1. TV WEEK debate: The Bachelor Australia – love or loathe?
TV WEEK writer Gabrielle Tozer picks LOVE:
Do I accept this rose? Yes, I still do. We’re into the fifth season of The Bachelor Australia and the love-fest continues.
Sure, sceptics remain horrified by the bitchy bachelorettes and all-round cheesiness. But if you remember the premise – finding The One – its track record is tight.
Season one’s Tim Robards and Anna Heinrich are engaged.
Sister series The Bachelorette Australia boasts the Georgia Love and Lee Elliott fairytale. And season three’s Sam Wood and Snezana Markoski are due to marry and are expecting the first Aussie Bachie bub.
There’s no guarantee people will find true love on the series, but it’s the same in the real world. At least this way we all get to come along on an entertaining ride – aboard a super-yacht, preferably.
TV WEEK assistant editor Stephen Downie picks LOATHE:
I believe it was rock philosophers Poison who once said, “Every rose has its thorn.”
Even pretty things can hurt – and The Bachelor Australia is pretty painful TV.
Never mind that the show is formulaic. Or that most of the bachelorettes seem to have the personality of a wet twig.
The real problem with this show is how degrading it is to women.
Cocktail parties turn into boozy-woozy affairs where women spew venom at each other – all in the hope of winning the affections of one guy.
Sure, we all laugh along at the antics, but it’s not how I want my impressionable pre-teen daughters to think real relationships work.
2. Sunrise & Today: Breakfast battle
Revenge is a dish best served… in the morning.
It seems Sunrise (above) is set to win the ratings year, despite it being only August.
Ironically, Sunrise can claim top spot using the same system Today employed in 2016 to take the title of Australia’s most-watched breakfast show.
Today argued that by topping 21 of the 40 ratings weeks, they took the win. Sunrise currently has 16 weeks on top.
3. Ray Donovan: Not exactly jumping for joy
The words “time jump” will make the hairs on the back of any TV fan’s neck stand on end.
This is how we feel ahead of Ray Donovan’s fifth season. Everything seemed to wrap up nicely last season.
The Mob got their comeuppance and Ray’s wife, Abby (Paula Malcomson), was on the mend.
But leading man Liev Schreiber has suggested season five is going to be an emotional roller-coaster.
Perhaps new arrival Samantha Winslow (Susan Sarandon) will shake the family tree? Or will Ray meet his end? We’re waiting with bated breath to find out.
4. Blue Murder: Killer Cop – I’m sure we’ve seen you before
Although Blue Murder: Killer Cop was compelling TV, it did reinforce the thought that only a few actors in Australia get the big roles.
The true-crime series felt like a tribute to Underbelly, with Matt Nable (above), Damian Walshe-Howling, Aaron Jeffery, Dan Wyllie, Andy Ryan and Robert Mammone all having appeared in the franchise.
Australia has so many talented actors, how about giving some new faces a shot?
5. Rise of the remake: Groundhog day TV
News that Stan is set to continue the story of Romper Stomper, first told in the 1992 film starring Russell Crowe, came as no surprise.
It seems everything old is new again, with Australian classics Wake In Fright and Picnic At Hanging Rock being remade and released later this year.
We loved those films, but with so many new stories for the now, perhaps we should leave the past in the past.
