Dakar Rally out for SBS

While the Nine Network awaits a clear outcome on the tour by the Indian cricket team, another sports event is off the international calendar, and our TV screens.

The international Dakar Rally was called off by organisers on January 5 following threats to its safety purportedly from Al-Qaeda, and followed the murder on December 24 of four French tourists in Mauritania.

SBS will replace its plans for daily highlights with repeats of Mythbusters and make changes to preceding programmes including NewsHour with Jim Lehrer.

The last-minute cancellation of the motor rally between Lisbon – Dakar will cause a “mini-tsunami” in the fragile economies of the African countries a Senegalese paper said Monday.

SBS amendments until Jan 21 are as follows:

Monday, 7 January:

5.00pm INSERT: A Fork in the Road: Malta – Ugo Mifsu Bonnici, past President of Malta, takes Pria on an exploration of the history, culture and people of this small limestone island outcrop in the middle of the Mediterranean. (An SBS Production, in English) (Documentary Series) (Rpt) G CC

5.30pm NEW TIME: Mythbusters

6.00pm DELETE: Dakar 2008

Tuesday, 8 January:

4.00pm DELETE: A Fork in the Road

4.00pm NEW TIME: The Journal

4.30pm NEW TIME: NewsHour with Jim Lehrer

5.30pm INSERT: Mythbusters: Exploding Toilet – This new series investigates the bizarre claims of urban legends and modern misconceptions about all manner of things, by putting them to the test. This episode Adam and Jamie find out if it is really possible to make a toilet explode by spraying a flammable substance into the bowl and then lighting a match. Also in the aquatic department, do you get wetter by running or walking in the rain? (From the US, in English) (Entertainment) (Rpt) G CC WS
Wednesday, 9 January:

4.00pm DELETE: A Fork in the Road

4.00pm NEW TIME: The Journal

4.30pm NEW TIME: NewsHour with Jim Lehrer

5.30pm INSERT: Mythbusters: Cell Phone Destruction – In this episode Jamie and Adam test several explosive theories. Can chatting on a cell phone while pumping gas cause the pump to blow up? Our Mythbusters put themselves at risk so you don’t have to. They also put silicone breast implants to the test at high altitude. Will they burst under pressure? Finally, we’ll learn once and for all if high-speed CD-ROM players can really shatter a disk. (From the US, in English) (Entertainment) (Rpt) G CC

6.00pm DELETE: Dakar 2008

Thursday, 10 January:

4.00pm DELETE: Food Lovers’ Guide

4.00pm NEW TIME: The Journal

4.30pm NEW TIME: NewsHour with Jim Lehrer

5.30pm INSERT: Mythbusters: Barrel Of Bricks – This series investigates the bizarre claims of urban legends and modern misconceptions about all manner of things, by putting them to the test. In this epsisode Jamie and Adam explore a myth within the construction industry about a builder who underestimated the weight of a barrel of bricks he was trying to lower from a rooftop using only a rope and pulley. according to the myth the man and his barrel collide three times in the course of an interesting experiment in gravitational forces. Will this urban myth be busted? (From the US, in English) (Documentary Series) (Rpt) G CC

6.00pm DELETE: Dakar 2008

Friday, 11 January:

4.00pm DELETE: The Lore of Love

4.00pm NEW TIME: The Journal

4.30pm NEW TIME: NewsHour with Jim Lehrer

5.30pm INSERT: Mythbusters: Penny Drop – This program investigates modern myths and urban legends: Can a coin dropped from a skyscraper kill a pedestrian on the foothpath below? Mythbusters Jamie Hyneman and Adam Savage take on this myth as well as testing the likelihood of baking oneself inside out on a tanning bed and also investigating the claim that Lucille Ball exposed a Japanese spy ring by listening to radio signals transmitted by her tooth fillings. (From the US, in English) (Documentary) (Rpt) G

6.00pm DELETE: Dakar 2008

Saturday, 12 January:

4.00pm INSERT: Sounds Of The Cities: Sydney Singing

4.30pm NEW TIME: NewsHour with Jim Lehrer

5.30pm NEW TIME: Marx & Venus

5.35pm NEW TIME: Lonely Planet: Six Degrees series 2 ep 9 rpt

6.00pm DELETE: Dakar 2008

Week 3, 2008

Sunday, 13 January:

6.00pm DELETE: Dakar 2008

6.00pm INSERT: Thalassa – Presented by Silvio Rivier G CC WS

Monday, 14 January:

5.00pm INSERT: A Fork in the Road: New Zealand – Pria visits the South Island of New Zealand, where he takes a peek inside a Cashmere Hills mansion, looks at French heritage architecture on the Banks Peninsula, and chats to a Maori elder about the history of the Kaikoura region. (An SBS Production, in English) (Documentary Series) (Rpt) G CC

5.30pm NEW TIME: Mythbusters

6.00pm DELETE: Dakar 2008

Tuesday, 15 January:

4.00pm DELETE: A Fork in the Road

4.00pm NEW TIME: The Journal

4.30pm NEW TIME: NewsHour with Jim Lehrer

5.30pm INSERT: Mythbusters: Jet-Assisted Chevy-This new series investigates the biazarre claims of urban legends and modern misconceptions about all manner of things, by putting them to the test. Did Lucille Ball bust a Japanese spy ring by picking up morse code in her fillings? Is it possible to get sucked into an airplane vacuum toilet? Can you explode at the service station if you use your mobile phone? Hosts Adam Savage and Jamie Hyneman take on myths and use modern science to discover what’s real and what’s fiction. There’s a myth that an Arizona Highway Patrol police stumbled across a blackened crater on the side of a mountain at the end of a long stretch of desert road. (From the US, in English) (Documentary Series) (Rpt) CC

6.00pm DELETE: Dakar 2008

Wedesday, 16 January:

4.00pm DELETE: A Fork in the Road

4.00pm NEW TIME: The Journal

4.30pm NEW TIME: NewsHour with Jim Lehrer

5.30pm INSERT: Mythbusters: Tongue Stud Lightning Rod – This series investigates the bizarre claims of urban legends by putting them to the test. In August 2003, a young boy was found on the ground in Colorado, struck by lightning. His shirt was torn apart, and his tongue stud was gone – probably swallowed. Adam and Jamie examine the theory of whether the tongue stud acted like a lightning rod and actually attracted the strike. Also investigated is the myth of the medieval tree cannon. (From the US, in English) (Documentary Series) (Rpt) G CC

6.00pm DELETE: Dakar 2008

Thursday, 17 January:

4.00pm DELETE: Food Lovers’ Guide

4.00pm NEW TIME: The Journal

4.30pm NEW TIME: NewsHour with Jim Lehrer

5.30pm INSERT: Mythbusters: Vaccum Toilet – Jamie and Adam debunk more urban myths and popular misconceptions in this science-meets-popular-culture series. In this episode, Jamie and Adam take on a few legends involving dubious behaviour, starting with a myth about an obese woman on a trans-Atlantic flight whose derriere was suctioned into the plane’s toilet after flushing, forcing the plane to land before she could be removed. Will the bottom fall out of this myth? The next myth is of the woman who thought she was shot while sitting in her car in a supermarket parking lot on a very hot day. As the story goes, when the paramedics arrived, they found her head splattered with a mass of raw biscuit dough. (From the US, in English) (Documentary Series) (Rpt) G CC WS

6.00pm DELETE: Dakar 2008

Friday, 18 January:

4.00pm DELETE: Wine Lovers’ Guide

4.00pm NEW TIME: The Journal

4.30pm NEW TIME: NewsHour with Jim Lehrer

5.30pm INSERT: Mythbusters: Larry’s Lawn-Chair Balloon – This series investigates the bizarre claims of urban legends and modern misconceptions about all manner of things, by putting them to the test. This episode is about Larry Walters, a truck driver who tied 45 weather balloons to his lawn chair. He shot up into the air and was spotted by aeroplane pilots near LAX airport as he sailed out to sea, causing the airport to close after which he was rescued by a helicopter. Is this popular Internet legend full of hot air? (From the US, in English) (Documentary Series) (Rpt) G CC WS

6.00pm DELETE: Dakar 2008

Saturday, 19 January:

4.00pm INSERT: James Morrison: Blowing His Own Trumpet – Australia’s greatest jazz virtuoso performs his own compositions on flugelhorn, trombone, piano and trumpet, live in concert with the SBS Radio & Television Youth Orchestra. (From Australia, in English) (Masterpiece) (Rpt) G WS

4.30pm NEW TIME: NewsHour with Jim Lehrer

5.30pm NEW TIME: Marx & Venus

5.35pm NEW TIME: Lonely Planet: Six Degrees: Mexico – Toby Amies and Asha Gill explore Mexico through the eyes of six of its residents. (From Australia, in English) (Documentary Series) (Rpt) PG CC

6.00pm DELETE: Dakar 2008

Sunday, 20 January:

6.00pm DELETE: Dakar 2008

6.00pm INSERT: Thalassa – Presented by Silvio Rivier G CC WS

Monday, 21 January:

5.00pm INSERT: A Fork in the Road: New Orleans – Pria travels to New Orleans, where he explores the world of the Creoles and the Cajuns of Louisiana. (An SBSi Production, in English) (Documentary Series) (Rpt) G CC

5.30pm INSERT: Mythbusters: Buried In Concrete – This week Jamie and Adam make a brave attempt to solve a legendary mafia mystery by searching for the decomposed body of Jimmy Hoffa, allegedly buried in the concrete under the Giants Stadium. The mythbusters then fire up a jet engine to find out if the power and force of a 737 engine could launch a taxi cab 22 metres in the air. (From the US, in English) (Documentary Series) (Rpt) G CC WS

6.00pm DELETE: Dakar 2008

Additional source: AFP