“They were cast aside and viewers punished them for that.”
Sunrise executive producer says Today viewers were not happy when Nine revamped their show and dumped so many good presenters.
- Published by David Knox
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Sunrise executive producer Michael Pell has given an interview to Nine-owned mastheads in which he questions why Nine’s Today show opted to “blow up the show” at the start of the year.
“I wouldn’t be so arrogant to sit on the sidelines and say, ‘This is what I would have done and it would have worked’, but I think they made some very strange decisions at the start of the year,” he told The Age.
“I felt really bad for a lot of the people who were cast aside, some for absolutely no reason. A really good newsreader in Sylvia [Jeffreys], a really good sports reader in Tim [Gilbert]. They were cast aside and viewers punished them for that.”
Since the revamp of the Today show, Sunrise has led in all 33 weeks of ratings survey, averaging 276,000 metro viewers from 7-9am to Today‘s 196,000. Today has won one week each in Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne.
In the interview Pell also addresses a Twitter clash with Nine News boss Darren Wick (“it was about getting the facts straight”), airtime given to Pauline Hanson who was “(always countered with someone from the other side of politics”) and the changing ways the show must reach its audience (“There’s a whole generation of people that have never watched Sunrise on television.”).
Pell also endeavours to add context to a now-infamous segment last year over the removal on Indigenous children and comments by ex-panelist Prue MacSween.
“There was a lot of anger and of all the hours we do of TV a year, two minutes created so much division,” he says.
5 Responses
Someone like Piers Morgan would be a good fit to beat Sunrise and dominate the ratings.
Sunrise has no balance at all. One white far-right mouthpiece gets to face off with another white, middle-right mouthpiece?
It’s a product to further the world views of (white conservative catholic) Kerry Stokes and those who share them.
That theory doesn’t really stack up when you take into account the presenters are all very accepting of different cultures and beliefs
There winning the rating race. Why would they change their format. It’s working for them
Who is this guy kidding? They never had someone ‘from the other side’ opposite Pauline Hanson. They had Derrin Hinch who was an In dependent who usually voted with the Libs. They rarely have someone from Labor or former Labor on their panels. And No Latham doesn’t count.