0/5

“Smart, different, authentic” underpins TEN in 2013

MasterChef: The Professionals, Batavia, Wonderland and Elementary are all coming to TEN in 2013.

TEN has used the words “smart, different and authentic” to underpin its 2013 programming slate.

New local dramas, factuals and international content include nine new local series and four new overseas series.

CEO James Warburton has acknowledged that 2012 has not been a good enough but promised media buyers a full 40 week slate of content.

Network TEN today announced its programming line-up for 2013, including nine new local series and four new overseas drama series.

Press Release follows:

Network Ten will launch five new Australian drama series for TEN in 2013, including the comedic drama Wonderland and the epic Australian story Batavia. Also new are Mr and Mrs Murder with Shaun Micallef and Kat Stewart, Reef Doctors with Lisa McCune, and Secret & Lies: The Track.

Next year’s line-up includes new twists on the iconic TEN programs MasterChef Australia and The Biggest Loser, new seasons of the critically acclaimed local drama series Offspring and Puberty Blues, and the innovative new cooking show Recipe to Riches.

Other engaging new local series on TEN next year include the live, interactive series Shock of the Now and Hamish Macdonald’s The Truth Is.

The 2013 summer will see the Hopman Cup broadcast on TEN, while next year the Wallabies find a new home on TEN with our broadcasts of the British and Irish Lions Tour and the Rugby Championship.

Network Ten Chief Executive Officer, James Warburton, said: “For 2013 we have developed a schedule that builds consistency for our viewers and advertisers and will build our audience.

“It is a 40-week plan, consistently targeted with authentic TEN programs. Familiar, successful franchises will be in our schedule week in, week out, as well as a large number of new shows.”

Network Ten Chief Programming Officer, Beverley McGarvey, said TEN’s core programs such as MasterChef, The Biggest Loser, The Project, Offspring, Modern Family and NCIS would be joined by a raft of new local and overseas series.

“We want our viewers to be engaged and have a great experience when they come to TEN, ELEVEN and ONE,” Ms McGarvey said.

“We want to inspire them and surprise them, but most of all we want to entertain Australians with authentic, accessible content.

“In 2013 we are proud to present viewers with our largest and most diverse drama slate. We are also cementing the growth we have seen in early evening this year by moving The Project to the 6.30pm to 7.30pm timeslot and bringing The Simpsons back home to TEN at 6pm,” she said.

“Our aim in 2013 is to deliver quality content to our audiences every week of the year and to offer them distinctive programs they cannot get anywhere else.”

TEN In 2013
Local – New
MasterChef: The Professionals
TEN and Shine Australia take the MasterChef Australia experience to a new level with MasterChef: The Professionals. Hosted by Marco Pierre White – the man widely regarded as the best chef in the world – and esteemed food critic and MasterChef Australia judge Matt Preston, this new series takes 18 working chefs and puts them in the toughest cooking competition in Australia. The prize? The chance to turn their culinary dreams and ambitions into reality, under the direction of a legendary chef.

Recipe to Riches
TEN is delighted to partner with Woolworths to present this innovative new series. Produced by FremantleMedia Australia, Recipe to Riches gives everyday Australians the chance to share their home-cooked dishes with millions of people, by turning them into mouth-watering products on the shelves of Woolworths supermarkets. Viewers vote in the most authentic way: the day after each episode goes to air, they can walk into a supermarket and buy the featured products.

Mr and Mrs Murder
Shaun Micallef (Talkin’ ‘Bout Your Generation, Newstopia, Mad As Hell) and Kat Stewart (Offspring, Underbelly, Tangle) star is this new murder-mystery series. Industrial cleaners by day and amateur sleuths every other second, this happily married couple solve the crimes that leave the police baffled. Mr and Mrs Murder is a FremantleMedia Australia production of a Bravado drama.

Batavia
The best-selling book by Peter Fitzsimons is set to become a major television event on TEN. This eight-part series tells the remarkable true tale of the shipwrecking of the Batavia on her maiden voyage and the shocking events that followed. The story of the Batavia is being brought to life by Screentime (Underbelly, Bikie Wars: Brothers In Arms, Mary Bryant) as a co-production with networks in the US and Europe.

Wonderland
From FremantleMedia Austalia’s Jo Porter, a producer of Packed To The Rafters and one of the writers of Winners & Losers, comes a new contemporary romantic comedic drama. Wonderland is a series that will engage viewers with beautifully rich, relatable and moving stories, and will deliver the emotional highs and lows of drama and comedy, with an edge.

Secret & Lies: The Track
This innovative new series is a taut psychological thriller. Ben is an innocent man who finds the body of a young boy and quickly becomes the prime murder suspect. Secrets & Lies: The Track comes to TEN from the BAFTA and Emmy® Award-winning production company Hoodlum.

Reef Doctors
Gold Logie Award-winning actor Lisa McCune (Blue Heelers, Sea Patrol, The Potato Factory) stars in and co-produces this engaging family adventures series. Set on the picturesque Great Barrier Brief, Reef Doctors centres on Sam Stewart, an accomplished doctor who runs the remote Hope Island Clinic. Co-produced by Jonathan M. Shiff Productions, Reef Doctors also stars Matt Day (Rake, Tangle, Paper Giants: The Birth of Cleo) and Richard Brancatisano (Underbelly: Razor, Bait, Home and Away).

Shock of the Now
TEN will add to its factual program line-up in 2013 with Shock of the Now, a smart, unpredictable live show that explains our connected world. This is not a gadget show: think of it as a state-of-the art tonight show that allows viewers to interact directly with what is happening on their television screens. Shock of the Now is produced by Cordell Jigsaw Zapruder.

The Truth Is
TEN’s award-winning reporter Hamish Macdonald brings his unique style to The Truth Is, a bold, new way of exploring the world’s most dangerous, difficult and downright jaw-dropping news stories. This series sees journalism meet Bear Grylls-style television in an exciting collision of reportage and experience.

Overseas – New
American Idol
It is the highest-rating television series in the United States. It has produced global superstars such as Kelly Clarkson, Carrie Underwood, Jennifer Hudson and Adam Lambert. In January, season 12 of FremantleMedia’s American Idol arrives on TEN, with new voices and new judges Mariah Carey, Nicki Minaj and – of course – Australia’s favourite music export, Keith Urban. Forget the imitators: American Idol is the real deal. Only on TEN.

Elementary
From CBS Television Studios comes a reworking one of the most compelling characters in fiction, Sherlock Holmes. Starring Jonny Lee Miller (Trainspotting, Eli Stone, Dark Shadows), Lucy Liu (Charlie’s Angels, Ally McBeal, Kill Bill) and Aidan Quinn (Legends of the Fall, Michael Collins, An Early Frost), Elementary will have viewers hooked from the first scene. It launched in the US as the number one new drama of the 2012-13 season.

Ripper Street
The terrifying story of Jack the Ripper is given a new lease of life in this major television event. Set in the East End of London in 1888 during the aftermath of the Jack the Ripper murders, Ripper Street stars Matthew Macfadyen (Spooks, Pride & Prejudice, Frost/Nixon) and is a BBC production for BBC 1 in the UK and BBC America.

The Americans
Keri Russell (Felicity) and Matthew Rhys (Brothers & Sisters) star as Russian spies living in the US during the 1980s in this smart, engaging drama series. The Americans is produced by 20th Century Fox and debuts in the US in early 2013.

Local – Returning
MasterChef Australia returns in 2013 with a new home in Melbourne, a stunning new kitchen and a new crop of contestants eager to be crowned the best amateur chef in Australia. Gary Mehigan, George Calombaris and Matt Preston are back, along with an inspiring collection of new judges and some returning favourites.

The Biggest Loser takes on its most important challenge in 2013: helping mums, dads and their children change their lives. The Biggest Loser: The Next Generation will be a multi-media event, using social media to take the battle against obesity to a new level.

Over the past four years, The Project has firmly established itself as the most innovative news and current affairs program on Australian television. In 2013, Carrie, Dave and Charlie will have a new home in the 6.30pm to 7.30pm timeslot.

Australia’s love affair with Nina Proudman and her family continued in 2012. Offspring returns in 2013 and TEN is delighted that Asher Keddie and the other brilliant cast members of this remarkable series will be on our screens for another two seasons.

Network Ten’s commitment to quality local drama will also see the second season of the critically acclaimed Puberty Blues on TEN in 2013 and ELEVEN’s Neighbours enter its 28th season.

Chrissie Swan and Can of Worms will be back in 2013, along with new seasons of Steve Irwin’s Wildlife Warriors, Bondi Vet, Bondi Rescue and The Living Room.

Overseas – Returning
TEN’s slate of returning overseas hits in 2013 is led by the multi-Emmy® Award-winning Modern Family and Homeland, along with the perennial viewer favourite NCIS and its compelling spin-off NCIS: Los Angeles.

Next year’s line-up also new seasons of The Good Wife, Glee, New Girl, Law & Order: SVU, Merlin and The Graham Norton Show.

Sport
TEN remains the home of premium motorsport in 2013, with all the excitement and action of MotoGP and Formula One, including the high-rating Australian Formula One Grand Prix.

Other sport highlights of 2013 will include the Australian Swimming Championships, National Basketball League and the Hopman Cup, which will be seen on TEN in January.

TEN is also proud to announce the return of rugby union in 2013. TEN will show all Wallabies matches, including the Bledisloe Cup, as well as the British and Irish Lions Tour next year. And Before The Game and The Game Plan will be back in 2013.

ELEVEN and ONE In 2013
ELEVEN has been a success since the day it went to air and now stands as the most youthful commercial free-to-air television channel in Australia.

The success of ELEVEN will continue in 2013 with a line-up that includes new series such as Beauty and the Beast and The Choice, and new seasons of fan favourites American Horror Story, Futurama, The Cleveland Show, Raising Hope, The Office, Bob’s Burgers and – of course – Neighbours.

After posting strong audience growth in 2012, ONE is set to remain one of the most successful digital multi-channels in 2013.

ONE’s line-up for next year includes Sons of Anarchy, An Idiot Abroad: The Short Way Round, Extreme Fishing With Robson Green, Burn Notice, COPS, Undercover USA and Python Hunters, plus more Ross Kemp adventures, stand-up comedy and premium motorsport.

93 Responses

  1. Ah, just saw the new article that prob answers my Q in para 3.

    I should add that while I admit to experiencing a small amount of schadenfreude over Ten’s demotion to fourth place for foisting such unmitigated crap upon us since the Olympics, I hope that these new progs, and especially their commitment to local drama, ends up paying dividends for them. Nobody wins if there are effectively only two commercial FTA channels and they can continue to treat us with contempt and get away with it.

    However, Ten missed an opportunity here. Instead of simply relying on their content and hoping that it resonates with audiences, they should take the lead and commit to starting and finishing their programs at the advertised time. If that’s 8:40pm or 9:45pm then so be it. They need a real point of difference to start clawing back some of their viewers and their 2013 slate isn’t sufficient.

  2. Once you wade thru the corporate-speak and weed out the spin and BS, there do appear to be some decent offerings.

    Smart people have been saying new Simpsons at 6:00 and The Project at 6:30 for ages so it’s heartening to see that someone at Ten also thinks that this is a good idea.

    Homeland in 2013 – are they presuming that there will be a third season or will they be holding off the back end of S2? Hope it’s not the second as I will just rack up the frequent flyer points to see the last few eps in the US.

    And is it Ten the network or Ten the channel that’ll be the “home of premium motorsport”?, ‘cos we all know that it should be live on One.

  3. Poor YTT fans who waited hoping today’s announcements would give them an answer about 2013, the lack of a verbal answer shows it was the news they weren’t hoping for, how hard can it be to say that it won’t be returning and thank you for watching, it was obvious when Johnny Young went back to WA to do radio that something was wrong, he would never leave where YTT was being made if it was still in the game.

  4. Having lost their position as the 3rd network to the ABC, it seems as if Ten are almost trying to emulate them: Mr & Mrs Murder, Batavia, Reef Doctors and Secrets & Lies all sound like they’d fit quite well onto ABC too, which to my mind is no bad thing.
    This does all rather point to some fresh ideas at Ten, I for one hope it all works out for them.

    Great news about Ten getting the Rugby back too. Nine ruined last year’s World Cup by only showing a handful of games (usually delayed), and with no highlights or insight. If Ten show the sport some respect, broadcast matches live across the country (not just in the Northern states) and learn from the outrage that was directed at Nine, they’ll certainly win over the rugby-loving audience.

  5. Channel 10 had 40 weeks of programming this year too. Eight weeks of it was terrible and the other 32 only had a few big ratings hits.

    The Project failed against the more sensationalised 7 and 9 Newses this year. So they are going to try counter programming with the Simpons. It will rate better on Ten than Eleven and they need something. It won’t do that much better though but when Channel 10 moved the Simpson to Eleven they wanted ratings of 1m for that slot, these days they will be happy with anything reliably delivering over 600k.

    The will give them a stable lineup for the whole of ratings with The News (which is doing well against the game shows), The Simpsons, The Project and then reality TV shows like The Biggest Loser, Master Chef and Master Chef Professionals.

    Having no such reliable lineup left them getting smashed all night by The Voice, The Olympics and The X Factor.

    Having only shown Offspring, Puberty Blues and Underground this year Channel 10 will need to show more local drama next year to make the points quota. And since their OS shows are rating less they hope local drama will do better.

  6. Full points to Ten for commissioning more first run Australian drama. I’m actually feeling cautiously optimistic about 2013’s slate, and whatever we all think of Ten’s programming decisions in the last year or so (and some of them have been dire) at least they haven’t taken their bat and ball and gone home.

    A shame there’s no comedy in there, though …

  7. Moving The Project again? Well at least it is in the right time slot this time around.
    I hope The Simpsons episodes at 6pm are from the 1990’s/early 2000’s and not any of the last 7 seasons where all humour and intelligence has left the building.
    Will the audience come back to try it all out, or have TEN treated them so badly this year that only time and word of mouth will bring them back? Looks like they have some winners for next year, but time will tell.
    I have doubts about American Idol, I see this moving to ELEVEN or weekend afternoons.

  8. I just hope One keeps playing at least two eps of Whose Line is it Anyway a week, such a fantastic show not given the recognition it deserves in Australia.

  9. Amazed that The Living Room is still going to be on in 2013.
    What is it rating like ? Maybe it is cheaper to produce ?
    If it is rating the same as Ben and Kate was then how come
    The Living Room stays ? All in all though I prefer it to BH and
    G.

    Must be why new Simpsons eps are not on ELEVEN , they
    are being saved for Ten at 6pm.

    I think American Idol will probably rate like The Voice USA did
    on Ch 9, at about mid 500 k to 600 k. Perhaps it could do more if
    it is fastracked to Ten.

  10. One further thought / question on the changes to The Project from 2013… David, did the TEN presentation (or press releases) note whether the [relatively-recently added] Sunday ep of The Project will still air from 2013…? In it’s current 6pm slot?; moved to 6.30pm to match what will be the new 60-min weekday timeslot (though there it would likely be up against Seven’s ‘Sunday Night’ most of the year); a 30-min version?; or dropped entirely, just reverting to weeknights? My money is on the last of those options – but time will tell… unless it was part of today’s announcements and I’ve missed it?

  11. Interesting that TEN have grabbed FTA rugby union rights from Nine (presumably the latter is saving its dollars to ensure it retains most/all of the soon to be awarded cricket packages; perhaps V8 Supercars too?)

    Re: The Project – Anyone know how many times/format changes this show has gone through in its fairly short existence… I reckon it’s at least four? (1) The original, 7pm Project [30min] >> (2) 6.30pm start [60mins duration from 2nd incarnation] >> (3) 6.00pm [plus addition of Sunday eps of only 30mins duration] >> (4) 6.30pm [from date tba, 2013].

    However, for what it’s worth, I think the 6.30pm start + 60 mins run time could be the best combination in terms of building a decent, consistent audience and, crucially, offering a slightly different, light-er ‘newsy’ alternative to ACA and TT. Slightly risky running straight across the big 7pm start-time changeover, but presumably should get TEN out at 7.30pm with a reliably decent audience for its big prime-time shows to then build on…

  12. I’m really excited to hear Puberty Blues will be returning. The actors were great, the writing was great and the sets were amazing.
    I think it didn’t do well because most people were on the ten bashing bandwagon after the whole Everybody Dance Now and I Will Survive thing. If it had been on another network I think it would have pulled bigger numbers.

    I’m pretty impressed with the rest of it too, the only thing I’m questioning is the choice of American Idol.

    Nine ran The Voice US after a very successful Australian season and it completely bombed. I know they’ve got Keith Urban judging but I don’t know if that will be big enough to pull an aussie crowd to an American show.

    Apart from that, I’m really hoping things turn around for Ten in 2013. They just need to rebuild their relationship with viewers so people can stop bashing and start believing again.

Leave a Reply