6PM without George Negus
Just ten days into his new show and already George Negus is absent from the host desk.
- Published by David Knox
- on
- Filed under News
“Good evening, I’m Hugh Riminton, George is taking a night off.”
Just ten days into his new show and already George Negus is absent from the host desk.
Last night Hugh Riminton hosted the show.
A TEN spokesperson told TV Tonight, “George will have alternate Fridays off. Hugh Riminton and Hamish MacDonald will regularly share anchoring duties on alternate Fridays when George Negus is on a day off and also when he is reporting from location.”
Nice contract, George.
Negus isn’t the only personality not to front every edition of his show. Chris Bath used to front Seven News for Ian Ross on Friday nights on Seven. Denise Drysdale isn’t contracted for all 5 daily shows of The Circle. ABC1’s Lateline has shared hosts. The team at The 7PM Project regularly draw upon guest presenters. And it’s very common with other breakfast shows.
But 6PM hasn’t yet established its audience, which makes such an early move all the more surprising. On Thursday it pulled just 398,000 viewers.
Meanwhile media are debating its success and fuelling speculation that shareholders have questioned the inclusion of so much overseas news (this has been denied by TEN). David Gyngell has told the Australian Financial Review the figures are lower than he expected. But TEN News Director reiterated to The Australian that, “This is alternative news programming pitched against the most established programs on television.
Ever-professional Riminton was perfectly smooth behind the desk last night.
What happened if viewers actually appreciate his style more than that of Negus?
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- Tagged with 6pm With George Negus, Lateline, Seven News, The 7pm Project, The Circle
45 Responses
Who can possibly replace George? Negus is synonymous with news. If George is telling it you know it’s true – with no spin. What happens now? No more of those stupid unrealistic, boring “reality” shows please! At least they make us turn the TV off so I ‘spose they do some good.
good by george,
I probably see Negus go the way of Hinch and Alan Jones live to the axe and replaced by either another soap or a US Teen Drama or a Comedy.
I’m surprised by the 6.30 news – it was sold to us as being a uniquely local bulletin but I can say in Adelaide we seem to get a small amount of local news. I’d hoped the new 6pm / 6.30 bulletins would be more like the pommy format – half hour national and international news followed by a purely local bulletin.
Everyone was singing George’s praises a couple of weeks ago and now suddenly, he’s really unpopular.
Hamish anchoring an Australian program. Let’s see if he’s grown up from ten years ago
Maybe have the 5pm News go to 6:30 and move George up a half hour as others have suggested? Hugh did well as fill in, I see no problem with Negus having a night off here and there, especially with the depth of talent in the ‘team 6’.
What was 10 thinking with George Negus?A better use for the time slot would have been another home grown Teen Drama or some up to the minute current American Sitcoms.
They should move this to 6.30 now, 6 pm is not a good time for it!
@ Scott – the US Stations usually do a local news at 5.30 or 6pm then the National News (like ABC World News Tonight or CBS Evening News – the one we’d see here) at 6.30 followed by an hour of syndicated programming at 7pm then the Network Sked from 8pm – 11pm, Local News at 11pm (except for Fox or CW affiliates which do local news at 10pm) hence the phrase “news at eleven” and then the late night shows
the major networks in the US have there nightly news on later at night than us dont they?
Who is home at 6pm? Apart from habit/tradition, why do the major broadcasters have news programming so early in the evening?
Reallying enjoying what of 6PM I’ve seen. The ‘less stories more depth’ approach has been great.
Found the daily coverage of the situation in Egypt very informative and insightful – Hamish MacDonald has been doing a fantastic job in such a dangerous situation.
As far as ratings go … because the show is less established it’s ratings have probably suffered during these times of disaster because people are turning to their familiar sources (i.e 7 and 9 news and Kochie + Mel) for information. Like 7PM this great show just needs to establish itself and find/attract a consistent audience.
The show won’t be going away, as it’s way cheaper than showing a Simpsons repeat. They’ll need to continue the show during the December 2011 – Janauary 2012 summer recess and Hugh would be good to take over for 2 months. Negus could do the show for 3 years and Hugh could take over.
Its going to be hard for TEN to do well in the 6-7pm timeslot, purely because 7 and 9 have established themselves well in that hour ratings wise. I dont know.. too much news for TEN.
I am not normally home at that time of night but I can’t help thinking Had Ten actually succeeded with that short lived Taken Out and put some fresher Simpsons On from about the 2006/07 season onwards That they would not be in this mess today and need more News or in this Case George Negus at 6pm as filler.I think they have forgotten not all of us have pay TV or a set top box for alternatives.This would have to be the dumbest thing ever since Ten dropped their 4:30pm Kids Show for Bold and the Beautiful in the nineties.
I am enjoying 6PM with George Negus very much its a great new show to set it apart from the crap that 7 and 9 dish up. George offers a very insightful and thought provoking look at the news unlike 9 and 7 which are not journalistic shows at all and are aimed at the lowest common denominator.
I’m not too sure that overseas news really fits Ten. I think it’s a little overwhelming trying to delve into world affairs. For example, Hamish MacDonald’s first story for the program about those teenage female suicide bombers was a little strange, I think, to be screening on Ten. It’s more suited for ABC and SBS.
I hope this pays off for Ten in the long run (like The 7PM Project has). It will take time for people to switch over from the trash that Seven and Nine has. I didn’t watch it last night, but have watched it occasionally when I am at home.
Are 7 News and 9 News housed in the same building’s as their trash magazines? Well done to 10 for doing this – just look how long it took for the 7PM Project, now it is smashing H&A and 2 and a half men. 7 & 9 would kill for this program and its demos, anything 10 get between 6-7 to disrupt the market is a bonus!