Bruce Gordon: TEN’s trouble is the schedule
"You build a line-up, where people get comfortable and want to stay with their favourite programs," says TEN shareholder Bruce Gordon.
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TEN shareholder and WIN TV boss Bruce Gordon has weighed in on TEN’s current mess, noting that it only takes one hit show to turn their fortunes around.
“If they’re not winning the ratings now, you can only blame the way these programs are put to the public,” he told The Australian. “They have to take a look at the schedule.”
He pointed to a programming line-up containing highly regarded and well-rated shows such as Modern Family, The Good Wife and Homeland.
“They already have Modern Family, which is the No 1 comedy in America. You start with that, and you try to keep the audience the whole evening. That’s how you run TV stations.
“You build a line-up, where people get comfortable and want to stay with their favourite programs. They’ll get there.”
Gordon owns 14% of TEN but is unable to buy more without divesting his interests in WIN TV, due to the country’s media ownership laws.
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- Tagged with Homeland, Modern Family, The Good Wife
21 Responses
I’m pretty sure there’s more improvement that needs to go into programming first before schedule.
Bruce Gordon can not run WIN TV let alone a metro station like TEN. He’s got no idea at Win TV – ten will die if he ever get his hands on it.
DK: Wasn’t it a show with a dog that was a big hit in Episodes?
They must have cribbed that from Mr Gordon when he pitched the idea to the BBC!
The problem with Ten is they put on programs that don’t complement eachother, so once one finishes that core group will leave if something else similar isn’t following.
Another problem is wasting programs on the wrong days like burn notice on fridays, you only have to look at abc’s figures on fridays and sats and that shows u mostly oldies are watching, and yet we see a young male show put on.
One more thing i think is wasted is the ncis l.a eps, they would do just aswell on 8.30 weds with a repeat after and same goes for ncis on tuesdays, there was a time when both had repeats following and they held onto alot of their viewers before Ten news:)
Bleedingly obvious tho’ it is, Gordon is right when he says that a TV schedule should be built around core programming that includes hit shows. He only cites dramas but I would also contend that well-produced competition-reality shows such as MasterChef (and Renovators done properly) should be part of the mix, even tho’ I detest the whole genre.
One thing he doesn’t explicitly state but which people have picked up on is schedule stability. This is paramount to success and it still surprises me when I see networks unnecessarily d!cking around with program times, esp when programs move/disappear with little (if any) advance notice.
Of the three dramas that he mentions, the only one that has had a consistent day and time is the only one that I am currently watching. This is despite me knowing that the other two are decent enough shows. There is only so much effort that I am willing to put in chasing programs, then it’s goodbye.
@MHA – what was the name of that show about a boy and his dog? That’s never been done before and I’d like to get the DVD (or is it only on VHS?).
Wasn’t it a show with a dog that was a big hit in Episodes?
Mr Gordon is totally right about how to programme a commercial TV station in 1990s. Unfortunately it is not the 1990s.
What you need now are the most popular Reality TV, Sport and dramas that young people are keen to watch as live and not timeshifted.
If you only have the 3rd, or even 4th most popular shows than you are totally stuffed. And no amount of constancy is going to change that, although inconsistency can make things worse.
Homeland is niche cable show that rated 1m live (3m including +7s) in the US. The Good Wife rates 10m live viewers, with poor demographics which is low for a US network drama.
Here Homeland rate 600k while the Good Wife struggles to rate 500k. Modern family averaged just over 832k/ep apart from the Halloween special which rated 1m.
Masterchef is the only hit that Channel 10 has and there are only so may ways you can schedule one show.
I keep saying consistency…reliability and programming you can set your watch by….then viewers will stay and bocome regulars…we just want to turn on and watch….not have to check and recheck and chase programs around….
Re The Project…..I seems to me…even the presenters are getting fed up….
Programming genius there from
‘ol man Gordon.
As once famously heard when meeting the then program manager whilst on his first tour of STW9 Perth after he took full control. It went along the lines of…”I have an idea for a hit show, just get a boy and dog, it will work..” After he left, Gordon’s minders just told the program manager to ignore what he just said.
If he had his way, it would be wall to wall Brady Bunch, I Dream of Jeannie, Gilligans Island, Hogan’s Heroes etc. Not to mention all the titles from the Crawfords library, most notably The Sullivans and The Flying Doctors so as to run more ads to flog off the DVD’s. Just ask long suffering WIN viewers, they have been subjected to it for years. And don’t mention that failed replacement for Kerrie Anne when he threatened not to renew with Nine, the mess that was the Susie Ellerman Show.
If tax-free Bermuda HQ had control of TEN, it would be an absolute trainwreck.
Well i give him props for calling them out but one problem Mr Gordon, get your facts straight first. As much as i love Modern Family, The Big Bang Theory is in fact America’s #1 comedy.
I also think TEN were stupid to air Homeland at the backend of the year and even worse, they are airing New episodes over summer. Stupid! The people running TEN are a joke right now. They know nothing about success. To me they don’t care at all and the ratings over the past 3 months have proven that. It would be interesting to see if he does sell WIN and moves to TEN but i think profitably he is better off staying where he is.
Ahh I thought Big Bang Theory was America’s No.1 comedy?
Wow what a genius.
Bruce Gordon is right, a few shows can turn a network around but sadly for Ten, Modern Family is not enough and they’ll need a crop of new shows to turn the tide. They need a ripping new franchise as powerful as Masterchef was in its heyday to turn them around.
Comedy gold!
Um, Ten have been playing Modern Family at the same time every night – surely that counts as, “You start with that, and you try to keep the audience the whole evening.”
Talk about stating the bleeding obvious.
You’ll need more than one hit show old mate… You’ll need at least 3 to get off life support. And I think your programming team get the point on Modern Family, that’s why its on every freakin night.
I think you need two…. but at the same time.
Umm even a lay person could see the schedule and programming is the problem.
May be they will listen to a shareholder?!?
I’m less certain that having ” the No 1 comedy in America” translates to success in Australia. Like the pop charts – being number 1 in England used to guarantee success here – not any more.
Of course he is absolutely correct. TV is habit forming and you have no chance of building an audience if you are moving programs around all the time. I refer of course to the innumerable schedule changes for “The Project”