Ashes Coverage in Australia

There's a little bit of choice going into the Ashes series this year, which isn't all that common for any overseas matches. But this is the Ashes, and so Fox Sports won't be the only option for Australian viewers, just as it wasn't in 2005.

SBS has joined in one the game again and is going to broadcast the series live, the only FTA broadcaster to choose to do so in 2005 and even now. As we all know, Nine's commitment to matches outside of Australia is more than weak.

The SBS broadcast will include morning updates, daily highlights and live coverage from 7:30pm for each of the five Tests, available in HD. FOX SPORTS will start their coverage at 7pm, with a one hour pre-game show. It will, of course, be in HD too.

FOX is throwing around names like Nick McArdle, Mark Waugh, Allan Border, Brendon Julian, Greg Blewitt, Damien Fleming, and there will be commentary from Shane Warne, David Gower, Ian Botham and Michael Holding.

The presentation team at SBS will he headed by Stuart MacGill, and the other two main players will be Damien Martyn and Greg Matthews. They'll be providing analysis of the Test matches and ODIs in England.

One of the good things about this is more choice for viewers, and perhaps a reprieve from some of the more annoying characters over at FOX. It also means viewers without cable subscription can watch the series live, which is always a good thing. So when you tune into the Ashes this year, which channel will you be supporting? Will you show the good old fellows at SBS a sign of your solidarity or will it be Mark Waugh all the way for you?

The Abuse Of Damien Fleming

Let me tell you straight, I don't particularly like Tom Gleisner. He might have been responsible for one of the best Australian television shows ever, but he isn't all that funny himself. So after the genius that was Damien Fleming talking Synchrotron on Thank God You're Here a while back, it appears that his influence (or even anyone else's, but I'm gonna pick on Gleisner) on the show has resulted in even more spoof ads being created, each fronted by Fleming.

The only problem is, the exact same script as the first ad is used, with a few tweaks to make it relevant to the product. After a while, it gets old fast. Still, here's Damien Fleming's mockery of Aussie cricketers and their apparent ability to sell just about anything:



And Fleming on a sewerage treatment plant, funny if only to see him holding suspicious-looking material:



I do believe there's yet another for surgical tools, but by that stage, even Flemo's charms can't save the doomed project.

Thank God You're Here, Damien Fleming

The new season of Thank God You're Here premiered on Wednesday night, and in its line-up was an interesting ad which TGYH had created to essentially ridicule the multitude of Australian cricketers advertising the most inane products.

There's the point that Ricky Ponting knows everything about vitamins, and among his other pursuits, a few years back he dressed up as a can of Rexona.

So the producers got Damien Fleming to talk "Australian Synchroton" and see just how well an Aussie cricketer could sell a completely unrelated product. Watch the video, the ad's pretty hilarious. Fleming is brilliant: