2019: A Year in Review

[JRBUS123]

As we approach the end of 2019 (the year has gone very quickly), I thought I create a thread to reflect on the things that have happened this year. Here is a list I have created on these events (this will be updated thorough out the next week or so)


TV/RADIO/ENTERTANMENT
- This year is the year the Simpsons celebrated its 30th anniversary. From the very first episode, "Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire" in 1989 all the way to season 30, altogether there are a total of 672 episodes (and that figure will continue to rise as new episodes are expected very soon).

- Channel 10 recently trialled 90 minute news bulletins, in a hope to improve its Tv market share (especially in the 6pm slot where it has struggled for a while). It replaced Celebrity Name Game, which was facing a decline in ratings and was moved to channel 10 Peach.

- This year, announced also was further changes across channel 9 morning show "Today" for 2020. Karl Stefanovic returns with Allison Langdon, and new presenters for the news, sport and weather have been confirmed as well, replacing this year's current hosts.

- Once again, channel 10 hosted a line up of shows in its Pilot Week. The shows involved were "I am... Roxy", Sydney's Crazy Rich Asians, "My 80 year old Flatmate" and "Part Time Private Eyes." Only two shows are to be renewed: "I am... Roxy" and "Part Time Private Eyes".

- Q&A host Tony Jones hosted his last ever Q&A program in December, 2019. On this occasion, he was joined by former PM Malcolm Turnbull and labor leader Anthony Albanese.

-ABC Melbourne radio host Jon Faine retired this year, wrapping up in October 2019 after being in radio for 30 years. At that point, he hosted in the mornings from 8:30am (This slot has know been taken over by Virginia Trioli).

- This year we were introduced with three new reality shows on channel 10. The Masked Singer, Dancing With The Stars and The Amazing Race Australia (both Dancing with the Stars and The Amazing Race Australia were previously broadcasted some few years ago on other networks). The Masked Singer proved to be a consistent high performer beginning with 1.16 million views, however The Amazing Race didn't quite get those numbers.

WEATHER/CLIMATE/AVIATION
- A volcanic eruption occurred in New Zealand in December this year (the White Island volcano). So far, 16 people have died, including some Australians.

- Bushfires have been quite rapid across Australia over the last couple of months. With many fires that have occurred and are still ongoing, it has left hundreds of home destroyed and caused Sydney to face smoke around the city for several days (which has caused health problems for many, including pets)

Currently, the NSW authorities are fighting around 100 fires

- In March 2019, aviation authorities grounded Boeing's improved 737 model, the 737 MAX family, after two new planes crashed killing all 346 people on board (one Lion Air and one Ethiopian Air ( occurred on March 10 where the plane was operating flight 302). China was the first to ground the MAX from its skies.
• Currently, the MAX planes have still yet not returned to service
• Virgin Australia have over 20 Boeing 737-10 MAX and Boeing 737-8 MAX on order. The first of these planes will not be delivered until mid 2021

- Qantas conducted 3 Project sunrise flights. 2 of these were from New York (JFK) to Sydney (SYD). The other flight was from Heathrow (LHR) to Sydney (SYD). These flights were conducted on brand new Dreamliner aircraft


POLITICS
- Only very recently, Trump was officially impeached in the House of Representatives. This was related to a phone call with the Ukraine President where the Democrats accused Trump for pressuring Ukraine to dig up information on his political rival Joe Biden and his son Hunter. Although he strongly denies and that he has not been officially kicked out to office yet, the impeachment process is still yet to continue through a trial that will occur in the Senate in January next year.

- The Australian election occurred on Saturday May 18, 2019. Before that, the opinion polls predicted that Labor would win the election and this was predicted for months. However, the coalition retained power under Scott Morrison's leadership, this time getting a better result from the 2016 election with a majority Government (re-attained Wentworth as well) However, Tony Abbott did lose his seat in Warringah losing to Zali Steggall

- Shortly After the election, the then Labor leader Bill Shorten and deputy leader Tania Plibersek resigned from their positions (although Plibersek left the Labor Party overall). It was then that Anthony Albanese took over as the current Labor leader.

- Speaking of elections, Great Britain in December also had an election. This occurred on Thursday December 12, 2019, with the Conservative party winning with a majority Government of 80 seats winning a total 365 seats. The Scottish Natioanl party (SNP) also gained a few more seats in Scotland The Labour Party however had a terrible election losing many seats. In addition, the Liberal Democrat leader Jo Swindon also lost her seat to the SNP, meaning a new leader will need to replace her.

Last edit: Channel 10 had THREE new shows, not 2. Fixed up (and thanks to the member who briefed me up on that)
Will be adding more over the next couple of days (plenty still to cover).
If I have made any errors you can send me a message.

Merry Christmas and a happy New Year

[boronia]

One hour TV news bulletins struggle to find enough worthwhile "news" on most days to fill 60 minutes. 90 minutes of Sandra Sully is just too much to contemplate.

[JRBUS123]

I would suggest that channel 10 do a bit of a shuffle around with their timetable next year, and I have been thinking of this for a while, because it seems that having its news programs at different times to the other networks doesn't seem to be working for them.

Here are my suggestions if I was to recommend any changes
5pm. Afternoon news covering all Australiana and International news
5:30pm. Quiz-like show such as their Celebrity Name Game
6pm. News. Start with half an hour of Australian news, sport and main top stories. Then at 6:30, do more international news and sport with a brief repeat of the top stories again.
7pm. Change the Project to this time (I think it's a bit early to have it at 6:30) And have it for 45 minutes. In my view it's a really good show show
7:45pm. Have entertainment show

Overall, I think most of their shows are quite good, although I think their times are in the wrong place

[JRBUS123]

A few more updates

TV/RADIO/ENTERTAINMENT
- This year's FORBES highest paid actress was Scarlett Johansson

- Dwayne Johnson, also the highest paid actor this year, married to singer and song producer Lauren Hashian. They married in Hawaii in Mid-August

- Foxtel this year introduced Netflix, ABC Iview and SBS On Demand to the list of apps that are available to be used by IQ4 customers. This is in addition to the new 4K channels they have been adding.

WEATHER/CLIMATE/AVIATION
Quite a few airlines went bust this year. To list them (in no particular order)
- Thomas Cook Group (incl. Thomas Cook Airlines, UK holiday airline)
- FlyBMI, U.K. regional airline
- Adria Airways, the flag carrier airline of Slovenia
- Avianca Argentina and Avianca Brazil
- Fly Jamaica Airways (only operated with one single aircraft)
- Germania, airline in Germany
- Jet Airways, a large airline in India (although it says they have only temporarily suspended flights)
- Aigle Azur and XL Airways France (both French airlines)

Boeing has had a tough year this year. Not only with its grounded 737 MAX (still grounded since March), but with its CEO resigning and troubles with its new 777 model (eg; the engines)

Many school climate strikes occurred around the world this year as they demand further action from Governments to deal with the ongoing climate situations. There were at least a few I recall that occurred in Australia, and perhaps there may be more expected next year.

It has not only been Australia that has been noticeably suffering with bushfires this year. This year, it also occurred in the Amazon in South America.

POLITICS
Adding to the Australian election, also forgot to mention Clive Palmer and his constant advertisements for his United Australia Party. It appeared on YouTube, channel 9, Sky News, billboards... many places in other words but unfortunately for him he did not gain a single seat

In October, the Canadian Federal election took place on October 21, 2019. Although Justin Trudeau and the liberal party regained power, this time they did not gain a majority Government (unlike when they won the 2015 election). In fact, The Liberals received the lowest percentage of the national popular vote of a governing party in Canadian history.

SPORT
- Roger Federer gained his 100th ATP title defeating Greek Tennis player Tsitsipas in Dubai
- Novak Djokovic won Australian Open and Wimbledon (only barely). Rafael Nadal (currently number 1) won the other 2: French Open (Roland Garros) and the US open
- Ashleigh Barty (a Australian tennis player) won her first grand slam at Roland Garros.
Canadian tennis player Bianca Andreesciu won the US Open (also her first grand slam)
Japan player Naomi Osaka won Australian Open

Brownlow medal winner: Nat Fyfe
Team Winner of the AFL finals: Richmond, who defeated Great Western Sydney (GWS Giants)
Team winner of the AFLW finals: Western Bulldogs, who defeated Brisbane

More sport updates to come

[Campbelltown busboy]

Those AUP ads has got Clive into trouble off 80s rock band twisted sister

[Shoudy Chen]

2019 in Sport
- Novak Djokovic (man), Naomi osaka (women) won Australian Open
- Melbourne Renegades win over Melbourne Stars in the BBL08 Grand Final at Marvel Stadium.
- NSW Blues won back to back Origin Series.
- England won over NZ in the cricket World Cup Final in a super over in terms of The boundary count in Lords, London
- Novak Djokovic won the Wimbledon Men’s Final over Roger Federer in an epic
- Bledisloe Cup won by NZ for the 17th straight time
- Australia won the Ashes in England for the first time since 2001.
- Nat Fyfe won Brownlow Medal.
- Richmond won 2019 AFL GF over GWS Giants by 89 points in front of 100014 people at mcg. Dustin Martin won Norm Smith Medal twice in 3 years
- Sydney Roosters beat Canberra Raiders 14-8 in a controversial NRL GF in ANZ stadium, Sydney.
- South Africa beat England in the RWC2019 Grand final 32-12 in Yokohama, Japan.
- Vow and Declare won the Melbourne Cup 2019. By the way, Channel 10 got the rights to the Melbourne’s Cup for the first time since 2001

[scott]

Motoring in 2019

*New Car sales continue to decline-a trend that has continued for 20 consecutive months
*Toyota discontinued the long running Tarago and replace it with the Granvia, as well as releasing the first all new Hiace van and bus range in 15 years, not content with this, a hot selling all new RAV4 arrives and also a new Corolla sedan range. Waiting list for a RAV4 hybrid is quite long.
*Holden sales continue to slide and Commodore and Astra are discontinued, with dealers to sell off stocks into 2020. Holden are concentrating on SUV's and Utes.
*Ford announce the discontinuation of the Mondeo, with final stocks to arrive in 2020.

[JRBUS123]

Top 5 best ranked movies of 2019
- (according to Rotten Tomatoes)
NOTE: Although the rating approvals vary, I believe the rankings are also dependant on the number of reviews posted
1. Avengers Endgame - approval: 94%
2. Us - approval: 93%
3. Toy Story 4 - approval 97%
4. Knives Out - approval 97%
5. Parasite (Gisaenchung) - approval 99%

- (according to IMDB)
1. Avengers Endgame
2. Captain Marvel
3. Shazam!
4. Toy Story 4
5. Godzilla 2: King of the Monsters

[scott]

Worst movie of 2019- Cats