It’s Thursday and that means we take our weekly look at what’s happening in the TV industry
Neighbours production bombshell
Sometimes, just sometimes, you hear a theory that makes so much sense.
I was watching a preview of The Last Year Of Television with Mitch McTaggart yesterday (great special as usual) and he had a hot take about the iconic soap Neighbours.
He asks what if Neighbours had secured the Amazon Freevee deal while the show was still in production and not four months later as announced?
Could that be why no other broadcasters threw the show a lifeline?
Neighbours had been looking for a new broadcast partner since mid 2021, so it is strange it took so long to find a new partner.
But why would Freemantle Australia delay announcing a new deal and let the soap be axed?
Well, Mitch hypothesizes it was done this way to build some excitement for the show but also as a way of slashing production costs.
By sacking the entire cast and crew the show could rebuild from scratch and save a lot of money.
At this stage the only cast members locked in for the new series are Stefan Dennis, Alan Fletcher, Ryan Moloney, and Jackie Woodburne. That’s all you really need to keep the show going tbh.
A whole new cast of characters could join them or established actors at a much lower rate.
It makes sense to me!
To hear Mitch explain his complete reasoning make sure you watch The Last Year Of Television which streams on BINGE on December 31.
Talk about burying the lead!
On Monday morning I took my weekly look at the Diary section in The Australian, as I usually do.
What struck me this week was the most interesting story was the third item, buried on the page turn.
Yes, I’m talking about 10’s decision to boycott Australia Day.
I tweeted my reaction early in the morning and The Daily Mail turned it into their lead splash.
Suddenly the Oz realised what they had and reworked the online version to lead with the 10 story after the story went viral on all the major news websites.
Howzat for a twist!
Well, it’s been a fascinating week in terms of watching the bidding for the next round of cricket rights play out.
On Friday came news that Seven had played a masterstroke by declaring they would drop its court action against Cricket Australia if it won the rights.
Read more about the court action HERE.
That news came as The Daily Telegraph revealed final bids had been submitted by media companies, which included a five-year, $1.5 billion offer from Channel 10/Paramount.
The paper says that’s $40 million a year more than the joint bid by Seven, Fox Sports and News Corp.
But then came a twist.
News Corp revealed Cricket Australia is not keen to do a deal with 10/Paramount or Channel 7.
It turns out CA is still smarting from the legal action from Seven and don’t have faith in 10/Paramount to deliver quality content and ratings.
The Daily Tele points to soft ratings for the A-League as a reason CA is concerned.
So, apparently, CA has worked in the background to bring Nine, Fox Sports and News Corp together for a joint bid.
The paper also reports CA is keen to do a deal before Christmas.
Oh, the anticipation.
Where to find Rob this week.
Friday night you can hear me on 2GB and 4BC for my weekly World of TV segment. that happens at 9pm in NSW and 8pm in Qld.
Every Tuesday and Thursday I head into the Entertainment Quarter on 4BC Afternoons at 2.45pm.
On New Year’s Eve I’ll beam onto your TV screens at 7.50am on Weekend Today talking about the news issues of the day.
On New Years Day I’ll be co-hosting Weekend Breakfast with Olympia Kwitowski on 4BC from 5am – 8am.
Outside of those commitments I’ll be having next week off, so I’ll see you in a fortnight.
Have a safe Christmas and a fantastic New Year!
Just what we need…conspiracy theories about Neighbours…
It is a theory that has been circling from execs in the industry since the decision to axe it. It has legs and makes sense.
Well, like you say, it’s a theory. Probably does make sense, but until someone comes out and admits it, it’s just a conspiracy theory to me.
Wouldn’t put it past any TV execs to do such shady dealings, but best to focus on Neighbours’ return, especially if it’s a limited return (with 10 struggling, it’d be interesting to see how long Neighbours’ renewal lasts).
It’s well known that the Amazon deal was in fact in place before the “finale” the latter of which was purely a marketing ploy to make people like myself watch the finale for nostalgia’s sake after not having watched an episode in 30 years and boost the ratings to make the deal more attractive. The question is whether the famous alumni that had come back for the “finale” (to much publicity for months) had been hoodwinked into doing so with them truly believing that it was indeed the finale when the powers that be knew otherwise or if they were in on it.
It’s not unlike the US soap Days of Our Lives which recently ended its run on NBC and moved to the streaming platform Peacock and they’re taking advantage of the move by streamlining the cast.