Tony Moclair and Julian Schiller will host a new comedy game show all about television for Channel Seven, The White Room.
An original format developed by Seven, it features two teams of “well-loved TV faces, established comedians and some of Australia’s best emerging comedy talents, as they are quizzed, challenged, poked and prodded about TV shows and TV stars.”
Both comedians and broadcasters, Moclair and Schiller have recently been regulars on The 7PM Project on TEN. Schiller hosts a breakfast radio show on Nova in Adelaide, where he previously worked with Moclair following work on 3RRR. Moclair is now part of Triple M’s Hot Breakfast with Eddie McGuire in Melbourne and has also been a writer on Newstopia, and a regular on The Einstein Factor.
Seven is yet to announce any plans to return its other TV-loving format TV Burp to schedules in 2010.
No further details on The White Room have been released.
Watched the ‘encore’ presentation tonight on seven 2. Massive fail.
Moclair + Schiller = excellent duo… I can’t wait to see how this one works. I’ve heard alot about it. Apparently they shot a pilot for it 5 years ago but let it gather dust…
The ads are p**. Reminds me of the ads for Spearman Experiment – and didn’t that do well for itself?
@bre saxs
Tony and Julian also had a late night radio program on Triple M about (1996/97 I think it was) called ‘The late, late breakfast show’ – very funny good to see them back together again
it sounds a bit like the old show Blankety Blanks. thank god they didn’t get O’Keefe to ask the ????s
@bobby, Blankety Blanks was an actual gameshow with real contestants that won prizes assisted by the celebrity panelists. Ten’s Battle of the Sexes also had the celebrity/contestant mix. I thought Good News Week was the first fake style of gameshow with only celebrities (3 in each team with 1 regular team captain for each team) with no prizes…just relying on the comedic wit of the celebrities.
I am assuming that the White Room is not the show that this article was referring to: http://www.tvtonight.com.au/2009/04/new-game-show-for-seven.html
I know… TVTV wasn’t a game show but a local version of ET! I was just reminded it was a similar era in its affection for the telly.
Agree. Sounds a bit like The Great TV Game Show with Richard Stubbs and Jane Holmes. It was a bit cheap looking but wasn’t a bad show. I watched because it was from the producers of Comedy Company.
TVTV was more a panel discussion/industry news/review programme- television equivalent of TV Tonight. Have an episode on tape in which the panel (Simon Townsend, Edith Bliss, James Valentine and others) discuss Mike Willesee’s infamous phone interview with child hostages.
Just by the look of the commericals it looks like my type of show!.
Don’t think I’ll bother,thanks all the same.
Tony Moclair = Guido Hatzis
@ Kuttsywood I should have read all the comments!!! Yes obviously I loved that show (even though I was like 12y.o).
Yes…sounds like TBYG meets Spicks and Specks…..and the Network will ensure the floating “panel” will be cross-promting other 7 shows
It has more than a whiff of “The Great TV Game Show” which was on TEN TV Australia (I think thats what the network was called then?) during their wall to wall game show era. It was hosted by Richard Stubbs if I remember correctly?
I’m guessing you haven’t read today’s Top Story then BG?
I came across 12 Eps the other day of The Great Tv Game Show on DVD that was given to me and in his 1st television appearance was a young Andrew Maher from Ten’s Before the Game as a contestant….
@janey – that would be blankety blanks.
While we’re talking TVTV, how about Vidiot, that was Eden Gaha hosting wasn’t it?
Hopefully it’s not as heavily scripted as Spicks and Specks, Good News Week and TBYG.
Personally, I prefer old school variety shows like Hey Hey where it feels more “live” and unpredictable.
I’ll give this “new” show three weeks before a timeslot shift/7 Two shift.
Was Good News Week the first successful celebrity panel gameshow in Australia?
Yes, Bre Saxs!
I like Tony Moclair & Julian Schiller a lot, so I’ll be giving this show a go. ‘Restoring the Balance’ on Triple J was the funniest thing I heard on radio since ‘Martin/Molloy’ on the Austereo Network. The trouble was they were just treated like filler, so their timeslots kept moving around.
@Chris: – “Loosely based on Never Mind the Buzzcocks…”
Well, Spicks And Specks was a shameless carbon copy of Buzzcocks, so where does that place The White Room in the originality stakes?
“well-loved TV faces” = people from Home and Away and Rafters. Shudder.
This will fail so much.
@kuttsywood, I loved The Great Tv Game Show with everybody’s favourite Vizard substitute host…Richard Stubbs.
I just have to point out that there’s no mention of Tony & Julian’s political satire show “Restoring the Balance” they did on popular youth station Triple J.
I am undecided as to whether I’ll watch it or not. It will probably depend on what else “The White Room” is up against.
TVTV wasn’t a game show but I remember it well
Yup, and also ABC’s TVTV.
Hands up who remembers “The Great TV Game Show”, that Bob Shanks introduced to Ten in 1989…
Oh, oops. I see you mentioned TV Burp already.
Panel shows are very popular in the UK; they have a glut of them. So why not have more here too? It’s worth a try.
I could see Ed Kavalee doing well as a guest on this one.
Speaking of which, is TV Burp returning?
TV Burp would be perfect for 7TWO.
Seven first piloted this in 2005.
Loosely based on Never Mind the Buzzcocks and other UK panel shows.
Chris Lilley was in it – doing “interpretive dance” numbers for classic Aussie TV shows like A Country Practice. Hilarious!
So like the My Kitchen/Restaurant Rules/Masterchef argument, it’s all a bit chicken and egg.
@James: If this new show can develop a point of difference then good luck to it, but until then the viewers will just view this as a clone. Like they did the You May Be Right and those SBS shows that nobody really bothered watching.
Talkin About Your Generation probably got away with it just by having Shaun Micallef hosting, otherwise it would probably have suffered the same fate.
That’s not to say Spicks and Specks invented the genre, I remember a show 20+ years ago called The Main Event which was along the same lines. So no concept is ever entirely original but viewers are going to be naturally cynical at too many adaptations of the one idea in a short space of time
Seven first piloted this in 2005.
Loosely based on Never Mind the Buzzcocks and othyer UJK panel shows.
Chris Lilley was in it – doing “interpretive dance” numbers for classic Aussie TV shows like A Country Practice. Hilarious!
So like the My Kitchen/Redstaurant
This doesn’t sound all that appealing, not a fan of the hosts at all.
@ Janey. Your beloved Ten’s foray into variety/panel/comedy hasn’t exactly been perfect. Spearman Experiment anyone? The 7pm Project has also failed in epic proportions.
Andrew – fair enough re ‘the panel’ however point still stands.
All the shows you’ve listed (Spicks and Specks, ADbc, You May Be Right, Talking About Your Generation, The Squiz) stem from a similar style but all have individual qualities.
I find it rather inane that shows are judged as ‘copies’ rather that focussing on the points of difference.
hmm sounds kinda lame, it seems they react when something on another channel does well then tries to do something in the same vein.
Both be in house productions i would also question the quality,
@James: That’s not what I said. For a start, The Panel was not a “two teams of celebrities game show” so I don’t even know where you got that from.
So to quote Seven, two teams of “well-loved TV faces, established comedians and some of Australia’s best emerging comedy talents, as they are quizzed, challenged, poked and prodded” You don’t think that’s remarkably similar to a handful of other shows on TV in recent times? Like Spicks and Specks? ADbc? You May Be Right? Talking About Your Generation? The Squiz? Come on… the format’s the same just the questions are different…
Sounds a lot like that hit show (sarcasm) “You May Be Right” hosted by Todd McKenney. Seven have tried copying these formats before and haven’t had much success, why would this one be any different? TV Burp and Out of the Question are another 2 failed attempts.
@ Andrew – in your head anything with a panel isn’t original?
So ‘The Panel’, TBYG and S&S are all copies?
good one!
I watched the pilot of this show for a survey company and I didn’t like it much at all. It relied heavily on clips from old TV shows and it just wasn’t all that entertaining. From the pilot, I doubt the show will last very long on air or in it’s orignal timeslot.
Another “two teams of celebrities” panel game show… and Seven says it’s original? They think we don’t know Spicks and Specks?? Or even that we have forgotten You May Be Right??
My Kitchen Rules: 7′s version of MasterChef.
White Room: 7′s version of Talkin’ ’bout your Generation.
Having not seen it, i can’t be 100% sure…. i just hope that it isn’t like the disaster of “You may be right” – trying to be in the spirit of Spicks & Specks…. and failing miserably (welly Lizzy Lovette was the best thing about that show!!).
This could be good like Good News Week was long ago!
Do seven have any original ideas? I keep thinking I’m looking at channel 10′s schedule. My Kitchen Rules and now the White Room.
Sounds very similar to a UK show called “You Have Been Watching”.
@Rob what is this like that channel ten did?
Sevn in 2010 =
Copy whatever Ten did in 2009
I dunno. I can’t exactly see this do well. Theyll probably just continually promote Seven shows. But I’ll reserve my judgement till I see it.
sounds good. worth a shot.