CHANNELSURF

HOME AND AWAY

7pm, Prime

THE latest teen soapie starlet Jessica

Tovey, below, has already been dubbed

the new Bec Cartwright. But why label

her a tennis wife when she strikes such

an uncanny resemblance to a much

bigger star, The OC's Mischa Barton?

The slender figure and sultry eyes of

this bright 18-year-old have already

got hearts fluttering at Summer Bay.

Tovey has made a mark for more than

a month as mysterious runaway Belle

Taylor. An old friend of Ric Dalby's

(Mark Furze), cheeky Belle stirred up

trouble with her attempts to sabotage

Ric's relationship with girlfriend Cassie

Turner (Sharni Vinson). Confident, flirtatious

and not afraid to put up a fight,

Tovey says she is the complete opposite

to Belle. "I am not like Belle. I am not

overly confident and never run after

boys. My friends see me being all flirty

with Ric and think it's funny," she says.

SUNDAY

COMMONWEALTH

GAMES CLOSING

CEREMONY

8pm, NBN

AFTER a brief disruption we resume

normal programming. But not before

a final dose of dull from Ray Martin

as he talks us through the final

moments of the Melbourne Games,

which let's face it, were the best

Commonwealth Games ever! Gather

your friends for a party and count the

cliches before the baton is passed to

New Delhi.

WEEKDAYS

THE SHAK

4pm, NBN

A CAREFULLY packaged kids' show

replaces the muddled [HOT] Source

in the after school slot. The Shak features

four impossibly attractive teenage

stereotypes whose activities will

be dictated by the audience. All four

presenters who appear under pseudonyms

are new to television. Curio

(the brainy one), Eco (the environmentalist),

Picasso (the artsy culture

buff) and Nitro (the sports nut) live

together in "The Shak", a studio at

Sea World.

TUESDAY

SURVIVOR PANAMA:

EXILE ISLAND

7.30pm, NBN

STILL living up to its name, this veteran

of reality shows has found another

group of castaways and another

twist to its plot. Jeff Probst, pictured,

returns as host for this series on the

ancient islands of Panama. This time

the 16 castaways will be separated

by gender and age into four tribes

of four members: the older women,

older men, younger women and

younger men. Each week, at least

one Survivor will be banished to Exile

Island, forced to live on their own

away from their tribe until they are

allowed back into the game at the

next immunity challenge. They will

have only a machete and a bucket of

water, but more crippling will be their

time out of the loop, and the mind

games that could mean the end to

their time on the island.