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Eddie for ACA 2009?

Rumours that Eddie McGuire could become the permanent host of A Current Affair have been denied by Nine.

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There’s speculation today that Eddie McGuire might replace Tracy Grimshaw permanently as host of A Current Affair next year. Rumours also suggest Grimshaw, and Michael Usher, could join 60 Minutes. With Tara Brown stepping aside to become a new mum, there’s a vacancy in the offing. Peter Overton meanwhile, could also be replacing Mike Munro as Nine’s weekend newsreader in Sydney.

But the McGuire rumour, which appears in the Daily Telegraph, is already denied by a Nine spokesperson.

“Someone has looked at a lot of dots and joined them to come up with a scenario that is plausible,” Nine spokesman David Hurley said yesterday. “But frankly, none of it is on at all.”

What needs to be remembered here is that McGuire’s stint on ACA for a week in June, while something of a novelty, benefited from a big first night audience as part of a long weekend. But by the end of the week the figures were comparable to Grimshaw’s. Eddie started the week with 1.42m viewers and ended on 1.16m. All five nights were beaten by Today Tonight.

A week later Grimshaw started with 1.20m and ended on 1.24m, beating Today Tonight on the Friday.

Week 24 (Eddie McGuire)
Monday: A Current Affair Nine 1.429
Tuesday: A Current Affair Nine 1.217
Wednesday: A Current Affair Nine 1.231
Thursday: A Current Affair Nine 1.130
Friday: A Current Affair Nine 1.162

Week 25 (Tracy Grimshaw)
Monday: A Current Affair Nine 1.202
Tuesday: A Current Affair Nine 1.248
Wednesday: A Current Affair Nine 1.102
Thursday: A Current Affair Nine 1.063
Friday: A Current Affair Nine 1.247

There’s no doubting Eddie is still a force to be reckoned with on television. I was attended the live Millionaire shows last year and was impressed to watch him walk out, open the show by ignoring the autocue and rattling off a smooth, off-script introduction live to air. Some people are just born with the gift of the gab.

But you wouldn’t put Andrew O’Keefe into Anna Coren’s chair if and when she vacates Today Tonight. These guys are far more effective in other roles for their respective networks (and yes I know McGuire started out in sports journalism).

Whether it’s warranted or not, McGuire is not the most popular TV face in the Sydney market either. If this rumour turned out to have some merit, can Nine be sure it doesn’t wind up with bigger problems on its hands in the 6:30pm timeslot than it has in recent years?

By all means bring back Eddie, in a suitable, deserving vehicle.

Source: Daily Telegraph

Photo: Whats on the Tube

13 Responses

  1. Fanger101, yes this show as with Today Tonight is known for their sensationalising of stories, however the condition of it being made longer, is that in making it longer it would become a daily version of 60 Minutes or Dateline. In becoming a similar program to those mentioned such as lengthening it to one hour, it would have to adopt a more serious approach, and would have to stop sensationalising the stories they report on to the degree in which they do, in order to give them more credibility.

    And, as far as Eddie goes, in response to a previous comment Eddie is not a hack, and is rather a very credible and likeable TV presenter. With that said however, as I’ve mentioned I think if Tracy goes Leila will step in, as I agree with you Fanger101, generally people are more willing to forgive a female than a male in my opinion.

  2. So this show is known for its tabloid hyping of stories, bending truths and chasing self created enemies so why on Earth is anybody saying make this show LONGER than it already is!
    C9 wont get Eddie, they need to stick with a female host. A female host (preferably attractive) is a lot easier to forgive when the show stuffs up and they have to apologize, they tend to be to get away with telling a tall tale as well due to the distractions 😛

  3. Eddie is far from a hack and is one of the best presenters going. Just needs the right vehicle and ACA is not it although he did a good job as fill in. Perhaps bring back Millionaire? Anyway Eddie will definately have a job in 2012 when Nine get the AFL back.

  5. Antoinette that is a great suggestion, extending ACA for an hour and making it more like a daily version of 60 Minutes or Dateline. I would though, rather than extend ACA in it’s current timeslot of 6.30, move ACA to 5.30 – 6.30, then have National Nine News from 6.30 – 7.00. That way it would be unnecessary for a chat show as was reported on TV Tonight the other day, and then it would give National Nine News more of a chance not being up against Seven News, and in turn would (hopefully) give them a competitive advantage over Seven in terms of being number one in news and current affairs. Then, the nights shows could continue to begin from 7.00 onwards. Perhaps in ACA becoming like 60 Minutes or Dateline they could have more investigative stories, consequently giving the show more credibility. This would in turn give the viewers of this site especially, (as seen from the results of the Current Affairs Survey by David) a more credible current affairs show.

    As far as this article goes, I read the original article in todays Daily Telegraph and thought it was nothing but utter crap that Eddie McGuire would take over from Tracy Grimshaw, just like last weeks article that Seven’s Samantha Armytage would move to Nine’s 60 Minutes and that Nine would be broke by 2012 – Personally, I think there is no likelihood Eddie will become host of ACA in 2009, as Eddie as mentioned by David in this article ended up pulling the same ratings as Tracy by the end of the week. The only logical reason I can think of as to why Eddie pulled more ratings at the begining of the week was due to their Underbelly stories with Roberta Williams. I do though believe Tracy may move to 60 Minutes and replace Tara Brown, however in my opinion Leila McKinnon is Tracy’s likely replacement. Samantha Armytage will NEVER move to Nine, or atleast I can’t imagine it happening as Seven will offer her a contract like they did with Ian Ross that noone could possibly refuse unless they were really that uphappy which I do not think is the case!

    As far as Peter Overton becoming presenter of Sydney’s weekend news, I again think that is unlikely, I think rather he will stay at 60 Minutes and Michael Usher will become presenter of Sydney’s weekend news when Mike Munro retires.

  6. If he’s bringing in figures like that, why not bring him back in some kind of presenting compacity again. Won’t hurt them anymore than what the Olympics did.

  9. Why do they keep hiring this hack? It’s bad enough Bert Newton’s face is plastered over just about everything on channel 9. We don’t need more of Eddie again. It was good went he took over as CEO for a while because he wasn’t seen much. It’s not like channel 9 was being run better before and after he was in charge. It’s been crap for a long while.

  11. Why won’t Channel 9 make a ONE HOUR A Current Affair Show, 6.30-7.30pm slot everyday. Like a 60 minutes or dateline but daily. It will better than watching Home and Away or other 7pm shows.

  13. This is only rumours that the Daily Telegraph made up.
    I think Peter Overton will move to the weeknight newsreader role in Sydney and Mark Ferguson will be pushed into the weekend role replacing Mike Munro, to help their terrible ratings in Sydney.
    Michael Usher will replace Peter Overton on 60 Minutes.
    As Nine is trying to get Samantha Armytage from Seven they are hoping she replaces Tara Brown on 60 Minutes. Who knows who they will get if they don’t get Samantha from Seven.
    That’s what I think will happen, but I may be wrong.

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