu Feildel. Working in professional kitchens around Sydney also puts Lucas into the unknown quantity bracket with Julia.

POH LING YEOW: Poh was eliminated from the kitchen after the high octane wedding challenge. The contestants had just 12 hours to prepare a three course wedding menu, and Poh also elected herself to stay up all night making the cake. Her dishes suffered as a result and she was eliminated. Rejoining the competition with Justine and Tom, Poh’s cooking continues to impress the judges. Her abacus beads dish during the first round of auditions still remains one of the most popular dishes the judges have tasted.

He will feature as Ed, second in command to The Doctor’s new companion, Adelaide.

As previously reported, David Tennant is joined by his cleverest and most strong-minded companion yet, with Adelaide played by Lindsay Duncan. Adelaide is head of the Mars Base and doesn’t take kindly to an uninvited appearance by The Doctor.

The BBC has also released a new teaser for “The Waters Of Mars”, the second of four specials being screened in the UK this year.

This is the second time O’Brien has appeared in a work by Russell T. Davies, having had a role in the original Queer as Folk.

“Such an emotional rollercoaster,” it declared. “Never before have you seen a show like this!”

As we now know the audience wasn’t anywhere near as enthusiastic. The show was removed from Sundays and struggled to compete on a tough Tuesday night.

This week the show had its finale, with a $100,000 cash prize won by designer Jason. Some 900,000 tuned in to watch the decision. But the rest of us could be forgiven for not knowing any of this. The finale barely made a mention in any press on Wednesday or Thursday.

This has to be the first time a reality show has given away such a major prize to be almost universally ignored by media.

In fact, Nine didn’t even issue a Press Release on the results of the finale, at least, it didn’t have one to forward when TV Tonight enquired.

Instead a photo was issued and a spokesperson referred to the episode being available for free online viewing at its website.

Meanwhile, there was plenty of media for the winner of Australia’s Next Top Model -with a much smaller audience and a $20,000 cash prize, amongst other rewards.

MediaWeek told its subscribers, “You’ll have to search high and low to find out who won the final of the other show that finished last night – homeMADE.” It directed readers to a TV Tonight story.

Seems the promo was right: “Never before have you seen a show like this!”

The fourteenth season of  The Amazing Race will include five teams of family members, four couples who are married or dating, and two teams of friends.

In addition to their first-ever deaf contestant (23yo college graduate Luke Adams), the cast also includes flight attendants, stuntmen, cheerleaders and a gay father/activist and his screenwriter son, who wrote School of Rock and Year of the Dog.

And it even included a scene with Phil in his underwear. Anything for that Emmy nomination, eh?

This series aired in the US in February.

But Nine has opted not to premiere a new afternoon family game show it had planned for later this month.

Pyramid, described as “a fun, fast-paced game show the whole family can enjoy” was set for a premiere at 4pm Tuesday July 21st.

In the show, two teams go head to head in a competition to describe a series of simple objects, places or things, without actually using the object’s name.

But now repeats of The Shak will run in its place instead. Yesterday, Nine announced a search for a new teammate following the announced departure of Kendal Rae aka Picasso.

As previously reported, Miller is a guest in the first ep of the new season, shooting once more since signing Christopher Meloni and Mariska Hargitay on the dotted line.

Looks like he is slowly sporting a bit more of a mop now that his days of ‘incarceration (or escape)’ are over.

In other casting news, Eric McCormack (Will & Grace) will appear as a (straight) sugar daddy in the second episode of the season.

And Chris Meloni looks so pumped up, he could go back behind bars in Oz! Check out them guns.

Source: Socialite Life, EW.com

• Torchwood
• MasterChef Australia
• Damages
• Better Homes & Gardens
• Tour de France

Seven has confirmed the end of the show after a stellar 11 year run as the country’s top medical drama, to wrap at episode #493.

Speculation has surrounded the status of the show for some time, triggered by a trimming of episodes to around half its annual slate and word that it had not yet been renewed for 2010.

Seven Director of Programming and Production Tim Worner said: “All Saints is a show which viewers and Seven have loved. However, an audience shift and increased production costs are behind this decision.

“The cast and crew deserve the highest admiration and respect for what they have achieved. All Saints has made a significant contribution to the rich history of Australian drama.”

When production ends in late August, cast and crew will wrap one of Australia’s longest running drama series, capping 12 seasons and nine Logie Awards. It is just topped by the 13 seasons of Blue Heelers. Serials Neighbours and Home and Away are now both in their third decades.

This year the show underwent a revamp with its Medical Response Unit, the second major overhaul in its long history. When it first aired in 1998 with Georgie Parker as Nurse Terri Sullivan, it featured the ‘garbage ward’ of the All Saints Western General Hospital. In 2004 it shifted the focus from Ward 17 to the emergency department.

Actress Judith McGrath remains the sole original cast member still working on the show, a terrific run in Aussie drama.

With filming well in advance of on-air episodes, the series will remain on screen until the end of the year.

Filmed jointly in New York and Sydney, the ads show the comedian performing stand-up outside makshift branches.

Greater’s head of marketing John Dwyer told B&T Today: “Greater is very much a regional building society, and that is why this is such a big coup. Last year we decided we wanted to go down the celebrity path, but not just to label someone, but to find someone who fitted with our advertising, which is a little cheeky to differentiate it from the major banks.”

He also denied a rumoured $10m fee for Seinfeld’s services.

The ads appear on Newcastle’s NBN from Sunday.

Lucky the building society is a regional one. It saves Seinfeld having to repeat that line about Melbourne being at the ‘ass end of the world.’