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Entertainment

Top Gear Australia’s 2024 revival has arrived on 10 after all – a few months from its original screening on Paramount +

by Sports Benches

We thought this latest Top Gear Australia revival by Network 10’s paid streaming service Paramount + wouldn’t get a second free-to-air window as last said earlier this yea,  but it’s now on the main free-to-air channel after all as just premiered tonight – a months later from its original first-run Paramount + screening (May). It remains to be seen if TGA will be given on-demand access on 10 Play for those who didn’t get to watch this tonight.

The only difference 10 viewers will get on Top Gear Australia is a series of commercial breaks in each episode that goes up to 90 minutes, which is the same length we get from the original UK Top Gear episodes as it was before when these UK episodes last aired on Nine.

Everything else you will see isn’t that much with dedicated motoring redhead like Blair “Moog” Joscelyne reviewing performance-road cars in a similar way Chris Harris does for the UK show. 

Alongside him is a former professional athlete & an entertainer competing in challenges with Moog alongside Beau Ryan and Jonathan LaPaglia much like how the UK last had former England all-round cricketer Andrew Flintoff & comedian/presenter Paddy McGuiness.

Also, the car they use when they bring in celebrity guests to drive around the race track is the Subaru BRZ compact sports car coupe whose identical twin Toyota 86 was last used on the UK show. And lastly, don’t know where that new race track is as it’s not the Camden Airport airfield that the original Top Gear Australia version used on SBS (Season 1 & 2) and later Nine (Seasons 3 & 4) a long time ago. But what we do know that this latest studio building is filmed in Sydney’s Cockatoo Island.

Fingers crossed to see what the ratings will be like on 10 as we don’t know if Top Gear Australia will be back for 2025.  

Yes, the original UK show is currently not on air with Season 34 already cancelled midway through production following Freddie Flintoff’s freak crash two years ago. However, it looks like they had run its course unfortunately as this show no longer has the same popularity they once had before when Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond and James May left back in 2015-16. The show’s website may still live on but time will tell if TGA has unfinished business that would reflect well on Paramount +’s investment via 10. 

In the meantime, October has been living large with these first-run streaming shows now popping up on free-to-air – with Nine currently showing Bali 2002 (two episodes done with Episode 3 to come on Monday) & Ten doing the same with Top Gear Australia (1 done with 7 weeks to go).

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Thoughts on ABC Network making late changes to their Monday prime-time and Wednesday 10pm Fall line-up with more MNF & everything else will be aired mid-season

by Sports Benches

Looks like ABC has made some immediate changes to their Monday and Wednesday prime-time line up with more Monday Night Football simulcasts alongside ESPN & everything else including its previously announced Monday night game show slate (Celebrity Wheel of Fortune – Pat Sajak’s last season as host & Press Your Luck) will be postponed to early 2025.

So does that docuseries Scamanda (based on last year’s podcast), even though it was originally set to premiere next week (Wednesdays 10pm). Instead, viewers will see another ABC News program called What Would You Do? – which is currently a social experiment program where each scenario is done behind a hidden camera with paid actors/actresses.

And last but not least, still no premiere date for new multi-cam sitcom Shifting Gears led by Tim Allen as well as the revival of Extreme Makeover: Home Edition. Rest assured though that these shows is still expected to turn up at mid-season, so stay tuned over the next 1-2 months before we say goodbye to 2024.

It’s been a bit of a surprise really when ABC had some trouble fitting in their weekly prime-time schedule as of late, particularly a few weeks into the fall cycle right now. Maybe they would want to play it safe by bringing in a another full season of Monday Night Football like they did last year due to the Hollywood strikes when there wasn’t enough scripted programming to air at the time considering its their domain as it once was a long time ago (1970-2005) while management is still trying to figure out which specific content that could be their best bet going into the 2025-26 season.

I guess Grey’s Anatomy or even one of the other Ryan Murphy shows can move there for sure, but then some weeks though is still attached to MNF as ESPN originally agreed with their latest contract extension a few years ago that will go on until at least 2033. So probably Grey’s would be the best fit as if The Good Doctor or other flagship ABC scripted show needs some room to fill late on a Monday night when a brand new 9-1-1 spin-off (not the Lone Star one) will most likely complete a full Thursday line-up alongside 9-1-1 and Doctor Odyssey if ordered into series.

Also on that Scamanda docuseries, again, same bit of surprises after they had their first trailer lately only days before the originally scheduled premiere date. But I guess ABC News have been pretty busy at the same time as well, especially with the US Presidential Election coming up in a few weeks. This is about Amanda Riley faking cancer before she was later caught by police & is currently serving two years out of five-year prison sentence in Jail. 

A lot of ABC News produced content on the main channel usually come out at the mid-season mark anyway, so don’t think Scamanda will suddenly won’t make it into air after all when these true stories deserved to be told to the wider audience.

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Bali 2002 four-part mini TV drama series finally arrived on Nine & 9Now tonight – two years from its original premiere via Stan

by Sports Benches

It’s been two years since the Bali 2002 mini drama series was originally released on Nine’s paid streaming platform Stan & you can still see the 4 x hour-long episodes right now on-demand. In the meantime, the free-to-air airing has finally just arrived on the Nine Network to finish off the Labor Day public holiday – depending on which state you currently live in tonight – when other countries like ITV in the UK and New Zealand’s TVNZ have already aired this for free early last year.

This plot is based on the events from the actual Bali 2002 bombings that affects not just the locals but also the visiting Aussies who stop by as their biggest holiday hot spot every year where 88 visitors unfortunately lost their lives, 22 years ago. 

Not sure if we will get to see some on-demand content on 9Now after this 1st episode at 10pm but 9pm Mondays would now be the time throughout this month (over the next three weeks) if you wish to follow the whole story from start to finish. They also had a huge cast with the likes of Saskia Archer, Sophia Forrest (the daughter of Andrew Forrest), Claudia Jessie, William Lodder, Rachel Griffiths, Richard Roxburgh and Sean Keenan. 

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Thoughts on ABC considering a new 9-1-1 spin-off to complete a whole Thursday night line-up full of Ryan Murphy and what does it mean for Grey’s Anatomy?

by Sports Benches

It’s been a huge week in the office at Disney and ABC that began with the demise of ABC’s studio arm ABC Signature which was merged with 20th Television the other day & now they’re set to give more air time to Ryan Murphy, who currently has 9-1-1 & the new Doctor Odyssey drama going on between 8-10pm Thursdays, with the possibility of a new 9-1-1 spin off going into the 25/26 season.

Now it won’t be 9-1-1 Lone Star from Austin, Texas in which Murphy chose to run its course after five seasons on Fox, even though the main franchise did make its move to ABC earlier this year that began with Season 7.

However, he could look at Las Vegas with a script already written as the next 9-1-1 spin-off destination where we could see more emergency responses to places they’ve got on offer. All of this in the early development stages right now but considering how much air time Disney is buying off him that extends to FX, it wouldn’t be a surprise if that new 9-1-1 show would make it on ABC without the need of a pilot. Although they can go make a 9-1-1 episode with a backdoor pilot on it by introducing the cast from that new show; but again, too early to tell unless ABC has given them the all clear.

If that 9-1-1 spin-off did make it to ABC next Fall, it would definitely be on Thursday night to complete a full night of Ryan Murphy shows (9-1-1, 9-1-1 new spin-off and Doctor Odyssey). With Doctor Odyssey, the ratings and feedback may be been up and down as seen during the pilot episode unlike the network’s other new drama High Potential. But then his shows usually have a slow and steady following when it comes to the plot/storyline, so don’t think Doctor Odyssey would be heading out the door that fast unless ABC says so after 9-10 episodes (probably enough to finish Season 1 since a few others will take over at mid-season).

So what does it mean for Grey’s Anatomy? If they stay on for Season 22, they will get a whole new studio production control under 20th Television rather than Touchstone/ABC Studios/ABC Signature after two long decades. Would we see them move to another night if Ryan Murphy took over whole of Thursdays? It depends. Maybe they could go back to Sunday nights where it all began for the first two seasons before being a huge mainstay for Thursdays for many years.

If not, they might as well begin from mid-season like we currently see with Family Guy from FOX who usually begin their seasons right from the start of Fall but this upcoming season though will see them begin around January to February 2025.

So there’s a possibility Grey’s could either get another shortened season or else move back to Sundays or even another earlier weekday time slot (see Dancing With the Stars when they were on Mondays for a long time but now on Tuesdays) unless Doctor Odyssey flops and then gets the axe to keep their Thursday time slot – that’s the bottom line.

Hoping Grey’s can stay on as long as they can possibly can, having been a fan of the long-running medical drama every now and then. For now, looks like Ryan Murphy’s relationship with Disney is growing even further – this time with ABC to build a strong Thursday line-up that their viewers can enjoy and stay up between 8-11pm before 30 mins of local news time. 

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Thoughts on ABC Signature now becoming 20th Television as of today

by Sports Benches

Today we saw a huge change within ABC and Disney having recently found out that they won’t change the ABC Signature logo & its on-air ident — despite wearing the current on-air bug since its last update for a few years now. Instead, ABC Signature will now be merged under 20th Television effective immediately to kickstart the new month of October.

So will we continue to see tonight’s episode of High Potential and Jimmy Kimmel Live as well as Thursday’s nights episode of Grey’s Anatomy and also future episodes of The Rookie in early 2025 being an ABC Signature production? 

Don’t know but I assume probably that will continue at least during the short term until the end of their respective contracted season in around May 2025, so that would be yes. Then depending on their series renewal for 2025-26, we will definitely see those shows being relocated under 20th TV’s production but it will still be on ABC.

Not everyone will notice about the on-screen changes very quickly since this season’s ABC Signature slate of scripted/unscripted shows have either already been wrapped up or currently midway through production.

Yeah, no surprise to see this coming when ABC Signature chose not to get their logo/on-air ident updated despite the network’s logo change a few years ago. However, we know the Fox-Disney merger was of course behind this when it comes to the studio production side of things. Now this makes sense for ABC Signature to farewell after a decades-long run (that began with Touchstone TV followed by ABC Studios and then ABC Signature over these past few years) by joining sister subsidiary 20th Television that will make one studio arm a whole lot bigger & also effective all under the one roof. Also sending out thoughts to some staff impacted by the merger with some leaving while some will get new roles at 20th TV.

What’s next now? Shutting down/selling up Freeform – one of Disney’s basic cable general entertainment channels. The only things they’re doing right now is having a bunch of reality stuff on air alongside some syndicated repeats and some annual year TV show or movie themed marathons other than having to fulfil a lifelong content agreement with The 700 Club after they ran out all of their own scripted programming earlier this year. 

Not even While You Were Breeding would count when they weren’t there on any of their recent schedules when Freeform decided not to put them on the air one year ago despite wrapping up production. They said that they no longer fit network programming strategy for comedy or other original scripted slate at any kind but then the issue were more like Freeform being on its last legs as a network. 

We still haven’t heard back or what will happen with Freeform’s two in-development projects though like horror drama Night’s Edge and a High School teen drama Rush. I guess they might be Hulu or FX/FXX projects after all should Freeform be the next to go from now.

This is something to keep an eye on over the next coming months or sometime in 2025 with more and more paying TV subscribers tuning in from their devices like Netflix, Disney + & Max.

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Grey’s Anatomy Season 21, Episode 1 “If Walls Could Talk”

by Admin

Grey’s Anatomy has returned with its 21st season. The longest medical drama in history just breaks ground on another round of medical crisis laced with emotional ruminations, hospital politics, and interpersonal drama. 

The premiere episode is directed by longtime guest player Debbie Allen. We pick up where the last season left off. Our anchor characters, Meredith Grey (Ellen Pompeo) and Bailey (Chandra Wilson), are out of their jobs at Grey Sloan Memorial after being sacked by Catherine Fox (Debbie Allen) – Mer over her illegal research, Bailey after coming to her intern’s defense. 

With such massive changes in the hospital, the doctors must keep going. The premiere episode sees the usual retinue of dramatic patients: protester falling off the sky into the windshield of a car driven by a minor, an injured radical activist crawling through the vent to evade police. It’s just another day at Grey Sloan Memorial. 

No longer the chief at Grey Sloan, Bailey tries to play it cool and busy herself at her clinic, but she cannot help it when her former residents come calling for aid. Meanwhile, Mer is in legal trouble with Catherine for her unauthorized Alzheimer’s research. Jackson Avery (returning fan favorite Jesse Williams) comes back to mediate the situation, but by now we already know these ladies ain’t gonna make it easy. 

Things take a surprising turn when Meredith finds Catherine collapsed at her office. It turns out that she has a spinal tumor and warns Mer against telling Jackson and Richard Webber (James Pickens Jr).

Soapy drama is always at the center of Grey’s Anatomy. And it continues to deliver exactly that for its loyal audiences. The novelty has worn off a long time ago (probably around the time they got Lexie Grey killed while trapped under an airplane), but the show consistently knows what audiences want from it. As usual, the hot blooded young interns serve up the relationship drama. This season, we have Mika Yasuda (Midori Francis) and Jules Millin (Adelaide Kane)’s budding romance, while Simone Griffith (Alexis Floyd) faces uncertainty as Lucas Adams (Niko Terho) must make the choice between leaving or staying to repeat his first year. These storylines do not have quite the same bite as the heydays of MerDer or the Alex-Izzie-George love triangle, but they remain on brand: push and pull chemistry, denial, misdirection, sexual tension. 

At this point, Grey’s has an established playbook that people will latch on to for as long as possible. The banters remain heated, the music remains stirring, the scenario as loopy but heartwarmingly wrapped as always. It does feel same old, same old, but Grey’s Anatomy is an establishment now – people tune in out of habit. Those yearning for some spice might no longer be satiated, but as long as the formula sticks, it’s a comfort food that people keep coming back to.  

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Looking back at the debut of Doctor Odyssey on ABC starring Joshua Jackson, Phillipa Soo, Sean Teale & Don Johnson on a cruise ship

by Sports Benches

Following High Potential last week, Dr. Odyssey had their turn on the biggest stage as the next newest ABC drama to arrive earlier today. The next future ABC dramas will have to wait until sometime next year or in 12 months time depending on other series renewals since Will Trent & The Rookie will take over mid-season.

Now it’s been quite a long introduction from the start, but at least there was a bit of fun like that breakdancing scene & Joshua Jackson’s Max love interest with Phillipa Soo’s Avery right in between rescuing a bunch of patients around this cruise ship. Speaking of that breakdancing scene, didn’t know Rachel Dratch – who portrayed Rachel Gunn aka Raygun (Aussie Olympic breakdancer who competed in last month’s Paris 2024) on Jimmy Fallon’s late night talk show last month – was actually there as one of the guest stars in this pilot episode. 

But then she played in a totally different scene though as the wife of that patient whose husband got hit in the neck after she came off the slide at the pool. Glad he’s okay though thanks to Max & his small medical team as sure they had one hell of blast & will of course be back with more fun surprises on deck next time.

Other than that, things will have to take time with a couple more episodes before Season 1 is done (probably until the end of this year) where the feedback of this episode plot here has been mixed of both good and bad compared to High Potential’s debut which received lots of good reviews.

Remember this is a straight-to-series order thanks to the creators of 9-1-1’s Ryan Murphy following 9-1-1’s successful move to ABC during its shortened prime-time TV season earlier this year when most of 2023 were held up for the most part due to the writers’ and actors’ strikes & ABC thought Dr. Odyssey would be the perfect replacement for the departed Station 19.

Yes, episode 2 called “Singles Week” is set to spice things up next Thursday at 9pm but will this be enough though to warrant a Season 2 renewal? We shall wait and see as this is bit like a reality show but full of scripted cast and storylines with no host.

Other than that, it’s great to see Joshua back on-screen whose character is great against all odds. So does Sean Teale who shares a mix of humor and in-action rivalry alongside Jackson’s character as the third wheel (Tristan Silva) to both Jackson and Soo’s IT on-air couple with Don Johnson (Captain Robert Massey) getting to steer this cruise ship even in the toughest of circumstances.

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Looking back at the season 33 premiere of ABC and Disney +’s Dancing With The Stars the other day & what you need to know for those tuning in outside of the USA & Canada

by Sports Benches

Didn’t know the season 33 premiere of Dancing With The Stars unexpectedly appeared as a full show episode on one of the unofficial YouTube channels the other day where everyone including myself were finally able to watch it for those living outside USA & Canada. Gotta say it’s about time having watched several bunch of Australia’s own DWTS before but this US DWTS sets the standard better that is unmatched than any other dancing show. 

It’s been a spectacular start by the way with the likes of USA Rugby 7s women’s star IIona Maher & actor Eric Roberts (sister of Julia Roberts) as one of the contestants alongside professional dance partners Alan Bernstein and Britt Stewart respectively with AFV’s Alfonso Ribiero & Julianne Hough (co-hosts) steering the ship as always. I know Roberts from that 2011 ABC dance drama pilot called Grace which is available to view on YouTube while Maher has won many hearts of including the Rugby world following her team’s bronze medal win at Paris 2024 a few weeks ago over Charlotte Caslick’s Aussie 7s team.

Sure, the performances by Maher and Roberts may not the best they would’ve liked but at least both did their best (Maher 8th & Roberts 13th/last) when many others went on to top the leaderboard. Although next week’s Episode is going to be huge where the bottom two performing couple contestants will have bow out the ballroom that could spice things up as the weeks go by until at least the end of November. 

For those who want to see what the DWTS is like as a full-length episode, go to YouTube while you can before the creator is going to take it down before anyone notices it without getting caught with a strike warning, etc. Here’s hoping ABC Network management can put this up as a full-show episode of each one one day after the original airing is over on their official DWTS YouTube channel like they do for their news department such as Good Morning America, The View and World News Tonight with David Muir,

As someone who has been regularly tuning in to General Hospital on YouTube for a few years now, here’s also hoping ABC can do the same by making this available (same day episodes) to everyone outside US & Canada on their official GH YouTube channel as well – since almost no TV station back in Australia wants it much like a few other original ABC US shows – despite seeing all other US soaps legally available at least through 10 & 10 Play online. Although it seems they’re currently doing this on Facebook but only for the last five minute parts of each episode on weekdays (or Tuesday-Saturday from our end).

And for those who want to get more of DWTS, you can look out for each couple contestants’ dance performances a few times during each mid-week episodes that will come out as individual clips. That’s the only best bet you can do as an overseas DWTS fan/viewer & for those living in US/Canada, you can look back the season premiere episode at anytime on Hulu & Disney + with episode two next Tuesday between 8-10pm ET on ABC & Disney +.

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US’s version of the original hit Haut Potentiel Intellectuel French drama High Potential finally made it to ABC & Hulu last night with more episdoes to come on Tuesday nights

by Sports Benches

The US version of the original French hit crime-comedy drama Haut Potentiel Intellectuel has finally made it on the big ABC last night called High Potential when the series was first ordered 18 months ago and then the writers’ and actors’ strikes have put them on hold until the start of this 2024/25 TV season. But glad to hear the feedback turned out to be really good by their audience with little to no negativity so far across social media that should really translate into their season’s ratings success right from the word go ahead of episode 2 next Tuesday straight after Dancing With the Stars at 10pm ET/PT.

High Potential is led by Kaitlin Olson as Morgan Gillory alongside Daniel Sunjata as Adam Karadec (good to see US’s HPI put his first name on it rather than being just known as Karadec) including Javicia Leslie (Daphne), Judy Reyes (Selena) as well as Garret Dillahunt (Melon) & Taran Killam (Ludo Radovic) – such a strong cast to pull off likewise with the French show.

Some of the setting we saw there for the pilot episode does look like the one we first saw on social media from 18 months ago when ABC was putting them in pilot mode against several other dramas like Judgement, The Hurt Unit & even a Good Doctor spin-off called The Good Lawyer.

Although the pilot filming location was in Vancouver, Canada at the time before US’s HPI relocated its set to LA’s Fox Studios earlier this year since they’re allowed to film more episodes that covers season one (think it’s 10 episodes for fall). 

However, what we do really know is that US needs someone who can be like Morgan the mom of three & an unconventional crime solver from sweeping floors — and yet High Potential didn’t disappoint anyone so far along the way as we shall see how this ends up between now and the end of this year. 

We can also think HPI (first half season) and The Rookie (second half season) are going to be a great match to pass over the baton or even air alongside each other at some point that can power up some crime-solving fun on Tuesday nights if High Potential gets renewed for season 2 & The Rookie gets to stay on for a possible 8th season ahead of the 2025/26 season.

We can even see some comparisons there when it comes to pitting US’s HPI v The Mentalist (CBS) that ran from 2008-15, one of ABC’s former shows in Castle from 2009-16, Sherlock Holmes’s inspired Elementary (CBS) between 2012-19 & don’t forget Bones (FOX) too from 2005-17. All of those shows had great success that ran for a few great years before they ended things at the right time and no doubt High Potential can follow this path without any bad reason at all following their debut on-air pilot episode.

Congrats to the behind the scenes crew like Drew Goddard & its creators on the original HPI show on making this happen that wowed ABC management while it’s great seeing some actors/actresses back on TV after all this time when a few others from other failed pilots that didn’t make it had to move on as you never know what could happen in the TV business. If you want to give US’s HPI a shot then why not head over to Hulu & all you need is a subscription to start watching at any time. Sure the same will apply with Disney + (can’t find a release date there just yet) for those outside the US/Canada.

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Thoughts on ABC looking further into multi-cam comedies with Sisters-In-Law next in line under development earlier today

by Sports Benches

Here’s another new ABC multi-camera comedy proposal they’ve just struck earlier today thanks to a deal with Ellen Kreamer & Sherry Bilsing Graham (who were both part of The New Adventures of Old Christine executive producing crew that ran for five seasons between 2006-10 on CBS) as well as its Disney subsidiary A & E Studios (even though they mainly focus on dramas & it’s their first deal for comedy by the way), which is currently in development called “Sisters-In-Law”.

The plot is about is two sister in laws who initially struggle to get along together, finally get along together but probably at the wrong time when a third sister in-law comes into play. Both Kreamer & Bilsing Graham will be attached as executive producers alongside A & E’s duo of Barry Jossen & Tana Nugent Jamison. Interesting as no surprise there from ABC considering their push into bringing more affordable half-hour comedies that makes sense in front of a studio audience rather than go with single-camera sitcoms like it was for most of the last decade. So far there’s no word whether Sisters In Law will get a pilot presentation, a straight-to-series order or even quietly not proceed at all like we’ve found out with “Pine Valley” the other day (although an All My Children revival isn’t dead after all rumoured to be a TV movie series by Lifetime). 

But fingers crossed to see where this “Sisters-In-Law” project will land within 6-12 months time as per usual year-long development formula that the network is relying on these days rather than being drawn into a yearly Pilot Season competition while we do know Tim Allen’s new sitcom Shifting Gears will definitely be up & running early next year during the mid-season.

And having seen ABC won the rights to this project following stiff competition from their network rivals like CBS & NBC, let’s hope they can treat this well if they do at least want “Sisters-In-Law” to go straight into air and not throw them under the bus like they did to Avalon two years ago (also a previous A & E Studios project involving Jossen and Nugent Jamison under an initial under a straight-to-series order but was later rejected unfortunately after management watched the pilot copy).

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