Download (partially lost Australian television internet web series; 2007-2008): Difference between revisions
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The show was titled: 'Friday Night Download' for it's first season potentially to assist the show in ratings due to the massive success of: 'Big Brother: Friday Night Live' (which featured the same three presenters). This ended up working to the shows advantage although it's estimated that it only marginally helped ratings during that first season. | The show was titled: 'Friday Night Download' for it's first season potentially to assist the show in ratings due to the massive success of: 'Big Brother: Friday Night Live' (which featured the same three presenters). This ended up working to the shows advantage although it's estimated that it only marginally helped ratings during that first season. | ||
The ratings for season 1 were only slightly strong enough to sway the network to go ahead with a second season the following year. This time the follow up season would include four | The ratings for season 1 were only slightly strong enough to sway the network to go ahead with a second season the following year. This time the follow up season would include a further four episodes giving the show a projected ten week run instead of six in the previous year. | ||
There is a possibility that the: 'friday night' part of the title was dropped because the tv channel which aired the show: "Network Ten Australia couldn't promise the friday night timeslot in 2008, so the show was renamed to simply be titled: 'Download'. However, this theory could easily be proven to be false due to the show still airing on friday nights. The more likely explanation is that they changed the name of the show in an attempt to boost it's success. However, the program discontinuing the 'Friday Night' portion of it's name proved to end up being partly to blame for the shows failure as without this in the title, not all viewers knew to tune in to see the same three panel hosts from the successful: Big Brother: Friday Night Live. | There is a possibility that the: 'friday night' part of the title was dropped because the tv channel which aired the show: "Network Ten Australia couldn't promise the friday night timeslot in 2008, so the show was renamed to simply be titled: 'Download'. However, this theory could easily be proven to be false due to the show still airing on friday nights. The more likely explanation is that they changed the name of the show in an attempt to boost it's success. However, the program discontinuing the 'Friday Night' portion of it's name proved to end up being partly to blame for the shows failure as without this in the title, not all viewers knew to tune in to see the same three panel hosts from the successful: Big Brother: Friday Night Live. | ||
Revision as of 13:45, 15 August 2023
The show's title screen.
Status: Partially Found
Download (also titled Friday Night Download) was an Australian TV show hosted by Friday Night Games hosts Mike Goldman, Ryan Fitzgerald and Bree Amer. The show first aired on 26 October 2007. A second series began on 17 October 2008, but the show was pulled from schedules only two episodes into its run.
About
Download showcased video clips collected from the Internet, such as those hosted on YouTube and Google Video. The show also prompted viewers to submit their own videos to the show.
Download also labels the hosts' top 5 favourite video downloads, each one shown just before a commercial break.
Reception At The Time
The Sydney Morning Herald TV critic noted that the videos shown on the show could be viewed as easily on the internet without advertisement breaks, and as such claimed it should be "hosed off the pavement forthwith".
The show only averaged 748,000 viewers on its premiere night and was beaten by the Seven Network's Better Homes and Gardens. Although rating good enough for Ten to retain the show for their 2008 lineup, the show was axed when it slumped to 526,000 viewers in its last aired episode.
Possible Explanation for the show's Cancellation
The show was titled: 'Friday Night Download' for it's first season potentially to assist the show in ratings due to the massive success of: 'Big Brother: Friday Night Live' (which featured the same three presenters). This ended up working to the shows advantage although it's estimated that it only marginally helped ratings during that first season.
The ratings for season 1 were only slightly strong enough to sway the network to go ahead with a second season the following year. This time the follow up season would include a further four episodes giving the show a projected ten week run instead of six in the previous year.
There is a possibility that the: 'friday night' part of the title was dropped because the tv channel which aired the show: "Network Ten Australia couldn't promise the friday night timeslot in 2008, so the show was renamed to simply be titled: 'Download'. However, this theory could easily be proven to be false due to the show still airing on friday nights. The more likely explanation is that they changed the name of the show in an attempt to boost it's success. However, the program discontinuing the 'Friday Night' portion of it's name proved to end up being partly to blame for the shows failure as without this in the title, not all viewers knew to tune in to see the same three panel hosts from the successful: Big Brother: Friday Night Live.
Just a mere two episodes into it's projected ten week run in season 2, the show was axed due to extreamly low ratings. The unaired episodes were never shown.
In the lead up to the second season beginning, australian entertainment website: 'tv tonight' interviewed one of the shows panelists: 'Mike Goldman' and he had this to say about the the possible failure of the show:
TV Tonight: “Channel TEN are in a climate of taking things off air quickly if they’re not working. What if I was to say to you they played the show for three weeks and then took it off?”
Mike Goldman: “That’s not gonna happen, because it’s an awesome show! It’s not boring, it’s fun. I’ve got a copy of the first episode I played to a stack of kids the other day they p*****d themselves. Absolutely loved it. So I’d be very surprised.
Lost/Found Episodes
The first episode of season 1 as it's original broadcast with the commercials has been found. However that is the only complete episode that was found from season 1. All but one of the unaired episodes from the second season in 2008 were also found, they were sent to lost media YouTuber Sam Davis in early 2021 courtesy of the show's main host Mike Goldman. However, some episodes remained incomplete for reasons that are expanded on more in this section of the article.
The unaired: 'sn 2, episode 7' was not included in the sent parcel as a DVD meaning it's still entirely lost. Furthermore, two of the episodes that Sam Davis has on DVD are yet to be coverted as full episodes because the discs are heavily scratched. One of them is episode 6 and the other is episode 8.
When it comes to the unaired: 'Episode 8', the dvd was labelled as: "Download Ep. 8" however, the start screen says: 'Episode 2'. This was proven to be an editing error in the master copy as the only two episodes to be aired that season had clips of them uploaded to YouTube the day after both episodes aired. In these clips, the hosts outfits are completely different to anything in the unaired episodes. So this DVD was in fact, episode 8 after all.
Episode 6 and Episode 8 of course exist as partial/incomplete episodes which are missing at least two segments per episode. With a dvd repair machine those episodes could be recovered and turned into found/complete episodes. Lost Media YouTuber 'Sam Davis' plans to repair them when he can find somebody who still owns a DVD repair machine.
Episodes two to six in the first season as well as episodes one, seven and eight of season two remain lost except for some clips on YouTube.
List of Episodes
Season 1
| # | Air Date | Status |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 26 October 2007 | Found |
| 2 | 2 November 2007 | Lost |
| 3 | 9 November 2007 | Lost |
| 4 | 16 November 2007 | Lost |
| 5 | 23 November 2007 | Lost |
| 6 | 30 November 2007 | Lost |
Season 2
| # | Air Date | Status |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 17 October 2008 | Partially Found |
| 2 | 24 October 2008 | Partially Found |
| 3 | Never Aired | Found |
| 4 | Never Aired | Found |
| 5 | Never Aired | Found |
| 6 | Never Aired | Partially Found |
| 7 | Never Aired | Lost |
| 8 | Never Aired | Partially Found |
| 9 | Never Aired | Found |
| 10 | Never Aired | Found |