Oh man. A sad day, hard to believe they’ve finally called it a day.
Used to love The 7pm Project, even Waleed’s early days, but slowly stopped watching probably around 2016. 2009-2011 was the best, with Charlie Pickering at the helm and used to like the great late George Negus, Kitty Flanagan, the ‘Metro Whip Around’. Steve Price the only original guest remaining?
It goes back so far that Ten were still a strong network, they had the biggest show on TV and reality of all time in MasterChef, they still had the AFL rights, it was pre Gillard v Rudd and Rudd was PM, The Simpsons was still drawing 1m+ viewers and a multi-bulletin news service that rated well existed, even Kathryn Robinson who used to read the news over summer via a live-cross (when 7pm ran more a highlights show) was still there and how long has she been gone from the network!
IMO the show fell after Hughesy and Pickering left and really fell off a cliff around the time Lisa Wilkinson joined and after Peter Helliar and Carrie Bickmore departed. Was just completely unrecognisable.
They’ve still got the ABC to relentlessly bash. Plus Waleed will probably end up somewhere else so i’m sure they could fill the gap with some rage bait about him.
I think it was too hard to turn around to be honest. They should have used the opportunity to for a full refresh/relaunch when Carrie and the others left a few years ago. They’ve let it struggle along for too long now for the brand to be salvageable I think.
Part of that though is due to how Conservative commentators and outlets railed against them because it didn’t align with their political and world views.
I guarantee that if that wasn’t the case, not only wouldn’t they’ve gone after The Project as aggressively as they did but they would today be criticising Ten for ending The Project and claiming it’s yet another ‘victim’ of ‘cancel culture’ and ‘silencing free speech’.
Its right before end of financial year so that helps with paperwork.
I really think Ten just wanted to cut ties with Rove. I think him hosting Fridays was a last ditch attempt to save the show and show where he wanted it to go but Ten wasnt having it.
When that mass exodus happened with Carrie. Pete and Lisa, i think they wanted to end it then but Lisa was still on contract with a court case pending.
Once they got rid of Lisa they could renegotiate with Rove but it seems no agreement was met to satisfy both parties.
Free speech to conservatives applies only when the speech relates to what they think and say. If it is an alternate point of view or leaning then its constant vitriol and attempts to have them shut down. The level of hypocrisy is astounding.
Completely! Given the amount of right leaning media in this country that they can engage with, the frothing at the mouth over one show has been completely absurd.
I was just about to say the same thing, they flogged the horse for as long as they possibly could. I didn’t watch the show too much (Probably last watched it when Carrie left) but the show had declined around the time Lisa rocked up, would’ve been easiest to put the program to pasture around the time Lisa left.
I feel bad for the staff, losing your gig (And being told on a public holiday, which is shocking from 10) is quite a shame, hopefully everyone can find new gigs soon.
She’s also been doing some podcasts outside of the network, so I guess she’ll be doing these at least in the interim. And I would imagine that 10 might use her again if House Hunters get’s a second season.
Yep - Pickering left IIRC because they wanted to change the format, which is when it started to become more serious.
I’ll say this, some of the reaction I’ve seen online has been people saying that they enjoyed it when it was that version of The Project - when they changed things up overtime, and when Carrie, and Peter left - more and more people stopped watching.
It’s a shame the show is going, and that a lot of people are going to be out of a job, but it’s had a hell of a good run.
From Monday June 30th Network 10 will screen a new early evening schedule comprising:
5pm: 10 News First local bulletins (no changes)
6pm: New one-hour national news, current affairs and insights program. A name, hosts and further details are yet to be announced.
7pm: Deal or No Deal (moves from 6pm to 7pm)
Also, I actually liked Nick Cody and Sam Taunton’s banter between each other. I will miss them too. A new weekly show with them, i would watch. A light hearted take on the week that was.
I give the new news/current affairs show 6 months, they have tried this exact thing before and it didn’t work. They just need to go back to what worked before - 6:00 light entertainment 7:00 reality.
