Michael Healy: "marked man?"
- Published by David Knox
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Is Nine’s programming boss Michael Healy a marked man?
That’s the bold claim buried in a lengthy article in today’s Sunday Telegraph.
It notes several local shows have tanked this year under Healy including Monster House, Power of Ten and the light start for My Kid’s a Star.
“The first casualty of My Kid’s A Star may be Nine’s head of programming, Michael Healy,” it writes. “The Sunday Telegraph has learnt Healy’s job could be under threat, with suggestions last week that he was ‘a marked man.'”
But significantly, it has opted not to back this up with any further details. Instead it continues with an analysis of the new kid talent reality.
Sure there have been some flops this year (and let’s not forget Seven’s woes with Out of the Question and Night Cap), and certainly Nine has developed a poor habit of pulling shows off air at the drop of a hat, notably at the expense of fan favourites nowhere to be seen. Chopping Block, Cashmere Mafia and Terminator haven’t set the world on fire (two of which aren’t even locally-produced). But Ramsay’s Kitchen Nightmares and Underbelly have been big hits.
In fact for Nine to be giving Seven such grief without Underbelly airing in its home city is impressive. This week it even has three, count them three, first run, local dramas.
Nine could do better by being tougher with some of its decision making. Power of Ten needed to be 30 minutes, not 60. Same problem with Monster House, and it should have jettisoned the studio audience component -it added nothing. Catriona Rowntree felt like an accessory to Chopping Block, barely doing more than walking in to restaurants to hand over a cheque. Moment of Truth has limited appeal unless it is a local version, and a short life-span anyway with spite and greed its underlying themes.
Nine also needs to listen to its audience more, tired of erratic schedule changes that only communicate contempt for the audience. Can’t find a timeslot somewhere for Survivor, ER, Nip / Tuck or Moonlight? Don’t complain if fans can’t find time to think of turning to your news, gameshows or current affairs either. Television viewing is a contract…
Healy actually doesn’t deserve to go. Everyone knows the US output for Nine has been lacklustre. Then there’s the writer’s strike, and more than anything, a management that continues to redefine itself after the Packer era. David Gyngell was pragmatic at Nine’s 2008 launch, publicly stating “not everything will work… this is television.”
Meanwhile we await further details from the Sunday Telegraph about Healy being “a marked man.”
Time will tell….
Source: Sunday Telegraph
5 Responses
Its a bit of glass half empty/half full aye?
If you like a show and watch it and it rates around 1 mill we say it rated “okay” but if you hate the show it rated “poorly”.
The trouble is that they don’t take the time anymore to let shows establish an audience or they put an average show (Power of 10) up against already estblished shows (Border Security) then can them when they don’t rate. It was never going to rate in that timeslot. Survivor China rated ok (for it’s timelsot) last time around – they need to keep their regular viewers as well as bringing in new ones with the likes of Underbelly etc. I have hardly watched anything on 9 over the past year because they are likely to pull it off the air. I watch Nip/Tuck whenever they show it, same with Survivor & not much else. Channel 9 used to be my favourite channel CSI x 3, Without a Trace, Cold Case, Survivor, Nip/Tuck, Extreme Makeover, Amazing Medical Stories, RPA etc I now rarely watch these shows – got sick of the timelsots moving, repeats thrown in mid series. TV viewing is meant to be relaxing. Hah!
i wonder if we can already predict that Hole In The Wall will be another nail in Michael Healy’s programming coffin?
The Telegraph is obviously biased towards Seven so it really sounds like trying to deflect from Sevens woes. Especially considering as john said the rumours about Worner & Leckie stemming from Sevens poor ratings this year & the marked improvement of 10 & 9 especially in the younger demos.
The only thing holding Seven together at the moment is the 50+ & Border Security.
As for not showing some shows Nine are a business and if a show rates particularly poorly(such as Nip/Tuck) they can’t be expected to show it. Seven & particularly Ten are as bad if not worse.
An interesting article and more interesting timing – especially if the stories from MIPCON are true about the frosty relationship between Seven Programming Head Tim Worner and David Leckie are true.
I would not be surprised to see Tim at Nine by the end of the year especially if he is overlooked as the new CEO of Seven.
Also, whilst I accept that Nine’s US imports have been average, Nine also only has itself to blame. Nine, under Michael Healy, ended their 40 year relationship with CBS. Now TEN has that arrangement and in doing so, 60 Minutes has to buy content from TEN for its show and they have Dr Phil, which was the highest rating show on daytime. And don’t get me started on how badly they treated the content they got from HBO – Carnival, Sopranos, Six Feet Under!!!
Nine’s knee jerk reactionary programming is their biggest problem. They once use to treat their audience with respect now they treat them as an annoyance to their plans.