‘Cougar Town’s shit but we promoted the hell out of it. We’ll do the same for Matthew Johns’
Like many, Dr Mumbo finds few things more entertaining than the imaginative ways Seven finds to spray its rivals, particularly Nine.
But Dr Mumbo nearly spat out his metaphorical cornflakes this morning when he picked up the Sunday Telegraph to read Seven boss David Leckie’s comments on Cougar Town, one of his network’s own shows:
“OK, the Cougar Town, it’s a shit show but we promote it and we get nearly 1.4 million watching it.”
Leckie’s conversation with the paper was to discuss Seven’s signing of Matthew Johns to present a new NRL show.
He added: “If we can promote Cougar Town, we can promote Matthew Johns.
“We’re going to promote the shit out of this fucking show.”
And while he gives good soundbite, Leckie is less wise in the expectations management department, revealing: “I want a couple of million a night.”
There are a lot of media buyers who will no doubt look to hold Seven to that.
His comments are already generating a fruity response from TV viewers. One commenter says on TV Tonight: “Leckie is such an arrogant tosser; he takes the shine off The Seven Network with his stupid arrogant statements.”
Cougar town is shit, my kitchen rules is shit, the white room is shit, today tonight is shit, Sunday night is shit.
It seems 7 only has shit to promote. Fair call then leckie.
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You can’t polish a turd but you sure as hell can “trick” people into watching one
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You can’t teach a pig to sing.
You waste your time.
And you annoy the pig.
– Dawn Steel.
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So the shit’s hit the fan ??
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i am sorry – but cougartown IS one of the stand out shows of the year, as well as modern family – if this network boss thinks it is shit – then he should get out of network TV, or perhaps go over to MTV and work on “quality” programming like The Hills…. as he probably thinks that is a great ratings winner…
cougartown DIDNT work cos of your promos… it worked cos of the buzz generated on the internet and from people downloading it PRIOR to you showing it and loving the show that they would watch it again!
no wonder TV is dieing – Cougartown is a HIT with the punters… but if you dont care about them, your advertisers wont care about you…
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Another schooner of Drambuie?
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David Leckie your arrogance is simply unbelievable. I am going to make sure my clients read your comments and then I am going to suggest they individually call you to negotiate a rate for the shit shows on 7 that reflects your lack of confidence in its quality. I remember your National Sales Director telling the assembled throng at your shit 2010 program launch what a high quality show Cougartown is. He was obviously spinning shit.
Seriously, you need to pull your head in and remember who pays your bills.
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You can fool some of the people all of the time, but you can’t fool all of the people all of the time. Ummmm it has been said before. Lets see how Top Gear goes with the new commercial format.
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There is a rumour of a new show based around the male version of a Cougar called ” RhinoHood”
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Sean G. You really think 1.4 million people downloaded Cougartown? Give me a break! The highest percentage of viewers are female 25+… how many female 25+ viewers do you know that download pirated content? You may be a young male who views content online, but your the only demographic that does that.. and you don’t represent the other1,399,999 viewers. This was a case of 7 once again using Tennis at the beginning of the year along with their 6:00 News and Today Tonight to promote the hell out of something tacky and terrible. Don’t get me started on MKR.. they tried to copy Masterchef but didn’t realised the success was in the positive spin and quality of contestants and the recipes… 7 have tried to combine, Amazing Race, Beauty and the Geek with a cooking show. Terrible.
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Malbino, christ i hope thats true!!!!
Cougartown is rubbish, but people enjoy it, so i guess that makes it a good show. Sean G, it was successful at the start because of the promotion, dont kid yourself.
I tried to watch the start, but turned it off, but know tons of women who love it.
Nothing suits everyone all the time, but if some love it, and others can stand it being on when they eat dinner, then its a success.
I think the real story here however should be how the contrast is between the potential backlash of Matty Johns being on air with women viewers, and those same viewers having a negative rejection of him when they watch cougartown which places young men in a catagory of sex-objects and dispencable. Should be good to watch that!
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Why is it that in no other industry would behavior like this be tolerated from a CEO?
Leckie is not funny, knockabout or boisterous, simply embarrassing to his staff and anyone working in the FTA TV industry. Kerry Stokes should be ashamed of himself for repeatedly condoning or at least ignoring these tired and emotional outbursts.
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Cougartown is shitt..why is there so many people watching it.?…but they continue to watch that very highly respectful and thoroughly researched today tonight and the worst news on Australian tv 7 news and mkr isnt that the same as my restuarant rules and that was crap.I guess if you promote it to death they will come .But the question i have to ask is WHY to they stay when its so bad.
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@sean – there aren’t ‘so many people’ watching CT! 1.4 mill for a show that has had the ‘shit’ promoted out of it = poor.
Lets see how many people tune in this week. I won’t be one of the them and neither will my g/f, who lost patience with it about 3 mins in.
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1.4m for TV is fantastic these days… television is a dieing format! i love how your all blowing it up me for my online comment – but good luck booking your ads on something that no one watches…. but then again most ad bookers and agency types only give a shit about ticking a box on a spreadsheet rather than getting ROI for their clients and using mediums that actually reach markets.
Maca, not sure where your stats are from… but i dont agree. Thats just like saying all RnB fans are from cabramatta! lol
My comments were about the quality of promotion for Cougartown – with the HYPE being created online… many people did watch online – you look at stats for teasers, show segments and other “jokes” pulled from the show on youtube, vimeo and other sites…
as one final statement about the ‘quality’ of australian television… EDDIE MAGUIRE ON THE OLYMPICS! WTF?!?!?!
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@maca – you silly bastard, way to grossly generalise the ‘piracy’ market.
I am a 25+ y.o. woman, I download all manner of (good) shit off the ‘Net. And so do my female pals, most of whom are older. This is WHY there’s such a huge incidence of piracy, it’s not just your pimply teenage boy, it’s EVERYONE – why do you think there’s such a huge jump in bandwidth allowances from ISPs? Before you tell me I am an anomaly, tell me why I can easily find ‘The September Issue’ *doco on Vogue magazine*, eBooks of Confession of A Shopaholic series, the entire back catalogue of Gossip Girl and Sex and The City etc etc…you’re not telling me it’s all BOYS downloading/consuming this content.
An argument for another time and place is why more marketers haven’t cottoned on to the fact that a lot of girls want good content, easily accesible online, and that they’re on their using the ‘Net’s resources just like their male peers.
Back on topic, Cougar Town looks shit. Off again, I don’t watch commercial TV, too crap, I prefer to download my content and watch it at my leisure. Would love to see a subscription service offering content from around the world, in whole series, available at the click of a mouse/remote button – advertising could be displayed between programs (like a screensaver – loads when the broadcast is inactive) and localised according to location, viewing habits recorded allowing targetted communication with consumers and better value for advertisers and we’d have a far more democratic access to media, instead of the ‘Aussies wait a year to see what the Yanks have all been crowing about’. Until that happens, I’m sticking to torrents/rapidshare.
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Sean G!
Im curious where you say that TV is a dying format (it’s spelt dying btw), and in regards to booking these apparent show’s that nobody is watching, well inventory across FTA and STV are all filling at a frantic race and hence tell a different story. I believe that this dying market you have highlighted is actually not at all. It has simply changed its model to ensure it isn’t on the way out, hence the focus on Multi-Channeling and other venues to ensure they engage their audiences through interactive and technological advancements. Surely if you know so much about online, you must know something about TV?
Your comment about 1.4 million being a great number for audience because it’s is a dying format, is out of context. TV isn’t dying because audiences are dropping, people have more choice. With online TV, up to 15 FTA channels and up to 100 pay tv channels means the audience is more segmented. If you work in advertising, media or digital, you’d be well aware that it is definately not dying like your comments!
And in regards to Cougar Town and it’s 1.4 million people watching? FTA television has always been about choosing the best of the crap that is available. It hasn’t changed with their multi-channels. It’s trash TV (just like the Hills). It isn’t hard to get a decent audience when 99% of Australia has access to a television.
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