Test Pattern: Spinoffs We'd Like To See
farrago2010When TV executives think they’re onto a good thing, they bleed the idea dry. How else can you explain the reappearance of Hey, Hey It’s Saturday! or the continued presence of Jules Lund?
Articles tagged with television
farrago2010
Test Pattern: Fastest Axed TV Shows
farrago2010The success or failure of a tv show is a mysterious thing. A strange alchemy, often accidental, can create a dazzling hit, while seemingly brilliant choices can create a program so crushingly horrible, the only thing certain is being the butt of the Logie host’s jokes that year (if the joke isn’t indeed the Logie host themselves).
Test Pattern live blog the MasterChef Australia Finale
farrago2010Read, watch and comment along from 7:30pm Sunday 25 July on Channel Ten and the Farrago website, as Bethanie and Tim plate up their alternate nitpicking, critique and praise of the 2010 MasterChef Australia finale. What’s that, you say? The media is already saturated with MasterChef hype? Pish posh, as Matt Preston might say.
Test Pattern: Cookery show withdrawals? Try MasterChef USA.
farrago2010Nothing, it seems, is new in television anymore. There is no Bloomian anxiety in the world of the small-screen. While “invention tests” might be required of contestants, it’s far easier for TV executives to simply steal a successful dish, altering little aside from the garnish (and Channel Ten shouldn’t feel too smug either; they stole the MasterChef format from the BBC).
Test Pattern: Light Entertainment, Politicians and Populism
farrago2010With another election year upon us, the once safe world of entertainment television can expect to be inundated with politicians. Politicians are of course integral to programs such as Q&A, but what of the lighter side of the televisual landscape? Does the presence of our political leaders make great television? Or is it merely a cynical exercise in self-serving PR that sometimes, tantalisingly, has the potential to turn into a train wreck, and provide fodder for The Chaser for the remainder of their season?
Test Pattern: Host Swap
farrago2010It’s all too common these days to see hosts and other personalities vanish from one television show, only to appear on another program or even another network a month or two afterwards.
Adventures in Teleland
farrago2010This summer, I embarked on an adventure. An adventure that whisked me far away and into the heartland of the modern entertainment industry: North America.
Test Pattern live blog the Logies Ceremony
farrago2010Read and watch along from 7:30pm on Channel Nine as Bethanie and Tim live blog commentary and bitter criticism of the Logies Award Ceremony. It’s Australian television’s “Night of Nights”, they say. We doubt it.