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Has Getaway gone away?

Getaway is stripped back from 60 to 30 minutes, then screening on GEM. Are its days numbered?

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2011 hasn’t been a particularly strong one for Getaway.

It began the year stripped back from 60 to 30 minutes, paired with observational series RBT.

Three weeks ago new episodes began appearing on GEM on Friday nights (as a full hour) with RBT netting the 7:30 hour on Thursdays.

The show has been a staple of Nine’s since 1992 and regularly nominated at the Logies. It even survived the global travel panic of 9/11 and the recessio n. Now while the Aussie dollar is high, the show hasn’t been able to leverage off the upturn in overseas travel.

As The Great Outdoors knows very well, there comes a time when postcard shots on a pristine beach begin to look the same.

This is despite the show adding Kate Ceberano earlier this year, plus reports from Jennifer Hawkins.

But a Nine spokesperson told TV Tonight the show was still fulfilling its role.

“Getaway is still very much a part of Nine’s line-up, doing good number for us on a Saturday leading into News.
It’s also on GEM Friday nights at 7.30pm,” they said.

Earlier this year Director of Television Michael Healy also told TV Tonight, “It’s partnered now with RBT which is one of our big success stories from last year so we think it’ a great hour of television we’re offering up. I would be surprised if Getaway doesn’t flip back to an hour.

“Getaway is successful for us for many reasons. Our sales department love the show as well. It’s important we nurture it. It’s been on the schedule for a long time and it’s been very successful for us.”

36 Responses

  1. Always loved “Getaway”…..just because it has been on for many years doesn’t mean it is approaching a use By date. However the content really needs to be relevant and affordable to its viewing audience. So often we see the presenters luxuriating in some exotic and incredibly expensive resort/location which costs hundreds, often thousands of dollars per night which the great majority of the viewing audience can only ever dream of. Viewers love to put themselves into the story, they see themselves in that pool, on that tour, in eating that meal, sunbaking on that beach……until the program tells us the cost!!! This then serves to disappoint the audience and reach for the remote control!!.
    A fresh approach showing new and reasonably priced holiday destinations, still with that touch of luxury but affordable and accessible; maybe even visiting places we all know of but show them through a new lens so to speak.

  3. Getaway always had a spot, but I must say living in WIN territory we had a great show on Saturday arvos called Postcards Australia with Scott Macrae and it was excellent. fun well presented and they did lots that we could all afford to do…bring it back!!!

  4. It has a place as a 30min spot. The 1hour version needs to go away and stay away. Seasons 09 and 10 had a heap of filler in giving bogans a caravan and watching them be well bogany for 30 mins. 8 random strangers caravan over the US or wherever it was. I called it 9’s attempt at big brother the same boring oh does x and x get together.

  6. I’ve watched Getaway for many years and have been influenced to travel to many of the 30 countries I’ve been to. I’m not rich as I’m on an average wage, but love travelling and this is the only travel program on. There’s nothing of else interest on Thursday nights so it would seem that the ol’ DVD will rule if Getaway goes. I must admit the rubbish like the movie star’s comments (Adds for their movies) and other faux adds presented as stories have driven viewers away. However, going to a country, or city, that has been visited before will always have a new angle to present. However they need to be travel stories, not adds for local resorts people can’t afford to go to. Even if people can’t afford to go to a place now, they can hope & dream to go there in the future.

  9. Getaway has been ignored by the network for too long. all it needs is a bit of TLC. this probably means giving it a bit of a refresh as it seems to have lost its way. you never see the presenters say they don’t like a place – its always all smiles with too much overt sponsorship. Give us good stories from interesting presenters in great locataions and people will come back. After all, if channel 9 axes it – you can be sure that Channel 7 will snatch it straight away.

  10. @Menicci , its true what you say.I also miss Ben Dark he was quite the character.
    When he drove across the USA near Rozwell was quite good fun.The shows old now and they must spend so much money going to places and showing a few minutes of it.The disneyland so called special was a farce.3 Lots of 5 minute snippets and they didnt even go to DCA.Went there myself a few weeks ago,way better than a TV show with High Maintenance Catriona and Jennifer Hawkins.

  11. I really like Getaway and have watched it religiously for years now, ever since they showed a story on a place called Hallstatt in Austria that I became obsessed with seeing, and which I am now soon to visit for the fifth time! So I have them to thank for finding my favourite place in the world. However I think one of the problems that they have every week is the prices of the hotels they feature. I have never paid $500 for a night in a hotel room and I doubt I ever will, and I have no desire to go on a holiday to have a massage or foot spa. But we continuously see someone (possibly) naked, with a towel draped over them being oiled up. Then sitting in the spa with a glass of champagne! And sorry, but if Kate Ceberano was brought in to save it, she certainly wasn’t the medicine they were hoping for. For some reason she’s always irritated me. I say bring back Ben Dark, he was always good for a laugh, but then that won’t happen since he upset Golden Girl Catriona a while back and has been largely forgotten since.

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