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Airdate: The Millers

Baffling programming move 101: remember when The Renovators was sandwiched in between a MasterChef finale?

2014-04-16_1046TEN has now lifted a programming embargo on its plans for US comedy The Millers premiere, and it reveals an odd manoeuvre from the programming department.

The Millers will premiere as a double episode at 7pm Sunday April 27th.

It will follow the Australian-based episode of Modern Family which airs at 6:30pm.

But then TEN has another new Modern Family episode at 8pm, which is reminiscent of the time it infamously thrust a Renovators episode into the middle of a MasterChef finale.

TEN’s night is now locked in as:

6pm Modern Family: An Aussie Adventure presented by Angela Bishop (new)
6:30pm Modern Family: Australia (new)
7:00pm The Millers (new)
7:30pm The Millers (new)
8:00pm Modern Family (new)
8:30pm Elementary (new)
9:30pm The Graham Norton Show (new)

Synopses for the two Millers episodes are as follows:

When their parents decide to divorce, brother and sister Nathan and Debbie are stuck with them as house guests. Meanwhile, issues arise surrounding the arrangement of the family cemetery plots.

Of course the early evening shows are expected to go up against the season premiere of The Voice and a semi-final for My Kitchen Rules, both of which are yet to be confirmed.

The Logies are expected to start at 8:40pm (but it’s not clear if that’s just the Red Carpet).

17 Responses

  1. I’m really looking forward to The Millers, it looks really funny & the Aussie Modern Family ep.

    Is there any word on when MasterChef is starting? In years past it has started the same night as the Logies & they have been advertising it like mad so it must be close.

  2. This is yet another programming blunder by the execs at Ten.

    It is obvious that this Modern Family will have a broader reach than the usual episodes, so will attract interest from people who don’t normally watch the show. So please tell me why they are scheduling it on the same night as The Voice, MKR and The Logies? Have they learnt nothing from the SYTYCDA disaster against MKR and The Block?

    If shows like NCIS, The Project and TBL finale are capable of doing over 700k on particular occasions, this MF could do likewise, but only if it’s scheduled correctly. As of now, Ten have just sent it to the slaughterhouse.

  3. From a ratings standpoint I don’t know how Modern Family will be effected as people might not want to stick around for the second episode, but on the other hand it’s a good alternative to the reality offerings of the other two commercial networks. But a good move by TEN having The Millers in double episodes with the first half an hour before the reality juggernauts start to keep people on TEN. Here’s hoping it pays off.

  4. TEN have to have something on that night but the two Modern Family eps should be together, then the two eps of Millers. Thankfully they are not launching this years’ Masterchef on that night as well.

    It would be good if we could come out of the dark ages and have the Logies starting early and being live – but with the Voice premiering before, no hope.

    Will be another very late night!

  5. Sorry David, I think I’m with Secret Squirrel on this one…
    Your argument is really only valid if Ten scheduled The Millers in the middle of The Australia episode!! haha
    Let’s not kick the little brother too hard. We’d be bashing them if they put MasterChef there too! Seems they are in a lose lose position.

    Also I heard that The Logies were starting earlier at 6:30 or 7:30 this year..?

    1. Given that new Modern Family appears to be moving from Mondays, time will tell if this strategy makes sense. I think people are pretty fed up with Modern Family as a moving target and a Millers interruption won’t help.

  6. Looking at this programming decision, I am now convinced that TEN are trying to devalue the company for a take over. This has to be one of the worst programming moves I have seen. I would bet my life on a massive failure. Modern Family is now TEN’s own TBBT – shoved in any timeslot that comes up. Then to premiere a new show in between 2 new episodes of a favourite is Renovators all over again. TEN are trying to fail, I’m sure of it. I would never wish failure on anyone but I do wonder what’s going on in Pyrmont…

  7. I don’t like the ads for The Millers, doesn’t look like a show I would want to watch.

    I’ll just record Modern Family as it’ll probably clash with MKR.

  8. Sticking The Millers betw two new eps of the same show is not the same as splitting what everyone would consider to be a single show and making them wait for the final results.

    This may still backfire but I think Ten are right to put The Millers out at 7pm because if they wait until 7:30, people will already be on 7 or 9 for MKR or The Voice. Of course, they didn’t have to put a second ep of MF at 8pm but what else have they got?

  9. Stupid, stupid, stupid! They have already dragged Modern Family through every single time slot possible, which had decreased its ratings in the past 12 months. And now they premiere a terrible new show sandwiched between their only successful comedy? If they don’t fix this, we can be sure that they have no idea on how to save their network.
    Perhaps we need to invite Jon Taffer from Bar Rescue to save Channel 10.

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