Gigi Edgley and Debra Byrne have joined an online petition to save Tricky Business from being axed by Nine.
So far there is no official word on the fate of the new drama, but a Nine spokesperson yesterday told TV Tonight it was “unlikely” to return.
With disappointing ratings and multiple timeslots its fate seems sealed.
A fan by the name of Trent is running an online campaign at gopetition which has around 200 signatures so far, in a bid to save the show from getting the chop.
He told TV Tonight, “This is a fantastic show that deserves a second chance!!”
Gigi Edgley has used her Twitter account to rally support.
“Please help save Tricky! 
http://www.gopetition.com/petitions/save …” she tweeted.
‘Debra Byrne’ signed “Give it a chance in a time slot people can rely upon x”
‘Gigi Edglet’ signed: ”You know you want to : )
Next week Nine is holding a media launch for three new dramas, Howzat!, Underbelly: Badness and House Husbands. It will make things a little bit awkward if the fate of Tricky Business is in doubt.
A recent fan campaign for Foxtel’s Spirited appeared to have an effect on the Pay TV show winning a reprieve via Showtime, but so far no rescue has been forthcoming.
There are worse shows…..Big Brother for example….we should be supporting more Aussie dramas! Go Tricky!!!
Nine are a bunch of idiots.At this rate we would not be surprised If we get some done to death US Sitcom as a replacement.I am thinking Cheers Reruns or whatever other things they had in the last two or more decades being used as filler.
I just hope the petition makes some impact on the shows future…
People should start sending something related to the show to Channel 9.
Like fans of Veronica Mars sent in Mar Bars and Jericho fans sent in nuts.
@deedeedragons
Yes, bring on the Veronica Mars movie.
Agree with some of this but you are also forgetting Beaconsfield, The Great Mint Swindle. But Panic at Rock Island was a dud.
Tricky Business was the worst drama that Nine has produced. The question that should be asked is was who responsible for commissioning it and why. Don’t blame the poor writers whose work is all subject to network consent. Tricky follows a now long line of very poor Nine drama which includes Canal Road, The Strip, Rescue Special Ops, Cops LAC. Take Underbelly out of the picture and the record is abysmal. Nine needs a very big rethink and needs to invest in ideas which provide a solid base for building an ongoing series. I don’t think House Husbands is likely to provide a solution. Nine needs to take a long hard look at its drama or the bad ideas and disappointment will continue.
@ Kitser: I think the petition to save the show is due to the unfair go the show had following the Voice. It is a very late start time for a PG drama.
As for being promoted to death, I agree. Ch7 are in my opinion even more guilty. However the Ch7 marketing campagin seems to work better because of the trust viewers have that once they start watching a show it will continue (especially for new Aussie dramas in recent years). I find that over promotion is a switch off for me. However sometimes I watch a show coz it appeals to me.
A petition isn’t “a sad idea” (to you maybe), those that enjoyed it want to see it continue and believe it deserves another chance, due to the lack of fair go upon launch and multiple timeslots. They have a right to petition and will do so despite many negative views of either the tv drama or petitions in general!
The show was promo’d and trailed to death, months in advance. It just isn’t that interesting or something that the GP can connect with.
I expect the writers did their best, the actors did their best (incapable of being naturalistic) and Nine are a business, not a charity. Nine do shift shows around, this is true and I can appreciate that everyone feels comfortable pointing the finger at them but…
Nobody likes a show shoved in their face and told it will be fantastic a millions times, don’t miss it a millions times and then you tune in to find out…its just a little bit too average.
Sorry guys, don’t bother trying to save a show with a petition. Really?! What a sad idea.
Again guys regarldess of wether you like TB or not…the whole petition was about Channel Nine changing their shows times n days of viewing…. a reported told me that Nine is very bad at keep a show on the air and gibing it a fair chance, one ratings are down… the shows ratings went down because they kept changing its times n days…. if you actually gave it a chance people, u may have enjoyed it alittle more…. I rememeber when All Saints and Mcleods Daughters first started and I hated these shows but come series 2 and 3, i was hooked.
If most Aus viewers weren’t interested in watching what looks like was a poorly conceived and written show, there isn’t any point blaming Nine for it, other than why did they commission it in the first place.
I watched a few episodes and didn’t find the show that bad.
I am getting sick of channel 9 and their habits of constantly moving timeslots of shows and then axing them or moving them over to go or gem.
and then they don’t listen to their viewers when they ask for the network to give their favourite show a second chance.
and they wonder why their ratings are bad…..
as well as tricky business other shows such as top gear have also lost viewers to the constant timeslot changes. I like top gear and would watch it if 9 left it at 7.30 on a tuesday like it was. top gear would have been better off on sbs.
good on those people that are trying to safe TB, hopefully nine will listen
It won’t be saved because Channel 9 don’t want it to be. They’re not interested in supporting Australian drama …. never have been. Any network with an ounce of commitment to drama would have thrown out these dreadful scripts and told the producers to start again! Because let’s be honest, the writing is truly awful, an insult to the viewing public. The only thing worse than the dire writing is the contempt with which 9 treats its viewers, shifting timeslots with zero consideration for TB’s small but loyal audience.
The show didnt last people because Australians didnt support it….because stupid Channel Nine kept changing the time slot….and they would prefer stupid American s**t over decent Aussie drama…. how bout we star supporting shows on our own turn for a change…. and to all the TB haters, focus ur hate on something more useful…if you dont like the show, dont watch it, simple as that!
Yay Trent!!!
I know him!!!
He is so excited that media outlets is picking up this
Thanks David !
I like this show!!! Except that when it gets jumped around with timeslots!
@Russell – being given a sizable lead-in presumes that there is a decent match-up with the demographics of the two shows. That has not been demonstrated in this case.
Neither Tricky Business itself nor Nine’s treatment of it are “that terrible” but I would consider them to be approximately equal contributors to its less-than-impressive ratings.
Whilst I’ve not seen any episodes of TB as I live in the uk I do think nine kill their own shows this was inevitably doomed to fail because of the precious ratings system that dominates Australian tv!! You can’t blame the actors when it’s clearly the networks that don’t give great drama a chance, uk loved/loves rescue but nine ended it even though it had higher ratings than TB in its third series?? It bewilders me!!
I’m not sure Nine’s treatment of the show was that terrible.
Yes, the start time varied every week because of The Voice end time, but remember also Nine put it behind the single biggest show on TV in about the last 3-4 years – and left it there for 6 weeks.
That is a pretty sizable lead in that most shows would kill for.
If nine didn’t constantly move shows around and gave them time to establish a loyal viewing audience then maybe it would have worked
Not a bad show, However Channel Nine I believe are the real culprits here as they shove shows here and there leaving the poor viewer confuzzled ( puzzled and confused) and I know people in the industry and really we should be looking after our crews and shows, because if we don’t all we will be seeing is The Big Bang Theory.
Thank goodness for David and this site otherwise I would never keep track of where it is in the schedule.
Generally speaking, poor writing has been sinking Aussie shows for years. This is the latest victim.
I can’t help but wonder how many of the people here making negative comments about TB, have actually seen more than one episode of it. As I have said previously, it isn’t compelling viewing, but it’s not a bad show and has some interesting storylines. I feel for the actors who have no control over programming. It doesn’t look good for them when they have been involved in an axed show.
@ CyprusPK, I don’t know how you can say that Gigi Edgley is almost solely responsible for the poor performance of this show. There are so many other factors that are responsible.
Well said jbar. Antony Starr has already moved on to an Alan Ball show and Lincoln Lewis disappeared a few episodes ago. Hopefully the rest of the cast can find some quality work.
if you can’t succeed when your lead in is the biggest show of the year you won’t succeed ever. And the show was terrible….
Schedule Mismanagement killed it.All It needed was one night a week say around 8pm so not too late for those of us who have school or work the following morning to have keep it alive.
This is a joke Nine.I liked your shows when it was Bugs Bunny after school,Quiz Shows at 7pm and Thursday Night Getaway.Now It’s Eddie Everywhere and out of date sitcoms and that Top Gear with the same old annoying hosts or it used to be in that ones case till it got moved to go or gem.
Hilarious!!! 10,000 signitures on a petition won’t save this turkey from the axe! No ratings….no show…that’s how the television industry has always worked…and it ain’t changing it’s rules for this dud with so soap suds!!!
Cyrus PK – Gigi was in 3 series of Farscape plus telemovies – so it was hardly her who killed that off (I believe for Australian purposes before SciFi took it over it was again Ch9′s poor treatment schedule wise) – there were multiple series of Rescue also…
If Ch9 had some guts they’ll commission a second series and replay this one in a decent slot over Summer.
Did not see any of them
Ironic. The show revolves around a mercantile agency. When it will be mercantile agency knocking on the door of Tricky Business.
The show feautures good actors struggling with the quality of material they have.
“…a fantastic show…” – really? The only fantasy here is the one that you would have to be living in to think that Trick Business was any better than mediocre, at best.
I feel for Deb and Gigi but if they really want to save their show, they should get some better writers. Also, bit late now, but they should never have agreed to do this on the one network that was almost guaranteed to shaft the show from Day One.
What the Hell were Nine’s programmers thinking? How on Earth did they think it was going to build an audience when it was moving around the schedule like that? Heavens knows.
It is really awful. The scripts are just appalling and they burned the characters in the first episode. And nine should have realised that Gigi has no appeal whatsoever. Like most drama that nine put up, it should have never got past proposal stage
Really there’s a fan petition to save the show?? Why?? It’s a terrible show. Not surprising from Nine.
But Nine sealed it’s fate from the start anyway, it’s like they wanted it to fail. Putting on after The Voice meaning it had no real timeslot cos it would start whenever The Voice decided to end, then several other days/timeslots in just a few weeks. What’d they think would happen to ratings?
The only episode I saw all of was #1.
And it seemed to be a waste of talented actors like Shane Bourne & Debra Byrne.
The script for the 1st ep was terrible (imo).
Since then I’ve only seen bits & pieces,
But there was nothing (script wise) that made me even want to go back & take another look.
It’s a real shame because it should’ve been given a fair go in one timeslot so people could watch.
I have some sympathy for these 2.
I find it hard to understand why a network invested a fair amount of money producing this series, then promoted it quite heavily and finally stuffed it around the schedule so badly. To premiere a new series and not have a definite start time was just a disaster. So many on here predicted it would fail. No wonder ch9s schedule is so fragile and dependant upon ‘event’ television when such poor decisions are made. It is no surprise that the company has a poor financial position when hard cash is so easily wasted with little accountability…
Good luck to these 2 actors, but I think it may well be a lost cause.
For one second i thought the picture was Kristen Bell in Veronica Mars mode.
Then i got disappointed.
I only saw the first episode of Tricky Business and thought it had potential but was dicked around too much that i can’t tell you when it’s on now. That’s often a good sign not to get invested in the show! The damage is probably already done but maybe if they encore it in a safer slot they might build the audience. It was also marketed as a Packed to the Rafters and turned out to be something quite different.
Spirited isn’t coming back according to the Save Spirited website where they have a statement from producers Jacquelin & Claudia:
spirited-tv.net/2012/04/if-you-leave-me-can-i-come-too-farewell-spirited/
If I was one of the cast members, I’d be furious at the treatment this show has been given since it premiered, actually even the terribly boring promos earlier this year were something to complain about.
You would never see this treatment in the US for a new show, it would be locked in to a time slot up to 6 months before it premiered, and it would start on time each week, and after around 4-5 weeks if the ratings declined then it would be pulled or moved to another slot. It would never have a start time that various between 10 and 45 mins after the advertised time or change days without notice.
Channel 9 deserve this to fail, but the actors do not, I feel sorry for them, as Australian drama, although increasing is still not enough to match the US imports. We need more short run quality drama with different casts. We are using the likes of Claudia Karvan, Gyton Grantly, Rodger Corser, Callan Mulvey, etc too often. We don’t even get a chance to move on from their former roles. At least TENs Reef Doctors has multiple unknowns in the cast for us to get to know and connect with.
The problem with that is 2 of the main cast members probably wont be back anyway.
Antony Starr who plays Matt is now working in the US on a TV series and Lincoln Lewis who plays Chad is busy with other projects including the sequel to Tomorrow When The War Began.
It really is a ‘tricky business’
Gigi Edgley seemsa to be something of a jinx on Australian tv drama. She joined Farscape- and it died. She was the lead in Rescue Special Ops – and it died. She did nothing for Stingers or the Blackjack telemovies, and now is almost solely responsible for Trickey Business’ failure.
I’m going to go ahead and assume this is a joke.
It is not the best show ever made, but it isn’t that bad either. I’ve watched every episode because i record it on series link on the iQ so i don’t need to follow it around the schedule myself.
It never really had a chance with nine’s constant changing of the timeslot. I think even now putting it in a constant timeslot won’t work because the horse has bolted.
Add it to the list of great stuff ups by nine – programs that finished too early because of schedule mismanagement.