Ben Elton: Live from Planet Earth

Hey Hey It's Saturday: More talks about a possible return.

The axing of Ben Elton: Live From Planet Earth could pave the way for the possibility of a return of Hey Hey It’s Saturday later this year.

According to a source, Daryl Somers is again in talks with Nine discussing the future of his show but budgetary issues are holding back any progress.

Hey Hey is expensive to make, and so far Daryl is still asking for too much. If the show could be produced at a lower budget, then a return in some form might be agreed upon.

Nine had invested considerably into Ben Elton. The failure of the show to attract a sizeable audience will only place further budgetary pressures on future similar projects.

Meanwhile, the Hey Hey Facebook page has over 600,000 members, and daily messages calling for the shows’ return.

 

http://www.facebook.com/heyheyitssaturday

Nine's Official Statement on the axing of Ben Elton: Live from Planet Earth.

 

And here is the official press release in relation to the axing of Ben Elton: Live From Planet Earth.

Channel Nine and FremantleMedia Australia announced today the conclusion of Ben Elton Live From Planet Earth.

A Nine spokesperson said: “Ben and his team have done a fantastic job uncovering new Australian talent and we appreciate all of their hard work and dedication. We are all very proud of the show but unfortunately it has not found the audience we had hoped for. We thank Ben and all the cast and crew for their commitment and wish them all the best.”

Michael Healy, Director of Television said: “Comedy is always risky, and live comedy is the riskiest of all. We are pleased to have taken the chance to support the local industry. ”Ian Hogg, CEO of FremantleMedia Australia, said: “We have immense respect for Ben. Through our development deal, we look forward to some exciting comedy and drama projects in the future.”

1st official flop of 2011.

Ben Elton: Live from Planet Earth Axed.

 

Nine have officially axed Ben Elton: Live From Planet Earth after just three episodes.

Its first week, 455,000 watched, that dropped to 384,000 last week, then 189,000 this week when the show aired an hour later than usual, thanks to a news special covering the Christchurch Earthquake.

 The show was criticised by most media as being “too smutty”.

Nine are yet to issue advise on what will fill the timeslot form next week.

Source: TV Tonight.

 

 

 

Ben Elton is still funny, but his show isn't.

Maybe Ben Elton: Live from Planet Earth should move to 10.30pm?

The move back an hour to 10.30pm only pushed the ratings down further, but I actually found it a more convenient time to watch the show, and thought that perhaps 10.30 would have been a better timeslot away from the more competitive time of 9.30pm.

At our house, we had not planned to watch it, but it ended up being left on for about 20 minutes from just after 10.30, having just finished watching our previous show.

In my opinion, Ben Elton should stick to just the stand up routines – as the sketches are woeful.

The one with Julia Gillard last night and the news interviewer Pushy Nightly was just not funny. The interviewer was overdoing it, and as for the person playing Julia Gillard, not only did she not sound like Julia Gillard but she did not once use the word “naaaation” in the sketch.

Instead – “moving forward” was way overdone – that may have been funny around election time last year, but not anymore. It made the whole thing seem dated.

I ask of anyone – has Julia Gillard ever been on TV in recent months without saying the word “naaaation” in the special way that she say it?

Then there was the sketch called “Girls” which featured send ups of female music stars. The one doing Madonna would have been great if it was 1985 – but is 2011? Looks nothing like she does now. And – when was Madonna ever married to Guy Pearce? Think they meant Guy Ritchie – right?

Our laugh out loud moment was Ben talking about kids. We have kids. When he talked about trying to get them to bed – over and over and over – and how mad they can make you get – and how that all is cancelled out with “I love you dadda”, I couldn’t help thinking of what happens many nights with our kids – and no doubt many others.

Yes, Ben Elton is still funny at times, but, like every attempt in recent years to do sketch shows, the sketches are just not funny and the ratings definitely reflect that.

What should Nine do with Tuesday nights?

So far, Nine have not issued any amendment in relation to Ben Elton: Live from Planet Earth – which means, at this stage, it is still in the schedule for next Tuesday. This week, figures dropped further, to below 400,000.

No doubt Nine and Ben Elton will be in talks to decide what to do about future of the comedy hour.

UPDATED: Ben Elton remains for now.

But they have made one change to the night. The Big Bang Theory.

UPDATED: The Tuesday night episode of the Big Bang Theory, from Tuesday February 22, will now be a repeat. Was to be from March 1. So now we are down to one new ep per week from next week.

Given we are 8 episodes behind the US, they could have kept two on per week for a while longer – the idea of having a repeat one night, and a new one the next, I think will just confuse viewers further, and certainly won’t help in ratings.

The real problem Nine faces with Tuesday nights is the awkward length of Top Gear. It ends up going for at least 90 minutes, on one of the most competitive nights on Australian TV. They make it start at 8 now, so it can finish at 9.30pm, in line with programming on other channels. If they were to start it at 7.30, it finishes at 9, leaving the dilemma of putting something on at 9pm – preferably a half hour show – maybe they would be better off with Top Gear at 7.30, and the repeat Big Bang at 9pm, then something at 9.30.

Another idea is to move Top Gear to another night – like Monday – that way, it is not against Rafters and NCIS and should do better. It would be easy to start Top Gear on Mondays at 8pm, right after new Two and a Half Men – which itself follows a 7pm repeat, then follow perhaps with new CSI: Miami or New York at 9.30

As for Tuesdays, maybe this could be their comedy night – load up the night with sitcoms and give viewers a real alternative to the other channels. Afterall, the Ben Elton experience aside, aren’t Nine trying to be the Home of Comedy in 2011?

What Nine's schedule now looks like.

CSI’s in, CSI’s out, double episode events, new episodes, encores, repeats … starting to get confused as to what Nine’s prime time schedule now looks like – as there have been numerous changes.

So – here is the one stop summary as it stands.

As it is Monday now as I post this story, we’ll start with Mondays.

Mondays.
7.30pm New Two and a Half Men
8.00 $#*! My Dad Says.
8.30 Feb 21 Underbelly Files
8.30 Feb 28 This is Your Life
9.40 Feb 28 83rd Annual Academy Awards replay.
10.30 Feb 21 Crime Investigation Australia

Tuesdays
7.30pm The Big Bang Theory. Repeat.
8.00 New Top Gear
9.30 Ben Elton
10.30 Ramsay’s Kitchen Nightmares

Wednesdays
7.30pm New The Big Bang Theory
8.00 Mike and Molly
8.30 The Farmer Wants a Wife
9.30 RPA Where are they now?
10.30 Embarrassing Bodies

Thursdays
7.30pm New RBT
8.00 Getaway
8.30 CSI
9.30 CSI: Miami Feb 24 and Mar 3. Footy show from Mar 10.
10.30 CSI: Miami repeat Feb 24 and Mar 3

Fridays
7.30pm Two and a Half Men repeat
8.00 Mike and Molly encore (changed from $#*! My Dad Says)
8.30 Movie

Saturdays
6.30 Australia’s Funniest Home Videos
7.30 Movie

Sundays
6.30pm Customs
7.00 Send in the Dogs Australia
7.30 60 Minutes
8.30 New The Mentalist
9.30 New The Mentalist
10.30 CSI: Miami repeat

Programming subject to change. Up to date as at Feb 21, 11amm AEDT.

Early starts to shows on Nine last night (Tue Feb 8)

What were Nine doing last night with their EPG?

In checking programming and planned recordings for last night, I noticed that The Big Bang Theory showed on the EPG (Nine, Sydney) as a 7.27pm start, with Top Gear to follow starting at 7.55pm.

Following Top Gear, was Ben Elton showing a 9.40pm start time. At least the EPG was accurate, as all three of these shows started

The 9.40 start time for Ben Elton was fair enough – seeing that both Seven and Ten’s 8.30pm shows also showed as finishing around 9.40.

But what is with starting a new episode of Big Bang 3 minutes early, and Top Gear 5 minutes early? That’s a very long Top Gear episode – an hour and 45 minutes.

Anyone not going by the EPG and relying on advertised start times of 7.30 and 8pm will have missed out the start of both these new shows. The encore of Big Bang on GO! at 10.30pm was also scheduled to start a few minutes early.

Whatever the reason or motivation for these early start times, it didn’t help Nine in the ratings last night – in channel primary shares, Nine was third behind Seven and Ten. Early starts are worse than late starts – at least a late start viewers can wait, but if early, they miss out on parts of the show.

GO! Gets a Ben Elton encore, and less Two and a Half Men.

 

UPDATED – The Ben Elton encore on GO! is now 11pm.

GO! – the home of Nine’s sitcom encores – will now be encoring Ben Elton: Live From Planet Earth on Wednesday night, at 11.00pm.

Big Bang is now at 10.30 – an encore of the one on Nine at 7.30pm, and Mike and Molly is no longer encored that night. No word yet of a Mike and Molly encore – maybe Thursday night? We wait for more programming changes…

Original post follows – maybe GO! read what I wrote here and changed it accordingly!

This means, however, that the encore of Wednesday’s new episode of The Big Bang Theory will now NO LONGER be encored* (well, at least not according to these amendments) and the encore of the series premiere of Mike and Molly will move to 11.30pm.

GO! have also adjusted their programming to remove all those late night Two and a Half Men episodes that were nothing more than replays of what was on Nine at 7pm in any case.

Instead, more South Park.

Check out the TV Guide for GO! for full details.

* If any episode of the Big Bang Theory needed an encore, it is this one. It is up against The Biggest Loser Families and My Kitchen Rules – both are doing quite well in the younger demographics. At our house for example, to avoid having to watch Big Bang live at 7.30, we were relying on the GO encore at 10.30pm. Thankfully we have enough recording capacity to handle it, but others will have to make choices about which they view.