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Nine reviving three dumped shows in the hope of ratings boost TV
This story was published: 3 hours ago
July 23, 2015 8:28AM

WITH the return of Farmer Wants A Wife, Australia’s Got Talent and now Celebrity Apprentice, the Nine Network has become the resuscitation station.

All three shows were previously dumped by Nine because they were either past their used-by date or, as in the case of Celebrity Apprentice, they bombed in the ratings.

Yet Nine has seen fit to reignite all three formats while unofficially dumping Big Brother.

A request about the future of Big Brother, another series that was revived by Nine, has gone unanswered.

Big Brother, as well as Australia’s Got Talent, were second-hand acquisitions, after they had already screened on Network Ten and the Seven Network, respectively.

So reviving fading reality shows has now become a business model for Nine.

The first thing they’ve done to spruce-up Farmer Wants A Wife has been to replace its longstanding host Natalie Gruzlewski with the bright and bubbly Samantha McClymont.

The country singer, a member of the sibling country band The McClymont’s, is an unknown in front of the camera but she is at least a fresh face for viewers.

The dating series last aired in 2012 and the finale was eighth on the overnight ratings with 987,000 viewers.

Already Farmer Wants A Wife has stirred up publicity by controversially dumping one of the single farmers in favour of popular but luckless Married At First Sight contestant Lachlan McAlee.

McAlee’s inclusion will be a strong draw card for those that loved him on Married At First Sight and as Nine found out the hard way this year, with it’s reality series The Block, casting is everything.

Recalling Celebrity Apprentice appeared an odd choice given the series completely bombed in 2013.

The boardroom announcement that Olympic champion Stephanie Rice had won the 2013 season was watched by a meagre 653,000 viewers to finish 18th overall.

Yet Nine has brought it back instead of Big Brother which at least, in 2014, bowed out with a top 10 finish in the ratings. Which leaves the question as to why Nine is reviving AGT.

Nine had some ratings penetration with its one and only season in 2013 but is that enough to revive it in 2016 or maybe The Voice is not returning?

If all three revived shows, or even two, are a success, then maybe Nine will be on to a winning formula of only airing reality shows every two years or so to prevent them from going stale. It could be the reality show relief free-to-air viewers are looking for, in case they haven’t already switched to Netflix or any other streaming service.
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http://www.news.com.au/entertainmen...of-ratings-boost/story-e6frfmyi-1227453453093
 
^ Ha! Glad it's not just us who think Nine are completely incompetent then.
 
Maybe there is method to the madness, as the article says, giving each show a rest and then returning might prevent them going stale.

Food for thought.

But I still think Nine are nuts. :conf:
 
Well, their slogan is welcome home ... so maybe that applies to all these rebooted shows (after spending time on the tv show chopping block) rather than the viewers. :sneaky:.

I'm not entirely against giving shows a rest if it is part of an overall plan to re-evaluate what's working and what's not (e.g. ... with Big Brother, viewers not really connecting with housemates early on in a series as well as they could with supplementary engagement platforms e.g. a late show or online stream). That said, during a show's time off air a network should keep working on it behind the scenes. Bringing shows back 'just to fill the schedule' is bad. They need to develop some kind of plan based on the show's past performance etc to really give the show a chance again.
 
marquisite said:
Well, their slogan is welcome home ... so maybe that applies to all these rebooted shows (after spending time on the tv show chopping block) rather than the viewers. :sneaky:.

I'm not entirely against giving shows a rest if it is part of an overall plan to re-evaluate what's working and what's not (e.g. ... with Big Brother, viewers not really connecting with housemates early on in a series as well as they could with supplementary engagement platforms e.g. a late show or online stream). That said, during a show's time off air a network should keep working on it behind the scenes. Bringing shows back 'just to fill the schedule' is bad. They need to develop some kind of plan based on the show's past performance etc to really give the show a chance again.
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See, and I feel as though the latter is exactly what this is - Nine purely bringing shows back to fill voids.

I would love to think that Nine have taken the time to consider and evaluate a show's success (because, y'know, that would actually be the professional thing to do), especially Big Brother, but somehow I just don't think Nine have done so... or ever will.
 
Kingston said:
I could see potential for a celebrity series but I think it will be at least while before there's consideration for another civilian if at all...
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Yeah, that's what I meant. I definitely predict a (shitty low budget) CBB in the near future.
 
the Theorist said:
Yeah, that's what I meant. I definitely predict a (shitty low budget) CBB in the near future.
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It will all depend on casting really... If Nine are putting out offers and aren't getting who they want they'll just give up... To be honest I don't think they'll be spending as much as Channel 5 does and will likely be trying to poach at least a few "controversial" characters from more recent series... I'm not so sure how many celebs will be accepting low ball offers...
 
Big Brother unlikely to return to TV as Dreamworld house dismantled

BIG Brother is almost certainly dead. It is understood the house at Dreamworld theme park is being dismantled as Channel 9 confirms it has “no immediate plans” to screen the reality series again.

TV rivals Seven and Ten, which owned the rights to the series originally, are understood to have no interest in resurrecting the show either when Nine’s contract with the franchise expires in 2016.

The death knell for Big Brother came after Nine’s plans for a star-studded version of the series were scarpered by Ten launching I’m A Celebrity Get Me Out of Here.

Adding insult to injury, Big Brother’s executive producer Alex Mavroidakis also jumped ship to take the helm of I’m A Celebrity .

All references to Big Brother have been removed from Nine’s website but the network’s chief programming and production chief Andrew Backwell insisted: “We have no plans to bring it back at this stage, it is however still in consideration so we are certainly not ruling it out.

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“We also believe it would work brilliantly on GO but we need to work through a business case to see if the investment was viable.”

Experts say it would be impossible to produce such a costly series for Go! in a way that would be profitable for the network, especially given the declining ratings.

The secret axing of the series from the main channel also explains the appointment of Big Brother host Sonia Kruger into her somewhat redundant new role of co-host on The Voice.

Former Dancing With The Stars co-host, Kruger, had been lured to join Nine with the promise of hosting Mornings and its rebooted Big Brother.

With Big Brother no longer in the 2015 schedule, Nine would have needed to find a way to still utilise Kruger on screen in prime time.

It is believed the popular blonde may also be in the running for a role on the new-look Australia’s Got Talent, which Nine is resurrecting for a third time later this year. Rumour has it the show’s creator Simon Cowell may have an onscreen role in the new AGT too.

Big Brother screened on Ten from 2001 to 2008 but was plagued by scandal towards the end of its run.

It was revived by Nine in 2012, with the promise that it would be a more family-friendly show.

The 2012 series of Big Brother, won by Ben Norris, averaged 1.04 million viewers across the five capital cities.

The 2013 series, which was won by Tim Dormer, averaged 890,000 viewers.

Last year’s season, won by Ryan Ginns, had a more adult skew and a later timeslot.

It rated poorly, plummeting to 650,000 viewers, and was widely panned as one of the worst shows of the year.

Source: Herald Sun

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N.B. note the carefully chosen word "dismantled" rather than "demolished" - I'd say they are just stripping the furniture and leaving empty rooms at this stage.
 
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