Ten announces Family Feud with Grant Denyer
The troubled Ten Network is to revive 37-year-old quiz format Family Feud as the centrepiece of its early evening schedule.
The show, which first aired in Australia in 1977, will air nightly at 6pm and be hosted by former Sunrise weatherman Grant Denyer. It will be produced by Fremantle Media.
The move comes as Ten attempts to recover for a ratings slide which has seen it fall far behind its rivals Seven and Nine, as well as ABC1.
The announcement sees Denyer move across from Seven, where he most recently hosted quiz show Million Dollar Minute although he left the show within two months. Denyer is reportedly currently involved in legal action with Woman’s Day over allegations relating to his personal life. He today told The Sunday Telegraph that he received treatment for “exhaustion” after his sudden exit.
Ten is the third network Family Feud will have appeared on. It ran on Nine from 1977 to 1984 and on Seven from 1989 to 1996. Previous hosts includes Tony Barber, Daryl Somers, Sandy Scott, Rob Brough and John Deeks. There was also a shortlived spinoff version in 2006 and 2007 featuring Bert Newton – Bert’s Family Feud.
Ten said in a statement that the show would be “funny, engaging and impossible not to play along with at home.” The audience will be invited to play along online via Tenplay and second screen app Beamly.
Ten’s chief programming officer Beverley McGarvey, said in the same announcement: “Our research shows Australians want Family Feud back on their screens.”
Ten is currently airing repeats of Modern Family in the 6pm timeslot.
An air date for Family Feud is yet to be announced although Ten said it would be “later this year”.
Less than a fortnight ago, Ten axed its struggling breakfast show Wake Up and began a process of making around 150 redundancies from its news division. Ten’s long-standing Melbourne director of news Dermot O’Brien will leave the network on Wednesday, Ten announced late last week.
Today’s announcement of the return of Family Feud has raised eyebrows within the industry.
Commentator David Knox, publisher of TV Tonight, wrote: “This news reeks of a lack of imagination. If this is the best Ten’s brains trust can come up with for 6:00 then it’s probably time to hoist the white flag.”
Social media commentary was also sceptical about the show’s chances of success:
It feels like Hamish is now making decisions that he knows he won’t be around to deal with when they don’t work. Just as the rumours get louder that they arent commissioning anything, they rush this out. There can’t be a single experienced executive at that place who thinks it’ll work.
Five days a week, primetime. It’ll be cheap to make. But that’s all it;s got going for it
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Channel 10 used to be the brave network that embraced being different to the others and this is just sad and damaging to the brand that once was. I’d rather watch I Will Survive or The Shire 5 nights a week over this nonsense.
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Channel 10 need to change their slogan from “seriously” to “seriously?”
The added question mark says it all.
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I’m over Mr Denyer. Nice bloke but overused.
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It’s gotta be a reverse-value adding strategy to soften up the price for a Murdoch buy-out.
If it isn’t…. holy fuck, how stupid are these guys?
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Fail.
Grant Denyer has implied previously that he doesn’t like doing these sorts of shows – reeks of desperation from both sides.
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The days are closing in when outrageous decisions right across the business will come home to roost, and it will be executives in the Centre Link line along with the 150 people who lives they wrecked.
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Bert’s Family Feud on Nine 2006-07. WIN thought so poorly of it they actually stopped relaying it and showed repeats of The Brady Bunch instead.
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” it will be executives in the Centre Link line along with the 150 people who lives they wrecked….”
Yeah… nah…
They’ll be sitting on half-a-dozen other boards enjoying the high-life. It’s a big nepotistic merry-go-round that partially explains the incompetence of much of Australian corporate decision making.
OneTel, Qantas, Fairfax etc etc
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Want happens when you put a bunch of Creative Agency guys in charge of a TV Network?
I’m surprised Russell isn’t hosting this one.
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The decisions from 10 just keep getting more and more diabolical by the day . Is this seriously the best they can do in a prime time slot – a 40-year-old tv quiz show? Why not Countdown or Bert Newton? Ed Sullivan re-runs? It’s really pretty sad to see the network get to this point.
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Anonymous – understand your thought process and don’t disagree, except in this case at 10 so much damage has been done by pathetic management, they will find themselves unemployable. The media industry can sort the men from the boys out and just have a feeling this may prevail.
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Grant Denyer reminds me of Les Dennis. It might just work?
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I always thought the theory that the share price was being intentionally driven down through bad programming was completely untrue. Then they aired I Want To Marry Harry and announced this. Now I’m not so sure.
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You just would not give them your money.
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interesting move ten to putting it on at 6. it is usually a blank half hour before the project. this might have some good legs in it.
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Ten really needs to fire its entire programming department and hire new blood
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Why not another remake of Kingswood Country this time based in a hospice!
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I jokingly suggested they revive Family Double Dare or repeats of It’s A Knockout – this isn’t too far off the mark!
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I would love to see Family Feud come back.
So much fun
I was quite good playing the game at home.
I have always wanted to be a contestant
Where do I sign up to audition?
Some people are being so harsh. NOT COOL
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Where do we sign up for it. Used to love the show
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Please not family feud absolute crap
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Lighten up ppl! Cant wait – love games shows – fun for family, light. clean entertainment for a change! Go Grant! – hopefully Australia give you a break!
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