Television

Network chiefs prepare to unveil their new babies   Author: eNews staff and agencies | May 31, 2006, 13:41

Ten's Grant Blackely hopes round 2 is just as good as round 1

Well, it takes two, or is it three TV Networks to have a mid-year launch, doesn't it?

So we've got Network Ten having a little jolly on June 27 at a cool inner Sydney bar to highlight its back half and now the Seven network has revealed some of its firepower for the post June 30 period.

Ten won't quite say what it has coming, but judging on what we already know there's Australian Idol, the end of Big Brother, the US version of The Biggest Loser, Honey, We're Killing the Kids from the BBC, Tripping Over, a mini series, The Secretary and the Blackjack movies.

No doubt there are one or two other programs up its selves, but that's the general outline: perhaps the non-prime time highlight for Ten is the AFL Grand Final followed by the last Bathurst 1000 and the Moto GP later in November. The Idol grand Final is hoped to be back to its best 2004 form.

Seven is starting to reveal its programs for the back half and the interesting (depends on your level of interest though) will be Celebrity Survivor.

No it's Seven, not Nine: seems the Packer -owned Network missed that one. Seven says the concept has been around for two years.

It does though sound like that U.K. TV horror "I'm A Celebrity, Get me Out of Here".

Production started this week in Vanuatu on the series: what a way to spend the next three months of the Sydney-Melbourne Winter!

It will be hosted by Ian “Dicko” Dickson (a real gig, non-dancing for him, at last),Seven says Celebrity Survivor will pitch a group of Australian identities from the world of sport, television, film and politics against each other as they step out of their comfort zone – no tents, no sleeping bags, no tools and no food – and battle the elements.

It sounds a bit like the after party at The Logies!

"Celebrities" taking on the Celebrity Survivor challenge will include Gabrielle “The Pleasure Machine” Richens, former ironman Guy Leech, politician David Oldfield and model Imogen Bailey. Oh, dear, can we wait that long?

Seven says Celebrity Survivor joins its mid-year programming slate – which includes new Aussie series The Real Seachange and True Blue and returning local series True Stories, hosted by Anna Coren. US programs Grey’s Anatomy and 24. Both start next month. 24 will start well and then fade, like a run down clock.

There's also the premiere of two of the biggest comedies to come out of the US in 2006, My Name Is Earl and How I Met Your Mother.

So what about Nine? Well there's football (the NRL), there's some cricket towards the end of the year in the Ashes against England, which will be huge and there are going to be more episodes of CSI, which is being rested for the next five weeks.

Nine is going the movies on Sundays for a short while, starting with the second Charles Angels movie, Full Throttle. That's up against the last episode (two hours) of Blue Heelers on Seven and the usual Big Brother Live Eviction on Ten.

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