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So what’s been your summer gem?

With so much content on digital channels, 09 / 10 summer has delivered far more content than previous years. So what little gem have you found?

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The other week a journalist asked me for some quotes on how our TV summer season was faring and I pointed out that historically, the 09 / 10 season has offered an abundance of choice -at least compared to when we had just 5 channels, half of which were stuck on sport.

This year the amount of content has boomed, thanks to our extra digital channels.

But when the article appeared in print, readers hit back saying summer is still a dead zone. I got slammed. Well, it is if you stick with Australia’s Funniest Home Videos Daily Edition or Whacked Out Sports. Or you settle for a repeat of a 1995 movie. The key is to drill down and look at what is being offered on GO!, 7TWO, ABC and SBS. There have been some fantastic shows that are overlooked and deserve a little more word of mouth.

On Free to Air we’ve had The Circuit, John Adams, Lillies, Bush Slam, Torchwood: Children of Earth, The National Parks: America’s Best Idea, Shrink Rap, The Graham Norton Show, Killer Whale Attack, The Colbert Report, Reaper, My Place, Gourmet Farmer, Luke Nguyen’s Vietnam, Stephen King’s Nightmares and Dreamscapes, White Collar, Kingdom, Burying Brian, Make Em Laugh: The Funny Business of America, Rex in Rome, Chandon Pictures, The Fixer, The Middle, and Elders with Andrew Denton.

Maybe you’ve been getting reacquainted again with old friends like Survivor, Ugly Betty, Nip / Tuck, Weeds, The Wire, Californication, Band of Brothers, Futurama, The Unit, Stargate: Atlantis, Beautiful People, Inside the Actor’s Studio or ER.

Are you basking in smiles now Big Love is back? Are your eyes popping out of your head at the steamy scenes in Dante’s Cove? Does Fringe still have its fans since its been playing new episodes? Are you now a fan of Man vs Wild or a late-night convert to The 7pm Project?

And has anyone out there actually found a gem on SBS TWO they simply have to share?

Pay TV’s offerings are too numerous to mention but summer highlights would have to include Satisfaction, The #1 Ladies Detective Agency, Gossip Girl, The Contender Australia, Hung and of course Dexter. Not succumbing to ratings pressure, the Pay sector isn’t really doing much in 09 / 10 that it didn’t do twelve months ago, whereas the landscape in Free to Air summer is wildly different.

Let’s not forget a ‘summer gem’ isn’t really a big broad hit title like Dexter or new episodes of Glee. It’s something you’ve discovered, possibly by mistake, that nobody else seems to know about.

I found another one this week: Taking The Flak. A British satire about Foreign Correspondents working for the BBC in the fictional African state of Karibu, and the lengths they will go to in order to land a story for the 6pm News. It was like Frontline meets guerilla soldiers. It’s buried at 10pm on Thursday nights on ABC2. Definitely worth a look, and I only wish I had found it earlier to write a review for the first episode last week (Ep 1 is on iView). Getting On is another little gem (it starts tonight on ABC1).

So let’s hear it. What are your newest discoveries we should all be taking a look at? Please try to keep answers succinct guys.

78 Responses

  1. Satisfaction, have really enjoyed that.

    I have been lucky however, I still had several episodes of Packed to the Rafters left to watch which I recorded and hadn’t gotten round to seeing. So thats been my summer treat!

    Nine’s review of the decade was a good show on new years eve.

  2. Chandon Pictures, Grahem Norton, Torchwood, ABC2, Fringe, New Amsterdam, GO.
    Had been enjoying the late night re-runs of Medium on 10.
    I enjoy the 7pm Project, I think Mondays are great, I’d like to see more new people with actual opinions as guests overall though. I think that Hughesy should go, Charlie and Carrie gel better when he’s not there…
    David Letterman has been pretty funny lately, capitalising on the NBC late night issues.

  4. Looks like most people missed this in the original article “Let’s not forget a ’summer gem’ isn’t really a big broad hit title like Dexter or new episodes of Glee. It’s something you’ve discovered, possibly by mistake, that nobody else seems to know about.”

  5. Shark
    The unit
    Not going out
    Judge john deed
    Gary unmarried
    Nip/tuck
    Fifth gear
    NBA
    and also looking forward to full house and alf next week

    and thumbs down to ten for pulling Numbers (one of the best shows they’ve got) and One tree hill

  8. ABC1 – Beatiful People, even though its repeats from ABC2
    SBS1 – Man Vs Wild
    Seven – Parks and Recreation
    Ten – Accidently on Purpose
    ABC2 – Graham Norton
    7TWO – Ugly Betty, Tin Man
    GO! – Dante’s Cove, Weeds, Curb, The Hills

  10. It’s been a pretty good summer….Willie’s Wonky Chocolate Factory on ABC2 and Heston’s Feasts on SBS were the standout quality shows.
    It’s great to have Frasier and Seinfeld on every night back to back….Curb Your Enthusiasm is also a highlight.
    Big bonus having the NBA on OneHD as well!!
    It seems the majority of my viewing is now on the alternative channels.

  13. I simply turned on the television and It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia was on. Thank god I turned the tv on at that moment, absolutely hilarious show! I love it because the characters are like Seinfeld, in that they never learn, but to an extreme level.

    Also enjoying The Office at a reasonable hour and watching Seinfeld on GO! has been great, since the channel launched. Glad that Blackadder is also on GO! Also Gary Unmarried isn’t that bad, its good for a laugh, and so much better than the other CBS sitcoms.

  14. Parks and Recreation by far standout. I also enjoyed 30 Rock reruns, Mother and Son re-runs, Private Practice and The Celeveland show was a big suprise for me, becoming must-watch for me.

  15. Seven: Parks & Recreation, on late-night Tuesdays. Very funny. And tennis. And 30 Rock rpts.
    ABC1: Hopman Cup tennis. Once again Aunty’s coverage was outstanding.
    ABC3: Heartbreak High rpts, 8:30 weeknights + Sunday. The show started when I was 1 year old so I never had the opportunity to see it, but I’m enyoying it.
    GO!: The Nanny, Seinfeld rpts.
    TEN: New Simpsons, Neighbours, Malcolm rpts.
    Nine: The Middle

  16. my summer has been good with The Circuit (SBS), 2 seasons of Weeds (GO!) and my newly found favourite It’s Always Sunny in Philidelphia (Seven). And the tennis is coming up (the Aus Open), so i’ll be happy with that. Nothing else has seemed to interest me

  17. My summer Gem has been the Middle. At first I also thought ” what the, it looks like Malcome in the Middle and even the name is similar”. But it has been real laugh out loud funny, and in all the crazyness there is a warmth to it that Malcome in the Middle lacks. I particularly like the little kid, Hilarious ( whispers “hilarious”).

  20. It’s been a DVD summer for me. No real “appointment” viewing on FTA, but I was enjoying reruns of The Mole on 7TWO in the wee hours. Such a good show when Grant Bowler was at the helm.

    GO! is proving to be a godsend in summer. People complain about the excess of older shows, but they are classics. I’d watch Seinfeld all day if I could!

  22. I loved the Joanna Lumley doco’s that I caught on iView… especially the one where she went to visit the Northern Lights. She is a magical person and seeing her watch the lights dance around in the night sky was spectacular TV.

  25. The only thing I’ve found worth watching weekly is Reaper and also the NBA on ONE. The Office, My Family, Futurama, Calinfornication,The IT Crowd and The Cleveland Show are probably the only other shows I consider worth sitting down to watch.

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