TV over Christmas and January

mustang6000

This period has always been known as the 'silly season' as far as quality TV viewing went, as regards finding anything that had not been seen innumerable times over the years. That is where Netflix and similar streaming services are really worth what you pay, We often have several of our grandchildren staying with us over the school holidays ans Netflix in particular has been a great source of quality TV for them to watch after dinner & bath.

D_D

It really blows, I hate January as there is generally nothing to do as it is, and bad TV makes the day so much longer!

jtmorri

The quality or programmes from Christmas to January has always been poor and basically repeats or a season of a show that flopped, but the television station has the rights to it so run it during this period. I'm used to and resigned to the fact it happens each year. I wouldn't say that I don't care, however accept the pattern. There isn't anything on Netlflix or Stan that has gained our interest either. We will probably try to find some new comedy content somewhere. We don't watch Christmas carol presentations, so haven't missed that there was less content in regard to that this year. All they do is bring out old entertainers who are rather boring and I never enjoyed watching when they were in their hey day. No channel stands out with programming this year for Christmas to January. I mean, channel 10 is airing I'm a Celebrity, Get Me Out of Here which is rubbish reality tv.

21Teens

I haven't watched TV since 2009 when we got the legendary Netflix. There is enough content to last me my lifetime and my grandchildren's lifetime. Why both with 8 minute commercials and the other re-runs they show. The best thing about free TV is the tennis, that's Christmasy enough for me.

PhilR

10073

victory

I like entertainment in front of TV and I like the lifestyle shows escape to the country Australian design shows. ABC has some really good David Attenborough
environmental programs lately which were very educational.

SharonO

There is never much TV that's worth watching from December through to January. Also not enough Christmas themed shows/movies over this period. Remembering back to the days when I was a young child through to school age, leading up to Christmas and on Christmas day there were plenty of Christmas themed cartoons, movies and other TV shows. Now there is nothing. Christmas morning would wake up and would be able to watch Christmas themed cartoons/shows like Frosty the Snowman, Little Drummer Boy, etc. Why aren't these shown anymore and why no Christmas movies?

***Pottsy***

Apart from the thousands of ads telling what shows will be starting in the

***Pottsy***

Apart from the thousands of ads telling what shows will be starting in the

App keeps blocking my txt! Sorry. Something is broken here

tsre0001

If there is nothing we wish to watch, we just turn to Netflix

Emma_louise

Not that I’m one to watch tv over the Christmas break often, but I along with many don’t watch “mainstream” tv often at all these days, always more paid networks.

But from October onwards christmas type movies and shows start. There’s always too much of it in my opinion, like there’s only so many movies they play and they play the same ones every year.

Ruskie30748487

Yes, it's a real pain, having to wait til New Year sometime down the track, to watch my usual shows again. Boring as hell. Only good for kids.

wendel

Yes, most shows are on holiday til new year. Re runs of old shows. A lot of sport, tennis and cricket on, so most time is spent watching those. Don't have pay tv anymore, was getting expensive and so many things I wasn't interested in and had seen before.

David

We would have watched our normal content at our holiday destinations.
Since even that (normal content) was absent we spent more time with Netflix, and discovered new things to watch.
The content managers at FTA stations ARE in a blinding rut. They dont offer content that viewers want, and so viewing numbers are declining. SURPRISE!! As a TV antenna installer I have been forced into unemployment.

Ruskie30748487

Didn't watch any tv over the holidays, was away for all of it and stayed with family, never got to see any, too busy having fun.

wendel

Was away visiting families, so not much tv watching.

Gerry1945

TV is rubbish all the time the only channels to watch are SBS and ABC, all the others have adds at the same time so we cannot channel surf. And every 6 minutes which is damn annoying, I record everything now so I can fast forward all the ads. Repeats up to 20 times a month.

Virginia30241277

I just don't watch TV or I watch DVDs.

bj

As the holidays approach we seem to get re-run after re-run.. The good oldies must be almost worn out from re-use.
This time of year when its warm the garden calls, when I have a spare minute from weeding etc, I grabb a book + cool drink and sit in the shade. There is no guarantee I will get to read the book, I just may doze off or watch the busy bees. Love it.

marktime

Most certainly, though depending on which way you look at it ABC have made it easier to accept invitations for parties but also to stay longer at the pub.

Shiralee

I love the Christmas shows that come on in the lead up to Christmas. Quite often there are some new shows that are on that are Ok. I love the tennis too.

DAWN31952201

No real Christmas shows, and TV nowadays can be boring but I pay for online streaming for my kids

Sharelle31951583

I watch tv less and less and tend to stream most of my entertainment. I think a lot of people are moving this way.

Ashash

Honestly couldnt care any less

gtdeb

nothing on tv glad we got netflix

ausjenny

Its annoying that there are so few Christmas movies and shows on. Or if we get them they are the repeats of repeats. There are so many good Christmas movies coming out every year and we are lucky if we seem many. I know Channel 7 do show some at midday the couple of weeks leading up to Christmas if there is no cricket. I would love to see more even if its only on one of the extra channels. I also get annoyed that besides cricket, tennis and golf there is hardly anything to watch in January and if there is its all repeats (how many times do we need to rewatch NCIS, Law and Order etc). Thank goodness for dvd's and more sunlight to go outside.

Lee31358851

Tv over the festive period is awful - everything is repeats (often movies that have been repeated over and over and over . . . ). I don't think it needs to be any more Christmassy, they always have a few of the 'tried and true' Christmas favourites on. However, there is definitely a lack of religious programming, which would be nice given that is the reason behind it all. I guess you can't blame the networks for not putting too much effort into programming, as they assume that most people go away. We don't spend that much time watching tv anyway, so it's not a major issue for us.

jules 1

I DON'T think much of the TV programs, all we get is REPEATS REPEATS REPEATS. I find it an insult to the public's intelligence.!

Shocking TV, gone are the days when TV was really good entertainment.! It's all reality programs, cooking programs, renovating homes, so TIRED of all of this RUBBISH on TV, so off with the TV, and listen to some good music for a change!

Ellie 30656027

Christmas holiday period has all the repeats and shows no one wants to see again. Christmas week they have all the Christmas movies that they play year after year. Don’t usually watch a TV during this period I’m too busy. I guess TV networks know everyone is on holidays or overseas and so are they I guess.

bearman

I hate Christmas tv viewing where you have a choice of cricket/ golf/ car racing/ horse racing all on the same time on the major channels.
We get repeats of reality shows which no one watched the first time they were on and the same few blockbuster movie franchises repeated again and again. Such as every Harry Potter movie, Star trek franchise, Alien sequels and Ironman 1/2/3...…
I do like GEM because they have a run of hit movies on every night at the moment.

Shazia 31662317

Totally agree

Jen88

Taking a look at old comments from 2013 and it seems nothing has changed since then. There is not much on tv these days and agree it is rubbish especially during Xmas and January. There is not many christmas movies on as much as what they were years ago and the National lampoons Xmas vacation every year. It is time the channels comes up with new ideas.

Bigfoot

Dead right rainbow, the majority of TV programmes are absolute rubbish, particularly the cooking ones. I would like to see a really great variety show in the evenings (remember IMT, The Don Lane Show, The graham Kennedy show). They are old shows now but surely we have enough talent in Australia to make up a great show with up to date comedy etc. If the TV networks got rid of some of the shows that are so old. As an example only, channels to disappear should be like 72/3-92/3 and SBS food. I know that I am whinging but TV programmers give us all a break.

Skylark

They treat their viewers with contempt the whole year. More ads, louder ads ( don't BS me and say it's 'compression' or something) bigger and more obtrusive 'pop ups',
bigger and more obtrusive 'watermarks'. Crappy el cheapo 'reality' shows that are controlled, scripted, contrived, choreographed and edited all the way. We rarely watch any FTA television live anymore, anything, anything at all is recorded and watched later. And the networks wonder why they are losing the battle?

ozycash

Oh durrrrr it is actually Nov to Feb when there are no ratings it has been like that for over 50 years

socker

That's pretty obvious by the crap and repeats shown.

Jojo1

There is hardly anything worth watching on TV over Christmas and in January. Most of the shows I had already seen as well.
I think the networks do not bother very much with Christmassy programs a lot.

Layla31635591

Where I live, I believe that over the Christmas Holiday and January the TV Networks were somewhat 'Christmassy' however, not as much as they used to be, and I agree with you in saying that the the TV networks take little interest in how many people watch their shows.I think maybe channel 10 outdid the others with its programming.

kay62

tv over xmas is so boring

Jason31618287

all the TV networks is play the same shows over and over. And put shows on that are not good for mental health and this is not only the people on them but the watcher as well. As it does not show real life but an edited selling point.

vichic

The disrespect shown to viewers during that period is a disgrace. I watch a lot of tv & I say thank god for the apps & catch up tv, that’s made a huge difference.

Bigfoot

You are so right about the poor programmes shown over Xmas. My main gripe (A BIG ONE) is about how the commentators for the BBL, ODI and Test matches, just don't stop talking. They are like a load of Sparrows on a fence with their chatter. How can we make them SHUT UP??

Salvatore11

All the overseas Xmas programs are shown mid year here and everything else was a repeat of some tired old program or movie.

Salvatore11

All the overseas Xmas programs are shown mid year here and everything else was a repeat of some tired old program or movie.

smart_ass13

Yes noticed most of the shows we watch during the year were on break. We used the time to catch up on taped shows, went to movies and flicked through pay tv.

margcafe

Its summer time who sends time sitting on there! TV is rubbish during any part of the year nothing to watch only American crime shows and sports. Im not happy with channel 7 & 9. switching the cricket around this year channel 7 has control with to many sports and pay TV has taken most of the cricket matches, that l would have watched doing my doring ironing at night time. l have lost interest with cricket and my father would be disgusted if he was alive. I have never had pay TV and will never pay for watching cricket or any other form of shows. With extra channels you would think you would have a better selection to watch. If l wanted to relax at night l would put a DVD on to watch or listen to music..

Thomas31627453

I don't think they EVER care. I haven't watched free-to-air TV for about 8 months now and it's been a great relief from reality rubbish, repeats, sports programs and incessant adverts.

Multismudge

No I didn't find tv very "Christmassy" ... With all the repeats upon repeats is maddening.
Seems that there are no new movies or drama series that are worthwhile, even through the year.
Stupid repetitive "lifestyle" and "inane reality tv shows" === mind blowingly boring, I am not a peeking tom.
Seems "free to air" viewers are totally forgotten unless you are a sports fanatic!

ab

I don't think the 'couldn't careless' attitude about tv programing is limited to the Christmas/January period, I think it's become year round. Look the rubbish they're currently providing...Bachelor, Bachelorette, Naked Attraction, Blind Date, Married at First Sight, Back with the Ex, The Block, My kitchen rules, Master Chef, Bondi Ink, Shark Tank, something about ninjas, omg the list of crap goes on. And I don't know whether it's attended by people sincerely trying to win the prize or just searching for their 15 mins of fame. But for me, I fall back on my movie collection or record the movies played late a night.

riq

tv channels don't show uality programs over the break as sponsors are not prepared to spend the extra money!

Brenton31626193

I have not watched any free to air television in the last ten years. All my television is a mix of YouTube, twitch and Netflix.

jatz50

Usually the end of November is the end of any good shows on Pay TV. I get tired of watching reruns of tv shows that were on just the other day. Years ago, they used to put lovely Christmas stories on the tv but they don't seem to do that anymore. So glad we have Netflix to keep us entertained throughout the months now. So many good shows that can keep you going. Much better than Foxtel too.

GK31610191

Yes I agree

SahBear19

During this time of year, I binge watch TV shows on DVDs from the library, as well as watch movies I own or have borrowed from the library. During the year when all the good shows are on, I can only really do this on Friday nights and the weekend. So in a way I like that there’s nothing on TV as it frees up my time to watch something else, or do something else. But at other times of the day, watching TV can be boring during this time of year, especially when all the morning news shows are no longer on.

annie3

The quality of TV is not flash at the best of times but during the holiday period it is way worse and unless you are into cooking and reality shows and repeats of the same Xmas themed movies year after year it is a waste of time turning it on..I personally will be binge watching on Netflix,no ads,no buffering and a great selection to view.

mazzab2003

I totally agree with you.. Nothing worth watching at all.

super88

SBS &ABC seem to provide better programmes during this period. I am not a big fan of Christmas specials, new or old repeats. I do not have pay TV, but my smart TV gives me enough extra options.

Gerry1945

TV has turned into an advertising channel and repeats after repeats, also choreographed shows like Married at first sight and all those other boring renovation shows. Thank god for SBS and ABC that do not have these crap shows. Channel 10 the profile has 15 minutes or more of ads and promos, I no longer watch it. Advertising a form of bullying. I would still buy my normal items without advertising. Also advertising costs us the consumer 15% extra on what we buy. Cole's spends approx $200,000 per week on advertising and Woolworth's much more than that.

Murray

Show on over this period are very poor an i find mysrlf watch more movies or series on netflix an then get hooked an dont bother about shows i have been watching on main stream.

IsabelC

We don't watch free to air television, but if we did I wouldn't even bother over December/January. Everyone knows there is nothing much worth watching while the ratings aren't going.

Laura31399413

I love tv around Christmas because it is always cheesy Christmas that I love.

Jenny31376507

Over time I realise I watch the tv less. I not up to date with what’s on during the Christmas season but I remember enjoying watching tv during Christmas as a kid

LAVENDERLADYOZ

This was our first Christmas having pay tv and was glad to have it. Foxtel Arts had some great musicals - Jesus Christ Superstar I think Boxing Day and have discovered fantstics docos on Nat Geographic too. Also gives us time to watch DVDs abd things we have recorded as we finally have down time to enjoy them.

3lions

I think it is pretty obvious that TV networks are not interested, as you can tell by what they show over this period.
Even pay TV is no better. Then come end of January theybon all the new shows at the same time!
It's a joke? But will all the ads they play you can easily watch 2 shows at the same time.

petag

Fortunately we have Foxtel so there was something to watch. All my fav shows on free-to-air vanished so I have been catching up on shows that I didn’t have time to watch during the year. Not every one goes away or wants to watch sport.

Phoenix45

I am actually wondering at what point they do take interest in our viewing preferences? Free to air television is full of repeats. If you didn't watch the program during the week why would you want to watch a full day on the weekend?

jilln

It is the season of sport...tennis and cricket and I hate sport so not too much tv watching for me. Although I have managed to find a few programs that I missed during the year that have been repeated. The ABC comedy channel has been quite good.

sherry007

i thought the programs were poor not enough Christmas programs not enough good programs to watch.

Nefertari

I agree with the majority of the other comments...there is absolutely nothing worth watching at this time of year unless of course you don't mind repeats of the same old Xmas movie and repeats of decent tv shows that were shown throughout the year. The TV networks just don't seem to care about the viewing public's opinions !

gendan

I can't remember the last time I watched tv to be honest as far as regular free to air tv goes . If I watch anything it's just some documentary programs from YouTube. I have found life alot less stressful not watching all these drama shows and the news . I'm so much less stressed and care free and it's great I'll never go back

Goulah

It is very noticeable how uncaring they are of their viewers. This time of year there are many encores – never repeats – which try ones patience.

This happens every year with indifference on their behalf. The ABC is not quite as bad as the others but could still lift its game.

echo 01

At least we don't have to watch the crap (MKR,Bachaler,Get me out of here and the rest of the crapThe block etc.)

mausy

Yep, TV a bit crappy.. Good time to spend time outdoors.. TV off...

Sarah31343874

What's on tv doesn't fuss me much now that we have Netflix and other streaming apps.

MazzyJ

Every year at this time there is usually only crap on tv so it is very obvious tv networks don't care about people. I watch more dvd's over this time as I have had a gut full of shit shows like all the building and cooking shows and I can't stand any of the so called reality shows.
Only network that does any good is the Australian ABC they put on repeats of Doctor Who leading up to the Doctor Who Christmas special on boxing day.

annie

with the Christmas season coming the thought of not much being on TV is really bad.So with a family that loves watching sport on TV we will be watching the cricket ashes between Australia and England and the big Bash

KAREN TRELOAR

I find unless there is a new show there is absolutely nothing on TV over the holidays thank GOd for Netflicks.

AnxiousOne

I think that TV almost every day is complete rubbish, so much so, that I haven’t had a TV connected to anything since 2010.
And I don’t miss it one tiny bit.

Anonymous

I barely notice what’s on TV day to day with Netflix, Stan and other streaming options being so readily accessible however I find that I tune in more around the holiday periods because I quite enjoy the holiday based episodes of shows. Although that’s not just Christmas I tend to tune in more for Halloween aswell hoping for some Halloween specials.

joeoden

Always was terrible, then we tried pay TV but soon got sick of the 8 hour programming being repeated 3 times per day.
These days we just watch the news and current affairs on the free to air channels
All the other times we just select what we would like to watch from our downloaded library.

Annalise31163501

Especially during early january the TV is terrible! the only thing that's ever on is the tennis or some other sport as all the good ones take a break!!!

Annalise31163501

Especially during early january the TV is terrible! the only thing that's ever on is the tennis or some other sport as all the good ones take a break!!!

Nefertari

I've long thought that the networks just don't care what type of programs they screen during this time as most people are away on holidays.so I often find myself flicking between channels or else I stock up on Dvd's.

helen30692411

Well!! I am a TV watcher, and even though am retired and at home all the time, at Christmas get so sick of having sport on every Prime channel, not just one and leave the others free, but the same on each channel. Flick to another channel and either tennis, cricket or some other sport. Once upon a time when Austar was the pay tv, we used to put on movie channels for a couple of months to have something to watch but can't afford it now, so either record heaps of stuff in months early and watch it then. Also watch DVD's when needed. I love all the English Crime shows, but they get repeated too, so can only watch them so many times.

Mixxsteria

Omly ever watch the ABC but do not mind the repeats as often I have the tv on while I am busy doing other things just for company. Also use this time to catch up on recorded content, even pay tv is full of repeat programs all year round

Matthew31052265

I love it when the rating season ends, we get all the shows from my child hood coming on.

tRicci

as a single guy, I find that as I get older I tend not to watch tv as much. However over Christmas I think tv channels are just making the numbers up and as usual do not give a stuff what a viewer would watch. Sorry if this is too general.

frannymanny

I usually find Christmas programs sentimental and annoying. I do however like to binge on multiple episodes of my favorite golden oldies

Anonymous

Barely watch TV so I don't even notice it!

Thomas30903391

Agree, TV viewing over this period is very ordinary, just old re-runs etc, even very little Xmas shows/movies leading up to Xmas. Luckily I love sports and have Pay TV so there is a lot on with cricket, basketball, tennis etc. Seems the Xmas spirit on TV that I remember watching as a kid which builds the interest and excitement is no longer there, shame as I would like my kids to have that same experience I had.

helen30692411

I can't remember just know about the Christmas TV programmes, but I do know that my favourite channels are being taken over by all manner of sports. I watch prime and 7two, but sport is on both channels, can't they just pick one channel and be done with it. Yes, there are lots of people who like and inhale sport, but tennis, cricket all being televised at the same time!!! Yes we have Foxtel, which is a godsend sometimes. Otherwise have to record as much as we can to get over the boring holiday viewing....

Trisha 30587341

I do not like any of these shows some are repeats some are new but they don't appeal to me at all and some are just bad tv

dee

I do not go on holiday because of my medical condition and t.v. sadly is a big part of my life. Xmas time is a terrible time to watch t.v. if you do not like sport 24/7 and I think the stations should work out some way to remedy this. There are many people like me who use t.v. as a companion and need something they like not what is forced on them.

Khardankov

I can't stand television on a good day, let alone the holidays. There are so many good Australian stories to be told - doesn't have to be high-budget or anything - but the networks are just drowning us in the cranial tranquilisers that make up Reality TV. MKR, Married at First Sight, I'm a Celebrity Get Me Out of Here, et cetera, et cetera, ad nauseum. It is literally more entertaining to watch paint dry. So artificial, all of it - makes you think they engineer this absolute pig excrement as some sort of 1984-like social control mechanism. Surely they could make something decent for once.

Rambo09

There was nothing on except the big bash cricket or the tennis, all the tv shows were reruns and the movies were old or been replayed so many time you know every scene. The big bash was good, but they should have shown more of the women's games on the tv, as it would have been more entertaining than the reruns. There weren't too many Christmas movies on, just the main ones, like the Santa Claus and lampoons Christmas vacation. Didn't watch much of the tennis this year, not sure why, just didn't seem to be that interested in the tennis anymore.

Anonymous

With the Big Bash Cricket League on TV my TV didn't change from channel 10 over the holiday season. I am a big cricket fan, however, seeing advertisements it did look like the quality of all of the shows had declined. Personally, the holidays is the only spare time in my year that I get to spend watching tv. There is enough time for me to get committed to a show and then have to continue to watch it afterwards. However, the quality of shows is not as high and I just watch the big bash

Burnt Out Digger

Throughout the year, but especially over Xmas and New year, most of what we see on is aimed at the lowest common denominator and, thus, an insult to one's intelligence

rojonoho

TV is pathetic most of the time, ads every five minutes, programs repeated to often ,thank god for ABC.

archer

Archer says it was very poor and very annoying to not be able to find anything to watch. The only thing that's on is cricket

angry mum

Usually nothing worth watching on TV over the Christmas break. I record movies throughout the year and sit down, relax and watch them at this time of year.

mausy

Toooo busy, to be concerned about TV.. 'Christmassy' enough, sometimes might watch carols by candle light.. It's always the same stuff..

catho

LOL - maybe they are on holiday as well!! I don't watch anything live, it is all either delayed or recorded. I am using the holiday to catch up on my recordings.

Aliyaraya

I noticed that they always put crappy shows on over the Crhistmas break. Its definitely like they don't care what we watch at that time of the year. I just refuse to watch TV now and I really hate watching a movie and having an ad come on every 10 or so mins - really is annoying.

musicmum

Turn it off and enjoy the long days and get outside, even on those warm nights sit outside and watch the stars, failing this catch up on all those dvd's you been meaning to watch, your local library has heaps these days.

rob1

Actually they don't seem to take much interest in what people actually want to watch all year round, with the boom in streaming and illegal downloads people do not want to watch ads on free to air or cable, people seem to often like binge watching a series ...... none of this dumb "To Be Cntinued" next week crap. Also people want to watch current shows not stuff that is drip feed by free to air stations months later.

Kitkat*

Unfortunately I do not have TV at home

adelaidegirl

yes xmas time is the worst time for watching tv ,I feel so sorry for the elderly that have no choice but to watch whats on ,where others can afford to hire dvds or get Netflix.or one of the other networks thankyou.

KAREN TRELOAR

Yes I think I watch less TV at Christmas unless it is a Christmas show I love seeing an oldie but goodies.

col

It is all to do with seasons. In winter many more people stay home so the channels feed all the old crap. And some new crap. In summer people are likely to be out and so they try to entice you, with good viewing, to stay home.

Steve30342827

Don't typically bother with TV over that period. Either too busy or tired of the same old reruns. Don't have pay-TV (and don't care), so free-to-air is all we have. Would rather watch a DVD

Anonymous

I generally find Christmas themed tv shows are of a lower quality standard to regular programming. I usually watch more sports during this period.

spunky70

Ive noticed they dont care what is on. It's so boring trying to find something on tv. We usually get movies out over this time

spunky70

Ive noticed they dont care what is on. It's so boring trying to find something on tv. We usually get movies out over this time

frannymanny

Actually, I find that some of the golden oldies which are shown during this time are a pleasure to watch.

bpar

Over summer TV was filled with sports and programs that are repeats or unsuccessful in the ratings. It could not be used to entertain children because they would have become bored with it like everyone else.

Skylark

Apart from the cricket there was nothing to watch. Pretty much like the rest of the year. More free to air channels, yet less to watch.

Commerical TV can get (insert naughty potty word here!) The ads are louder & more intrusive, the pop ups get bigger & bigger, the content worse and worse.
The internet, Netflix, etc will kill commerical TV in the next decade. And I can't wait. Networks have treated the viewer with contempt for decades. Now that chicken is comming home to roost.And bite them hard.
Already we're watching more programes via youtube than we watch on free to air.

jen32

they don't bother tv is crap almost all summer if you don't like sport

Skylark

Commerical TV doesn't broadcast, it merely vomits rubbish. If it wasn't for SBS & ABC, I'd happily disconnect the aerial. We have more free to air channels and less to watch. As for the "Christmyth" programmes, thats just an excuse to air more tired old shows. Years ago, I'd start recording shows in October to last over
Christmyth. Now? I just hook the laptop to the TV and watch what I want, when I want. Screw the commerical networks, they have treated the viewers with contempt for too long, and its about to hurt them big time. Already, we watch more progamming via the 'net than commerical TV. Ch 7,9 &10 as we know them will be gone in 10 years.

Angieg

Christmas season tv viewing is terrible - it's a good time to watch a stack of DVD's and/or go to the cinema. Even better, to turn off the box all together and get out and about.

Robie

I now notice lately that the networks right through the year don't care what the viewer has to watch. There are some very good shows around, but there is a lot of bad shows, Repeats are very common, movies in particular, You see it on one channel and then it is on another channel a couple of weeks later. Then there are the infomercial channels , 24 hours a day, then you turn on the main stream stations and what do you get infomercials (eg Danoz etc), enough is enough. Main stream channels should not be allowed to have infomercial shows. Repeats should be cut right back ..

evilbarbi

i like it better in the holidays they put heaps more movies on during the week

Grazzle

All TV stations are concerned about is that their ratings are better than the next, they couldn't care less what the public want to watch/see, ratings are good on some stations in what ever they are telecasting because , I think the reason for this sometimes is because there is nothing else to watch on other stations, they are all telecasting rubbish, its just a case that this station is a little better than the next, even though it is still rubbish. I am over all the cooking shows, the renovating shows, the singing shows, the dancing shows, the footy shows, for heaven sake find something else you can bash the living daylights out of. Anyway that's my opinion

Skylark

Comerical TV is almost irrelevant these days. Netflix & the like will kill it in the next 20 years. I have no problem with that. We have been treated with contempt by them with louder & more frequent ads, and rubbish shows
Over "Christmyth" there's cricket, and I used to build up a bank of recorded shows to watch. These days we just hook the laptop to the TV & watch decent shows on youtube.
I'd take the aerial down if there wasn't SBS & ABC.

Anonymous

Old school movies during the day, movies that they have played year after year even played during the year. Kids movies galore which makes sense but seriously...when I send the kids to bed, it would be nice to watch something other than a kids xmas movie. Really is same old stuff, it's just a different year. It would be nice if they changed it up a little.

MrsPohara

I was so busy socializing all Christmas I didn't have time to watch the tv. It's always the same old stuff anyways.

Sessa

True most of our xmas shows are now mid year and even Foxtel are repeating there shows its almost like watching bold and the beautiful I always said u could watch the show once a month and still know what's going on normal TV is even repeating every so often so who is best really or should we pick up a book

Anonymous

well personally it doesn't mattter to much as to what is on tv.
just keep family favourites and old re-runs eg harry potter

s

Watch the shows you miss through out the year. As the networks repeat a lot of their shows over the Christmas and January break.
You can always tell when the ratings period starts, as the new shows start which sometimes the networks have been advertising for 3 months.

I think the networks do show a lot of Christmas shows prior and during the Christmas period.

Anonymous

I feel when every their is a public holiday be it Xmas or Easter the Network never show any good on T.V.
for example the last few Easter I have notices that the Network. Have show no stories about Jesus life. when I was kid we watch a movie about Jesus life every year. why don't they show movies like this to teach and show our younger view the life of Jesus.

connie

We were to busy going out enjoying the beautiful weather at the beach and when we got home the TV programs were fine

annie

there really is a lot of rubbish on TV over Christmas and New Year.We do not have Foxtel so we are inclined to watch a lot of sport that is shown on TV during the new year

goodles

as u said tv chanels don't care much what they put to air during the non rating period ,we usualy watch lots of dvd's & some of the repeats.

GiGi

as u said tv chanels don't care much what they put to air during the non rating period ,we usualy watch lots of dvd's & some of the repeats.

Same here. Apart from DVDs, we are blessed with different recordings that we have had, which we didn't have time to watch or just want to watch them again. In fact, Christmas and January have always been the best time for us to "clear" our recordings backlogs ;-)

sandy

I thought T.V. was shocking there were a lot of repeats for the 3rd & 4th time.
I gave up watching and decided to read instead

unibomba17

We watched Pay TV over the Xmas period. Its very disappointing that Free to air has such a lack of respect for its viewers by just filling slots with no thought.

possumko

As it happens every year, I tend to accumulate movies and shows I haven't had time on the the DVD Recorder and slowly work my way through these in December and January. I also pick up a few cheap DVDs and TV shows at the sales and watch these. I'm lucky in that I have a huge DVD collection and usually just select a few of my favourite movies to add to the mix. I also tend to spend more time on the computer at night during this silly season. I was disappointed with the ABC morning show in that they made no attempt with Christmas decorations. You would have had no idea it was the festive season on the ABC Morning News show. ABC and SBS had consistently reasonable programs and also some new ones to boot in this period. And if you are a sports fan there's always tennis, cricket and golf to fall back on!!

Helen

there was enough other stuff to do so it was not worth worrying about what was on. If I had time and there was something on I watched if there wasn't then a dvd was handy. TV always gets away with re-runs of old shows, sport and news so it is up to us to watch or switch off.

Libracat

I get really frustrated over the Christmas and New Year period with the dreadful programming on tv. I normally don't get a chance to watch tv at other times as I am working late afternoons and evenings, so really look forward to a chance to see some. However, the onslaught of "repeats" which even I have seen several times before is just awful!

renault

TV? what TV?. You don't have to worry about stuff like that when you're surfing in Brazil. The surf was good - thanks for asking.

Speaking of TV, did have a laptop and a WD drive with Revenge, Gruen Planet,
I-Carly, Treme, Spongebob and Mad Men. That's all you need and the BEST part is you don't have to put up with Tom Waterhouse.com.

Missed Sam Kekovich's Lambassador ads this year, so have to try and find them on youtube.

Don't complain about what's on TV - if you don't like it, switch it off and read, play Tiny Tower, or jump on the board and go for a paddle.

Come on in..................The water's fine.

alienmyst

I feel the asumption is that during this period in particular time of year most people are out socializing or doing other things rather then watching tv so the programmers put on all the low rating garbage and are not at all concerned about the rest of us who are at home. They put on garbage tv just to enrage us :-)

Sadieinoz

No I don't think it is as "Christmassy" as it once was except on the kids channels. We have pay TV so have a bit more choice but there is nothing really riveting on which is maybe just as well as you can go out and know you won't miss much. I do enjoy watching the cricket on free to air TV but apart from the news that's about it. Oh and old episodes of Countdown on Rage as they seem to do every year at this time. And Doctor Who, thanks ABC for not making us wait.

Maureen

Totally agree with the other replies - just rubbish on TV over the Christmas/Holiday period - way too many repeats & most of them are the same repeats EVERY year! Please, tv channels - give us a break & put on some decent programs. We either just switched off or watched DVD's :(

musicmum

Not all of us can afford Pay TV and not all of us can afford to go on holidays. Free to Air was just a re-run repeat of everything! I would start watching something then realize I had seen it,I must have said this at least 50 times during the 'holiday's'. We just turned off and enjoyed the warmer nights outside going for walks and watching a DVD(can borrow from the library these days). We also played board games which the kid's love. As for 'christmassy' things I think they are very boring,some of the shows were just extended adverts to buy more 'stuff' that won't be recycled but filling up land fill. The only channel that I could give a mention is ABC but even they had repeats. Try the new Indigenous TV some interesting watching there,very different.

smokie

Christmas always brings re-runs. What is disappointing is that they advertise new release shows and then it turns out to be a repeat. They don't even bother to run new movies.
I have pay tv but couldn't be bothered, they didn't really run new programs or movies until end of January. So still all repeats. Did manage to find one new show that I liked, but it only started last week. By the time I remember it's on, it's now up against a return to new episods of my other favourites. Can't keep taping things I never get around to watching.
Very disappointing

aseeker70

I agree with all of these comments, the content over the holiday season, Dec & Jan, is always garbage, there is either reruns galour or the cheapest programming from overseas. We do spend a lot of time out of the house with the kids during the day but at bight we like to relax and watch the box, but there was nothing worthwile to watch.

gradeawind

My movie collection received a heavy workout over christmas due to all the shows going off the air or playing repeats. When in a lot of cases we are so far behind America and England I don't know why there can't show new series of even programs which are not usually shown on Australian TV.

robby2

I was sick of all the reruns

Captured

I'm not too worried about the lack of interesting viewing.
The TV is usually on for ABC2 or ABC3 for the kids, or the digital channels at night. I enjoyed watching the documentaries on ABC and SBS, the cooking shows gave me a bit of inspiration. I find easy to not miss TV if nothing better is on, i can always go online, go out to a park or for a drive, listen to music, etc.

hoppy55555

Is it really any choice what is on TV.You need to ask if you want,to be informed or is it just noise in the background.What some people injoy.Other people might look at in disgust.Some other people may have no choice.What about the lonely people that no one cares about.At least some can have noise where they are.Then there are also some people whom are disabled.Pay TV is sometimes better than free to air,But not always.

Di

agree whole heartily. load of rubbish

David W

We watched very little, but did watch Downton Abbey Christmas special obtained online and there was nothing Christmassy about it, without letting the cat out to those watching it on TV it was rather overly dramatic.

possumko

We watched very little, but did watch Downton Abbey Christmas special obtained online and there was nothing Christmassy about it, without letting the cat out to those watching it on TV it was...

Was this the Christmas Special that came at the end of series two? Channel 7 in Australia showed this one at the end of Series Two as a bonus 2 hour showing of Downton Abbey last year. Or is there another Christmas Special after Series 3 which is about to start in Australia?

kiwinutter

Don't have TV :)

ironside

pathetic

ironside

Pathetic

Fluffy

Hi, Rainbow

I know that over the Christmas period there wasn't much on, it felt like the T.V channels weren't interested in keeping the viewers entertained at all, and as for the usual airing of what each city did for new years, there was nothing a quick count down and that was it, no showing of the cities bringing in the new years in at all.

That was really poor everybody likes this and it's what we all stay up for.

brodders

There were too many repeats even on Pay TV ! We watched a lot of dvd's !

Multismudge

the hours over Christmas and New Year was quite "interesting", that we people of Australia are treated to inane, mundane crap.
I do love the old tv shows - but when thay have been aired over 100 times - gets a bit boring.
When you know that there have been lots and lots of "new" shows over 1,5, 10, years. Just cannot understand why we keep getting repeat after repeat.
Is it laziness on the part of the programmer, is it to do with licensing of particular program or the cost of ads at any time. What is the drama?
When tv channels keep showing the same piece of film from the news you tend to not want to see it. They have to keep updating to keep your interest or we turn it off. The floods, earthquakes, shootings, fires (and so much more) they just keep using same footage. EVEN channel ABC 24 .. most disappointed!
WE WANT UPDATED NEWS.. not rehash! from all channels of communication , radio, tv, newspapers, internet.
on that cheery note :
HAPPY AUSTRALIA DAY ..... every-one.

shazzalee60

Tv at Christmas is basically awful which is why we Have pay TV! I like that we can dictate what we watch when rather than relying on the TV moguls who want to feed us whatever they have bargained for cheaply from the overseas networks! We are all grown ups in Australia now and we no longer need to have the MORE EDUCATED and SOPHISTICATED programmers decide our tv viewing for us!

mapache

I usually am quite busy before Christmas so don't get to watch a lot, but i get fed up with re-runs of shows. I will often watch a show until the re-runs star then I get bored and don't bother with the new series whenever it starts. there were a couple of shows I was able to watch over the holidays but again don't like the re-runs. Also get weary of sport on TV if I enjoy a spectator sport I need to see it live and can't watch on TV. What I cannot understand is when TV station has multiple channels available why do they show the same thing on all of them. Those are the stations I don't want to watch. SBS has been my preferred channel over the holiday period.

Bobbert87

Way too much sport over the holiday's, and not enough movies especially more in the evenings when winding down the kids. Not that I have any. But have had family and friends mention this.

I don't watch much TV during this period time of the year. More rent out movies or watch from DVD collection.

I didn't actually find a lot of Christmas stuff being show. This would have been awesome to show a christmas movie each night of the week with a couple on the weekends per say.

Didn't find it at all Christmas / Christmas Season.
As for most of us it's when we are full-time and work with only having public holidays off.

So my opinions is that this time of year there is totally a load of rubbish on our screens.

Belanna

I didn't bother with free to air tv - I just watch channel BT.......

simla

I found the 'Christmasie ' programs not quite as bad as usual. Mind you, nothing to write hone about either. Also, there was a lot of repeats on most free to air channels. I find that, as I don't have children, and it's school holidays, there is always a lot of children's programs, and that's normal at this time of the year.

gaygay55

It's the same every year so we should be used to it by now. I have pay TV so flick between the two. Yesterday I went back in time and watched the Beverley Hillbillies. If nothing is on I go out into the garden or do something else around the place.

Peppers

Total rubbish, morning, noon and night. So many old repeated several times movies. BORINGGGGGGGGGGG!!!!!!

Nic_1103

Christmas TV is shocking. The same thing, the same shows, every year. The only thing I look forward to on the box when the festive period rolls around is how many films out of my personal movie collection I can watch during this time.

Nic_1103

Christmas TV is shocking. The same thing, the same shows, every year. The only thing I look forward to on the box when the festive period rolls around is how many films out of my personal movie collection I can watch during this time.

Nic_1103

Christmas TV is absolutely shocking. It's the same thing every year. The only thing I look forward to on the box when this time rolls around is how many films out of my DVD collection can I watch over the festive period.

Nic_1103

Christmas TV is absolutely shocking. It's the same thing every year. The only thing I look forward to on the box when this time rolls around is how many films out of my DVD collection can I watch over the festive period.

Nic_1103

Christmas TV is absolutely shocking. It's the same thing every year. The only thing I look forward to on the box when this time rolls around is how many films out of my DVD collection can I watch over the festive period.

HopeTN

I didn't watch tv over this period at all, so I don't really know what was on. In the past though I've been disappointed, there always seem to be the same things on year after year.

PukPuk

The boring TV period is a bonus for me. I have two foxtel units recording various programs / series so when it stops recording I get a chance to catch up and clear some disc space.

cazzie

Rubbish rubbish and more rubbish and if your not sports interested more rubbish its the same every year. Who ever does the programming is incompetent I'm sure they have much better shows to refer back to and repeat, but instead it's trash no station was better than the other its time for catch up past tv. videos ect.

ninna

I am not impressed by what was available over Xmas here as we had extreme heat & fires so we stayed indoors, I rarely bother with free TV channels now & prefer Pay TV. The amount of ads & telemarketing they have on free to air TV now is disgusting & takes up too much viewing time. Too many old repeats over & over is becoming boring & I didn't see much Christmas content on any channels.

Ingi

I have found that over the decades it has got progressively worse, repeats after repeats, week in, week out, we don't have pay TV as we are pensioners and cannot afford that luxury, the news is always depressing, too many cooking shows, prefer the old fashioned British humour, comedy to that of CSI, murder this and murder that, let's go back and start afresh.

gjcooper1960

It was rubbish. Re-watched some DVD's and read some books.

mumby

I am so tired of the repeats we keep getting, and not just repeated once but again and again. We have paid TV but I swear there getting just as bad,and the amount of ads is just ridiculous. I always thought we had paid tv to avoid all the ads and repeats.

EGirl76

I don't watch a load of TV, but I tend to gravitate towards Channel 10 for the most part. I really enjoyed Wedding Band, but I've just found out it's been cancelled in the US, although it rated well here. I don't mind re-runs and so forth - I enjoy shows like NCIS and NCIS: LA, plus Law and Order: SVU, so it doesn't bother me to watch them again. I can get on my exercise bike and just watch without having to think too much. :-)

saints

I always enjoy watching sport so I suppose I am lucky in that regard. Other programming was very ordinary. I do have Pay TV and sometimes you can find something decent to watch.

Marivig

We do not have pay TV, so we tried to find something worthwhile to watch, there was an absolute load of rubbish, repeats and films shown many times before, do they not realise. not everyone goes away for Christmas, there are some of us, that stay at home to relax and want to watch decent TV programmes over Christmas. I am originally from the UK, where they show lots of festive TV shows and new films,
I do not want to pay for Pay TV so it would be great if the programmers thought of the ones that stayed at home over Christmas.

stinger

Summer is a time for sport and the odd bit of brainless television, which you could take or leave. Must admit I enjoyed the wedding band and apart from that read books, interacted with people and watched sport, although the network product placements are becoming onerous (more).

Goulah

Thank heavens for friends lending me DVDs. I am not sure if I should admit this in public though - I watched "Charmed", "JAG" and McGuyver.

It is not surprising to hear various television stations are not doing too well when they program what the public does not want.

Jude

Im quite happy at this time to catch up on all my shows i tape. I still found there was shows i was interested in but this week there's only cricket and tennis so can't wait for my favourite shows to start again.

Susiebe

As always, there was absolutely nothing of interest or significance and no real entertainment over the Christmas, January season. We seem to get repeats of old shows which we have seen time and time again. Might as well forget about enjoyable movies - all I can remember being programmed were replays of all the James Bond Movies - boring after a while! There's really no point in having a television during this period - a waste of time.

MissLizzie

I recently received a set top box which has increased the number of free to air channels that I can access. Yes, the programming is not that great. Yes, there are repeats.
Sometimes the repeats include episodes that I have missed. Sometimes they are just worth watching again - some shows are that good. Which shows these are, if any, is very subjective.
The ABC and SBS did show some new and interesting (to me, at least) shows.

goanna

At times I wonder why I even bought a TV because all the shows over Christmas were boring old repeats. Come on Australia we can do better than that. We're not back in the 1950s, so get real and give us some interesting programs to watch.

marcia1945

It has been absolutly dreadful viewing untill the cricket and the tennis came on we have been turning the TV off and turning on the radio, my husband and I are elderly and enjoy sitting up late to watch our favourite shows but once the ratings go off for the year they don't care what they put on even the free to air is dreadful repeats of repeats. My husband has looked just about every add on Ebay these last couple of months,(punish yourself) I will be glad when we get into the new season, having said the tennis is hotting up for the next couple of days. <3

purplecarol

Yes I do notice the lack of TV content over the holidays, we were away, so it did not bother me. I particularly HATE all the sport over summer, its disgusting! I record everything and watch TV that way so I always have something to watch and I dont have to suffer through the ads.

wrighty

yeah ..full of repeats and either the cricket or tennis there was a bit of xmas stuff but free to air just dont give a shit really!!

snowballs

We have found that their has been very little to watch , But have been able to watch all the programs that we have recorded over the last few months befor christmas as the programs that they put on was all repeats of repeats

teha

it was hard to watch tv all you got was old replay of shows or sport .i have just enough of tv the should keep up with the times and put better shows on not every one has money and can go on holidays at xmas and it was way to hot out side to go places ,so the .dvd got a good workout

Moi

This happens to be a 'pet' subject with me!
I totally HATE that television (anything worth watching!) ends way before the Christmas period!
I REALLY HATE that the television channels PRESUME that everyone either has children or that they are going away!
It is SO RIDICULOUS!! It should be the SAME - all year!! When there is a movie to watch it is always one of about a half a dozen, which the channels seem to think their viewers would like to watch again and again!
Do they think we are all suffering from Altzhiemers!! There are literally thousands and thousands of great movies floating around!! PLEASE TELEVISION STATIONS - CHOOSE A THOUSAND MORE TO SHOW YOUR AUDIENCES!! I for one, would be so very grateful that I would probably have 'wet things!' , running down my face!! ����
This last Christmas, in particular I would have done anything to watch something decent - (I love Escape to The Country etc.) I also very much LOVE NON- VIOLENT AND NON ALIEN movies, which seems to be the choice by the stations if they do happen to remember to show a movie! WHY- to see that type of substance, all one has to do is watch the News!!
The reason, I mentioned this last Christmas and still now, is because my last surviving son, out of three, has a Terminal Brain Tumour and he went into Hospital the day after Christmas for more surgery!! I was soooo stressed! How good it would have been to be able to come home from ICU, sit down and with the help of something lovely and relaxing on television, just calm down a little!
I get so angry - we have so many channels now, however all this has achieved is more really BAD TELEVISION VIEWING FOR THE GENERAL PUBLIC!! E.G not everyone loves to watch The Tennis, Cycling, The Cricket etc!!
I wish we could all do something to make them all make a HUGE CHANGE - NANETTE

Moi

This happens to be a 'pet' subject with me!
I totally HATE that television (anything worth watching!) ends way before the Christmas period!
I REALLY HATE that the television channels...

Moi

This happens to be a 'pet' subject with me!
I totally HATE that television (anything worth watching!) ends way before the Christmas period!
I REALLY HATE that the television channels...

petag

At least ABC and SBS had a few programs on offer but it is expected that the channels show repeats at this time of the year. Fortunately I have Pay TV and have been able to use the time to catch up on the programs that I have recorded! DVDs are another option.

I am not really interested in Christmas programs - because we are out of sync with the US we get to see these seasonal programs at different times.

Arjay

Why only during Christmas? Most times they only run repeats of repeats and then don't even finish the series before going back to previous episodes! TV Programming is disgusting.

BJ

Absolutely appalling programming. Repeats and more repeats, second rate shows and all this at a time when most people want to watch tv. DVDs come into their own and I'm sure video shops do well. It might be 'free to air' but hardly worth watching apart from news and current affairs.

dhey

not much
but dont have paid tv and not close to video stores makes for a lot of night time reading

wendel

Didn't bother me, watched some DVD's and some usual programs I do enjoy watching during day time. Don't really worry about watching Xmassy shows or whatever. Most are old repeats anyway. But can imagine would upset some people.

delilah

Constant repeats, and the same shows on three different channels have driven me to start a DVD collection. I'm not very impressed with any of the free to air or pay tv channels anymore.

auzie3136

Yes Rainbow it was the same old christmas programing loads of repeats that we have every year nothing has changed. Not everyone goes away at christmas and not everone has the luxury of paid TV. The TV content was atrocious,boring and a lot of it was pure American rubbish fit only for idiots. If you sat up till the wee small hours sometimes there was a rare glimmer of hope but by then I was toooo tired to watch. They forget that some of us have a brain and need to be entertained by sensible content.

Buggy

We live remote rural SW WA and don't get good reception yet but we do have Foxtel so we watched the best of british comedy shows on UK TV over the festive seasom and had a ball

muzz

I don't watch TV

Barb

A very sad time for TV, even for one who does not watch a lot of it.

lorjim9

able to catch up on a few programes that i missed thats all that is on repeats. won a lot of movies so able to watch them not a big fan of tennis or cricket

ditroia

I get most of my content over the internet so rarely watch FTA TV, apart from ABC & SBS.

jan

It was all very repeatative on the major channels. We watched some older series on ABC. We adored Pillars of the Earth 3 part series on ABC.
We also downloaded some movies to watch.

ngaiostreet

Programmes lacked any sort of ingenuity or interest - just repeats.
NOTHING for a New Year's Eve countdown.
Too many adverts for - supposed - after Christmas shopping to do before Christmas.
Just plain boring.

paulina

Repeats of thing you see how many time,I think your right they just don't bother about Christmas or the meaning of Christmas. Pay TV was not much better a lot of repeat.

ngaiostreet

Programmes lacked any sort of ingenuity or interest - just repeats.
NOTHING for a New Year's Eve countdown.
Too many adverts for - supposed - after Christmas shopping to do before Christmas.
Just plain boring.

Anonymous

We didn,t watch, much as it was not worth watching

Peter

Never watch TV apart from the news. Too busy during the year so I tune in during the Christmas period. I tend to watch things I've recorded previously but this year I have found some programmes (even repeats) of great interest. Then there are four weeks of tennis ! Back to work next week and I'll not be watching too much TV again!

pictonian

Resorted to my media player a lot of the time.
A lot of the Programs were a load of rubbish. get totally tired of all the reruns put on.
Only thing worth watching was the news.
Surely they could release new movies and programs over the holiday period and I am sure their ratings will go up.

unibomba17

I have pay TV so mainly watched that over the xmas period. Generally i watch a good mix of free to air and pay TV. Over the Xmas season i mainly watched Pay TV. This was more forced due to absolutely nothing being on Free to air.

tonylovesotis

OMG, TV programming has been just woeful over the past month or so. We don't watch free to air TV (other than ABC and SBS), but we are avid Pay TV watchers and their programming was just repeat after repeat after repeat. There has been literally nothing new to watch since late November on Pay TV. The only channel that changes is The Weather Channel!

What I don't understand is why does Pay TV also have a ratings period? Isn't one of the reasons we pay for subscription TV so that there will always be something worth watching? hmmmm obviously not.

pamjoa

We started watching Grimm on channel 7 and got hooked on it. Unfortunately it has stopped now because of the tennis. Hopes it comes back. Another good program I found is Real Humans on SBS Saturday night. It has subtitles but a great story line about robots. I am really enjoying watching that and Wallender too. Its on late, Friday night I think so have to record it.

Cheran

So sad - so much opportunity wasted for TV channels. They could so improve. Time for all the recorded shows and dvds to come out of hiding and ignore the channels completely.
.

deece

to repeative with all these new movies coming out why do they play the ones from 20 years ago that have been played and played so we did not watch much tv as unless you can watch the simpsons and feel like you were entertained just leave it off and listen to the radio at least it has more varitiy than the tv please give us new tv guide selectors as if it was a cricket match they all would have been sacked

Moviegirl

TV on the commercial chanels is absolutely terrible over from mid December to early February and then every show you could imagine is back on air and we are overwhelmed as to what t to watch. The tennis & cricket seem to attract big numbers so it is logical that other first class viewing would be successful. Now we have the time to watch quality television and it's about time that free to air television realises they do indeed have a hungry audience begging to see quality shows

umirocks

Oh repeat after reapeat after encore after best of after summer series after repeat!! Its really the only time of year my hubby has to watch much tv and its always rubbish!! We always have to make sure we hav somenew dvds to watch together - often tv series and we watch the whole lot through the holidays since what is on is such poor choice.

bjl

I am able to go back to time when only well of people could afford a black and white tv.At the age of 15 now 64 I would stand with others in the evening outside an electrical goods shop to watch Bonanza.The channels available now +with internet connection ,+foxtell etc the entertanement possibilities are endless.The people involed in producing some programmes are entitled to their xmas break.My music was a transitor radio with a 2 station option while riding the horse to bring the cows in for milking.So stop the whinging and be thankfull for what you have.John.

tonylovesotis

I am able to go back to time when only well of people could afford a black and white tv.At the age of 15 now 64 I would stand with others in the evening outside an electrical goods shop to watch...

Wow bj, you had pure luxury. Entertainment for me when I was a boy comprised an empty shoebox and an old stick from the garden.

tennisa

I hardly watched ant thing! Much prefer to read a good book! Leenu

fishy

Luckily we have pay TV so we were able to catch up on a lot of 'fast-tracked' shows from the US that we had taped prior to them going into recess over the holidays. The only Christmas type show that i enjoy every year is Carols by Candlelight, which is always a joy to watch, and makes you prepared for the big day. I do agree that free-to-air channels dish up a lot of 'rubbish' over Dec/Jan and unless you are a sports nut, this is the perfect time to get out and walk the dogs!!!!

ump

Apart from live sport, all were rubbish.

margsent

TV over Christmas and January was great if you are into Cricket,Tennis or A League, nothing else was worth watching as most of the shows were repeats.

ajuferov

real rubbish-nothing at all

wren

Very disappointing and boring as usual with repeats after repeats. Only the ABC and SBS channels had some new programs worth watching. Had to bring out my dvds and visit the video shop.

saderfan

as usual I thought the programs were rubbish and most of them were repeats

mcq

I didn't watch a lot of TV prgrams during Christmas because I was very busy of organisaing things for friends and families and on top of all that work commitment and need to look after my daughter. It was probably the most busiest period of the year for year. However, i did noticed many of the Christmas promotions and displays in the shooping centres. I probably watched the most 2 hours of TV in a week during that period if I was lucky. So I wasn't really sure how these channels did, but I could imagine they would have combined some Christmas themes and related stories in their programs.

anniebee

I agree. Load of rubbish!
Everything was a repeat of some tired old program or movie.
We also turned our TV off and watched DVD's
Year after year the same old repeats come on there has to be something new.

liz

I had a quick read through others responses and i feel the same repeats of shows and movies when i was a teen. There must be new shows available by now.(almost 30 years ago).
I have austar and even they are repeats most of the time.
I buy alot of dvds to watch and my family are gamers, so we play games often.

Chersnoopy

So tired of all the repeats & really old shows on TV over the Christmas period, what has happened to all the good comedies, something to laugh at for a change?

sneakierbiscuit

Honestly, we don't have the time for television. Particularly over the holidays when we're doing a lot of family stuff together. We have instituted family movie night, where we watch a DVD all together, but that's not tv... Sorry~!

Holdengirl

The choice and quality of TV programs is pretty bad at the moment, especially if you are not into tennis or cricket! Anything else is repeats that have been on 10+ times before or if it's a new show it's from overseas and usually not at all interesting to me.
I don't remember any really Christmassy shows being on so if they were shown they mustn't have interested me.
The only channel I can praise is ABC2, my kids watch this some days, especially when it's 35 degrees + so they are locked inside in the aircon. ABC2 had some good Christmas episodes in the kids favourite shows. Giggle and Hoot comes to mind as being new and seasonal all the time so at least the kids got some festive spirit on their shows.

jasia

I think the quality of free to air is poor at the best of times - so don't watch much of it at all - I guess that puts me in the 'don't care' bracket....we are fortunate to have pay TV so have a huge choice...and then there is always IQ which I have when there is really nothing else I want to see....
But I do agree that the mainstream channels have little regard for the viewing public.

ghost

I think there was too much tennis,not enough quality TV ,and too many repeats.
Gary

sajjini

There was nothing worth watching on TV unfortunately even though it was the holiday season.

gtdeb

always get crap on when in the holiday period all repeats so boring

marcus

some shows were a bore,but then again getting away from dancing,cooking,building shows and brisbane friday night nrl was a total relief.

Rowdy

Apart from a scant few shows I just switched to watching videos and spent more time on the internet. Despite having more channels there still is no content and too much advertising and if the TV channels don't get their act together they'll end up bankrupt!

billsutton

The quality of Australian TV programs is so bad and the writing is so narrow, it is a wonder that the public view them at all. We spend most of our time watching foreign movies on pay TV apart from the news and sport - and even the news is pathetic.

Suegle

The programming on TV is disasterous at the best of times. I have just gone through major surgery and recovering now so TV is pretty much all the brain can handle and there is absolutely nothing of any value at any time. If a movie is shown it is usually something like "Police Academy" or "Sleepless in Seattle" etc, where you basically know the whole script off by heart anyway. They are outdated and a hopeless waste of time. As for other programming it is just a billionth repeat of the same sitcom. "Friends, Mc Gyver", "Love Boat" where no one is really watching these shows and they just keep repeating them over and over and over again. All these digital channels were SUPPOSED to provide us with more entertainment in digital quality. Half the shows that are run on these channels are still in Black and White. TV stations don't care what they put on at any time of the year and the programmers just hit the replay button without a care in the world. In a word, TV "SUCKS"!!!

Shambles

Didn't watch to much TV. Seems like there is lots of sports though. Alot of repeats as well.

griffin

I am glad to say we had Christmas in Top Price with my family who have Fox tel.
So my son recorded all the shows we needed to see. When we all got feed up with the viewing it was cards. Even with power strikes we played cards in candle light.
So you other tv channels (you know who you are) you just waste peoples time with all your repeats. HUMBUG TO YOU

nala

The quality of TV and Pay TV (Austar / Foxtel) was terrible, it appears that as there are no ratings the viewing public are treated as fools who will watch anything. Fortunatley there are still DVD rentals available and the local library for a good supply of books.

mumtime

No kidding??? It seems to be the same old repeats every year. There were not even alot of Christmas movies or cartoons on for the children this year. Is this because TV stations are afraid they will insult some religion that does not believe in Christmas?? I thought we lived in Australia?? These days we go to the shops in late November, early December and stock up on all the DVD's we have been looking forward to watching all year. Make our own TV :) Free to air and Foxtel TV are both as bad as each other.
If I have to watch one more 'sneak peak' of an up and coming show I think I will scream....they just make you NOT want to watch the show and half the time they have sneak peaked all the good bits anyway.

Robyn

The quality of television programming in Australia is dismal at best -- usually this worsens over Christmas and the school holidays throughout the year. Australian Pay TV is also dismal compared to what is available elsewhere in the world. However, improvements will not happen when a person, no longer a citizen or resident of Australia, has such a controlling influence on the media. This person has proven in other countries that he and his organisation are only interested in making money, not the quality of what they produce. Perhaps we should turn the box off more often and read, converse or play games with other family members.

Kyant

No complaints from me. I do not have Pay TV but the free TV is good enough. The Australian Open keeps me occupied every night.

Fireflyz

I never seemed to watch much tv over the festive season, but I do recall flicking through at some point seeing that there were so many ancient repeats of american tv series and sitcoms. It seems to be the norm every Christmas, so was expecting it. I do think there may not have been so many kids and family Christmas movies shown like there have been in the past, which is a shame for my kids. We watched a few videos, lucky Santa thinks ahead and buys a few as gifts for us.

hispania

If I see another James Bond movie advertised I will scream. How many did they make? That was all that seemed to be on over the holidays particularly in the fortnight before Christmas. There is still almost nothing worth watching and it's nearly February.

blueposy

free tv.....a lot more channels with a lot more of nothing on.Christmas and non rating periods are worse...if thats possible.....

killy

The TV over Christmas was not exceptional at all. They actually repeated shows, movies from earlier in the year. All the good shows, Supernatural etc...where taken off, and rubbish was put on it their place. Constent repeats of Big Bang Theory, Two & Half Men (which I do prefare as the new ones are rubbish). The TV broadcasting do not seem to care if people would rather sit watching TV than drinking & partying. The movies that were on were absolute rubbish.

anthi

There was hardly anything on apart from Cricket. Luckily I have some shows on my computer and was able to catch up on some other programs. I also caught up on my DVDs so really not having anything to watch on the telly didn't really bother me too much. I think the Christmas movies are a bit annoying because they're same year after year, and we all know that the older we get, the quicker Christmas comes around. I feel like I only watched some of them yesterday.

Redda

Christmas TV is like the present you don't want. It is something you've already seen and found bland. There is also a tendency to saturate the screen with programs featuring policing, breath testing and tired repeats of long gone quiz shows. The preponderance of unsolicited threats and warnings about drink as distinct from drunk driving are insulting. How anyone can be educated by or enjoy watching programs that threaten or harass the viewer during the festive season is beyond intelligence and reason. TV is for entertainment and information not brainwashing, sensationalism and overstatement.

blondy1

There really wasnt much on over christmas and what was on were a lot of repeats of programes but I also found that there were very little actual christmas shows on too .
I think everyone has forgotten what christmas is all about now its all very commercialised now so much more .
I have pay tv too but I didnt worry too much about that, as I like to watch lifestyle programes .and my husband watches other things.

Nefertari

At Xmas I have come to expect rubbish programs or else repeats of the same old movies so to see anything new at that time of year is a bit of a novelty. Once in a blue moon they will put a show on that is actually worth watching but mostly it's just a matter of waiting until the ratings season starts again for anything worthwhile to watch on tv

Nefertari

At Xmas I have come to expect rubbish programs or else repeats of the same old movies so to see anything new at that time of year is a bit of a novelty. Once in a blue moon they will put a show on that is actually worth watching but mostly it's just a matter of waiting until the ratings season starts again for anything worthwhile to watch on tv

Nefertari

At Xmas I have come to expect rubbish programs or else repeats of the same old movies so to see anything new at that time of year is a bit of a novelty. Once in a blue moon they will put a show on that is actually worth watching but mostly it's just a matter of waiting until the ratings season starts again for anything worthwhile to watch on tv

Nefertari

At Xmas I have come to expect rubbish programs or else repeats of the same old movies so to see anything new at that time of year is a bit of a novelty. Once in a blue moon they will put a show on that is actually worth watching but mostly it's just a matter of waiting until the ratings season starts again for anything worthwhile to watch on tv

Nefertari

At Xmas I have come to expect rubbish programs or else repeats of the same old movies so to see anything new at that time of year is a bit of a novelty. Once in a blue moon they will put a show on that is actually worth watching but mostly it's just a matter of waiting until the ratings season starts again for anything worthwhile to watch on tv

Joybl

I would have to agree that it is a tedious time of year in terms of programming !
Find myself resorting to rental DVDs much more than usual !

echo 01

I don't watch much TV at any time as there are a lot better ways to spend your time without watching the rubbish on TV.

NigeyBaby

Non-ratings seems to be getting worse (i.e. less entertaining, more repeats) each year, but it is also a time when riskier shows get a trial run.

Personally, we use it as a time to catch up on all the stuff we have recorded, but not had time to watch, during the year.

Marybelle

This is certainly a time when we just pop in a DVD. Guaranteed great viewing that way.

jennieb

Totally agree with all the above comments. I am now a single woman living alone in a small town with no transport to even go to the beaches near by so was totally disgusted with the rubbish on tv over the holiday - xmas/nw yr period. As this was my only form of entertainment I thankfully caught up on some pre recorded programs on my dvd recorder hard drive.
A lot of the repeats were so old that u get so sick of them and like, really old series that are re runs over and over again every year...come on TVNZ get it together and give us - the no choice but to be at home folks something more interesting and entertaining to watch - am so sick and tired of the old rubbish you persist in putting on AIR at this time of year.

Rols

total rubbish as per usual, they the network is not interested in what the people would like to see and when there are any good programmes they are on at ridiculous times. Why they run those English cooking shows on one would never know. But once again we only get what the network decides what they want to pay for. Pay peanuts get monkeys

annie3

I thought the programmes shown were nothing but full of repeats and Christmas day viewing was pathetic,not that I am interested or have time to watch tv during this time,I did however feel for those that are housebound and rely on tv to entertain them.I have pay tv (sky) and even that was full of repeats which really annoyed me as we pay to have this luxury so deserve better movies etc.I feel the length of time is slack for new programmes to start up,it should only be 2 weeks at the most.

scouser

absolutle load of rubbish,programs on have been shown up to four or five times before.I like my cricket,but I would sometimes like to watch something else .these extras channels they all have just show the cricket or tennis as well..This happens every year .WHY

lisarich

terrible! i'm sick of seeing the same old xmas movies every year - christmas with the cranks, national lampoons, santa clause 1 and 2. surely there are some other xmas movies which could be played.
it is always painful when the ratings period ends because you can forget about watching anything new just the same old repeats!
spose its a good excuse to get out and enjoy the great outdoors!

Lou

If you're not into tennis or cricket you can forget free to air this time of the year. I'm sure the pay tv companies and video rentals do a roaring trade.

merlin2

The Xmas TV period is always rubbish. I use the time to watch overseas programs available online for free.

tes

We didn't watch too much tv, (freeview) we don't have sky. But it would have been nice to have christmas ...y episodes of the kids programmes on the 25th as I think that because of the day of the week christmas fell on? There wasn't much avail. We'd have recorded them & saved them for another day (we did this last year) so when it's raining outside or we all needed quiet time, we call just blob infront of the telly & watch nice christmasy stuff. The kids LOVE christmas episodes of any of the cartoons.

kfactor

Happy new year to everyone! I was so bored with the programs on both pay tv and freeview, we actually went to the video store and watched some movies we'd missed at the cinemas. I wish the networks would realise that not all their viewers enjoy reality shows - even cricket is better than those.

mel

I found the programming a bit disappointing this year. There are lots of lovely Christmas movies for families and I missed those this year. We found ourselves watching dvds most of the time that we sat down to watch tv. I'm also tired of the summer editions of certain shows which are repeats of shows from during the year.

Browny

They just run all the repeats over Christmas because it is not rating time. They need more Christmas stories to get into the spirit of the festive season.
Sometimes it is so hard to find something to watch especially if you don't have pay tv.

parraguy

The Free-to-air TV stations are still run by the same people that were running them 20 years ago, and think that "non-ratings" periods are an excuse for not showing quality content. Given that summer TV usually consists of cricket (ch9) tennis (Ch7) and until recently golf (Ch10) there was no need for them to programme anything else. The excuses that we don't watch TV during summer because we all outside until 9pm doesn't hold true anymore either - all our kids under 5 are in bed by 7.30! The only time they programme anything different is when they are scared of everyone downloading, but they missed that boat 5 years ago! Stop chopping and changing programs, start broadcasting US & UK television in real time, or at least, regularly (doesn't stop the ABC from getting 1 million viewers a night) and make content available on line to catch up on.

I did miss National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation though - not sure if it was on this year, but it was missed in our household.

mccallmob

We do not have paid TV but found the lack of variety a good chance to catch-up with family and have good conversations. Being a poor sleeper, the selection on TV during the night was OK and some of the early morning repeats were actually rather interesting. There would be a large viewing audience very disappointed with the selection, or lack of in all genres. The temptation of paid TV would become more enticing, rather sad really. Personally it was a rather nice break from the channel wars and we all have the option to turn off the "Goggle-Box".

geromam

No PayTV for me. Usually too busy at other times of the year, so I have more time to actually watch TV at this time of year while I am on holidays.
I have really enjoyed some of the docos presented on SBS and SBS2. Particularly Louis Theroux (I used to think he was a bit silly but the doco on dementia during the week, was indeed very special). Sunday Best top 10 has also been great. So SBS gets my vote.

uncle fester

goes to show,not enough local programs to fall back on.

Growler

Very true that we are left on free to air with repeats and also shows that have failed to rate well overseas and thus our local networks pick them up for a cheaper price. Sometimes, there can be a hidden gem that starts in summer (rates well) and then continues on during the ratings period. Gilmour Girls springs to mind.

For me personally, I am not too fussed as I tend to watch Foxtel and in particular the feast of sport that is available from the Cricket 20/20 Bigbash to the soccer A-League. Enough to keep me entertained! :)

The Pres

we have pay tv, and we generally watched that more often - furthermore there was some nice Christmassy movies on Fox & my son loved them - so for us it was good family viewing.

marty

There has been a lot of rubbish on over this period except for the cricket & now the tennis & of course if you don't mind watching James Bond movies you were in luck. The so called free to air stations have bombarded us with ads & the volume is so loud, it's time the regulators got their finger out & sorted all this out. Being disabled I can't go surfing or play other sport so I am saving on power as its not worth turning the TV on.

Sheree

Everything was fine by me. I especially enjoy the movies and not the tv shows.

joncam

The best entertainment was the cricket - at least it was live and original.

Sammbo

Was TV on during Christmas and January?

I didn't notice!

No wait! There was some cricket and Tennis.

de1

I am rather allergic to TV, particularly over holidays when I;d rather spend time actually communicating with my family, so we tend to watch news programmes, documentaries - and cricket and tennis! (This probably has something to d with the fact that my husband is a radio/TV journalist, so please blame him!!) I'm well aware that the programmes aired over holiday periods tend to be reruns of old ones - and mostly American ones, at that, and it seems a terrific reason to stay away from the TV!!

doc

I don't have PayTV, so was subject to mainstream TV's continuous re-runs ad nauseum...None of the channels gave a hoot about the viewers. Christmas is a most depressing time for many, and I think the TV re-runs make the situation worse. There are a lot of people who are completely alone at Christmas. Don't they deserve some consideration?
I'm glad I don't have to pay for a TV licence. If I did, I wouldn't have TV.
Might go on holiday this Christmas...though I say this every year and I never go.

EthelGumnut

I only watch ABC and SBS channels in the normal way of things. They were possibly mildly better than the commercial channels during the christmas period, but only slightly. Over the holiday period, we normal catch up on watching DVDs we've acquired during the year, and on programs we've recorded onto the hard drive, but haven't yet watched.

I concur with your other respondents that most channels do show a lot of rubbish, particularly at that time of year.

rhthomas1980

Nothing worth watching, just repeats and the same movies etc that get televised every year!

jd2040

Theres not much on during that period theres only Cricket i guess. I dont watch much TV during that time anyway

Bubbles McTavish

So sorry to hear you are leaving Rainbow :( Best wishes for you future endeavours.

Bubbles McTavish

I really didn't watch much except for the cricket. That's what I do at this time of year every year. Otherwise, DVD's come out.

Bellxchat

It's great when there's nothing to watch on tv....it's amazing what gets done when the tv is not on...that's my most productive time of year!

flyingace

hi Rainbow, yes I agree with you not much on tv to watch due to all the programs close and they have a break but now all the program will be starting going now.

Deb

i totally agree with everyone else the veiwing was terrible,a lot of people dont have money to go on holidays or just like to relax at home and all you get to watch is repeats of shows over and over again,it wouldnt be so bad if they started the repeats of a show from the start and follow on with the rest but oh no they put the same show on nearly every second night i dont know how many times ive seen the same big bang episode 10 or more times,i like the show but come on give me a break,oh and xmas shows well surely we there has been new shows made about xmas instead of having to watch movies that are 20 years old or shows that are old,no they where all the same as far as im concerened,i hope that something changes

seesaw

I found that the television shows that were shown over Christmas,were ones that had been on over and over again,as I received quite a lot of DVDs for presents these are what I enjoyed,also had the 3rd series of Downton Abbey,loved it so much and can't wait till the next series becomes available,some of the children's shows wren't too bad.

coversharvey

Not only was free to air rubbish, so was Foxtel

horticulture

Yes there was a lot of old stories but it was mainly a lot of even more rubbish than usual

Possum

we don't have pay tv and the free didn't show anything decent about Christmas, DVDs come in handy, forget about the tv, not worth the trouble.,

Juli

It was crap. There was nothing to watch.

dj0003

Sorry to hear you'r leaving Trudy, all the best & take care!

xmas TV - what a load of rubbish..........thank goodness for ABC1 & Austar.
Not everyone is on holidays or goes away.

glendaj

glendaj

Anonymous

I have to agree totally with comments already - same old, same old - repeats, movies etc and how many times can you watch Charlie and Chocolate Factory!! I'm over it. I am not a huge TV watcher but even I had enough

slu

the program that were on in southern queensland were up to 3 year behind the programs in perth,wa. thank heavens for libraries!

Alpaca

I have found myself watching SBS quite a lot over the Christmas/New Year time. Several of their documentary type programs have been well worth watching. I am now in the habit of reading their listing every day to get more choice.

kiwicook

Christamas is a time when the networks seem to run repeats of programs that have screened earlier in the year. This is particularly true of game shows. Also news content tends to fall off ith more emphasis on human interest stories. This is the time when I watch more of my dvd's than tv because I can control the time better that I spend watching the box. Also having a hard drive recording device is a great way to avoid all the advertising.
At the moment the Australian Open tennis is on the box and the major sponsors are taking all the air time to show us their ads. Since when has it become necessary to reprise a shorter version of an ad after the full length one has played during the earlier part of the ad break. I say long live the good book and the quiet time that comes with it. If I get really inspired there is always the CD collection. I find opera really helps with the vacuuming.

Sherlock

In one word "BORING"
Gave me time to catch up with long lost sleep.

Fluff

One word sums it all up for me it is "CRAP" the networks don't give a rats behind over the holidays, only when it's time for the ratings.

Bernitto

Total rubbish. We have Freeview, and compared with Sky, they were both rubbish. Obviously people watching TV over the holiday period doesn't happen anymore, the programmes that were shown are proof of that. Thanks for thinking of all of the public, and producing the sort of crap that people won't watch, therefore the TV stations didn't have to cater to us.

stretch

tv over christmas has changed heaps in 30
years we used to have 6 weeks of santas specials and shows for the family no matter where what town you were in
i watch little or no television at the moment as have been to busy
watched the wwe and thought it unusual that the wrestlers had a santa special; unbelieveable and unberable to watch santa get hit by a wrestlers car on the studio well rehersed i believe
the kids were not imprersed at all that watch wrestlng
the news has slowly improved to show long term impact of the weather
and the good old happy days are still there

the shows on tv have

Stit

Totally agree TV Stations do not worry if they have us as watchers they do not care. There is as my husbands said 'Crap' on TV over the Christmas New Year time period or repeats of shows and nothing new until February then it all stops again in November/December because we only have 10 months of the TV viewing year!!!!! Sometimes Foxtel does have new shows or shows that we missed and we can watch but still NOT GOOD ENOUGH!!!!!!!

M

I agree with everyone so far. What a disappointment. I use to love sitting down after christmas dinner/lunch and watching the shows that gave it that christmassy feel. Instead either got repeats or something that wasn't even remotely close to christmas. I have pay tv and it was no better there either. Ho hum just another year I guess.

cookla

I did not watch TV as the time is too busy.

Litaq

It hasn't changed over the years, the programs on TV over christmas and January are just some repeats and boring stuff. I was away for 3 weeks overseas after Christmas so it didn't bother me much. Leading to Christmas there weren't much on Free-to-air TV, nor did they put on Christmassy movies. Luckily we have Pay TV and there many more programs to choose but most of all Foxtel also have Christmas movie marathons leading to Christmas everyday so that was awesome.
Now I just got back and starting to watch some of Foxtel's regular programs that I like.

Beachluva

I recorded some shows that interested me and watched DVD's that I had. I realise the actors have to have a break to, it gets very boring with tv. More time to spend with family, instead of being glued to the tv ah

Corbanattar

I realise that the holidays is not a ratings time and therefore repeats of programs are often on. However, except for the News, Today Tonight/Current Affair and Border Patrol, nothing enticed me to watch TV. I'm happier with a good book - murder mysteries! Mind you even the TV version of those were scarce.

gnome

It is typical of the Television networks to play the old repeats of shows that they have done for the last thirty years, over and over again. The end of year seems to be the period that the networks allow holidays for their staff which is understandable, but do they think that because it if the festive season we are all away or not watching television. Not everyone can afford Pay TV to be able to have a choice of that many programmes, but with an average of three channels each they would have something decent to watch.

maggie

As in all holiday times, all we got were repeats and movies older than ourselves, thank goodness for dvd's, books and jigsaw puzzles

Pinky

I found the TV content were re-runs of most of the shows. Very little Christmasy type shows. Quite a few children's shows, also re-runs, but I guess there are always the young ones coming up that haven't seen them. Nothing for the adults at all.

Toodiegirl

Generally speaking the Christmas period on TV is very ordinary to say the least. This year I found that even though that did a lot of repeats of older movies I thought that they did a better selection this year. We however, watched a bit of Apple TV over this period cause we had a better choice but we did watch some Free to Air which the kids loved the Xmas movies as we did.

connie

it wasnt to bad the usual stuff they play every year

robcampbell53

Rubbish

sandy22

total rubbish over the holidays but as the weather was fine it did not matter. On the not so good days we had a stack of dvds that we had been wanting to watch so managed to see most of them.
I would have liked some sort of countdown on new years eve to bring in the new year. They used to do this but dont anymore.

sandra

It's stupid really,the only time people have to watch tv and they put on junk,they're not doing themselves any favours...

jatz50

Absolutely nothing to watch on TV over the Christmas period and it's still happening until all the shows return. It got to the stage I didn't even use the TV guide to see what was on. For us, we turned to Foxtel if we wanted to relax with some TV. You can always find something to watch there that will keep you entertained instead of reruns and reruns of other shows.

Nance

Far TOO MANY repeats!

arty10

It is a non rating period so all you get is the crap shows the networks are forced to accept when they purchase a series from American suppliers. The real question is do we really want to watch MKR, Master Chef, The Block or Big Brother. All of these have passed their use by date.

poppagrumps

TV networks appear to put the rubbish on TV and then go on holiday like everyone else and ratings go out the window.
A good opportunity to go and watch some great movies on the big screen Les Miserables and Quartet as an example.
TV networks need to wake up and smell the flowers as they are not providing any entertainment during the break.

tory

i agree with you 100% there are a lot of chanells but nothing that i can or want to watch the continuaus rubbish on all the chanells. i will be pleased if one of the chanels put movies on better than all the rubbish they put on . what annoy me is it does not matter what channel you fick on it is the same program 30 years old and more. somebody should tell the t.v. programer to do something a bit better specially if you are not on hollidays at that time. no i dont think it was chrismassy enough but that is the change of time i think.

kakan

There was nothing on, there was hardly any Christmas movies on and just about everything was repeats. TV stations need to get their act togethe. Now that there are more stations you would think there would be better variety, but no. Most of the things on the digital channels are crap from overseas.

shaper

Oh it was and still is utter rubbish, thank God for DVD's. Considering we now have so many programs on Free to Air, you would think that 1 of them would have something worth watching. Just repeats after repeats or sport. Being retiree's
we do tend to rely on the TV a lot for our entertainment and its just got worse over the years. We are not interested in cooking shows or talent shows or any reality shows really which leaves us with just about nothing even when the so called ratings are on.

martone

I am always disappointed at the TV shows over the Xmas/January period. I don't have Pay TV but still feel it would be nice if better quality programs were broadcast as this is a time of year when I do watch more TV. As a result I tended to watch DVD's as this was the only way I could see a quality program.

dmabiz

The secret is to own a recoding device with a big memory storage. We collect up interesting programs that we would like to watch but don't have the time and then use the Jan Feb time to relax and watch them

techmark

I'm a cricket fan so summer means plenty of cricket on the box so its no big deal to me about other programming. I also watch the NBA on foxtel so I have plenty of entertainment when I want it and I like to get outside as well and do some DIY and as long as I have my sport and News on TV then I'm happy.

col001

I have pay TV so didn't really notice what was happening. Free to air TV was no different to past years so the programming was nothing new. Appears to me that people delt with it by either pay TV or DVD's, as I assume they do every year.

Actually I have a problem with free to air content all year round. We have too many reality shows, cheap to produce and in my view cheap and nasty. And apart from rating time, which are few and far between, we ordinarily are dished up crap anyway. The networks call it affordability. Network income is based on advertising exposure. I believe that because Australia has a low population base, exposure is limited compared to countries like the US and UK.

Back to the discussion, I did watch free to air over the break, particularly good chrissy clasicis, whether repeats or not, and of course the carols. But mostly pay TV. No free to air channel struck me as better then the other and nothing is going to change next year.

brett

Did not watch much TV as away and also received some computer games so mainly just played them

Lynstar59

Every year the same thing over & over.
Every year they show the same crap. No they don't care whether we watch or not. As for going to pay T.V. that's just an even bigger chance to view the same crap numerous times, over days, nights even two hours after you first watched it. the only answer is to go outside enjoy the sunshine, the rain, your friends & family. The best part is if you do these things you will not only feel better emotionally but physically & mentally as well. P.S. It will probably cost you as a person a lot less than sitting all the time staring at the idiot box.

Lynstar59

Every year the same thing over & over.
Every year they show the same crap. No they don't care whether we watch or not. As for going to pay T.V. that's just an even bigger chance to view the same crap numerous times, over days, nights even two hours after you first watched it. the only answer is to go outside enjoy the sunshine, the rain, your friends & family. The best part is if you do these things you will not only feel better emotionally but physically & mentally as well. P.S. It will probably cost you as a person a lot less than sitting all the time staring at the idiot box.

Wyrd

In past years there was usually lots of good movies on and interesting tv series which I usually wanted to continue on through ratings period but this year zip. There was not even movies on Christmas Day. Disappointed in general and for the most part have watched DVD's and left the TV alone.

shellt

I never like the TV over the holiday period. It's repeats, boring and just not worth watching. It's lucky the cricket and tennis come on or there would literally be nothing to watch.

oscarc

holidays Tv make me sick plus four channels of Tennis and racing cars on the other channel

Nan.P

I certainly do now it was a real load of rubbish on and they didn't even have a countdown to the new year it was as if it was a non event and the so call Christmas movies etc where as old as {dear I say it JESUS himself} and been on every Christmas for the last 20 years or more so buck up your ideas give us must see new ones

Nan.P

I certainly do now it was a real load of rubbish on and they didn't even have a countdown to the new year it was as if it was a non event and the so call Christmas movies etc where as old as {dear I say it JESUS himself} and been on every Christmas for the last 20 years or more so buck up your ideas give us must see new ones

crowgirl1

I have Pay TV and there wasn't a whole lot of "Chrismassy"programes to watch. But I record lots of shows so I did have those to keep me occupied and I also had a heap of DVDs to watch as well.

Nan.P

I certainly do now it was a real load of rubbish on and they didn't even have a countdown to the new year it was as if it was a non event and the so call Christmas movies etc where as old as {dear I say it JESUS himself} and been on every Christmas for the last 20 years or more so buck up your ideas give us must see new ones

Irenebelle1

I thought the Tv over Christmas and New Year was absolute rubbish too many re runs and American nonesense

Uj

The silly season is also known to me as the boring season for T.V. We have Foxtel, but it's just as terrible for lack of new fresh stuff. I only watch a few shows a week that I record (allows me to sit and watch them without interruption from the kidlets & not to mention they're 'not G' viewing) and those few shows are all postponed til late January or February. I'm not a telly watcher for the sake of watching and free to air shows don't tend to attract my attention 1 or 2 series aside, so in this boring season we tend to watch our DVD's, Fox has also just changed all it's programming and for the worse I might add. As for it being "Christmassy", I don't really notice what shows are on for that particular reason. I don't tend to dress up our house for the season, tree is up of course, but just because it's Christmas on the 25th, I don't like how everything changes for the month. I don't think I particular favour any channel more than the rest, I tend to pick the bits I like from each and at the end of the day after they're all recorded and when I'm watching them, I can't even remember what channel they're from...lol....and p.s...happy travels for your next venture

sauci_tab

All rubbish over the holidays except for the cricket. Mind you was rather amusing watching the old format and stilted acting on shows such as Mike Hammer etc! I do not have pay tv but have watched it and found it exactly the same...heaps of channels and nothing on

sonb4

I quite enjoyed some of the older programs that were on as a few of them i hadn't seen in ages and found a revisit a novel experience. I also quite enjoy the escape element of watching cartoons and found that there were loads more over this period which i just assumed was due to the school holidays.

Ro

I dislike the way (in NZ) we loose our news programs. Breakfast news and morning chat forum stop until midway through January.
The fillers and reruns are frustrating - not all people are on holiday some of us worked right through.
I look after special needs folk and try to explain to them why their favorites such as shortland street and home and away are not on.

ridinghood

I so look forward to xmas movies/programmes, but almost nothing on. Why cant the broadcasters get more current stuff from overseas, I mean who wants to watch xmas stuff in the middle of the year like they play.
Really not good enough I feel.

chance

chance

Well they certainly didn't give any thought to the elderly, or anyone else whose only link with the outside world was tv. Over christmas and new year, everything seems to close down (all clubs and social networks for the elderly, and lonely) so tv is all they have to occupy their days. What a load of garbage ... everything was a repeat, was a repeat, was a repeat.. Years of repeats - cooking programmes, dancing with the stars, and sad old hasbeen shows. Come on you guys, every year you get big complaints over your lack of thought and insight in to what screens. It's time tvnz started to listen.

puppybear

This year the TV had me and it was fun. I am recovering from double total knee replacement surgery and I had fun switching between channels on Foxtel. It was good, because if I fell asleep watching Jerry Springer re-runs I could go the the +2 channel and pick up from where I last saw it. But after a few weeks it gets boring. There isn't much one can do after this type of surgery, for a couple of weeks anyway. The cricket (T20, one-day and five day matches) kept me sane until I was able to get about more. But yes, television stations and producers put on crap over the Christmas-New Year period.
I have just seen an episode from Dr Phil, where Jay's wife told everyone she was pregnant. Great, I thought. Dr Phil and Robin will now become one of us - GRANDPARENTS. That was until I found out the program was over three years old. Yet we are seeing ads where programs, shown in the US on Monday can now be seen 33 HOURS later in Australia. Why can't this happen all the time?
Now that I more mobile, I realise my garden needs me, my hobbies look forlorn and the days are too good to be infront of the tv.

Anonymous

Mostly Rubbish. Some of the Movies did not have a Christmas theme to them. I just wish they would drop a lot of the American content and concentrate more on the English humor. Like how many more episodes do we have to see of "Friends" surely it has even topped the amount of times "Mash" was repeated.

Thank Goodness for good books..D.V.D.s....and spending quality time with family and friends. Next year I might not even turn the T.V. on.

Imogen6

The "summer season" commonly known as the repeat after repeat after repeat is simply the rubbish season. Not entertaining and as for Christmas Day, where was the Christmas programming? lost in the mire of repeats and commercials. Good to sleep by after the nosh but that's about all. Don't know about pay tv but if that's what they have on offer as well why pay for it? Sick of cricket, sick of tennis, bring on the ratings season (as of 28 Jan).

EileenW1

So sick of repeats and years' old series and films. I screamed out loud when Channel 10 put the Simpsons back on during a peak viewing period and so threw out the regular programme scheduling. Even Pay TV is now just repeats of repeats.

Sherry

It was just rubbish and repeats. No there wasn't enough to watch on TV like usual at Christmas period.

marianne

I found it very strange that there was lot of christmas stuff on christmas eve, but normal stuff on christmas day! I was watching a lot of kids tv, and I did think that was strange.

janetmorhi

so many repeat shows and movies im sure they have more to ptck from

Andrewsgirl

There is never much to watch on the tele over christmas. Mostly we would browse the channels and then turn it off. We took the opportunity to catch up on some movies and DVD's. I do understand why the stations put rubbish on, afterall alot of people are away on hoildays. I guess if it's an issue for some they should get Foxtel.

Slim

They don't think of those who watch tennis or cricket. One time there would be several movies on the one night. Now, you're lucky if there is one on at all-only series.

D. Jarvis.

elaine joseph

TV over the xmas, January was awful...all the really good series tend to end by the second week of December, and are replaced with movies. This sounds good except its the same movies that I watched as a child and now going on for 40+ I'm sort of over them now. Naturally, its school holidays so every old favourite that you may have had when you had your childrent going through the school phase have also now discoloured.

Can the TV magnets not come up with some innovate, new ideas. TV seems to now be either Crime & Investigation, Comedies (no problem some are really good) but a variety would be great. Or reality t.v.

Some forms of reality t.v. should really have stopped in the writing stage.

Well here's hoping new tv series and movies will be received shortly.

Have a great day everyone:-)

EmtheKiwi

It was great to see some of the classic old school movies but the rest of it was dragged up from the dusty dark depth of some storage cupboard & probably should have been left there. It was a great time to catch up on reading!!

diannealma

I am thankful for all the dvd's I have and could rent . No use turning the tv on.

hard_drive

I DIDNT TAKE MUCH NOTICE. I WAS TO BUSY EITHER WATCHING THE CRICKET ON TV OR ACTUALLY AT THE CRICKET..

Aunty Cush

The programs have been absolute rubbish. Repeats, repeats, repeats, and not even good repeats. Some stations have replayed the same episode two weeks in a row at the same peak time. Mind you it does mean I catch up on some reading,

Nangel

I used the time to catch up on all the recorded shows I had. It was handy to just relax & do nothing for a change.

Nangel

I used the time to catch up on all the recorded shows I had. It was handy to just relax & do nothing for a change.

maddog7

I was appalled at the number of reruns of old programmes. TVONE was by far the worst. I do not like to watch 60 min Makeover everyday .Surely in this day and age it is important for the viewers to at least get a 10 min News Broadcast.

We do not need reruns of programmes any more. Get real TV programmers we have recorders and freeview these days and with the ability to catch up with programmes on the internet there is no excuse.

However far worse was the fact that many of the programmes were not even reported as being repeats.Often I set my record timer to find I had already seen the programmes.

As a disabled person I had little option but to watch what was being shown.Prime was the best channel for me with TV3 close behind but not one of them had a news broadcast..I would have expected Prime to couple up with Sky News during this period..

I really felt for families with young children as the same films are shown every year at this time. Surely the first tv channel to put on a childrens holiday programme would get the most viewers...let this be a challenge as not everyone has Sky

lili

am not much of a TV person so i'm not really bothered. kids been seeing the same shows at nickelodeon channel over and over. they've memorized most lines of their fav characters, i think.

klm

as l like cricket thats ok and love the tennis
but the rest is very boring and in a way thats good as it makes you think of doing others things
go for a walk, take the kids somewhere, sit outside and enjoy the evenings
so heaps of rubbish on, but you get more done with your time

nelly2

I was so bored with tv over the Christmas break ,most of them were repeats or really old movies .i mainly watched DVDS, i dont think the tv networks really care what they put on over Christmas .There was plenty of sport on ,but nothing to keep my Grandchildren occupied.

bexbex

The TV wasn't great. I watched Downton Abbey though, that was the highlight!

Other than that the kids movies weren't great... or didn't start at good times for kids. Evening movies for grown-ups were pretty poor too.

I did watch some catch-up tv on the laptop as I missed some episodes of things and away from home and far from my pvr.

Generally I watched any channel but could have done with more Xmassy stuff, yes!

vickbenla

I welcomed the change from all the inane reality shows, & was pleased NITV went free to air. I prefer the holiday programming. There are a lot more movies & some good New Zealand shows. Much better than the rubbish shown during the ratings period

XL

Tried to avoid TV as much as possible, get out and about, DIY around the house and went away for a while. The re-runs I did see were unappealing, dated and not at all interesting or worth watching.

Shortstuff

One word describes it LOUSY, unless you love cricket or tennis.

TulTul

I agree that programs were poor,uncoordinated and repeats,plus the reality shows are just becoming a BORING REPEAT after BORING REPEAT and the amount of time the networks spend on prompting them is obscene. We may have FREE TO AIR with 15 channels but in the in the main we are subject to American programs that have passed their use by date over there so are dumped on us.

glory

The home shows were great. But tthats not what christmas is all about. Its about the birth of Christ and spending time with family. One thing they do at this time of year is repeat the same programs and films all over again

modan

Many boring programs and also the movies which were shown were old and repeated again and again during the year. We used rental DVDs and youtube to watch some movies and entertainment programs. Very disappointing.

raejoanne

Christmas/New Year is a great time to catch up on reading or watching DVD's you've bought and not watche. Television over this period sucks and I really wish with all my heart something could change it, but I know it won't so I watch dvd's and read.

daisy

I flicked through channels and if I didn't find a program I liked I just read a book. There was a lot of rubbish. I hate it when you watch a certain program daily and they decide to put cricket or tennis on instead.

flippe

Great time to break the TV habit and get on with living. Too much time wasted on so called 'relaxation time'. Get a life!

iain_lmta

Well, I read the first two of the eleven pages of comments with mixed feelings. Maybe we should accept what we get and deal with it.

(1) My two needs from TV are information and entertainment.
There's plenty of quality news on many channels for all levels of intellect. I prefer ABC and SBS sources. There are offerings from around the region and the world including several hours per day of the excellent Aljazeera News.
There's also new and old educative programs: "Big Ideas", "One on One", etc. I also got to see a run of new documentaries at prime time after the visiting grandkids were in bed.
There were several new movie offerings (and good repeat movies) on many free-to-air channels. My wife and I caught two movies per week from mid-December to now.
First run drama was nigh on impossible to find ... not unusual considering that so many people are enjoying summer holidays. As usual, a couple of gems arrived on ABC.
I also got to watch six weeks of Darran Brown's social experiments on SBS and they were excellent. I learned so much about how we interpret via our senses.
For those who care for sports, there was new tennis and pyjama cricket. A couple of test matches occurred in the summer break too. Three London Premier League clubs have nine hours of real football on ONE-HD every week.

(2) Like most Aussies, I can't justify the huge investment in Pay-TV. I don't have a budget of $2-$3 per day nor the time to manage watching it to get value from my $$$. I would like to see some newer ex-cinema movies and some extra documentaries but I really lead too full a life to go that path.

(3) It costs a lot to make quality TV and we are a small market. We spend about $550k to make an hour of Australian drama. In the USA it's between $2.5 and $4.2 million. We give good bang for our buck.

(4) I'd rather spend time talking with my grandkids over summer. I like to pass on some old pastimes and home entertainment.
We play cards and board games. We read in the shade on hottest days. We play outdoor games and go to the local indoor pool. We cook together.
TV has a place but the personal touch says more.

(5) If you don't like what you are getting, interact with the TV stations. Write letters or emails. Mention positives and negatives on their social media pages. Be blunt with the commercial channels. Tell them you will not buy what they advertise if they dish up poor viewing.

bancon

The programs were a heap of rubbish all repeats, nothing new a good time to catch up on some reading

Totoro

I did not notice any difference in programming , however in general i only ever watch the news apart from that i watch DVD's constantly, TV bores me with all the commericals.

Gidget

You would think with the extra channels on free to air, that there would be a lot more choice. At least something decent. But, no, more rubbish. Have really hated tv through this time. And now what a shame, they have to flood us with reality shows now. I miss the good Aussie dramas and comedies we used to see on the screen.

Jeay4nz

Like Everyone say's. A LOAD of Old Rubbish, Bloody Disgusting by them showing REPEATS form the past, Time for TVNZ to get their act together and get with the Times. Ok, Oh Yeah, It's also time for them to Catch up with Programs that are up too two years behind the Times. Ok,

Come on TVNZ, "PULL FINGER OUT."

rustypotato

Didn't watch too much and we don't have pay TV, but did manage to select a few great documentary programmes and taped a few good movies, usually late night. Always enjoy the news and current affair programmes but rarely watch any of those boring American series which have either canned laughter or predictable criminal endings.

Ruru

I might be mad but I find that the "nicer" programs are on during the Christmas holidays. There usually is a lot less violence etc. However after saying that I must say that during the Christmas 2 weeks I am usually holidaying at our bach, where there is no electricity and so we have a heaven two weeks of NO television.

MAC

The quality of TV content during December and January is as abysmal as ever. I get so tired of so-called 'Summer Series' which is only TV Channels rehashing shows or part shows that have been already show (long) before.

AEC

I THOUGHT THE CHOICE THIS YEAR WAS BETTER THAN PAST. MANY OF THE QUIZZ SHOWS SEEMED TO BE REPEATS BUT WERE STILL A CHALLENGE. SPORTS SHOWS SUCH AS CRICKET WERE STRONG

kazza

it has been pretty unappealing this xmas season for television, i think i have spent about 50% less time even bothering turning the tv on, and opting for reading books, or spending time out with the family. Come on normal tv shows hurry up and start back

BKM547

It's just not over Christmas, there is nothing worth watching on at present. We have resorted to watching DVD's

kathy77

Hi Rainbow, Most shows on the normal channels were a lot of rubbish but there were some nice shows on Foxtel which we all enjoyed over Christmas and for January

Lee Lee

I always feel a bit sad when all my favourite showa finish for the year and the boring shows are put on over Xmas and January. It is such a shame when you finaly have a bit of time off work to relax and there is nothing to watch on the tv. We spent a lot of money on Bigpond Movies,,,lol

However, I do enjoy 7's Summer of Tennis. Tha Australian Open is great! Goooo Federa! He's my fav.

Captain Slog

Hello Everyone!
Firstly, HAPPY NEW YEAR!! I hope you all had a wonderful Festive Season. So sorry about the start of the New Year with those blasted bush fires and storms ruining it for everyone who was there. Hopefully, the rest of the New Year will get better for us all, and be heppier and more prosperous.
Now to business!
Yes, I agree that the "Silly Season" on TV was shocking, with all kinds of rubbish available for viewers. Everything from "Embarrassing Bodies," to pathetic reject American "comedies" and Medical documentaries. Even some of the movies were crap. Some of them were Excellent, but, we've seen them so many times that we hay as well have them on DVD anyway.
The ONLY good thing about the silly seasson is, at least it gives us time to things we can't do when the GOOD stuff is on. Lawns and Hedges need to be cut (My hedge is a bloody MONSTER!!) and Gardens (For those with blue thumbs) need to be tended. I battled through the hedge and did the lawns and that was it! Apart from the News and other basics on TV, I sat back and enjoyed my new STAR WARS DVDs I got for Xmas. THE CLONE WARS - Series 4 Boxed set. I watched the lot, plus the special Features, bt New Year's day. I loved it! Now all I need is Series 5!
Now the new season on TV has started with SHORTLAND STREET back, and others gradually returning, but there is still alot of rubbish. Police Reality Shows, Ebarassing Bodies (Never seen it, DON'T want to. Bad enough seeing the promos. YUK!), My Daughter the Teenage Nudist (THAT will bring in the pervs, won't it?), Hell's Kitchen (What a bloody mongrel!! I think he only does it for TV, same with his Hotels From Hell. I think you get the picture. There is lots of rubbish out there, especially those DANGEROUSLY INSANE evangelist bastards, especially the Copelands, first thing in the morning when all I want to do is get the News. THey are beyond a Joke the way they insanely babble on and praise this and praise that, talking and praising over each other, like a comedy show. But, its not. They really ARE dangerous nutters! RICH Dangerous nutters at that.
One of my New Yeaar's Wishes for the whole Worlds is that religion eventually just disappear from ALL society. It is very dangerous and the whole cxause of ALL the troubles in the world. Ireland, The Middle East, and other places.I don't intend to offend anyone, but WHO CARES??? To me, and anyone else of SOUND MIND, religion IS offensive. Its vile and insulting to one's intelligence. Its primitive, malipulative, insulting, degrading, controlling, EVIL ignorant and murderous. It MUST GO!!!
What this world really needs is Progress and more Laughs. COMEDY like MONTY PYTHON and Mrs. Brown, and other gut busting laughs too numerous to mention.
We need to Progress and with the exciting new MYT Engine (See You Tube, BRILLIANT!) almost ready fro production (Even the Australian defence Force is keen on getting the 6 Inch Engines for ALL of their Transport needs, and with 150 - 200 MPG, I should think so ) we will ALL have the best engines in the World powering EVERYTHING we ride in, Fly in and Generate Power with, or pump things with.
I could go on, but I have said enough for now. Perhaps someone else could have a go now that I've whetted their appetite for new subjects. New Technology (OLED and Graphene Displays, MYT Engine, Counter Gravity Technology, etc.) GO FOR IT!
Have a Wonderful New Year, Everyone!! BE Good to each other and pleae take good care.
BEST WISHES from The Bridge.

shazzy46

too many kids programs

Anonymous

Wasn't much at all on the TV during the holidays. Spent more time watching the children's programes with my 8 and 6 year old grandaughters.

God

I just record everything I want to watch on TV then fast forward past all the crap ads. We are subjected to too much rubbish over and over again. We should ban the same TV ads, show them once every 24 hours we might get to see something newer for a change. As for the programs their all repeats and their repeated continuously especially JEW shows like Big Bang Theory, Seinfeld and Friends.

sydneynick

Much the same, except for the ABC. All commercial channels are still running twelve minutes of every 30 minutes of programming. Any commercial program that I watch is recorded first so I can skip through the adverts.

Ma

I totally agree with all Richard said! Just a repeat of some tired old program or movies.
We didnt bother to watch very much TV at all although we were home most of the period December through January. It was DVDs for us too!.

Mish71

Nothing but rubbish on TV, thankfully i have alot of DVD's so have been watching these.

Piccolanippy

I hate that time of year (TV wise) because all my favourite shows with new episodes are taken of the air and don't start back up until weeks later so theres nothing on free to air TV other than just old repeats of old shows that I don't even watch anymore. Good thing we have Foxtel. Only just this week Home and Away has just started back up.

eddie

We (retired couple) hardly watch any TV. If we do watch, it is usually the ABC. We have tried to watch programs to find something that we enjoy, but there is so little at any time of the year, let alone Christmas. If we do find something we tend to record it via computer so that we can fast forward through ads. We would rather watch quality reruns than new rubbish - so sometimes the Christmas period is good for that. My husband watches a lot of sport, so that can be good over Christmas. We tried Pay TV but still couldn't find enough decent stuff to watch so we stopped it. We appreciate quality stories told well, acted well, written well - very difficult to find. So much of what passes for entertainment is aimed at a younger demographic, and you would have to say, less discriminatory.

Jethro

Pretty crappy, nearly all re-runs of old series and movies, but with all the available channels we were able to find something most of the time, but had to resort a few times to DVD's

Flash

We all seem toagree that broadcast TV is absolute drivel whether it's 16 free channels of rubbish to fill in between the ads of which the ABC is getting as boring as the commercial channels and the only thing worth sparing a moment without the mute switch on is the occasional 1930-1950 movie that most of us are to young to have seen the original of such as South Pacific My Fair Lady etc of which most of the original acors are long go to the Memories in the Sky and cooking and talent shows!! they are as obsolete as "entertainment" at poker machine palaces so the only shows I even watch are documentaries and movies without interruptions or in which you can understand the words or interpet the content od without a dumbnut certificate. As for TV ? Well there's been no value in that since the three wise men walked down the street> options? Save up your scrap drink cans etc and cash them in for a cruise or trip to anywhere that doesn't have TV or poker machines and leave your mobile phone at home to taking a qualty video and still camera with you and take something up to date, real life and worth watching or showing to your family and friends . 16 channels of adds .. Duh and some wonder why our kids are so misdirected? As for Christmas programming the three wise men wouldn't have viewed them so I contentented myself sitting on Figal Head in Northern NSW with a picnic lunch watching the waves break non the rocks ending there voyagem from perhaps tens of thousdands of kilometres across the Pacific Ocean.., I don't expect to get any better as you only get what the advertisers and promoters pay for being on air!!
I guess the programming quality has to go SBS for at least having the world weather watch with at times good background music to listen to and available to purchase from Dymocks ( is that another continuous ad without a program!?) after midnight!!
Please send an email to me when something of real value and intelligence might come up before or during next Christamas and I just might risk wasting some electricity turning the set back on!! Cheers Terry

2020

Local tv is rubbish and even Pay tv is bad this time of the year SHAME they think the public are a lot of sheep !!!

gobbytart

All the good programmes on both free to air and cable tv stopped in December.
It apears that all broadcasters in Australia take a holiday and don't care for their consumers.
At least in the UK there used to be a proliferation of Christmas specials.
Nowadays it is only Doctor Who. Not that I am complaining about that programme. I have watched Doctor Who since it first started with William Hartnell starring.
The re-runs being shown are out of order and no consistency.
There is also a tendency to change the timing of the programmes so one needs to be vigilant when trying to record the programme to watch at a later date

sianan

Boring, repetitive, a bit like the same adds that are shown over and over again. It didn't matter what time of day or night, nothing to watch that was worth watching

Lindaman

Boring, just more of the same repeats...of repeats!

chips48

The TV programming over Xmas and January has been absolutely awful. The TV Channels seem to think that everyone goes away on holidays somewhere or partying every day and night, and so they don't want to watch TV. Either that, or they only want to watch the cricket and the tennis. Don't get me wrong - I like both cricket and the tennis - but not everyone does. In actual fact, though, most people are still at home, doing the things they always do, and still wanting to watch TV as usual. So, what do they give us? Nothing but repeat after repeat of our favourite shows, or movies we have seen every Christmas (or Easter, etc) for the last 5-10 years. I wish everyone would write to every TV station, telling them how they feel about the way they are being treated, and asking them to gives us the respect we deserve as loyal viewers. The real answer to the problem would be if the ratings were done 24/7/365, then they might be willing to show us some decent TV programs over the holiday season. Also, it would be nice if we could see some movies which reflect the true meaning of Christmas instead of the ridiculous, so-called comedies and Santa Claus movies that are repeated every year ad nauseum.

bydesign

Luckily the month or so before and after Christmas for us is wonderfully busy and social so the usual routine of relaxing in front of the telly of an evening just isn't an option... still on the odd occasion we stopped long enough to think about flicking on the box it'd end up on Foxtel, not great viewing but better than 'mainstream' TV..

DEBOCO

I was extremely disappointed with the viewing over the Christmas period. There were none of the traditional movies on, except for The Santa Clause & 2. Christmas holidays, whether you're at home or away, is a time for relaxing and re-charging your batteries, and watching TV is a great way to do that. TV stations should put blockbusters on during this period, so people can enjoy watching a great movie at night and not worry about having to get up for work or school the next day. Being able to watch great movies can be a whole family activity and a lot cheaper than having to pay for movie tickets at the cinema. Isn't that what Christmas is all about - spending time with your love ones and spending time together?

Littlelegs

Most of the shows they put on are repeats of repeats. If the show is good enough you may watch it but quite often once you have seen it, you know what is going to happen so there is really not much use in doing this. We did go away for a couple of weeks over this period so had some other activities to take part in.

Don

Summer TV is rubbish. You have to wonder why companies want to pay to advertise in the excretia. Only a boycott will change things.

Patto1

Total load of rubbish, unless you are into cricket and/or tennis, and even that becomes monotonous after a while. American sit-com reruns on most channells, or series like Gator Man, Pawn Stars or American/Canadian etc Pickers make you want to throw up.
ABC 1 has done a reasonable job of providing worthwhile shows (although some are reruns). Lots of books being read and now a bigger fan of the DVD store and the movies.

winniethepooh

all repeats nothing worth watching will be glad when regular programs resume

Ashar

As per usual the quality of TV programming over the Xmas period was apalling, the endless repeats of movies and sitcoms that have been shown many times over. I prefer SBS viewing for movies and documentaries.

13ceejay

TV companies must love the Christmas period!! They air low budget programs, repeats and anything else they have in the archives and still make money by selling advertising time. If the audience can't influence program quality at this time of year maybe the advertisers can by withdrawing their financial support!!

Ken

Nice to get a break from watching the shows I like & do other things besides watch TV

nanab

I seem to watch less and less TV..have many things to occupy myself..looking after my animals,gardening and surfing the internet..who has time to watch TV :)

Gooner

I am sorry, I don't think I can answer this well, because to be honest I don't really watch a lot TV programs these day, even before Christmas. But I think in general there were more Christmas related shows, but then again I really don't care much. As long as there is something I like to watch, that really matters.

jo

load of rubbish abc had some shows but main channels were crap especially with all the repeats had to rent a lot of dvds to get through.

jo

it was a load of rubbish constant repeats that really gets on my nerves. ABC had some good shows but the main channels were crap we dont have pay tv so we had to rent a lot of dvds to get through.

margaretjulia

I did not watch very much TV over the last few weeks as there was nothing that interested me. The news services were very patchy as well. I read my books and therefore did not miss TV

Mondayitis

Finding decent TV shows is becoming more difficult anyway but during non ratings season it's just woeful. I've found a few hidden gems on ABC and SBS but its still slim pickings. We usually hire out the weekly movies that we haven't seen yet and that keeps us going. Christmas shows make me cringe. I think when it comes to TV we are getting a bum steer in OZ and too bad if you don't like sport.

Gerry1945

So boring it was even more boring than normal 60 or more were repeats and stupid shows, fatties and cooking and far too much sport.

radusa

We do not watch a lot of TV which is partly due to the quality of programming. What little we do watch, mostly we record and watch later (zapping past the ads). I feel that the media moguls are not sensitive to viewers needs with ad hoc changes to programming and arbitrarily setting up the "holiday" break - treating viewers' needs as unimportant to artificially create demand by advertisers during artificially created and defined "peak" times. In time, this with backfire on the TV stations as disenchanted viewers move more to the internet rather than TV for entertainment. The TV stations will look back with regret that so many viewers are off side - that's my prediction and because I get upset with TV managers, it's also my hope!

purplerose

Couldn't agree more with these comments, tv at christmas time needs to be completely overhauled. Tired of repeats of shows that were only run a few months ago and repeats of shows that are so old and have rerun so often I know the dialogue. doesn't make any difference if you watch commercial tv or foxtel, except foxtel has the hide to charge you for the pleasure of watching reruns with as many if not more commercials. Thank goodness for dvds!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

coll1122

it's always the same crap on TV every xmas, buy i'm glad because we turned it of n spent quality time with our kids n enjoyed it.i think there is to much TV sometimes nppl are forgetting wat xmas is ask about.. Spending time with loved ones, not sitting in front of an idiot box.

summer

i really did not watch much tv at all .......i have heaps and heaps of dvds that i have not watched and this was the best time to catch up............don't have and will never get pay tv again, a waste of money.......kids just seemed to be satisfield with hanging out with their friends and going up to the shops now and again, went to the beach, can get a beach bus just near our house that takes you to manly for the day and brings you back for a very reasonable price......also just looking around and having lunch at say, maccas......suffice to say, I think they are ready for school.......so tv paid no part of our life over the school break

Evie

Too many repeats and very poor content all round! It's rather insulting to the general public to put such terrible shows on and it certainly demonstrates the power of the dollar in this industry. The television stations have very little interest in their viewers. Their programming is purely based around 'ratings' and they feel they can throw a repeat in the middle of a series or do any last minute changes they like. Unfortunately, unless everybody turns off their favorite shows, the stations will continue to treat the viewing public in this way. Actually, I'm not sure I'm willing to go without my weekly dose of NCIS quite yet either,

mrwonderful5433

Actually I enjoy the programming at this time of year as it is a lot better than some of the rubbish they try to get us to watch. I enjoy a lot of the old movies and series they show at this time. I hate reality programs and refuse to watch them. There were some of the old favourite Christmas movies which most people enjoy at this time of year.
I think Seven Two was the chanel I mostly watched as I find the programming there more entertaining than most of the others.
I'd like to take this opportunity to wish Trudy all the best in her new endeavour and thanks for your great service over the years.

Jeollie

You can pretty well tell that it's obvious there's no channel that's after ratings in the months/time you mention... The viewing is appalling for any age bracket, young and older! The lead up to Christmas this year didn't feel "Christmassy" at all, only the odd business advertisement sending seasons greetings, nothing like it used to be and little or NONE Yuletide viewing type shows/movies... As a child you knew Christmas was coming just from the tv, but not anymore... The viewing after Christmas/new year has been dismal and if you don't like sport, ie cricket and tennis then you must be have even fewer options of finding something to watch (on free to air tv) I guess those with pay tv have more options, but even with poor free to air tv, I won't be getting it..

Florrie

Took one look at the TV guide and went out and got some videos.

emmy19

I watch the news at 6.00pm as usual whilst having my meal.
This is all my tv watching per day therefore Christmas veiwing was no different.

Loopie

I found the selection boring. There are so many movies and shows, they could put on, but must find the most boring, around this time of year.
I am particualrly bored, with the constant repeats of James Bond movies, surely, they can find something a lot better to show

Annie_T

I just sort of flicked through and tried to enjoy whatever I found. I did get a bit sick of all the reruns of Big Bang Theory. I don't get too fussed over what's on, and when something really special is there, its a real bonus, imo

Hartmut

Generally I don't watch much from any of the advertising channels, - at any time. They ar all full of cooking shows or silly realty shows which have nothing to do with reality.
But, I must say I am much more sorry to see you go Rainbow.
However, I wish you all the very best and great success in whatever your next position in work - and in life will bring you.
All the Very Best, Hartmut :-)

Roo

I think it was absolutely terrible. The programmes are either old repeats, or not something any age would want to watch, or not everyone wants to watch tennis or cricket all the time.

Hartmut

I think it was absolutely terrible. The programmes are either old repeats, or not something any age would want to watch, or not everyone wants to watch tennis or cricket all the time.

I agree with you about the endless rugby and cricket, as well as the boring 'reality' and cooking shows which do not need to have any brain engagements.
However, tennis is not shown anywhere during the whole year, only for about two weeks and that only on one channel.

Doc

I agree that the free to air channels make little effort over the Christmas period - they show lots of repeats - for me the ABC made probably the best effort - their Christmas Eve offering 'The Nativity' was a seasonally heartwarming production.

anni

It was complete rubbish. We hardly watched any television. I think I caught a split second of Gilligan's island the other day. We prefer to stream stuff from the abc and sbs or documentaries than watch rubbish. Spent more time listening to the radio, to be honest.

suhas

All i watched over the Christmas period is the Australian summer of cricket. And now in January, i'm enjoying the Australian Open. It's awesome.
I dont care enough to watch any of the drama stuff on TV anyway..

gnasher

My TV was off more than it was on. If it's not worth watching there is always a good book

suzie

it was so boring i hardly watched any television at all. as i dont have pay tv i only had free to air channels and there was nothing of interest on any of them.

Hartmut

it was so boring i hardly watched any television at all. as i dont have pay tv i only had free to air channels and there was nothing of interest on any of them.

Generally that is true, but you may try ABC or SBS.

jvanes

As we have Foxtel and IQ I was able to tape lots of great programs so am having a very enjoyable watching time and in fact can't keep up with all the good programs I found when free to air isn't offering anything. Plus American Idol just started on Channel 10 and there's lots of tennis.

Grayapollo

Boy where did they find the rubbish they have the nerve to put on?

Hartmut

Boy where did they find the rubbish they have the nerve to put on?

Need you really ask?

b head

Apart from news series, there is no new programs on TVs, no matter they are local channels or overseas channels, unless you rent DVDs yourself. I spent my Christmas sleeping in bed. There is nothing to view on the TV, plus the weather is too hot for activities, and shops are full of people. I don't think people bother with what is aired on TVs during Christmas.

shazzz56

I think holiday tv is rubbish with all the new movies that are available why do we still get stuff we have seen every year for the last twenty years
.

Billy0276

This year I thought has been better than other years. Not sure if that is because the kids are old enough to choose their own programs so Im not having to find something for them on tv.
I also find this time of year I do channel flick a lot, but I generally watching the summer sports such as Tennis.

rabbits

As we have Fox and we are sports fanatics it did not bother me. Ido miss my crime shows and soapies eg Winners and Loosers and Packed to the Rafters. Knowing they will be back on again end January is good and it gives me something to look forward to. We live in such a great country we should be out enjoying the lovely summer nights, giving our brains a rest, instead of been glued to the tv. It was Christmassy enough for me. No real complaints from me

Stars11

Thank goodness for Grimm!
I found a real gem with Grimm! It's actually pretty rare for me to find much I like on TV full stop although I did enjoy the re run of The Bikie Wars Channel 10. Seven had to be the big winner there. I didn't really care too much about the rest and unfortunately this season's cricket never got to the heights it used to.

Stars11

Thank goodness for Grimm!
I found a real gem with Grimm! It's actually pretty rare for me to find much I like on TV full stop although I did enjoy the re run of The Bikie Wars Channel 10. Seven had to be the big winner there. I didn't really care too much about the rest and unfortunately this season's cricket never got to the heights it used to.

annie

At Christmas time it is definately a non ratings period where all the good shows stop for their break and holidays.The television networks dont care what they put on for people to watch.I know that we as a family were not watching as much tv

mrsdew17

Don't watch that much free-to-air tv anymore, and not just at Christmas/January. Don't have pay tv either but use my tv to watch television series on disc and heaps of movies. Too much self-promotion on tv and too many ads, programs not running to schedule etc.

Brad

We're watching less TV with every passing month. Christmas was no different. Other media provide far more quality content, without the interference of mostly mindless advertising.

Lainey

Absolute rubbish. All repeats. The only good thing ( and that was live ) was tennis.
Elaine

macmelton

I agree with you . There also was a lot things from the distant past. In fact I was waitng for the Cisco Kid to appear on the screen and have a conversation with hop a long cassidy.

kayteejay46

Ugh the tedious reruns of Midsommer Murders, Poirot and other fare which was ok the first time, but by the nineteenth time is loosing it's gloss.
Then, for the non sport lover, the huge chunks of Cricket and tennis. The infomercials are more entertaining. Thank the Lord for DVD series from the library - old favorites like Madmen, SIx feet under and a new favorite, the Danish cop show 'the bridge'

alanj

Agree - During this holiday quality of TV content was boring and out of holiday spirit

Emerald

I don't watch much TV any more but the bits I did see were rubbish. I don't have Pay TV either as I don't believe in paying to see the same shows over and over again and ALL TV should be free! The news and the Tennis have been the most interesting shows lately. There were a couple of christmas movies on but not like it used to be so I watched what I wanted and switched off. The standard of programs has fallen dramatically ( American rubbish) so it's no wonder that a lot of people rely on internet site for entertainment.

bibinc

I think that the stations dont care what they show during non rating periods. Get sick of repeats all the time

Most nights I have the tv on, my laptop on my lap and sometimes read a book as well while waiting for internet pages to load.

Nita

I never look forward to TV over the Christmas period, it is always the crap they save for this time of year. Plus we have all the cricket (hate it) and days & days of tennis (which I admit has been getting me hooked, especially if it's Novak, Serena, Venus, Victoria).
One absolute stand-out for me over Chrissie was a TV series on SBS called "Hunted" with Melissa George, from the second it started it sucked me in completely and I dreaded the final episode...now I cannot wait til the next season (cross my fingers that they will make one).

skewsy

Live coverage of the tennis from Queensland to Melbourne kept us entertained - and it's still going!

Bowie031962

I don't expect much out of the TV stations in non Ratings periods. They just don't seem to care too much about what the viewer would like. During this season they were very good at repeating shows that had only been shown a few months ago. With the library they have you would think they could do better. All of the channels were average but Nine seem to be slightly ahead.

Pameee

The programming was rubbish. I didn't think there was half as much Christmas stuff this year as previous years.
Didn't have a problem with that content. but episode after episode of big bang theory and Three and half men . come on give me a break. those shows are just rubbish . and now its a choice of Tennis Cricket or master chef.

When we did turn the tv on it was to put on a dvd

The tv stations do not care about viewers . they change programing from whats scheduled over the holidays to suite themselves

the rack

Ok if you don't mind watching overseas repeats. A little brain numbing though. It was good for getting others things done. This way I could get a bit more work done without needing to see a particular show (that I hadn't seen before)

tonycairns

appalling I am going to ditch TV and go to internet i hate the ads the programmes are crap and its just a waste of time

pam

all the old programs that we have seen to many times . We stoped pay TV as they were doing the same thing and mainstream tells us they have more channels to watch but all we get now is more shopping channels and what happen to all the xmas thing my kids loved to watch they have all gone and that is a shame to lose them

PRICHAR

hi television programming is used as experiment some good shows are on but disappear when ratings start.christmas television doesnt exist as voilence etc are not what you wish to see .and this should be started 1 week prior to christmas day so as to give the feeling of christmas everybody wants to hide because cant upset other religions but all religions celebrate theyre own birth of theyre savoirs so get back to christian values and stop being politacal correct which is cowardness by simple fools .

Grandma

72 has a lot of old bbc shows that my husband never watched and I did, I am quite happy to rewatch them with him. Also we bought a dvd set of Sharp, set in the Napoleonic era, quite enjoying that. Otherwise I listen to the ABC local radio.

kaz007

I found the variety of shows boring and also lots of repeat episodes . More movies would be good over this period to sit back and relax with .
Lots of sport on which I do like but don't sit for hours watching at a time.

RainbowC

I watch little to-no TV during the year, it is all trash. Maybe about 2 hours per week. Over Christmas and Summer I watch more because there is finally something to watch.... tennis and Cricket!
The TV is never on when we are not deliberatly watching something, saves electricity and saves brain numbing.

smythster2

Personally its a disgrace the television wer'e subjected to over the December/January period. This is the time where the best and latest television shows should be televised. There's no doubt that people who don't have the luxury of pay tv subcriptions and long breaks away from home do it hard enough as it is, so why subject them to two months of viewing hell.

Mick

Not much interest in the tv over Christmas, usually poor quality , but there were a couple of good oldies I found by flicking through programs, spent a lot more time on Skype and facebook

BibbyKat

I believe we are "fobbed" off with too much sport ... the quality of programmes = too many repeats. It is at this time I think it would be a good idea to have pay TV .. but resist. We spend too much time already watching inane programmes!
I agree with Richards and others ... LOAD OF RUBBISH is right on.
Everything is sport sport sport. I refuse to watch the "grunting" playing females. Is the game tennis or "Who Can Make the Most Noise"?

Fran

They seem to put on a lot of repeat Christmas movies., surely we could see some new ones instead of the same old ones every year. I didn't watch much as there wasn't anything to watch.
Pretty poor by the TV networks

Teejay

the repeats are so chopped up with mammoth commercial breaks its hard to maintain interest but then that is the same during ratings periods isn't it.

MariaG

Wish I could afford pay TV just so that I can get away from all the REPEATS, REPEATS, REPEATS!!!!! But, I can't afford pay TV, so my lot in life during non rating periods is set in stone. The only saving grace is buying dinner at a local RSL, then watching the A-League game on the big screen.
Not only are we subjected to masses of rehashed blah, blah stuff, we are also watching shows that are repeats of repeats, or repeats.
But wait, the rating season begins, the new shows are starting to emerge, and yes, we are being asked to watch Encores the next day on the sister channel. So, there are now re-runs withing 24hrs of the new shows.
But wait, there's more. I challenge all free to air channels to program their shows so they start and finish as advertised. On the rare occasions I want to record a program, in most cases I either miss the beginning or the end.
I guess it comes down to "you get what you pay for".

Bowie031962

Wish I could afford pay TV just so that I can get away from all the REPEATS, REPEATS, REPEATS!!!!! But, I can't afford pay TV, so my lot in life during non rating periods is set in stone. The...

Don't worry pay TV wasn't much better from what I saw at the in laws. More repeats, just more channels of them. TV stations are more worried about the bottom line, money, money, money, they don't give two hoots about viewers.

monicag8

I don't think they care about anything but showing off commercials. There are no longer any drama involving Jesus and his life, they are all flash cartoons and normal TV. Nothing much to do with the holiday season at all - maybe the network realised that Jesus in the holiday season just doesn't cut the popularity stakes!

PaulDW

What I saw was great! Downton Abbey and Doctor Who Xmas specials - great chat shows, films and dramas and wonderful comedies.

Yep I was in Engand for 4 weeks so didn't have to put up with the drivel here!

Nicci

I love the Christmas movies but miss the regulars like Shortland St, Neighbours and Homa and Away. I guess I enjoyed T.V. 2 the most.

nennerb

The TV was a insult they treat us like brainless morons
every show i watched was a repeat and as for person of interest can you believe the episode was the one on just before christmas they just dont care.I to just turned off and watched dvds
they should be ashamed
i would have been happy with a old black and white movie instead of current repeats

p.s. good luck Trudy

Aliyaraya

There was absolutely nothing to watch not even for the kids. I thought it was really miserable especially for those families who can't afford to take their kids away on holidays, movies, adventure world or whatever. There should be something at least on the TV to keep them amused or entertained.

babs

Just glad had AUSTAR and life style programs as even sportswere repeats ?? Barbara

Swanny

We should all learn to be less dependent on TV. When ratings return ,we should switch off as a protest....feeble maybe..,but better than doing nothing

victory

I too agree there wasn't anything really worth watching that wasn't a repeat except for the cricket and etc...that said I found we had to go to the DVD shop because we don't have pay TV, refuse to buy something that is too costly. Changing the programs over Holiday times would get the ratings back for the industry. Most people even on holidays like to watch something descent to occupy their time when it rains.

Rachel

Didn't really bother me as I go on the internet if there isn't much on. I have in previous "off" seasons noticed that they only play rubbish and my husband commented that there may be more free to air channels now but there is still nothing on!

Swanny

As usual the programmes were appalling. The screen was filled with repeats and Yankee drivel. Channel Two was superior to the others because of it's Australian and British content. Even SBS was below it's usual quality.

Swanny

As usual the programmes were appalling. The screen was filled with repeats and Yankee drivel. Channel Two was superior to the others because of it's Australian and British content. Even SBS was below it's usual quality.

MariaG

Wish I could afford pay TV just so that I can get away from all the REPEATS, REPEATS, REPEATS!!!!! But, I can't afford pay TV, so my lot in life during non rating periods is set in stone. The only saving grace is buying dinner at a local RSL, then watching the A-League game on the big screen.
Not only are we subjected to masses of rehashed blah, blah stuff, we are also watching shows that are repeats of repeats, or repeats.
But wait, the rating season begins, the new shows are starting to emerge, and yes, we are being asked to watch Encores the next day on the sister channel. So, there are now re-runs withing 24hrs of the new shows.
But wait, there's more. I challenge all free to air channels to program their shows so they start and finish as advertised. On the rare occasions I want to record a program, in most cases I either miss the beginning or the end.
I guess it comes down to "you get what you pay for".

Hens

Xmas TV was more rubish than it has ever been. I spent the time watching things I had recorded and saved to watch as I knew it would be all rubbish. I also think looking at the next weeks programmes that things are not improving. I am watching a lot less TV now than I have ever done, in fact I am just becoming disinterested altogether as there has been nothing much at all of late to capture my interest. I am becoming more and more a computer addict

herarip

Absolutely dreadful, we watched DVD's. It did make us communicate more with our family though which is normally a quick hi and then the "box" goes on!

Mersie

You know what I hate? the same Christmas movies shown over and over every year. Did they not make any other movies about Christmas?
Every channel was repeats, they give you all these extra channels and they are full of rubbish. I don't know how we thought some of those shows were funny back in the day, I look at them now and wonder how I ever watched them.
I can't wait till Febuary to get some decent TV, and have all my favourite shows return, the only problem then will be they will have them all on at the same time. You just can't win. Thank god for the Internet.

Mersie

You know what I hate? the same Christmas movies shown over and over every year. Did they not make any other movies about Christmas?
Every channel was repeats, they give you all these extra channels and they are full of rubbish. I don't know how we thought some of those shows were funny back in the day, I look at them now and wonder how I ever watched them.
I can't wait till Febuary to get some decent TV, and have all my favourite shows return, the only problem then will be they will have them all on at the same time. You just can't win. Thank god for the Internet.

MazzyJ

It was a load of cr*p mostly. Only a couple of good shows on. What's with the repeating of a whole series episode after episode. I watched some of my DVD's again at least I could watch something I liked.

Mersie

You know what I hate? the same Christmas movies shown over and over every year. Did they not make any other movies about Christmas?
Every channel was repeats, they give you all these extra channels and they are full of rubbish. I don't know how we thought some of those shows were funny back in the day, I look at them now and wonder how I ever watched them.
I can't wait till Febuary to get some decent TV, and have all my favourite shows return, the only problem then will be they will have them all on at the same time. You just can't win. Thank god for the Internet.

Chris

To me the programs during the Christmas break and in January have been very dismal. I really can't say that one channel stood out. They were all bad and to me had no intention of pleasing their viewing public. Some of the shows have been repeated on a regular basis. I can't understand why we can't have ratings all year. That would improve the shows that were being shown. Maybe if some of the people that run the programs had to sit through a few they might change what they put on the tv.

cuz

As we have Foxtel our viewing did not change over Christmas & January

Poppy.

I thought the TV content over Christmas and New Year period was a load of garbage. I watched the news and the weather then I went to bed and read a book.

spog777

Can't believe the trash that was aired and very little time was spared for Christmas style features - actually had more Christmas shows on after Christmas itself - go figure

gp

Yes, definitely noticed the change in the type of programs that the TV networks were programming. Complete rubbish! Also Pay TV (Foxtel) decided to cut some of the channels on offer (mostly movie channels) without notifying subscriber & yet the monthly fee remains the same. I think it's time to say goodbye to Foxtel & start flicking through the new channels. I found better movies on the new Go channel than Foxtel. They may not be the latest but hiring DVD's will be much cheaper than what I am paying per month..
I didn't think the networks got into the Xmas spirit as in past years.
The one channel that I enjoyed watching during this period was Go channel.

ozziedigger

I thought it was a great learning opportunity .In the months leading up to xmas TV
the channels got me in the habit of glancing at that evenings offerings and noting it was the usual .So i got into a new habit of making plans to leave the TV off and
catch up on the interesting things i used to do .Now i never run out of time to do
what needs to be done and i`m fitter and happier now ,so my next TV plans will be
Friday nights when the football starts again,but that`s all !

blondie

if there wasnt tennis or i didnt enjoy sports my alternitive is watching dvds. which are quite reasonably priced these days especially the ones for older people like myself

Jannie77

TV was very poor, we went out to the movies, went for walks, played games, and watched DVD's.

kath

It is terrible any time with free TV but at Christmas it is terrible all repeats, utter rubbish how they ever get on TV is beyond me i think all stations are the same i was thinking of looking into Foxtel down those lines but i really do not want the added expense

888shelley

Have to agree 150%...absolute garbage!!!! I am totally sick of re-runs and old stuff, occasionally it is OK but the consistent old rubbish that we had this year was possibly the worst I have ever endured!! Why should we have to rent DVD's or get Foxtel when we have free to air, many pensioners cannot afford these and have to put up with what is on. Also the number of ads seems to have increased over the holidays, what's going on guys? And while I am at it , what is wrong with one channel (7 dig) showing sport (i.e. Tennis) and leaving all the other fta channel 7's to show decent programs, etc etc? The programmers need to re educate themselves on what people want to watch as more of us are staying home as drink driving is not advisable these days.

pointy

In a way I am lucky that I don't normally watch the commercial channels.
I much more enjoy watching ABC and SBS because regardless of the time of year they have programs that are easy to watch. The fact that the people who might be watching are doing so because they enjoy a variety of programs and not just the constant mundane replays that the commercial channels re-hash every time there isn't a ratings period approaching.

kath

In a way I am lucky that I don't normally watch the commercial channels.
I much more enjoy watching ABC and SBS because regardless of the time of year they have programs that are easy to watch....

I agree with this comment ABC ,SBS do have some good shows other stations are terrible unless it is ratings time then everything on at the same time

Michael

I just leave the TV on Ch7 Melbourne in the evening mostly for my Mum. She likes Deal or No Deal repeats or not and the news. I tried to watch a movie or old TV series on discs when she went to bed but always interrupted. Pity got a lot of discs to watch for the first time.

blondie

What was on didnt really worry me because I am a tennis fanatic so it was on channel 7&7two the whole time

Noels1968

well, where do I start? There was some cr*p, then some total rubbish, then some more cr*p.... I am alone, and TV is my solace... so all up, I think the TV networks need to pull their finger out and think of what we would like to see, not put on any old thing just because they couldn't be bothered :(

kath

well, where do I start? There was some cr*p, then some total rubbish, then some more cr*p.... I am alone, and TV is my solace... so all up, I think the TV networks need to pull their finger out and...

I also agree with this comment as well TV is good /cheap entertainment when you are on your own it is company TV is getting worse worse every year

Violetpatricia

Didn't bother watching TV except for nightly news. Nothing we wanted to watch.

mossie

networks don't care about their programming during the christmas /new year holidays.
Its all american shows and nothing remoetly connected to australian shows.

All i can say is thank god for dvd's

reewees

I enjoyed the Channel 9 Carols on Christmas Eve. Loved the Dr Who Special on Boxing Day. Other than that I watched DVD's and shows we had recorded during the year.

solstice

Television over Christmas and January during general viewing times was as always a total waste of electricity and personal time. Some of the late night movies that our TIVO recorded was our saviour and saved us from certain boredom and resorting to hiring movies to entertain.

bettythrelfo

This is the time when you need to have a pile of your own dvds etc., plus whatever you r local library lets you borrow. Found our channels give up from end of nov to the beginning of feb. and everything is old and reruns and more reruns., this is when we watch our own. I think that the staff are all on holidays away out of australia, and the machines are robot worked, certainly seems it with some of the hash that gets played over and over...

Muttly

How much tennis do we have to put up with (boring as hell)
Channel 10
7 Two
and now Channel 7 for two weeks this station thinks its just great with its coverage especially that boring sports commentator on Sunrise
thank god for foxtel and dvds

debs123

I was quite happy with the programming as it gave me a chance to watch shows I have recorded through the year! I have also enjoyed a few new shows so yep, I've had a pretty good ratings break.

PGS

Nothing changes year-to-year. Same tired old movies, repeated ad-inifintum (sorry about the pun, anything to liven up the viewing).

If I've seen them once, I've seen them 1000 times.... and it seems like some of them have been on that many times...

ratsenburger

The news & then straight over to dvd,s at the time we where going through the supernatural series!

Jan

I'm a bit of a telly tragic, but never watch "live" TV. I record everything I want to watch - even when I am away on holidays. Consequently I had lots to catch up on over the Christmas period. In fact I have just run out and emptied both PVR's this week, so am struggling to find something to watch now! I am glad the ratings are starting again next week, because I am having withdrawal symptoms!!

dvdlcs

Is television still relevant?

I would imagine that over the Christmas period there is a larger than normal captive audience so the TV companies won't have to stretch themselves - they can get away with dross that wouldn't be watched at other times of the year.

This is conjecture, as I haven't watched television for some years. Too many other things to do; read a book, browse the Internet etc.

chuds

A lot of rubbish- too many repeats as usual

rubbish

it happens every year, the networks appear to think the public will put up anything at this time of year, they rehash old programs and load them with a mass of adverts & promotions of their 2013 programs, it is why I only watch abc & sbs.
bert

mismoo

I really wasn't very impressed with what was shown on the telly over Christmas and sadly the PayTV wasn't much better. Therefore I didn't watch the TV much at all. My family sought amusement in other areas such as family time pursuits like jigsaw puzzles and board games. Me, I was happily perusing websites such as Pinterest, eBay and Amazon. I'm so glad the rating season is slowly dribbling in with some soapies already returning and some old favourites beginning their new seasons in the coming weeks.

blondie72

I really loathe television over Christmastime!! I refuse to watch 30-40 year old rubbish that I have seen so many times before it is mind-numbing! If the Griswald's National Lampoon's Vacation isn't played every second day of every Christmas, every year I will eat my hat! It's just junk that the kids won't watch, I won't watch and basically...unless the Cricket is on...our television is turned off until TV shows return to normal! We watch better 'old' TV on You tube!

jonask

Same as last year, only sports, news and a few movies worth watching. the rest ? who cares? the tv channels certainly didn't.

can88

as with everyone else, there was little on worth watching.

Jinja

There is really not much worthwhile to view over the Christmas break. Lots of promos re forthcoming programmes, leaving you with re-runs in the meantime. How many times has the Griswolds' Christmas been run now??

Peter

None of the free to air TV stations gave any consideration to to the interests of their normal viewers.
thr only shows of interest were the sporting replays
those not interested in sport had to find alternative interests or look at replays of replays of replays

mauvehaze

I think it's shocking programming.
I loved the repeats on ABC, but I also watched the documentaries and films on NITV. Congratulations SBS for this new channel.
I can't remember watching 7, 9 or 10 except for GWN7 to catch up with the local news and weather every now and again.
Pay TV must rub their hands with glee over Christmas and the New Year as I'm sure a lot of families get themselves a subscription for Christmas.
I spent more time with my nose in a book than I did watching TV.

Ziah

Spent Halloween at Disneyland, Christmas at Disney World and New Year's at Universal Florida - and for ten weeks we didn't turn a tv on - so I can't comment or complain about what was on tv anywhere, let alone in Australia. I know that overall the US tv offerings are ten times better than the rubbish we get here (except the good US shows).

But in previous years, we've always resorted to shows we've DVR'd or store bought movies on DVD/Blu Ray or more game playing because the rubbish that is shown across all tv channels is pathetic. And that includes PayTV.

Lola

The programmes over Christmas were mostly repeats - but I don't care because that gave me a chance to watch films on DVD, watch taped programmes that I had put away leading up to Christmas and I actually quite like having this time to catch up with other programmes. Channel 2 did have a couple of good new programmes, but I don't feel the other channels cared whether we watched or not!

Kelly

All the Xmas shows are mostly American shit as all the regular good shows go off for Xmas its not very good TV viewing. We have Foxtel so we are OK but otherwise just normal TV is pretty bad viewing. All channels are about the same.

squizzy

As per usal every xmas - Jan period it is the same old thing repeats of repeats instead of repeats all the time how about some thing new or even some good documentures at least some thing that you havent seen several times before.

Taggie

We didn't watch a lot of TV over Christmas, we spent the time rewatching all the TV shows we have on DVD. Currently watching Stargate.

aussiepete

I dont mind as i have foxtel & iam also a big fan of cricket, so i look forward to
the boxing day test,But with foxtel there are so many chanells to chose from & i can recod the programs i like to watch during the cricket & when the adds come on all i havwe to do is fast forward past those annoying bank & furnal adds

maurbug

I think the shows over this non rating period are absolutely appalling, most of them at night are second and third repeats of Big Bang Theory or one of the many shows sent over from USA, yes they can be comical, but come on, we have seen them so many times that we can practically predict what is going to be said next. I dont mind the sports shows such as cricket or tennis, but even the morning shows are all repeats, I basicallly leave the tv on whilst I am doing things on the computer but still in all, surely they could dig up something different. The Christmas movies werent too bad, but again just repeats.

aussiepete

I dont mind as i have foxtel & iam also a big fan of cricket, so i look forward to
the boxing day test,But with foxtel there are so many chanells to chose from & i can recod the programs i like to watch during the cricket & when the adds come on all i havwe to do is fast forward past those annoying bank & furnal adds

cobi43

I had a swinging door of Granddaughters and due to nothing much worth watching we had fun playing board games, yes I do still have them, and cards (real cards) and did hire some DVD;s
Had a great time as did the girls'
Cobi

duchau

l am disappointed with the TV programs with a lot of repeat shows.

debden8

generally very poor for all stations

Liz

Total load of rubbish on commercial stations, but a great chance to catch up on both SBS and ABC. Actially made me realise that they have a lot better shows. With less or no ads.

GJ

I very rarely watch Tv so was good time to catch up with series of revenge , firefly, dexter etc very good watching

suzukisue

We have foxtel and very rarely watch free to air tv, so I can't say I noticed anything different about the shows on!

J9

I did notice that TV programmes weren't really targeted at anyone in particular and were quite random in what they picked to show. A lot of things seemed to be repeats so I stocked up on DVDs instead as I don't have Pay TV. Most channels were Christmassy which involved repeats, and in my opinion bad choice of programmes. Personally Channel 4, Prime and Choice TV caught my eye much more than usual as they seemed to screen programmes that interested me more.

saintrobbie

There wasnt anything to watc h except sport which i love and tennis is great . think pay tv isnt worth the monewy u pay too many repeats as free to air too many . cant wait for regular tv to start again with my fav shows .

bernmar

Total rubbish: even with all the new free to air channels it was still difficult to find something worth watching. I'm fortunate I like cricket but due to budget restrictions we had to cease our Foxtel and missed the Big Bash League games.
There seemed to be more NZ programmes which are even worse than some of our programmes. Also too many similar type programmes... Border Patrol, Border Security are examples. For aged people on strict budgets there is limited entertainment and tv provides that.

Ed

enjoyed a few of the religious type movies and documentaries, but far too many boring repeat shows, although some of the New Years Eve coverage was colourful

1wildkat

Honestly I don't even remember what was on, it's not that important to me, my life doesn't revolve around tv, sure they play more things for kids during that time, but then they are on holiday too, so I rather there be a movie on for them to watch if they wanted than watch the "normal" day time tv talk shows. Like everything I don't think the tv stations can win someone will always be unhappy about something.

Tars

We have Pay TV, so didn't watch too much free to air.

Quinn77

TV over Christmas and New Year has been a load of rubbish. All they have been showing are repeats and movies that should have been archived years ago.
I was lucky enough to have quite a few shows and Movies I had recorded but not seen to keep me occupied. I have also been to the Cinema quite a bit!!

Stekel

TV over Christmas and New Year has been a load of rubbish. All they have been showing are repeats and movies that should have been archived years ago.
I was lucky enough to have quite a few...

Most of the time the TV has a load of rubbish, however I am also very lucky , like Gail I have movies and TV series downloaded, some 350 GIG allthogether which gives my wife and myself plenty of choice when-ever we want to look at the box.

john0001

I did not watch too much but there was a lot of repeats.
I did like Grimm which is a new show.
There is a lot of rubbish on over Christmas period

Lockwood59

I agree with a lot of the responders, unlike the USA, TV networks in Australia seem to scrape the bottom of the barrel in regard to programming. It would be nice if they could have some programing that was new or first run.

Oh well, its a good time to get out and about and spend time with the family

cornishpixie

Absolutely the biggest load of rubbish, rubbish, rubbish!
The only good thing to watch was the Graham Norton show on New Years Eve!!
I just can't believe what was on over the Christmas and New Year. Its probably the only 2 months of the year that I wish I had Foxtel!!
Roll on to when the ratings start again!!!

rickie1234

Foxtel is also complete rubbish apart from the odd show there is nothing to watch on any channel my answer to that is switch it of why. watch 5 or 6 hours of tv at night anyway try talking to people phoning them or inviting them round go for a walk withe dog read a good book who needs endless tv there are ar more interesting things in life stop being a couch potato and live a little

RainbowC

Foxtel is also complete rubbish apart from the odd show there is nothing to watch on any channel my answer to that is switch it of why. watch 5 or 6 hours of tv at night anyway try talking to ...

Completely agree Rick. Couldn't have said it better myself! :-)

jaguar

G'Day
I watch some TV but never the pay for stuff. Yes the holiday/any off ratings period gets repeats. I basically only watch (ABC) news, movies and some UK/OZ stuff not seen before but never the serial soaps/reality stuff that is contrived with no reality whatsoever from any source so.... just watched less over hols :-))

JNel

I don't know whether I was too busy to notice the bad programming before Christmas but I am certainly noticing it now! Free to air and Foxtel both are pathetic at the moment with nothing but repeats on.

Gayle

Whoever is being paid to program for our TV stations, not just over Christmas but throughout the year, should be sacked. Do they even watch TV themselves? Our the Christmas period people generally have more time to watch and relax. Not everyone wants to watch cricket and tennis.

Bowie031962

Whoever is being paid to program for our TV stations, not just over Christmas but throughout the year, should be sacked. Do they even watch TV themselves? Our the Christmas period people...

agree wholeheartedly, although I don't mind the cricket.

michb

Typical Christmas programming. At least I have a Tivo so can switch to extra channels although generally TV or radio is just there as background noise so don't pay much attention to it.

ianhnz

For me the only good thing was the Dr Who Christmas special, on Boxing Day.
There was no, real Christmas shows and they all took ;The Christ out of Christmas.
Also, no count down on New Years eve.

lifestudent

It was horrible, I am a teacher and I have to have my holidays at this time of the year and I look forward to relaxing a bit in front of the TV but there is nothing on. I refuse to get pay TV and I can't remember the last time I hired a DVD. As soon as I go back to work everything new starts for the year and I am stretched to watch the things I want.

CSD

Have to agree with lifestudent, too much cricket, tennis and lets not forget my favorite - golf. Wow I actually finished several books, enjoyed walks and spent time listening to some great cds. ...

A very sad time with my family and friends overseas and out of my timeline. I was forced to watch rubbish, but thanked SBS and ABC for some sanity. Local friends had to work Christmas Day and Boxing Day, and I thought I would feel better helping them. Just felt so lonely and bored. Could have done with viewing something more interesting rather than the Christmas Joy, with snow, totally inappropriate for Australia.

Wildcat

It was horrible, I am a teacher and I have to have my holidays at this time of the year and I look forward to relaxing a bit in front of the TV but there is nothing on. I refuse to get pay TV and I...

Have to agree with lifestudent, too much cricket, tennis and lets not forget my favorite - golf. Wow I actually finished several books, enjoyed walks and spent time listening to some great cds. Maybe a good hard drive to download some of the so called good movies coming through the year, you at least might have something to enjoy over your break. I think a 3 year old could select better programs for the holiday period and January. Here's hoping it improves next year.

Idiotlad

Thank goodness there was a lot of live real football (ie soccer) on over that period so all the other rubbish that was being shown did not bother me at all.
Made having pay TV worth it !

porge

I have pay T.V. and always enjoy the chance to catch-up over Christmas with programmes I have missed previously. My problem is that there is far too much choice with pay T.V. I gave up free to air more than 20 years ago and find it is well worth the cost.

porge

Porge, I was laid up with a broken ankle for 11 weeks and I found pay TV was sooooo repetitive. Good if the pain killers made me doze off, as I knew I could watch the show again in a couple of...

Sympathize with you Nettie as I was also recently laid up. First I sprained my ankle then broke my knee followed by breaking my ankle then when I thought the worst was over broke the same ankle again, and all in the space of about 2 weeks. I think it depends on the package you have as I have to record a lot as there is more than I can watch. However, after non stop watching for weeks at a time I found I just wanted to be able to be up and around. Hope the ankle is better now.

Nettie

I have pay T.V. and always enjoy the chance to catch-up over Christmas with programmes I have missed previously. My problem is that there is far too much choice with pay T.V. I gave up free to...

Porge, I was laid up with a broken ankle for 11 weeks and I found pay TV was sooooo repetitive. Good if the pain killers made me doze off, as I knew I could watch the show again in a couple of hours.

kezza052

Rubbish,Rubbish & more Rubbish! Not a decent programe on over the festive and new year season. Television stations do not care what they put on at this time of the year & the repeats how many times can they repeat a movie or a Programe. Not enough for the school children either to watch on the television no wonder parents have to hire DVDs all the time

Jezemeg8

Personally, these days when I have the TV on, I'm also doing a myriad of other things including being occupied on the computer, so the TV is merely background noise. When people come in and ask me what I'm watching is about the only time I'll actually look at the screen to see what it is. I long ago lost interest in specific programmes.

Somehow I don't think I'm alone in this.

Bula Fiji

Agrree with you that the sport is watchable but why bother when nearly all that is broadcast is professional and win or lose all the "actors" get paid and it's all become so sick when you can...

Since when is Singapore a third world country?

Flash

I agree totally with both Jezemeg8 and Chris, I too hate all these reality shows, in fact some of them should be renamed "Unreality" because the people behave so over the top and a lot of the...

Agrree with you that the sport is watchable but why bother when nearly all that is broadcast is professional and win or lose all the "actors" get paid and it's all become so sick when you can make more money betiing on who will lose!! so easy just give afavorite dog or horse a big drink of water before a race.. but it's not doping is it? If anybody wants to see how Christmas is truly presented with enthusiasm and committment jump on a jet and go Orchard Road Singapore or to Kuala Lumpur from November onwards . but they are third world countries so some say!!

Lynn Flanagan

Personally, these days when I have the TV on, I'm also doing a myriad of other things including being occupied on the computer, so the TV is merely background noise. When people come in and ask me...

I agree with Jezemeg8 I have TV on in the background while I am on the computer if something interesting comes on then I have a look at what is happening on the TV. I did enjoy watching Grimm each week and wish that it would continue on. I have also been catching up on DVDS while the cricket and tennis are on.

June

Hi Jezemeg8, You are certainly not alone. I do exactly the same when the tv is on. I have my laptop on my knee and just have the tv on for background noise. I am sure if the programs improved a...

I agree totally with both Jezemeg8 and Chris, I too hate all these reality shows, in fact some of them should be renamed "Unreality" because the people behave so over the top and a lot of the judges are hard to believe. I quite like some christmas type shows but some of the movies are the same ones they show every year. I have to admit that I have been enjoying the tennis over the last 2 or 3 weeks but I am not a cricket fan and find it terribly boring ( apologies to all the cricket fans) Maria Sharapova gets a bit irritating with the constant shrieking, (funny how she does not do it when she is practising hard with someone else.) Looking forward to Downton Abbey now.

Teejay

Hi Jezemeg8, You are certainly not alone. I do exactly the same when the tv is on. I have my laptop on my knee and just have the tv on for background noise. I am sure if the programs improved a...

Hi Chris & Jezemeg8, I'm glad I'm not the only one that uses the computer & has the TV on for background noise.

Chris

Personally, these days when I have the TV on, I'm also doing a myriad of other things including being occupied on the computer, so the TV is merely background noise. When people come in and ask me...

Hi Jezemeg8, You are certainly not alone. I do exactly the same when the tv is on. I have my laptop on my knee and just have the tv on for background noise. I am sure if the programs improved a lot I would take more notice. I am also sick of all these reality shows.

Barra john

Even bigger load of rubbish on than usual. Lots of repeats and far too many sick American so called comedies. Apart from the tennis still not much on that's worth watching. Let's hope they improve in February.

kdog87

I am with you there. Was hanging out for a dose of the Fedex. Pity we havn't got Raffa anymore. I have spent the last month playing the Wii with the kids and apparently my new nickname in "Trouble"...

i like some of them like the big bang theory, jamie oliver, simpsons, futurerama, cricket but the rest is crap

peanuts mum

Even bigger load of rubbish on than usual. Lots of repeats and far too many sick American so called comedies. Apart from the tennis still not much on that's worth watching. Let's hope they improve...

I am with you there. Was hanging out for a dose of the Fedex. Pity we havn't got Raffa anymore. I have spent the last month playing the Wii with the kids and apparently my new nickname in "Trouble" (the board game ) is "Barnacle"?!!! This was dgfinitely the worst year for Christmas TV yet. S'pose it's great for encouraging family time if you want to see an upside. Happy New Year!!!

cibi

Finally gave in after all these years and ordered Foxtel, mainly for the forthcoming Footy.
Loved some of the "off season" shows like Wedding Band and Grimm though.

BASH

Finally gave in after all these years and ordered Foxtel, mainly for the forthcoming Footy.
Loved some of the "off season" shows like Wedding Band and Grimm though.

I did to.Foxtel must have done a roaring trade

richard

Load of rubbish! All the overseas Xmas programs are shown mid year here and everything else was a repeat of some tired old program or movie. I was in America just before Christmas and the TV was very seasonal, new movies, latest episodes and brilliant. We just turned ours off and watched DVD's

Ermar

Load of rubbish! All the overseas Xmas programs are shown mid year here and everything else was a repeat of some tired old program or movie. I was in America just before Christmas and the TV was...

I agree with Richard. I have pay TV and they also tend to use repeats at this time too. Maybe it is something to do with ratings. They do not want to put on new programmes that will have low ratings due to people being outdoors and not watching TV on holiday.
We hardly ever put on the TV over Christmas. We watched DVD's or played board games such as Scrabble and Monopoly. We had forgotten what fun they can be and you have more interaction than TV.

richard

Load of rubbish! All the overseas Xmas programs are shown mid year here and everything else was a repeat of some tired old program or movie. I was in America just before Christmas and the TV was very seasonal, new movies, latest episodes and brilliant. We just turned ours off and watched DVD's

Gerry1945

Load of rubbish! All the overseas Xmas programs are shown mid year here and everything else was a repeat of some tired old program or movie. I was in America just before Christmas and the TV was...

TV is rubbish all the time the only channels to watch are SBS and ABC, all the others have adds at the same time so we cannot channel surf. And every 6 minutes which is damn annoying, I record everything now so I can fast forward all the ads. Repeats up to 20 times a month.

Gerry1945

Load of rubbish! All the overseas Xmas programs are shown mid year here and everything else was a repeat of some tired old program or movie. I was in America just before Christmas and the TV was...

TV is rubbish all the time the only channels to watch are SBS and ABC, all the others have adds at the same time so we cannot channel surf. And every 6 minutes which is damn annoying, I record everything now so I can fast forward all the ads. Repeats up to 20 times a month.

huong31452536

Load of rubbish! All the overseas Xmas programs are shown mid year here and everything else was a repeat of some tired old program or movie. I was in America just before Christmas and the TV was...

i think, there is no x-mas in january

3lions

So very hard to go back to free to air when you have had pay tv...

I totally agree with you. The amount of ads on free to air TV, does my head in.
Sure pay TV have ads about their shows, but not like 10+ in a row!

bettythrelfo

Agree we do the same here it is such a pity that this happens and that at the most important time of the year when everyone is relaxing etc. that they do not have any programs on that are worth...

I know that the ratings stop and the better programms stop, and the stations really dont care what they feed back to us, and some of them have been shocking. I think school holiday time and xmas time is when they really should make an effort to put on something worthwhile, but they dont seem to worry or care ... this last xmas we did not bother with tv of a night, but joined the local library and got books out to read instead. some great books at the libraries now.. they are well ahead of days when you could read very little.

Kate2205

A lot of rubbish no true christmas programmes. Nothing special during weeks after.

TV is bad all year round. Pay TV is just as bad, with ads and repeats.

steelbacchus

Don't have pay TV. The remote DOES have an OFF switch/button however. Read some great books, listened to the radio and cds. Generally not impressed with off-season TV.

I'm not impressed with th on season TV offering either.
So what if 3 million watch MKR and all the other crap "reality" shows? What about the 23 million that don't and actually prefer decent drama?

steelbacchus

Load of rubbish! All the overseas Xmas programs are shown mid year here and everything else was a repeat of some tired old program or movie. I was in America just before Christmas and the TV was...

doesn't everybody go to Bali for holidays?

mickey

Agree, so much more ghoice on pay per view but find there are some repeats on there as well although not as many as free to air

Don't have pay TV. The remote DOES have an OFF switch/button however. Read some great books, listened to the radio and cds. Generally not impressed with off-season TV.

heatherch

So very hard to go back to free to air when you have had pay tv...

Agree, so much more ghoice on pay per view but find there are some repeats on there as well although not as many as free to air

Pearla

I couldn't have survived if it wasn't for ABC & SBS. Some great new shows. I even missed a lot of the cricket through watching what I had missed on the computer via on demand and iview.

I agree Nettie ABC & SBS provided plenty of great programs over the holidays.

Riz

Load of rubbish! All the overseas Xmas programs are shown mid year here and everything else was a repeat of some tired old program or movie. I was in America just before Christmas and the TV was...

To be fair, it's not as if most tv shows during the rest of the year in Australia is worth watching either. The majority of prime-time for almost all channels are filled with brainless comedy series bought from the States or cheap reality shows or contests year-round. Right now I watch less than 3 hours of tv a week, mostly for the news.

For me, it's somewhat of the opposite. During Christmas and holiday period the usual half-baked tv series take a break for news, documentaries and the occasional historical recount. While old and certainly reruns, they are at least worth the time invested in watching, as opposed to the usual stuff.

tennisa

Load of rubbish! All the overseas Xmas programs are shown mid year here and everything else was a repeat of some tired old program or movie. I was in America just before Christmas and the TV was...

Totally agree! I have lent the DVD's of The Killing! Great book! Can't wait to watch!

missqueenb

Load of rubbish! All the overseas Xmas programs are shown mid year here and everything else was a repeat of some tired old program or movie. I was in America just before Christmas and the TV was...

i agree I am SICK of repeat or shows that are all the same. Surely there has to something new and exicting

Mikaren

Load of rubbish! All the overseas Xmas programs are shown mid year here and everything else was a repeat of some tired old program or movie. I was in America just before Christmas and the TV was...

Agree with you Richard. The programmes they were showing I have seen for the last couple of years. There was nothing that really inspired me to watch so we just watched dvd's or foxtel. Even that wasn't too often as we had the family down so we went to the beach and on picnics.

FireFly

Load of rubbish! All the overseas Xmas programs are shown mid year here and everything else was a repeat of some tired old program or movie. I was in America just before Christmas and the TV was...

Absolutely right. TV programs are swamped with far too many tired repeats, be theyon local channels or pay TV.

smiles

Load of rubbish! All the overseas Xmas programs are shown mid year here and everything else was a repeat of some tired old program or movie. I was in America just before Christmas and the TV was...

A lot of rubbish no true christmas programmes. Nothing special during weeks after.

jules 1

Load of rubbish! All the overseas Xmas programs are shown mid year here and everything else was a repeat of some tired old program or movie. I was in America just before Christmas and the TV was...

Totally agree with you Richard. Anyone coming over here on a holiday from another country would be very disapointed I would think.
I get so fed up EVERY YEAR they show the same movies at Xmas time, what's the matter with these TV channels, can't they raise their profiles a little bit.!
I just give up with it all now, and listen to the radio.!

diann

Totally agree with all,i do have pay tv but like to check out free to air on certain days.There was nothing of real interest on and if things were on they were all repeats,they should have a bit...

So very hard to go back to free to air when you have had pay tv...

AEC

Agree we do the same here it is such a pity that this happens and that at the most important time of the year when everyone is relaxing etc. that they do not have any programs on that are worth...

I AGREE IT IS THE TIME FOR MORE TV TIME BETTER SHOWS RATHER THAN OLD REPEATS SHOULD BE SHOWN, HOWEVER THE NORMAL MOVIE THEATRES HAVE OPTIONS

AEC

Load of rubbish! All the overseas Xmas programs are shown mid year here and everything else was a repeat of some tired old program or movie. I was in America just before Christmas and the TV was...

THERE WAS NOT A STRONG XMAS FEELING IN OUR SHOWS THIS YEAR

singham

Agree we do the same here it is such a pity that this happens and that at the most important time of the year when everyone is relaxing etc. that they do not have any programs on that are worth...

I also agree with you and they should always concentrate much on interesting
programs. In short - Look before they Leap

singham

Agree we do the same here it is such a pity that this happens and that at the most important time of the year when everyone is relaxing etc. that they do not have any programs on that are worth...

I also agree with you and they should always concentrate much on interesting
programs. In short - Look before they Leap

singham

Agree we do the same here it is such a pity that this happens and that at the most important time of the year when everyone is relaxing etc. that they do not have any programs on that are worth...

I also agree with you and they should always concentrate much on interesting
programs. In short - Look before they Leap

singham

Agree we do the same here it is such a pity that this happens and that at the most important time of the year when everyone is relaxing etc. that they do not have any programs on that are worth...

I also agree with you and they should always concentrate much on interesting
programs. In short - Look before they Leap

singham

Agree we do the same here it is such a pity that this happens and that at the most important time of the year when everyone is relaxing etc. that they do not have any programs on that are worth...

I also agree with you and they should always concentrate much on interesting
programs. In short - Look before they Leap

Barney

Agree we do the same here it is such a pity that this happens and that at the most important time of the year when everyone is relaxing etc. that they do not have any programs on that are worth...

Totally agree with all,i do have pay tv but like to check out free to air on certain days.There was nothing of real interest on and if things were on they were all repeats,they should have a bit more thought process but they are only interested in certain times of the year that is why i have pay tv.

Nettie

Richard, you have it ! My husband and I did the same. Only thing we watched that was television was the Boxing Day Test match. Other than that it was older DVDs before Christmas, new releases...

I couldn't have survived if it wasn't for ABC & SBS. Some great new shows. I even missed a lot of the cricket through watching what I had missed on the computer via on demand and iview.

Inez6306

Load of rubbish! All the overseas Xmas programs are shown mid year here and everything else was a repeat of some tired old program or movie. I was in America just before Christmas and the TV was...

Richard, you have it ! My husband and I did the same. Only thing we watched that was television was the Boxing Day Test match. Other than that it was older DVDs before Christmas, new releases after. there were some good films on SBS and ABC.

babs

Load of rubbish! All the overseas Xmas programs are shown mid year here and everything else was a repeat of some tired old program or movie. I was in America just before Christmas and the TV was...

Just glad austar had lifestyle shows even sports were repeats??? Barb

ian

Load of rubbish! All the overseas Xmas programs are shown mid year here and everything else was a repeat of some tired old program or movie. I was in America just before Christmas and the TV was...

Agree we do the same here it is such a pity that this happens and that at the most important time of the year when everyone is relaxing etc. that they do not have any programs on that are worth watching - agree with you Richard