Ten unveils 2013 lineup
Ten has this morning launched its crucial 2013 lineup to media agencies and advertisers at a breakfast in Sydney.
Australian drama series led the push, including a dramatisation of the Batavia mutiny, comedy drama Wonderland, Mr & Mrs Murder, Reef Doctors and Secrets & Lies: The Track.
Returning shows include Masterchef,Offspring, Puberty Blues and The Biggest Loser. There will also be a Masterchef Professionals spinoff fronted by chef Marco Pierre White.
The launch comes at a crucial time for the network, which has been struggling in the ratings.
Other new series announced include Hamish Macdonald’s The Truth Is and “love child of Gruen Transfer and Can of Worms” live series Shock Of The Now.
The network is also moving the The Simpsons back to 6pm on Ten after shifting the show to the same slot on Eleven when it launched the network at the beginning of 2011. The Simpsons had already started airing again on Ten at weekends.
The move bumps The Project back to a 6.30pm start time – the show’s fourth timeslot since it launched as The 7PM Project in a half hour format in 2009. It was later extended to an hour and renamed The Project when 6.30 with George Negus was axed. It then moved forward to 6pm, still in an hour long format. The return to 6.30 will see the show continue to run for an hour.
Throughout the morning’s presentation, chief sales officer Barry O’Brien, CEO James Warburton and chief programming officer Beverley McGarvey stressed three words to sum up the coming lineup: “smart”, “different” and “authentic”.
Acknowledging the network’s poor year, Warburton stressed that “consistency and stability” would be the strategy for the coming year.
He told the audience: “We know we have not been good enough, not only by your expectations, but by our own standards.”
He also pledged: “No chopping, no changing, no programming lineups padded with endless repeats.”
He said: “We are not about to curl up into a ball and stop competing. Ten is and always will be a brilliant brand. Inertia will kill you; complacency will kill you. We have to adapt and we have to evolve.”
McGarvey said that the spine of the schedule will be built around NCIS on Tuesday nights, Homeland on Sundays, Can of Worms on Mondays, and Australian dramas at 8.30pm on Wednesdays.
She also pointed to three shows from overseas, saying that Australian networks need “a bit of luck” when it comes to acquired content. The three shows were Elementary, a New York-based modern day take on Sherlock Holmes; cold war spy series The Americans and period drama Ripper Street.
The network is also going to air American Idol, which features Keith Urban, who was previously a coach on Nine’s The Voice, as one of the judges.
- Mumbrella’s sister magazine Encore profiles Warburton in its current edition, available free as an iPad edition
I attended this morning’s presentation and unfortunately I was underwhelmed.
It shows a lack of leadership, organisation and planning not only for the event but also the composition of the schedule and program mix. The content looks bland and unattractive.
Ten Management need to get some experience and momentum back. Unfortunately I cannot see any reason for favour in 2013.
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I’m looking forward to new Aussie drama – Puberty Blues & Offspring plus some new content! Sounds great to me!
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I remember when Ten was adamant that you would never see The Simpsons on the main channel again.
How things change in a few short years.
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No Good News Week, no Rove… 10 needs another good topical late night talk show to keep up with the rest of the TV world.
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“No chopping, no changing, no programming lineups padded with endless repeats.”
There is nothing about this sentence that is remotely truthful. I guarantee that within the next 12 months one of Tens shows will be axed due to poor ratings.
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The poor Project. The way that show gets shunted around, the guys on the panel wouldn’t know the time of day. I wouldn’t be surprised if it ends up as the Morning Project by this time next year!
And, where is Good News Weel? Ten needs a bit irreverant mayhem like GNW to shake up the channel.
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People are so comfortable lashing out when their name is not associated with their commentary. Nothing is more unauthentic or boring as commentary from a nobody – who is actually a somebody trying to sway others with their opinions. Show your real name or shut the F$%k up.
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@ I wish you all had names… how ironic. Well done.
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A failing over many years has been this Aussie Drama wasted at 8:30pm on Wednesdays, that slot killed White Collar Blue & recently stunted Puberty Blues numbers, Maybe take on US crime/drama nights against the others and offer some viewing choice?
^^
@ I. Rony & @ I wish you all had names… soo glad i proudly have an unreal name!
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What a dismal line-up they announced for 2013. “Risk” was not Channel 10’s problem in 2012, it can be rewarding to take risk, it was just plain bad decisions.
Who made the decision thinking that a singing competition (where there was no audience interaction) about drag queens travelling the outback would rate well?
or who was happy with the production standards on Everybody Dance Now? (not a horrible idea just executed so poorly)
Hell, who ever thought that the Channel 10 audience cared about “being Lara Bingle”?
— That’s the decisions that need to change. Channel 10 have lost track with what their audience want. And their solution? Stick to the same formula of Masterchef spinoffs and 4 hours of NCIS. Sounds like a good plan.
And their imports? Elementary? Really? Obviously the same person is making the same bad decisions as last year. I will post my real identity and march into HQ to offer an apology if that show rates anything more than mediocre.
“smart”, “different” and “authentic” Beverley? Hardly, more like “stale”, “boring” and “generic”.
“Quietly into the Night” should be 10s new slogan.
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Maybe TEN should bring back good (and I mean good) aussie dramas like Rush. That show was great and was far from done with it’s story arc.
Good to see Offspring and the like back. But if they do another season of I Will Survive or any of that crap again they’ll just continue to slide.
How many times can you reinvent Masterchef – seriously!
And how many times can you move The Project.
The programmers at Ten need to be axed.
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