Yep, it’s definitely a real shame.
Not that I want to see anyone lose their jobs, but if they had to cut someone it really should’ve been Eddy considering most of the time she just floats around between roles (an exception recently since she’s been reading the news quite a bit) and Kochie/Sam or Nelson Aspen could easily do entertainment.
Sunrise is running locally targetted promos today for the SEQ market. No doubt reacting to losing the ratings to Today in recent weeks in SEQ.
This one only appears on the Gold Coast transmitter relay of Seven Brisbane. “The cash cow is … on the loose in the Gold Coast”
This promo is for Brisbane - “The Cash Cow is … on the loose in Brisbane”
They’ve been running these for the past couple of weeks and I thought the same thing, it’s in reaction to Today winning. Besides Rockhampton sub-market, Sunrise wins every other regional Qld market by a mile so this is definitely for Brisbane’s benefit.
Tuesday 25th August: Sam is back this morning.
Odd to promote your show without your main presenter present in it.
I wouldn’t be surprised if Sam doesn’t have her contract renewed
I doubt Michael Pell would let that happen.
I wouldn’t be too surprised if she is reduced to 3 days a week at her next contract.
I doubt he’d get much of a say, expensive contract, less days, not as integral to the “family”, unhelpful public comments etc
I wonder though if one of the factors of Today’s increasing ratings in the last week has been Sam’s absence. Do viewers turn away from Sunrise when Sam is not on?
If they decide to axe someone, they should do some market research first, find out who’s most popular, who viewers tune in for etc.
Isn’t he moving to primetime anyway?
Besides, Sam may choose not to renew her contract herself. She’s made her money, she’s got her man, she might just retire to the country.
Former Ten News Melbourne/Adelaide newsreader George Donikian appeared on the Hot Topics segment this morning.
To my knowledge this must be the first time he’s appeared on TV since leaving Ten in 2011.
He looks very different now with his buzzed silver hair.
This guest called Sam ‘Mel’ at the beginning of the interview but it was edited out in the video below in this article.
Any caps / videos?
The Weekend Sunrise team really is terrible. I can deal with Monique and JT, however, Matt was a poor choice as host and Sally Bowery is not a good newsreader. The banter among all is terribly unfunny.
I disagree actually, I really like this team since they’re all so well established to the audience. JT has been there for 11 years, Monique has been there for 7 years, Sally has been there for 4 years and Matt is approaching a year in the role, and also fills in on weekday Sunrise. Better than Weekend Today who seem to change their presenting line-up every year. I also don’t mind whether it’s Basil or Matt hosting, since they both have their strengths on-air and work well with Monique.
As long as they stay Number 1 on weekend mornings, I doubt there will be any changes made to Weekend Sunrise.
Both commercial breakfast shows were down slightly week-on-week while ABC Breakfast was up slightly. Sunrise was approx 40,000 ahead of Today in 2nd place. Today was approx 5,000 ahead of News Breakfast. The gap between Sunrise and Today average audiences was the closest for the year so far.
Agree. But I could take or leave JT. I think he’s a bit strange at times.
One area where Matt really shines is when he’s out in the field. He was great in last summer’s bushfires.
I can’t really see them dumping Matt from Weekend Sunrise since they’re probably trying to familiarise him with the audience considering he’s most likely the one to replace Kochie when the time comes.
