Hang on, aren't LCDs more energy efficient than CRT screens of the same size?

Yeah totally agree about the new US season. Though, i have to say that i prefer Pushing Daisies. but yeah, chuck is right up there.

ok about newstopia, yeah look i think that when it was funny, it was very funny. there was also a bunch of jokes that just fell flat. not absurd. just obvious. I agree that there is a real visual clukiness to the show. But i think that Newstopia diminshes in humour the more you think about The Daily Show. Im not saying jon stewart invented the format, but he's very much made it his own. i think what it comes down to is flow, DS flows much much better. I almost think that Newstopia would benefit from a studio audience, just so micallef can get the pacing right. The set also feels really lifeless and again i think an audience would give a certain energy to the show. This is the one and ONLY time im ever going to bee pro-studio audience. all that said, i love micallef and i hope this reall succeeds

also - what bastard accused Lost of only being for nerds. freaking ABC radio snobs. wankers, all of em.

oh, how i laughed.

i was watching 'criminal minds' last night, (well, killing time between south park and boston legal, having caught up on all of my current channel BT viewing) thinking that i might perhaps drop a line in here and whinge about how excrutiating criminal minds is to watch, and there you go, you wonderful lads, announcing that it's in the running for torture awards. only i think this must be the only show in the nominations that display torture in the form of 'jason gideon' have to work with planks of 2 x 4 reading the other lines.

tut, tut mandy, what were you thinking? are you just biding time til someone offers you a part in "princess bride 2: daughter of princess bride, revisited, again"? were you smoking crack for a very long time, then suddenly stopped and sobered up, before refusing to return to set??? man, those drugs musta been good....

why is it that this crap is being given quality air time and so many other wonderfully crafted labours of love, brimming with talent, are given shitty time slots, if given any at all?

rant. thanks for letting me get that off my chest.

"Hang on, aren’t LCDs more energy efficient than CRT screens of the same size?"

That's what I though.

I don't mind pressure being put on manufacturers to be nicer for the environment, but it seems wrong to suggest that new TVs are less efficient than old CRT TVs.

Not only are LCDs more energy efficient, but there are huge savings in toxic waste. CRTs are full of lead, other metals and heaps of glass.

It's so hard to get good technical reporting these days. Just about any reportage about technology is full of inaccuracies and misleading statements.

It sounds like the problem here is actually large TVs, rather than the technology used. People just demand bigger TVs than they did before. LCD screens themselves come in all manner of sizes, from portable ones for the car, to big screens.

@marcymark maybe I am too big of a fan of TDS but I too think it needs a audience and also correspondents ala TDS. It would break up the amount of time just on Micallef and give some more chances for jokes.

Great episode last night. Maybe I was wrong about the audience.

I strongly disagree with the idea of a studio audience for Newstopia. Perhaps you're just missing the mood music? The mix of shows and their styles being parodied (TT/ACA, Sports Tonight) cracks me up; the fake ads leading into each real ad break are brilliant, down to choosing the type of ad (car, up next) and Les Murray's sledging of Doris Lessing last night was GOLD.

Just a few thoughts on the podcast:
1. The Festival of Light is Fred Nile. I would expect nothing less from them. The Censors are bound by the legislation, aren't they? Were Ch 10 breaking the rules by showing it? I doubt it - I really don't think there'll be a problem, unless 10 get skittish about advertising $, but I would've thought that for every sponsor who pulled their ads, there'd be another who wanted the spot.

2. Speaking of advertising $, I'm sure TT/ACA (can't recall which one it was - aren't they the same anyway?) would have contacted Reckitt Benckiser to let them know they were "thinking" of running a piece about Louie's 50th birthday and would they be interested in paying for a bit of a plug?

3. Ross - the Geek shall inherit the earth. And I watched Double The Fist - and laughed. So there.

4. Did this week's Quiz winner wish to remain anonymous? You didn't say who it was.

Here endeth my 2 cents.

Almost.

Last night's Chaser was excellent, particularly Andrew Hanson's song - fucking brilliant. They pushed it to the absolute limit (well, almost - they gutted out on "c*nts", the wusses). Interestingly, the feedback from the public has been positive, but our Glorious Leader/s tut-tutted.

edit: Just saw the bottom of the post. Yay for Nigel!

Must of been the other Nigel.

The "Great Debate":

"We want this to be Fair and Balanced".

Yeah, right.

Nine ran the worm, so Howard's people actually cut Nine's feed.

The use of the "worm" broke conditions laid down by the Government not to do so and led to Channel Nine's direct feed being cut. But it was still able to show the debate and the worm by using a back-up feed.

The back-up feed was also cut, forcing Nine to re-broadcast the coverage from Sky News.

Channel Nine's director of news and current affairs John Westacott defended using the worm live to air.

"I think it's an editorial decision for the Nine Network, not for the leader of the Liberal Party what we put to air.

"I can only agree with [News Ltd chairman] John Hartigan in his excellent Andrew Olle lecture where he said that political interference in journalism is increasing, not diminishing. And this is a perfect example - the leader of the Liberal Party trying to dictate one of the key events in the election campaign."

Turd.

Guys, you MUST mention this on the next show.

Whoops, I stuffed up the link: Here

If anyone's watching this space right now, John Hartigan's address (to which John Westacott refers above) is on the ABC at 10:45 tonight.

yeah, after watching the second episode of NEWSTOPIA, i definately think that it holds up better. its now really starting to develop its own voice. more power to micallef

Geez... first the Coonan-Telstra to-do, now Channel Nein! versus the Libs...

...talk about not knowing which side to boo-!

Massive egos and an overdeveloped sense of entitlement... Hang on, which side am I talking about there?

Thanks guys, dropped you a mail Josh. I actually had to listen back to the show to get it, and my spell checker didn't pick up either of the names, and as shown here my spelling is awful. I hope you got it, been snowed under at work so have been avoiding the net (been watching too much TV!).

I watched the first ep of Newstopia and hated it, but stuck with the secon, and thought its pretty good and has jumped in my weekly rotation.