Many years ago, in the dim dark days before pay tv in Oz, the desperate lonely wrestling fans of Melbourne would congregate at the Prince Patrick Hotel (or the ZigZag factory, or even the Metro Nightclub) every fortnight to watch the latest Pay Per Views from the US. Managed to keep the same crew together for about three years, as I recall; Good times, good times...
Occasionally up here in ol'Sydney town they still show the big shows Greater Union Cinemas - TV on a big screen makes for quite an odd vibe

There won't be any problem viewing Ch1 HD through SD televisions - you can get cheap-shit STBs now that do the job adequately. By 2012 I imagine they'll be much better for less $.

Ah MordWa, the Prince Pat - that takes me back!

Now, a most vital matter. What is Brett's special fancy and how does it work? It's a most urgent inquiry to do with a certain four-part series starting on ABC1 on Monday night. Some of us will simply convulse if we can't see it from our distant locales.

Hey Jimbo - don't know if the boys have responded to you personally, but you can try www.the-cloak.com (the Original Special Fancy TM)

Just type in the address for the ABC website and click through to the Coming Soon section - you should be able to see a preview.

If that doesn't work, do a search for 'anonymous proxy' and you should find something.

Q: Haven't you got a mate in da biz who can send you a copy?

I originally posed this question in an email, but then John pinched my gag and suggested I write about it here.

The question was related to last week's discussion (making it perfectly timed for next week's *shifty eyes*) and was: What's the most inappropriate show from which to make a board game? Being the Daniel Kilby duly credited over at Outland, I suggested Dexter, with cards like "You accidentally killed Deb; go back 3 spaces" or perhaps "Found Camille's perfect Key Lime Pie, roll again". A board game of The Tudors would also be somewhat surreal.

Hey! I found my password!

I think when Trivial Pursuit took off it destroyed the TV board game - now they all seem to be Trivia-based. How great would it be if you could buy a Lost game where Jack has to avoid the killer smoke?

I think the 7.30 Report would be a brilliantly inappropriate show to base a game on. Maybe you have to reunite Kerry with a grren pen - or use Kerry's green pen to battle aliens.

Or the Enough Rope game, where you have to make the guest cry when you get half-way round the board...

Hey Jimbo, have you checked that the ABC site restricts access based on GeoIP?

My special fancy - in whatever configuration - isn't going to work for you because it specifically identifies you as a US IP so as to be able to access the US sites.

You'd probably be best with our local BT community, Diwana. It has good coverage of local TV content. Let me know if you need an invite.

I don't think the TV board game is entirely dead and buried; I'm sure I saw one in a catalogue for Borders or someone like that only a couple of weeks ago. It may even have been for Packed to the Rafters.

But, yes, even the TV tie-in board games tend to be trivia-heavy and/or based fairly strictly on game shows. I'm just hanging out for the Taken Out game...

Thanks Brett, I'll give it a shot. And, yes, the ABC site does restrict viewing in that way. Was the same with Hollowmen too although a couple of those episodes could be viewed only for 24 hours after they'd gone to air.

Now, has anyone seen the new South Park episode following the presidential election? Hilarious!