★★★★★ 0/5

TEN Evening News: your reviews

It's a mass review task as TV Tonight readers review each of the state-based 6:30 bulletins from TEN.

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From tonight TEN will roll out state-based Evening News bulletins at 6:30pm with different presenters in each city.

So TV Tonight wants opinions on how each of them fared.

There’s nothing like the internet for pooling together resources. Tell the rest of us how the bulletin performed in your state: presenter, technical, story mix, live crosses, did it tell you much the national 5pm report didn’t, did the set differ at all? Include a brief comment on 6PM with George Negus if you like.

And how many stars out of 5?

Please note your city / presenter at the top of your Review.

Try to stick to around 200 words.

This post will open for Comments from 7pm AEDT.

48 Responses

  1. Adelaide:

    5pm news:
    I don’t like the new set. Too distracting with tv screens in the background and people moving around. Belinda Heggin is good, but i do miss George Donikian. Mark Aiston is still sports presenter and is still terrible, they really need to find a replacement. Few audio problems both with this and 6.30 bulletin.

    6PM with George Negus. Really enjoyed this. He’s a great host, the stories were great, reporters were great, interviews were great. Set looked massive, more than needed. My problem with the show is that i think it should be at 6.30. I like to switch over to 7 News at 6 because i like the whole team there and offers a different source of news. So i’d really like this show to be at 6.30 as it offers a more intelligent view than Today Tonight and ACA and will give people something else to watch.

    6.30 News. I like Rebecca Morse, but i just think this whole bulletin is pointless. It was basically the same stories as the 5pm bulletin, and i thought local meant, SA but there were interstate stories too, the same as we saw at 5pm.

    Unfortunately once again there’s nothing to watch at 6.30 because i think the 6.30 Evening news is not worth it, and while i liked 6PM i think i’d rather switch to Seven news still. Sorry George. Hopefully they move it to 6.30, dunno if other people agree.

  2. ditch the beeps over the news theme. It’s out of place. It sounds dodgy like someone’s literally just got the existing news theme and pasted some beeps over it. I know beeps are very BBC and very news-y but it has to have a theme behind it that matches. Other than that from the snippets I’ve seen I think it’s a good start. Great to have Mal Walden at 6.30.

    I didn’t see any of 6PM. Will try to catch it tomorrow

  3. Sydney: I thought the evening news would be the weakest link in the line up and I found it the opposite. Sandra was everything you’d expect from her but the rest of production also hit the mark. Good stories, graphics and timing. Well done Ten! 5/5
    6pm wasn’t perfect and I think George will need another show or two to settle in and the producers will also need to work out how to weight the show. 3.5/5 for tonight but 5/5 for potential.

  4. NSW – Sandra
    Love it all, except for the annoying “beeps” in the theme music. Also what’s with the need for motion in the graphics on/off? Why do it just because you can. Just fade in/fade out. Don’t start the Asian/Nine effects. Sandra needs a live backdrop. “6pm” was like a mini “Dateline”. Great. Hope they can maintain the 5/5 content. Perfect glitch-free presentation for the full 2.5 hrs, as far as I could detect. No mean feat. Congrats all. Well done. Sorry, Seven/Prime. Lost our household 6-7pm.

  5. If the 5 score is broken down into 5 parts being something like:

    1-Content (News reported on)
    2-Appearance (Graphics)
    3-Presentation (Presenter)
    4-Theme (News Music)
    5-Set (Background)

    For Melbourne

    5pm-Content stayed much the same as usual with even less live crosses than seen before.
    Graphics are the shining light, nice effect but simple at the same time. Like the OTS.
    Helen Kapalos always comes out on top, but George stuffed up his first read and will continue to do so no doubt.
    The news theme is possibly the worst ever. Practically just played the old mangled up with some bbc mash up.
    The set has been tweaked and although it isn’t bad, its far from great.
    The Melbourne bulletin gets 2/5 from me.

    6pm-Content good besides the appallingly embarrsing interview with PM Gillard.
    Appearance pretty sweet. New age, a 6pm 7pm project if you like when it comes to graphics.
    George Negus maybe tried a little to hard but thats a positive outcome.
    Theme is passable, nothing spectacular but not noticably bad or underwhelming.
    The set is as good as anybody could expect!
    6pm with George Negus gets 3.5/5 from me.

    6:30pm-Lacked Victorian content that was heavily pushed during promotion.
    Graphics equivalent to 5pm.
    Mal Walden as presenter is ace and can hardly put a foot wrong. Even when he does it is funny.
    Well we all know how I feel about the theme!
    The set although perfect nice for a half hour bulletin doesn’t do it justice with a blurry blue backdrop and Mal and Steven almost in each others laps.
    Ten Evening News gets 2.5/5 from me.

    Equates to 8/15 for the overall overhaul!

  6. Melbourne
    Too many promos of each bulletin. I’d go 5pm promo’s 6pm, 6pm promo’s evening news & evening news promo’s 7pm. Just do each news promo once not 2 or 3 times.

    The 5pm news is been there for all most 20 years & is a staple. I gave it 4.5/5. The opening theme surpassed most other themes such as nine’s cool hand luke & seven’s theme that has gone on for 6 years with only a graphics change in 2010. Made it feel very much like I was watching news. The only problem is the blue background. It looks a bit like an ice bar.

    6pm is hitting new ground and could see the compeditors like nine, seven & the ABC out of the mix. I gave it 5/5. I felt it was a re-worked version of Dateline with George Negus. He was very rivetting and straight to the point!

    The evening news was very much like a syncronized version of the 5pm. I gave it 4.5/5. I did like Mal in this for experiance. But the winning difference is time [6:30] & the fact A Current Affairs shows a more tabloid than actual ‘Current Affairs’.

  7. Melbourne – Mal Waldon

    Was great to have Mal back again, although it was just like i was watching the 5pm news again. needs to be more about just Melbourne and Victoria not national because this is what i was expecting. 3/5

    6pm was a total let down to me. will prob switch over to 7news like normal. 2/5

    Would rather have Helen do the news on her own. 4/5

  8. Melbourne:
    The flow-on from show-to-show was great. The ‘new’ TENnews themesong is terrible though – preferred the old one a lot more. And there is a bit too much blue in every set, and the blues are excessively bright as well. Will be interesting to see how the ratings go over the next few days, and also months.

  9. Brisbane / Bill McDonald

    Overall, I really liked the structure of the evening news. It felt exactly like they had advertised with Bill saying on the promos “We make Queensland the focus with the stories that affect you the most.” Of course, stories included the floods, but also included a story on the return of kids to school. There was a story on a Brisbane court case as well. It felt more in-depth than the 5pm news which I think is what it should do and I like the idea of Bill standing up the entire time (one of the only things that I have liked about Seven’s Today Tonight).

    6pm was really good. Really liked the theme and I liked that George hosted the show in a different manner to what Matt White and Tracy Grimshaw do on ACA and TT.

    One thing that people might underestimate is that I think viewers like to stay on the same channel for as long as possible, so now that viewers are able to comfortably stay on Ten for two and a half hours, it should work in the channel’s favour.

    5pm News: 4/5
    6pm: 4/5
    6:30 Evening News: 4.5/5

  10. @ Riley

    I also heard the “new” theme music at 5pm and was not impressed! It’s like a mangled up version of their old theme… Unfortunately can’t rate 6pm or 6.30 as i just caught the start of the 5pm before I had to go to work. I’m sure I would have liked George though 🙂

  11. Brisbane – Bill McDonald
    6PM was okay, they were definitely in-depth but found it boring, and Geroge looked like a bit of a loner in that massive studio, either give Geroge a friend or don’t make the space around him seem so empty… 2/5
    The Evening News was okay, all it was was a condensed version of the 5pm news, nothing more, the stories were the same. Agree that Bill looked a bit awkward how he was standing at the edge of his little desk… 3/5
    It was a great lead-in to the 7pm Project, I hope it rates well over the next few weeks.

  12. Sydney – Sandra Sully
    Clean and nice set and of course, Sandra Sully. Great presenter as always and luckily Sydney has her. Also the new graphics is great!. 7/10

    Onto 6PM, it was (thank god) great. Hardly any fluff and the Muslim terrorist story they did was great especially with Hamish covering it. Nice of George at the end to say that suicide is against Islam law and not all Muslim do it. Nice to know they’re not milking it. 8/10

  13. sydney = Sandra
    no real point in watching both 5pm and the local news so will be sticking with the local version 4/5

    6pm 5/5
    excellent a great alternative to the 30 minutes of ads that 7 today tonight and 9 a current affair dish up only thing i would do would be to move the local news to 6pm and put 6pm on at 6;30pm but obvosuly with a different name so that it gives 7 and 9 competition

  14. Sydney:

    Sandra is the consumate professional. Great new set which differntiaties itself from 5pm in a very small space with three presentation angles. The stories were excellent. They led with an exculsive about state politics – so very local. Tim Webster great on sport. A no nonsense alternative at 6:30pm. If people find this bulletin they will drop that rubbish on seven and nine and their washing poweder road tests. 4.5/5

    6pm was brilliant. Great reports. Hugh Riminton was fantastic. George is conversational and not too staid. Hamish Macdonalds report on young suicide bombers was fantastic…you wouldn’t see that on ACA/TT. 4/5

  15. Sydney – Sandra Sully

    Sandra is always a favourite and the defiantly right choice by TEN. Few things I would like to see change:

    * Camera is too close to the presenter – needs a wide angle view to incorporate the desk (like when Sandra did the late night news)
    * Backdrop needs to be a live feed – its fake and wayyyyy too blue
    * the desk shape is all wrong….needs to be oval (like the 5pm and late night news has).
    * The new music, stop that annoying beeping throughout the theme – really annoying
    * Lower third graphics are way too high up on the screen – move ’em down Ten.

    All in all, very good job Sandra – well done!

  16. Brisbane

    Bill Macdonald looked awkward standing behind the little desk, which in its self looked a bit odd. The content was excellent and a great alternative to ACA/Today Tonight. The opening theme could really do without the BBC-esque pips and is horrible compared to the previous one. A better voice-over would also do nicely. Raiting = 4.5/5

    6PM was very disappointing. I was expecting more “news” as opposed to analysis of things that weren’t in the headlines of the day – eg. Hamas. Studio looked similar to Dateline in my view. Too many promos for the Evening News. Raiting = 2.5/5

  17. Sydney (Sandra Sully)

    It wasn’t too bad. It didn’t seem that different to regular 5pm news bulletin to me. That said, I like that it actually has real news so it’s still miles ahead of Today Tonight and ACA. I hate the new blue and grey graphics. It looks like Windows 98 so you can really tell they’re going for an older demo there. In terms of the new strategy, I was definitely feeling news fatigue. I doubt I will tune in for more than one bulletin in the future.

  18. Melbourne / Mal Walden

    I was expecting a Melbourne-specific bulletin with no national news items, given the way Ten had been promoting it but it ended up just a mini version of the 5pm news. Mal certainly is good as a solo host but I think it could be made more Melbourne-specific, to set it apart from the news on 7 and 9.
    3 / 5

    Really enjoyed 6pm with George Negus – very professional – almost like a mini version of 60 minutes. The news items were really well produced and certainly asked the “Why” question which the George Negus promoted the program as doing. Felt there could have been better flow between all the news stories however.
    4 / 5

  19. Melbourne

    I guess it was fine, but no reason to watch it if you’ve seen the 5pm news which I record anyway. Mal is awesome but Helen is almost as awesome plus the bonus of being sexy as hell, so I’ll stick to the 5pm show.

    6PM was really good, will definitely be watching that every night.

  20. Adelaide: Rebecca Morse (i think)

    Set is the news room in the background however a decorative wall and thinly framed plasma tv to the left of the screen. Quite dark set, looks good. The content and stories are as well done as the 5pm news. Not sure if it was the same footage, as I missed 5pm.

    I didn’t mind 6PM with George, however the set may have been too bright. He is very Australian with his conversations, somewhat off putting though. I don’t think the term “Sh*t Scared” is appropriate for a news story when said by the host. I am all for swearing, but time, place and appropriateness is important, especially in the news.

  21. Sydney

    Loved Ten’s new evening lineup. Great start!

    6PM has potential (and like 7pm Project will only improve over time) although more people joining George in-studio might be nice as he seems a little lonely there and also with his history of being a roving reporter probably a bit envious of speaking to all the reporters in-field. Nice touch of 7pm to cross to George for his opinion on the days issues, hope this continues!

    630 news was slick and tight. i Love sandra and it was great to see her in primetime. Also great to see her paired up with Tim Webster (Ten’s old brigade together again!) The set background was a very nice warm blue although possibly a bit too close up on Sandra. Great to have this alternative to the tabloid current affairs shows.

    Thumbs up Ten, keep faith and the viewers will come. I expect around 600-700k for launch night.

  22. Sydney: Sandra Sully

    Good bulletin. Sandra’s great. Can definitely see myself switching to Ten for my daily dose of news – 6pm with George followed by 6.30 with Sandra is a perfect well rounded dose of news – with the fluff and sensationalism of Nine and Seven cut out. Hopefully this will force Seven and Nine to lift their game.

  23. Very Early Days. I think the ‘blue’ is a bit too striking in the sets and tends to make the programs a bit washed out. The Evening News in Sydney seemed lacklustre.

    New look 5pm News – 4/5
    6PM – 3.5/5
    Evening News – 2/5

    Nick

  24. Melbourne – Mal Walden.

    Enjoyed this bulletin, although some stories were the same as those on the 5pm news.
    The set seemed the same, although that did create a sense of comfort.
    Also watched 6PM with George and really enjoyed that show.

    I really liked the linkage between 6PM, 6:30 Evening News & 7PM Project. During 6PM, Mal Walden gave 2 previews of what was coming up in the bulletin, then during the Evening News, Charlie gave a preview of what was happening during 7PM.
    Created a sense that it was just one big show, broken into different sections.

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