As an experiment it would appear to have failed.
TEN’s new light entertainment show, The Spearman Experiment took a big dive in its second week. It dropped from 1.03m to 699,000 -a drop of more than 300,000 viewers.
The show hosted by Magda Szubanski was fourth in its timeslot, beaten by the ABC. It even trailed its lead in The 7PM Project (a rising 780,000).
At this rate it could be headed the same way as the short-lived clip show Szubanski hosted for Nine, Magda’s Funny Bits.
Many readers of TV Tonight have said that while they still love Szubanski as a performer, they were disappointed in the clip show which most agreed was a cheap knock-off of Nine’s 20 to 1. Several were critical of the poll-voting conducted prior to the show.
Last night 20 to 1 thrashed Spearman with 1.25m in the same slot.
Seven’s traditional Tuesday shows won the night with Packed to the Rafters on 1.8m and the return of RSPCA Animal Rescue on 1.49m. Newcomer Last Chance Surgery took a strong 1.4m.
Elsewhere in Tuesday results, the Today show (377,000) had a win over Sunrise (367,000), no doubt bolstered by the US Open.
Love the fact that they use a square root sign to describe the “so called” commentators. Mathematically it reads ” rooted TV personality” or “rooted sportsman” and most of them are if they are prepared to be on this show!
What total crock. We know 20 to 1 is done by a room full of producers who have no idea what is popular or not.
But this show claims to poll the public.. has anyone voted? Axe this rubbish. Its made worse by the B grade celebs who wouldnt do Burts crappy show.
Sorry very bad rip off 20 to 1, wonder what was going through Magda Szubansk head when her agent asked if she would like to do it? As it’s Magda Szubansk that has the finally say if she wants to do the show or not. So Magda must have said yes. 20 to 1 is far better then TSE
just utter crap. where all a little dumber for watching this show
think this show is the shi**est ever!!!…they sit there give there opinions even tho there all c list stars!!mayb if they were a list we wuld give a s**t bout there opinions but there not.. put something decent on !!!!!! channel 10 isnt the same its not worth watching either.
Love Magda and for a moment I thoguht this was better than 20 to 1… that moment was the time I believed that there was an actual vote, I just missed it. That would’ve made this show better, 20 to 1 is clearly just someone sitting down and grabbing 20 things and putting them in a list in an order that makes no sense to anyone and while I had the luxury of believing that Spearman was actually voted on by the people of this country it worked. Of course now that I learn that there was no real nation wide internet polling and the answers were all predetermined I’m thinking of going back to 20 to 1 cos at least it admits that it’s not voted on by anyone.
If TEN renew this (Doubtful but heck, they’ve done stupider things) then all I ask is they have an actual poll on their site that everyone can vote on, not just a tiny selection of demographics. Make it like the voting process for Idol and I’m in, keep it as it is and Magda might wanna find something else to do on TV
Poor Magda……thin and saddled with a bunch of dribbling losers…give us a break
Get this crap of the box…..
I agree, but the reasoning behind this would be the lack of vision the TV Chiefs have, let me explain , Magdas star rises they buy in. This show was not only a rip of of 20 to 1 it was an embarressing attempt, I felt sorry for her having to be the idiot to garner the smallest of laughs. Can anyone tell me what Comedy writers are paid or is it enough for them to watch the show and laugh at the presenter embarrassing themselves.
TV Cheifs grow up, look to panels of Australians to test your markets.
I don’t see why Magda is viewed as some sort of hot TV commodity. When you look at her past track record her only success has come in a an ensemble environment (ie Fast Forward) or in a supporting role (ie Kath & Kim). After the disastrous “Magda’s Funny Bits” I’m surprised she was given another solo vehicle. Not that the poor production values of “The Spearman Experiment” help much either.
*yawn*
A waste of Magda’s talent, the public have got it right on this one. A bit lazy Ten, your audience expects better
At least it took a lagre chunk of Kyle Sandilands out on it’s way down. It deserves a gong for that.
They need to re-tool it to have a more obvious voting system. Announce at the end of the show what next weeks topic is, then go online to vote for 24hrs, producers then have the next 5 days to record their vox pops (or just drop that 20:1 facet altogether for a Szubanski monologue over a longer clip). That way the audience has more of a reason to tune in next week to see what their result was… They keep saying “You voted Australia”. I never voted, I didn’t know where to vote, I wasn’t aware a vote existed, therefore I have no vested interest to find out what the result was.
I love Magda,but this show is a stinker,She has so much talent and shes hosting this crap show,but in tv performers have to earn a living,Ten must of gave her big bucks to do it,lets hope one day she returns to what she does best..comedy characters.Love to see her doing some new characters.
I honestly thought this was a one off special and I watch channel 10 more than any other channel, I’m sure I wasn’t the only one.
Everyone saw this coming, except, obviously, Magda and TEN.
Duh.
the thing is she is always saying…’as voted by you’…who voted? I never got a say….
I was amused to see the comment about “it’s a knockout”. My mates and I were talking about that recently and how much fun it would be to see it back on the TV. with Hey hey having a revival in popularity, maybe it’s a a sign that all that is old is new again? Perhaps Ten could do a one/two-off special to see how it would rate?
The guys from 7PM Project must be feeling a bit better now.
The fact that this show is almost exactly the same as 20-1 is probably a significant contributor to its failure. I mean, I don’t even like the ‘original’, why would I watch a cheap knockoff? And people who do like the Channel 9 version are of course, gonna watch it on Channel 9. Disappointing from the apparent innovators at Ten.
Putting up Spearman against 20 to 01 would be like Nine putting Missing Pieces up against Find My Family. Except TEN did actually did it. Perhaps a timeslot change would help – 6:30 Sundays? But wait a minute, 20 to 01 is going there too!
Magda deserves a dramedy! Not some stupid clip show. I was excited for The Spearman Experiment, but it turned out much more lackluster than what I was hoping for.
I love Magda. But TEN failed her. Shes better than the Spearman Experiment.
They should have given her a set to work on, lights, audience and a panel of guests every week. They countdown and all give their opinions on what came where in each countdown per week. Makes much more sense than the blunt format of the show.
I’m not surprised it feels flat and lifeless compared to 20-1. I usually enjoy these types of shows but TSE left me very disinterested. Bring back TBYG that was an awesome show!
Magda should have learned from “Funny Bits” and stayed away. What a waste of her talents. I guess a less than labour intensive clip show is an attractive proposition.
Magna’s got 2 strikes in my book – time to get a new agent while she still has some credibility.
It is nothing to do with Magda, she is great … it is just the complete ignorance of the network thinking that copying a similar format from another network will be a success … stupid, stupid programmers … in fact I think it is in their job descriptions to be idiots!
Give Magda something that is suitable to her great talent (and as i said before, the same thing goes for Bert too on Nine!)
Jack!
Second flop for Magda. She should stick to comedy and acting.
Great idea Dakota.
Imagine ““Its a Knockout!”” with Z grade celebs and wannabe reality show contestants battling it out.Guaranteed another 5 mins of attention for them.
Just one rule – TVTonight posters get to design the games and punishment
Must pick warm climate to encourage them to sign up (say Hobart in July)
A chance to get even with these “attention seekers”
Absolutely horrible show. Ten could not have picked a worse timeslot for this show, being the blatant rip off of 20 to 1 that it is.
Bass, I love your idea – how about “Its a Knockout!” ? They could trial it with Celebrities in a Prime Time slot and some sarcastic commentators, maybe even make it live like Friday Night Live used to be?
Yeah I gotta say – I saw this for the first time last night and it was ar$e – who thought it would a good idea to fight 20 to 01 with 15 to 01!
To add insult to injury there were No celebrities outside of Channel Ten employees (Angela Bishop FFS) Nine at least balances out the Jules Lunds and James Brayshaws with a few people outside their stable, and secondly the topic (favourite underdogs) was just a collection of fads that were, frankly, played out – I mean if I have to hear about Kenny or Slumdog Millionaire or Brant and Todd one more time I’m gonna go postal!
when i first saw it …i thought Bert must had been sick……nah sorry thats a lie…
Where do I get one of these jobs where you get paid to say stuff like, “Hey, this show is really successful on another channel. Let’s rip it off and I bet we’ll be just as successful!”
Er, no, it doesn’t work that way. Just wait for the Masterchef rip-offs to crash and burn.
*feigns surprise look.
Shakes head at Ten for promising a lot and delivering stuff all.
Latest 2 offerings are Duds – Spearman and 7pm project.
Gen & Masterchef were hits easy to see why.
All that hard work by Ten lost by hiring ex Nine programmers maybe ??
in the last 3 days 7 has launched the force and last chance surgery, both of which were barley advertised and both of which are now big hits. i’m beginning to think that if they put their test pattern on and labelled it as a ‘ch7 factual’ it would still get above 1.3. a number that other networks have spent millions for and still didn’t get.
I am trying to look shocked, but I saw this coming in my sleep!
I have not caught the show, the 20 to 1 comparisons are not going to change that. The one episode I’ve seen of 20-1 featured Rugby League players doing their favorite Seinfeld quotes… shudder…
But I’m wondering who the “talking heads” are on the Magda show?
I actually dont mind it, but its not must watch, Last nights was really good with the underdogs. I dont get how the plastic fantasics at nine are beating the young hotties at ten, since its the same thing, only with younger ppl giving there views. Wont be Supriesed if Shaun, Charlie, Amanda and Joss are back in the Studio today filiming emergency Generation Eps LOL.
Speaking of Generation, I have an idea for show. No title as yet, and kind of a Generation Spin Off. Basically, 2 teams of Baby Boomers (2ppl per team), battle it out for who has the best knowledge of Modern Pop Culture, voted in by Generation Y. They have to play a series of games, annswer questions to see who has the know it all on todays pop culture. I know my Grandma wouldnt have a clue who Lady Gaga is, or what House the TV show is, it make for some funny TV. No host (and not Shaun or Rove please). maybe this is what The Spearman Experiemnt should of been.
Yeh I was shocked last week when it turned out to be 20 to 1 on Ten with a different comedian hosting it. In all honesty, those types of shows are soo boring
Maybe its time to go Bob Shanks from 1989 and pump gameshows into Primetime……. lol those were the days
Thats what happens with you Copycat a show and give it a different Name!..
It shouldn’t even have been given funding approval. At step 1 they ought to have recognised its ripped-off nature, and turfed it.
How the hell is a re-run of 20-1 beating this show by so much?