TV

The top five talking points on TV this week

Here's what has tongues wagging in the TV WEEK office...
The Last Resort

1. Seven Year Switch/The Last Resort: Is our love affair with love shows on the rocks?

If the less-than-impressive ratings for The Last Resort and Seven Year Switch are anything to go by, it looks as if viewers are breaking up with the reality love genre.

Rebounding from Married At First Sight − which went on far longer than it needed to − both shows have failed to get viewers to commit. Which begs the question: will this year’s The Bachelor Australia, starring the very handsome Matty J, have viewers swooning or switching off?

Surely reality TV junkies haven’t given up on love for good?

Dawn French in Delicious.

2. Delicious: We love Dawn French’s dramatic new look

Holy moly! The Vicar Of Dibley’s Dawn French (above) has ditched the dog collar for a very different role − as a sensual chef in the saucy UK series Delicious.

The show finds Dawn in bed with Game Of Thrones’ manly Iain Glen. Not everyone will be on board, but could this be the Dawn-ing of a new era for the actress?

Outspoken English chef Gordon Ramsay.

3. Ramsay’s Kitchen Nightmares: We’re still watching Gordon Ramsay

It’s the show where the famously forthright British celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay shouts at the owners of struggling restaurants for an hour.

And if you’re like us, you’ve ended up tuning in to his testy troubleshooting every week without even realising.

It’s almost as if the show just appears on TV and you can’t look away (the ratings suggest you’re as addicted as we are). Some of the episodes are more than 10 years old, yet we’re still watching. The power of Gordon!

Vince Colosimo, John Howard and Lisa McCune in The Warriors.

4. The Warriors: Will this year’s surprise be back for a second round?

There might be a lot of sport on TV, but not enough TV series about sport. No-one can say the ABC’s The Warriors, which concludes this week, has set the TV ratings on fire.

But what it has done is introduce some fresh faces − and even touched on the hot issue of racism in sport.

And who doesn’t love seeing Lisa McCune back on the box? More please, Aunty!

Queenland’s Cameron Smith.

5. State Of Origin: Your Wednesday night is sorted

And speaking of sport on TV… drop everything, it’s State Of Origin time. This annual three-match series is a ratings bonanza for the Nine Network.

There’ll be more drama than in a week of The Bold And The Beautiful when the NSW Blues take on the Queensland Maroons.

With champions like Cameron Smith leading the Maroons, they’ll be hard to beat.

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