Category: News

Shaun misses out on Logie nominations

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Shaun with his 2010 LogieIt’s nearly Logies time again, the annual Australian TV awards, with this year’s ceremony set for Sunday April 27th.

There may have been two shows on our TVs last year with Shaun in them, but neither Channel Ten or the ABC remembered to nominate Shaun for either Most Popular Presenter or Most Popular Male Actor, despite nearly every other personality being on the list. Furthermore, Mr & Mrs Murder was left off the list for Most Popular Drama!

So only Mad As Hell has a chance at a popular award, and only if you vote. Voting closes tomorrow (Sunday).

There’s still a chance either Mr & Mrs Murder or Mad As Hell could win a “most outstanding” award, which is industry voted. Last year, Mad As Hell was nominated but lost to… The X Factor?!

Shaun talks about getting Mad

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In an interview with David Knox, Shaun revealed a lot about what we can expect from Mad As Hell this year, plus a few other tidbits.

Firstly, there will be two seasons this year, each of 10 episodes.

His original plan for Mad As Hell was to push to 5 nights a week, similar to shows like The Daily Show with Jon Stewart (although that’s only four nights). And Shaun still wants to get there: “A proper, nightly show. And the idea is to eventually have it 2 nights a week, then 3 and then be on every night.”

This season, he’s looking forward to the new content provided by a change in government. “It’s great. If we had more of the same we’d be worried about repeating ourselves. But it’s a very different dynamic.”

Some favourite characters will return: “Roz Hammond seems to have the best hit ratio. She has lots of characters that everyone loves writing for.” But Shaun will continue to avoid any shots of the audience: “I loathe them.”

And there’s a few hidden gems in this season for fans like us: the humorous episode synopsis will continue, with inspiration from some Three Stooges episodes; plus the Micallef Tonight sign, saved from the old GTV9 building before it was demolished recently (or “burned down” as Shaun put it), will make a background appearance somewhere on the set.

Finally, he also confirmed that his decision to pursue two seasons of Mad As Hell this year has halted any chance of Mr & Mrs Murder returning, had Channel Ten been interested.

Mad As Hell returns Wednesday

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As many will already know, Mad As Hell is back from next week, the same time slot as last season – Wednesday 8pm on ABC1 (plus repeated throughout the week).

The cast and crew have already been back in the studio filming some sketches, which hopefully we’ll get to see throughout the season.

The ABC have also launched a new website for the show, although it seems like it’s more to suit their new style, as there’s actually less content on this one (so far).

In the meantime, strap yourself in for the Micallef train!

Shaun wins AACTA award

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The Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts (AACTA) (formerly known as the AFI), held their annual awards for 2014 on January 30th.

And the winner for Best Performance in a Television Comedy? Shaun Micallef (of course), for Mad As Hell. Apparently he gave a cheeky speech poking fun at his fellow nominees (but I’ve haven’t seen it yet).

And Kat Stewart, his Mr & Mrs Murder co-star, won Best Guest or Supporting Actress in a Television Drama for her role in Offspring.

Huzzah!

(You can now watch it at TenPlay; Shaun’s award is at 43:20 and he presents Best actress in a television drama at 52:00)

Mad As Hell back very soon

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The word is that the third season of Mad As Hell will be hitting our screens “sometime before March”, but we’re waiting on official confirmation from the ABC on the exact date (or even day of the week: will it stay on Wednesdays?!)

With the season starting so early in the year – could we expect a double-hit this year? I don’t know, I’m asking you!

 

Shaun summarises 2013

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As part of the ABC “New Years Eve 2013” broadcast, month-by-month highlights of 2013, separated into 4 parts, were scattered throughout the broadcast. And they were all voiced by Shaun, in his usual style, and were some of the funniest moments from the whole show.

You can watch the broadcast on iView until the 14th, the packages are placed: at the start, 41min,  1hr 16min and 2hr 15min.

Shaun also sent his personal New Years greetings whilst on his Mykonos holiday with Tony Jones.

New Book in 2014 – “The President’s Desk”?

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Shaun joined Tom and Alex on Triple J Breakfast today, and was his usual irreverent self, discussing his award wins, his impressions and the non-sequitur discussions on his Vega breakfast show.

He also revealed he has been working on a book in his break from Mad As Hell, which he revealed as being titled “The President’s Desk” (although this could be a red-herring). We should expect to see it hit real and virtual bookshelves next year! Hooray!

Shaun pens an “It’s a Date” story

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It’s a Date has been an eight part comedy series on the ABC focusing on couples and the rules of dating. Each episode has featured 2 couples, and revolved around topics such as “How Important Is Honesty On A First Date?”. It featured an all star cast, including Asher Keddie, Lisa McCune, Shane Jacobson and Ross Noble, and was created and primarily written by Peter Hellier.

In the last episode, “Does Age Matter?”, one of the stories focused on Michael and Alison, two med students who may be about to move to the next stage of their relationship, if it doesn’t all fall apart. And it was written by Shaun! Check out the episode on iView (for the next 2 weeks) – so I won’t spoil it here, but I will post in the comments…