Televised Revolution

Letterman, Oprah, and….Jay Leno? Seriously, WTF?

Dan Barrett — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 01:30:30 +0000

In recent years, the Superbowl has become just as well known for the TV commercials that air during the game as it is for the game itself. Last year The Late Show with David letterman gained some attention for an advertisement they screened featuring Dave and Oprah sitting on a couch together eating chips while watching the game.

This year they have expanded the advertisement to include a third on the couch. Jay Leno.

Click here to view the embedded video.

The advertisement is genuine and was reportedly shot at the Ed Sullivan Theatre on Thursday night. For fans of US late night TV, this is practically mind-blowing. A few thoughts on this:

Following the fallout of the Leno/Conan NBC debacle, Leno needed to gain some credibility back and something like this would be wildly beneficial for him.
Is Leno really this desperate to start generating some cred?
The fact NBC would allow Leno to appear on his direct oppositions television commercial is mind boggling.
The fact Letterman would be willing to share the stage with Leno is surprising considering his intense dislike and ridicule of the man.

UPDATE: The New York Times Bill Carter has published a story which explains how the TV spot came about.

Televised Revolution Podcast #107

Dan Barrett — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 12:58:14 +0000

The revolution almost came to an end this morning. The court case between AFACT and iiNet almost led to serious restrictions being put on Australians using bittorrent software to download their telly shows. Televised Revolution is of the opinion that downloading is okay until a viable and LEGAL alternative is available. The decision in the court case was handed down today, in favour of iiNet. We put down the balloons and party poppers to record another Televised Revolution podcast. This week, we discuss: *We speak to Copyright lawyer Peter Black regarding the iiNet case *Commercial advertising revenue *The return of Naomi Robson *The poorly executed return of Lost *And the changes that may be in store for Foxtel Related posts:

Viewers Power cannot be ignored

Dan Barrett — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 21:41:48 +0000

There is no reason why a television program needs to sit on a shelf in 2010. Each network have digital multi-channels, as well as the technology to receive and broadcast content as soon as it receives a US airing. Really, outside of contractual obligations, networks have no excuse not to do right by viewers in 2010 by providing a timely airdate.

Some of the networks are doing it right.

Every night on Channel 10, they screen The Late Show with David Letterman. It goes to air in the US at 11:30pm, but the late afternoon in local time. Channel 10 usually broadcast that same episode 7-8 hours later. It’s a low profile show, but more often than not, they do right by the show.

ABC2 every weeknight show The Colbert Report at 7:30pm. Like with Letterman, the show goes to air in the US late at night, but the very same episode is screened on Australian screens just hours after its US airing. Its an even tighter turnaround than Ten provide with Letterman. They’re now also broadcasting the show in its widescreen format, which is great.

SBS1 every afternoon play the Jim Lehrer News Hour. Again, its a same day broadcast.

Each of these networks should be congratulated for doing the right thing by some of their programming. These are shows that have maximum impact by broadcasting them in a timely fashion. Plus, there are very few legitimate reasons why one should download any of these shows with local networks airing them so quickly (admittedly, I doubt News Hour gets that many people looking for it online).

All of this brings me to Lost. It’s a one hour drama program which has content that does not demand an immediate broadcast. Problematically though, anyone who spends any time online are subject to all manner of spoilers. With Lost reaching its final season and so much of the enjoyment of the show rooted in the plot twists, developments, and revelations, such spoilers are highly detrimental to the show. The spoilers are everywhere and unless viewers can see the show as soon as possible, its inevitable that some of the show is going to be ruined for local audiences.

Channel 7 are screening Lost on their 7Two digital multi-channel starting this Wednesday night at 8:30, with a rebroadcast on their primary channel at 10:30pm. That said, they’ve already lost a good bulk of their audience. Fans simply cannot afford to wait for this broadcast due to online spoilers. The premiere episode went to air yesterday in the US. Why are Channel 7 airing the show a full week after broadcast?

Lost is broadcast in the US on a Tuesday evening at 9pm, meaning it is broadcast at mid-afternoon local time. As with the previously cited networks airing programming so close to the broadcast time/date, there is no reason why Seven can’t screen the program in the same timeslot, just hours after the US broadcast. Their ratings will improve, viewers will be happy to see it on the television, and the network receives more value out of the content they’ve purchased.

Last year Channel 7 aired Flash Forward on Monday nights at 8:30pm, following its US broadcast by just a matter of days. With the show airing in the US on Thursday nights (Fri afternoons locally), its fair enough that they are waiting until Monday to screen it. After all, its valuable programming that would be wasted airing it on a Fri or Sat night. It was certainly a reasonable decision.

Screening Lost one week later is non-sensical. If Seven are able to fast track it, why not do it properly? It’d be the same time-slot, same night. Just one week earlier.

Televised Revolution did contact Channel 7 to get some official word on why they have opted to broadcast the program within this timeframe. In fairness, there may be some logistical problem related to this particular show, or a contractual issue. They replied back by informing that “The Seven Network do not disclose details of our program licence agreements”. Again, fair enough, but from this we can only conclude that its simply a bad programming decision.

Channel 7, it is not too late. You can do the right thing by your viewers. Screen an extra hour of the show soon and catch the viewers up before they develop the habit of watching the downloads. You’ve already lost viewers to this, but you can stem the tide. Understand the value of the content you have and do right by the show, its viewers, and your shareholders.

The audience hold the power in their remotes and their bittorrent applications. They’re more than willing to use it.

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The 7PM Project Ratings 25 – 29 Jan 2010

Dan Barrett — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 03:12:40 +0000

We’ve been following the ratings of The 7PM Project on Channel 10 for some time now.

Often television viewers and critics scold networks for cancelling shows too quickly, not allowing them time to develop an audience. To Channel 10’s credit, they’ve certainly given The 7PM Project a shot. The question is how long they can keep going considering the low ratings the show generates each night.

As we’ve done previously on Televised Revolution, it is interesting comparing the ratings to 2006’s Yasmins Getting Married.

Channel 10 stripped Yasmins Getting Married in the Monday to Friday 7pm timeslot. The show was a reality format and followed a young woman named Yasmin through dating misadventures as she sought to find the man of her dreams. It debuted on a Tuesday night to an audience of 778,000 nationally, but by the Friday it lost 268,000 viewers, leaving it with an audience of 510,000. Channel 10 cancelled it after just four episodes had gone to air.

With The 7PM project regularly performing with similarly low figures, can Channel 10 continue to justify the continuation of the program?

*Notes

Cricket broadcasts replaced Two & A Half Men on the Tuesday and Thursday. The ratings cited on the yellow line graph for this show is only an indicator of the strength of this program.
Tuesday was the Australia Day public holiday, with each channel reflecting lower ratings than usual on the night.

How Delightful: 2 Feb 2010

Dan Barrett — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 02:33:50 +0000

We skipped How Delightful last week due to the Australia Day public holiday. We chose not to update on the Wednesday after as much of the day was spent untagging drunken BBQ photographs from the day before on the Facebook.

We’re back this week with a whole bunch of links to entertain you as your work day unfolds.

C4 in the UK are in talks with Jonathon Ross.
Larry Sanders Show actor Rip Torn was arrested by Police for breaking into a bank with a gun.
The Logie Awards can now be voted upon online.
One of my favourite Australian TV blogs Talking Television AU has posted a list of eligible actors who are not able to be voted upon by the Logie Awards online form. TVTonight have also uploaded a similarly themed list.
There is talk of Hustle: The Movie.
Lost starts back this week in the US. Maybe its time to watch the initial plane crash in real time. 24-style.
Picket Fences and Poltergeist actress Zelda Rubenstein passed away age 76.

And while we have your attention, don’t forget to sign the Televised Revolution petition to get Craig Ferguson on Channel 10. Unfamiliar with his radness? Just get on the You Tube.

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Lost Recap. Seasons 1-5 in 8 minutes 15 seconds.

Dan Barrett — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 11:43:18 +0000

With Lost back on the screens in the US on Feb 2 for its final season, what better time is there to take a few minutes to refresh your memories on what happened over the past five seasons.

Click here to view the embedded video.

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Televised Revolution Podcast #106

Dan Barrett — Sun, 31 Jan 2010 21:14:41 +0000

Another week, another Televised Revolution podcast. It's been interesting doing the Televised Revolution radio show. When it first went to air two years ago on 4ZzZ in Brisbane (102.1fm), we'd find a mixture of weeks that were really content heavy, while others would barely provide a handful of partially interesting stories. Since then, the more that the TV industry has entered a period of flux as it transitions to a world of cross-platform media creation, there's an avalanche of interesting stories. There's new technologies, new content, and longtime TV traditions being shaken. Anyone who says that publishing (with the iPad launch) is to be the most exciting media form in 2010 simply isn't paying attention. This week on the Televised Revolution podcast Dan, Simon, and Dennis discuss:

The potential move of the Logie Awards
The relaunch of Sunrise
Jodi Gordon
Scandal rocks The Biggest Loser
And much, much more.

The Saturday Morning Pilot: Lookwell

Dan Barrett — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 22:30:13 +0000

Prior to becoming the host of Late Night, Conan O’Brien joined fellow comedy writer Robert Smigel in creating the pilot ‘Lookwell’.

Starring televisions Batman, Adam West, Lookwell centres on a washed up actor/former TV star who once appeared in a show about a detective. Of course, he believes this qualifies him to solve crimes in real life.

Conan O’Brien. Robert Smigel. Adam West. How can you NOT want to watch?

Click here to view the embedded video.

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Petition: Channel 10, Show Craig Ferguson

Dan Barrett — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 07:26:43 +0000

All of this talk about Conan O’Brien, Jay Leno, and NBC has uncovered a fundamental truth: People love late night talk show host Craig Ferguson. And it’s interesting – The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson doesn’t even air anywhere in Australia.

People talk up the excellence of The Daily Show and Colbert Report. This is fine, they are both excellent shows. The unsung comedy champion in the US is Craig Ferguson. He’s sharper and wittier than his competition, but he’s also more thoughtful and honest. Want a snippet of Fergusons brilliance? Take a gander at this.

Channel 10 have the broadcast rights to this. Yet, Ferguson isn’t getting a run on the airwaves. Why? Is it because he’s Scottish?

THE BRING CRAIG FERGUSON TO CHANNEL 10 PETITION

There is a television gem airing nightly in the US that we're not getting in Australia. His name is Craig Ferguson. Yes, he's a bit farty, but he still delivers the comedy goods.

We demand that Channel 10 air him on the telly, preferably following Letterman and in a regular timeslot.

Jeff,
Late News + Letterman + Ferguson = late night gold! Come on Ten, it's a perfect match!

Evan Davis,
I'd be happy with the Comedy Channel picking him up to... especially since Conan has gone.

I'll be in Craig's audience in LA next Wednesday :-)

Travis Butler,
Network Ten, you NEED to put Ferguson on. Late News, Letterman, Ferguson. I'm sick of watching Ferguson on YouTube, longing for a network to show it. Come on, Ten. Do it. Seriously.

Bec Petraitis,
Get this the heck done. Surely the nightly infomercial and religious program marathon can be scootched slightly. Or a lot. People who watch those sort of things will readjust their schedules. We need this.

Andrew Thorpe,

Jamie Chapman,
Yes please!

xxxxxxxx,
I fully agree. Add Ferguson to late nights after Letterman Ten!

Damian Crocker,

Amy Band,

Phillip N,
Add something new that's worth it to the late night line up on 10 : Ferguson!!!

Brett Debritz,

Simon Band,

Sarah Gestier,

Dan Barrett,
I'd just like a non-copyright infringing way to watch this lovely show.

Peter Black,

Robert Fletcher,

Sarah Grosse,

Jackson Cleary,

Brooke,

Paul yates,

Heath Carney,

Helen Owen,

Jason Whittaker,
Here, here. Ferguson is outstanding TV talent; charming, funny and - most amazingly - entirely genuine. His monologues would be brilliantly subversive if they weren't simply just him chatting to the audience as the guy you'd always invite to dinner parties. Would love to see him on the telly here.

Sunrise experiences a new, well, sunrise.

Dan Barrett — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 11:36:11 +0000

Clothes Maketh the Man

-Mark Twain

The Set Maketh the Morning Television Relaunch

-Simon Band

Breakfast television receives considerable coverage from us at Televised Revolution. The reason being that it is the most exciting timeslot on Australian television. Ratings are solid, competition is fierce between networks, and the 6-9am slot is seen as the starting point for the networks branding strategies. Heck, Channel 7’s rebirth feels as though it was based entirely off of the back of Sunrise.

So, when Sunrise announces that it is going to reformat the show, industry spectators are unable to help but be highly interested in what the new look of the show will be. This morning, the new-look Sunrise was unveiled.

And so, on a day like this, Televised Revolution went the extra mile to take a look at what the new-look Sunrise has to offer. What follows are Dan and Simon’s thoughts regarding the new format and set.

THE SET
Dan: There seem to be three set pieces – the main couch, the desk with the Avatar blue background, and Fifi’s entertainment corner. I was impressed at the inclusion of video screens that allowed the hosts to interact with reporters and segment presenters outside of the Studio. There were at least two screens that I noticed. One at the newsdesk and another for Fifi Box. It all looks AMAZING in HD.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Simon: Overall, with all of the changes, different roles of the on-air, and the new set, you take away one clear thought: this is all very sensible. Sensible décor, sensible beige sofa, sensible timing. The news presenting “podiums” are separated to the sides giving a clean break from the chat of the main desk, even further removed from the comfy sofa near the window for hosts to “yak it up” for our pleasure at 6:22am.

When a car drives past or a jogger stops to do stretches, it is very distracting.

Dan: The background windows? I only found them distracting during the panel sequences. The panels are hard to focus on with the people all waving in the background behind the talking heads.

THE GRAPHICS
Dan: The graphics really are super clean. It’s probably more an indication of modern design sense, but the visual style seemed reminiscent of the widgets we’re beginning to see installed on next generation television sets. I doubt that’s intentional. I thought it was interesting to see that the scrolling newsbar no longer scrolls. It was much easier to read.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Simon: Everything looks very nice, even the news ticker at the bottom of the screen which is traditionally ugly and jarring to the mis-en-scene, comes across as sleek and pleasant to look at with a new “flicking” effect. The new logos and the animated swirling circle that intro them have an amazing effect of drawing in the eye. It’s like a magic eye that spins, sucking you in against your will. A very successful approach.

THE FORMAT
Dan: My biggest problem with Sunrise is that it just isn’t news-heavy enough. The lifestyle aspects just don’t interest me. ABC2’s News Breakfast show is certainly more my speed, but it does suffer from the same big problem as Sunrise in that it isn’t live in every state across the country. The new-look Sunrise likely won’t have me changing channels, but it would certainly have me more inclined to watch this than Today.

I liked the segments with the State-based reporters. While its good to see localism on the show, its a shame that we can’t have more local news from each state. It’d be nice to see a state whip-around, in a similar way as they do with the Ch 7 4:30pm News.

Simon: The inclusion of the new “Kochie’s Angels” section, with a panel discussion with three female panellists, one may be so bold as to suggest is included to future proof the show (albeit in a different time slot) to female discussion shows like 10’s upcoming “The Circle”.

Dan: It’s interesting that you mention that. When we spoke to Sunrise’s EP, Adam Boland, he kept referring to the point of difference he wanted to create with the show against Today. The Circle wouldn’t have been announced when this new format was being conceived, but it does feel as though the point of difference will be lessened with such a panel heavy discussion show on so soon after Sunrise finishes each day. Also, panel chats are a common element of The Morning Show. While this is designed to let the shows bleed into one another, both should have more of a point of difference from each other.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Simon: Kinks in the otherwise smooth operation really stand out, most notable was a nauseating pan onto Nelson Aspen’s screen, which was poorly lit. This was followed by a sudden jump to his satellite feed.

Dan: I’m sure those technical hiccups will be addressed quickly as they get used to the new Studio and tech.

I found the use of the satellite presenters to be interesting. Fifi worked best when they sent her out into Martin Place for an outside segment. Her role as an Entertainment presenter was fine, but it kept those segments too detached from the show as a whole. Crosses to the satellite commentators should be handled by the shows anchors, Mel and Kochie. Nelson Aspen was just too far removed. Kochie and Mel now no longer seem like the center of the team, but rather just a part of a larger group of anchors.

Also, with Adam Boland saying that he wanted to position Koch in a more serious role, it felt uncomfortable watching him discuss the fidelity of Angelina Jolie.

The return of Denyer felt tired – over-promoted and tired. Remote pieces always work better when the weather guy has a crowd around him. It felt as though Denyer was far removed from everything, including the extended Sunrise Family of the viewership.

Watching the show, it now feels like Sunrise now has an identity it has sought to own, as opposed to simply developing the identity. It exudes greater confidence.