Monday 5 October 2009

Out of the Blue back in Ten's schedule

After more than a month off Australian screens, Out of the Blue is returning to Ten.

From this week, viewers can catch up with the latest goings-on in Manly in a new 12pm (midday) Saturday slot. They will be showing double episodes which means getting through the action more quickly than before.

According to TV guides, Ten will be picking up where they left off, meaning that Episodes 68 and 69 will be on this Saturday. These episodes have already been uploaded onto Ten's website but later disappeared.

For those who've forgotten, the last thing that happened on Australian screens was Marcus threatening Poppy.

Wednesday 2 September 2009

Ten drops Out of the Blue from Sundays

TV Tonight is reporting that Ten has dropped Out of the Blue from its Sunday schedule.

The last time we updated on the ratings, the show had hit an unexpected high of 354,000, but since then the figures have started to drop again and last Sunday's episode was seen by only 216,000.

Ten's whole schedule underperformed on Sunday night and it now seems that its bosses have decided that big shows like Australian Idol need a better lead-in. Don't Forget The Lyrics will now take Out of the Blue's place in the schedule.

As we've said many times before (and Ten has admitted), the only reason the show stayed on air in Australia for so long was because of the local content credit Ten received for showing it. It's unclear whether the remaining episodes will ever be broadcast in Australia, but we'll keep you posted as we hear anything.

Over the next few days, our YouTube channel will continue to be updated with the most recent clips aired in Australia. The last clips we uploaded were the murderer reveal in full. Once it's clear what Ten plans to do about the show, a decision will be made about the future of the channel and whether clips unaired in Australia will be posted.

Monday 10 August 2009

Aussie ratings: The word of mouth effect?

The latest on the ratings for Out of the Blue on Ten in Australia...

On Sunday 26th July, Episode 61 was watched by 235,000 viewers. It saw the murder mystery come to a dramatic climax as Bec appeared to be framed for the crime, suspicion grew among the characters and Daniel and Detective Wilson finally discovered who the real killer was...

On Sunday 2 August, Episode 62 was watched by 292,000 viewers. This installment saw the murderer confess to everything after being caught out, reveal some earth-shattering secrets, get chased by the police and fall off a cliff. Talk about a bad day!

On Sunday 9 August (yesterday), Episode 63 was watched by 354,000 viewers - an increase of 62,000 week-on-week and also the highest figure the show has had since it moved to Sundays back in January. The previous Sunday high was 339,000 on June 21.

Anyone who knows much about Aussie ratings will know that the figures Out of the Blue is getting mean it's still extremely far from being a hit. However, the fact that the show can pick up viewers by word of mouth alone like this does say something about its quality. Also, Neighbours often drops below 700,000 for some of its episodes and that has TV ads, magazine and newspaper promotion, a regular slot, 5 episodes a week and a history spanning more than 20 years. Plus, it doesn't have Ten programmers coming out to declare that they're only broadcasting the show because they have to.

Of course, it wouldn't be a surprise if the ratings fell again over the next few weeks as the crippling effect of no promotion and ridiculous scheduling takes effect again. But still, we can't help but wonder - how much better would Out of the Blue be doing if it was given a decent slot and treatment???

Saturday 8 August 2009

Out of the Blue is all over for Fiver fans!

Fiver's screenings of Out of the Blue in the UK finally came to an end on Wednesday, meaning that the twists, turns, shocks and great storylines are now all over for the 'second generation' of British viewers.

With the show having been relegated to an early morning slot weeks earlier, it would have been easy for it to finish without anybody noticing or caring. However, the dramatic finale has once again left viewers desperate for more.

Since Wednesday, there's been a flurry of new signatures on the Save Out of the Blue Petition and Out of the Blue Second Series Petition, and their totals now stand at 325 and 432 respectively. If you haven't yet signed the petitions, please do so as it only takes a couple of minutes to add your support and it certainly can't do any harm. Additionally, if you have any family members or friends who enjoyed the show, encourage them to sign too!

Another thing worth doing is contacting the BBC to complain about their treatment of Out of the Blue as it was their fault that the show never built up an audience last year and the reason that there currently won't be a second series for the dramatic cliffhanger of episode 130 to be resolved.

The many comments on the petitions are worth a read because they demonstrate just how this show managed to grab viewers and get them completely hooked, even if only a few people were watching. However, Australian readers should be aware that the petition comments do contain spoilers.

Meanwhile, people have even been writing in to Teletext to find out what's going on with the show. Read the comments here.

Fans may now be split on whether it is worth keeping up the fight for more Out of the Blue. Certainly, it would be very surprising if more episodes were commissioned. However, it takes so little time to make your voice heard to the people who make the decisions, so here at this blog we're still encouraging people to do what they can.

Important links:

> Sign the Save Out of the Blue Petition


> Sign the Out of the Blue Second Series Petition

> Complain to the BBC

> Contact Five/Fiver to praise Out of the Blue

Saturday 1 August 2009

Charlotte Gregg in Packed To The Rafters

Charlotte Gregg (Tracy O'Donnell) is the latest Out of the Blue star to land a high-profile role on Australian television.

She'll be making a guest appearance in the next episode of hit comedy show Packed To The Rafters, which airs on the Seven network on Tuesday.

The news was revealed on Twitter by Charlotte's partner, Australian Idol winner Wes Carr. Apparently they'll both be "in the middle of Australia somewhere" when the episode airs, so they're looking for someone to tape it for them.

Meanwhile, Wes also used Twitter to plug this Sunday's episode of Out of the Blue, which sees the murderer finally revealed.

Samara Weaving rocks up in Summer Bay

Samara Weaving's (Kirsten Mulroney) arrival in Home and Away is finally here... for viewers in Australia, at least.

Her character Indigo is now on screens down under, but viewers in the UK will have to wait a little longer than usual as Five has now started a break from the show to avoid their transmissions getting any closer to those in Australia.

For now, British fans will have to make do with a picture from the What's On TV website. They reveal that Indigo is an unhappy teen who feels cut off from her friends back home - mainly because her mobile phone was confiscated by her parents following an unfortunate 500 dollar bill.

Meanwhile, Samara has given an interview to the Herald Sun, in which she discusses her acting ambitions, family life and famous uncle Hugo Weaving.

We first revealed Samara's new role in March. Her stint will run for five weeks.

Rescue Special Ops launch week round-up

It's been a big week this week for Rescue Special Ops ahead of its launch on the Nine network tomorrow (Sunday). As we've said many times now on this blog, it's the big new show from Julie McGauran (OOTB producer), which stars Katherine Hicks (Poppy Hammond).

Over the past week there's been plenty of coverage and interviews in the Australian media which have done a great job of promoting the show.

Here's some of the highlights:

  • Katherine Hicks was among the cast members who attended a launch party for the show this week. At the bash, Nine's head of drama paid tribute to the work of Julie McGauran.
  • The TV Tonight blog gave the show a very positive review, describing it as a "confidently woven piece that shines best in the danger zone".
  • The Sydney Morning Herald also praised Rescue Special Ops in a review, describing the first episode as "beautifully assembled" and crediting the "fine work of creator-writers Sarah Smith and Julie McGauran".
  • Show star Les Hill described Rescue Special Ops as "more real" than other shows on TV in an interview with Nine News.
  • Hill also gave interviews to The Herald and the Herald Sun.
  • Finally, other stars including Peter Phelps, Andrew Lees and Daniel Amalm gave their own promotional interviews for the show.
Rescue Special Ops launches on Sunday at 8.30pm on Nine.