★★★★★ 0/5

Do or die for Everybody Dance Now

"The way the format was set didn't work," admits Sarah Murdoch.

19
Leave a comment

It’s do or die tonight for TEN dance show Everybody Dance Now.

Behind the scenes producers have been massaging the format in a bid to win over viewers after a devastating launch.

Host Sarah Murdoch has told The Sunday Telegraph they got it wrong.

“It was a huge disappointment. The way the format was set didn’t work,” she said.

“We spent the entire week meeting and talking through every aspect of the show. We have taken on what the viewers have said and we can make it so Australia will fall in love with it.”

Tonight six dance acts will compete for a single $10,000 prize.

But while feedback has been positive for the contestants, criticism has been levelled at Murdoch as host and US imports Kelly Rowland and Jason Derulo. All three remain in the adjusted format.

“Hindsight is a great thing so now I feel even more pressure to get it right. I want to give this everything I’ve got and I am determined to make this show an amazing show,” says Murdoch.

If the show fails the test tonight it may not get another chance. Execs will be looking to see how it performs in its demos and how much of the audience it retains from MasterChef: All Stars.

It isn’t clear how many young dance acts who were due to appear on the FremantleMedia show will now miss out on an opportunity altogether.

FremantleMedia did not return calls.

19 Responses

  2. David, I absolutely agree with you re the 5 things that EDN was having problems with.

    What you didn’t do was rank them in order.

    So here’s my 2 cents of the 5 issues that have made EDN such a stinker in order of most rotten to least rotten;-

    1. Sarah Murdoch
    2. Sarah Murdoch
    3. Sarah Murdoch
    4. Sarah Murdoch
    5. Sarah Murdoch
    6.Acts already cast
    7.Studio audience voting
    8Rowland / Derulo
    9Duel formats

    Oh wait – Sarah has come out and blamed everyone else but herself for the problems at EDN.

    Lachlan better give her another show to host or else!

  3. The page 5 feature in the Murdoch/News Corp Sunday Tele would not go down well with the producers. It’s all Fremantle Media’s fault and Sarah will fix it. Riiiiight.

  4. Watched the show last night and apart from that fact that it is 30 minutes shorter and only one lot of $10,000 is given away, I noticed no change to the format. Seriously, what the hell????? How was the show changed in response to audience demand, apart from shortening it?

  5. Watched it last night after the shameless cross promotion on Page 5 of the Sunday Telegraph.

    ‘ I have spent all week working with producers and talent to fix this horror show” – really ?

    What an insult to Fremantle and it’s producers. Yes they have a case to answer but what can you possibly bring to the table.

    Time to call it quits and book the superyacht for Christmas and try again with another production company next year. One false start, two and it’s your fault, three and……

  6. Just finished watching the show, and I have to admit, I liked the show before- but I like it even more now. It does seem to be running through at a faster pace, and is a lot more ‘exciting’, for lack of a better word.

    I still say that the show shot itself in the foot by cutting out the audition rounds, and by overloading audiences in the first week with 3 x 90 minute episodes. Should have started with 2x 60 minute audition rounds for the first 2 weeks, then slip straight into the live shows with one 90 minute performance show, and a 60 minute results show.

  7. Through the majority of the show now… still think they could have done a little more work.
    Kelly and Jason are still asked to tell us why they should be voted for, when it only works for the crowd, not us at home. I don’t understand why no one suggested just cutting the time on that to keep another round of dancers. I’d love to know the reasoning behind that.

    I feel like I’m the only person in Australia who likes Sarah Murdoch when I read this though. I don’t mind her as the host, and I think she is doing fine. And tonight she is a bit looser. So hopefully it makes some people happy.

    I guess I’m a little bit biased though, as I do know some guys who might have a chance on this show to strut their stuff. And it just hurts watching the producers make bad choices running the show. I’m just terrified that like some other poor dancers who were hoping for a shot that they’ll get the call not to turn up. It’s just too heartbreaking to think about.

    I’ll just have to keep my fingers crossed and hope they can refine it more to bring back viewers… if they even have that chance.

    1. I’ve been watching but the changes are so slight I think the broader audience will feel like they are watching the same show.

      The changes they needed to address were already locked in before the show began:

      -Sarah Murdoch
      -Rowland / Derulo
      -Acts already cast
      -Duel formats
      -Studio audience voting

      Aside from the shorter show, I don’t think you can change those things in a week, sorry.

  11. With All Stars finishing at 8.06 according to EPG, and Howzat on at 8.36 (by EPG) curiosity factor seeing all the press about EDN may give the show a boost in its first half hour, but I predict they’ll all be gone by the second half hour.

  14. i don’t think they can say they have responded to viewer feedback if Sarah is still hosting. i think 90% of the negative comments i saw on twitter were sarah-based. i would think that would be a simple thing to change rather than changing the format and timeslot, there are plenty of really talented hosts, especially female, sitting on the bench at the moment. i have nothing against her, but it is showbiz.

  15. I believe Satrah Murdoch is a big part of the problem too..As a compare , she lacks authority in her “little girl” voice..She is not a compelling performer ..

  17. Well that’s good to hear. I’ll check it out to see how it goes.

    If only Big Brother would listen to the fans and take on what the viewers said as well all would be good.

  18. I would suggest that tonight is not the do or die episode as people might tune in for curiosity value to see exactly what Ten have done, so there might be a slight spike in ratings tonight.

    It is the next episode that will be the big tell.

    However, I have to say that I do not have much confidence. Here’s why…

    Let’s be generous and say that EDN has only 15mins of ads per hour (we all know that that is being very generous). As each dance duel lasts approx 5 minutes (at most – 2.5 min/act), plus the 30 second showdown at the end (1.5 minutes), this still makes for 28 minutes (or more) that have to be filled… with no dancing – exactly the opposite of what people have been clamouring for.

    These are pretty close to the same ratios that Ten had in the 90 minute show (which had an actual run length that was pretty close to an hour).

    So what’s changed? 🙁

Leave a Reply