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Time for change

In the first of a 2-part interview TEN programmer David Mott opens up on The 7PM Project, and how its success could signal great changes in 2010.

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7ppIt was last year that TEN decided to move on its 7pm timeslot, first with an attempt to revive early evenings with a revamped dating show, Taken Out. It learned very quickly that the idea was no perfect match with the audience.

Now, in the first of a two-part interview with TV Tonight, TEN chief programming officer David Mott talks about the network’s new slice of news, set to air live, five nights a week from Monday.

“We put it out to tender and Roving Enterprises came back with a tone we thought was right for 7:00,” he explained.

“We said we wanted a show that was generally news-based, but we wanted a comedy element to it. We wanted that feel of a lighter tone that fitted with the TEN brand.”

The result is a panel of predominantly Gen-X personalities and comedians, set to dissect and debate the news of the day, in a light format that is consciously skewed to the 18 – 49 demographic.

TEN had also considered a venture into breakfast television, trialling a pilot that was considered successful.

“It was a good pilot, there was nothing wrong with it. But they’re expensive shows. There’s no change out of $9-$10m a year in breakfast television. Why would we want to invest that money in breakfast when it’s fully catered for?”

Mott said he opted to channel the money into prime time instead with a show that “gave us a voice, gave us that dialogue, gave us that ability to be a little bit irreverent,” stripped live, five nights a week.

The 7PM Project is intended to open up a dialogue with the audience, to resonate discussions that are taking place in the family home about the day’s headlines, and to interact via the show’s website, Twitter, social networking and Skype interviews.

“TEN has never really had that ability. We don’t have a nightly current affairs show. We don’t have our version of those shows in primetime. We didn’t want to come up with a show that replicated those shows,” says Mott.

The show will feature headlines, read ‘straight’ by Carrie Bickmore, before broadening out to a discussion between Dave Hughes, Charlie Pickering and Bickmore. Mott says that while the show has a light flavour, it won’t be afraid to adopt a serious mood.

“It has to have the ability to have those gear changes, because on some days it’s going to be quite a serious show and on others it will be lighter in tone. It will depend on the news of the day. It’s going to be very reactionary. We’ll lock off on the show about 4:00 in the afternoon.

“And what we’re seeing so far, because we’re doing rehearsals every day, is that there’s so much material out there. Already every day the team’s waking up and there’s a 9am meeting here and they’re running through the structure of the night’s show,” he said.

“The strength of the team that we have on screen is that this is what Dave Hughes does on radio every day. Quite often he has a very good opinion on news. He knows his stuff exceptionally well. He has the ability to achieve what he achieves on breakfast radio and do the same thing at 7:00. So it’s really no different now to what he does at breakfast.”

Ruby Rose and James Mathison will provide reports on an ‘as-needs’ basis.

Mott says that the Roving show has also liaised with TEN’s in-house News department during its development.

“On some nights you may find there’s a closer link between News and The 7PM Project depending on the news of the day. If there’s something alive that’s still happening then we may well cross to our newsroom to continue the story.”

But while there is a significant team of researchers and producers, and Bickmore has a background in journalism, the show hasn’t opted to appoint a News Editor.

“There are editors on board clearly, but not necessarily a News Editor. We’ve actually engaged our own editors to be across the programme.”

The show is also intending to thrive on its live components, a point of difference from the 6:30pm current affairs rivals.

“With other shows it’s all packaged up. For instance on Today Tonight you see Matty White saying ‘here’s so and so reporting’ and they show a package. We’re going to interact with our audience a lot more. For example, Ruby will be in the studio, throwing to the story, then coming back so we can talk about it further. So it just doesn’t end with a package.”

Many have likened the show’s pitch as being a ‘junior version’ of The Panel, TEN’s long running late-night chat show. Mott is quick to water down the similarities.

“The Panel was a very different show to this. Obviously it’s daily, but The Panel was of a period, not necessarily the week. In terms of the topicality and the tone it will be different to The Panel.”

It also comes with a business model that, if successful, could see a major shift in programming in 2010. In digging in for a 52-week show, Mott says next year other shows would segue into a 7:30pm slot, building the network audience.

“The 7PM Project is a play for a certain demographic. If we can achieve the right number there in a commercial share of 18-49 then the benefit then is having it sit there five days a week. Then you swing your Biggest Losers into a 7:30 environment, your MasterChefs into a 7:30 environment. And it changes our business model going forward,” he said.

“It doesn’t have to do a big number, but we want it to do a good number demographically. And then it can feed into the other shows.”

Such change could see key shows such as Talkin’ ‘Bout Your Generation effectively fighting for timeslots with TEN’s reality shows.

“What an embarrassment of riches, if it all goes to plan,” laughs an optimistic Mott.

“But let’s just take it one day at a time!”

The 7pm Project premieres 7pm Monday July 20 on TEN.

TOMORROW: Mott talks about Celebrity MasterChef, 9AM with David & Kim, Out of the Blue and more.

40 Responses

  2. I do not know about this.

    Can I handle Dave Hughes starting out low and then raising his voice and shouting at me then stifling a laugh 5 nights a week …. I do not think I can.

    It is hard enough to put up with when he does it on Before The Game, especially during Tool Of The Week (or the Hit Mute Segment as it has become known at home lately).

    Sure there are going to be others on the 7pm Project, however if Before The Game is any indication then Hughes persona will dominate over the others as it does on that and I am over being shouted in a pained constipated fashion at about what others do being silly (or whatever).

    I will give the show a go however I get the feeling it will not be the go for this 48 year old.

  3. To Andrew and others – have no issue with Carrie as a straight newsreader and I take your word for that although I’ve never seen or heard of her before Rove – but for those of us who have only seen her only Rove it’s going to be kinda hard to distance her from her ‘Sandra Sully’ send up – that’s virtually all she did on Rove.

    The other strange thing about this set up is that she’ll be trying to read the news in a straight fashion with all these comedians around her??? – how will viewers respond to that – this is being pitched as ‘news with a comedy’ element – a bit confusing but again I can’t really pass any judgement on it until I see it.

    And re the Night Cap – it was pitched as a review of the day’s news with a comic element – sound familiar…yes same format and different channel/timeslot but people really weren’t that interested.

    As I said let’s give it a go…and then offer some informed opinion…good or bad!

  4. agree with people’s comments about mott, if this was an interview with nine or seven no doubt we will be hearing about how bad the other networks are, ten have always been good that way, promoting their own content with out be arrogant.

  6. Also @James Grant, I think it’s a bit harsh to compare this show with the Night Cap. Different network, different presenters, different timeslot, and it’s getting mainstream air-time whereas The Night Cap was tucked away on 7HD in a late-night timeslot.

  7. Carrie Bickmore reads the news ‘straight’ every morning on Nova in Melbourne, she actually is a news reader. That’s how she scored the Rove gig.

  8. I would love to see some more satirical segments like you would see on “The Daily Show with Jon Stewart”. That show really is the benchmark when it comes to mixing news with humour.

  9. @James Grant: Remember that Carrie was a ‘straight’ newsreader before going on Rove. In fact, she is still a newsreader for one of the radio stations in Melbourne, isn’t she?

    The Sneak Peaks at 7PM do leave me a bit underwhelmed although I will wait at least until it starts next week before deciding yay or nay. Credit to Ten though for at least looking to try something different at 7.00pm.

  10. I guess the real upshot from 7pm Project, if it succeeds, will be audience retention across prime time which Ch10 is not very consistent with. We’ve seen massive drop offs from MasterChef (and Loser before it) but if they can push those big rating reality shows back they might hold people longer.

    5pm News->Simpsons->Neighbours->7pm Project->Reality/Ob Doc franchise->Imported Drama

    It’s a good idea and certainly worth trying.

  11. Looking forward to it. Charlie is razor sharp at this sort of thing. From the peaks it does look (sound) like they could do with a small well mic’ed studio audience to add some atmosphere.

  13. I’ve seen the ads and the ‘sneek peak’ for this and I’m sorry if I sound pessimistic but I”m not sure how successful this will be – we’re so used to seeing Carrie ham it up on Rove and now she’s reading the news ‘straight’ – it would be like watching Letterman read the news straight – and then we’ve got a few so called comedians sprinkled into the mix- trying to provide some light banter on the day’s news….not sure how funny or unfunny that will be???.

    Seven tried to do this ‘panel discussion show on the day’s news’ with Matt White as the host and the show bombed on Seven’s digital channel. I’m almost certain this will not resonate with viewers but I may be wrong.

    Comedians laughing at their own jokes or each other’s jokes can also be painful to watch and this is what they appear to be doing on this show.

    Masterchef I absolutely love…Biggest Loser I absolutely detest. Channel Ten can do that to you with their mix of programming choices…this one…well I will just have to wait and see!

  17. Great stuff David highly entertaining read, can’t wait to hear about Celebrity Masterchef and especially why Out of The Blue is still on the air; hopefully he answers why they didn’t give it a better slot…..

  20. I’m well over the 18 – 49 demographic and looking forward to The 7PM Project !
    Great time slot as there isn’t much to watch between 7 – 7.30 pm and from the promos this show looks entertaining.
    Bring it on !

  21. Great interview David.

    David Mott is a rarity in Australian TV – he is honest about his programming (what did and didn’t work) and humble about the success he and his team have achieved. Looking forward to Part II

  25. I think it’ll work. Going by the “rehearsal sneak peeks” we’ve been seeing, Pickering is right on the money for this sort of thing, Carrie’s a great foil, and Hughsey, for once, thankfully, is not aaaaaaaaangry.

    But yes, I got “Panel” from it immediately – except more like The Panel before The Panel turned into a gaggle of middle-aged upwardly-mobile share traders with businesses and kids and cars and mortgages and absolutely zero comic spark.

    Pickering is pretty funny when on form. Carrie’sable to deliver written comedy very well. Hughes has, err, a following 😉

    Yes, I think it could do okay.

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