All Stories FeedA missed opportunity
Last night was a golden opportunity for The 7PM Project to connect with its audience. It led its bulletin with the news of yesterday’s awkward radio stunt by Kyle Sandilands and Jackie O.
It even initiated a discussion between Charlie Bickmore and Dave Hughes.
“What I want to know is what part of lie detector, child, sex and live radio interview didn’t ring some alarm bells along the way? Like, get responsible,” said Pickering.
“I’ve had my moments with Kyle before I won’t deny that,”added Hughes “and I’ve done somne dodgy things on radio, but that’s pretty dodgy.”
Both true enough points.
But there ended the analysis, lasting just 25 seconds.
Here was an opportunity to discuss a hot topic that hit the new show’s demographic right between the eyes. The story had emerged from an FM radio show, it involved a teenager and it spoke to a very serious topic.
Unfortunately there was nobody invited to speak to parenting, duty of care or media responsibility, let alone issues of rape.
Like it or not, yesterday was a day when caring for children was put front and centre on the agenda. It could have led to a wider discussion on child welfare with a psychologist, or spokesperson from a Rape Crisis Centre. Or if that was too hot, then some insight into responsible broadcasting perhaps?
Was this so quickly moved on because Kyle is a TEN personality?
I thought 7PM Project wanted to be a show that responds to the daily agenda. Yesterday there was no hotter topic for this demographic.
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I think that both Kyle Sandilands and Jackie O should be sacked from radio and TV, as their stunt was totally appauling. They have gone way too far over their heads on this one. I do not want to see Kyle Sandilands on Australian Idol anymore, for he bullies the contestants and makes fun of them at his expense, which I think is very wrong.
I want Kyle & Jackie O’s Radio segment axed a.s.a.p.
I do like this show, but feel it needs to focus on the stuff that is a bit quirky, not just the same stuff on the main news.
Kyle won’t be sacked because he was in New Zealand broadcasting from his laptop, he didn’t organise the segment.
Just caught up with the repeat this afternoon. I much prefer the shorter version of Carrie at the newsdesk. And then having more of a group discussion. Still for me the show is just a filter when Home and Away is boring. I also see this show as short version of Rove and just realised when Rove returns he will have a show on every night of the week. The 7pm Project, Before the Game and of course Rove.
@Richard W – Karl?
@Neon Kitten – 7pm Report?
Finally seen Thursday’s ep. Much better! Probably the best one so far.
I read somewhere that Kyle changed his mind going on the show. Looks like that he chickened out. If I was Channel 10 Kyle should be sacked on Australia Idol, bring back Mark Holden or get someone better than Kyle.
I agree with David completely – and sure, the coverage on Thursday’s episode was far better and for the first time glimpsed what 7pm should be. But it should have been the same, they should be able to have these conversations that evening. So people nod along in agreement with their statements as opposed to saying ‘I said the same thing yesterday at work.’
Did anyone see Dave being interviewed about Kyle on the Ten’s Sydney news? Nice camera framing with the 7Pm set logo very prominent behind him.
I have to say the news format with 10secs or so to respond on each story is boring!
Concentrate on a few good topics and discuss them like ‘the panel’ or ‘glass house’…
Hughesy’s and Charlie’s one liners are quickly interrupted by Hot Carrie again & again, damn its annoying when they skip over topics just so they dont lose other sh*t later on.
If the show was free and off the cuff like spicks and specks or talkin bout ur gen it would be soooo much better. . .
Good news tonight. The 7pm Project did a great job of the story. Should have done it last night I agree. Maybe they read this site!
@bass, well done Kyle was not on.
False promises by 7pm project or Kyle chickened out – scared of hard questions
At least they had decent interview to start the programme on subject
Pickering asked the right questions then Hughes spoiled all the hard work.
Sorry folks, I give up on this…might be okay for sms generation but not for me anymore.
Ten had me with Masterchef, now they lose me.
Who else has gone elsewhere ?
Great show tonight. We actually got some substance with the first segment almost entirely dedicated to discussion about one story. The girl from Crickey.com was fantastic. Rob Thomas was great, and seemed relaxed discussing with the hosts rather than it appearing like an interview. This show is getting better every day.
The comment at the beginning of the show by Dave Hughes about Carrie’s pimple being one of the guests on the show was…unexpected and funny.
Someone must be reading this blog!!
Whilst far from perfect, tonight definately seems to have better form, with more focus on individual stories and less ‘bite-size’ snippets.. Here’s hoping they continue to improve..
David… channel 10 is reading your site…
It felt a bit late though… They should have talked about it yesterday….
@ravi 600 to mid 750 is not acceptable for that timeslot. period
Right of reply? dousnt he have a huge radioshow which he uses as an ago stroking soap box for his POV?
Better be hard hitting, if it is it will get newsspots and give exposure to the show, give it cred. \
If they fail at this they might as well cancel it.
I watched the first 5 minutes last night after giving up last week.
Dave Hughes has to go ( serious story comes up, he tries to be funny – quirky story crops up , he tries to be serious)
and yes David, we have serious topic and they ignore it..
7PM project appears to be Waste of Space.
I will watch tonight just to see if they have guts to ask hard questions or just pander to a Ten personality.
If they drop the ball tonight, it’s good bye from me to 7pm project
Kyle is in NZ this week anyways so unless they are going to do a Live link which I doubt, he won’t be on.
Charlie Bickmore?
TEN has previously said the show could serve as a “right of reply.”
TEN says at this stage he is not appearing.
Kyle’s going to be on the show tonight to tell “his side of the story”
Can’t wait for the hard hitting questions….
I know! (David). The crazy thing is the demographic that watches the show is so intune with that subject matter they would be actually interested.
1) new set – warmer not colder, no feet showing, relaxed set, not so shiny.
2) Biger panel – with a good compare in the midle, they dont have one.
3) better promos – that are funny. The soundbytes are useless punchlines at the mo’.
I’m glad you raised this David and I hope ten are reading because next time something worthy of discussion happens they might like join in with that discussion. This sort of MX style headlines and no depth is so far, a dissappointment.
Not Quite Everything with Jackie O.
Her Alone worked wonders in getting Focuses Out the Ford Dealership and It was inoffensive which is more than what could have been said about those Nissan Kim Cattrall Commercials
They’ve already established that this show doesn’t dwell on topics for too long, so it would seem odd to suddenly dedicate an extended part of the episode to one incident.
Plus it’s a minefield for saying the wrong thing, particularly amongst comedians, which, as they are also live just as the show they’re decrying, means, just by talking about it, what Charlie listed partially applies to them as well.
They probably could’ve done something more, but Dave Hughes’s legendary dislike for Kyle Sandilands would most likely open a huge can of worms of its own.
10 would have taken them off the air if they hasd a go at one of their personalities. 10 are idiot’s that hired him and look at the shows that he has been on since he joined them see our much they have gon into decline. well big brother was already and idol was going well when he joined. now look at it
It may have something to do with the fact that Kyle is part of channel 10 with him being on idol so maybe they were told not to go to far with it as he is a fellow channel 10 man.
@Nathan: How would they have dealt with it? By pressing the 7-second or 30-second panic button, that’s how. What kind of bushweek operation is this? Haven’t they hard of this stuff — it’s been around for decades.
Couldn’t agree more with you David.The show should go far deeper on the most important topics of the day, otherwise the show should be renamed “Headlines for 30 minutes”.
The show is way too light weight for me to watch now.
The producers of the 7 PM Project don’t have isight into making the show a talking point with viewers next day.It kind of reminds me of “Entertainment Tonight” .
I also think Channel 10 told the 7pm producers, and Dave Hughes, to lay of Sandilands, because of Australian Idol.It’s Channel 10’s fault that thye rehired Sandilands for Australian Idol.
If Kyle gets sacked, and 2-day’s license suspended, it becomes a story. At the moment it is just Kyle doing yet another publicity stunt that is likely to go ununished. I am glad they did not give him more airtime than he deserved – particularly on such a dangerous topic.
As for 7pm – I think we’re too ratings focused. Their best two nights were when the Masterchef winner was plugged to be on and it’s worst was on Friday (ratings deadpatch) in its first week. I think high 600’s to mid 700’s is a realistic target for a new show that is clearly still trying to work itself out.
“Was this so quickly moved on because Kyle is a TEN personality?”
Thats the answer
@Leanne: precisely.
While there are serious questions to be asked about how this whole sorry thing got organised in the first place – and that’s where Kyle and his producers have some questions to answer – from the recordings of the incident it’s quite clear the mother was the most culpable here. So why all the focus on Kyle? Oh, yeah. Easy target, no research needed.
As for the 7pm Report ( which I missed last night due to an IceTV malfunction
– look, it’s not a serious news show. It obviously was never intended to be – I mean, it’s staffed by comedians for hell’s sake! A serious discussion on the subject of rape at 7pm on a show that’s promoted as light entertainment… well, that just isn’t going to happen.
But it brings me back to my point, yet again, that the show needs to drop all serious (i.e. rape, murder, suicide, gangs, terrorism etc) and do what the promos promised – show us the funny stuff and make it funnier. There’s wall-to-wall misery on various news broadcasts for the two preceding hours. Let’s lighten up and entertain the shellshocked viewers, hmm?
Missed this on the 7PM project, but seems like I could’ve blinked and missed it – 25seconds for one of the day’s bigger stories! This is one of the problems with the 7PM project, they haven’t quite got that balance right yet and actually discuss the issue/news item rather than just say a comment and move on. Sometimes we want to see a discussion and some input!
And @Nathan – other radio shows just wouldn’t do this ‘segment’ as you call it!
OK it’s true that there could be good reason for Ten not wanting to linger too long on Sandilands exploits, with Idol about to start and all.
Is it just my imagination, or are they starting to pad stories out to a minute or two instead of tens of seconds, but not bothering to actually fill that time with anything in the way of useful questions. Laurie Lawrence interview last being a prime example.
Dave does look out of his element, always thought he was a somewhat strange fit for a show such as this.
glad you mentioned this david as, i was thinking the exact same thing, i was expecting an in depth discussion and then it just ended so suddenly, 2 lines and that was it, carrie didn’t even give her take on it, also when they where talking about the swim suits, the guy they where speaking to, i think he is the the head of the australian Olympic committee , acted like a fool with he’s nude joke and barley even gave his actual opinion considering this is a issue he should be taking seriously due to his job, but this is not 7pm’s fault, unless they told him to act this way.
I’m so embarrassed for everyone who works on Australian TV and radio at the moment. What pathetic depths they’ve stooped to in order entertain the dumbest members of our society. Whether it’s ‘gotcha’ calls or ‘punking’ innocent people, it’s all so banal and childish I cringe to think of it.
I don’t have words for the dynamic duo on radio but as for the increasingly tragic 7pm Project, what do you seriously expect, David? You can’t “polish a t#rd” after all, can you?
What another sad day for the media.
There were a couple of issues last night that are being talked about in homes across Australia. Kyle & Jackie O for one, and Karmichael Hunt jumping from the NRL to AFL. Hughesy works in radio, and Hughesy loves AFL but barely said a word about either topic. For crying out loud Kerri-Ann covered Kyle & Jackie O more extensively this morning than The 7pm Project did!
A wasted opportunity.
They could’ve done a whole “has the media gone too far type debate/discussion”
Its obvious that the network has told them to drop it with Idol’s launch little over a week away.
This show can’t be all things to all people, it needs a clear direction and get rid of Hughesy and never ever let James Mathison on this show again, what a waste of space he is. Mick Molloy could replace Hughesy.
If they don’t get this right within the next week or so, then the show is as good as dead, its barely alive as it is.
Kyle should be Ten’s poster boy for “The Biggest Loser”!
I think they are trying to cover too much.
In contrast, the interview with Claire Bowdich went on too long.
With the Kyle incident, why the media are not screaming for the advertisers on his show to withdraw is appalling. The advertisers need to seriously rethink their commitment.
I think classification issues might have had something to do with it. Bear in mind that the 7PM Project is not technically considered to be a news programme, and is consequently subject to classification restrictions. I don’t think the rape or sex life of a child could be openly discussed on a PG rated show outside of a news context; and the censors may have been signalling for the panel to change the subject.
Love Kyle and Jackie O, leave them alone…would like to see how other radio shows would react if something like that emerged in one of their “segments”, it wasnt a stunt, it was a segment, and regular segment they have on that station and that alot of radio shows have… lie detector segments.
Please 7PM project characters are a waste of time and that show is hopeless.
I think there are a couple of reasons that the issue wasn’t talked about for a lengthy period of time – firstly, the show isn’t long enough to devote a huge chunk of the program to one issue, secondly, the feud between hughsey and kyle and thirdly, the story has already been blown way out of proportion. The focus of the media coverage should not be on Kyle & Jackie O (albeit, I am sure a research assistant might be losing a job right about now), but on the mother who knew about the rape and was the one to initiate the lie detector and ask her these questions – this was totally inappropriate and should be looked into further
Kyle is a jerk. Let’s hope he goes to LA with that wanna be star wife of his. We have so much talent in Oz. Idol would not suffer if he left at all.
Jackie O is another disaster. Everything she touches on tv bombs. Get rid of them both…
Given that nobody’s watching, it probably doesn’t matter.
Didn’t even really notice until you’ve pointed it out. The fact that it’s being produced by an entertainment company rather than a news service may have something to do with it?
Yes I agree David. I thought it was odd that they only discussed the issue for only 25 seconds considering it was the major drama of the day and they are supposedly a topical ‘news’ show. And they didn’t have to bag Kyle. They could have just focused on the issue of putting a young girl on a radio show to discuss her ’sex’ life and why it go so far as it did. The 7pm project’s reaction just looked amateurish and made me seriously doubt their credibility at what they want to achieve with the show. Not sure if it makes me want to watch it again.
Nice post David. If I was in the 7pm Project production team I would start head-hunting Triple J’s The Hack team who understand how to manage and analyse a news-story like this in a way that is both relevant and timely.
Yes, I thought it was odd that they didn’t rip into this. A story like this should be bread-and-butter to a show like the 7pm Project.
Probably not the kind of publicity they want for Kyle on the eve of the series of Idol which they must be hoping has some flow-on from MasterChef. Kyle sucks as a judge on Idol – always has, always will.
when is TEN going to get rid of Kyle? I slowed down on Idol but once he came on board I stopped completely.
People have forgotten that this should be a story about the rape victim, not about Karl.
Spot on, David. You could’ve mined a whole episode out of this material.
I love the 7PM Project but I have to agree – it’s meant to be a topical news show that discusses the news events of the day, yet the Kyle story (easily the hottest of the day), while leading the program, was done and dusted in no time at all. What were they thinking? This is the perfect thing to spend at least the first segment talking about, inviting viewer comments via the website.
I really want this show to work, but if they miss “golden opportunities” like this, people will turn off.
Do you really expect Ten to bag out anyone from their own network? Kyle has idol in a few days, as if Ten needs a bad hit like this.
And if you ask me, it should be dropped. If not because of a mistake, but for the kid. She should still have to go through it.
I would imagine 2 reasons why they only spent 25seconds.
a> Ch10 would’ve ordered them to minimize the damage cause Kyle is a host on Australian Idol.
b> There is personal fued beetween Dave Hughes & Kyle
Thanks David, I agree, and especially regarding Kyle S being a Ch Ten personality thus allowing him to be an ‘arrogant untouchable’
I still reckon they need someone like Will Anderson to anchor The 7PM Project…..but please not Rove !!!
One word: Idol
I totally agree David they dropped the ball, and yes it might be the connections that forced them to move on to the next topic…
All true but the 7PM project is just light banter and not a serious current affairs programme. The fued between Hughes and Sandilands is already well documented and I don’t think that anything more would have come out of it except more personal attacks in an already vile slanging match.
Has anyone made the connection that the Exec Producer of 7PM was a Senior Producer of Big Brother last year? She was also in charge of Taken Out…
Probably too much of a media minefield for a new born show
to risk ad libbibg over… could lead to a further Chaser-like faux pas
on top of the original story. I don’t blame them for skirting around
the issue & playing it safe.
I totally agree with you on this one David…. it certainly was shoved into a corner.
On another note, something is not right with David Hughes in this project… He is struggling to fit it – he is not himself. Like a fish out of water.
this show badly needs a news editor if its going to go anywhere…
despite promoting itself as ‘news – just not as you know it” or something similar it has proven as inflexible and stodgy as a regular news bulletin when something breaks. clearly there’s no ability to be dynamic or flexible, as evidenced, decisions are made early on what to talk about, and from there the whole show is set in stone.