Ferndale Homicide - Who killed Shortland Street's Ethan Pierce?

TVNZ have set up a new website to give Shortland Street fans something to keep them entertained and interested over the summer break.

The finals episode for the year on December 19th saw an unidentified character shoot villain Dr Ethan Pierce to death in his home.

The storyline will continue when the soap returns in late January, but until then interrogation videos will be released every couple of days on the Ferndale Homicide website. This makes me wonder whether the show will continue from the day of Ethan's death when it returns, or from the case having been run for a month.

Seven interrogation videos are set to be released at http://www.ferndalehomicide.co.nz/.

Who do YOU think shot Dr Ethan Pierce?

One News reporter Barbara Dreaver detained in Fiji

One News Pacific Correspondent Barbara Dreaver was detained at Nadi Airport in Fiji on Monday night when she flew in to cover the latest diplomatic row between Fiji and New Zealand.

Dreaver was detained while going through immigration and held in a detention centre overnight.

It is understood that she has now been put on a plane back to New Zealand.

"I'm not the first journalist to be sent away from Fiji and I guess I won't be the last," said Barbara Dreaver.

She had been sent to Fiji to cover Commodore Frank Bainimarama's threat to expel New Zealand's most senior diplomat in Fiji, acting high commissioner Caroline McDonald. Bainimarama has said this will happen if New Zealand does not grant a visa to the son of a top Fijian diplomat.

The only reason Barbara Dreaver was given for being detained was that she had been put on a watch list in July.

The rest of the TVNZ crew passed through immigration without any problems.

PRIME's Fifty Years of Television in NZ

NZ On Air has allocated over $1 million to Fifty Years of Television in New Zealand, a seven-part documentary series celebrating the growth of television in NZ since it's introduction in 1960.

The series will screen on PRIME in 2010.

"It's a comprehensive overview of how television has evolved in New Zealand. From news and information to drama and comedy, sport, music and variety shows – even Telethons! It's all there, and it's all us. Some of it will make us laugh, now, but there is also so very much to be proud of," says NZ On Air Chief Executive Jane Wrightson.

The documentary will be produced by John Bates for Cream Media Ltd.

Many bloggers have been saying that the fiftieth anniversary celebrations for NZ TV should be on TVNZ as it has been there for the whole ride, with PRIME only being around for 12 of the 50 years. However I tend to agree with the point that since most of the series will not involve PRIME the show will have less network bias.

TVNZ are likely to have their own celebration that focuses on their own achievements.

Dancing With The Stars 2009 contestants

The celebrities who will be competing on TV One's Dancing With The Stars in 2009 have been revealed as follows:

Tamati Coffey - Breakfast weather presenter.
Josh Kronfeld - ex-All Black and winner of two Celebrity Treasure Island competitions.
Geraldine Brophy - ex-Shortland Street actress (Moira) and star of Second Hand Wedding.
John Rowles - singer
Rebecca Hobbs - actress (Shortland Street, Burying Brian)
Chris Hobbs - actor (Dr Frank Malone on Shortland Street)
Lizzy Igasan - Captain of the Black Sticks
Barbara Kendall - Olympian boardsailer

Flashback: PG Tips tea ad

This advertisement is for PG Tips tea and screened in New Zealand sometime during the 1980s.

TVNZ launch new website

TVNZ have today launched a brand new website, which now attempts to make their homepage a fully fledged news service.

TVNZ states that today sees the "complete redesign of tvnz.co.nz", however it is so far only the news sections and the header that seem to have changed. The old pages for all of the TV channels have been squished under the new header, and the TVNZondemand section remains a completely separate website.

TVNZ say they will relaunch TVNZondemand later in 2009, presumably merging it with tvnz.co.nz.

While tvnz.co.nz now looks a lot flasher, I am so far finding it a bit harder to navigate than their old site. That isn't helped by the constant flashing changes in every section of their homepage!

It may not be what it could have been, but it is an improvement.

What do you guys think of the new TVNZ website?

TVNZ in trouble over Shortland Street sex scene

The Broadcasting Standards Authority has for the first time upheld a complaint against TV2 soap Shortland Street. The complaint was made by a Balclutha man over a homosexual romantic encounter.

The scene involved core character Gerald Tippet with old friend Lindsay in the bedroom attempting a sexual encounter before it ended in disaster.

The BSA describes the scene as: "The two characters were shown lying in bed talking, covered up to their bare chests by blankets. Lindsay went under the blankets and Gerald nervously asked him 'where are you going?'. Lindsay popped his head back up and replied 'it’s a surprise' before descending back under but came back up when a ticklish Gerald began giggling. After Lindsay went back under the blankets, Gerald moved suddenly and accidentally hit Lindsay in the face with his knee, giving him a bloody nose."

The complainant said that he would "have had enough of a problem explaining to younger kids what might just be happening under the bed clothes if that had been a heterosexual couple".

The BSA stated that any sexual content in children's viewing time should be discreet and able to go over the heads of children, but decided that this particular scene did not consider the interests of children by making the sexual nature so ambiguous.

They said that the fact it involved a homosexual encounter did not affect the ruling and that a similar scene involving a heterosexual couple would have been as equally inappropriate.

However, I can think of many Shortland Street heterosexual sex scenes that were equally as unambiguous. One example is a scene with Sarah Potts and Craig Valentine which I am pretty sure also saw one of the characters move their head down the others body. The problem is that scenes of a homosexual nature probably tend to upset more close minded people - the kind who are likely to complain.

TVNZ drew criticism in April this year for trying to get South Pacific Pictures to drop the homosexual storyline and asked for this particular scene to be re-edited.

However, TVNZ now supported Shortland Street and argued to the BSA that the nightly soap regularly dealt with adult themes, and they also contended the same scene with a heterosexual couple would not have breached broadcasting standards.

The BSA did not impose an order. It said that the decision clarified its expectations surrounding the broadcast of sexual content of this nature during the PGR time-band at 7pm.

Flashback: 3 News - 31st December 1999

This was the last 3 News bulletin before the new millenium. It was a special 90 minute edition and was presented by John Campbell and Carol Hirschfeld. This clip also features Carolyn Ryan (now known as Carolyn Robinson - TV3's weekend presenter).

Comedy Central to launch on Sky for April Fools

Sky is finally launching a dedicated comedy channel, which will be run by MTV Australia and New Zealand.

Comedy Central will launch on Sky channel 10 on April 1st 2009, and will run 24/7.

The new channel will feature animation, stand-up comedy, and sitcoms aimed at a demographic of 18-54. Some of the shows named for Comedy Central include South Park, The Colbert Report, Reno 911 and Chappelle’s Show.

Chris Keely General Manager for MTV Networks NZ said: "The launch of Comedy Central delivers good news for our NZ viewers and a business growth story which are currently are few and far between. With our platform partner Sky Television we are fortunate to be able to introduce the worlds top comedy brand to the NZ Market for the very first time."

The launch of Comedy Central will be managed Hilary Coe, former director of the NZ Comedy Festival.

Huge ratings growth for Sunrise

TV3 have reported really positive growth for Sunrise in the key demographics for the month of November.

In TV3's key demographic of 18-49 year-olds Sunrise's ratings increased by 24.1%. The figure was even higher in the Auckland Urban area for this demographic, with a growth of 31.8% recorded there.

In rival Breakfast's key demographic of 25-54 year-olds Sunrise recorded a ratings increase of 25.6%.

The introduction of Oliver Driver seems to be having a really positive effect for the show. It looks as though calls by some to cancel Sunrise may have been premature as ratings continue to grow.

Video: TVNZ Goodnight Kiwi and Cat 2008

Here is the 2008 return of The Kiwi and The Cat to TVNZ's branding. The first in the series of new idents broadcast at 7.30pm on 1 December 2008. Thanks to YouTube's azzabop!

Kiwi and Cat premiere tonight

We mentioned yesterday that the Goodnight Kiwi and his friend The Cat are returning to TVNZ for a series of Christmas and summer idents after a 14 year absence.

TVNZ have announced that the first of these idents will premiere on TV One and TV2 at 7.30pm tonight after Close Up and Shortland Street.

They will then appear regularly across all of TVNZ's channels - including TV One, TV2, TVNZ6 and TVNZ7.