The 7PM Project
Format, format, format. Aiming for a middle ground between humour and news, so far TEN's new show ends up missing both.
- Published by David Knox
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- Filed under Programming, Reviews
There was a moment at the end of Tuesday night’s 7PM Project when Shaun Micallef raced through the set to tell Charlie Pickering to hurry up and get to Talkin’ ‘Bout Your Generation. I tried to yell out “Wait! Stay!” to Micallef but in a flash he was gone….
It was a fleeting reminder, in television fantasies, of what might have been. How ironic that Micallef had also previously presented news but not as we know it, on SBS’ wry NEWStopia.
It’s now been a week with TEN’s newest baby and there has been much debate about how it has performed. On this site alone it has generated more comment than any single topic (ratings excluded). That shows awareness and engagement with the product. It would be far worse if nobody had an opinion. Some critics scored its first night a Pass, just. In fairness to the show, I’ve held off comment until it had a week in the bag.
On the positives, TEN was right to try something new. Hit reality shows notwithstanding, the timeslot has been a dog for too long. It was even right to try a genre such as this. The news premise is worthwhile (more on the execution shortly). The set looks bright and lively, the live element adds a sense of danger and, individually at least, the cast are appealing.
On the negatives, it’s format, format, format. This show doesn’t know what it is yet. It’s attempted to be bold by saying it will present news irreverently. But it isn’t working well enough yet as either a news and information show, or as light entertainment. Aiming for a middle ground, so far it ends up missing both.
Central to this is a desire to cram so much information into its 30 minutes, causing news item to arrive as a mere headline accompanied by a punchline. Suggestions that the show will go behind the news or provide some analysis, even comedic analysis, are yet to be realised. On Friday a cross to the premiere of Balibo lasted 50 seconds. An interview with Tony Moclair lasted 90 seconds. Putting less on the running sheet would allow more food for thought, unless this is a smokescreen to disguise the possibility the team has little depth to offer (none of which would be their fault, they are hardly experts on these subjects).
The hierarchy of news items is also questionable. On Thursday the Miss Australia winner ranked higher than the charging of a mother over the murder of her disabled son. On Friday the third news story of the day was a possible 5c rise in stamps. And for a team that promises to talk about the serious news it already shows a habit of avoiding many sensitive issues. One internet bullying subject was tackled, with Ruby Rose talking about her high school experiences and advice from Dave Hughes to “Just don’t do it.” Hiring a News Editor in journalism could address some of these points.
The live element has kept the team on their toes. It’s been a week distinguished by shaky cameras, presenters not knowing which camera to address, talking over one another, pregnant pauses, vision switching issues and three network cross promotions. Nine’s THIS afternoon showed just how difficult it is to talk about news events and so far The 7PM Project demonstrates it is yet to show the way forward.
The casting of the five personalities is yet to prove diverse enough to warrant a nightly conversation with the audience. Unlike the robust debates on Q & A, there is little black and white here. Dave Hughes is a funny guy, Charlie Pickering is a likable guy, but so far there isn’t enough to justify why their opinions, or those of the other cast, warrant a nightly visit.
Bickmore’s sing-song voice-overs accompanying video packages are too light and too identified with Rove, undermining her television shift as a serious newsreader. There is a reason female newsreaders have an Alto vocal range -to add gravitas.
It is hard not to compare the show with TEN’s former Panel, which similarly borrowed many elements from radio. That show benefitted not just from a later, weekly and longer slot but also a thoughtful discussion that took time to smell the roses. 7PM could do a lot worse than read all the news headlines at the top of the show then work out which ones it was going to dissect for the remainder of its airtime with some insight. Radio does it all the time.
That said, TEN should stick with the show, even with some lowly figures. It’s still a good idea if it is allowed some fine-tuning and addresses its news make-up with more conviction.
The 7PM Project airs weeknights on TEN.
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- Tagged with Newstopia, Q&A, Rove, Talkin 'Bout Your Generation, The 7pm Project, The Panel, This Afternoon
72 Responses
This show is getting better! It’s a nice wind-down after work. I like it!
Brett, your comment is pure gold! “Lesbian says shes a lesbian for some reason” – hilarious!
Good analysis, not really sure what I think of this show at the moment. Probably nothing good!
I have to strongly disgaree that the ‘set looks bright and lively’, I find it one of the most distracting things on the show, not to mention the fact it is too similar to Rove and 5th Grader. Roving entreprises needs to go buy some books / magazines and get some new ideas!
I watched this for 5 mins the other day and they had some fat chick on a Skype call who explained how her boyfriend dumped her because she was fat. It was the most awkward TV interview I have ever seen. Epic fail.
Australia is burnt out on Roving Enterprise’s formula for television….too much reliance on a core group of comedians (most of which are mildly funny), similar production values on each show….no room for real improv, hosts that freak if guests seem to veer into another direction off script.
It’s time for another production company to step up and refresh our flagging live TV scene.
We are a country that produced Graham Kennedy, Hey Hey It’s Saturday…etc. etc. so it’s not impossible.
Great discussion and I do agree that the programme shows potential. I personally think that it is suffering (as most new shows on the commercial networks) from overhype. How about letting some new shows grow organically, not scream “This Is Gonna Be Fantastic” from the get-go.
I also agree, that the stories are way too short. It seems pointless even having guests on as they get 3 words out and it’s “Thankyou for coming” and they’re away.
I also agree that one of the main problems of the show is the ‘Carrie at the the newsdesk’ similarity which doesn’t work. Also, why is Ruby advertised as one of the team if she is absent from the desk or in-between shooting for Pay-TV. Her inclusion is obviously a generational grab, however again this doesn’t work.
Hopefully, as a lot of you have said, I would like Channel 10 to give it a chance to find it’s place as I too dislike Home & Away and detest Two And A half Men’.
A lesson for all networks should be don’t overhype as it results in shows getting canned after a few episodes.
Incidentally, isn’t it amazing how many comments there have been on this and the first 7pm Project thread! There must have been hundreds. I’ve been reading TV Tonight for ages and have never commented till now.
I think most of us were hoping the show would be good – we’re obviously bleeding for something topical, funny and intelligent and have all been disappointed to vary degrees by the dross this show has churned out.
Pity, isn’t it?
Welcome to the convo!
I agree with Rufus – light news only – steer clear of heavy or sensitive topics where “punchlines” are inappropriate. I find the shift between a serious news article and an amusing one quite uncomfortable. It is hard to laugh at something when the previous item was quite a sad one (the return of the body of Australians killed overseas for example).
Stick to light news & entertainment or even consumer news stories. I watch the news, read the paper, check the internet and listen to talk-back radio for my news.
I totally agree they are trying to fit way too much into 30 mins. Maybe an hour could work better, trying it over summer could be interesting.
James Mathison I find irritating. Waving a knife in front of some kids (Masterchef’s Julie cooking at viewers home episode), there’s nothing funny about that! Apparently to him being funny simply involves yelling at someone. Ruby Rose didn’t seem to offer much either, her ‘interview’ technique left me cold, mind you trying to ask anything insightful in 90 odd seconds is a big ask.
They do need to decide what sort of show they want to be. I hope it does succeed, 7pm has always been a bit of a non event time slot for me. I’m not a soapie viewer, or a Simpson’s fan, so a humerous look at current events really does interest me, just stop trying to cram so much into 30 mins!
no matter what they do it’s never going to work. the population in australia is too small to support good discussion in a commercial fta show. no one wants to screw up their potential future revenue by saying something some viewers might disagree with an miss out on a future job. this show should have been closer to politically incorrect with bill maher – one host, 3-4 rotating guests, 2-3 issues a night. but again that’s too ambitious because no one wants to say anything that might offend.
Ruby Rose is a lesbian!
If you didn’t know i’m sure she’ll tell you.
I think it has potential, but like David said, they are just cramming far too much stuff in it. If I have a headache after watching it, I can only imagine how tough it must be for the hosts and producers. There’s a bit I saw when they did an ‘around the states’ thing which had 5 or so comedians doing gags from the major cities. Some of them were pretty funny, but ultimately it was far too much crammed into far too little time.
Also I don’t think there’s anything wrong with them just making it a light news/ comedy show. If there’s a mass murder or stories of war, I’m not going to tune into the 7pm project, I’ll watch ABC News. But if I want to watch someone poking fun at a political gaffe or Hollywood gossip, then the 7pm project might be something I would consider. If that means dropping the awkward news headlines stuff, then so be it. Just have more open discussion, and more time for it.
I think it is too early to point the finger at the talent. The format needs to be fixed first, before we start saying get rid of the hosts.
I think I agree with Ruth, Wil Anderson would be a good host for a show like this. But then you could probably just swap out Carrie for Corinne Grant and it’d just The Glass House on Channel 10…
Would like to see Akmal hosting this show…. that’ll be great! =)
I’m laughing already =P
I gave up on it after the second show…. I’ve gone back to watching ABC 7pm news.
I keep hearing that Masterchef started off slowly. Well, obviously Masterchef was a different program that caught the imagination of the public. The 7pm Project is a bad copy of a very successful program on TEN, The Panel, that they are trying to run 5 days a week. TEN lost Working Dog to 7 and think Rove has all the answers to their problems. Wrong. The program is not working for a number of reasons and in a few weeks/months time I for one won’t be surprised when it is axed. Plus, where is any new talent on commercial TV in Australia? Surely they could’ve come up with at least 1 new comedic talent on the program. Although they’d never give it publicly, I’d like to hear the professional view of the Working Dog group on the 7pm Project.
As many a producer has said, “why do I care?” And so far, I haven’t found anything in this show to care about. Give me a reason Ten!!
If Channel 9 still had Temptation or some other game show at 7pm I would happily tune into that or Home and Away over at Seven instead of things like this.
Does anyone here remember the days of Alan Jones Live That thing was gone within months and since that time with a few exceptions we have relied on old American Long Dead Sitcoms for Channel 10’s 7pm offering.
Great review David. 🙂
After a week of the show, I still believe that as time progresses the show will naturally weave itself into its wanted format and work. Perhaps they should’ve had more rehearsal time? Or maybe have a longer show to fit everything in? I think an hour-long show would be better because then we could actually see some propper conversations about news issues, and maybe interact with the audience a bit, ala Q&A.
I reckon this could work for TEN:
5:00PM: TEN News at Five / 6:00PM: Neighbours / 6:30PM: Out of the Blue (replay it from its first ep and if it works get more eps made!) / 7:00PM: 7PM Project
8:00PM: Whatever comes after 7PM Project for the night.
Having the show run longer gives them time to have longer interviews and actually make full use of the amount of hosts and correspondents they have.
Of course what I suggested above TEN would only really want to try over summer. 😛 And they don’t really need to worry about truckloads of people already having seen Out of the Blue since it only attracts 250-300k each week. And on Sundays TEN can do a longer news bulletin instead of the short amount of news they subject us to, as well as propping up Simpsons ratings a bit. 😉
I agree with how you have interpreted the first week. I think as someone who has watched Rove it is hard to take Carrie Bickmore seriously. I’m constantly waiting for the punchline. I think they need to get someone else to do the voiceovers, or vise versa. I don’t mind Dave and Charlie, but they definately need to work out what they are trying to achieve and not to put so much into an episode. Do all the stories then chat. I will stick with it, but it does need some tweaking. I hope it succeeds and finds its feet.
I’ll probably be shouted down but I reckon Will Anderson should be at the helm.
I know lots of folks don’t like him, however he is very clever and articulate and could be the savior of this show.
BTW this show is far too Rove……ugh
Right on David..I think Pickering should lose the beard.It always puts a barrier between the viewers and the wearer.The segments should be longer..and for heavens sake..employ some script writers….
Spot on Blogger!
I think less topics more discussion on each, better panel (enlarged), warmer softer set = good
Micalef = Absalute winner. I bet they are offering him the gig right now.
Sorry Mam, hes just too good!
Agree Entirely David. Much about the wanting to be “not as you know it”. They do order the stories differently and they do try and do too much for a good discussion to take place and shows it as punch lines which is why I liked “The Panel”. I really have hope for the kinks to be ironed out because they did find a point of difference for that time slot.
For this programme to work cohesively, it needs to be an hour long.