SBS wins hit fight
After months of speculation, SBS has confirmed it will air the much-anticipated – and by all accounts terrific – The Good Fight, the spin-off of The Good Wife. Recently renewed for a second season, The Good Fight takes up one year after the finale of the original, with Donald Trump being inaugurated to the presidency. Returning cast include Christine Baranski, Cush Jumbo, and Sarah Steele, while Rose Leslie (Game of Thrones), Delroy Lindo and Justin Bartha play new characters. The pick-up will come as a surprise to many, in particular programmers at Ten, which aired the critically acclaimed and highly awarded original show. It will premiere on August 2.
Destination punchline?
It could be a variation on the recurring joke about the Gympie Muster on Have You Been Paying Attention?, except it's not. According to a Daily Telegraph story, Destination NSW has expressed an interest in taking the annual Logie awards from Melbourne to regional towns including Dubbo and Tamworth. "We're proposing to take the glitz and glamour of the Logies beyond the fringes of the city and out to Tamworth in 2018 and then potentially Dubbo and Albury in 2019 and 2020," NSW Tourism Minister Adam Marshall is reported as saying, positing that it would be a boon to "food, wine, unique tourist attractions and country hospitality". Not to mention satirical TV shows.
Spoiler alert
Paparazzi shots of new bachelor Matty Johnson and his two final choices snapped during filming of The Bachelor finale in Thailand are doing the rounds of Australian media, prompting Ten to pre-emptively caution media organisations, including Fairfax, about possible ramifications if they are published. Ten successfully won an injunction against The Daily Mail in 2015 after the website published photos of Bachelorette Sam Frost with her chosen beau Sasha Mielczarek hours before the finale aired. The new season of The Bachelor is expected to debut in July. In a not-too-distant past, finales were filmed in the days prior to broadcast.
Shonda does Shakespeare
Prolific producer Shonda Rhimes, creator of buzz-worthy hits such as Grey's Anatomy and Scandal, has turned her attention to fair Verona and the star-crossed lovers Romeo and Juliet. Based on the 2013 book by Melinda Taub, Still Star-Crossed follows the stories of Juliet's cousin, Rosaline and Romeo's cousin Benvolio in what amounts to a melodramatic potboiler about sacrifice and devotion. The ABC Network show debuted on the Memorial Day holiday, which may account for less-than-stellar ratings, which Variety reports were lower than three other, recently cancelled shows.