AUS Television: Rake Returning for Season Two

In what is excellent news for me and every other Rake fan on the planet, ABC1 has confirmed a second season of the series has been commissioned.  Production will begin in late 2011.

In May, Rake star Richard Roxburgh won a Logie for Most Outstanding Actor for his work in the series.  Congratulations, Richard on the well-deserved win!

For more information:
Official ABC1 Site:  http://www.abc.net.au/tv/rake/
The Internet Movie Database:  http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1587000/
TV Rage:  http://tvrage.com/shows/id-26845

AUS Television: Offspring Returning for Season Three

The Ten Network recently announced that Offspring, the Australian drama starring Asher Keddie, Kat Stewart and Deborah Mailman has been picked up for a third season.  The show has consistently delivered strong ratings especially in the much desired 18-49 demographic.

Production on the third season will begin later this year.

You can read more on this exciting news either at Encore Magazine or Digital Spy:

Encore Magazine:  http://www.encoremagazine.com.au/offspring-announces-third-series-8834
Digital Spy:  http://www.digitalspy.com/australian-tv/news/a323942/offspring-to-return-for-third-season.html

Offspring airs Mondays at 8:30 p.m. on Ten Network.
Official Site:  http://ten.com.au/offspring.htm
The Internet Movie Database:  http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1530541/
TV Rage:  http://www.tvrage.com/shows/id-25992

AUS Television: Offspring, Episode 2.6

Offspring
Series Two, Episode Six
Original Air Date:  June 13, 2011

Jimmy and Tammy are going ahead with their plans to get married and Nina rallies the Proudman family together to be supportive of Jimmy.  However, things don't go exactly as planned and Jimmy receives some distressing news.  Billie, Mick and Andrew go forward with their plans.

Nina is elected to call Jimmy.  She leaves a message for him saying they want to work things out and asking him not to cut the family off.  Mick doesn't want to get involved in the situation with Jimmy, something Geraldine and Billie doesn't understand.

Nina enters a room of the hospital to find Patrick holding a towel to his bleeding face.  As she is tending to his injury, she asks how he got it and when he doesn't answer asks if it has something to do with his sister's situation.  They bicker lightly about their personality traits.

AUS Television: Offspring, Episode 2.5

Offspring
Series Two, Episode Five
Original Air Date:  June 6, 2011

Nina must deal with the situation with Fraser King but doesn't know how to go about it.  Billie and Mick have dinner with Andrew and the evening ends in disaster.  Jimmy learns how his entire family feels about Tammy and vows to marry her despite how they feel because he loves her.  Nina must make a decision about her relationship with Fraser.

Nina worries over Fraser's mistake and wonders if she's putting her feelings for him ahead of their professional relationship.  She sits in her car at work wondering how she will work through the situation when Patrick surprises her.  He asks about Fraser and she tells him she tried calling him three times last night as she would any student.  He asks if she wants him to take care of it but she says it's her responsibility.  When she arrives at the nurses desk, Cherie and Kim are talking about how excited they are about the Fundraising Ball.  Zara walks up and asks if Fraser is there yet.  As Patrick walks past, Zara asks if he will be coming to the Fundraising Ball and he replies he doesn't want to miss the drama and debauchery they'll be talking about tomorrow.  Clegg asks Nina for a word in his office.  He tells her they need to determine if Dr. King has what it takes to be a surgeon.  If he has Nina's confidence, he has Clegg's.

AUS Television: Offspring, Episode 2.4

Offspring
Series Two, Episode Four
Original Air Date:  May 30, 2011

Nina struggles with how she will work with Patrick but soon learns there is more to his situation than meets the eye.  Fraser makes a mistake at work that could prove fatal for a patient.  Billie awakens to find Mick isn't home and is worried about him.  Mick's brother Andrew comes back into his, and Billie's life.  Tammy makes things clear to Nina that whether the Proudman's like her or not, she's there to stay.

Nina is struggling with how she will be able to work with Patrick knowing he abuses his wife.  At work, Fraser tells Nina he wants to be with her when she speaks to Clegg about Patrick.  Nina goes to see Clegg alone and meets Patrick coming out of his office.  Once alone with Clegg, she informs him she and the other staff suspect Patrick of violence toward his wife, something Clegg insists didn't happen as Kate wasn't Patrick's wife, she is his sister and he's doing everything he can to get her away from her abuser.  Fraser and Kim get in Patrick's way in the hall as Nina and Clegg round the corner.  They call the two down and Clegg takes Patrick back to his office while Nina takes Kim, Zara and Fraser aside to tell them they were wrong about Patrick.  Jolene, a woman who has had four children at St. Francis, and is in for baby #5 has been admitted for delivery.  Patrick catches Nina and Fraser kissing in an empty room.  She and Fraser follow him and Nina apologizes for the previous misunderstanding.  The conversation moves from an easily accepted apology to Patrick feeling they are blaming him for the misunderstanding even thought they are just trying to understand the situation.

AUS Television: Offspring, Episode 2.3

Offspring
Series Two, Episode Three
Original Air Date:  May 23, 2011

Nina makes a decision about her relationship with Fraser King.  Billie and Mick move forward in their quest to have a child together only to receive heartbreaking news.  Cherie and Sam's relationship ends.  Darcy and Geraldine come to a decision about getting re-married.  Jimmy makes an announcement to his family.

Nina has a sex dream about Fraser King causing her to vow that she will nip the situation between the two of them in the bud because "she's a professional woman".  At work, they see the abusive husband Fraser had a run-in with previously with Dr. Clegg and wonder if his wife has been re-admitted or filed a complaint.  She talks to him about the kiss telling him she doesn't think it can happen again and that she did enjoy it and find him attractive and under different circumstances things could be different.  She explains she is in a position of responsibility and it is about priorities and timing.  He assures her he would never take advantage of his personal feelings for her in a professional context.  Later, while looking at an ultrasound, Nina tells Fraser she might have over thought the situation between them and suggests if they set a few boundaries they could go out for a drink or meal.  He starts to kiss her and she stops him saying it would be a date with boundaries.  She and Fraser have a quiet dinner together that leads to them going back to her apartment for a night together.  As Nina is enjoying the sight of a naked Fraser in her kitchen, Tammy and Jimmy, both naked, come downstairs.  Nina stands in front of Fraser and makes the introductions before they go back to her bedroom.  At work, Nina feels somewhat awkward with Fraser and he tells her he'll make sure it will stay just between them if that's what she wants.

AUS Television: Offspring, Episode 2.1 & 2.2

Offspring
Series Two, Episodes 2.1 & 2.2
Original Air Date:  May 16, 2011

Nina Proudman is living a happy life in Baltimore, Maryland when she receives word her father has had a heart attack.  She returns to Australia and finds she must make a choice about whether to return to the United States or remain in Australia with the family and job she loves.  Meanwhile, Billie and Mick are trying to have a baby but receive disheartening news.

Nina looks out upon Baltimore thinking of her life there thus far.  She's been in Baltimore for five months, had zero panic attacks, has delivered 68 babies, has 3 1/2 new friends, has had 3 flings with quite nice men (no major sparks but at least the men were unmarried and not her sisters ex and refrained from blowing anything up) and her sexual performance while in the U.S. is an 8.  She's grounded, centered and living in the moment confident she can hang onto it when she receives a text to ring home as her father has had a heart attack.

Television: Season Finale and Premier Dates

Here's a quick list of the finale and premier dates for the shows you can find on this blog.  The dates compiled here were found on TVRage.  If these dates change or when information currently unavailable becomes available this post will be updated as will the list on the left-hand side of the blog.

Finale Dates:
Blue Bloods (US):  Friday, 13th May, 2011
Breakout Kings (US):  Sunday, 29th May, 2011
Hawaii Five-O (US):  Monday, 16th May, 2011
Vampire Diaries (US):  Thursday, 12th May, 2011

Premier Dates:
Luther, Series 2 (UK):  Date currently unknown
Offspring, Series 2 (AUS):  Monday, 16th May, 2011
Rookie Blue, Season 2 (CDN):  Thursday, 23rd June, 2011
Tangle, Series 3 (AUS):  Date currently unknown
White Collar, Season 3 (US):  Tuesday, 7th June, 2011

Updated 25th May, 2011 to reflect new airdate for Rookie Blue.

AUS Television: Offspring Return Date

The much-anticipated second series premiere of Offspring will be on 16th May, 2011.

Time to mark your calendars for the return of Nina, "Doc Hottie", Billie, Mick and the rest of the cast we all love so much.  I know I have!

AUS Television: City Homicide, No Greater Honour, Part Six "Ghosts"

City Homicide
No Greater Honour, Part Six, Ghosts
Original Air Date:  March 30, 2011

Greg Stevens confessed to a hospice priest that he'd murdered three people before dying.  When Duncan and Rhys start investigating the claim, they find that the three names Stevens had written inside his Bible were connected.  The case takes a shocking turn when the evidence leads them to the son of the man Stevens used to work for.  Homicide isn't quite prepared for what they learn next.

Duncan and Rhys are called to the hospice bedside of a man, Greg Stevens, who has died from prostate cancer.  Not much is known about him other than he had lived on the streets before having been diagnosed with cancer.  Stevens told the hospice Father (Trent Baker) he had murdered three people but didn't give any additional details.  The Father gives them a small Bible Stevens carried around with him.  Inside the front cover he had written three names:  Mavis Simmons, Peter Faulkner and Ruth Benson.

Bernice Waverley fills Stanley and Jarvis in on Lombardi's plans for Homicide, which doesn't set too well with Stanley.  Bernice plans to tell those assigned to the squad that night that Friday will be the last day for Homicide.

AUS Television: City Homicide, No Greater Honour, Part Five "Last Man Standing"

City Homicide
No Greater Honour, Part Five, Last Man Standing
Original Air Date:  March 23, 2011

The murder of Dane Majors barrister and then the judge that presided over his trial bring the Homicide team to focus on him.  When both Alan Sullivan and Nick Buchanan are confirmed as missing, Homicide focus on Dane Majors.  With the possibility more people who were involved in the Majors case will become targets, Homicide must work fast to prevent anyone else from dying.  Can the team get to Nick before anything can happen to him and take a cold-blooded killer off the streets?  Meanwhile, Lombardi drops a bombshell on Bernice Waverley when he calls her to his office to discuss her budget proposal for Homicide.

Papers flutter to the floor from above and fall around the body of a slain barrister, Helen Jefferson.  Her robe is thrown from above and falls beside her body last.  As the other members of Homicide are tied up with the car bomb investigation, the murder of the barrister is being worked by Matt and Jennifer.  Matt explains that she fell from the same floor as the papers and her robe.  She has smeared blood on her face and Matt is guessing that was from being punched before being pushed over the railing.  She was murdered between 5:30 and 6:00 that morning.  The assailant checked out of the building using the barrister's swipe card which was then thrown in the bin outside.  Jennifer recognizes the name and, when she looks at a book lying amongst the papers around the barrister, finds that she was the barrister who defended Dane Majors.

AUS Television: City Homicide, No Greater Honour, Part Four "Tangled Web"

City Homicide
No Greater Honour, Part Four, Tangled Web
Original Air Date:  March 16, 2011

Dane Majors is released from prison with his fans and the media waiting on him at the gates.  Graham Proctor warns him as he's leaving that he won't get away with murdering his daughter.  Homicide officially re-opens the Tahnee Majors murder investigation.  Moments before Tim Padgett is killed by a car bomb in Alan Sullivans car, Sullivan gives Bernice information that was sent to the Tribune by Deep Throat, information which takes the case in a completely different direction.  Nick Buchanan becomes the next target in the case.

Both Dane Majors and Nick Buchanan awaken from their sleep with nightmares of the murder of Tahnee Majors (Saskaia Hampele).

Dane Majors walks out of prison a free man after his conviction was overturned.  He is met at the gates by the press, his supporters and even Nick Buchanan is standing with the crowd.  He challenges the authorities to bring on a re-trial because he will be found innocent because he is innocent.  Tahnee's father, Graham Proctor (Graeme Blundell) is there and calls Majors a liar, stating again that Dane killed his daughter.  Proctor warns Majors he won't get away with it.

AUS Television: City Homicide, No Greater Honour, Part Three: "If It Bleeds, It Leads"

City Homicide
No Greater Honour, Part Three, If It Bleeds, It Leads
Original Air Date:  March 9, 2011

The investigation into Juliette Gardiner's murder begins and Nick is quickly cleared as a suspect.  A new reporter takes her place at the Tribune on the Dean Major's story and it's clear things aren't going to stop with her death.  They only get worse.  Evidence points even more strongly to Nick's old mentor and friend, Bruce Dalton.  Could Dalton have planted the evidence against Dane Majors and, if he did, what will be the fallout of that information becoming known?

The homicide team arrives to the Juliette Gardiner scene.  Matt takes control ordering more officers to search every floor and the entrances be sealed off.  Nick tells Matt he's wasting his time as the shooter took off.  Matt wants them to work with uniforms as there isn't anything they can do until crime scene and pathology arrive.  Rhys leaves to speak with security as Nick is telling Matt the direction from which the shots came.  Jennifer asks Nick if he's alright.  He's been better then offers her his gun saying it hasn't been fired.  She puts the gun in an evidence bag as he offers information about Juliette meeting someone he believed to be a man (he didn't sight him) and there were shots (he says "a bunch"; four) as they started to talk.  The first shot took her down, a car door slammed, he ran down the ramp and he saw no one.  He tells them he wants his hands swabbed for residue.  He informs Matt that Juliette was working on a story that could have implicated him in corruption.

AUS Television: City Homicide, No Greater Honour, Part 2: Go Down Swinging

City Homicide
No Greater Honour, Part Two, Go Down Swinging
Original Air Date:  March 2, 2011

A man comes into Homicide about his missing wife and the case takes on a surprising twist when he identifies the Jane Doe in the morgue as the woman who was the lover of him and his wife from swingers parties they attended.  His wife is later found dead and the investigation leads the team into the swinger scene.  Were the women murdered because of their lifestyle choices or could there have been another motive and who had motive to kill them?  Meanwhile, Juliette Gardiner's continued digging into the Dane Majors case takes a deadly turn.

A distraught man, Drew Preston, comes into Homicide looking for his missing wife, Rebecca.  Stanley takes him aside to speak with him and is told that the man's wife disappeared three days ago.  He filed a missing persons report but he has a feeling something bad has happened.  Allie and Nick are at the morgue and the description the man gave matches a Jane Doe that was found the night before by the freeway.  Preston is brought into the room with Nick and Allie.  Allie takes him into the room with Ronnie and the body where he identifies the body not as his wife but as Sophie Mayne, a woman who was a lover to Preston and his wife.

AUS Television: City Homicide, No Greater Honour, Part 1: Reward Day

City Homicide
No Greater Honour, Part One:  Reward Day
Original Air Date:  February 23, 2011

The murder of a prison guard leads the team to a drug ring within the prison.  The list of suspects range from the usual to the surprising.  Meanwhile, Nick Buchanan meets up with Dane Majors, a man he put in prison for the murder of his wife.  There's clearly tension between the two but is it because Nick planted evidence against him like Majors claims or just because Majors got caught by Nick?  Matters are further complicated when a beautiful reporter wants to interview Nick about the Majors case for a story the Tribune is planning.  Will she uncover information that will destroy Nick?

Nick and Duncan interview Eugene Ashton (Stephen Pease), the survivor of two prison guards who were terrorized and shot.  One of the guards, Ben Kelton (Lloyd Bissell), died.  The prisoner they were transporting, Sean Lynch (Chris Weir) pulled a gun on the two guards not far from the prison.  Lynch forced them from the car at gunpoint and demanded the keys.  Ashton turned them over and while Lynch was distracted with them, Ben Kelton pulled his gun and was shot by Lynch in the chest.  Ashton turned to run and was shot in the arm.  He blacked out and when he came to, Lynch was gone and the car and Ben Kelton, dead, were still there.

AUS Television: City Homicide, Episode 5.2 "Secret Love"

City Homicide
Season Five, Episode Two, Secret Love
Original Air Date:  February 16, 2011

When the body of a young woman is found in an empty lot the case takes a troubling turn.  Numbers from a passage in the Quran are written on her forehead leading the team to believe her murder might have religions significance.  Could her brother have killed her for honour, was it her fiance or her ex-boyfriend who was still in love with her?

Rhys and Allie are called in to investigate the body of a young woman that is discovered in an empty lot.  She was stabbed with a seven-inch blade eleven times.  There's no identification with the body but the M.E. finds henna on the woman's hand and the numbers 24 30 31 written on her forehead.

Allie is able to identify the young woman.  She was an eighteen-year-old student from a Pakistani family, Marina Durrani.  Her mother reported her missing late on Sunday night, the same day the M.E. suspects she was killed.  Once he knows Marina is Muslim, Rhys Googles the numbers and finds a link to a passage from the Quran:  "And tell the believing women to subdue their eyes and maintain their chastity...".

AUS Television: City Homicide, Episode 5.1 "The Business of Fear"

City Homicide
Season Five, Episode One, The Business of Fear
Original Air Date:  February 9, 2011

The brutal murder of a customs broker leads the team to criminal activities at the waterfront.  Jarvis is asked by Stanley Wolfe to contact one of his old informants to assist in the investigation.  Things take a turn when the son of Jarvis' informant is pulled into the activities to save his family.  Meanwhile, Matt Ryan is awaiting approval of his transfer request.

Duncan and Jennifer are called in when a waterfront worker, Mervyn Mason, is found hanging from a forklift, having been run through by one of the blades.  Without the benefit of autopsy, forensics tells Jennifer they believe he was assaulted before the blade was rammed into his body.

Matt tells Stanley he was right when he told him it would be tough coming back to his old squad as sergeant.  He feels it might not have only been a tough choice but the wrong one.  Stanley wants him to give it a few months.  There's an opening in arson and Matt is hoping he can go there.  No one else knows about his transfer request and he'd like to keep it that way.

AUS Television: Rake, Episode 1.8 "R vs. Corella"

Rake
Season One, Episode Eight, R vs. Corella
Original Air Date:  December 23, 2010

When the body of a murdered man is discovered in a construction area thanks to a blown water main, Mick Corella is arrested and charged with the murder.  Mick wants Cleaver to defend him and sweetens the pot for Cleave by offering to make his $80,000 worth of gambling debts disappear and even give him a $25,000 line of credit.  Missy confesses her past to David with disastrous results.  Barney and Scarlett come to an understanding.  It's time for Cleaver to pay the piper in his tax case but things take a surprising twist.

The action (no pun intended) starts at "a social gathering" seven months ago.  Mick Corella (Richard Carter) is holding a swingers party.  At the party, his wife, Kirsty (Robyn Malcolm) sees an old acquaintance, Nigel Turner (Paul Gleeson).  The two strike up a casual  conversation (while still seeing to their current partners, of course).  It's clear Kirsty has had feelings for Nigel in the past, and still does.  Kirsty introduces Nigel to Mick and the two men even shake hands.  Nigel suggests he and Kirsty might be able to get together later to catch up on old times but she declines.  Later, in the kitchen, once they are no longer attending to anyone at the party, Kirsty and Nigel again meet and continue talking.  Nigel notices that Mick has an eye on them and the two old friends stop talking until he leaves.  Kirsty then tells Nigel she would like to catch up and gives him a number where he can reach her.

Fast forward seven months later.  A water main blows up in the area where a car park is being extended and a body is found.  The body of Nigel Turner.  A shopping receipt was left in a bag found with the body giving the police a time and date when the body was buried. 

AUS Television: "Tangle" Returning for 3rd Season

It was announced in mid-December 2010 that the Showtime Australia drama Tangle was renewed for a 3rd season.  It has been confirmed that Justine Clarke (Ally), Catherine McClements (Christine) and Kat Stewart (Nat) will be in the third season which will begin production in June of this year.

The new season will look at the separation of generations from one another and the stretching of family ties.

To read more about this exciting news, check out the TV Tonight article.

AUS Television: Second Season of "Spirited" Commissioned

This isn't "new" news but I've been meaning to post about it for a while now and have finally gotten the time to sit down and do a small write up for it.

In September of 2010, FOXTEL announced that pre-production was underway for a second season of the W/FOXTEL drama Spirited.  Shooting for the eight-episode second season begins in February of 2011.  Claudia Karvan, Matt King and Rodger Corser will all be returning for the sophomore season of the drama.

Spirited is a black comedy that follows Suzy Darling (Claudia Karvan), a dentist and mother of two young children who has left her husband, Steve Darling (Rodger Corser).  Suzy soon discovers that there is someone else living in her new home with her:  the ghost of a wild British punk rocker, Henry Mallet (Matt King). 

The first episode aired on 25th August, 2010 and the eighth, and final, episode of season one aired on 13th October, 2010.

This isn't a show that I blogged the during the first season, although I kept up with it every week.  I'm still considering whether to blog it when the new season starts so you might just see more about this show on this blog this year!

For further details on the second season commission of Spirited you can read the Throng.com.au article.

For more information on Spirited:
TVRage:  http://www.tvrage.com/shows/id-24222
The Internet Movie Database:  http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1524415/