When the Cheshire emerges...

So with Channel Nine bombarding us with ads for their new program schedule during the Olympics, my interest was taken. Although half have started, I thought I'd weigh in on how they might fare.

Big Brother

Well you all know where I stand with the return of the reality TV king, returning for the first series since I came of age. I don't think Nine have great production value overall but so far it's looking OK.

Underbelly: Badness



This has started already - and while I was excited for a new Underbelly series and also to see how Jonathan LaPaglia would fare as a bad-ass, I've decided to give it a miss. Just have too much going on right now. Plus LaPaglia doesn't look great on the ads (purely because of his character) - if I want to watch him I might as well watch The Slap again where he looked reeeeeally good.

Anger Management



Not a fan of Charlie Sheen or a watcher of Two and a Half Men, but really appreciated the first teaser ad where he took the mickey out of himself. He DID make the channel what it is (whatever that means for Nine), and he's clearly not losing (so that means he's wi..., geddit?) if he's back being paid a shitload for every episode of this show. I won't be watching.

House Husbands



I wouldn't mind giving this one a look actually, it sounds like a good concept. Great Australian cast and something of a dramedy that's making me think of the dads in What To Expect When You're Expecting.

Dallas



This is the one that intrigues me the most. I thought it was in vein of the remakes of 90210 and Melrose Place where they've just rehashed the same characters and stories. This will no doubt rehash some things too, but it's a continuation to focus on the descendants. I like that idea, and I like that Jesse Metcalfe's in it (the other guy's creepy looking, if he's not the really evil one that would weird a lot of people out).

I latched onto the other big event of the early 80s, Dynasty, for a time but never got onto the episodes of old from JR and the gang. I know about the whole 'who shot JR?' thing and how HUGE that was, and it turns out my parents were big fans and fully into it when that went down. Hilarious. Very curious to see how it'll rate, whether people will tune in to see where it goes.

***

Have you seen the American offerings in advance? Will you be watching or leaving Nine in the dumps?

I'm yet to watch the Closing Ceremony, although I'm excited to see the Spice Girls perform in the replay tonight. Not really one for watching concerts on TV (obviously it's not the same as being there) will stick this one out.

So to the home stretch.

Days 12-16

The last few days went by in a total blur. I remember...

We won a few more golds.

Hell yeah we did!



Wow - with my other fave, this is also one of the best photos of the Games.

Two more sailing golds, making the most interesting of trifectas for our country - not least because Channel 9 didn't have enough faith to have their own commentators down there so relied on the BBC, whose coverage I wish I could've tried elsewhere.



The gold we didn't expect in the canoe sprint - which I missed seeing The Sapphires... it was exciting though, that I found out about it and hung out for a replay later on. I saw all the other golds either live or the first replay after.

Steve Hooker and Matthew Mitcham came out to play really late. And crashed early.

Can't say much about this. Mitcham's miss in his signature dive was devastating, and while Hooker made his final it didn't matter because he didn't clear a jump. All the talk and not the walk. Comments made today that Hooker particularly was "a disappointment" I sadly agree with.

***

The coverage still managed to stab me and Australia in the back until the last minute.

Last night:

Channel 9‏@Channel9

If anyone has learned anything about me recently it's that I love sport. More as a spectator than a player (although the world game's what I play), and particularly a slave to the biggest events.
The Olympics is the ultimate. It's always captured me as something special, with the sports showcasing true patriotism and sportsmanship. London 2012's been an improvement on Beijing because of the time difference - I was working or at uni throughout the 2008 games which didn't help much. But while there have already been some great moments and I'm loving it, hasn't London served up its drama so far?...
The Opening Ceremony

Didn't watch it all in the end, although I saw highlights on TV. Woke up to have just missed Greece and then Australia walk into the stadium. While disappointed about that, I'm not really a stickler for watching it anyway. I never saw Nikki Webster's gig in full back in 2000.

I was really underwhelmed by the choice to have the kids light the cauldron. Initial reaction was along the lines of: "Really? That's it?" To be fair, no-one saw it coming. It was simple, and preluding to a new generation. But after first thinking it was a nice gesture I got really angry because they hadn't earned that right when there were so many athletes that could've done it. I think it's a copout that organisers pretty much said "OK, we can't pick from you seven so you each pick a kid and it'll be this awesome symbolic thing."

Not a fan.

Days 1-3

Day 4's started now, but so far Australia has, for our standards anyway, failed to deliver. Feels a bit like Beijing where we didn't find our ground for some time. Tomic and Stosur out in the tennis, ironically leaving only Hewitt in for the hunt. What a fighter he's ended up being. Cadel Evans out of the individual time trial from fatigue, two falls in our equestrian team...
Then the pool.


The men's 4x100 freestyle relay. They came fourth. OK, so that wasn't good when they were expected to win. But that's the luck of the draw. Then poor Matt Targett had to front up in the 9 studio TWICE to break it down. It was all the coverage could latch onto and it was way too much. They asked so much of him and yet he handled it so well. Meanwhile, glad Nick D'Arcy's on a plane home, Christian Sprenger's reaction to his silver win was so amazing (and unfortunately overshadowed by the relay bombout), while I felt for Emily Seebohm in the other extreme to coming second - because I would've blubbered exactly the same.

The coverage

This is really bad sportsmanship because I appreciate the challenges live TV would create, but really, I want to punch Leila McKinnon in the face. Her adlibbing is not up to scratch and watching in the mornings is awkward. The whole production's not up to scratch. Among numerous glitches we've already seen Alicia Coutts' semi-final race played instead of the final where she won bronze in the morning highlights (with McKinnon's "Oh it's the wrong race!" heard as it finished), her not being told what camera to look at... and then rehashing so much of the same thing when we could be seeing more live coverage, perhaps of a different sport. Like HANDBALL. Not everyone wants Australia to be in every single event shown.
I am glad James Brayshaw's got a gig with the rowing though. He and Giaan Rooney by the pool save this from 9 being completely boring. Oh, hang on, this is 9 we're talking about. Don't know if they can save themselves from that.

Damn, all I can think about is how much I'm missing Bruce McAvaney's calls right now.

Dear Diary,

I couldn't bring myself to write in here again before now, I'm still crushed by the Socceroos' loss. After my last entry I slept in my sorrows for five hours and still felt like absolute shite when I had to get out of bed. Yes, even though it was a public holiday I still had to get up. Can't believe they're considering suspending Tim Cahill for TWO games because of the red card. If anything I would think FIFA had the authority to REVOKE the decision because it was unwarranted. However, the upside to yesterday was that I managed to get myself on TV. TWO stations (Nine and Ten), one as a vox pop with a comment (thanks Nick lol) and one belting out the national anthem with scarf above head. Sound embarrassing? It still is. But for some reason I find myself hilarious. Should I be admitting that? Now I feel like a comedian should when they laugh at their own jokes: like a douche.

Last night I have to admit I hit struggle town. Now, lately I've been okay with handling long hours at work and everything else, but I think adrenaline has a lot to do with it. Watched bits and pieces of Netherlands v Denmark (the og was HILARIOUS, at least the guy himself saw the humour in it), but I was really keen on Italy v Paraguay at 4am. So after sitting in front of the lappy until midnight I got my shuteye.

First half, I was fine. Saw Paraguay's goal, the Italians were panicking and noticed they had a few younger players in their squad (although it's interesting that they're still a VERY strong side and it's the oldest in the Cup). Second half, kept drifting off... 'woke up' at one stage to see a 1-all scoreline, nodding in agreement. Next thing I notice it's NOT 3-1 in Italy's favour. Guess the images I saw of two extra goals being scored were figments of my imagination. My bad. Before I know it, it's 6am and Mum's asking me to take her to work. And so began my day.

Hours of sleep: 4. Have slight headache, but that could be from straining my brain at French class before. I couldn't remember what 'vous vous appelez comment' meant when she sprang that on me. It's only what we learnt in the first lesson... Idiot.

OMG, NEW ZEALAND JUST SCORED. WHAAAAT??? First goal for NZ at the Cup in 28 years apparently. First POINT in Cup history (think I heard that right). HA, they've drawn with Slovakia. Wow, that's fair impressive. Go All Whites. Ok, looks like I'm ending this on a good note. Ivory Coast and Portugal to come. Brazil later a possibility.