Which was better INXS or Schapelle

Channel 7's INXS Never Tear Us Apart v Channel 9's Schapelle. Which was better?

And in a race to win the ratings, Channel 9 decided to bring forward Schapelle by one day. What. A. Mistake. It would've been more relevant and made more sense to play the telemovie on Schapelle Corby's first night on parole. Instead Nine opted for a ratings war.

Channel 9's had nine years to make a telemovie and what a coincidence Deidre Chambers. They just happen to have produced a show ready for the surprise release of Corby. Is that not weird to you? And check out the dead ringers for

The cast of Seven's INXS Never Tear Us Apart
Image: smh.com.au

The actress playing Schapelle Corby.
Image: smh.com.au

Here at Media Muncher we were flicking between Seven and Nine. INXS ended first so we got to see the last ten minutes uninterrupted of Schapelle which proved important because the script blamed her father and a friend for the drug smuggling. Interesting.

Both shows weren't officially endorsed by either party as 100 per cent true accounts.

The music made INXS Never Tear Us Apart whereas we felt emotional watching Schapelle given the timing of her parole.

Part two of INXS concludes next Sunday. Schapelle was a one off telemovie.

Finally a shoe change

Anna Gare finally changed her shoes after wearing the same red wedges for the past month! Last night she wore blue wedges instead on Channel Nine's The Great Australian Bake Off.

It's funny how viewers can pick up on the smallest of fleeting details isn't it?!

2 Broke Girls disappear after 2 episodes

You can't just start playing the new series of 2 Broke Girls and then stop after two weeks without any explanation.

Stars of 2 Broke Girls: Kat Dennings and Beth Behrs.

Channel 9 is treating viewers with disrespect. It was bad enough that Nine chose to play a repeat of The Big Bang Theory at 9.30pm over a new 2 Broke Girls episode which aired at 10pm.

It's understandable if reruns of The Big Bang Theory rate higher but it's just silly not to give new shows precedence.

Why not put new episodes of 2 Broke Girls on GO! Channel in a permanent timeslot?

Mockumentary baking our screens

The filming and camera angles on Channel 9's The Great Australian Bake Off are creating a mockumentary vibe to the show. Just saying.

Overbaked advertising

Channel Nine has really overdone it.

All year there's been the same package advertising The Great Australian Bake Off with the debut date a complete mystery.

Why is Nine having trouble committing to a date? Here's hoping viewers won't have as much trouble committing to regular viewing.

Digital summer

Australian summer television will be interesting this year with the recent addition of multiple new free-to-air digital channels. Will we be bored or will there be some bearable repeats to watch of sitcoms and movies we've watched dozens of times already? It's definetely exciting now with 7mate, 7TWO, GEM and GO! in the picture for the upcoming summer.

A Current Affair weather update

For the past few weeks Channel Nine's A Current Affair has integrated Australia's weather forecast into the program. The weather flyaround is played after the last lot of advertisements is over. Pop music always plays in the background of the animated weather map without a weather presenter or a voice-over. It's just tacky and ACA need to abandon the idea. Showing the weather interrupts the flow of the program and isn't even necessary to play. The sooner ACA ditches the weather flyaround the better.

In the credits for the Channel Nine cooking show Alive and Cooking it says they use Wikipedia as a "fact reference". Don't get me wrong, I love Wikipedia but it's a joke to use it for a proper reference. Doesn't Alive and Cooking know that anyone can contribute "credible" information on the free encyclopaedia? If they didn't admit to using Wikipedia then we could believe "facts" learnt on the show.

Cooking or news: time to decide Channel Nine

What happened to Nine Morning News at 11am for Adelaide viewers today? Despite the usual news updates with Wendy Kingston throughout Mornings with Kerri-Anne, a repeat of cooking show Alive and Cooking was aired followed by a new talk show Daily. Alive and Cooking normally airs at 3pm in Adelaide and we've been watching repeats for weeks now.

Turns out Channel Nine decided to play a new episode of Entertainment Tonight at 3pm as they do in the eastern states. While that was a refreshing change, some notice would be nice in the TV Guide. Who knows how long this programming will last, a few weeks then back to normal?

There's nothing wrong with the Nine news hour at eleven. In fact, the worst thing Nine did was ax the cooking show Fresh Cooking with the Australian Women's Weekly. Had they known Australians would fall in love with the cooking phenomenon that is MasterChef, perhaps they would've kept Fresh at 11.30am.

Australian election TV coverage

Today more than 14 million Australian's voted for a new Prime Minister.

But at 11:50pm, we still don't know if Julia Gillard or Tony Abbott will lead Australia.

Julia Gillard, left. Tony Abbott, right. (Images from APH website)

Every Australian channel on free-to-air television deployed their top journos and presenters to cover the election. It was impossible to watch all channels at one time, so I did my best channel surfing.

From what I saw, SBS and Channel 10's main base was in their news studio. SBS's scrolling writing at the bottom of the screen was so fast it made my eyes dizzy. Every time I flicked to Channel 10, they were in their news studio with the same blue background as their news programs which was boring. Other channels made an effort to change their set, maybe I flicked to 10 at the wrong time?

Channel 9 had roving reporters like Allison Langdon who showed us behind the scenes of the manual tally board which was interesting. But it was a shame 9 didn't have former Howard government treasurer Peter Costello as a panellist on the whole time as he was enjoyable to watch (given the last election drama.)

ABC offered in-depth commentary from professionals as expected but Channel 7 had the best panel of experts for the duration of their coverage. They had the most relevant and recognisable people like former John Howard government foreign minister Alexander Downer, former Democrats Party leader Natasha Stott Despoja and former opposition leader Malcolm Turnbull.

The stand out fashion ensemble went to Channel 7's Melissa Doyle. The nude top she wore under her white jacket made her look like she wasn't wearing a top under the suit jacket. I was initially so distracted trying to figure out what was going on with her top that I didn't notice the election news. For the record, the top sat high on her collar bone.

Above: The outfit in question. (Image: Still photo from YouTube video)

Interestingly, I noticed that only the commercial TV stations 7, 9 and 10 had a seats-to-win tally permanently on screen. This was such a practical graphic as aside from all the political jargon, all you needed to understand was the number of seats needed for Liberal or Labor to had win. But we're still waiting!

versus

Australia's next PM?: Athletic Abbott or cover girl Gillard?
(Image from news.com.au) (Image from news.com.au)

Who's this guy!?
What a Google Images search gives you, (old PM Kevin Rudd with Gillard's hair!)

Not again GO

Tsk tsk tsk GO! channel, you've let me down again. I do love your shows you play but can't you just stick to the advertised time slot? You told me all week to watch the classic film Dirty Dancing on Thursday at 9.30pm but when I get ready to watch it you hit me up with more episodes of The Big Bang Theory. I've already seen the Big Bang on Channel 9 and they were great and no I don't want to watch four more back-to-back episodes again.