Tag Archives: Season 6

Comedy, FRONT

Bitter Sweet for Schitt’s Creek’s Season 6

Schitt’s Creek (streaming on Netflix here in Australia and on ABC Comedy) has gradually become one of those word-of-mouth shows that has, rightfully so, over it’s current five season run, found itself holding that rare ‘iconic cult’ status among fans new and old with its quick wit script, stellar cast (including Eugene Levy, Catherine O’Hara, Dan Levy and Annie Murphy) strong character development and meme worthy moments that happen from literally every single episode. FYI, Schitt’s Creek has made my “best of” two years running in 2017 and 2018.

As we near towards the end of Season Five, co-creator and star Dan Levy announced that our beloved Rose family and residents of Schitt’s Creek will be back for a sixth season, but that sixth season will also the shows final one with Levy taking to his socials to make the announcement.

“We are very excited to announce that ‘Schitt’s Creek’ is coming back for a sixth season on CBC and Pop in 2020,” Levy posted. “We also wanted to take this opportunity to let you know that we have decided Season 6 will be our last. We are so grateful to have been given the time and creative freedom to tell this story in its totality, concluding with a final chapter that we had envisioned from the very beginning. It’s not lost on us what a rare privilege it is in this industry to get to decide when your show should take its final bow. We could never have dreamed that our fans would grow to love and care about these characters in the ways that you have.”

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The sixth and final season will see the show continue for another fourteen episodes due to premiere in 2020 in Canada and the US while for local Aussie fans, season five is due to hit Netflix sometime after it’s initial run on US and Canadian screens finishes up while the first three seasons are currently available on free-to-air via ABC Comedy

Side note, if Schitt’s Creek does not end with Alexis saying “Eww David!” then we riot! It’s only acceptable way to send off this amazing show!

Drama, Foxtel, FRONT, Local TV, Wentworth

How Wentworth Survived After Killing Its Queen Bea.

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It’s a risky move for a television show with such a staunch world wide fan base to kill off one of its main characters in an attempt to shake things up and introduce fresh blood and fresh stories yet oddly enough, despite the hark from fans claiming they’ll never watch again, the bold move usually works.  Homeland, House of Cards, Grey’s Anatomy, M*A*S*H and 24 are just some of success stories where killing off main cast have worked in their favor.

Wentworth, is the most recent entry into this world with the murder of main player Bea Smith (Danielle Cormack) at the end of the shows fourth season and questions quickly began to flit about how this show could survive without the driving force that Wentworth sprouted itself from.

The tour de force that was Bea Smith and the story around her propelled the show from a generic Prisoner remake into a modern day drama-come-love-story with an incredibly dedicated fan base, devastated their “Queen Bea” had been mercilessly slaughtered at the hands of series villain Joan “The Freak” Ferguson (Pamela Rabe) leaving her girlfriend Allie Novak (Kate Jenkinson) to pick up the pieces and exact her revenge.

This death, so surprising and utterly shocking, risked putting Wentworth fans off-side with the belief the show was supposed to be a telling of Bea’s entrance into prison and her rise to ‘top dog’ status and while, in point, we did get that tale, the killing off of a main character is still none the less a gusty move for any show.

What we didn’t notice however was the growing importance and build-up of the other characters within the show, each getting story lines that played quietly along the Bea Smith/Joan Ferguson/Allie Novak main story arc, all ready to take effect when the time was needed.

These stories involving Vera’s (Kate Atkinson) battle to maintain control of her governor position, Franky Doyle (Nicole da Silva) struggling to develop a healthy life outside of the Wentworth with girlfriend Bridget Westfall (Libby Tanner), the buddy buddy snitch snitch relationship between Sonia Stevens (Sigrid Thornton) and Liz Birdsworth (Celia Ireland) and current top dog Kaz Proctor (Tammy MacIntosh) feeling her grip loosen on her top dog status were all slowly bubbling along and came to flourish and hit the ground with both guns blazing when the time was right.

This move not only forced us to move on after Bea’s death but implemented a newer relationship with these characters on the back of strong writing and even stronger acting from the cast, allowing the show to thrive in a time of viewer devastation.  The fact that this death wasn’t used as a way to end an ugly love triangle or to move on a story arc that just wan’t working is even more testament to the writing on the show.

Bea’s death was personal but it was also a propeller, not just for the show but for each an every character within the world of Wentworth.  Killing off a Queen Bea can be dangerous but when done right, breathes new life into an already fascinating and intense show.

Wentworth continues Tuesday nights on Showcase and will see production begin this month on season six.

Comedy, Cougar Town

One Last Glass. Cougar Town’s Final Drink

It's a baby for Travis and Laurie in the final season on Cougar Town. Source: Provided
It’s a baby for Travis and Laurie in the final season on Cougar Town. Source: Provided

I’m having very bitter-sweet feels with the upcoming premiere of TBS’s Cougar Town season 6 (premiering Tuesday Jan 6th).  I’m extremely excited the show is back again yet incredibly sad to know it’s the final season.

Having followed Jules (Courteney Cox) and her gang of wine guzzling pals through each and every episode of all past five seasons, I’ve been lucky enough to enjoy the experience of watching a show grow into a very tight-knit, well written, well acted very funny comedy.

Sure, the title – Cougar Town – set a very steadfast path for the show and ultimately may have put viewers off (considering the term at the time was often coined in a highly negative tone) but those that stuck around got to witness this show about a 40-something divorced mother bursting back into the dating world with the help of her best friends mature into a show about a 40-something divorced mother navigate life and love with a teenage son with the help of her best friends and neighbors.

We’ve seen faces come and go – over sexual Barb Coman (Carolyn Hennesy) who I miss incredibly, Greyson’s (Josh Hopkins) first love interest Sarah (Sheryl Crow) who should have stuck around longer, Trav’s (Dan Byrd) teacher turned love interest for Bobby, Angie (Sarah Chalke) was a favorite too and last name first name Smith Frank (Ryan Devlin) I felt, was perfect for Laurie, and among those that have moved on, we have also found some that have stuck around. Nosy neighbor and he of the cul-de-sac playset Tom (Bob Clendenin) plus newly-weds Bonnie (Emily Wilson) and Jerry (Brad Morris) have been welcome additions along the way.

And now, season 6 is almost upon us.  There’s a time jump between the finale of season 5 and the start of 6 with Laurie’s (Busy Philipps) surprise pregnancy with Trav turning into a baby in the premiere episode.  There’s discussions between the new parents about baby names (Bug hookers anyone?) and Jules deals with becoming a first-time grandmother. And in sad news, Bobby Cobb (Brian Van Holt) takes a once-in-a-lifetime job opportunity that see’s him leave Gulfhaven very early into this last season plus something I had been recommending from the go – Ellie (Christa Miller) returns to work!  Can’t wait to see girl lawyer in action!

It’ll be easier coming into this final season knowing we’ll be given a proper send-off to our cul-de-sac gang and even though I don’t actually drink wine, i’ll still bring out my over-sized vase/wine glass and toast a cheers to the cast and crew on that final episode.

Cougar Town returns for it’s sixth and final season, Tuesday Jan 6th, 10:30pm on TBS.

ABC, Drama, FOX8, FRONT, Pretty Little Liars, TV

Pretty Little Liars Renewed for Seasons 6 and 7

Laura Leighton stars as Ashley Marin in Pretty Little Liars
Laura Leighton stars as Ashley Marin in Pretty Little Liars

Just before season 5 begins (there’s now less than an hour to the premiere) ABC Family have given their crazily popular teen drama the networks first ever multi-season pick-up announcing that Pretty Little Liars will be back for a sixth and seventh season which will see the show on our screens in 2016.

The show, which stars Troian Bellisario, Ashley Benson, Tyler Blackburn, Lucy Hale, Ian Harding, Laura Leighton, Shay Mitchell, Janel Parrish and Sasha Pieterse has been the networks number one series in total viewers and holds the record as the most-tweeted scripted series telecast of all time, it has generated the highest average number of tweets per episode (675,000) of any TV series during the 2013-2014 broadcast season.

Season 5 begins shortly (in the USA) and picks up right where season 4 left off with Ezra suffering a gun shot wound by A and Alison rejoining the girls while her mother was being buried alive.

Season 5 begins in Australia, Friday the 13th on FOX8.

Channel 10, Comedy, FOX, FRONT, TV

Does GLEE Still Have an Audience?

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Kurt (Chris Colfer) and Blaine (Darren Criss) Cuddle Up in the Glee Season 5 Finale -Source Provided

Does anyone still watch Glee anymore?  It’s a fair question to ask now that the phenomenon that was once everywhere and totally unavoidable has seemed to slowly fade away and die off.  The show that gave us the term ‘Gleeks’ and were constantly featured in the iTunes singles and album charts and even gave us a 3D concert movie now no longer seems to have the pulling power it once had.

In America, the season 5 finale drew only 1.9 million viewers (in it’s hey day – season 2, Glee was pulling in over 12 million viewers) and was even beaten by the finale of the CW’s The Originals.  So dire are the ratings that Fox Entertainment chairman KevinReilly stated that they plan to trim Glee’s final season from it’s standard 22 episodes to just 13.

Here in Australia, the musical comedy drew big ratings for network ten, but now, 5 seasons on, the show has been relegated to the channel’s second station – Eleven, with the season 5 finale airing tomorrow night, May 16th at 7:30pm.

Remember the last time Glee appeared in the iTunes charts?

So the question begs to be asked.  What happened?  Have audiences grown too old for the show?  Did Glee jump the shark somewhere along the way?  Could the death of star Cory Monteith play a part in people turning off?

Either way, die-hard Gleeks will be happy to know that they still have at a minimum another 13 episodes for the final season.

GLEE season 6 story line speculation

 

What do you think?  Is it time for Gleeks to close the curtain for the final time?

Comedy, FRONT, TV

More Wine Time for Cougar Town Fans

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It’s somewhat bitter-sweet news for Cougar Town fans with the announcement that TBS have renewed the Courteney Cox led comedy for a sixth bottle of wine –

But this sixth drink will be the shows last.

Complete sad face at an empty bottle right?

 

Like last season, Cougar Town’s sixth season will run for 13 episodes, which will put the show into the magical syndication number of 100 episodes!

Season six is expected to focus on Laurie (Busy Phillipps) and Travis (Dan Byrd) as they head into first time parenthood.

Cougar Town, Season 6 will air on TBS in January 2015

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Drama, Fantasy, Foxtel, FRONT, HBO, TV

Game of Thrones Renewed for Two More Years

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Considering Game of Thrones season 4 premiere episode broke a whole slew of records for not only HBO but also Foxtel’s Showcase channel, it’s no real surprise that Game of Thrones has officially been renewed for not only a fifth season, but a sixth as well.

Showrunners Dan Weiss and David Benioff have already signed on for two more seasons, and actors Michel Huisman and Nathalie Emmanuel were promoted to series regulars for Season 5.

The series of civil war, extreme weather and mythical creatures is shaping up to be the Time Warner Inc-owned network’s biggest show since The Sopranos.  After the slaughter of the main members of the Stark family in the “Red Wedding” episode (Myhsa) last season, the season four premiere saw the remaining Starks coming to terms with the deaths of their kin.  Arya Stark, played by 16-year-old Maisie Williams, took a dark, cruel turn as she exacted revenge for her family.

Game of Thrones airs Monday Nights 7:30pm on Showcase