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TEN in the hunt for 6:30 Sunday show

Family-based light entertainment shows wanted at TEN. But no cooking, dancing, singing, renovation or relationships thanks.

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If there is a slot TEN wants to fill with a hit show, it’s 6:30 Sundays, where it has tried The Great Australian Spelling Bee, All Star Family Feud and Bondi Rescue.

None has fired up the slot on an on-going basis.

Azar Marashian, TEN’s Head of Acquisitions, Development Manager, yesterday told producers attending the Screen Forever conference it was the timeslot she was most keen to address.

“We tend to fall over there and we really need a strong lead-in to our big franchises at 7:30. The genre would be light entertainment and it has to be broad family (appeal), because we need the audience to deliver into those 7:30 franchises,” she said.

“So that would be the main one and I would suggest probably another 7:30 show for the top of the week, but something that’s just going to be once a week. Again, in the Light Entertainment space. I don’t know what that is. It won’t be cooking, it won’t be dancing, it won’t be singing, it won’t be renovation, or relationships. That much I can tell you!

“Don’t know exactly what it is but I think we’ll know it when we see it. But it should be something for the family to watch.”

26 Responses

      1. Agreed. They need to be careful that the show is truly a family show. Neither HYBPA or Gogglebox are appropriate at that time. Even Whose Line is It would have to be a cleaner version than Drew Carey’s one. TAYG was ideal with its blend of clean comedy and slapstick, as was The Blue Door Show (aka Thank God You’re Here).

  1. Why not local news on a Sunday hosted by the Monday – Friday presenters, giving them Friday off instead? Half an hour only at 6pm as a point of difference (who wants an hour of news on a Sunday anyway, especially at 5pm?), then roll out a proven hit in Thank God You’re Here or Talking About Your Generation or something of that ilk from 6.30 for an hour. Ten have always prided themselves on doing things differently so if they’re patient they could change people’s habits and in turn create headaches for 9 & 7.

  2. A new show is destined to fail up against 1hr News bulletins and the reality shows starting at 7pm. If Ten want consistency through the year in that slot, their best bet would be a Sunday Project. Viewers tune into that lineup of News/Feud/Project through the week, so why not offer it to them on a Sunday, too?

      1. I remembered back in 2011 when Ten announced that they wanted to move The Project to 6PM and add a Sunday Bulletin. The Sunday bulletin didn’t work for 30 mins and was cancelled.
        I don’t think a 6:30pm Project Bulletin would work either on a Sunday night!

  3. A number of people have commented that TEN needs to move to 7pm start for franchises and I’m inclined to agree. I appreciate TEN wanted a consistent 7:30 start for its shows across the week, but this year Nine and Seven have proven the audience is fine with 7pm Sunday / 7:30 weeknights for the same brand. Block, Voice, MKR, House Rules etc have all changed audience mindset. TEN needs to follow suit or risk being overlooked.

  4. Whatever it is, it has to run 6-7pm. A 6:30pm start is no good. Saturday night also has no momentum. OK programs but the program block starts at 6:30. TEN has shown its successes, HYBPA and The Project, are cheap to make yet highly successful. But no more Family Feud hours.

  5. I have long yearned for a revival of Thank God You’re Here. Loved it when it was originally on TEN. Unfortunately, I was just too young to really enjoy a lot of the great comedies, like Frontline and The Panel. Anyway, that’s a side note…the biggest thing they needed to address, as we have mentioned here on TV Tonight many times, is to start Sundays at 7pm. They need a short, sharp 6.30 (or 6pm) show to then start reality at 7pm. TEN can’t beat Seven or Nine, so they need to match the 7pm start. Also makes it easier for the viewers.

    1. Completely agree with this and most of the other people stressing that whatever show Ten ultimately goes for it has to start at 7pm! 7pm! 7pm! As others have said the Seven and Nine 6pm News offerings typically get their highest ratings of the week on Sunday nights, so why would another commercial channel keep trying to make things work at 6.30pm?
      So either also a revamp of the whole Sunday 6pm to 7pm hour leading to the new 7pm show, or something of 30mins reasonably tried and tested at 6.30pm to give the new 7pm show a decent inheritance, but not starting the new show at 6.30pm – in all likelihood it just hasn’t got a decent chance to ‘fire’ then.

  6. The issue is the fact that the news (on 9 and 7) runs until 7pm. Wouldn’t be best for them to get a decentily raiting half-hour show for the 6:30-7:00 slot before jumping into their flagship show at 7:00.

  7. I’d love to see an Australian version of “I can do that” or “Million Dollar Pyramid” – light, fun, family friendly. “Hollywood Game Night” would be great as well. Let’s retire singing, cooking, dancing and renovation for a while.

  8. I’ve always thought bring back high school high .Make it a one hour show on Sunday or even a new week nightly show to help as lead in. The project at 6pm , high school high high 6.30pm then reality at 7pm .Get the jump in .Contact me channel 10 I have great ideas for story lines for the new generation show ?

  9. The other problem with that slot is the fact Seven and Nine News go to 7pm these days, so its a tough ask to drag away from two of the highest rated programs of the week midway through for a show on TEN. Perhaps TEN would be better off looking for a 30 min hit from 7pm or start it at 6pm.

  10. Give us a variety show in the vein of Rove! Somewhere artists and actors etc can come and promote and perform! Aussie TV is screaming out for something like that imo.

  11. Ten had the right shows and let them go…. Thank god your here, talking about your generation…. Perhaps they should try and nab ‘whose line’ from Foxtel?

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