That is for AFL states. No change in NRL territory.
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7 really need to keep The Latest going beyond this week. It was very competitive with ACA last night. It ha to be allowed to build its audience. Even if it’s only Monday- Saturday.
But would they need to rotate hosts a bit to give Michael and Mel a break? Maybe if/when Ange is back, the 3 could rotate a bit.
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They should reduce it to half hour and use one host.
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I don’t mind two host for the short term, but Im in favour of them going back to 30 minutes this week, depending on how much news is coming through on the day.
Let’s not over do it.
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Or keep it at an hour as long as required then reduce
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See a lot closer when you compare two 60 minute programs opposed to one 60 and a 30 minute program. The Latest has averaged about 600k across the hour all week (even a Saturday) so it’s stable.
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Not bad for a show which received little promotion before it started in that timeslot and is up against shows that are very established at 7pm.
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Two things:
- What do you do with Home & Away then? In the short-term, Seven could probably do something like air it once a week (2 episodes back-to-back) to ensure they have a backlog of eps in case production can’t commence for months to come. However long-term, H&A would probably be a ‘better’ option for Seven for the 7pm timeslot because it performs better in the demos than The Latest
- I’m not convinced that once we get back to a ‘normal’ news cycle, The Latest would rate well at 7pm if it was left there. The show currently works well as a BBC 10’Clock News/CBC’s The National meets Newsnight/The 11th Hour hybrid (the Coronavirus 7pm specials have particularly demonstrated that) - I don’t think it would do as well being an extension of the 6pm bulletins which is what it’ll appear like to most viewers
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I agree with Jeff. The only reason in my opinion Latest is doing well in that slot is because of the pandemic news and interviews.
The problem also I have with this is what happpens to wa viewers who get two or three hour delayed news. It’s not really the latest.
Id say maybe a couple nights a week in its original slot would be more realistic. Home and away needs to come back in it 7pm slot sooner rather than later even if its two nights a week.
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Good points.
I’d be happy with it at 9.30 each night.
That said, I’d leave it where it is for now while news is popular.
House Rules sun-tues 7.30
H&A wed-thurs 7.30 for an hour each night.
Will help stretch out HR a bit too.
Farmer Wants a Wife wouldn’t need to start until after HR then.
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Seven needs some deapth in its schedule
Home and away is Almost the only Australian drama on 7
3 hours of news between in the 4 hours between 4 and 8pm is just too much
I’d like to see prime time at 2 hours and the latest 7 nights a week at 9.30pm
That means seven can then really focus on building 2 hours of solid prime time a night, bookended by two solid franchises: H&A at 7 and the latest at 930
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Another good option.
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Has anyone noticed the number of times that people being interviewed say to Michael or Mel, “that’s a great question.” I know it’s an expression but I’ve heard it at least twice tonight and I reckon every night in the last week.
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It is a grossly overused fad response to any question asked in a group situation.
It grates on me like nails on a chalkboard.
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I’m going to spitball a controversial idea: have The Latest eat back into news at 6:30, then another edition at a consistent late slot - well, barring sports and emergency events.
I’m not paying mind to logistics or ratings, this is solely for the notions that there would be too much continuous news on the schedule and that a late commercial newscast deserves to exist in Australia.
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Save your spit. 
It should be one or the other.
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Don’t know if anyone else saw this last night but reckon Seven might be going a bit too far with their cost-cutting!
For context, the crew managed to get the lights back up and working pretty quickly:
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Matt Doran co-hosting with Mel tonight
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Good to see most of the former Sunday Night presenters/reporters being used on The Latest
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