TV3 reveals Autumn Schedule - Oh dear...

ixoy

From the Indo:

TV3 IS promising to excite viewers this autumn with a cocktail of homegrown shows, new dramas and blockbuster films.

In its new season of programming, political correspondent Ursula Halligan is set to front a new show, The Political Party, filling the gap after David McWillliams's Agenda was cut from the schedule.

This half-hour Sunday programme will concentrate on the movers and shakers on the Irish political landscape. Ursula has promised to turn up the heat on political life by teasing out what really happens in the halls of Leinster House.

Hmm... I don't know what she's like but Agenda was pretty much the only home-produced TV3 program that they did right. Could be worth a look in.

Sunday night movie premieres remain a prominent part of the schedule. Among the box office hits expected for the coming season are Oceans 11, Vanilla Sky, Zoolander, and Shallow Hal.

Seen them all. Nothing particularly interesting there and its going for the mass market appeal rather than anything more esoteric.

Autumn on TV3 will also see a healthy serving of reality TV in I'm a Celebrity Get Me Out of Here, and American Idol. The popular Bad Girls, Teachers, Footballer's Wives, and Ultimate Force will return for another season's viewing.

Now here's where I frown. A healthy serving of reality TV? A healthy servy, one that doesn't give me mental indigestion, is none at all. Instead we get a plethora of this cheaply-produced, LCD pap.
Their returning programs are ones I never watched - bar Teachers - and mostly just taken from their parent company's TV stock. Nothing interesting there either for myself.

TV3 has commissioned a number of documentaries for this autumn, including MacIntyre's Underworld where Irish undercover journalist Donal MacIntyre goes deep inside some of Britain's most notorious criminal gangs. The State of the Nation Sex Survey shows how the young Irish really regard sex and morality.

OK these have potential. The State of the Nation Sex Survey might be good if it's not patronisingly done, addresses valid issues, and isn't full of people giggling. I'm not sure if this is a commissioned survey or a phone in farce (if its the latter then forget all I said and shoot the producers).

There will also be the introduction of a range of new series, including the launch of award-winning king of chat Michael Parkinson's new show. Other new series this season include Arrested Development - which has received 7 Emmy nominations - Wonderfalls, and Touching Evil.

Well 'Arrested Development' has already started. What's very f**king cheeky of them is to announce 'Wonderfalls'. Only 13 episodes were ever made - only four of which aire - before this series got cancelled. Why do they keep showing cancelled shows (e.g. 'Odyssey 5') and announcing it like these were great new US shows with long futures? Oh and "Touching Evil" (US) ... guess what? Yep - cancelled. Morons.

For soap addicts, Coronation Street, Heartbeat, Emmerdale - the fastest-growing soap on Irish television - and Will and Grace, all return to Irish screens in the autumn.

Will and Grace is a "comedy". Not in the soap category. Glad to see they know what they're doing.

Ireland AM, which broadcasts live from 7am to 10am every weekday, will continue its mix of news, lifestyle stories, celebrity interviews and fashion in the new season.

For sports enthusiasts, Champions League is back with four hours of non-stop football every Tuesday. This season's panel of pundits include Packie Bonner, Mark Lawrenson, Kevin Moran and John Toshack. Sports Tonight, presented by Trevor Welch, will continue its run every weekday night.

And the popular Go Racing returns to provide racing enthusiasts with an insider's guide to the dramatic and colourful world of horse racing in Ireland.

Rest doesn't interest me. All in all a very poor lineup by TV3. Old shows return and most of the new imports are cheap cancelled efforts. Well done.

jor el

Will and Grace 'returns'! When has it ever been off? That damn crap is one just about every other day it seems. Same goes for all those soaps, they never finish.

As for great movies like Vanilla Sky, now there's a reason to head out on the town on a Sunday night anyway. What a brutal film. I hated it so much that I threw it in the fire after watching it.

Ultimate Force is usually pretty good so I'm looking forward to that. No mention of The Shield in that line up though, pitty.
Never heard of any of those canceled shows so I can't say if I'll watch them or not. Probably not, waiting for SG1 to return to Sky instead.

Morgans

Ursula Halligan expected to present a program. As long as it is filed under comedy and not current affairs it could be successful. The popular Bad Girls. Is this a new program, for the prison based drama stacked with loads of ex-soap "stars" certainly isnt.

Do they still have the power to show Family Guy, which they did do at one stage, only after midnight? Genius.

As long as Emmerdale is on three times a day I'm OK with TV3. Roughly 12 hours a week of the one program is a mighty output.

Stark

The only thing that looks interesting is Teachers and I already have that on DVD (all bar the 3rd season which I'll be getting as soon as it's released).

I ahve heard very good things about Wonderfalls and am glad that tv3 are showing it. Yay.

ixoy

David Lynch wrote:

I ahve heard very good things about Wonderfalls and am glad that tv3 are showing it. Yay.

So have I. Doesn't change the fact that it's a cancelled show and that they must know this. It's a bit bloody cheeky of them to announce that one of their new highlights is a show that they know has no future, regardless of its quality.

Zhane

It all comes down to taste. i mean just cos you dont watch reality tv...doesnt mean no one else does, they wouldnt make it unless someone was watching it. and as for cancelled shows, they are cheap.

Well I see where you are coming from but I'd rather have a quality 13 episode cancelled show than a long running crap show that will take up television for the next few years, y'know?

But still very cheeky

doh.ie

ixoy wrote:

So have I. Doesn't change the fact that it's a cancelled show and that they must know this. It's a bit bloody cheeky of them to announce that one of their new highlights is a show that they know has no future, regardless of its quality.

Wonderfalls is actually highly enjoyable. Described as a more mature version of Joan of Arcadia, but without the conscience. It's just funny and daft. When I first saw the original pilot, I decided I hated it, yet something about it nagged away at me as if there was something redeeming about it. The second pilot was better and neater, though it's the kind of thing you need to see at least two of to get over the ridiculousness of the talking animals.

Since Fox only aired four episodes, and the others "available" are unfinished versions (with uncompleted special FX), it will be nice to see all 13 in full on TV3.

But I do agree it's wrong for it to be promoted as something with some longevity implied. It'll be all over by Christmas and then fade into nothingness as people call or write to TV3 and ask for more. At least with Odyssey 5, it had a fuller run, albeit just a season of 20.

TV3 also have Jack and Bobby (didn't see it in the original list above), which had a wonderful pilot and is talked about as being one of the finer Autumn series in the US. From the makers of Everwood, this could be something decent for TV3 on Saturday or Sunday evenings, the kind of family drama material they are drastically lacking right now. (They really should *not* have let The OC or (the lesser) One Tree Hill go to TG4...)

doh.ie

Zhane wrote:

It all comes down to taste. i mean just cos you dont watch reality tv...doesnt mean no one else does, they wouldnt make it unless someone was watching it. and as for cancelled shows, they are cheap.

I could handle reality TV in droves on TV3 (I'd just watch another channel and avoid TV3 completely) - what grates me on the list above is how many of those will be simulcast with ITV1. Now *that* makes TV3's inclusion of them a friggin' joke.