I've received a breathless press release from Channel 9 announcing its line-up for the rest of the year. Highlights include:
+ Dramas The Strip (filmed on the Gold Coast) and Scorched;
+ Series 2 of reality show The Chopping Block;
+ A new series of Ramsay’s Kitchen Nightmares;
+ A renovation makeover show called Battle Fronts; and
+ The long-awaited (by fans, at least) final series of McLeod’s Daughters.
Enough to win the year from Channel 7, which has a little thing called the Olympics? Time will tell

I can visualise Sacha Baron Cohen in the title role of a planned Sherlock Holmes spoof, as reported here. However, the idea of Will Ferrell as Dr Watson leaves me cold. Surely it's a job for an older character actor.

A royal gong for Kylie Minogue; how did that happen? As an Australian, shouldn't she be content with one of those dinki-di Australian honours that nobody understands?
PS: I think she was cheated by just getting an OBE. She should be Dame Kylie.

Kate Ritchie, the longtime Home and Away star who is now on Sydney's Nova 96.9 radio station, is being touted as the star of a contemporary version of soapie Young Doctors to screen on Channel 9 next year. I do hope there's a role for ex-Idol judge Mark Holden, who was so convincing in the original series.
PS: What I'd really like to see are modern updates of Number 96 and The Box. Surely that's food for thought for the Ten Network!

"Far from being elitist, movie critics are actually a pretty good barometer of popular taste." That's the verdict from Slate.com's Erik Lundergaard. His exhaustive analysis shows that, despite popular opinion, movies the critics like usually perform very well at the box office. The reason some ordinary big-budget films do so well is that they are released on to more cinema screens than critically praised art-house films, which usually take more money per-screen.

Former Packer wife, model, swimsuit designer and Australia's Next Top Model host Jodhi Meares doesn't do live TV. I've read her excuses, but it seems to me that she's like a footy player who doesn't want to play in the grand final.

Alan Jones is not quitting; he is taking time off because he's been diagnosed with prostate cancer. More here. I don't agree with many of Jones's opinions, but I wish him well for a full recovery. I'm sure many pretenders to Jones's throne as king of Sydney radio will be disappointed that his announcement today was not that he was quitting his top-rating show on 2GB. The way things are going, he will outlast even perennial breakfast bridesmaid Kyle Sandilands.

Alan Jones, the undisputed king of Sydney radio, is expected to quit his gig at 2GB. If true, it's a good move to get out while you're on top - something John Laws must wish he had done.

I don't often agree with Andrew Bolt, but he is spot on when he says the proposal to name a West Australian performing arts centre after Heath Ledger is "cheap" and an attempt by WA premier Alan Carpenter to advertise himself. Ledger was a good actor, but on the screen not the stage. It's as inappropriate to name a theatre after him as it would be to name a football field after me.
PS: On a similar subject, when is Brisbane going to get a theatre named after Queensland Theatre Company founding artistic director Alan Edwards?

A Beatles interview that was recorded in 1964 and only ever aired in Scotland has resurfaced. It includes this revealing quote from Paul McCartney about the authorship of the band's songs:

"Normally we sit down and try and bash one out—but then again, there's no formula, because he [John Lennon] could come up with one one day, completely finished. We still say we both wrote it though."

Will Yoko Ono now be pursuing a bigger cut of the royalties?