Throng

From next Monday (the 15th of March), the talk show Ellen moves to 5pm weeknights on One.

Sunday News reports that the Days of Our Lives and The Young & The Restless are going to be removed by TVNZ after declining ratings. They will end in October.

"We have decided that although there ar many viewers who remain faithful fans, there are also many who would appreciate something fresh after such a long time" TVNZ publicity manager Katherine Klouwens was reported as saying.

TVNZ have not confirmed replacement shows but are "curretnly considering which replacement programmes we will select from a catalogue of shows available to us" Klouwens said.

I've noticed that next Monday, the 31st of August, TV2 is showing Ugly Betty reruns. Fine, nothing wrong with that...except the slot is for half an hour and Betty is a 1 hour shot...seems TV2 has cut the episodes in half with the first half of the one hour episode airing one day and the second half airing the next. (i.e. Monday Part 1 of Episode 1, Season 2 and Tuesday, Part 2 of Episode 1, Season 2)

This seems like an utterly bizarre decision...anyone know why the would do this?

Just come across an odd bit of scheduling in the guides...

TV2 Monday Morning Aug 31
The Gift  AO   00:15 - 02:30
A clairvoyant in a small Southern town is recruited to help solve the mysterious disappearance of a beautiful socialite. Starring Cate Blanchett and Greg Kinnear. Directed by Sam Raimi (2001).

TV3 Saturday Movie: The Gift Sat-05-Sep 20:30
DESCRIPTION: Supernatural horror meets character drama in this Sam Raimi-directed thriller. Set in Georgia, the film concerns a widowed mother named Annie (Cate Blanchett) who is blessed with the ability to have psychic visions. When Annie is asked to use her powers to investigate the murder of a rich society girl (Katie Holmes) who was engaged to a local high school principal (Greg Kinnear), she finds her 'gift' is as destructive as it is helpful. Also starring Giovanni Ribisi, Hilary Swank and Keanu Reeves.

Law & Order's revival has gone full circle. Following being in post-Nightline slots a few years back, as well as Saturday nights and even 1pm Friday afternoons at one point, with TV3 removing the Law & Order part from the titles of their hit shows SVu and Criminal Intent, (presumably to avoid a connection), then returning to primetime (even an 8:30 slot at one point), Law & Order, formerly Wednesdays at 9:30pm has now been moved to the prime slot of 0:05 Saturday Morning (yes, that's five minutes into Saturday).

Obviously the ratings were fairly terrible, but it doesn't help when TV3 scheduled it sporadically (mainly over summer) and only for 5-6 weeks between seasons of Prison Break. The first episode to screen will be this Saturday, called Talking Points, which is episode number 384, originally airing in the USA on February 2 2007.

Sunrise returns Monday at 7am on TV3 with Carly, Oliver and the team

Meanwhile, Breakfast will be returning on TV One at 6:30am with Pippa, Paul, Peter and Tamati.

Later in the day, the battle for 7pm resumes with John Campbell on Campbell Live

Over on One, Mark Sainbury returns for a new year of Close Up

Okay, so we've got Scott Dixon tonight. While it has been interesting, surely there are more people who deserve it now, while Scott Dixon is definitely worthy of the acknowledgment, his career is still going!
Even myself as the most ardent sports fan, I am sick of the sports representation on TIYL...

List below who you think deserves the honour of the big red book...

Here's a few they could do...some with varying degrees of "get-ability"

Neil Finn
Tim Finn
Peter Jackson
Dave Dobbyn
Georgina Beyer
Kiri Te Kanawa
Alan Dale
Sam Neill
Sir Bob Jones
Dick Hubbard
Douglas Myers
Peter Leitch (The Mad Butcher)

Well, today marks four months til Christmas is upon us again, and we all know what Christmas time means, presents, family, no news shows. Now will be the time that TVNZ and TV3 are beginning to lock in their summer schedules.

It seems archaic that in the 21st century when news can be accessed 24/7 no matter what time of year, online that the likes of Breakfast, Sunrise, One News at Midday and 3 News at 12, plus the nightly 7pm shows take summer breaks. Equivalent shows continue in Australia run right through (excluding a break for Christmas Day). The fact the surplus news services in the country shut down for a month or longer is ridiculous.

While it may be an expense to the networks to keep these shows running over the break, surely it would be more attractive to advertisers during that period rather than cooking shows or various other reruns filling that slot during the break.