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Daryl: Hey Hey was never replaced

"We went out for 10 years and nothing replaced us," says Daryl Somers ahead of Hey Hey's return.

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Like the true Hey Hey fans, Daryl Somers is looking forward to his show returning to its rightful night of Saturday this weekend.

While it’s not at it’s traditional 6:30pm, few would begrudge the 7:30pm start it has been given.

The show’s biggest challenge this weekend will be the last ever hour of The Bill at 8:30pm. Even RocKwiz comes back with a new special at 9:20pm on SBS.

Somers tells News Limited that many presumed the show had been axed after it vanished off screen in July.

“I’m fighting that at the moment – people coming up to me and saying, ‘I thought the show had finished,’ ” he says. “It (the intention to do two seasons) got lost somewhere (in the reporting).

The 2010 season had always been intended to run in two blocks.

As wiih previous interviews, including TV Tonight, Somers insists the show won’t be changing (although there were also previous quotes that emphasized the differences, embracing Facebook and technological advances).

“We are going into this lot of shows not having to revolutionise the way we do it. The essence of the show is fun.

“The show was developed as a Saturday show . . . it’s a more relaxed slot for us.

“We went out for 10 years and nothing replaced us. There have been ample opportunities for something to replace us and it never happened.

“Hey Hey is still viable. I always thought it was viable and hence why we came back.”

Source: Daily Telegraph

27 Responses

  1. I like hhis. It’s something different than your cooking compitions etc. Sommers is ok. Bit annoying sometimes. But who isn’t? If people don;t like the show, why watch it? Seems pointless to me, people putting so much effort into a show they claim never to watch or even care about.

  2. So the bosses at Channel 9 put it on at 7:30pm where it will rate poorly unless Hey Hey can change it’s segments. Sticking to the original content will not lift it’s ratings.
    HHIS is only a fill in to keep the whingers happy. Channel 9 will put Rugby League (NRL) on well before Daryl Somers on a saturday night. Enjoy it till the ratings end mid November

  3. It Was replaced by shows of equally dire quality such as Skithouse, Big Brother, Yasmin’s Getting Married, Australia’s Got Talent et al. All excrutiating televisual experiences which sit comfortably with HHIS for classiness of content.

  5. For me the only faintly entertaining thing about HHIS is the kicking it gets on this blog! Some of you people are hilarious, if only you were writing gags for HHIS maybe it would have a chance as mainstream fodder.
    My two cents’ worth is that (from memory) lots of contestants on the show (in the ’80s) were old-age pensioner types. As those lovely old folks aren’t out dropping ecstasy tabs and going to raves on Saturday nights (like the contributors to this page evidently are) they’d be the target demographic, not us.
    My Grandma thinks Dazza is “a lovely boy”. So the show will live or die by their say-so, not ours.
    Finally, I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention that I’d far prefer Darryl if he were sealed in a box marked ‘Not For Public Consumption’.
    Dare to dream.

  6. Oh Darryl, bless your cotton socks, if only you could get to a point on air as quickly as your defense mechanism sparks up about the show.

    I don’t agree that Lavinia is forgettable, she is very natural on air (and doesn’t ramble aimlessly).

  7. Interesting comment Russell..
    TV’s evolved 30 years in the 10 years that Hey Hey’s been off the air.

    I doubt even Lily Srna could figure out ‘that’ equation… 😉

  8. Yes, the format is both viable And relevant.

    Unfortunately… Darryl is not. In fact, Lavinia is very forgettable, as is the new ‘wheel spin’ work experience girl that was absolutely appalling in her short minutes.

    Nine is drowning in it’s antiquated mentality.

    A new show with a fresh cast, some known, some unknown, and a network that will give it a couple of seasons to run it’s course (a-la-7pm Project) is where the real success will come I think.

  9. The ultimate PR man – when it was Wednesday, it was great to be on Wednesday, but now it’s Saturday, isn’t it great to be back on Saturday. Ugh!

  10. While I slammed Hey Hey to kingdom come when it was on air on Wednesdays a few months back, it’ll be interesting to see how it goes in its traditional timeslot – where it should have been in the first place.

    As for nothing replacing it – they tried that in 2000 with the Russell Gilbert Show – in its timeslot – and it failed miserably. I think tastes have changed over the last 10 years and the demand for such a show really wasn’t there – despite the supposed Facebook support group.

    Hopefully this time the ones who did join that group will actually watch and support it otherwise it won’t be back next year.

  12. As usual, Daryl is as defensive as ever and firmly entrenched in his thinking that he is a total legend. Tell him he’s dreaming. I predict HHIS Reincarnate will bomb. Audiences have moved on, it was a catastrophe on Wednesday nights and it will be just as yawn inducing on Saturdays.

  13. saturday movies are on the way out and networks need to start looking for alternatives. variety is a good place to start. but why HeyHey? the brand is close to worthless and because it is branded HeyHey it costs 9 a lot of dough for little return, i am all for trialling a saturday variety show but 9 would be better off starting from scratch with a format that theyare not a the mercy of Mr.Somers.

    @Ben, not everyone follows tv news as closely as visitors to this site do. people saw a catastrophicly rating garbage tv show, then it was gone. it wouln’t be too much of a strech to draw the conclusion that it was axed.

  14. I like to think of Daryl and Hey Hey with this analogy:

    A man works at a factory making shoes for 30 years. Sure, he did a great job making them and always put out good results. No complaints, and they were good quality shoes. Then the man took his long service leave that lasted 10 years. The man comes back to the company and assumes he’s going back to his old job only to find that the company now uses machines to do his role and that everything is computerized. The man says he just wants to work so he’ll do some light duties around the place and the company agrees. The man does his light duties – doing the dishes in the lunch room, a bit of filing, and organizing items in the stationary cupboard for the old and cranky Mr Peterson.
    After a few months of doing these light duties he again asks about his old job. So they give the man his own little mock production line that makes the man think he is making shoes for the company. He’s none the wiser and happily keeps doing his old duties as though the machines that replaced him never even existed. In reality he’s just piecing together old bits of leather, pipe cleaners, and the parts from a broken dustbuster. You see, the man’s eyes are failing and his mind left him long ago. He’s happy, the company is happy, and shoes continue to get made without flaw; in the next room by machines.

  15. @ Mia yep it sure did and Rove Live was plagued with low ratings throughout its entire run. We really haven’t seen the success that Hey Hey has had since it finished up 10 years ago.

  17. It’s not understandable to think it was axed because it was of the low ratings against the mid week stuff (e.g Masterchef).

    The show won’t be viable in the new year and I don’t see how Daryl can fight for a show that just doesn’t clear work in today’s market.

  19. Why did people think it was axed in July, how many times did Daryl say that they were coming back later in the year, like all the time! The last episode he said they were returning to Saturdays as well. And its been reported in nearly every article on here and in papers etc. Will it return after this season, well thats the question, but it was always definatly returning at the end of this year.

  22. In all honesty, the best place for Hey Hey going forward would be the 6:30 timeslot on a Saturday night, on GO!

    I think it would fit that niche perfectly.

  25. I like Hey Hey and I don’t mind Daryl but if the show is go long term at some point they need to re-think some elements. Like who the host is, due respect to Daryl but I think he’s a bit past it, its great to have the show back and he was great in the Re-Union shows but I think it’s time to say we want the show back but its time to make it fresh so that another 26 years worth of kids and adults can enjoy it.

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