TV Highlights

The 19th Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards will be broadcast live in Australia from 12pm, Monday 28 January 2013 on TV1 and will be posted here live.

DRAMA ENSEMBLE

Boardwalk Empire – SHOWCASE
Breaking Bad – SHOWCASE
Downton Abbey – SEVEN
Homeland – TEN
Mad Men – MOVIE EXTRA Continue reading »

9:30pm – Monday, January 28 on FOUR

Florence Henderson, Gayle King and Kermit the Frog all guest star in 30 Rock, continuing it’s latest, and final, season on Monday, January 28 th at 9:30pm on FOUR. This week’s 30 Rock sees Broadway legend, Elaine Stritch return in her recurring role as Jack Donaghy’s (Alec Baldwin’s) mother – and along with her comes another pair of legends: Florence Henderson (The Brady Bunch) and Kermit the Frog. And if that isn’t enough, there is also a very special cameo by Gayle (Oprah’s BFF) King! Make sure not to miss all this when 30 Rock screens on Monday, January 28 th at 9:30pm on FOUR.

8:00pm – Monday, January 28 on FOUR

New Girl is getting a new guy when Dermot Mulroney (My Best Friend’s Wedding, The Family Stone) guest stars in the hit Zooey Deschanel comedy on Monday, January 28 th at 8pm on FOUR.

Dermot Mulroney is joining New Girl as a smart, rich and handsome love interest for Jess (Zooey Deschanel) – who also happens to be the father of one of her students.

Although the two don’t start off on the right foot, eventually their chemistry kicks in.

“I’m, naturally, a slightly older guy,” Mulroney explained following the filming of his first episode. “My daughter is one of her students… The romance hasn’t blossomed yet, but you can see that ‘do they like each other or not’ is already kicking in.”

Make sure not to miss this when New Girl screens on Monday, January 28 th at 8pm on FOUR.

7:30pm – Friday, February 1 on TV 3

It all comes down to this! This week we find out which team will win The Block Australia when the series concludes its season on Friday, February 1 st at 7:30pm on 3. For the past couple of months, four renovation teams, Sophie and Dale, Mike and Andrew, Brad and Lara, and Dan and Dani, have put all their effort into fixing up four dilapidated properties in Melbourne.

Now the homes are being put to auction, deciding which of the four couples will walk away the victor!

Make sure not to miss this when The Block Australia concludes on Friday, February 1 st at 7:30pm on 3.

5:30pm – Monday, January 28 on TV 3

As Home and Away continues its action-packed 2013 season, this week see the arrival of brother and sister duo, Spencer and Maddie, in Summer Bay. Home and Away screens Monday, January 28 th to Friday, February 1 st at 5:30pm on 3. Series star Lynne McGranger, who plays Irene Roberts, recently spoke about these Summer Bay newcomers, promising “intrigue” from their arrival.

“They arrive with a secret. That’s all I can tell you – that there’s a secret that is revealed within a couple of weeks,” McGranger says. “They’re both terrific actors.” “Andrew [who plays Spencer] is playing much younger than what he is – I think he’s about 23 and he’s playing 17. Kassandra is playing Maddie, and I think they’ll be a terrific addition to the Home and Away family with the intrigue and the secret they have.”

“Much later on down the track, their brother Chris turns up and there’s a bit of drama there, too,” McGranger continues.

The arrival of Spencer and Maddie comes after Home and Away producers promised to feature more fostering storylines and increase the number of scenes at Summer Bay High.

Asked whether Home and Away’s writers are trying to take the show back to its roots, McGranger says: “Oh, absolutely. I think there’s a few things that are important to the success of a show like Home and Away. I think the viewers like the stalwarts, they like the lynchpins – the Alfs, the Irenes, the Leahs… and of course, the Marilyns, the Roos and the Harveys.

“Those characters are important, but the young ones are the ones who, if you like, life happens to! They circle around the lynchpins, and I think the more young people you have on the show, the more opportunity there is for that kind of drama.” Make sure not to miss the arrival of this “drama” when we get our first introduction to Spencer and Maddie in Home and Away, screening Monday, January 28 th to Friday, February 1 st at 5:30pm on 3.

3:00pm – Monday, January 28 on TV 3

The Biggest Loser Australia is back and it’s bigger than ever before – this year’s series features the heaviest contestant in the history of the show’s franchise anywhere in the world. The Biggest Loser Australia premieres on Monday, January 28 th at 3pm on 3. Ryan Preuss, a 29-year-old insurance salesman from Brisbane, is expected to weigh in at 240kg in this week’s premiere of the weight loss reality series.

Preuss says that his weekly shopping list consists of 12 bottles of soft drink, four large pizzas, sausage rolls, chips and four family-size chocolate blocks, together with regular fast food and takeaway.

“It’s not rocket science to realise how someone can get to this point,” The Biggest Loser Australia trainer Shannan Ponton explains. “The way he expresses himself is by eating and he has never done anything athletic in his life because his pain tolerance is virtually nonexistent.”

Preuss lost 65kg when he was a student and believes he can achieve weight loss again.

“I want to feel happy about myself again,” he says. “I know inside my head if I stick to it I can do it again. I don’t want to be just sleeping, I want to have more energy.”

Will he be able to achieve his dreams? Find out when The Biggest Loser Australia premieres on Monday, January 28 th at 3pm on 3.

1:00pm – Monday, January 28 on TV 3

This week sees the welcome return of everyone’s favourite doctor when a brand new, 11 th season of Dr Phil screens weekdays at 1pm, premiering on Monday, January 28 th on 3. Since it began in September 2002, Phil McGraw’s Dr Phil has been rated No. 2 in daytime talk television, behind only the show that got him started, The Oprah Winfrey Show. His appearances on her program in the late ’90s were so well-received that they led to his own show.

Now with The Oprah Winfrey Show ending its long-running series in 2011, Dr Phil has moved up to that all important No. 1 spot.

But what does the kind of daytime television have in store for his first week back? “Our first week sees one of the most debated topics: The shooting death of 17-year-old Trayvon Martin by neighbourhood-watcher George Zimmerman,” Dr Phil explains. “We hear an exclusive Zimmerman defense that stunned our LIVE audience.”

“Later in the week I even have the first in-depth sit-down with Trayvon’s parents, Tracy Martin and Sybrina Fulton, along with their older son, Jahvaris,” Dr Phil continues. Make sure not to miss this and so much more when Dr Phil enters its 11 th season on Monday, January 28 th at 1pm on 3.

8:30pm – Saturday, January 26 on TV 3

After 10 seasons, this week sees CSI: Miami coming to an end when the series screens its final ever episode on Saturday, January 26 th at 8:30pm on 3. The instalment, titled “Habeas Corpse”, opens with Ryan Wolfe (Jonathan Togo) bloodied and unconscious in a strange place. When he comes to, he sees the dead body of Assistant State’s Attorney Joshua Avery (Ryan McPartlin) and instantly becomes a suspect in the murder.

“We find out quickly that Ryan is exonerated… but as we dig deeper into the evidence and what transpired, another one of our own falls under suspicion,” executive producer Barry O’Brien explains.

“Horatio and Co. follow this evidence, regardless of where it leads – even if it’s a painful place. There’s a chance one of our own has crossed the un-crossable line.”

Could this see the very foundation of the CSI: Miami family rocked? Find out when the series concludes its 10-season run on Saturday, January 26 th at 8:30pm on 3.

9:20pm Sunday, January 20 on TV2

Joel (Jason Bateman, Horrible Bosses), the owner of an extract manufacturing plant, enjoys his simple existence. However, his professional and personal lives soon become a lot more complicated!

Firstly, Joel gets some bad advice during a drug-induced brainstorming session on how to test his wife’s faithfulness.

Then, Joel’s soon-to-be floor manager acquires a serious injury in a machine malfunctioning accident. New employee Cindy (Mila Kunis, Ted), who happens to be a scam artist, decides to take this opportunity to milk the company for all it’s worth.

Joel must now attempt to piece his company and his marriage back together, all while trying to figure out what he’s really after in life.

7:00pm Monday, January 21 on TV2

This week, Josh (Chris Tempest) continues his scheme to befriend Zac (Mike Edward) in order to gather more evidence against him, oblivious that Zac has cottoned on to his plan.

Meanwhile, Zac decides how to best use the situation to his advantage.

Elsewhere, when Jared (Beulah Koale) catches a drunk and mournful Vasa (Teuila Blakely) at the IV, he is forced to deliver her some home truths.

Reflecting on his own life, he decides it’s time to do something worthwhile so he doesn’t end up like Vasa.