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TV Tonight turns two!

January 5 marks the second birthday of this blog. Happy Birthday, gang!

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January 5th marks the second birthday for TV Tonight. That’s a lot of man-hours slaving over a keyboard for the sake of telly!

But I’m pleased to report it has been worthwhile thanks to the continued support, comments and traffic by you…

There were 0 comments on the first post on the first day in January 2007. Now some stories attract a bucketload of boquets and brickbats (usually directed at networks). Aside from messageboards, there were barely any serious blogs on Australian television back then -while American TV blogs were breaking stories and proving the value of online, independent comment.

In its 2 year existence TV Tonight has broken stories, interviewed stars / writers / directors / producers and network executives. It is regularly read by media journos, many of whom consult for comment and information. In the last few weeks alone TV Tonight has been referenced in articles in The Australian, The Daily Telegraph, Sunday Telegraph, The Sun-Herald, and during 2008 in The Age and Herald Sun. There have recently been radio spots on 3AW, ABC and 2GB recently and last year Channels Nine and TEN both quoted reviews in on air promotions.

But the site is for you, the fan of Aussie telly.

We love TV when it gets it right (there were some great new shows in 08) and loathe it when it aims too low, cuts corners or gets lousy treatment from programmers. Some of us get as fervent over networks as much as our football teams or political parties. It’s not just the shows networks air, it’s the way they conduct their business and the spin they push in pursuit of our attention. And like politics, when we have a healthy opposition, everybody wins.

The days of a viewer simply turning on a TV and watching what was spoon-fed to them are no more. Similarly, the days of a critic merely saying “this is a good show or a bad show and here’s why” are gone. Now they have to stay on top of innumerable programming changes, fastracking, American and British trends, pay television, Freeview, EPGs, high definition television, and technology including IQ2, TiVo and mobile. And that’s just for starters…

In 2009 TV Tonight plans more advancements to entertain and inform you, calling networks to account and deconstructing Australian television in ways that conventional media rarely consider. It will continue to log stories in the wider press with extra comment, plus originally-generated content and interviews.

And have a bit of fun doin’ it.

Standby this week for the results of the reader survey on 2008 television, followed soon by the end of a summer hiatus and return to normal blogging.

Thanks for the last twelve months, guys. Here’s to the next…

David.

70 Responses

  4. I can;t believe it’s only 2 yrs old. I found this about 2-3 months ago and thought it was a website that had existed for years, and after reading news on it for a week, i was annoyed that I hadn’t discovered it earlier, because it is such an excellent website!

  5. happy birthday david. absolutely love this site, not only for your articles but the fact that you let us ordinary viewers post our opinions as well, i enjoy hearing what others have to say on issues and also the fact that if you post something on here it actually stands a chance of being read by execs and people who can actually fix what you are complaining about (unlike their own forums), them actually listening is fairly rare, but we still feel better that they are atleast being exposed to real opinions and not just a room full of yes men. keep up your eternal struggle to keep ’em honest david, we are all behind you.

  11. Congrats on the 2 years!

    I have no idea how i discovered tvtonight.com.au, but all i know is that once i did… i never left.

    This is the best Australian TV news site in the world!

  12. happy birthday tv tonight!! I stumbled across this blog at the start of 08 and hav been on pretty much every day since then, its addictive

    Thanks for all the hard work david, you do a brilliant job at keepin us up to date with everything concerning local and international tv issues

    thanks again
    Nick

  14. Happy 2nd Birthday David, I’m sorry I missed the first.
    Congratulations on a fine site that I could not do without.
    Here’s to the bigger 2009.!

  15. Happy Blog Birthday David 🙂

    And as someone who’s started a blog of their own fairly recently – and discovered the joy of taking care and time over posts only to see zero comments and page views that don’t even threaten triple digits – the success of yours over time gives me hope 😀

  16. I guess i’m relatively new to the site (not sure how long ive been reading it, seems like forever though, checking every day that i am home) as i don’t recall your birthday, which just happens to be mine as well (you have 25 years of catching up to do though).

    So happy birthday TV Tonight and me 🙂

  19. Well said, David. You do provide an amazing service here and it is wonderful to be able to post questions re: tv programming etc and get prompt and accurate answers. I have recommended this blog to various friends over the past 12 months or so and am sure your readership will keep growing – as will your impact on the networks and the tv industry generally.

    Once again – congratulations & thanks. 🙂

  20. Hi David,

    I would just like to thank you for putting the time in on this site. I love it and subscribe to your RSS feed. And i also have to thank you for letting me know about the boxcutters podcast which i didn’t know about until you were a guest on it

    Again great work.

    Jase

  22. Congrats David on a fantastic blog. TV Tonight has been a regular read for me each day since I discovered it only a couple of months ago…don’t know how on earth I didn’t know you existed prior to that!

  23. Thanks for putting such effort into the site David, it’s one of my fave Aussie blogs for sure.

    Let’s see if the Aussie networks finally bother to embrace online video in 2009!

  25. “Thanks for the last twelve months, guys. Here’s to the next…”

    David, more to the point ‘thank you for the past 2 years’, I have enjoyed every moment of it. Keep up the good work and ‘Happy Birthday’.

    Cheers and all the best for 2009.

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