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Thoughts on General Hospital finally coming back in Australia starting on January 1st 2025 with Network 10 to air episodes online

by Sports Benches

I didn’t know this day would come for General Hospital to air in Australia again and finally they will thanks to Network 10 who will be bringing the episodes to us online on-demand starting on Wednesday January 1st 2025. 

This is a show I personally enjoyed for years and still doing so today every time it comes out up-to-date online like YouTube and Dailymotion, even though the pictures we see may not have the best quality but still better than nothing though.

Yes, when 2025 arrives on January 1st, 10 will be able to make all other previous Season 62 episodes from early September to end of December 2024 available on demand, with new episodes coming in as they go from the original US broadcast. It remains to be seen though whether or not if the new episodes will be a few days old or same day as the original airings from USA (ABC) and Canada (CityTV).

I’m hoping it’s the latter but considering the show hasn’t aired in quite a long time, so maybe a few days old is where 10 will start with minimal risk & if that goes well at some point, then yes! Definitely same day episodes 100%. We’ll wait and see.

Other than that, I’ve been pushing so hard to have GH finally have it aired legally again in Australia where this show still has a knack of great fun while they have a good representation of Australian actors/actresses, as well as other actors/actresses who went on to become Hollywood and Prime-Time stars. 

But remember, GH is not on the same popularity when it comes to International interest & even Australian viewers on the TV alike too compared to Bold and The Beautiful & The Young and The Restless.

Although I probably like to give a shoutout to Neighbours who is still going strong and when they returned on the air last year also thanks to Amazon, love how they quickly formed a great connection with the US viewers and some of the Neighbours cast/staff even went to the Daytime Emmy awards too – not sure it was June this year or the delayed last year one (December).

I’m pretty sure both the network and the country’s strong history of soaps would be the key reason why they would like to try GH, having been content airing first-run episodes of Y & R and Days on 10 Play from earlier this year after the show’s previous contracts with Foxtel via Sony Television Studios & Corday Productions was expired.

Here’s hoping GH will go well this time on 10 online in Australia with the potential of same-day US episodes in the long run soon enough from the minute they air new episodes in 2025. For now, will still be catching up same-day US episodes online as said earlier above. Although if there’s something I want to look back, then definitely will go to 10 Play – another plus we don’t have unlike Canada’s CityTV & ABC’s Hulu at the moment unless you want to look at certain ship couples’ clips of course!

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Thoughts on Project Runway moving to Disney’s Freeform from Bravo next year 

by Sports Benches

Earlier this week, Freeform finally made a major update as it’s nothing to do with their original scripted slate which ran out earlier this year. However, they’ve added yet another reality TV show having kept Project Runway alive from Bravo thanks to a deal struck with Spyglass Media Group (who owns the show’s studio property).

We don’t know when this will be next on air going into Season 21 sometime in 2025 but what we do know that its judges and host will look brand new, so none of them from the Bravo and even Lifetime versions will pop up on Freeform. So does the contestants itself where aspiring fashion designers (both male and female including the fashion models) will also be teen-oriented that will fit best on a cable channel that already has a teen and female dominated audience. 

No surprise there when Freeform is trying to fill up some air time trying to be like the USA Network (although USA recently picked up 1-2 new scripted shows though), but also a surprise too for those who have been watching Project Runway for so long.

Yes, the continued Project Runway show will also show up on Disney + and Hulu which is an also a plus when it comes to on-demand content. But the question still remains as to whether or not if Freeform will last that long as a cable channel when the Bravo (two stints) and the Lifetime versions usually last more than a few years? They’re happy with the seasonal marathon specials like 31 Days of Halloween right now & 25 Days of Christmas as well as the 1-2 weekly syndicated blocks while still having to carry a “lifetime” contract with the 700 Club since Freeform is currently homeowner on a property The 700 Club has built that goes back to the 70s-90s.

But seeing how ABC Signature was morphed into 20th Televlsion at the start of this month with streaming also still on the rise, it would still be no surprise if Disney shuts down or sells off Freeform while paying off 700 the $$$ they want.

Maybe Lifetime should’ve come back in the first place since they’re part of the Disney family thanks to A & E Networks and Hearst, but you never know though as maybe FX or FXX would be the perfect cable channel for all things reality and entertainment, as Project Runway would be a great match for them if Freeform is gone within the next 12 months – keep a close eye on this one.

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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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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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Thoughts on Australian and New Zealand Disney + subscribers now able to watch same-day Grey’s Anatomy episodes ahead of the new Season 21 starting later this month

by Sports Benches

It’s been a long time coming for Grey’s Anatomy fans in Australia when the series was first aired on Seven Network for a number of years back in around 2006-2007 with updated episodes usually several months after the US. Although there wasn’t much hype though over the last decade before they eventually no longer hold any rights of the ABC (USA) flagship prime-time drama as of early 2021. Fortunately, Disney + has picked up the pieces from here where episodes were being a few weeks old in recent seasons and now they will get same-day episodes access as the original US airing including their New Zealand subscribers ahead of Season 21 – which will begin on Thursday 26th September/Friday 27th September here.

Don’t know what time Disney + will drop off these same day Grey’s episode each Friday from this upcoming season (definitely not at the same time as the ABC airing on TV which would be 10pm either side of the US/12pm either side here/2pm either side of NZ), but it’s likely to be around between late afternoon to early evening when the next day on-demand new episodes end up on Hulu as per usual with other ABC scripted prime-time shows.

Sure, times flies so fast with Grey’s over nearly two decades considering the number of high-profile actor/actresses have came here and gone like Patrick Dempsey, Sandra Oh & Katherine Heigl. But it’s still a brilliant and iconic long-running show to watch with Ellen Pompeo still around mainly in a executive producer role alongside some occasional acting as Meredith including Chandra Wilson as Dr. Miranda Bailey and several others like Camilla Luddington (Dr. Jo Wilson), James Pickens Jr. (Richard), Kevin McKidd (Owen) & many more.

So glad to hear that Grey’s Australian fans will be able to catch up the latest from Sloan Grey Memorial Hospital in Seattle & its characters alike without having to wait weeks or even find spoilers online when you can simply wait just hours after the original US airdate/airtime going forward & it’s all yours to watch from home or on the go via Disney +. And wouldn’t it be great if ABC Signature (their studio production) finally updated their on-air ident at the same time of the new Grey’s season premiere with the same ABC on-air logo that was last revamped back in 2021 but they still kept the same branding despite this as we shall find out with ABC’s long-awaited new drama show of High Potential (adapted from France) by mid next week.

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Thoughts on Freeform’s future as a basic cable channel with a bunch of new reality TV rather than scripted content along the way

by Sports Benches

Lots of unscripted stuff coming Freeform’s way over the last 12 months with two new ones being added this week, while some in their current original scripted library, Good Trouble has just finished its book after five seasons & 88 episodes on air & Grown-ish’s 2nd half of the sixth and final season will resume on Wednesdays from the 27th March to May 22nd. Where to go to from here after this? Having reversed their plans to have While You Were Breeding on the air late last year despite having a finished production of all 10 episodes. 

All we know so far over the last two years is that they shot a pilot called AZNBBRL, a teenage drama following three Asian-American girls with a desire to follow their own way rather than their parents. But we haven’t heard much since then & it looks like that won’t be going forward & lots of people would have moved on by now since Freeform went with a different direction over time, which led to the reverse cancellation of While You Were Breeding. Freeform also added just two in-development projects throughout last year. One was Knife’s Edge (a horror drama where a Mother & Daughter is against vampires based on a book) just before the Strikes began in April & another most recent back in November was RUSH (a High School drama from Israel called The Station about their lives as first responders). Again, not much progress for both since then with no direction being finalised for Freeform’s original scripted programming over the next few months.

A few weeks ago, Craig Enrich who is the president of Disney Television Group & looks after Disney’s family of networks, said that Freeform won’t be going anywhere for the foreseeable future. He didn’t say much about what they will do about scripted stuff going forward but he did point out about the success of having reality content amongst a female focused audience & that the syndicated repeats & movie event nights are also here to stay. So there you have it, despite people cutting the cord in recent years, reality TV, repeats and movies has kept Freeform alive today until things go south & they find no other way to keep that channel going at some point in the near future. I guess RUSH & Knife’s Edge would still play a role onto the pilot stage & hope things will work out since there’s not much to offer on the comedy side, but it looks like it would be a thing of the past if Freeform think it would cost too much $$$ to chuck in a bunch of new scripted content like it used to be.

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Thoughts on the ABC Network finally unveiling their weekly scripted programming line-up a few days ago for the rest of the shortened 2023-24 Prime-Time TV season

by Sports Benches

Finally this week, ABC has now able to finalise their weekly scripted programming schedule that will run between February and around the middle of 2024 following a long & painful six month hold up from the writers and actors strikes. As it stands during winter to spring on weekends, Saturdays is for sports and Sunday is full of non-scripted and reality tv stuff including its long-time return of What Would You Do? straight after two hours of American Idol at 10pm. Plus, Fridays will always be Shark Tank at 8 before ending the weekday week with two hours of true crime reporting of 20/20 between 9-11pm.

But some shows will have brand new time slots this time on a different day of the week. We will now see The Good Doctor on Tuesday nights at 10am beginning on the 20th of February after The Rookie (9pm) and Will Trent (8pm) as Mondays will all be reality and non-scripted starting in late January with the two-hour Bachelor show at 8pm as well as a limited 20/20 spin-off true crime series (name TBA). Then Wednesdays will always be the home of comedy with a plethora of half-hour sitcoms kicking off a few weeks beforehand (1st to 2nd week of February) such as new seasons of The Conners (1/7), Not Dead Yet (1/7) & Abbott Elementary (1/14) between 8-9.30pm. Although the new season episode of Abbott Elementary will go for an hour, it remains to be seen what the 9.30-10pm slot will be like at a later date – probably a repeat of Abbott unless ABC can find something else to fit in since Home Economics won’t be coming back after 3 seasons. We will also get to see an hour in all-new season of Judge Steve Harvey at 10pm as well. And there will one newcomer moving in after six season from a different network (FOX) called 9-1-1 on Thursdays, which focuses on Los Angeles’s first responders department. Meanwhile, the Grey’s Anatomy franchise has shuffled a bit where the flagship show remains at 9pm after 9-1-1 while spin-off firehouse drama Station 19 will now be at 10pm rather than 8pm. All of these action packed shows will be back on March 14th.

Post-Notes

Interesting take there considering The Good Doctor has followed Dancing With The Stars from being on Mondays for a long time to Tuesdays now. If The Good Lawyer came in which the strikes have saw them miss the cut, then it would’ve been a 10pm Tuesday night show that follows on a day after the main show. The Thursday line-up is fine while Mondays will be the new reality by sharing with Monday Night Football & I guess Wednesday is a little difficult for ABC in regards to the 9.30-10pm time slot. But I guess with The Conners approaching its end & depending on the Season 2 performance of Not Dead Yet, they might to bring one new comedy show going forward – having not taken any new ones from their recent pilot cycle earlier this year. I do assume though by Fall next year, High Intellectual Potential (adopted from France) will be a perfect fit at 10pm on Wednesdays replacing A Million Little Things since it’s a crime comedy show. And I’m sure another new drama or two will be up on Sunday nights during the months go by in 2024 for the next pilot cycle as scripted programming is here to stay but the main focus for ABC going forward is that they will go or chop & change after each year for quality than quantity.

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Thoughts on The Spiderwick Chronicles getting a new home at The Roku Channel with hope of While You Were Breeding also landing a lifeline elsewhere from Freeform

by Sports Benches

Well, we found one recently unaired cancelled Disney + show ahead of its premiere that saw them land a new home at The Roku Channel (streaming service) a days ago, which is called The Spiderwick Chronicles. We will now see eight instead of the originally planned six episodes going into early next year, having finished filming during the production beforehand. 

If you’d like to know a bit about the plot, it’s based on a children’s fantasy novel around the Grace’s family discovery after they’ve moved into their ancestral home (Estate). That’s great news to hear & also even better to watch all eight episodes for free too thanks to Roku where it would’ve been gone behind a paywall if that show wasn’t cancelled on Disney +. Plus, we will expect to watch it on Paramount + here in Australia since they’re the International distributor, even though Disney’s 20th Television is listed as the co-producers of the show.

All we can hope now is for While You Were Breeding, a comedy drama travel show, to get a new home too after they were given the chop recently by Freeform – despite finishing all ten episodes in production beforehand. Yes, that show was also set behind a paywall but I would love to see it on Roku or a similar paid streaming service too, especially when this year’s film strikes have changed Freeform’s way over time before they were left out of it. As said, unaired pilots or even unaired scripted programming rarely get a 2nd chance. But this can be done if appropriate & we’d like to see While You Were Breeding on the air on a different streaming service of any kind with the help of Freeform via their studios arm sooner rather than later.

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Thoughts on Dancing With The Stars back on Free-to-air TV earlier on Tuesday this week at the ABC Network with its Season 32 premiere

by Sports Benches

Earlier this week, Dancing With The Stars has returned to its original home on ABC to kickstart Season 32 after a year out while the show continues airing live as a simulcast on Disney +, with the next day on-demand content available on Hulu.

The only difference is that they now air on Tuesday nights rather than on Monday nights like it has been over the last 15 years. It comes after the network will air Monday Night Football every week in the NFL just for this season due to the scripted programming complications regarding the strike (writers portion now gone with actors one still not out just yet). 

Although they will revert to some Mondays next fall with the Football (NFL), but I guess the Monday three hour block will be full of scripted programming. Plus, Tyra Banks has moved on after three years centre stage off previous host Tom Bergeron & Erin Andrews. America’s Funniest Videos host & avid dancer Alfonso Ribiero steps up in her place at the ballroom, while Julianne Hough will be joining Alfonso as his backstage co-host.

The first celebrity to be eliminated was comedian/actor Matt Walsh who originally withdrew his spot from the show before the premiere last week due to the actor’s strike, but then changed his mind because the writer’s strike was finally done & sadly his time there was short-lived off the back of a poor show with Koko Iwasaki.

We wish Matt all the best as the next episode is back on Tuesday at 8pm ET LIVE on ABC and Disney Plus.

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