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Thank God You’re Here: guests

Colin Lane makes his debut on the hit improvisation show as a 'wildlife expert.'

tgyh-colin-laneColin Lane is one of the first four stars on the fourth season of  Thank God You’re Here, premiering on the Seven Network at 7:30pm Wednesday night.

It’s his first time at tackling the hit improvisation series. Lane has to play a wildlife expert giving a schoolroom discussion and he has a pretty hapless time of it. But completely underplaying its role is a live wombat, which effectively dozes through the whole sketch.

The look of the show is almost identical to its former appearance on TEN, with a little more neon around “the door” and a bit of a desk upgrade for Tom Gleisner.

Also appearing on the first ep is Merrick Watts, Cal Wilson and Flight of the Conchords‘ Rhys Darby.

26 Responses

  1. benno, i realise that $1mil is a lot of money and will not result in a huge profit, i’m just saying that looking at how the networks spend their money TGYH is not a bad way to go.

    sea patrol = $1.2million = rates 1.5 at it’s best
    gladiators = $1million = averaged 1.55
    outdoor room = $450k ($900k for an hour) = rated 1mil
    canal road = $900k = averaged 550k
    TGYH = $1mil = probably rate around 2mil

    and then we have to take into account that it will raise criminal minds and bring healthy demos to the whole network. and there are lots of reasons that you can’t compare it to american dramas.

  2. Jerome, $1m+ is extremely expensive for an Australian network. It would barely cover the ad costs. To put it in perspective, CSI and Lost costs around $4m per episode, and CSI has around 15m viewers and lost around 10m – both have about the same 18-49 ratings which is all that matter. Divide that by 4 and you get around 3.75m and 2.5m viewers respectively if it cost $1m. TGYH would be lucky to crack 2m

  3. I’m actually a little upset with the information. It seems that the format is exactly the same. Don’t get me wrong, I love the show, but I was kind of hoping that during the off time and with a change of networks that Working Dog would tweak the show a little bit, perhaps add in some new ideas and try something fresh… Good on them for using new players such as Lane and Darby, but again, would have liked to have seen a change or two to the show to make it a little newer.

  4. Of course it is speculation…there is no way Seven will ever admit publicly to paying 1.3 million dollars per episode, and Working Dog would have been very surprised by the backlash from viewers when it was announced they had sold the show to Seven because they were offered a huge amount of money that the much leaner Ten could not afford to match, so they would not want the figure disclosed either. Even though it was obviously greed that motivated them to change networks, they would not want to admit to that, or have it confirmed by announcing actual figures. I’m sure I read a confirmed amount that Ten offered 1 million dollars per episode, so Seven must have offered more.
    Bottom line is…Seven have the show now and they will benefit from it with ratings, but will lose money on it.

  5. @janey, Sally is right about the costs.
    @jimmy, i went in place of a friend that canceled to the 2nd ep, they don’t check ID. so yes, a bit sneaky. sorry if i took you’re seat lol.
    @kev, i only applied about 2 weeks in advance so you could still get one, it all happens at short notice.
    @John, most of the season has been filmed and there is more 10 personalities and less 7 personalities that there was last season. what further proof do you need?

    i don’t know why people think $1mil is so expensive. i mean canal road and gladiators cost that much and that was throwing money into the wind TGYH is such a sure fire hit and will benefit the network as a whole. i say money well spent.

    1. Location and scripted drama costs a slew more than light entertainment / comedy that is principally in one venue (there are some filmed exteriors). Regardless of what media has or hasn’t said about the price paid, in fairness to Working Dog, it is all speculation.

      My info suggests no overrun of 7 personalities. There were personalities from rival networks last time and there is this time.

  6. well now that we are certain that 7 personalities will not take over the show i don’t mind the network change as much. it was good that the announcement was made long ago because people seem to have gotten over it and it will not affect the show just like what happened with kath and kim.

    @janey, we all heard that first report that 10 was outbidded by 7 for 1.3-1.4 made by a radio station. but that was specifically confirmed untrue the next day IIRC.

  7. Can’t wait to see Episode 1 of TGYH because I’m a big fan of Rhys Darby. I’ve been lucky enough to see Episode 2 & 3 already and thought they were very very strong. Hamish and Rob Carlton were great in 2 and Rebel Wilson is in 3 and is just intrinsically funny.

    It appears that this season is more ‘competitive’ in a way. Working Dog aren’t mucking around by putting stupid Channel 7 people on the show (i.e. no Kochie!) – they’re putting people who can really step up to the plate and play. I did watch a show live last season and I feel for the performers because they really have no time ot think about their answers at all and so have to be instantly funny which is extremely difficult. some of the performers are so good they make it look easy, but seriously it isn’t.

  8. David, $1.3 million is what was speculated by the media at the time of Seven stealing the show…apparently Ten’s last offer was $1 million per episode, and the next thing they knew Seven were announcing they had the show after making a huge offer.
    There is no way Seven can make a profit from TGYH, but I’m sure they will be very happy with the ratings.

  9. Luke you’re an idiot. If you like the show you like the show. Why is it “yuck” now when you haven’t even seen it on Seven yet. Absolutely nothing would have changed.

  10. how did u guys get your tickets? i have applied under 2 aliases 🙂 and nothing has come through. i did it about 2 weeks ago was that too late? i only ask because they are almost done filming and i haven’t got tix yet. and then i will be the only melbounian that didn’t go.

    anyway, fantastic show, can’t wait, there have been some great lineups in ’09 so far, hope 7 get their moneys worth in ratings.

  11. Jerome, TGYH may have cost Seven around 1.3 million per episode, but it doesn’t cost Working Dog anywhere near that much. I’m guessing they would pocket close to a million dollars per episode.
    It will be sad to see, but I’m sure Seven will have success as a result of Working Dog’s greed.
    dragonchik, I cannot imagine it would be possible to have any more freedom at Seven than they did at Ten. These guys seem like control freaks and I would imagine it would be in their contract to have absolute control over their show no matter which network paid the big bucks to telecast it.

  12. i am going to episode 8 next week, i’ll fill you in on the guests, can’t wait!

    by process of elimination i think i might get. gleeson, sampson, lawson or heusy

  13. i went to this episode, loved every minute of it, i sat behind tom glistner. i had a short conversatin with him he said that the move to 7 has changed nothing and that they have more freedom now which is what i was hoping to hear.

    every season of TGYH just gets better because there is always a pool of veterans is always expanding.

  14. i have been to 2 filmings, absolutely loved both. highly recommended to any anyone to get down to the showgrounds if you can for the last few episodes. you can tell where the $1mil goes, there are predrinks, showbags lots of entertainment. all free. the set looks exactly the same as last season only the blue door now leads to a passageway into the set instead of directly onto the set, and apparantly it is bigger.

    spoiler: cal wilson does an epic (probably the best i’ve seen) in episode 5 (well atleast it was filmed 5th) it’s the one where she is a psychic.

    also an add just aired with all of the veterans for the whole season doesn’t look like the network change has affected the guests at all. i saw tony martin, cal, Julia, hamish, merrik, peter rowsthorn, rhys, Lawson!!!, rebel, woodley anyone else list some more?

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