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Dear James, seriously….

Dear James Warburton, welcome to your new job running my network....

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Dear James Warburton,

Welcome to your new job running my network.

My network I hear you say? Yes.

As a viewer, that’s the way I feel about my Television. It’s the way I feel about all of the channels I have watched for decades. TEN and I have been through a lot together (ask some long-standing employees about ‘pink custard’ and they’ll tell you what I mean). Execs are custodians. They come and go, but the viewer and the brand are a constant.

Last year I felt like TEN forgot about me as a viewer. It was a year of money over our relationship. TEN’s quest to shift from being a youthful network to a family network was confused by also wanting to be a news network. Goodbye Video Hits, AFL, so long Sandra Sully, The Simpsons and Neighbours got moved down the road. They destroyed Good News Week too, James. In came two and a half hours of News and Current Affairs, George Negus, Andrew Bolt. It was like they wanted me to be somebody else.

I was as sorry as everybody that Negus didn’t fire, but after 20 years of Neighbours and The Simpsons this was cultural shock. Square peg. Round hole.

They lost Hamish and Andy and then Big Brother. Rove is now on Foxtel. Shaun Micallef is doing a news comedy show for the ABC. Who was minding the shop?

Then they cloned MasterChef, a show we all cherished, into a copycat format and bugger me they went and insulted me on their biggest night of viewing by forcing me to watch The Renovators. After that genius move I really didn’t feel like watching Renovators again. And I may have taken out a little more angst by snubbing Junior MasterChef, which is a shame because the kids looked pretty talented. I just wasn’t in the mood.

They’ve replayed Modern Family so many times it’s hard to know what night has first-run episodes. Viewing should not be such hard work. Glee‘s been through the machine so many times its lost its ‘cool.’ Not sure how you can get it back.

Chrissie Swan and Ding Dong have left The Circle, dammit. What I hear of New Zealand’s Paul Henry does not encourage me (why must every breakfast show have a loose-cannon?) when you’ve got Hamish Macdonald sitting right under your nose. Hello?

Good luck with Ready Steady Cook if you decide to bring that back. Colin Lane is a nice bloke but I’ve never seen such a groundswell of disdain from readers against a host replacement (now 1270 comments and still climbing, a site record). Graham Norton was too, too fab on ABC. I don’t think he is the answer for Saturday nights, but then chopping and changing Fridays and Saturdays would be worse.

But let me be more positive.

I do like the sound of Brothers in Arms. I think I like Underground: The Julian Assange Story even more. All the signs for Young Talent Time look encouraging. Offspring has blossomed into a terrific vehicle. I’m sorry to see Rush go, but glad Your Gen is back. Puberty Blues has me intrigued, but I’ll reserve judgement on Reef Doctors. When Can of Worms comes back without Dicko, please ask Gretel if she is busy? Funny, smart, female -does commercial TV have any room for these?

I’ll be back for MasterChef, reservedly. Your launch will be crucial. I hope it has more Mystery Boxes and less Dalai Lamas. And can we please have some fair Immunity challenges? Sorry, The Biggest Loser doesn’t attract me. Never really has.

I’m looking forward to Homeland, I’ve heard great things. The Good Wife remains underrated. Hawaii Five-0 is overrated.

So what do I want to see on my Channel TEN under our reign?

A return to irreverent telly and bold ideas. Remember ‘Tuesday Night’s a Bitch?’ Remember that Celebrity Support Group promo with Shaun Micallef and Matt Preston? Remember when Sunday nights were about event viewing? And they used to be L-i-v-e. The Project must be one of the few Live shows you have now? There’s just not that much sense of danger. Did we all grow up and lose our edge?

Please return your 5pm news to one hour and offer me something at 6pm. You could do a lot worse than returning Neighbours from ELEVEN -it would get you Drama points, no? If it means ‘What plays on ELEVEN, stays on ELEVEN’ is broken, so be it. And must new Simpsons play against new Glee? I like both, James.

ONE sends out confused signals. Is it a sports channel? A bloke’s channel? It barely even registers with me as a viewing option. At least I understood what it was when it was 24/7 sports. I quite like the way ELEVEN has shaped up (American Horror Story could have become your new Supernatural had it been on TEN), but beware: viewers are grumbling about sitcoms reverting back to episodes they have already seen umpteen times. Have you seen what they did to GO!?

For all these ideas and notions (and you can take ’em or leave ’em, I am only one opinion), at the core of restoring your brand after Lachlan’s year of playing ‘bad cop’ is this: Local Drama.

We afford prestige to networks based on their success in on-going local Drama series. You can play all the watercooler Reality and US imports you like, but local drama gets you respect.

Finally, please limit timeslot changes, start shows on time with an accurate EPG, don’t oversell your shows in promos, stop recycling Back to the Future and show me a network that has a sense of fun again.

You’re looking after my network now, James.

I’m counting on you.

Cheers, David.

101 Responses

  2. Agree with everything you said david except the fact you don’t like the biggest loser! The biggest loser is such a great show, great viewing, great ideas for all. It’s not like dance where you watch a dance show and you learn nothng from it, the BL teaches you things about yourself while they are teaching contestants. It’s a more involved show.

  3. Here here David. That’s exactly what I feel they’ve done to me. It was my favorite channel but they really screwed me over and I’m sure they’re not finished.

  4. So many good shows on ten (Modern Family, NCIS, The Good Wife, Glee, American Horror Story, Ringer, White Collar, Terra Nova}.

    But I don’t watch any of them on ten.
    I also got lost with so many re-runs and new episodes only on once a blue moon.
    Take a lesson from Pay and learn how to keep to schedule, ten!

    Loved your letter David, except all reality shows can be binned as far as I’m concerned!

  7. Don’t forget New Girl.. one of the few shows I’m looking forward to..

    American Horror Story would never have worked on TEN.. it’s too clever for the mass audience that would rather watch Dog Patrol and endless repeats of TBBT

    Hamish and Andy were never really utilized by TEN. One off specials every few months didn’t cut. Agreed on Big Brother slipping through and what about SYTYCD? It only failed after they moved it from Sunday to Thursday!! Same with Modern Family… used to do huge numbers on the back of Tuesday Masterchef. Same with Glee on a Thursday night. TBYG never should have moved either..

    If The Circle manages to lose Yumi then it’s lights out for me. Gretel belongs on TV. Agreed on ELEVEN… bring back Simpsons and Neighbours.

    In closing.. I love Sandra however Deb Knight was the real victim in that whole News fiasco…

  8. Brilliant David. However, I have to disagree with more Australian drama’s as, if I remember correctly, you posted an article a couple of months ago that said Australians wanted more local content but not drama. I also agree with others who have said that the channel needs a complete rebrand which is a great idea.

  11. A well written and important article, David.

    Core branding seems to be a real problem for Ten across its three channels. Some short term initiatives that might help them would include; new logos, new interstitials, removal of the ‘seriously’ tagline which is terribly past its use by date and a complete refresh of the sets used for news and current affairs.

    I also feel that they need to re-think their news strategy. At the moment both Seven and Nine get reasonable ratings for their morning news (I use the term loosely), early evening news and current affairs (used even more loosely) programs. The ABC is a consistent quiet acheiver in the 7:00pm slot and ABC News 24 has also been increasing ratings quietly and consistently.

    With that current paradigm it does not seem possible for TEN to make an impact. It is already evident that their Breakfast will not be a success due to the crowded market and limited audience available and the Early Evening News and Project for 1.5 hours seems terribly wasted.

    On that basis I think TEN need to make some really hard decisions – either abandon news programming all together and reinject the funds into drama and comedy or limit their news exposure to the 5:00pm to 6:00pm block where they can and have made an impact. Two and a half hours of news in the early evening is completely unworkable. Toi compete they need to provide alternatives to what the other networks are showing not simply the same re-packaged footage and press packages.

    Would a network in the current environment have the courage to dispense with news broadcasting alltogether? It might be the best option available to them at the present time…

  12. Brilliant letter. Maybe you should write one to all the networks. I hardly watch Ten but if they put more effort into bringing quality shows then maybe I’ll find something to watch.

    I also have to agree with your comment about Hawaii Five-0 being overrated – they should have left well enough alone.

  13. A great letter, David, brilliantly written! Clear and concise, you covered every single issue regarding the Ten network in 2011 that I can think of.

    Agree with dturbo, I don’t understand why Mott is held in such high regard. Is he not responsible for the abysmal programming and scheduling decisions that were made last year or was he just a puppet with Murdoch pulling the strings? It wasn’t just one or two howlers, it was an almost constant stream of poor scheduling and ham-fisted desperate plays that merely indicated both a disconnect and disrespect for their audience.

    In seven years, channel 10 went from being my most-watched to sharing least-watched status with channel 9. I don’t think I’m alone there.

  14. The channel needs an absolute rebranding – new logo, new news sets, completely new programming. To me it doesnt make sense to make changes unless people actually realise changes are being made. Fixing little things here and there wont work as the public wont realise it. I will never forget Channel Seven rebranding on NYE a decade ago and we saw them shoot through the roof.

    Also agree that Hamish McDonald is so underutilised, hes our answer to Anderson Cooper.

  15. like.

    ONE confuses me also, some shows are interesting but most are old replayed discovery shows, it needs the NRL to return to form. I also like F1 coverage reminding me that ONE is acutally a sports channel.

  17. I agree with most of your points there except for Neighbours and news. Leave Neighbours where it is on Eleven. It’s the top rating show on multi channels and is a unique product that sets eleven out from the rest. I like my news and Ten does a decent job. I wish they would have local news on weekends.

    But overall David, a good view of what most people are thinking about ten these days.

  18. Completely agree with your sentiments. TEN has taken a slide the past year. It has been my favourite channel since the 90s when it played The Simpsons, X-Files and Seinfeld but has lost its way.

    David I’d love to see what recommendations you would make about 7 and 9.

  19. Channel 10 really needs a drama hit or two on their hands and that’s really all they need at least just one like what the others have got to start setting the record straight and get people to watch the network. The ratings for their dramas in the last 20 years has been nothing short of appalling and that really is something that needs to be addressed.

    I hope they reverse their decision and reinstate the production of Inside Out, that would have been an instant hit in the making, unlike the ones they have planned now which will just end up in the dust bin like all their others. Prisoner is still going strong after 30 years, constantly in the top 20 shows on Pay Tv and a modern day remake that is anything like the original would be just the ticket this channel needs. Launched on the back of Masterchef it would be a ratings powerhouse.

    Also very glad to hear there will be less reliance on renovation and reality shows so why not try something different, like an Australian made sitcom perhaps? When was the last time we had one of those!

  20. One more thing James, we, the consumers, are paying your exhorbitant salary and we expect value for money. Knowing Seven’s strategy and what’s in their larder isn’t much help in running a no-frills Network. The decision to give money to shareholders or spend it on programs should be a no-brainer. You’ve got a couple of years to turn TEN around, don’t let us down.

  21. Keep Ten News at Six!

    It is cheap. It will build. And in the multi-channel world, local news makes Ten stand out. Plus, they already have a strong brand in early evening local news – this builds on that.

    The other point about news at 6 is that Ten can really make it an under-50 news service, make it really stand out from the others.

    Also, The Project is at 6.30 – any programmer worth his salt knows that news is the sort of 6.00 lead-in you want for The Project.

  23. While it may be addressed to Ch 10, so much of it really is generic and applies to all the FTA channels. But then, why would they pay any attention to what the public thinks? They all have their graduates with their MBA’s or whatever that know better.

  24. Spot on David. But will Ten listen and will things change….I doubt it.
    In regards to news, it should be 5-6 News, Neighbours at 6pm, The Project at 6.30, then Masterchef/Biggest Loser at 7.

    I think Ten have the most tv shows i watch. Modern Family, NCIS, Hawaii Five O, The Good Wife, Glee, American Horror Story, Ringer, Blue Bloods, New Girl, Raising Hope, House, White Collar. But as you mentioned…never being able to start on time, constantly running over time, failure to fast track or show at all, switching days and timeslots all the time, swapping new eps with repeats so we don’t know when new eps are on…all these have led me to switch the tv off so i don’t bother watching these on Ten anymore. Australian shows are all I watch on tv now, and Ten went and axed the best Aussie show on tv in Rush. Stupid decision

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