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News.com.au
21 hours ago
- Entertainment
- News.com.au
Channel 10's major unravel exposed
Once a ratings juggernaut and star-maker, DWTS had its heyday in the 2000s with memorable performances by stars like Bec Hewitt and Ada Nicodemou. Photo: Channel 7 When it returned in 2021, Seven leaned heavily into nostalgia, reviving hosts Sonia Kruger and Daryl Somers. But audiences had moved on, and despite some high-profile casting, including Courtney Act and Grant Denyer, viewership declined year-on-year. Production costs were high, and by 2025, it was quietly confirmed this season would be its last. Photo: Channel 7 This once-revered tribute show This Is Your Life made a comeback in 2022 with Melissa Doyle as host. It featured emotional episodes spotlighting the likes of Ian Thorpe and Shane Warne (posthumously). However, the format felt dated, struggling to connect with younger audiences. Ratings were inconsistent, and after a subdued 2023 run, it was shelved again. Photo: Channel 7 Balloon artistry competition Blow Up tried to emulate the feel-good magic of Lego Masters. Despite bright visuals and charming contestants, the show failed to land. Host Stephen Curry and judge Balloon artist Chris Adamo couldn't elevate it past its niche appeal. It vanished after its debut season. Photo: Channel 7 Marketed as a blockbuster survival epic, big-budget gamble The Million Dollar Island featured 100 contestants competing in a remote location for a million-dollar prize was riddled with logistic issues. Critics called the format chaotic, and the lack of clear storytelling hurt audience investment. The show failed to rate and was canned despite heavy promotion. Photo: Channel 7 Holey Moley was an ambitious minigolf meets Wipeout hybrid that hoped to be a family favourite. While Rob Riggle and Matt Shirvington brought energy to hosting duties, the concept wore thin quickly. Despite a flashy launch and US branding, ratings tanked after a few weeks. Photo: Channel 7 Ultimate Tag was a high-energy sport-meets-game-show format where contestants tried to outrun elite 'taggers'. The production was impressive, but the gameplay lacked tension. Even the presence of Olympian Liz Clay couldn't save it from cancellation. Photo: Channel 7 Wife Swap Australia 's 2021 reboot aimed for controversy but ultimately fell short, being more awkward than insightful. Families clashed over parenting and values, but the drama felt manufactured. Critics said the format hadn't evolved, and audiences didn't bite. Photo: Channel 7 Channel 7's House Rules was a strong contender to The Block, especially with memorable seasons like the 2017 showdown between Aaron and Daniella and Andrew and Jono. But fatigue set in by the later years, and ratings steadily declined. Seven pulled the plug in 2020 and struggled to replace it with a successful renovation show. Photo: Channel 7 Touted as 'the Olympics of food', this multicultural cooking contest Plate of Origin, brought together teams from various backgrounds. Despite heavy-hitter hosts Manu Feildel, Gary Mehigan, and Matt Preston, the show lacked cohesion. The pandemic-affected production didn't help, and viewership never took off. Photo: Channel 7 Pooch Perfect was a dog grooming competition hosted by Rebel Wilson charmed some viewers but confused others. Critics couldn't decide if it was a kids' show or adult reality TV. It gained some attention in the US but was never renewed in Australia. Photo: Channel 7 Launched with a bang, Ninja Warrior became a prime-time powerhouse thanks to its jaw-dropping stunts and everyday Aussie heroes like Ashlin Herbert and Ben Polson. The first few seasons drew millions, but interest began to wane as the format became predictable. Photo: Nine Network By 2022, key contestants had either moved on or lost their novelty, and new competitors struggled to match early fan favourites. Nine chose not to renew the show amid declining ratings and rising production costs. Photo: Nine Network Hosted by Scott Pickett and Poh Ling Yeow, Snackmasters was a unique culinary competition had chefs reverse-engineering iconic supermarket snacks. It was playful and different but didn't have the hook to retain long-term viewers. Although the early novelty worked, the second season suffered from repetition and audience fatigue. Nine quietly shelved it after two seasons. Photo: Nine Network Fronted by respected journalist Liz Hayes, investigative current affairs series Under Investigation aimed to dig deep into cold cases and social mysteries. While it was praised for its depth, it lacked the urgency of other news programs. Viewer numbers remained modest, and when Hayes departed Nine in 2023 to join Seven, the show was formally retired. Photo: Nine Network A daytime fixture for over a decade, Millionaire Hotseat was a rapid-fire quiz show hosted by Eddie McGuire kept Nine's afternoons humming along for years. But by the 2020s, its format felt tired and viewership dropped. The show quietly wrapped in 2023 as Nine refreshed its schedule with newer content aimed at younger demographics. Photo: Nine Network Marketed as a heartfelt alternative to fast-paced dating shows, My Mum Your Dad 's format saw adult children nominate their single parents to find love. It earned praise for its authenticity and warmth, but ratings never matched critical goodwill. Despite likeable cast members and emotional moments, Nine didn't renew it after two seasons. Photo: Nine Network Rush was a travel-adventure competition that tried to mimic The Amazing Race energy with a high-stakes format. Hosted by David Genat, the show placed contestants in remote destinations with limited resources. While visually engaging, the show lacked compelling contestants and storytelling, and Nine opted not to bring it back. Photo: Nine Network A cult hit in its first run, Beauty and the Geek paired shy, nerdy men with confident women for a reality makeover experience. In the 2021 reboot, Nine gave it a more emotional and wholesome tone, bringing in Sophie Monk as host. Photo: Nine Network However, long-time fans missed the chaos of earlier seasons, and the new format struggled to attract new viewers. It ended after two revival seasons. Photo: Nine Network Australia's version of Celebrity Apprentice Revived had four seasons with Mark Bouris at the helm before ending in 2016. However it was revived with Lord Alan Sugar as the headline act in 2021. The reboot pulled in influencers and entrepreneurs like Martha Kalifatidis and Scherri-Lee Biggs. While it delivered drama, critics called it hollow and repetitive. Despite some explosive boardroom clashes, it failed to capture the magic of the original and was axed after two seasons. Photo: Nine Network Hosted by Karl Stefanovic, This Time Next Year profiled Australians working towards life-changing personal goals. The time-jump format was novel, showing before and after moments within one episode. While emotional and well-meaning, it struggled to maintain ratings past the second season and was not renewed. Photo: Nine Network
News.com.au
05-06-2025
- Business
- News.com.au
Dancing with the Stars faces chop in huge blow for Sonia Kruger
The Seven Network is tipped to axe long-running reality show Dancing with the Stars after the forthcoming latest series wraps in July. A week before the 22nd season of the program is due to have its premiere comes word the broadcaster has decided to cancel the show. Such a decision would be a devastating blow to the career of host Sonia Kruger. According to industry sources Seven is no longer prepared to foot the bill for the expensive reality show for which production costs are estimated to come in at around $1 million an episode. That would explain why recent seasons have occupied just five weeks of Seven's production schedule and not 10 weeks as was the case back in the program's production heyday from 2005 to 2009. Seven's bean-counters have looked at the program and, we hear, decided the sun has set on the format – again. Having launched the show in 2004 Seven cancelled the broadcast in 2015 after ratings softened. Ten picked it up in 2019 and 2020 showcasing the talents of Amanda Keller as host before cancelling the program. Many were surprised when Seven renewed the show the following year in 2021 – the decision largely motivated, insiders said at the time, by the return to the network of Kruger in 2019. Kruger was co-host of the original local series alongside Daryl Somers. The cancellation of Dancing brings to three the number of Kruger-hosted programs Seven has ditched in recent years. This follows the network poaching Kruger from Nine signing on a seven-figure contract that made her one of the highest paid women on Australian television. Kruger was initially hired to host Big Brother which has since moved across the dial to Ten and golf show Holey Moley which was axed after one season in 2021. With only The Voice still on air, Seven finds itself under pressure to find a prime time vehicle for the versatile frontwoman. Jackie O versus Sam in battle of dating show blondes The latest battle for TV ratings is expected to pit blonde against blonde when radio's Jackie 'O' Henderson takes on Samantha Armytage as the big name presenters of rival dating shows Stranded on Honeymoon Island and The Golden Bachelor. Two years after the honeymoon ended for contestants, Seven has finally found a slot in its schedule for the Endemol Shine production Stranded on Honeymoon Island which is narrated by Henderson. There has been much conjecture about why Seven has taken so long to broadcast the expensive program which has been described as a cross between Married At First Sight and Survivor and sees producers match strangers looking for love before abandoning the couple, still dressed in their wedding garb, on a deserted island with few distractions. The last thing the network would want to do with a copycat (and possibly inferior) reality show is pitch it into direct competition with either of those two established programs. What a crack programmer constrained by budgets might do is hold onto the program and strategically schedule it against – or immediately ahead of – another dating show, one which has had its own gestational issues – in this case The Golden Bachelor hosted by one-time Seven breakfast star Armytage. The producers of Nine's Bachelor have had their own teething problems with The Golden Bachelor. These have included delays in finding an appropriately televisual 60-year-old+ bachelor, problems creating chemistry among older contestants and issues with the Sydney location. Seven network programmers will be hoping they've found a sweet spot in the year for Stranded on Honeymoon Island after shooting it in 2023. Jackie 'O' recently announced the program is slated to air this month. The KIIS FM breakfast star who was absent from her radio show for three days last week due to illness – she had the flu – and was off again this week when her radio partner Kyle Sandilands, a fellow Seven star, called in sick on Thursday, should by then be sufficiently recovered to hit the airwaves in earnest to plug the show. Chairman Kim's in-flight entertainment ABC chairman Kim Williams appeared to be in terrifically high spirits as he took to the air on board a Qantas Dreamliner flight from Sydney to New York last month. While this column can't confirm whether Williams sidled up to the nation's top brass in the Qantas's chairman's lounge prior to his flight as experienced and pampered chairs routinely do, this column can confirm Ita Buttrose's successor wasted little time slipping into his complimentary Qantas jimmy-jams for the 22-hour haul to the Big Apple via Auckland. According to eye witnesses, it was an upbeat and talkative Williams who boarded flight QF3 to New York. The ABC on Thursday clarified Williams' Sydney-New York May 16 business class flight was not funded by taxpayers. A spokeswoman furthermore said the ABC chair was travelling 'alone on non-ABC matters'. The statement suggests Williams will be picking up his own tab. While Williams' selections from the dinner menu drew little reaction – the options of seared snapper with vegetables, Korean braised chicken with rice or beef fillet with chimichurri with a selection of cheeses to follow, apparently equally distracting to all – his in-flight entertainment choice did prompt chatter. Not for the passionate classicist a catalogue of pre-flight downloaded arts documentaries, BBC news programs and stimulating audio compilations. While the ABC chairman's Kindle did keep him entertained for a good portion of the journey it was the media boss's film selection that brought chortling from nearby travellers. Williams, who was chief executive of Foxtel for a decade until 2011, has long been a supporter of Australian content and homegrown talent so his choice of a Nicole Kidman film was not surprising. Some squirmed in their seat when he hit play on Babygirl, a raunchy film in which Kidman plays a sexually frustrated woman drawn to a younger man who dominates her. Our eyes in the sky were unable to confirm whether Williams made it through Kidman's first torrid scenes and into her first bowl of milk, or he decided it was a little too much for aircraft viewing. No word on what he was doing in New York although his trip did coincide with the New York Upfronts preview season. Networks battle it out for investigative spoils Nine's statement on Thursday concerning the creation of a dedicated longform current affairs and investigations unit appears motivated, in part, by recent strikes against the media company by rivals Seven and Ten. The news that 60 Minutes' executive producer Kirsty Thomson will head up Nine's new unit is seen as an endorsement of the woman who lost the support of veteran reporter Liz Hayes before Hayes quit the network in February. Two months later Hayes turned up at Seven's Spotlight for a one-off guest appearance, a move seen as a public rebuke of Thomson and Nine which last year axed Hayes' Under Investigation series. Following Hayes' not so subtle swipe has come Ten's decision to launch its own news investigations unit. Claims Ten will invest $20 million in the unit have spurred talk the unit would come at the expense of Ten's much-depleted The Project.
