You can't shut me up this time - still got more to add:

Worst
the demise of Nightline and Sunday
Mediocre
The Hollowmen – nice idea, some smiles, but Rob Sitch really gives me the shits these days. He seems to play one character, which is probably himself. Merrick Watts was a nice surprise.

The ABC docu-dramas - The Prime Minister Is Missing; Menzies & Churchill At War; Ben Chifley’s Battle For Coal. These things can be a bit dry, but again – money in Australian programming, good to have a bit of history on the telly. What I saw of the first 2 was quite good, and I believe they DIDN’T have William McInnes.

The Mentalist (I still chuckle over that name) - it was refreshing to have a show that, although it was basically a procedural, didn’t have a character with special powers; just someone who was perceptive and told you how it could be done. The plots were a little unbelievable, but not awful.

My summer viewing will include...
Party Animals: missed the first ep but really looking forward to seeing it, even if it is a bit too much like This Life and Teachers; and
The Elephant Princess: my new favourite teen program screening on Ten. It was on Fridays at 4pm, but now they've moved all their childrens' programs to 7-9am, but no sign of the Princess. Perhaps they'll bring it back in the new year - they're only halfway through the series. Silly premise, but believable characters and situations.

Hey, there's nothing wrong with a show being like This Life and Teachers. They were both excellent shows.

Thanks for reminding us of more of Channel 9's woes this year. It has not been a great year for Australian television in general, has it?

Does anybody have any ideas about what 2009 will bring? What would you like to see Boxcutters cover in the coming year? Who would you like us to have on as guests?

Let us know in the comments here or by email.

It's interesting to hear Tom's ideas about networks offering cheap television downloads to combat file-sharing. The obvious barriers to that are:

1. Such an offering would have to be worldwide, and offered simultaneously *to* everyone worldwide. Copyright laws are such that it simply cant happen without getting ridiculous amounts of permission for just about every piece of content that's to be distributed.

2. No distribution model in the world is currently sufficient. iView and the BBC iPlayer are close, but neither addresses worldwide demand and neither is broadcast quality.

3. I can't think of a single content owner that's willing to give users indefinite access to content without charging a significant fee. Perhaps Apple does through iTunes, but Apple's not the content owner and is facing enough resistance as it is.

4. Too many distributors still believe in divide-and-conquer.

Thing is, though, that file-sharing will actually kill the industry if these issues are not sorted very, very quickly. The above set of points is not a wish list, it's a collection of criteria that must be met if the industry is to survive. We're in an unusual position in which the consumer wields the power.

Oh, and Josh, please announce prematurely the deaths of the following people:

- John Howard
- Stephen Conroy
- Naomi Robson

@Adam D.

can we add 'She-who-can-be-boned-but-not-be-named' to the list? Just to hear how the boys defuse that particular paradox...