TV

Top Survivor Tribals

This year The Survivor Hall of Fame is taking votes on the top tribal councils. I realise we are meant to pick from the choices, but her are my three.

Shortlist: Borneo F10, Borneo FTC, Australia F8, Marquesas F9, Marquesas F4, All Stars FTC, Vanuatu F7, Palau F10, Cook Islands F9, China F7, Micronesia F9, Micronesia F5, Gabon F10, Heroes Vs Villains F10, Philippines F10, Blood Vs Water F6, Cagayan F11.

Borneo FTC: Still to this day the best final tribal council speech – Corinne and Penner come nowhere close. It must of been pretty brutal for Kelly to here, because after the vote is read and everyone is congratulating Rich, Sue goes over to Kelly, but Kelly wants none of it. They say that Hatch invented the strategy part of Survivor, well then Sue Hawk definitely started the trend of memorable final tribal moments.

Marquesas Final 9: The fall of the Rotu 4 is one of the most satisfying things to happen on this show. They thought they had it in the bag on day 21. If anything it was a lesson to future Survivor players. If your at the bottom of an alliance and there is a way to get further with somebody else, GO WITH THEM! The whole tribal council was made even better as cocky John Carroll was the first to go out of the group.

Philippines Final 10: First everyone wants Penner gone. Then when he wins immunity it’s Skupin, the other returning player. But lisa doesn’t want him gone so she targets Malcolm to get rid of his idol. When Malcolm finds out the vote changes to Jeff Kent. Minutes before tribal Malcolm is trying to gather numbers to vote out Pete. By the time they get to tribal that night, there are two clear sides. The Tandang 5 vs the rest. At the tribal both Malcolm and Abi pull out there idol, Malcolm for strategic reasons, Abi cause she needed some attention. The confusion is not only too much for the viewers to keep up with, but Penner also loses track ,and doesn’t vote with his group. Jeff is sent to the jury, but Abi’s treatment of Lisa cause her to flip down the line.

The struggles continue for Network TEN

If Hamish McLennan thinks this year has been a success for Network TEN, he is highly mistaken.

The network reported a net loss of $163.8 for the 12 months to August. While McLennan, the network’s CEO, attempted to put a positive spin on things, saying that they had improved audiences since May, I don’t see falling behind the ABC and coming in fourth place most nights since May as much to be proud of.

A key problem with TEN is their desire to be a place of event television, and while viewers do turn in for finales of Masterchef and The Bachelor, once these programs are done and dusted for the year, people are left to watch constant repeats of Modern Family, or a low rating Jamie Oliver program.

“The strategic planning and scheduling of Family Feud at 6pm has delivered strong ratings and improved audience flow into The Project, which has also grown audience in both half hours” said McLennan. While the game show has improved audience flow into The Project, I would not say that Family Feud has delivered strong ratings at all. Up against the nightly news on both Channel Seven & Nine, nobody expected the show to win the time slot, but putting it on not only TEN, but Eleven and One, didn’t help it gain any respect. The ratings for Family Feud are fine, but not great by any means. If mediocre is what they are gong for, then they are succeeding. The 6PM slot has been a problem for a while now. While they deliver their news an hour before the other two networks, it leaves a hole in the line up between the Ten Eyewitness News and The Project. Once they filled the gap with The Simpsons, which meant many viewers would switch the channel in a heart beat. While I do admit that Feud has seen a retention of audience, I don’t see it as a long term solution.

Speaking of The Project, it’s also boasted in the media release that the show had “recently posted its biggest ever audience ever”. That is true, but the feat was only accomplished with an interview from Blake and Sam from The Bachelor, after all interviews had been previously cancelled between the pair. The next night they had Sam live at the desk, which once again brought in viewers that wouldn’t normally sit through an hour of the show. At the time I joked saying I wonder how they are going to drag this out even more, and what do you know, last night we had another interview with Blake now finally confirming his relationship with third placed Louise. This got the show over the magic million mark again, something they rarely do. Can we expect weekly segments following all those involved in the relationship “drama”? I know Ten are always going to promote their own shows but there comes a time when enough is enough. (As I write this I see that tonight’s show has Sam and Lisa on, and apparently they have a “very different story” than what was told last night. That makes four shows with a focus on The Bachelor over a three week period)

“Some of TEN’s new shows have also produced timeslot growth, including Party Tricks and gold Coast Cops.”

Once again this may be true on paper, but the results of those two shows are nothing flash. While Party Tricks got the tick of approval from critics, with Asher Keddie again a stand out, it didn’t mange to hold on to a steady audience. The premier episode of the six part mini series saw 710,000 viewers tune in, a number that would of pleased those at TEN. Now half way through the series, the third episode pulled only 407,000.

The network’s other home grown drama, Wonderland, is in the same position. Last year when the show kicked of, just under a million watched to see what it was all about. Turns out nothing that special, as the show dropped in viewers week after week. The show retuned after a year off in August to air the back nine episodes of the first season, and then the show rolled seamlessly into the second season, a second season many thought they were lucky to get.

Gold Coast Cops is something new (better than a sitcom repeat?), but it’s not exactly going to be at the top of everyone’s viewing list, as many of these kinds of shows have been done and seen before. The international shows that have been fast tracked like NCIS: NEW Orleans, Scorpion, The Good Wife, Homeland, The Millers, and Madam Secretary, have not made much of an impact either.

It has already been announced that TEN will have two new shows in I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out of Here and Shark Tank next year. While they have been hits in the overseas markets, it is going to take more than these shows to save TEN. Ratings this year have shown that viewers are losing interest in reality shows due to the excessive nature of them in Australia.

You can’t blame TEN for the lack of trying. In fact they have been trying hard to turn their situation around for the past few years. But time after time what they thought would be a hit dance or renovation show, is a complete miss. What they need to do is start from scratch, look at what their competitors aren’t doing, and be the difference in the market they once were. They need to become The Entertainment Network again.

Survivor Seasons 1-8 Thoughts

Over the past six months I have been re-watching the first eight seasons of Survivor. Many consider these seasons to be part of the glory days, when the show was at its peek of popularity. I wanted to put some thoughts together about certain aspects of the show, and its evolution, so here it is.

BORNEO
The Pagong tribe was a mess from the start. All over the place. Even though Gretchen was a great leader, she didn’t have much of a team to lead. B.B. wouldn’t listen to anyone. Ramona was sick, or just wouldn’t eat the food, and couldn’t do much. Gervase thought he could win the whole game by playing cards with people. Jenna was crazy, and Colleen and Greg were always going off on island dating adventures. No wonder they messed up the merge vote.

People may complain about Borneo from a production point of view, but the challenges were good for a show with a summer budget in the first year of the millennium. Yeah, simple, but at least it wasn’t swimming for puzzle pieces every week. And some of these challenges set the basis for what the show would become over the next four years.

Dr. Sean was smarter than you think. The alphabet strategy meant that he would vote for all of the Pagong tribe, before having to write a former Tagi’s name down.

What if moment: Pagong don’t lose the Immunity before merge, and goes in 6-4.

Player that should return: Richard

AUSTRALIA
This is still to this day on the shows best casts. Even the first two to go, Debb and Kel, were memorable.

It only made me hate the Kucha’s more whenever they brought up how they would of been in power if Mike didn’t fall into the fire, but there was a 50-50 chance Ogakor might of won, and I sense Mike would of been voted out anyway if it had to come to it.

Can we all take a moment to think about the moment Colby dumped Jerri on her ass in the reward challenge. And can we just remember how funny the guy was. All they say is five immunities in a row, or how he had a great bod(as Jerri put it), but he was always cracking me up. Hersey bar. Ha!

What if moment: Kimmi didn’t reveal Jeff got a vote at their first tribal.

Players that should return: Jeff and Alicia.

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My 2014-15 TV Schedule

Okay, let’s imagine I had time every night to sit and watch as much television as possible. And imagine that I actually lived in America (one can dream). Well this is what my week would look like.

SUNDAY
08.00 – The Simpsons (FOX)
08.30 – Brooklyn Nine-Nine (FOX)
09.00 – Resurrection (ABC)
10.00 – Revenge (ABC)

MONDAY
08.00 – Gotham (FOX)
DVR – The Voice (NBC)

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My 2014 Emmy nomination reactions

10:38 (AEST) – I’ve seen a million entertainment sites tweeting about how we’re about to start. when is it really happening y’all.

10:42 – Okay seams legit now. Crosses fingers for Peter Dinklage, Tatiana Maslany, and Melissa McBride.

10:43 – Outstanding Actor in a Drama. Tough category, but you would think Cranston to take it home for the final time for his portrayal of Walter White.

10:44 – Outstanding Actress in a Drama. Maslany snubbed. Dalton Ross is just as unhappy.

10:45 – Outstanding Actor in a Comedy. Just remember that we can do better than Jim Parsons, as much as I love him though.

10:46 – Outstanding Actress in a Comedy. Dunham, Falco, Dreyfus, McCarthey, Poehler, Schling. All deserving, but if Parsons can get a nomination, why can’t Kat Dennings.

10:47 – TV Miniseries. Coven yeah?
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Ranking Survivor Winners (Season 1-8)

Richard Hatch, Borneo – While Hatch often gets discredited for being part of the inaugural season with a bunch of people who didn’t know what it took to win, I believe this fact makes him even more deserving of the top spot on this list. His perception of others and self-awareness, along with the fact he knew forming a voting block would be necessary, makes him the best of the first eight, and would still be in the top five for overall winners.

Sandra Diaz-Twine, Pearl Islands – “Any one but me”. While this strategy can be linked back to Vecepia three seasons earlier, Sandra really made it her own, and it is how more players need to think. She always had the intentions of booting Rupert with Christa, but the rug was pulled out from under her when FairPlay did it before she could. At the final seven she sat outside the core alliance but somehow made it to the end, and got six out of seven jury votes.

Tina Wesson, Australian Outback – Due to the edit not wanting to show off much of their winner, we didn’t get to see nearly enough off her. All I need to say here is she convinced Colby Donaldson to basically give her the million. Do you need anymore convincing on how good she was?
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So many singing shows, but so few singers

After seven seasons of Australian Idol, two seasons of The Voice, and five seasons of The X Factor, we have very little to show for it.

I could name contestants from American Idol in an instance, while I would have have to think real hard about singers on our local version. Keep in mind that I’ve never watched a full season of USA Idol, and know the likes of Kelly Clarkson, Adam Lambert, Carrie Underwood, Jordin Sparks, Chris Daughtry, and Jennifer Hudson due to their international success. With Australian Idol, Guy Sebastian and Jess Mauboy are the only two that have really continued on from their reality tv show fame, that come to mind instantly.

The Voice Australia is even worse. The show, which is currently in its third season, is a massive ratings hit, with many tweeting along every night. Season one winner Karise Eden has only released one album since her 2012 win on the show. The album, My Journey, featured one original, along with twelve other covers. She is also known for the biggest drop from number one in ARIA history. Her single “Stay With Me Baby”, which is a cover of Lorraine Ellison’s hit, dropped from number one down to number fifty four. A week after that the song was completely out of the top 100. Season two winner Harrison Craig, has faired no better. He managed to release a follow up to his debut album, titled L.O.V.E, but it was full of covers once again. Third place getter from season one, Rachel Leahcar, is in the same boat, as she has just released her third album titled, Here Comes The Sun, jam packed with covers of The Beatles. Do you see a pattern here.

The Voice’s rival The X Factor, over at Seven Network, has been more favourable with developing stars who have a chance of getting anywhere. The past three winners Dami Im, Samantha Jade, and Reece Mastin, have all had relative success with four top five albums between them, and all are currently working on studio albums full of ORIGINAL MATERIAL.

Still after all these years, our first Idol winner, Guy Sebastian, is the one and only to make a dint in the American market. At the same time we are currently watching the likes of 5SOS and Iggy Azalea become well known in the states. Makes you wonder. Are these singing shows around purely for our entertainment, or to create stars?

Survivor: Borneo, Australia, Africa, and … Cagayan?

While the twenty eighth season of Survivor wraps up today, I’ve just finished re-watching the first three seasons. Survivor Cagayan has been one of the best in recent years, and dare I say, one of the best in the franchises history, but there would of been many who have watched this season of Survivor, that have never seen the shows conception and beginning. I’ve heard over the years people saying the show is totally different now, than what it was fourteen years ago. Maybe in production value, but the core of the show is still there. Only thing is this year with Cagayan, it’s been as clear as ever, how this show is still the same.

What makes the first three seasons, Borneo, Australian Outback, and Africa, is the great characters and everyone’s desire to win. Nobody is sitting around for third place (which is another topic in itself). In Borneo every castaway that made the merge was memorable, and was given quality screen time. Same thing for Australia and Africa. I can also say this for Cagayan, while I can’t say that for all seasons from the past few years.

In this season we had Tony, the villain playing super hard. Spencer, the young underdog. Kass, the outspoken older woman. Trish and Woo, playing under the radar in Tony’s majority alliance, and the challenge beast, Tasha. This final six was one where every single person had a case to win. Which is not un-similar to the seasons I have mentioned, where their final six’s featured legends of the game like Richard Hatch, Rudy Boesch, Sue Hawk, Colleen Haskell (from Borneo), Tina Wesson, Colby Donaldson, Elisabeth Hasselbeck, Amber Brkich (from Australia), Ethan Zohn, Lex van den Berghe, Tom Buchanan, and Teresa Cooper (from Africa). So if you’ve enjoyed Survivor: Cagayan, but haven’t seen how the whole show started, definitely check them out.

What to watch: Orphan Black

As summer draws upon those in the United States, everyone’s favourite television shows will be coming to a close for another season. As much as we complain about how there is too much television to watch in one week, come summer, when you are all caught up on every Chuck Lorre show, there won’t be many options to pick from in your tv guide. Which means summer becomes a time to discover new shows, and some hidden gems that you haven’t had the time to binge watch.

One show that I recommend to check out if you already hadn’t is Orphan Black. This sci-fi action drama can get so confusing at times, that I wonder if even the writers know whats going on. No matter how many questions you have at the end of each episode, keep with the show. The one thing I’m sure of is how outstanding the acting is. In a show about the creation of clones, Tatiana Maslany manages to perfectly play them all, and switches accents from scene to scene. Along with the relatively unknown Maslany, is Jordan Gavaris who plays Felix, foster brother to Sarah Manning, the first clone we meet and the shows central character. Gavaris manages to bring some humor to the show, all while putting on a very convincing English accent. With the first season being only ten episodes long, and the show only three episodes into the current sophomore season, I managed to binge watch and catch up over three days.

An Open Letter to Carrie Bickmore

Dear Carrie,

I’m sorry that once again you walk away from the TV Week Logies Awards empty handed. I’m sure you’re not majorly disappointed that you have gone zero from six in the past three years, as you have said before doing TV was never your end goal and the Logies can be seen as a bit of a joke to many, but it would still be nice for you to be recognised as the amazing talented woman that you are.

People scoffed three years ago when, what others put as, a “news reader” was being nominated for our highest television award. Well if we can have a tradie who host’s a reality show win it, why can’t people vote for you.

To me you are more than just a “news reader”. You’re the person who is welcomed into my house whether it be at 6.00 PM, 6.30 PM, or 7.00 PM. I don’t see how, after three years in a row of being nominated, you haven’t won the top award, because you have such a warmth about you, that you have created a deep connection with The Project viewers (no matter how small that audience may be).

The way in which you are so open on the show is amazing. Not many on live television who fall over would want to get back up from sheer embarrassment, but when you fell over, the only reason you couldn’t get back up was due to your uncontrollable laughter at what had just happened. Many make jokes about you showing emotion, and the amount of times you have cried on screen. I only see that of a strength of yours. You have been through a lot in recent years, and your honesty and showing of emotions proves to everyone you’re not a robot who sits behind a desk and talks about the news.

I have no doubt you will be nominated for the Gold Logie again next year, I only hope everyone can see what I see, and you will be seen as Australia’s Most Popular Personality.

regards,

Jayden