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Axed: Taken Out

We all knew this was coming. TEN finally turns out the light on its own dating show to be replaced by The Simpsons.

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Channel TEN has finally pulled the plug on its latest game show, Taken Out.

It is to be replaced by The Simpsons effective from tonight.

After tracking its performance in a week of single guys, TEN has been forced to turn out the light on its own show. This week it started with 610,000 but last night was at 533,000 viewers. TEN is mindful that last Friday it dropped to 465,000 viewers. Meanwhile Seven News had 1.44m viewers while Nine News had 1.1m viewers.

For a show whose biggest audience was younger females, the show also didn’t make the top ten 16-39 programmes in Australia last night. By contrast, Neighbours was #7th.

TEN had always sought to revisit the dating / game show genre with Taken Out but the show wasn’t even keeping the Neighbours audience before being moved from 7pm to 6pm.

FremantleMedia, which has also produced the hit dating show Farmer Wants a Wife, also had on-going casting issues with a low turn-out of single men.

A TEN spokesperson said no decision has been made on airing remaining episodes. The network was pleased with the performance of host James Kerley, who arguably managed to keep the show moving with not much to work with.

The show shoots its final episodes next week.

Tonight TEN returns The Simpsons to its trusty 6pm timeslot with the episode “Mr. Plow.” That name again, Mr Plow.

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98 Responses

  2. Taken Out was utterly appalling. Everyone I know who saw it just couldn’t believe how bad it was.

    I think it’s number 1 problem was the shocking editing – it was sooooo slooooow. The way they showed the host running around the studio between the guests was ridiculous. Australia needs to look to America for their brilliance at editing game shows and reality tv. I don’t like much American tv – but their editing is snappy and fast paced.

    Taken Out was also completely wrong and inappropriate for so early in the evening. I’m far from a prude and have no problem with adult programmes (fine with Ramsay swearing for example), but the very first episode of Taken Out had the single male talking about how he had sex on a dancefloor…. great.

    Host was ok – he did a good job with such a s**thouse show. Dating shows will only ever work now on cable tv.

  4. Zambora.. what a hilarious suggestion!!
    but im sure the info commercials make them more money.. and would get more ratings..

    dating shows can work. .as long as its not about.. you’re not pretty enough for me.. you’re not tall enough.. you’re not hot enough.. i dont like your eyes.. i dont like your t shirt..

    i prefer them when they dont see each other and ask questions.. because it shows everyone that looks is only one aspect of a relationship.. whereas looks was EVERYTHING in taken out. In a world of magazines focusing on who is pretty and who is not.. we didnt need reminding of it in a dating tv show.

  7. I can say first hand – the show was great fun to participate in! No pay – entirely voluntary – for a show that’s only incentive to you as a panel member or contestant is the guy/girl single, it can get quite tedious! The cast and crew are all great! There are many moments that occur during the show that don’t make it to television so in a lot of cases people do come across more shallow than they already are! That’s television and editing for you! The contestant party was great we got to meet each other for who we were rather than what the show was all about. Believe it or not there is a lot of pressure on that set at times and for many it is not easy to get rejected on national television!

    Personally I did think the show moved slowly – I didn’t see all episodes that aired but made sure I caught up on them through the net – very, very handy channel 10! But I think the biggest applause should go to both Fremantle Media, Channel 10, the Producers etc. on the show – you tried something new! FINALLY! If only all networks would have the balls to do so! I’m so over Friends re-runs and the Simpsons – I’ve got all that on Foxtel! Not even those new US shows that are getting big ratings over there are doing any good here! I LOVE some of those!

    I think this tells us a lot about Australia – we don’t like anything new!!! I think they should air it in non-ratings season.

  8. I kinda liked Taken Out when it first aired but soon after I stopped watching it. Good to see it finally stopped airing. Although James Kerley is a great host, too bad the show’s format isn’t good.

  9. I do not have a problem with Ten replacing Taken Out with Simpsons repeats, but I would rather see repeats of episodes from the first season as well as any episodes that Ten tend to skip.

    Those still disappointed with the show’s demise should not feel bad. There are better ways you can meet someone without being humiliated on national television.

  10. woo hoo! not that i’m a fan of so much simpsons, but taken out was seriously a dud… could’ve had potential but it just did not work in the format it was in

  11. Whilst not a brilliant (or even well executed premise), I liked Taken Out as an attempt to do something different with the 7:00PM timeslot. It was a genuine alternative and competition to what was aleady on the air. As previous reports on this blog have indicated in the last week, the more real competitive spirit between the networks, the better the outcome for the viewers.

    Ten can fall back on The Simpsons and Friends again for a while and get semi-respectable ratings, but the time will come when these shows lose their lusture. It is best for them to develop and create new concepts now, give them time to nurture so that they have something valid and valuable to show when the repeats begin to dip in ratings value.

    So, please Ten, invest in new concepts, and most importantly, allow them the chance to grow over time – even if it means showing them over Summer as an audience builder and then pushing them harder when the ratings period kicks in.

  13. the ten EPG still hasn’t been updated to reflect this change it is still listing taken out, they are usually really good with updating, sometimes i even see changes on the EPG before it has even been reported on this site, surprising that they are no longer on the ball with this. might only be a local issue though, wonder how long it will take them to notice it.

  14. Channel 10 should be rapt.

    60 Responses to “Axed: Taken Out”

    * Suggestion to all networks, if you yank show off air, ‘cos it sucks or ratings bad or whatever, there is obvious place to run unused eps apart from HD.

    Try in the midnight to 2 am slot, instead of infomercials.
    Will provide those of us that have trouble sleeping something to laugh at.

  15. Wow, I just thought about the hundreds of people that this show employs, and after 1 days notice, they have no jobs.

    I never thought about that before, I guess it is a harsh reality of what damage pulling a show off air can do to peoples financial commitments.

    Not a huge fan of the show, but shame the TV industry has suffered another blow to employment.

  18. Kerley should host every show on Ten, he’s the best guy on Australian TV by far, just a shame that his first FTA show kind of sucked. Agree with others who say Ten should buy the rights to Cash Cab from [V], especially as it doesn’t seem that there’ll be a third season any time soon.

  19. The issue with Tens ratings has to do with the lack of exposure they gave the show. It also has to do with the fact they dropped it from 7pm to 6pm with no advertising. I thought it had been axed after only 2 weeks only to see it at 6pm while in the Brisbane Airport waiting for a plane home on the Tuesday night.

    I would much prefer to watch this than the majority of the rubbish Ten shows like Dance US or OZ, Idol US or OZ, Supermodel. It’s rubbish. Mind numbing rubbish. At least Taken Out had a lively upbeat fun measure to it.

    Hell if Fremantle Media is genuinely short of guys, I’ll bring the boys and we’ll come down for a weekend and film a couple of weeks for them. Guaranteed our North Queensland Brutal Honesty will get some ratings for them! We’re all single too so there’s no issues with that side of things. How many do they need? I can supply somewhere in the order of 15 – 20 with ease!
    It needs to be in a time when it can be viewed by the target audience. Is it that the Target audience is not home from work when it’s on?

  20. finally! at last, when I arrive home from work, i don’t need to be bombarded by young sluts on this dismal dating show. bring on repeats of the simpsons (but please channel 10, how about repeating episodes from season 15 onwards, not season 5!)

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