Boxcutters » channel 7

Ep 275: Suits

Josh Kinal — Mon, 15 Aug 2011 07:39:13 +0000

We take a look at the US series Suits which begins airing on Seven this week.

Also, we take the opportunity, with the chatty Dave Lawson as our cohost, to talk about our television watching habits and the effects our friends have on us.

If you want to subscribe to 3RRR and be in the running for all those great prizes, give them a call on +61 3 9388 1027.

Notes

If You Watch One Thing

Judith Lucy’s Spiritual Journey – 9:30pm 17 Aug, on ABC1
The Thick of It – 10pm Thursday 18 Aug, ABC2
Wallander: The Joker – 11:30pm Sunday 21 Aug, SBS2

Audience Participation

How do you watch TV?

We want to hear from you about your television watching habits. Do you watch alone or with friends? Do you have more than one television set? Do you watch on your computer? Do you read email or make macramé belts while viewing?

Please send us an email via the form (or to “hooray” at this domain) and let us know.

Things We Forgot To Mention

The Young Talent Time judge we think Dave was referring to was Evie Hayes or maybe someone else entirely different about whom we could find no record.

News Items

Bert and Ernie will not get married to each other because they are puppets.
Good News Week might become Good News World and nobody cares.
Ten’s ill-conceived The Renovators is going to cost it heaps of bucks.
Young Talent Time might be coming back.
Shaun Micallef might leave Talkin’ ‘Bout Your Generation and Amanda Keller might be in charge.

Twitter

We mentioned our Twitter handles last night on the show but in case you missed them:

Josh is @sealfur
Brett is @bbox
Courteney is @courteneyh
Toby is @toby_halligan
Dave is @davewlawson
John is shouting random comments out of his window onto the street
Glenn is @nightwatchman.
Nelly is @MsNellyThomas

Ep 259: The Chicago Code

Josh Kinal — Mon, 07 Mar 2011 11:02:06 +0000

You want in-depth and slightly waffly discussions about what makes good television? You have come to the right place. Dave Lawson joins us as regular co-host, a role he will share with John and Courteney from now on.

We review the new show from Shaun Ryan, the creator of the Shield, The Chicago Code.

If you want more there’s some Pork, some Crap TV, some dumb anecdotes that should never have gone to air and a bunch of other stuff that is probably not work mentioning like breathing and stuff.

Breathe with this:

Also, we mentioned a few excellent radio shows on Radio National.

We think you should check out:

Future Tense – A show all about the roads we’re making towards a better, or at least more interesting future.
This American Life – This is the excellent USA radio show that we’ve been telling you to listen to for years.
The Lonely Hearts Club – Dave Lawson thinks it’s good and so does Tony Martin. That should be good enough for you. Listen to it

Twitter feeds for:

UPDATE: 10 March

Oh hi there. I found some news items we wanted to mention in the show but didn’t because we got so engrossed in that conversation that seemed to go on forever (but an interesting forever):

Automatic profanity checker to be used in US network television (from Variety)

Actually, it turns out that was the only one. Enjoy.

UPDATE: 16 March

Chris Kennett, one of the former writers on The Bounce tells me on Twitter that Ray Matsen was not a writer on the show. Sorry for the error.

Boxcutters Episode 259 by Boxcutters is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.

Ep 257: Conviction Kitchen’s Vital

Josh Kinal — Mon, 21 Feb 2011 05:09:25 +0000

Courteney Hocking sits in the co-host chair to talk to Jean-Vital Syverin, the sous chef from Conviction Kitchen.

We take a look at the new sketch comedy from the Independent Film Channel in the US, Portlandia.

Toby Halligan’s Trotters brings us home and there’s the week’s TV news and what you should watch this week.

Courteney and our very own Toby Halligan have a special Comedy Festival edition of Political Asylum. It will be funny.

Boxcutters Episode 257 by Boxcutters is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.

Ep 256: ACMA Chair Chris Chapman, Emma Magenta

Josh Kinal — Mon, 14 Feb 2011 11:15:56 +0000

ACMA Chair, Chris Chapman, talks to us about the crazy things that those whacky regulators at the Communications and Media Authority get up to. He also goes into the details behind last week’s controversial David Campbell / Channel 7 decision.

Then we talk to author and artist turned TV animation writer/director, Emma Magenta. Her new show starts on ABC1 on Tuesday night at 10pm. It’s called The Gradual Demise of Phillipa Finch. It’s a two minute cartoon for grown-ups.

Toby Halligan is our co-host this week. He has a Melbourne International Comedy Festival show coming up. Also, you can read some of the funny stuff he writes.

This week’s question is the same as last week’s: Are you coming to our exciting event at ACMI? Let us know by email.

This is a screenshot of the judgement from the ACMA report, as referred to in the interview with Chris Chapman. As always, though, we encourage you to read the full report to be as completely informed as possible.

Boxcutters Episode 256 by Boxcutters is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.

Ep 255: Harry’s Law, James Talia

Josh Kinal — Mon, 07 Feb 2011 04:38:21 +0000

The wonderfully talented and outrageously charming Dave Lawson joins us as cohost.

We discuss recent news coverage and the secret lives of journalists with James Talia.

Also we review Harry’s Law, the new David E Kelley drama.

Expect, as well, the usual fare of news and pork with trotters.

Smell the audio treats:

This week’s question: Are you coming to our exciting event at ACMI? Let us know by email.

Ep 250: Rake, Dr Janet Hall

Josh Kinal — Mon, 22 Nov 2010 11:03:56 +0000

Here’s the thing. We did 250 episodes of this show. This is episode 250 but we did our 250th a while ago so here’s one we did this week?

Did you follow that? Well, can you follow a whole review of the new ABC show, Rake? I’m sure you can.

Also, Toby Halligan starts us off on our look at the specifics of how television affects us as actual humans in his interview with Dr Janet Hall, following up her piece in news.com.au last week.

Courteney Hocking is our very special guest cohost because she’s just wonderful.

Don’t forget about being a part of John Richard’s Outland finale shoot this Friday.

This week’s question: Have you listened to all 250 episodes of Boxcutters? Is this actually the 250th? Send us an email..

Ep 240: The Greatest TV Characters of All Time

Josh Kinal — Mon, 06 Sep 2010 11:50:13 +0000

Yes, the rumours are true. Boxcutters has been around for five years. You’d think we’d have quit by now but no, we are very bad at learning lessons.

To celebrate our podcast longevity we give you a gift. In fact we give you the greatest gift. We reveal to you, in this very episode, the Greatest TV Characters of All Time. We go through the official and final, no correspondence will be entered into, top 10 with its pros and cons and put in our two cents’ worth.

To everybody who came to the Boxcutters vs Dr Who writers panel at AussieCon, you all get a special mention.

There’s a bunch of news, we read out some letters and mix it up with some pork.

Episode 240: my brain hurts a lot.

Send us an email about all the things we asked you to this week.

This episode is supported by IceTV, giving Boxcutters listeners three special offers, including 30% off a 12 month subscription. Find out more at icetv.com.au/boxcutters

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The Top 10

10. David Brent, The Office
9. Buffy Summers, Buffy The Vampire Slayer
8. Tony Soprano, The Sopranos
7. Veronica Mars, Veronica Mars
6. Homer Simpson, The Simpsons
5. Basil Fawlty, Fawlty Towers
4. Al Swearengen, Deadwood
3. Hawkeye Pierce, M*A*S*H
2. Omar Little, The Wire
1. The Doctor, Doctor Who

Here’s some extra news we didn’t get to cover, because you’ve been so good:

It’s Joan Cusack!

I’m sure people were excited to see Alison Janney play the role of the mother in the US remake of Shameless. No doubt those same people would also have been upset to hear that Janney was, instead, taking a role in the upcoming comedy series, Mr Sunshine.

Well, fret no more, good people, because the one and only Joan Freakin’ Cusack is taking the role instead.

As much as I love Janney, I think Cusack will manage to perform the role with a little less scenery chewing and a little more sad reality. Now I’m looking forward to it.

source: Variety

Syfy goes to Neverland

The Syfy channel in the US does some great work in getting people to watch genre television. However, they do some bad work in original drama.

There’s a new 4-hour miniseries they’ve just announced called Neverland which is going to be a prequel to Peter Pan. They’ve previously done a prequel of Alice in Wonderland and a reimagining of Wizard of Oz.

It makes me want to sigh.

source: Variety

Ep 238: Claire Hooper, The Election & The Mole

Josh Kinal — Mon, 23 Aug 2010 11:59:40 +0000

To top off what has already been a really busy week full of too much information, we bring in Claire Hooper from Good News Week to talk about the election night coverage.

Remember the extreme game show / early reality series The Mole? Well, Brooke Marshall was the winner of series 2 of that show and she comes in to give us a bit of a 10 year retrospective on what reality was like back then.

There’s a whole bunch of news and some pork as well so get into it.

We might not have a government but we do have episode 238 of Boxcutters.

Send us an email about all the things we asked you to this week.

This episode is supported by IceTV, giving Boxcutters listeners three special offers, including 30% off a 12 month subscription. Find out more at icetv.com.au/boxcutters

Supernatural (2005 – current)

Josh Kinal — Wed, 23 Jun 2010 00:30:42 +0000

Two brothers wage a war on evil, fuelled by their loved ones taken from them prematurely and the legacy left to them by their father.

Wow. So dramatic? Already? On the one hand, that really is Supernatural in a nutshell. It is an ultimate battle against demons, wraiths, succubi, ghosts and, yes, the occasional vampire. It is what I like to call “conflict with a capital K (for Killing)”. It is pure drama.

With all those other-worldly baddies, though, it’s also a perfect opportunity for some nail-biting, pillow-clutching horror. Very rarely have we had a chance to see good horror on television. There have been attempts but, really, since the early demise of American Gothic in 1996, nothing has come close.

So we’ve got the drama and we’ve got the scares. There’s a rule of three in storytelling and the third thing here is comedy. The comedy is mild, wry and sometimes relies on knowledge of the characters and their history. That’s not a bad thing. Instead of the comedy being a draw card to the series, it’s more like a prize for long-term viewers.

There is so much to love in Supernatural, it’s hard to imagine why it’s not one of the more popular shows on TV. While it’s a great show to watch, it’s possibly a hard show to sell. It doesn’t have the novelty factor of something like Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Channel 7 kept spinning that around the schedule until it found a home amongst the insomniac university students who kept it alive in a late-night slot.

1970s and 80s heavy-metal ballads, muscle cars, leather jackets and scowling faces on the backdrop of the American mid-west does not really make for appealing teaser production from an Australian point of view. It’s not about police and it’s not about lawyers or set in a hospital. In fact, on a surface level it’s not about anything that a new audience can identify with.

What it is about, though, is good old-fashioned horror, action and thrills. It’s a comic book on the screen. Heroes save people in peril and sometimes get into peril themselves. In that sense it’s predictable. But so what? Every now and then we need a little escapism. We need adventure and we need good guys kicking bad guys’ arses. Supernatural gives us that but with a style and sense of Americana unlike anything we’ve seen.

Supernatural started the year after Lost and the year before Heroes. It really should appeal to audiences of both and especially those who loved the former but found the latter lacking in any substance. Unlike Heroes, it tells a big story by focusing on a small portion of it. It builds suspense rather than forcing mystery and disseminates information as required rather than creating artificial and soulless reveals.

Mostly, though, it’s fun and intelligent entertainment. Supernatural is exactly the kind of escapism we should be inviting into our homes.

Supernatural Season 4, is available on DVD. You can find all your entertainment needs: DVDs, Blu Ray and gaming consoles, including Playstation games, at Sanity Entertainment. —Sponsoring Boxcutters

Ep 226: James Talia, Eurovision, Bechdel Test

Josh Kinal — Mon, 31 May 2010 12:59:08 +0000

James Talia joins us to discuss the recent controversy over Channel 7 news and the former NSW Minister for Transport.

We review this year’s Eurovision coverage and the Lost finale.

And we look at the recent shows we’ve reviewed and see how they match up against the Bechdel Test.

All that and more. Just listen.

Don’t forget to let us know about your list of the greatest TV characters of all time.

You can also SMS us on 0458 288 837 (0458 CUTTER).

Become a fan of Boxcutters on Facebook and follow us on Twitter.

Ep 225: Treme, Survivor, Ray Watch

Josh Kinal — Mon, 24 May 2010 11:41:42 +0000

Treme is the new David Simon drama on HBO. We review it for your listening pleasure.

Also, by request, Nelly does a run down of the latest season of Survivor in anticipation of tomorrow night’s finale.

Brett discusses some bad reporting in Ray Watch.

Hey you. Come and celebrate the wonder of the Eurovision Song Contest with Boxcutters.

Also you can tell us stuff: by email or on the SMS us on 0458 288 837 (0458 CUTTER).

If you’ve seen the second last episode of Lost or you don’t care that much about the show or spoilers, here is the link to the YouTube clip of the entire six seasons of LOST re-enacted by Cats in 1 minute.

We’ll have something more here after Josh has had a chance to watch the Lost finale.

In the meantime, talk amongst yourselves.

Ep 221: Masterchef, Dead Gorgeous

Josh Kinal — Mon, 26 Apr 2010 12:03:26 +0000

Nelly Thomas is back in the co-host chair after a very successful comedy festival. We discuss the changes in this year’s Masterchef and review the ABC kids’ series, Dead Gorgeous, in ‘Before and After School’.

News Items

Here are some news items we didn’t get to cover this week:

Lisa Kudrow’s web series has been picked up by Showtime
Lost events are planned for New York and Los Angeles
The Emmys might not have a theme song award. Then again, maybe they haven’t made up their mind, yet.

Ep 212: Archer, Ray Watch, TV Clichés

Josh Kinal — Mon, 15 Feb 2010 06:17:55 +0000

Archer is an animated series on FX in the US. Fox 8 announced it will air on March 7 in Australia so we take a little look.

We talk about Chuck vs the *shudder* “shippers”.

In the news we discuss The Biggest Loser fans gone silly, David Leckie on record and Senator Conroy skis his way into the networks’ hearts.

There’s a Ray Watch, some TV Clichés .

Have a read of the LA Times blog piece about Chuck and the ‘shippers. Also, here’s the interview with Chuck’s co-creators.

You can read all about David Leckie’s rants and Senator Conroy’s fondness for skiing and networking thanks to the Daily Telegraph.

Let us know if you have any information about ‘shippers or other holidays Sentaor Conroy’s taken that might affect our viewing by sending us email. Alternatively, send us an SMS on 0458 288 837 (0458 CUTTER)

Ep 210: The League, The Nature of Television Storytelling

Josh Kinal — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 09:53:03 +0000

The League is another show about men and their relationships with one another. We take a good long look at it.

We also have a long conversation about whether or not there is a place for episodic drama on television. It’s a very interesting chat with lots of information. We go a little bit high-brow so you might want to wear your thinking-cap.

There’s also a surprise guest right joining us for One Thing.

Episode 210 is the show that had so much in it, we had to go into extra-long overtime. You have been warned.

If You Watch One Thing

Brett: Seven Ages Of Rock ‘We Are The Champions: Stadium Rock’ – ABC1, 8:30pm to 9:25pm Thu, 4 Feb 2010
John: Magic Roundabout. Various times, Every Freakin’ Day on ABC 2
Josh: LOST LOST LOST LOST LOST LOST! (in north america)

An Update

A media release from Channel 7 arrived this morning. We have our answer. Do you have your set-top box?

7TWO today announced it will premiere the sixth and final season of LOST on WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 10 beginning with the one-hour special Lost: Final Chapter at 8.30pm followed by a two-hour premiere of season 6 at 9.30pm.

Right at the bottom of the release comes this addendum:

**The LOST season 6 premiere will also screen on Channel Seven at 11.30pm on February 10**

So you don’t need a set-top box to see Lost, you just need to beat away sleep.

Episode 209: Nazeem Hussain, Ben McNair

Josh Kinal — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 10:08:26 +0000

Comedian Nazeem Hussain joins us in the studio to talk about how dark people, Muslims and immigrants in general are portrayed on Australian television.

Then Ben McNair from Channel 7 News sits down for a chat about Haiti, Black Saturday, the ABC’s 24-hour news channel and Kevin Rudd.

It’s jam-packed information from start to finish.

Ep 203: Craig McLachlan (really!)

Josh Kinal — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 09:01:59 +0000

This week we speak at length to Craig McLachlan. He tells us all about Neighbours, the record industry, the wilderness and Alan Dale.

He’s a wonderful guest. Listen to it.

Ep 198: Beauty plus Geek, Marc Fennell

Josh Kinal — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 08:12:11 +0000

Corin and Jenna, one of the geeks and one of the beauties from Channel 7′s Beauty and the Geek, join us in the studio to talk about what it’s like to be part of a reality television series.

Marc Fennell, the star of ABCTV’s Hungry Beast is on the phone discussing the controversies around the first episode.

Hey, Facebook users, you can become a fan of Beauty and the Geek, and also see Corin and Jenna‘s fanpages.

Also, why not get short snippets of Hungry Beast on twitter.

Then there’s always Josh and Brett, who are also on twitter.

If You Watch One Thing

Brett: Hungry Beast – ABC1 Wednesday, 9pm
John: Ace Of Cakes, Lifestyle Food, Saturday, 9.30
Josh: Dancing About Architecture, Channel 31, Thursday 8 Oct

————
UPDATE: We’ve just received an anonymous SMS.

?It’s a famous quote: “Talking about music is like dancing about architecture” – it’s a music panel show.?

You can find some history on the quote and its various attributions all over the web.

Ep 195: Tom Elliott, Flash Forward, The Lost Room

brett — Mon, 07 Sep 2009 09:10:14 +0000

We have a week full of broken rules of time and finance with:

Tom Elliott ~~inventing the flux capacitor~~ giving us some rational explanations for the asset writedowns and massive profit downgrade at 7 and how hard 9 and 10′s parent companies are doing it;

a preview of Flash Forward, coming to our screens on the 7 network after the ultimate conclusion of Lost; and

The Lost Room from the SciFi Channel in Things You May Have Missed.

Pick up your very own copy of The Lost Room on DVD from Amazon.

RSS feed

iTunes

or listen to 195 in your browser

Ep 168: Bam Boom! Entertainment, Lie to Me, Underbelly 2

Josh Kinal — Tue, 10 Feb 2009 10:19:13 +0000

Gillian Bartlett and Donna Lyon from Bam Boom! Entertainment join us to talk about their very unique television jobs. Also there’s a review of the new Underbelly season premier, and the new US show Lie to Me. Also we look at coverage of the Victorian bushfires in a special Raywatch.

Get it:

Daryl Somers will not host next season of StarDancers

Josh Kinal — Fri, 30 Nov 2007 03:45:23 +0000

This news just in via a Channel 7 media release:

In a joint statement today David Leckie, CEO of Channel 7, and Tom Maclean, CEO of Somers Carroll Productions, announced that Daryl Somers has decided not to sign for another series of Dancing with the Stars.

After seven hugely successful seasons of the show he wishes to move on.

“I’ve had a fabulous time on Dancing with the Stars but I’m ready for a new direction” Daryl said.

“To be honest, I have felt somewhat restricted by the tightly structured format and feel if I don’t move on now I’ll regret it. If the Network do another season, and I think they should, I hope they hit the refresh button. It’s been a great franchise for Seven and deserves to be taken to a whole new level. I have thoroughly enjoyed working with the very professional teams at Granada and Seven and have forged some wonderful friendships along the way”.

CEO of Channel Seven, David Leckie, added: “Daryl has done a great job on Dancing with the Stars for the network but we understand his reasons for moving on and wish him well for the future”.

Firstly, after the shock of “really? seven series?” there’s only one thing that this means to me: The producers wouldn’t let Daryl play drums with the band so he’s taken his sticks and gone home.

Are there any StarDancers fans amongst the Boxcutterati? Will this make you more or less likely to watch the show? Do you think Daryl has other offers up his sleeve? Tell us in the comments.

Corby vs Seven: The Battle Begins

Josh Kinal — Tue, 11 Sep 2007 00:22:35 +0000

News this morning that Mercedes Corby is planning to sue Channel 7 will no doubt see the network tied up in another useless court battle.

via The Age

Second Half of Seven’s Year

Josh Kinal — Thu, 28 Jun 2007 01:50:03 +0000

Seven just announced the second half line up which includes the new series of Kath & Kim and this interesting bit of news:

Seven’s Director of Programming and Production, Tim Worner said: “From the feedback we’ve been getting from fansites and blogs, the message has been very clear – now from Seven we’re sending a message back – the waiting is over.”
“We’ll be running Prison Break and Heroes as close to their US telecast dates as practically possible.
“Sure, we have to change the way we take delivery of the materials but it’s more than that – we have to change the way we think and the way we sell these shows and at Seven we’ve shown we can do that.”

Has somebody hit them on the head and knocked some sense into them?

Seven and TiVo: a marriage made in what now?

Josh Kinal — Wed, 30 May 2007 05:27:00 +0000

Seven and TiVo have come together to bring the much sought after TiVo service to Australia.

WTF? They should have done this years ago and it seems, from the media release, that it’s only going to be available for free-to-air channels.

Seven Media Group will lead the creation of the digital platform to enable TiVo’s digital video recorder and service, including the award-winning TiVo user interface. The platform will be available for use by other broadcasters and broadband content owners to create a compelling, interactive, free to air digital terrestrial television offering. The TiVo Service will be available across Australia and will include internationally recognized TiVo features like SeasonPass recordings and WishList searches and allow users to access broadband content on their TV.

Honestly, if they were going to do this, why wouldn’t they try to make it a competitor to Foxtel’s IQ? Of course Seven, along with Ten, is still to sign up to digital rebroadcast through Foxtel.

Having two platforms competing for our attention would only be better for the consumers (us) and build uptake of such technologies.

TiVo, in the US, is a subscription-based service but gives its users access to all channels (pay and FTA). Will the people not taking up Foxtel be compelled enough to dive into this? Probably not if the FTA networks aren’t going to produce some amazing content.

Also, it seems to me that a large percentage of the population who would have been the first to take up a TiVo service have already purchased a PVR, built a media centre, download torrents, or have IQ.

Surprise Surprise Naomi?

Ross McQueen — Sat, 21 Apr 2007 13:53:11 +0000

Last week we heard about a possible Surprise Surprise rehash. Now it appears Channel 7 is going ahead with the Naomi Robson talk show.

It can’t be a coincidence can it? ‘Yes, sure Naomi, you can do your own Springer/Oprah style chat show’ snigger, snigger, snigger.

What other explaination could there be? Surely Channel 7 can’t seriously be considering about a Naomi fronted talk fest.