Underbelly loses court appeal

It has been ruled this morning that Channel Nine's key show Underbelly will remain banned from screening in Victoria. This has come as the show depicts a case that is currently being heard in Victorian courts. The show has experienced great success until now in the other states but the judge has ruled that it may affect the views of the jury and potential outcome of the case.

Many Australian's are downloading episodes to get their fix but for now, this illegal practice is the only way viewers in Victoria will get their hands on the show.

Nine at the Hotel Babylon

Nine is set to beef up its UK based programming this ratings season with the airing of Hotel Babylon. The network currently holds the rights to the second and third seasons. Australian viewers were promised the show over the Summer of 2007 but Nine quietly dismissed it.

The show has no firm airing date as yet but stay tuned as we will let you know.

This is more than certainly Nine's response to the success felt on Seven and the ABC from UK dramas such as The Bill. Other UK titles secured for Nine include Rock Rivals and Seceret Diary of a Call Girl.

Prison Break signed for number 4

Fox has confirmed the signing of the fourth series of Prison Break to be aired in the US. Writer and co-executive producer Nick Santora has expressed his joy through his blog in which he states that the entire team cannot wait to get started.

While the show is undergoing a change of office at the moment, filming is set to begin post-Easter. The team are said to be looking forward to diving head first into season 4.

Channel Seven is likely to be the one to locally air the new season. Don't expect it to happen anytime soon though as Seven still has a large backlog of episodes to air before we even get close to our US counterparts.

ABC airing too many repeats

The lobby group Friends have spoken out about their opinions of the ABC's schedule. They have claimed that the network is broadcasting too many repeat shows and fabricating their viewing schedules with materials most viewers have seen sometimes several times before. This information comes from a West Australian news paper that looked into 43 programmes shown on the ABC - 41% of which were repeats.

Glenys Stradijot, campaign manager for 'Friends', said the ABC now screened less first-run Australian drama than the quotas developed to protect Australian culture imposed on commercial networks, with local drama falling from 102 hours in 2001 to three hours in 2004-05.

Communications minister Stephen Conroy stated that the problem has been noted and there will be a request for increased funding for the ABC when the next triennial budget is done for the network.“The ABC is one of Australia’s most important public institutions and the Government is committed to ensuring adequate funding to the ABC to enable it to provide Australians with high quality broadcasting services,” he said.

Just can't get enough rope

The commencement of the sixth season of Enough Rope starring Andrew Denton is set for March 31 at 9:35PM on ABC1. With the continued success of this show set be no different in 2008, it seems Australia just cannot get enough of it.

Denton was featured in an article in the Sydney Morning Herald in which he was asked to recollect his most memorable interviews. Some that jumped to mind included the Madonna interview which never aired and also Denton's amazement at how different John Travolta was on stage opposed to off.

Are you a fan of Enough Rope? Denton's first guest for 2008 is footballer Wayne Carey.

Full article available here

Ramsay coming down under

In a confident move by Channel Nine, Chef Gordon Ramsay is set to begin work in Australia. Ramsay is said to be opening a restaurant in Melbourne's famous Crown Casino.

His rude nature is what has gained him such a strong reputation as he abuses staff till he gets the results he wants. Ramsay is set to begin filming here in June and told the Herald Sun that this is a very exciting move for him.

Be sure to keep checking back as we let you know more as it comes to light. Would you eat at Ramsay's restaurant?

Channel 10 offers online catch-ups

In a move that most of us have been expecting, Channel 10 are now allowing online viewers of its site the opportunity to watch the latest episodes of their favourite shows. This was a move that became very popular with the ABC's hit Summer Heights High. The ABC also allowed downloads of episodes.

This could be a move by Ten to combat the growing epidemic of people illegally downloading episodes online and not viewing them on the television. At least this way Ten can monitor its views and have an understanding of the popularity of its shows. This has been reported to be common with shows that air in the USA before here on home soil. Ten is said to be offering these shows advertisement break free also.

Would you prefer to watch a show on Ten's site? Do you think this could be an answer to the downloading epidemic?