Today’s surprise Saturday
Nine's sprang an unannounced Today show on Saturday and brings back late night news from tomorrow.
- Published by David Knox
- on
- Filed under News
The Today show aired a surprise Saturday edition yesterday, hosted by Leila McKinnon and Cameron Williams.
It went to air without any publicity from 7-9 am, one hour short of its Sunday edition.
We know that Nine makes last minute programming changes as it is, but this is taking it one step further.
The brekkie battle with Sunrise has been heating up, with the difference between the two shows getting slimmer and slimmer.
Meanwhile, the Sunday Telegraph reports Nine is planning to return late night news to 11:30pm hosted by Wendy Kingston and the late-morning news bulletin will run for an hour from 11am to noon, instead of half an hour. Both begin tomorrow.
A new one-hour 4:30pm edition will launch next month with Mark Ferguson and Andrew Daddo.
“We are committed to news and our corporate brand sits side by side with news,” CEO David Gyngell said.
“I think its important we show the community just how committed we are to that agenda.”
Source: Sunday Telegraph
35 Responses
I though seven wanted the Daddo’s? I really don’t see Andrew working with Mark at all! they are like chalk & cheese.. Mark had better on screen chemistry with Karl! lol
I doubt Seven will put a Saturday edition of Sunrise to compete with Nine’s Today.
Seven did a try out on the Saturday of the last Federal election with Sunrise and it turned out to be a ratings flop. Why throw good money after bad?
I know news is important, but is there really a need for 24/7 news??
It’s unlikely the Saturday Today experiment will work…but it’ll be interesting to see how this goes.
Andrew Daddo to host the new 4.30 show! The same Andrew Daddo who hosted Yum Cha! Did they not see Yum Cha?
Uhuh….. right ok will be interesting to see what Gyngell says at the end of the year when Seven are still winning in news.
I never watch Saturday morning TV it’s all kids shows and tweeny music, so I missed it *doh* Hubby and I are always complaining there’s nothing on for older folks on a Saturday so good on Nine for doing something about it, but please let us know its on next time!!!
I forgot to add, this show was such a last minute decision that the logo on the table still said ‘Today’ instead of ‘Today on Saturday.’ Their Sunday edition has it’s own logo as well. The sourced article “sunday telegraph’ is really well written as well.
Don’t worry folks – this is Ch9 we’re talking about. They’ll look at the ratings figures for the unannounced and unpromoted show, wonder why they were less than those for The Saddle Club and KidsWB, and bone it before next week.
Either that, or keep the Today on Saturday name but put it on at some random time after the Sunday Night movie…
I woke up yesterday morning and I had to check the calendar to see what day it was! Still, great news for Nine.
@ Kuttsywood,
Completely agree that Seven should definitely not drop Saturday Disney. maybe this Today on Saturday will improve SD’s ratings, as kids who watch Kids’ WB will switch to SD during 7 to 9am.
the thing is most people wont even know these new bulletins are on, as they are are not listed in any the of the guides: online, foxtel epg or print not even nine’s own yourtv site. nine really need to learn how to inform tv guides of programming changes and with enough notice.
Saturday Disney got 311k yestereday…with Today on Saturday not even cracking the top 30. I don’t think 7 will be dropping their toons any time soon.
although it is a good idea to have a saturday version of today, howo could they not advertise it, im sure it wasn’t decided at the last minute as it would have taken time to produce. great to see nine return to a late new bulletin, it’s ridiculous that out of 3 networks only one network (ten) has a late news bulletin.
@ Kuttyswood, you may be onto something – perhaps Nine is looking to pressure Seven’s long running Saturday Disney, I could imagine the deluge of blog traffic if Seven ever pulled the plug on it – but bigger sacred cows have been sleighed (Humphrey, Agro, Sunday)
Anything they can do to banish Sunrise the greatest pox on morning television since Kerri-anne Kennerly I’m supportive of, but also this reminds me of how the a few months back the US Fox Network ceased their Saturday morning kids programming calling it unviable
Good on them. I did not see Today on Saturday yesterday but would have been shocked if I did. Nightline’s return is also a surprise and will no doubt be a relief for viewers who want to see late news at 11:30pm.
Seven is now the commercial network with the least amount of news with 2 hours minus Sunrise and Today Tonight, Ten has 3 3/4 hour of news and Nine has 3 hours excluding Today and ACA.
Today Tonight’s lies have killed Seven’s news department causing me to avoid Seven for news and current affairs altogether so i would definitely like to see Nine back to number 1and Today Tonight to last place behind SBS.
I was really surprised about this Today on Saturday yesterday whilst surfing for Batman (the animated series). I thought I’ve overslept and woke up a day after !! But great show nevertheless.
Ten think about adding 30 mins to news so 9 does the same and 7 day Today
Shows how broke they are and not just of cash.
Really good to have kids watching adult news at 7am in place of some friendly cartoons too. Perhaps all animated series can have a finance report especially for 9 broadcasts
Good to see nine bring back the late night news, I was very disappointed when they axed nightline last year.
Good news about the, err, News 🙂 Nightline in a regular spot is a good thing, especially as it’s later than 10 Late news which is too early.
how sad if people want to watch one channel then that should be that dont go doing what 9 is doing
I guess it was a Secret Saturday edition…
or Kids WB is moving to the SD when it launches?
Seven would be gutless if they dropped Saturday Disney. The program turns twenty soon, but will Boland take the plunge?
Nine is just restoring its news coverage to where it was before the cuts of 2007-2008. The late night news (will it be called Nightline again?) should not have been axed last year.
Lets hope they do something about the news content if they are going to have longer news bullitens. Great about late news, I think that’s an important time especially for those who don’t get to see the news earlier. All this extra news time may improve their news exposure and drive people back at 6pm as well.
I didn’t know, wonder if anyone watched it?
More programming genius from Nine. Actually spend tens of thousands of dollars producing a show – and don’t tell anyone it’s on! Brilliant!
I now see why Nine wanted to sue IceTV. Obviously having people know when their shows are actually on would be detrimental to whatever wackadoo goal Nine’s programmers have.
So, ok. There is no Saturday edition of Today. Ever. Don’t tune in. Just let them produce it, air it to nobody, and then sit around asking each other “whatever did we do wrong?”
they totally screwed up my recording of the saddle club, i checked the EPG the night before and it was still listed, as you said there was zero notice of this change. completely unprofessional and i’m now considering giving up on the show altogether, i wasn’t that fussed on it to begin with, just something i watch and then delete so i may now save myself the time and not bother at all as i hate missing episodes of shows. get your act together 9.