END OF AN ERA

DAYS OF OUR LIVES is about to farewell two legends. Next Wednesday, Nine will screen the final episode with John and Marlena (Dierdre Hall, pictured) and coming sometime in the near future, a tribute to Frances Reid who played matriarch Alice Horton. The 94 year old died this week in real life but continues to live on in Salem .. for now. Alice was previously thought to have died when she was murdered by Marlena when she was the Salem Slasher. Only she wasn't a murderess, Marlena had been drugged and all her "victims" turned up alive and well on Melaswen, a complete copy of Salem constructed by Tony DiMera on a remote desert island. Utterly ridiculous but funny when you consider they didn't have to build any new sets, just throw a few tropical plants around the existing ones. This time Alice's exit will have to be more permanent ... RIP Frances Reid ...

SO YOU THINK YOU CAN RATE?

Barbara Streisand, Celine Dion and friends have re-recorded "We Are The World" while Kylie Minogue, Susan Boyle and friends have re-recorded "Everybody Hurts" for relief for Haiti. But who is going to save Ten now that the first week of (non-official) ratings is underway here in Australia? On Monday, the number one show was Nine's TWO AND A HALF MEN (what is wrong with you people?) and last night Seven's GREY'S ANATOMY was a biggie. But lost in these surprise hits are Ten's reality shows THE BIGGEST LOSER and SO YOU THINK YOU CAN DANCE. Both did well as Sunday premiers (up against the Australian Open tennis final) but their follwoing episodes in weekday slots slid. THE BIGGEST LOSER is barely making sense thanks to an (alleged) kiddie fiddler being removed from the cast (that's why it's been so heavily re-edited) while DANCE is suffering from its poor LOSER lead-in. But the real blame ls due to THE 7PM PROJECT which is still underperforming (with only half the audience of HOME & AWAY). Last night THE 7PM PROJECT had Steve Price on the panel and if they think redneck shock jocks will get people watching, they are sadly mistaken. At least SO YOU THINK YOU CAN DANCE is still great TV with the return of last year's dancet Heath (pictured) who only left the competition after breaking his foot. Another episode screens tonight (and again tomorrow, thrusday) and while that could be overkill for some, I can never get enough DANCE ...

HOW CAN A MOVIE WITH THIS MUCH STRIPPING BE SO BORING?

So went the review from "New York" magazine about NINE, the much-anticipated movie musical which has turned into a critical and commercial flop. That quote may also be used to describe Naomi Robson's new internet venture. The former TODAY TONIGHT host isn't letting a lack of interest from every TV station stop her self-titled Oprah-like show about "Love" and "Life" so it's going straight to the web. It sounds utterly fascinating given her guests chatting about these earth-shattering topics will be the classy Tottie Goldsmith (pictured) and big boobed BIG BROTHER loser Krystal. I really shouldn't pre-judge this web weirdness because despite all the negative press, I went to see NINE and really enjoyed it. The cast were all super-sexy (barring Fergie who was slightly scary) and the surprise stand-out performance came from Kate Hudson (see below). Maybe if Naomi sang, danced and surrounded herself with cool Italianos while reviving the 60s, she too might become watchable ...