Audiences have fallen away so much, while costs have continued to increase. There is no other way to stay afloat, while what they do make now (I.e.: reality) also costs way too much taking much of their budgets) - one of the reasons they often have bloated running times.
Cost per minute of program. Reality is extremely cheap.
Only because of how they milk it across half a week and also almost two hours every night. That is why it is very cheap. If they were tightly produced into 60 minutes two nights a week, I’m sure the numbers would say differently.
Not sure how much of a life variety has in an internet age where you can watch exactly what interests you on demand. Variety previously worked because there was something for everyone in the household - comedy, interviews, a song, etc. Now it doesn’t work by trying to appeal to everyone.
There’s definitely a role and an audience for live and ‘risky’ comedy and television - the Front Bar is evidence of this.
The front bar also shows you don’t need dinosaurs trading on nostalgia for a show to be successful. Australia’s stand up comedy circuit and festivals are so diverse and so good and yet the same four boring people get all the opportunities time and time again on tv - this includes the ABC. Adam Hills, yawn. Wil Anderson, yawn. Utopia, yawn.
Hey Hey was great in its time. But it didn’t change or adapt to evolving tastes and audience expectations. Now it’s seen largely for what it is, a show that traded in comedy that punched down and cultivated casual racism.
And before anyone says but CaNCLe cUlTuRE, the very fact Sommers is still on TV and got an indulgent highlights package on national TV shows cancel culture isn’t a thing and is peddled by sky after dark types to suit their own nefarious purposes.
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Now for the inevitable question…will we see a permanent Hey Hey rival in 2022 based off last nights brilliant ratings?
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Here’s my take:
I agree. Variety shows like that just don’t work these days. Really glad to see it won the night though, something that I didn’t think would happen.
No, only over 50s watched it.
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I think a show like Hey Hey It’s Saturday would definitely work once a year. If they secure some really big name guests and gave it a marquee Sunday night slot as seen last night it could be a big hit.
If it appeared live on Father’s Day Sunday every September for example it could be a nice memorable way to celebrate the occasion.
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Sadly the financials wouldn’t stack up. It would be way too expensive to produce for 2-3 hours of primetime content when networks can pump out their licenced reality franchises for a set fee then squeeze out 10+ hours of primetime content per week over X number of weeks.
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what about something like Hey Hey it’s New Years?
could be our alternative to New Years Rocking eve
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Yeah right.
Ratings for the revived 2010 series started off well but declined each week and wasn’t renewed at the conclusion of the season.
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3/4 of its audience were 50+ so indeed it was mainly the older audience which made it rate that high.
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I’m not a fan of the show but that’s a slightbover exaggeration isn’t it? It still recorded viewers in the younger demos, just that The Block and Celeb Masterchef had more.
So it was the last rating network/show in the demographics with advertisers and the network cares about. Sounds like a commercial flop to me.
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I’m under 20 and a lot of my friends watched it
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Yeah but clearly Seven isn’t targetting the demos with this reunion. That’s what The Voice and Big Brother is there for.
My point was that only over 50s watched it which is false considering that it didn’t rate a 0 in the 18-49 and 16-39 groups. Did it come last? Yes. Did only 50+ watch it? No (as evidenced on this forum last night plus the ratings).
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Happy for you to wade into the semantics, but with ratings like that in key demos there’s no business case for a return - which is what the original question was about.
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Absolutely. I for one think the show did fairly well last night (for the audience it’s targeting). However, any ideas of a reboot of this needs to die in the arse.
Reunions and anniversaries only serve well once for nostalgia and memories. Any more and it reeks of self-indulgence (especially with the likes of Daryl Somers).
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