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  3. Related to your Million Dollar Island bus billboard, there’s a tram still rolling around the Melbourne CBD that has an ad for the premiere of Rake on “ABC1”!!

  5. Good to see Ch 9 are on the ball. With all the drama surrounding the story behind The Blindside this week, they have swiftly punted Monster in Law, that has been solidly promoted, and replaced it with The Blindside.

  7. RIP the legendary Michael Parkinson :'( I can remember his interview with Thorpey on Ten in 2014 which got people talking and also helped reignite Ten’s ratings (along with a resurgent MasterChef and the likes of Offspring still seeing drama on top) in the succeeding few years or so, after a few tough preceding years.

  8. I don’t come here often but did Channel 7 air Season 10 of The Goldbergs? Cause I just noticed all of that season is on 7plus! Have no idea how long its been there for though.

  9. Does anyone know why Season 5 of Hardcore Pawn is not on amazon prime? It is the only season they don’t seem to have and no way of finding out.

    1. I really like the show, even better than Pawn Stars, though I wonder if it’s staged, or if it’s half staged. I think it might be staged and not reality. Does anyone have any thoughts?

    2. The anti-syphoning list was created by Keating to stop Fox Sports and Optus Sports from buying exclusive rights to certain matches. The FUD claim being that there would be no sport on FTA with the ALP. It gives Nine and Seven (the only networks with enough money to bid for them anyway) first go at buying events on the list. In practice is reduces the amount of money sports and players get by lowering what Seven and Nine pay for their rights. Seven and Nine then do deals with Fox Sports to keep the few games they want to air or stream, then allow Foxtel to have the rest, and fund most of the production costs. The list is in the wikipedia. The Soccerroos games were on it, Matilda’s games and the FWWC were not. Yet there is better coverage of all of The Matildas’ games and FWWC on FTA. Albanese once again promised to save us from Murdoch, but all the major events have been sold out to 2032.

  11. I really enjoy The latest ch.7 tonight…Tues/15th August….Young female presenter…pleasant, engaging and easy to understand….I thought she said Joanna Atkins but unable to find any info….Anyway…good viewing, for me.

  14. Just wondering why Live AFL matches are only shown on digital free to air. But not on live on 7 Plus. Isn’t that still free to air? I tend to watch tv thru 7 plus cause my digital signal isn’t great. Cant stand that technical bleeps and crackling.

  15. To help improve a shows ratings, are we better to watch it on a streaming channel than FTA (unless you have a ratings meter box)?

    I gather overnight numbers are estimated based on the sample numbers from ratings boxes, where as live streaming (and catch ups) can record each view and these are tallied and added to the total numbers released after a week?

        1. OzTAM site: “Households are recruited to OzTAM’s television audience measurement panel via a large-scale Establishment Survey that defines the population to be represented and its characteristics” etc.

          1. And they monitor them carefully. My pub trivia team had member who was on the panel and lived near the pub. Afterward we went back there and watched TV. It was a bit of hassle to sign in as guests and have to keep pushing a button to prove we were still watching. However, after a month or so they were dropped from the panel due to excessive guest viewing.

          3. And it also helps if you answer your phone.

            Amidst callers wanting to fix your computer, survey you, or ask for your bank details, are Oztam.

            Enter that chasm of unknown phone numbers at your own risk.

    2. Maybe it could affect the type of programming that is scheduled or produced. The networks were wanting users to sign-up and sign-in for market research.

  17. I am watching this strangely brilliant American show called Claim to Fame – basically part Survivor, part Masked Singer.

    I don’t know if it can work well for a local version but I do want to shout out this weird, smart, silly show.

  18. I’ve sent detailed formal correspondence to the previous and current federal governments, and ABC regarding a revival of a service like ABC’s Open Learning from the early 90s. Similar education services, regarding tertiary, high school and adult learning are available overseas, for example, RAI Scuola, France 5, DLTV Thailand etc. This seems to be like an essential public broadcasting service that should be considered. I haven’t heard anything back, even though the government, ABC and SBS have been responsive in the past. If possible, whenever there’s a chance, if anyone has further influence, please put forward these suggestions. It would’ve been nice to have received a response, even regarding lack of resources. I hadn’t contacted SBS about this feedback and comments yet, only because Open Learning was generally in the ABC’s domain, in terms of experience and collaboration with universities. Does anyone have any thoughts?

    1. Such services were important in the 70s and 80s when TV was the main way you could reach the masses. TV learning has been replaced by MOOCs and online learning platforms. The BBC abandoned their partnership with schools and The Open University in 2006. The Open University has being doing well on it’s own since then, though they do still co-produce some popular documentaries with BBC4 and Channel 4. It would be much more important to fix our tertiary education system, and stop from concentrating on price gouging foreign students, and focus on preparing Australians for the future.

      1. I’m aware of the UK Open universities system. My thinking is that there is teaching for high school and adult learning (what is referred to as night school) as well. Sort of an introduction to universities. But also for learning important life skills and teachings for students that may not be able to attend uni for whatever reasons. I was watching Open Learning as a child and it was helpful. I agree about your comments regarding universities. There’s too much focus on profiting from international students nowadays. A major issue that I dealt with in my university days was political indoctrination, which has nothing to do with education. It out a lot of students off education. They were showing unrelated content, such as completely unrelated Sammy J clips at the start of lectures. Students I was with were thinking what the hell is this nonsense. It was brute indoctrination.

  19. She’s not a TV person as such though we all got to know her on TV during the peak of the pandemic, so she may be fondly remembered to other viewers here. Professor Mary-Louise McLaws has died. Always a trusted source and I admired her sensible and expert approach to commentary.

  20. I just watched 7+’s ABBA documentaries so that you don’t have to:

    ABBA Forever: Tries to tell the whole story, but nothing new if you are a superfan of the group.

    ABBA vs Queen: Pits the 4 Swedes up against Freddie Mercury and the gang for a battle of the bands. Same talking heads and interviews as ABBA Forever.

    ABBA: The Missing 40 Years: Tells the story behind ABBA’s 40 year break between their initial heyday and ABBA Voyage. One for casual fans only.

    Greatest ABBA Cover Versions Ever: Actually, an interesting documentary. So many unlikely performers covering ABBA hits.

    ABBA Silver, ABBA Gold: Again, same interviews as ABBA Forever and ABBA vs Queen, but at least the makers of this documentary tried to update the story to include ABBA Voyage.

    So, if you really want to watch an ABBA documentary on 7+, I would choose The Missing 40 Years and Greatest ABBA Cover Versions Ever. At least they do not regurgitate the same interviews, talking heads and archive footage.

      1. LOL! Thanks for the comment! Didn’t expect you to respond!

        I wrote this comment as a way to let those viewing the above docos to know that they won’t be learning anything new or interesting on most of these documentaries.

        Hopefully, I am sure there will be a proper, officially endorsed documentary or a big, flashy TV special with current pop-stars and celebrities singing ABBA songs soon somewhere along the line. (Ironically, many of those reused interviews and archive footage were from 2 official ABBA documentaries from 1999 and 2004 that were made by the same production company!)

        Keep up the good work, David!

        PS: I wish there was an archive for all the TV Tonight April Fools Day articles that you have done over the years!

  21. Wow? First time ever and ACMA Code/Broadcast Act breach! No Seven News bulletin in Melbourne (and Tas) tonight due to the Matildas 1.05hr over-run. And… EPGs/codings absolutely now all over the place. But what a memorable night, right up there with out best, go Australia 🙂

  24. 7 News NSW stuffed up their coverage of the Maui fires on Friday night. Tried to do a live cross to David? somebody at Lahaina airport. Presuming he just arrived from somewhere and was planning to do a piece from the airport. No sound. Sydney dumped it, never to return. Why on earth do stations persist in doing stuff ‘live’ when it could have been prerecorded 30 minutes earlier, with sound? And 7 & 9, why do we need to know the time overseas? Point? Obviously the News budget is a bit bloated. What could an Australian or two add to reports from the Hawaii news stations, CNN stand-ups (as on SBS), agency reports and network affiliation reports (CBS/10, NBC/7, ABC/9)? Even ABC deemed it necessary to fly in Barbara Miller from Washington. Why? All used the same overlays from local stations and stringers.

    1. Same as when there a been a significant court case during the day and some poor kid has to stand outside an empty courthouse in the dark at night….Why?

    2. My favourite pointless cross was a few years ago when there was a series of robberies at some outer suburban McDonalds stores.
      Ch 9 one night 12-18 hours after the robbery had their “on the spot” reporter do the cross from their outside their local Macca’s 5 minutes from their studio …..

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