What follows is not a “best-of” list and is by no means conclusive – but these are some of the Australian TV shows that stood out for me in 2013. Top of the Lake Top of the Lake is a seven-part mini-series…
Supposed savings on children’s television are based on flaky figures.
ABC
In a report published this month by the Centre for Independent Studies (CIS), Simon Cowan advocates the downsizing or sell-off of ABC3 – the dedicated channel for Australian school-age children – as a…
There’s something very Melbourne about Jack Irish: Bad Debts.
AAP Images;ABC Television, Lachlan Moore
Television is always located somewhere, even if the place is imaginary. And programs such as Dr Who move effortlessly between real and imagined worlds. Once, mid-Pacific (or mid-Atlantic) was a term for…
Can S.H.I.E.L.D juggle the expectations of fans and network execs?
Disney | ABC Television Group
We are now about half way through the first season of Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D, the much-hyped TV spin off from the enormously successful 2012 superhero blockbuster, The Avengers. The honeymoon is…
Programme makers are wary of turning off viewers with climate change.
Till Krech
A report from the International Broadcasting Trust has argued that more investment should be made to get environmental issues covered on television. Environment on TV is based on interviews with people…
Let’s be honest: the sofa’s often better than the cinema.
AAP/HBO
The northern summer of 2013 was a bad one for Hollywood. After Earth, The Lone Ranger, White House Down, World War Z and Pacific Rim were among the million-dollar turkeys. And you may have noticed the…
The world of advertising hits the small screen – again – in the new series The Crazy Ones.
CBS
Move over Mad Men – there’s a new group of advertising executives hitting the small screen. The Crazy Ones, a TV series set in a Chicago advertising agency, is currently the top-ranked show in the new…
Walt and Jesse prepare for their red wedding in the final episode.
deviantART
WARNING: This article contains a spoiler. Don’t worry though, it’s not what happens in the final episode of Breaking Bad. Even academics don’t get early access. This week, Netflix has created a handy service…
Crystal meth forms the basis of fictional TV show Breaking Bad, but its effects are very real.
YVRBCbro
Crystal meth has at least two faces, in common with those people unfortunate enough to succumb to its charms, as these horrific before-and-after pics show. I’d like to look at the drug chemically, to shine…
TV portrayals of forensic science sometimes border on the criminal.
Derek Bridges
You’ve heard of the so-called CSI effect – the manner in which the exaggerated portrayal of forensic science on crime television shows such as CSI: Crime Scene Investigation influences public perception…
It’s time for Australian broadcasters to get smart about how they show live sport. If they don’t, we’ll go elsewhere.
Tim McFarlane
The Olympic Games are a fascinating yardstick for how much things have changed in the preceding four years. As Beijing’s fake fireworks beamed across our TV screens, Kevin Rudd was still Prime Minister…
The ghost-like image of Tupac captured the imagination of concert-goers … imagine if they’d seen a real hologram.
Last week the world watched on as a supposed hologram of the late rapper Tupac Shakur performed at the Coachella music festival in California. But was it a hologram? The term “hologram”, (“holos” meaning…
Tweet success and sweet success increasingly go hand in hand.
Scolirk
In the brave new world of contemporary sport-watching, the goalposts have moved. Watching the big game (once a simple matter of grabbing a beer and some chips and settling down in front of the television…
A rooftop ‘E-bomb’ could wreak havoc on critical infrastructure and electronic devices nearby.
Shane Brennan Productions
In tonight’s episode of NCIS: Los Angeles airing on Channel Ten, the program’s protagonists try to locate a stolen electromagnetic bomb before detonation. I know this, because I was the scientific advisor…
The Murdoch crisis in the UK raises many questions about media ownership in Australia.
AAP/William West
The Gillard Government’s media inquiry is to disregard the crucial issues of bias and concentration of media ownership, despite Bob Brown’s demands for wider terms of reference. This is, at best, misled…
Google CEO Eric Schmidt will discuss collaboration at the Edinburgh TV Festival.
Peter Parks/AFP
Google chairman Eric Schmidt will make history tomorrow as the first IT/internet executive to deliver the MacTaggart lecture at the Edinburgh International Television Festival. In doing so, he will face…
Bad behaviour isn’t cause to ignore these TV shows.
Flickr/Number Stumper
Television loves particular careers: detectives, lawyers, forensic experts and, perhaps most of all, doctors. Popular long-running shows such as House and Grey’s Anatomy join a long list of medical programs…
The AFL may bypass broadcasters altogether and stream games live to fans.
AAP
Interesting to read AFL CEO Andrew Demetriou’s thoughts on the next broadcasting rights deal, given that the league has yet to work out how to divvy up the money from the deal it recently negotiated with…