Trending at Mediaweek

1. News Ltd did a great job with its recent “Legends of the Small Screen” except for the DarylSomers interview.

He claimed he was “assisting the advisory board of the National Film and Sound Archive” and was “stunned to discover most episodes of The Mike Walsh Show, The Don Lane Show and In Melbourne Tonight were all gone”. The truth is that Daryl was on that board back in the 1980s and while they may have been hard to track down then, countless episodes of all shows have been saved and digitised with many being released on DVD. Luckily though, TV history continues to be preserved with Daryl “painstakingly cataloguing” Hey Hey It’s Saturday.

2. How shameless are those promos for Nine’s new cooking show TheHotPlate?

The couple interviews look like they were filmed for Seven’s MyKitchenRules and the flaming logo is scarily similar to Ten’s MasterChef. Let’s hope there’s something new being cooked up or TheHotPlate might be in for a cold wait.

[ot-video type=”youtube” url=”https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=alvpltpGcYg”]

3. Is there anything lazier on free-to-air than replaying “highlights” from The MorningShow, Mornings and Studio10 up against each other every Saturday morning?

Go live with new editions or don’t bother, otherwise we’ll assume it’s just another shameless grab to keep pushing those (clearly lucrative) infomercials.

4. If Paul Hogan really is working on a new comedy special, could he please do some skits involving politics?

Given so many politicians are ripe for send-up, you’d think that someone other than Shaun Micallef would be having a crack but even Open Slather is ignoring the possibilities (even though Shane Jacobsen could do a great Glenn Lazarus and Michael Veitch would kill it as Christopher Pyne). So come on, Hoges, have a go, ya mug (and if that doesn’t work, maybe A Current Affair needs to remember they discovered him first and maybe it’s time to start searching for the new Paul Hogan).

5. Over three Thursday nights, the ABC covered all bases with stunning documentaries Between a Frock and a Hard Place and Blood and Thunder: The Story of Alberts.

From the history of gay Sydney to the rock ‘n’ roll anthems of suburbia, there is no better example of diversity from our national broadcaster. But Aunty, could you please stop ruining every show’s ending with that annoying box that pops up advertising what’s coming next? Anyone engrossed in a show doesn’t appreciate being told it’s about to end so please stop ruining the mood.