Natalie is Idol, Idol is Done.

Natalie won. I lost the bet. Yeah yeah yeah, I know. I was an idiot to predict Matt Corby to win, but I honestly have a hard time tossing up if the Australian public are feeling smart or stupid at the current time. They were smart this time... but there will be other times. For me, the intellect of the public fluctuates in even, but unpredictable intervals. It's the ultimate 50/50 stake. It keeps things interesting.

Ever since the Casey Donovan Crash in 04, we've seen some none-to-awful results from Idol. Natalie was my favourite for a while, so it's not that I hated the result. I just hated the leadup. I mean, the entire leadup. As in, the whole season.

The season did have a few memorable characters (Marty 'Martjaya' Simpson being my pick for best contestant ever), but is there really anyone you want to see try and break into the industry? God, I hope not. The 2008 season of Idol can be interesting if it reignites stolen flames from some past semi-finalists that had potential, but I think we can all agree the bottom of the barrel has well and truly been scraped, and we the audience have the splinters to show for it.

This ends my EXPERT coverage of Australian Idol: Season 5, and I can breathe a big sigh of upheaval and rebirth. I thought the day would never come, and even when it did, I thought I'd miss it's place in my routine. This is definitely not the case; much like the death of an old, pungent relative that always hung around making things terrible at the family Christmas lunch, the passing of an Idol season is bittersweet but mostly oh so treacly sweet.

A couple of small tidbits before I officially pull the Idol plug:

• Ben Mackenzie was/is a drag queen. I know this for a fact.
• Dicko gives good comments, has bad opinions.
• Martjaya deserved to win.
• Marcia is a fuck.
  
• Montagia, Ancient Greek Goddess of Montage Clips is most pleased with Channel Ten's offerings to her.
• Did anyone notice Matt Corby had really appalling clothes?
• Days left until someone assassinates Jacob Butler: 203.
• Carl Risely looks like Darren Stevens from Bewitched.
• Daniel Mifsud could make a coat out of his body hair.
• Martjaya could make a matching scarf out of his eyebrows.
• Tarasai was so fake she wasn't even black.
• Breanna Carpenter and Matt Corby would have the most fucked up children ever born, complete with placenta-coloured stockings and man-skirt.
• Vote Martjaya. I don't care where, just vote Martjaya.

Previously on Neighbours: Nov 19 - Nov 23, 2007.

It's always a monumental occasion when a character is effected by something that is impossible to resolve. It's like when the writers decide to step over the point of no return. It's brave, addictive television. So it was this week on Neighbs. Susan got MS. Yes, that's right, MS. An incurable, very apparent disease. Not since Paul lost his leg has something so permanent shaken Ramsey St. Terminal illnesses are common on the show, but they usually go into remission once all the drama has dried up. Like who remembers Boyd's brain tumour? or Steph's two cancers? They came and went like hay fever.
I am really looking forward to Jackie Woodburn's upcoming performances during her disease. She went a bit spastic this week, so I hope that subsides. I am going to predict a few years from now, she will succumb to the illness. And that'll be a sad day, indeed. But I'll deal with that when it comes.

Right now, here's the Neighbours recap:

Monday: Pool scenes are so damn frequent nowadays. Zeke shirtless equals kill me. The resident bully is on prowl. Why are ugly, pale bullies so menacing? Rachel slams into a pedophile / future love interest. It gets her hormones going. Susan burns her hands badly on a casserole dish. Those damned casseroles... maybe this was Miranda's evil scheme all along. She is given ridiculous looking bandages and sent home. Jessica is still a whore, and Ringo is still a putz. For someone who has been training non-stop for six weeks now, Ringo doesn't seem to have put on any muscle at all. Lame.

Tuesday: Libby is revealed to be a tightass when she gives Ben a GameBoy from the 80s. Meanwhile, Micky randomly plays with a Robosapien in the general store. The two boys meet in a totally shit scene. Casserole Hands... I mean... Susan goes blind and freaks the fuck out in a carpark. I like Jackie Woodburn, but she really overdid it here. Ringo starts to repair his life... Elle fights to set the evil farmer's story right... It wasn't a great episode, okay?

Wednesday: Casserole Hands overacts like never before when put into an MRI for a whole nine seconds. I wish she went mute instead of blind. Zeke is a bitch again. Marco is a gay prostitute, or so I suspect. Bridget is a fickle little child, and I hate those overalls she wears oh so much. Riley looks like he has AIDS.

Thursday: Susan is diagnosed with MS. It's waahmbulance time. Kirsten is readying a custody battle for Mickey, but Ned has a few sighs to expel about it. Janae needs to leave before her characters can be defecated on even more. Mopey Josh, the guy in the wheelchair, snobs Bridgit because she gives up her physio. They whine a little more, and she decides to go return. Ugliness ensues.

Friday: The official plot outline describes Mopey Josh as "hunky Josh". That just disturbs me. Declan gets jealous of Mopey Josh, especially since he doesn't get any adjective before his name. Valda gambles to get money, while Rachel meets with Angus the Pedophile again. Hormones race once more. Ohhhh, I see where this is heading.

Darren arrives next week, ya'll, so stay tuned for all the goss' to seep forth. As always, see you next week.

LABORIOUS - Who won the election watch?

Mmmm. Election. You can taste it in the air. Like when you walk past a fast food shop. It's warm musk is a presence, one which either entices or repulses depending on if you enjoy fast food, or indeed politics. Yet around election time, I think there is only one thing people are really looking forward to, and that's the election tally marathon that ensues the event. From the graphics, to the hosts, to the bickering panellists, the election coverage has long been extremely entertaining weekend viewing, considering it's a show about politics that goes for five hours.

This year, every channel threw their hat into the ring, each offering different aspects that would appeal to different people with different values. ABC appealed to the people who wanted a predictable night, and that is what they are good at. Nine appealed to the people that respect the election and like to see it supported in a serious and moral way. SBS came into it so late that their coverage just seemed to be useless, as did Ten's. Sky News' coverage probably would have been pretty good, had I had bothered to check it out. And Seven, well.... they treated the election like it was an episode of Let Loose Live.

ABC
Host: Kerry O'brien.

As retarded as Kerry O'brien looks, you have to love him. He's slower and easier to talk over than the likes of Ray Martin and Andrew O'Keefe, but at the same time, I'd rather listen to him overall. He is drenched in veteran sensibility, and is definately the best persona around to manage a panel consisting of big names like Julia Gillard and Nick Minchin. Speaking of them, while they were the most recognisable and important of the guest panellists, they were also quite proper and boring. Compared to the Jerry Springer antics of Seven's show, the aura around the ABC's coverage was "Ah yes, my grandfather would be having a ball with this."
Kerry got a little discombobulated by The Chaser as they pulled some stunts in the background, and there were technical faults, but the clean, glossy presentation and the nice, Star Trek-like set made ABC real standouts last night.

Nine
Host: Ray Martin

In my opinion, Nine won the election coverage battle. They didn't have the best graphics (ABC) or the best talking heads (Seven. Just kidding. ABC) but it wasn't below average in those departments either. Nine went for a simple look, a desk with a frame of spaced out, colourful icons and graphs. It was inoffensive and actually enjoyable. Nine employed a slight 'whoosh' noise whenever a graph would animate or change which I greatly appreciated. And, let's just get this out of the way, I heart the shredder. For some reason, I just loved it.
Laurie Oaks came and went for some reason, and even though I respect him a lot, I didn't miss him. Anyway, Ray had his legion of Channel Nine journos out in the thick of it to cut to instead, something which I thought was going to be really tacky, but was always fulfilling. At the end of every segue, I expected Ray to cut to Ben Dark or Bert Newton or Trevor Marmalade. Oh wait, they DID cut to him. And oh my god, his jokes were awful. Let's not go there.
To make up for that, they had this Liberal representative on the panel who was absolutely devastated that his party had lost, and was noticeably losing it and going nuts with denial. It was great TV.

Seven
Hosts: Mel and Kochie.

Oh jesus. Oh jesus christ. What... the HELL? Seven should just be ashamed. ASHAMED. For fuck's sake, in a word, Seven's coverage was: horrific. The boxing gloves graphics? The... the fucking cartoons running across the screen? Kochie himself is the worst fucking host on TV, so it was doomed from the start. But then they have to go and secure Andrew O'Keefe as a co-host. In some terrible club room set? And what about their graphics!? Done away with was the sleek ABC presentation, and the subtle 'whoosh' sounds of Nine. No! Big, red and tacky was the criteria for Seven, just like their innocuous logo. And the woosh sounds were so loud and frequent I felt like I was inside a fucking wind chamber. And that WOMAN! Christ, that Liberal representative that was in full defense mode at every opportunity. She spurted out salesman-like sound bites at every opportunity, she was like a typical The Apprentice contestant. The Seven coverage was toxic. I suffered from irritated eyes, nose, throat. I even think I went impotent for the night. And that was just from watching 15 minutes of it. Never again, Seven. Your light-hearted approach can go hang itself like the godless bastard it is.

Ten

Didn't bother watching this staggered response to the actual verdict. I did catch a bit of Empire Strikes Back though. It was the part where Luke meets Yoda in the swamp. I was confused, because Yoda is supposed to be 400 years old and he's all weak and puny, but just twenty years beforehand he's jumping all over the place fighting Sith Lords. Is 380 considered young, but 400 considered near death? Next time you redo the series, George, mend that plot-hole!

Verdict

At the end of the night, I had settled on Nine. Although I regularly turned to ABC. I very rarely checked Seven, and I didn't even bother with Sky, Ten and SBS. The ratings are a different story entirely, with ABC coming out as number one, Seven in second and Nine third. Ten actually beat Nine with their Star Wars counter-programming, which is a damn shame. I guess this just proves the deadly power of Koch. And the deadlier power of the idiot public.

Ten Renew Neighbours and Idol, Announce Other Shit.

Channel Ten is a bastard. It is 99% septic TV. But perhaps by freak accident, within its putrid primordial soup of programming, lightning penetrated through the scum and catalyzed a minuscule array of things I'd actually watch. Like Neighbours. And Idol.
Not so surprisingly, Channel Ten has announced in a freshly revealed press release that Neighbours and Idol have survived another year and will return for a new season in 2008.

This is good news for me and Channel Ten. I fall into Ten's target demographic; that is for being subjected to Domino's Pizza commercials and really tiresome Futurama gag-based ads. I'm secured to endure them through next year; that's their objective complete. As for me, I get a year's worth of Neighbours recaps and Idol coverage. Win win.

Also renewed were every show you hated on Channel Ten this year. Except the Wedge. That was deemed too heinous even for them.

Renewed:

Are You Smarter Than A 5th Grader?, Bondi Rescue, Neighbours, Australian Idol, Big Brother, Thank God You're Here, The Biggest Loser, AFL, Rove, Saving Babies, Friday Night Download, House, NCIS, Medium, Law & Order, Law & Order: SVU, Law & Order: Criminal Intent, Numb3rs, Californication, Life, Cane, Supernatural, The Simpsons, Futurama, Pussycat Dolls Present: The Search For The Next Doll, and America's Next Top Model.

Announced:

So You Think You Can Dance Australia, Saving Kids, Kenny's World Toilet Tour, Women's Murder Club, Rules of Engagement, Back to You, Burn Notice.

Actual Letters From Foxtel Magazine: November 2007

I've been a reader of the Foxtel Magazine's mailbag section for years now, mainly because of how bizarre, humorous, frightening and awkward all of them actually are.

But never in my long reading career have I ever come across something so devestatingly confusing, so hypnotically irrelevant and unprovoked... so abstract and totally freaked... as this letter from Janice Kidson-McDonald:

"Problems in the world are mainly caused by men. Maybe if us women dominated politics things might be better - that's why I especially enjoy Oprah."

And that's the whole letter...

Congratulations Janice, not only have you managed to claim you are ideal for a role in POLITICS by making POLITICALLY INCORRECT statements, but you've also claimed the title of DiH-D's Letter of Month. Thanks, and keep sending out those letters. That's why I especially enjoy ridiculing you.

Survivor returns to Nine.

They took their sweet ass time in doing so, but Channel Nine have finally set Survivor: China onto their summer schedule. Despite being pretty much completed in the US, the season has been firmly nestled in my Top 5 wanted TV shows.

The timeslot of 7:30pm Saturday night is both a good and bad compromise. The good aspect is that more people will get to see it. The bad is that most people still won't, as Saturday night is a graveyard. And being run in the Summer period, its more like a graveyard within a graveyard.

No matter though, Survivor is one of those rare shows that has lasted 13 seasons and never jumped the shark once. Sure there have been lacking seasons (Thailand), but that was the fault of the contestants, not the showrunners. I personally think last season was the best ever, so here's hoping for even bigger and better Summer viewing, and you can be sure that Survivor will be covered extensively each week here on DiH-D.

Survivor: China - 7:30pm Saturday, December 8th. Channel Nine.

Predict Idol: Week 11

Oh my! Was I the only one truly captivated by Matt Corby tonight??? And by captivated, I refer to an experience similar to being held captive in an unfurnished cell with no windows and left to go utterly and incoherently insane.

Excuse my language, but for fuck's sake, it was awful. It was drearier than a John Cusack movie. It was fuckin' worse than that time Marty Simpson sang that Police song. It was fuckin' worse than Mark's orgasm over the Phantom of the Opera song. It would be fuckin' worse than if Bobby Flynn ever posed for a Cosmo centrefold. It was THAT fuckin' bad.
Okay, it wasn't THAT bad. I mean, it wasn't Marty Simpson bad. But it WAS Daniel Mifsud bad. And that's still pretty fuckin' bad.

The single itself is abysmal, so it was doomed from the start. But the least Matt could do was arrange it even slightly so that it had something interesting to permeate into it. What was his approach? Hopefully the audience would fall asleep so they'd miss Natalie's performance, thus sabotaging her chances? A flawed scheme, to be sure. But it sure would explain a lot. Natalie's was better, but not by much.

As usual, Matt's song choices all sounded exactly like all the other things he has sung, and Natalie's, while not always good, really showcased her versatility.
Matt pulled out the whole 'self-confidence crisis knocked me around for a while' trick, and it seemed to really convince everyone. I mean, a guy who wears a shirt-dress in front of millions of people doesn't just come to us free of crippling mental issues. You'd be insane to expect otherwise.

Who I think will win: Matt Corby. Who I want to win: Natalie.

"Your Choice, Australia": An In-Depth Look Into Final Idols.

The final two on Idol is a step above the final two for other reality TV shows. Australian Idol final twos really have progressed through, if I may use the overused expression, a journey. They have quite literally fought for survival. They have not been exposed to luck based challenges or alliances, instead if they sing well, their chances are increased. If they impress the judges, they are again increased. Being bubbly, but not too bubbly, will win even more votes. If they succeed in doing all three, they will be a true competitor. And it's the juggling of all three aspects that is the real competition. Thus, the final two must represent two contestants that have managed this feat. By no means will they be the only ones to have done this in the series, but the audience has decided that these two have been the best representatives of this process. Theoretically anyway.

Compare this to the Big Brother final twos. Big Brother is a competition with vague, seemingly meaningless and extremely diverse tasks. The show is not divided up into weeks; the audience is asked to judge favourites based on the entire series. Thus, week for week efforts to win votes become more and more dire, eventually losing all purpose towards the end. Futhermore, there is no specific skill required to become a final two contestant. Not only can a contestant enter the final two for being a good competitor, but a total douche can enter the final two merely for being the contestant who farted more than all the other contestants. And they would both have equal chance of winning despite their actual deserving of the title.
In conclusion, Idol seemingly establishes a 12 week filtering process to ensure that the final products are really worth the money spent to book the Opera House, the outside entertainment and the harbour full of fireworks.

However, how well has it worked? Do the final two Idol contestants really represent the best of the competition? Of Australia? Take a look and decide for yourself:

Season 1 - Guy Sebastian, Shannon Noll.
The original final two. Guy Sebastian won in the end, but really, both of these guys won. Third place went to Cosima deVito, and she vanished into obscurity extremely quickly, while Guy and Shannon are still travelling the country, lavishing in the cultural acceptance that has been rewarded to them. Which is more than can be said for future final twos.
Guy went all churchy and hosted some AIDS related documentary in Africa. He has recorded a few albums that have as much appeal as Chris Murphy in those goddamn red long-johns. He famously lost his 'fro, but gained odd favours from Natalie Bassingsthwaite.
Shannon went all rock-ballady and etched some major success. Like Guy with the 'fro, Shannon ditched his famous goatee and instead gained rights to old songs I've never liked and made it so I have to hear them over and over, again and again. He can now currently be seen on TV advertising for a poker club.

Season 2 - Casey Donovan and Anthony Callea
The post-final two couple. In one corner represented a Guy Sebastian/Shannon Noll hybrid; Anthony Callea. Appealing to housewives, universally praised for his rendition of Prayer. In the opposite corner, Casey Donovan, an overweight Aboriginal junkie who appealed to all the people who didn't want a repeat of the last year. Casey won, making it all the way through the competition without a single judge noting that she was obese. A true testament.
Casey ate a whole lot, including her Sony contract, and practically doubled in size. She had a couple of songs about Aboriginals, but she was gorging on the power the public had mistakenly given her. In response, she was treated like a festering skin cancer and frozen out completely. She probably spends her days in a dry river bed somewhere.
Anthony got some really high single and album salea, but then dropped in popularity almost immediately. Still trampling on Casey's forsaken career, he returned with a second album which was fueled by his homosexual revelation. His career is pretty much punctuated by Spicks and Specks appearances.

Season 3 - Kate Dearaugo, Emily Williams.
The forgotten final two. Kate Dearaugo got the contract, but noone really cared. Emily lost, and still noone cared. There was no real competition here, they were friends and also extremely alike. It was the end to what is almost the worst season ever (besides the current one).
Kate had very disappointing single and album sales so went into exile. She later emerged as one of the Young Divas.
Emily also emerged as a Young Diva, further cementing the fact that noone gave a shit that year, and nor should they have.

Season 4 - Damien Leith, Jessica Mauboy.
The rinse-and-repeat final two. So named because this was the Season 2 final two done right. Damien is a European lad, Jessica is a young, indigenous sweetheart. Only they've been made over. No longer does the male contestant sport a boy-band vibe, and no longer does the female contestant look like a boar that choked on its bucket of slop.
Damien came out the victor. He released a ton of merch, like his Idol journey CD which was #1 for what seemed like years, his debut album and his recently released autobiography. He also won an Aria Award. Not bad. Except that Neighbours appearance. That was bad.
Jessica emerged as a Young Diva... Well, at least that's something.


And here we are. About to view the Season 5 final two duke it out in Sydney. Stay tuned to check out the newest addition to the ongoing Final Two series. Matt Corby and Natalie Gauci. Who are you voting for?

Previously on Neighbours: Nov 12 - 16, 2007.

What a week. What a week. Actually, for all the hype it was a pretty shit week on Ramsey Street.
The major event of the week was the return of a major past character to the regulars list. Libby plonks herself on the ol' Kennedy couch so swiftly and easily you'd be forgiven for thinking she never left. Trading her for Pepper and Adam was a welcomed move. Speaking of which, Adam had some awful cameo in an effort to explain why Pepper wasn't going to return. It was unnecessary, but I give the writers props for including it to maintain the small semblance of consistency in these character's lives. As well as all this, the opening intro has added some new characters, including Marco, Libby and Ben.

Without any more delay, here is the recap:

Monday: Susan is diagnosed with a condition that prompts mini-strokes at random intervals. Meanwhile, Bridget testifies in Susan's favour, relieving her jail sentence for hit-and-run. Libby and Ben return to be with Susan, while apparently sporting some hidden agenda? Zeke tries to act. Fails.
Tuesday: Mickey plugs Mario Party 8. Declan and Bridgit go to the movies and eat mints. Some freaks laugh at Bridget's cane and Declan threatens them with excessive collar grabbing. Steph gets the divorce papers from Max. Cool callback. Toadie has some stupid crisis and considers dropping his top-paying lawfirm and becoming a bricklayer...

Wednesday: Declan and Bridget are over before they began. Miranda never shuts up about casserole. She finally patches things up with Susan, after days and days of guilt casserole bribery. Janae acts well, but constantly seems out of place. Ned is the biggest fuck ever. Kirsten is back. Steph thinks that Fitzy is in love with her and goes all retarded like some stupid retarded bitch.
Thursday: Ringo and Rachel break up over Ringo's eating disorder. Ringo calls the waahmbulance. But when one couple ends, another begins. Elle and Riley camp by some barn in an effort to save some neglected horses. They kiss, but not before some evil farmer goes Wolf Creek on their asses. Damien Leith offered a pointless, awkward cameo for reasons currently unknown.Friday: Everyone is still in a state of shock from the pointless Damien Leith cameo. Oh wait, that's just me. Elle and Riley escape the clutches of the evil farmer. Rachel and Ringo get back together. That bitch whose name I don't remember gets all jealous and PO'd. So she sends Rachel a convicting photo. Elle and Riley act like thirteen year olds, and Elle is paid a visit by the evil farmer. He explains a sob story and pleads his innocence. The waahmbulance is called.

Next week promises to explain Libby's darkest secrets. But knowing Neighbours, you'll barely even realise that the secrets have been revealed, they are always so underplayed. Darren is set to return to the show very soon, so there is at least that to look forward to.
See you next week.

Oh Hollywood...: Justin Chatwin IS Goku!

In perhaps the shittest casting news of the week... Justin Chatwin has just been cast as Goku, the lead protagonist in the live action adaptation of Dragon Ball Z. Don't know who Mr. Chatwin is? You may remember him as Tom Cruise's son in 2005's War of the Worlds, where he famously ran away from his family in the direction the killer aliens slaughtering mankind.

Meanwhile, James Marsters will play the villain, Picollo. James Wong of Final Destination fame is directing, and Stephen Chow is producing.

Not being a fan of the franchise at all, my disappointment is somewhat limited to my total lack of caring. In any event, it's shaping up to be another one of those uber-expensive movies that studios shape their entire year's schedule around, but in the end only provide a really ordinary junkfest. yay.

Better buy some hair gel, Justin.

Australian EPG finally announced.

God, I've been waiting for this for ages. To be able to surf through seven days of programming for any channel is exactly what I've been craving. This will solve many a scheduling issue.

Seven, Nine, Ten, NBN and Prime have agreed to supply their programming plans to be displayed electronically via digital set top boxes across the country. This in turn means that I, and others just like me, can do away with ratty TV guides, inconvenient online .pdf reports and the clunky online TV guides.

The announcement comes into effect on the following dates:

Nine: Monday, 19th November.
NBN: Monday, 19th November.
Prime: Monday, 19th November.
Ten: Monday, 19th November.
Southern Cross: Monday, 26th November.
Seven: Tuesday, 1st January.

ABC, SBS and WIN are already providing data to the system.

30 Rock finds its way to Aus.

The show is two years old, but that's no big deal for Channel Seven. Because it's that time of year where networks are able to fuck over potential audiences without a care for losing face or rep value. It's a time where they can relax and stop making excuses for their mismanagement issues.

30 Rock is far from my most anticipated upcoming show, but I reckon I'd watch it to some capacity. I really dislike Tina Fey, but the guest stars that have been attracted to show really intrigue me. I treat unfunny comedy series as some sort of paradoxical phenomenon. They remind me of an eclipse; nothing is really happening and there are absolutely no consequences, but it is fascinating to witness all the same.

30 Rock will debut over the summer on the Seven Network.

Idol Debrief: Carl is discarded.

Verdict: I was close, but still wrong. Matt Corby won out by 4% of votes (apparently) and acts as if he didn't expect it. Natalie sat adjacent on the couch, crying and hoping Matt wouldn't get through. Sorta like me. Sans crying.
Matt has become very smug over the weeks, with the last few making it even more clear. He fully expects to win and is taking the 'you're the best in the comp' praise as if Kyle Sandiland's is a professor of exact science. Every time a judge heaps compliments at him (which happens around once per thirty second interval) he smiles and nods in a "Duh, I know this. I have ears and eyes, Marcia. Oh and by the way, bitch. I thought my version of Music of Night was way better than your Everybody Hurts rendition. Move over grandma, I surpass your old, diva ass.' way

In the end, Matt has talent. But I wouldn't say he was likable enough to be somebody I could care about. Natalie is the underdog here, and underdogs usually win in Idol. I'm going against the universe on this one, I think Natalie should and will win Idol.

My predictions were dashed, but seeing the back of Mr. Carl Risely and his gimmicky fucking performances makes this week bittersweet.

F/X secures Damages second and third season.

I have been worrying that a few of my favourite shows were dangling by ever-fraying pieces of string over a fire-pit due to disappointing audience shares. Most of all, I was frightened by the fate of Damages, FX's legal serial drama.
I can worry no more since Damages has been asked to stick around for at least two more years.

While being monumentally overlooked thanks to Nine's downward-spiralling programming staff, Damages has been my favourite new show of 2007 thanks to its complex narrative and consistency. The 13 ep first season has almost concluded here with just three episodes to go. The two season signing spells a further 26 episodes for the series.

Damages' prospect look golden, as the Emmys would be insane to overlook the performances and technical aspects involved. Here's hoping the second season retains the high quality and finds a wider audience in 2008 (if it even gets played).

Glenn Close, Rose Byrne and Tate Donovan have been confirmed as returning regulars.

Predict Idol - Week 10

The final three is always a tough one. Every performer has an established fanbase at this late stage, so it's really a shot in the dark. Anyone who is voting solely on last night's performance is either lying or new to the show. And anyone who says they're new to the show is probably lying anyway.


The favourite to win Idol, by far, is Matt Corby. Christ, Kyle says it enough. So that is where I think the real meat is. The public's anticipation is NEVER fully realised. If we take precedent from past seasons and analyse therefrom, Dean Geyer was also the popular favourite to don the Idol title until he was booted from the final three. An implosion of shock and tears shook the soundstage, remember?
However, Matt Corby has more talent. Dean Geyer was just some guy that got a touchdown for doing a backflip one time. And that's what makes it so hard to predict if Matt will go. On the one hand, he's competent. On the other, he's too obvious.

In any matter, I've always predicted Matt to get voted out at this stage, so I'm sticking with my instincts.

Who I think will go: Matt Corby.
Most likely to go: Natalie Gauchi.
Who I think will win: Carl Risely.
Most likely to win: Matt Corby.

Beckham invades Australian screens.

What the hell is this all about? The networks must know something is up; their skin must be chilled with the calm before the storm. Ears to the ground like a Native American tribesman, they can sense a stampede. The next month is being stuffed with Beckham related fluff for both apparent and non-apparent reasons, calling into question; who and where is the market for this?

I'm no public consensus, nor am I a fan of Beckham, his sport, his wife or the great many side projects he is involved in. But does this line-up sound appealing to anyone?

Beckham - Tuesday, 20th November. ABC TV
David Beckham - Thursday, 22nd November. SBS
David Beckham Interview - Tuesday, 27th November. Ten
LA Galaxy v Sydney FC - Tuesday, 27th November. Ten
David Beckham: New Beginnings - Tuesday, 4th December. UKTV

...

I hate market trends.

First Post!

Greetings and welcome to Dystopia in High-Def, an exciting little project I'm embarking on to cope with having a lot to say with no voice to say it. My name is Ryan Gillies and my interests lie in multimedia; production, distribution and reception. I am currently studying Bachelor of Communications at university and am majoring in Media Production.

My thoughts on contemporary Australian media is as follows: the media is a decomposing entity; a wasteland whose very air is corrosive to all that inhabit it; a dystopia. I will stress, however: This blog is NOT the solution, nor will I ever claim it to be. My opinions, no matter how much sense they may make, are in no way intended to represent anything other than a good whine.

DiHD is a media commentary blog. A concept done to death; but only so because it's usually done right. There are exceptions, who I surely won't name (as I have yet to establish trust in my early and fragile career), but media journalism has the allure of currency and instant relevancy. Simply put, when dealing with the media, there is always something landing in your lap and always something waiting around the corner. Ideas and inspiration are only a button press on a remote away.

I am also a pop culture enthusiast; but by no means a pop culture connoisseur. There is an ambiguous line between the two, for sure, but more than anything it's more of a way of coping with the morality of what I do. And that is: watch a shitload of bad television and purposely put myself on the frontline of lowest-common-denomination. I enjoy it, but I'd like to think I enjoy it on a separate level than those who enjoy it for what it is.

I like to think this blog represents a modern-day audience: a take the good with the bad approach. Which is a coward's option, no doubt, but nevertheless an interesting angle. So many blogs focus on the cynical angle (trust me, I've tried that a few times), or focus on just the things that appear enticing, but end up boring. The good with the bad approach eliminates filtering and distortion of content, and hopefully I'll be able to mimic the entertainment industry itself in creating a mundane stream of tired, self-congratulatory morsels of commentary for quick and easy consumption. Depending on how much effort I put in.

I can't wait until I get some readership. I mean, A reader.