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“South Park” is celebrating its upcoming 25th anniversary with the announcement of a new episode set to premiere on March 2, as well as a 30-piece orchestral rendition of its hit song, “Chocolate Salty Balls.”

The song was featured on the show’s first season, and went on to claim the No. 1 spot on the U.K. charts. It was written by “South Park” co-creator Trey Parker, who, along with Matt Stone, went on to write the Tony Award-winning musical “The Book of Mormon.” “Chocolate Salty Balls” was originally performed by the late Isaac Hayes, who played the character of Chef on the series for its first nine seasons.

“South Park” launched on Comedy Central on Aug. 13, 1997, co-created by Stone and Parker. Parker, Stone, Anne Garefino and Frank C. Agnone II are the show’s executive producers. Producers are Eric Stough, Adrien Beard, Bruce Howell and Vernon Chatman.

Watch the orchestral...

Netflix Format ‘Flinch’ Heads To Russia

Netflix’s Jackass-style non-scripted format Flinch is to be remade for Russia’s Ctc following a deal struck with Sony Pictures Television. Produced by Sony-backed Stellify Media, the original show, which aired for one series in 2019, is set on a remote farm in the hills of Ireland where brave and foolish contestants gather to test their nerve in three games, abiding by one rule only: “Do not flinch.” If they flinch, there are painful consequences, both for the contestants, and for hosts Desiree Burch, Lloyd Griffiths and Seann Walsh. Sony-backed Russian company Lean-m will produce the adaptation, which is being hosted in a barn by Mikhail Galustyan, Artur Babich and Valya Karnaval under the name Не Дрогни / Ne Drogn (Don’t Flinch!).

‘Man In The High Castle’ And ‘Medici’ Exec Joins Mopar

The Man In The High Castle and Medici exec Sharon Remmer...

Production has begun in Sydney on the television drama “After the Verdict,” with Michelle Lim Davidson and Tess Haubrich joining the cast.

The six-part series follows four people who have just finished jury duty on a high-profile murder trial. As they return to normal life, they begin to question their verdict and take matters into their own hands, investigating the murder themselves.

The show was created, written and executive produced by Subtext Pictures’ Ellie Beaumont and Drew Proffitt. The completed series will premiere on the 9Network in Australia with Entertainment One (eOne) handling international sales. The production also received major investment from federal body Screen Australia in association with region screen agency Screen Nsw.

Lim Davidson (“The Newsreader”) and Haubrich (“Wolf Creek”) join the previously announced Sullivan Stapleton, Magda Szubanski and Lincoln Younes in the show’s main cast. Other roles go to Virginia Gay (“Judy and Punch”), Emma Diaz...

Aacta has revealed those in contention for the major film, television and short-form prizes at this year’s awards, with High Ground leading the charge in the film categories and The Newsreader ahead in television.

The nominations follow those revealed for feature documentary in July, with the technical craft categories still to come.

Aacta also announced today that this year’s awards will move from The Star to the Sydney Opera House, with the ceremony to be held December 8.

There has also been a change in broadcast partners from Seven to 10, where the ceremony will air first followed by an encore on Fox Arena on Foxtel, Binge, and Aacta TV.

High Ground has earned eight nominations, including Best Film. Also nominated for the night’s major prize are Nitram, which earned seven nods, The Dry, which has six, as well as The Furnace, Penguin Bloom and Rams.

The Best Indie Film Award,...

Anna Torv and Sam Reid lead the cast of the ABC’s upcoming six-part drama series The Newsreader set to premiere August 15 at 8.30pm on ABC TV and ABC iview.

Set in the tumultuous world of a television newsroom, Werner Film Productions’ The Newsreader takes us back to 1986 – when Halley’s Comet was a must see, the AIDS crisis was taking hold and the Challenger explosion shocked the world. Amongst it all, newsreader Helen Norville (Anna Torv) is determined to build her credibility, while her colleague Dale Jennings (Sam Reid) is desperate to become a newsreader.

From messy beginnings, they will form an unlikely bond that will transform the very fabric of the nightly news bulletin.

The Newsreader also stars Robert Taylor, William McInnes, Michelle Lim Davidson, Stephen Peacocke, Chai Hansen, Chum Ehelepola and Marg Downey.

The series is created by Michael Lucas, who penned the script with Jonathan Gavin,...

The young stars of ABC Me comedy-action series Parent Up have been unveiled as production gets underway in Sydney.

The story follows Yu Na and Min Park, two siblings that crave more excitement in their lives but get more than they bargained for when they discover their once unremarkable parents are actually international spies and have disappeared in suspicious circumstances.

Newcomers Hannah Kim and Ocean Lim will star as Yu Na and Min, respectively, with Lulu Quirk, George Holahan-Cantwell, Alex Kis, and Eduard Geyl on board as their group of friends that unwittingly get caught up in the action.

Danny Kim, Julia Yon, and Nicholas Hope will also star.

Justine Flynn created the 10-part series, which she wrote with Tiffany Zehnal, Tristram Baumber, Michelle Lim Davidson, Melissa Lee Speyer, Undi Lee, David Park, Alice McCredie-Dando, Sophia Cheung, and Hyun Lee.

The series is produced by Angie Fielder and Polly Staniford of Aquarius Films,...

The ABC has commissioned two new live-action children’s series, Aquarius Films’ Parent Up and Fremantle Australia’s The Pm’s Daughter.

Both supported by Screen Australia, the series will go into production this year, joining MaveriX, Itch season 2 and Hardball season 2 on ABC Me’s narrative drama slate.

A comedy action series for 8-13 year olds, Parent Up is created and executive produced by Justine Flynn (The Unlisted). It follows Yu Na and Min Park, who want more excitement in their lives. However, they don’t realise just how crazy their lives will become when they discover their once unremarkable parents are actually international spies and have disappeared in suspicious circumstances.

Writing with Flynn are Michelle Lim Davidson, Andrew Lee, Tiffany Zehnal, Melissa Lee Speyer, Tristram Baumber, Sophia Chung, Hyun Lee, Alice McCredie-Dando and David Park.

Directors will include Nick Verso, Chase Lee, Hyun Lee, Darlene Johnson, Neil Sharma and Flynn.

So hefty is the ABC’s slate in 2021, director entertainment and specialist Michael Carrington is confident audiences won’t even realise that many of the broadcaster’s productions faced shutdowns and delays during the pandemic.

As announced at the ABC’s upfronts this afternoon, the line-up for the new year includes new dramas Fires and The Newsreader, new comedies Fisk and Preppers, as well as the return of Total Control, Frayed, Jack Irish, Harrow and Superwog.

2021 will also see the premiere of Jungle Entertainment’s mental health drama Wakefield, with all eps planned to drop on ABC iview.

Also on the line-up is Closer Productions’ chef comedy Aftertaste, starring Erik Thomson, Natalie Abbott and Rachel Griffiths, and feature anthology Here Out West, penned by a group of emerging writers from Western Sydney.

“Seven or eight months ago we were in full production and overnight we stopped production all around Australia,...

Another missing girl has Detective Jay Swan (Aaron Pedersen) on the move while the world continues to turn a blind eye. This time it isn’t an aboriginal, though, the aftermath of his work in Mystery Road culminating in a shootout with everyone dead but he a distant memory. The case that has him traveling to Goldstone concerns a young Chinese girl, her place in the desert a curiosity Jay cannot ignore. Haunted by demons that go much farther back than anything writer/director Ivan Sen introduced in his last installment, Swan is taking to the bottle and in desperate need of a win to repair his damaged soul. Unfortunately for him it doesn’t appear anyone in this desolate mining town is able—or willing—to provide assistance.

We reunite with Jay piss drunk and behind the wheel as Goldstone’s solitary law enforcement agent (Alex Russell‘s Josh) approaches.

Aaron Pedersen and Jacki Weaver in Goldstone.

Ivan Sen's Goldstone will have its world premiere as the opening night film of the 63rd Sydney Film Festival.

Described as "a stylish and intelligent outback noir", the film will screen at the State Theatre on June 8.

Goldstone is the fourth feature by Ivan Sen and stars Aaron Pedersen, reprising his role of the troubled Indigenous detective Jay Swan, first seen in Sen.s Mystery Road, which opened Sff in 2013..

The film.s cast includes Jacki Weaver, David Wenham, David Gulpilil, Cheng Pei-pei, Michelle Lim Davidson and Tom E. Lewis, and was shot on location in the remote settlement of Middleton (population 3) in outback western Queensland. .

On the trail of a missing person, Pedersen's Jay finds himself in the small mining town of Goldstone, where he is immediately arrested for drunk driving by young local cop Josh (Alex Russell). When Jay.s...

Dave Eastgate, Lawrence Leung and Stephanie Son in Maximum Choppage.

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Head of ABC TV comedy Rick Kalowski has commissioned a stand-alone pilot, a prototype he intends to test for further pilots, and he.s developing a sitcom to be filmed in front of a studio audience.

In a further break from the traditional approach to comedy, Kalowski is developing several shows that are each built around an established performer-writer. All that is in addition to eight series which are either in production or post.

The stand-alone pilot deals with an unusual subject- mental illness. Details of that sitcom are under wraps but Kowalski tells If he.s looking for other projects that are suitable material for pilots.

The studio-based comedy could be the ABC.s first since Mother and Son, the Geoffrey Atherden-created classic which ran until 1994. The show is being developed with writer . producer Marieke Hardy and would...

Comedies from Matchbox Pictures, Princess Pictures, Working Dog and The Bondi Hipsters are among the highlights of ABC-tv.s 2014 schedule.

The drama slate includes the previously announced Anzac Girls (Screentime), which stars Georgia Flood, Antonia Prebble, Laura Brent, Anna McGahan and Caroline Craig in the saga of five young military nurses from Australia and New Zealand during the Gallipoli and Western Front campaigns; The Code (Playmaker Media), a political thriller about two brothers who stumble across information that people in power will kill to keep secret, starring Ashley Zukerman and Dan Spielman; and Old School (Matchbox), which features Bryan Brown and Sam Neill as a retired crim and ex-cop who solve crimes and unravel scams while avoiding the wrath of the police and the underworld.

Among the other dramas are Janet King (Screentime), a legal drama starring Marta Dusseldorp; crime thriller The Broken Shore (Essential Media); second series of The...