Throng

Following news of the pulling of Top Chef on Thursday nights for low ratings, replaced by Grand Designs, news comes of the removal of Parenthood. The show has been removed after racking up a miserable 125k last night  and will be replaced next week by Big Momma's House 2...no word on a permanent replacement for the slot, but without another season of Survivor available until September...you have to wonder where they go from here.

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