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Ray turns on Nine’s faults

When he didn’t want to do early morning rises for Sunday, Ray Martin was offered a gig on 60 Minutes.

But “I’d done 60 Minutes for 30 years,” he said. Instead he turned David Gyngell down.

Yes, Ray Martin is talking to the press again, just days after parting company with Nine. He’s no doubt doing it to address media stories that he ‘stormed out’ on meetings with Gyngell. This time he’s talking with John Lyon, a former producer of 60 Minutes, in an interview for The Australian.

Ray reckons Kerry Packer “would be angry and we’d certainly know what he liked and didn’t like.

“He’d be saying ‘let’s not do television for today; let’s do it for 10 years’ time’.”

Commercial television was screening “absolute crap,” he said, and had too much death, blood, violence, sex and bad language, and was alienating “ordinary Australian families”.

The Gold Logie winner blames Nine’s ratings demise on the network’s programming department.

“I don’t think they live in the real world,” he said. He added that Nine was not the only network with this problem.

Martin was upset he had not been told the show he co-hosted, Sunday, was being moved to 7.30am from 9am, and had only found out when telephoned by The Australian. This had made him feel like “a goose”.

“I don’t think 7.30 on a Sunday morning is the time for a program like Sunday but I’ve often been wrong and David (Gyngell) and others at the network think it is and they could be right,” Martin said.

“The program was nominated for five Walkleys last year. I don’t know any newspaper or television or radio program that has got nominations for five in one year like that. I think it’s the strongest commercial TV journalism around and arguably as strong as anything the ABC does.”

Martin said Nine had lost experienced people to “a second Nine called Channel Seven”.

Meanwhile its Seven who wants to talk to Ray.

“I have worked with Ray for years and I have a lot of respect for the guy and we will probably have a chat at some stage,” said Seven’s head of news and current affairs Peter Meakin.

Source: The Australian, Herald Sun

8 Responses

  1. ka-ching is right. Ray needs a fresh start. But after the comments that Ray made about Seven becoming a “second Nine”, Ray should go to Ten to have his fresh start. Ten needs the “name value” that Ray Martin would bring to the table to boost general ratings for Ten (as he is popular with female and older viewers.)

  2. Ray Martin doesn’t have a clue on what he’s talking about. The poor bloke’s gone old and senile. Who does he think he is to tear apart the industry which has been giving him big fat paychecks for more than half his life? He just can’t get over the fact that he’s just not relevant anymore.

    The TV shows of today are a hell of a lot better than they used to be a few years ago. Boundaries are getting shafted, censorship is getting lessened and new ideas and concepts are being created into the medium. So what, he’s old, he doesn’t like all the evil blood, sex and murder that makes the gap between his teeth quiver. Guess what, Ray? It makes for damn good entertainment. If you’re so against shows like that, then why are you leaving the most blindingly generic and boring network there is? Nine has absolutely no cutting-edge or left-of-centre shows at all, well except for Moonlight which they axed after 6 episodes. Chances are if a brilliant series like LOST, Prison Break, Supernatural, Buffy or Heroes debuted on 9, they’d axe it like they did with Smallville simply because the old people find it too much for their heads.

    And what exactly does he mean by “not living in the real world”? Uhh, duh! Television is a form of escapism, if you want realism, look out the window. Either that or watch the crapload of reality jizz like Monster House and The Chopping Block on Channel 9. Its narrow minded people like him that are bringing about the demise of scripted television and allowing reality tv shows to take the reigns.

    On another note, there’s been way too many news posts on this guy of him just whining and complaining over random things. What is this? Today Tonight? This site is Australia’s leading primetime television blog, not Australia’s leading outlet for Ray Martin’s pissy little rants. I’m over it.

  3. Nine has lost viewer’s loyalty because it keeps mucking around with it’s programming schedule. They are not loyal to it’s shows – have no confidence in their own line up – hence the viewer’s never know what they are going to get when they turn on the tv anymore. People’s lives are too busy to have to keep checking tv guides for changes, repeats and then there’s the unscheduled encore performances.

    I agree with Ray that 7.30 on Sunday is too early for the Sunday show. I, too, would be peeved if the time of the show was changed and I found out via a journalist first. However, I don’t think there was much left at Nine for Ray to do. A fresh start is probably what he needs.

    Just wondering who will host Carols by Candlelight now!!

  4. Yes, we need another Kerry Packer in the industry, and in particular at NINE!
    As Ray says, there are far too many crime and hospital dramas … create something DIFFERENT instead of running back to a “safe” and limiting formula.
    Got to dare to be different or continue to drown in mediocrity.
    Jack!

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