No axe, but Hey Hey pauses early
Hey Hey will end its first block of episodes on July 21, shy of the August conclusion that was last confirmed. Rumours are running amok.
- Published by David Knox
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Hey Hey it’s Saturday will end its first block of episodes on July 21st, the week that Kylie Minogue makes an appearance.
It is believed to be three weeks short of the run that was last confirmed as ending in August -however that was extended from its initial block of 10.
Some early News Limited reports claimed the show had been axed by Nine, but it will return with seven more episodes later in the year.
The show has struggled against the competition, especially MasterChef‘s powerful Wednesday challenges. Last week it was just 801,000. Even Funniest Home Videos pulled a bigger crowd on Saturday night -the destination many diehard fans want reinstated.
Outside of Melbourne the show has some real audience headaches, and it has come under fire by many media commentators for its hokey style. Some are suggesting it may not return at all.
But many fans are happy to see nostalgia relived. Hey Hey is now a show that divides the audience. Paying its way is the real challenge.
“Daryl and the Hey Hey team have done a terrific job with the show in a really competitive environment,” Michael Healy, Nine Network Programming Director said.
“We always planned for the season to be in two bursts at the beginning and end of the year and it is a great tribute to the team that they have secured Kylie Minogue, one of Australia’s most outstanding performers, to appear on the final show for the first half run.”
“Negotiations for an exclusive Kylie edition of the show started back in early March so we are thrilled it’s finally happening,” Daryl Somers said. “It’s a great way to finish our first season before we recess and plan for the second half.”
Talk that the show should return to Saturdays continues….
58 Responses
l did not get a modem telephone software with my TV ducko
There is a panel for each one of the 5 metropolitan markets, comprising a total of 3035 homes (Sydney 765, Melbourne 705, Brisbane 615, Adelaide 475 and Perth 475) and a reporting panel for the National Subscription TV market comprised of 1,200 Subscription TV homes drawn from the metropolitan and regional TAM services.
Once a household has been recruited, all television sets are monitored by the meter system. The meter records and stores time, date, television set on/off, channel to which each television set is tuned, capturing all broadcast viewing. All residents and guests register their television usage using a remote control.
Every night the data is retrieved automatically via modem telephone software (silent phone call). The production system performs the collection, processing, validation, weighting and final production of each household’s data.
Once the production processes have been completed, the television program information and ratings are integrated. All data undergoes rigorous quality control both electronically and manually. All results are released the following morning and the data is made available to our subscribers via a secure website.
“Hey Hey” might have stood a better chance if it was shown on Saturday and AFHV was moved to Sundays.
If people wanted HHIS, they would turn after MC. Obviously people want MC and not HHIS. Or they jsu want to have HHIS like it is 1999. not 2010
I find it interesting that 9, who chop-and-change everything, sometimes after just 1 episode, kept HHIS on opposite Masterchef for so long. Sure, it’s not rating as well as we all would have hoped, but to me, that says that the didn’t have anything better to put in its place. I think HHIS’s ratings were actually pretty good given the competition, but agree that it would do much better if – shock horror – it were to actually air on a Saturday!
Funny how contracts are negotiated Daryl wanted 20 Eps and Saturdays, Nine wanted 10 Eps and Wednesdays … both got part of what each other wanted but at each others detriment.
Now Daryl wins getting both 20 Eps and Saturdays.
This will happen as the payout Nine would have to pay is to costly in this climate its not the rich 80’s Packer era.
Stay Tuned….
Jerome, Kylie is a massive coup. She has not performed on a show like this in Oz for over 10 years. It will be a ratings smash.
I agree with the others this should have aired on Saturdays. Anything up against Masterchef is doomed!
Put it on a Saturday and it won’t get the axe. Bleeding simple.
Whilst I have done many a post on this subject, I would like to state that I’m a fan of variety shows and do believe that such shows are important.
What has made me so upset about Hey Hey is its refusal to let go of the past and update itself for a new generation. To adapt is to survive and I genuinely believe that had Hey Hey made a good effort in bringing a fresh approach to its old format then the ratings may have reflected this.
Sadly it really hasn’t made much of an effort at all and has just rested on the laurels of what came before.
We all live in a democracy and I don’t apologise for my opinions however I’m happy to hear thoughts of those that like the show.
But seriously the ratings have slowly but surely sank over this year and if Hey Hey doesn’t make the changes needed then it will not return.
I could only hope that its demise won’t spell the end of variety shows for – as we all know – variety is the spice of life!
For such an expensive show, it would have to rate its pants off to survive on a Saturday. That’s precisely why this show was axed in the first place! What about a tighter format 1 or 1 1/2 hour show?
Other variety shows have done respectable numbers against MasterChef – so it’s a poor excuse to blame them! We’re not seeing massive swings in Hey Hey’s second hour which isn’t up against MC.
Nostalgia won’t last forever. Serving up the same dish every week you quickly get sick of it.
Bring back the mega-talented Bwian Mannix!
Please, God, dig a big hole and bury it!
Let the people who watch Hey Hey have Hey Hey, I hate it when a show I like gets canned/taken off, so let the 800-900K who watch it have it.
Australia’s Funniest Home Videos hovers around the 1 million mark most weeks, the movie after usually drops to the 500-600k mark, if Hey Hey held it’s ratings at 7.30pm Saturday Night after AFHV’s, then Nine would be ahead (and I’m sure they’d have a similar audience).
Replace Daryl and the show may have legs. Otherwise it’s doomed.
And will John Jackson please have a look at the Oztam website – you may then understand how ratings work?
Hey Hey it’s aTurdDay.
Please kill this dead dog!!!
One thing Daryl said as a reason for not returning on a Saturday was, it’s much easier to secure artists during the week … But, are we forgetting that a lot of old Hey Hey shows were actually recorded on (I think Thursdays) any way, then shown on the Saturday. They could do this, as the Live element isn’t too critical with it. Just a thought !!
Lets hope it is good riddance to bad rubbish!
Axing is too good for this show. Let it have a slow and painful death.
Just give it the boot already. Its decades out of touch with Australian audiences and the only reason people tuned into those reunion specials was because it was just that. I dont care what the show is against but people dont want to watch it anymore, plain and simple!
is kylie that big of a scoop? her single is not doing very well in the charts after only 3 weeks she’s at #30 she’s not as popular as she once was. i think usher and kelly rowland were more likely to affect the ratings.
Daryl has made Hey Hey’s future clear in the interview with 3AW.
3aw.com.au/blogs/3aw-breakfast-blog/hey-hey-back-to-saturday/20100702-zr8g.html
The people have voted with their feet and Nine is getting the response they deserve. Nine needs variety and comedy – so they better just get on with creating a few new opportunities and taking some risks. There’s also a whole sector of the audience they always forget – women. In the history of the Nine Network has there ever been a female programmer? How can they change the culture in there and avoid these kind of monumental mistakes?
I think they should try it on a Saturday for the second half and use the break to give it a freshen up and have a red hot go of it. We need at least one variety type show in Australia.
Well look at Hey Hey’s ratings when Masterchef wasn’t on…
Week 16:
2nd with 1,521,000
only just beaten by The Pacific, but look at the slide that had.
Granted it should return to its old slot on Saturday. It would blow the ratings out of the water there.
For all those who diss Hey Hey, they obviously don’t have any idea of what real television is, Hey Hey is good clean family entertainment that everyone can sit down and watch. I think it is all about ratings, which brings me to the question, can we really trust what the ratings say, are they accurate? A better system is needed in my opinion. Hey Hey the other week averaged under 1mil, but peaked to 1.4mil.
So how is that bad?
Good on you Daryl for trying hard to keep it on air. You are a legend.
Agree with you there Bass, seeing PJ Lane and Matt Newton host it would be great, have sons of showbiz legends have a go.
The Hey Hey format is very tired – where’s the innovation and updated segments? The show has been very lazy this year which has been reflected in the dwindling ratings.
It should have been updated with fewer specials shown through the year. Sadly with 20 eps they have run the goodwill from the 2009 specials to the ground.
It definately should have been kept on Saturday nights – if it was such a ratings powerhouse at 6.30 on Saturday nights for a dozen years then why not now??
Hopefully its fans will come here and defend it and tell me they’ve been watching every single episode this year – I’d be keen to see why so many of them have been watching it and yet the ratings have been so appalling….