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Axed: Today Tonight

Local current affairs bulletins end in Adelaide & Perth after 25 years on Seven.

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Seven has axed Today Tonight bulletins in Adelaide and Perth, ending runs of 25 years.

A final episode with Rosanna Mangiarelli will air in Adelaide tomorrow night, and with Monika Kos in Perth on Friday.

Both shows will be replaced by one hour Seven News bulletins.

Seven statement:

The Seven Network today announced the closing of Today Tonight in Adelaide and Perth. Both will screen final editions this week, Adelaide Thursday 28 November, Perth on Friday.

Speaking from Perth, Director of News and Public Affairs, Craig McPherson said: “For 25 years Today Tonight has dominated in Perth and Adelaide. Producing more than 25,000 stories reflecting the good, the bad and everything in between of their constantly growing markets. To end such a successful reign has been one of the toughest decisions but a necessary one as the audiences shift and change along with the economics. I want to thank all both past and present Today Tonighters. Always committed. Always passionate.”

Some staff will be redeployed into the Adelaide and Perth newsrooms as Australia’s two most successful news operations revert to a one hour format from Monday 2 December.

This post updates.

24 Responses

  1. I know this is very small compared to the show being axed but I wonder if Monika Kos will still appear at the Channel 7 Christmas Pageant. She is usually sitting on the back of a convertible with Rick & Sue.

  2. Maev….Sydney has to get comment of the week for that post!
    Seriously though Today Tonight ending is a blow. Now there’s only ACA. Hopefully past presenters Leigh McClusky, John Riddell, Paul Makin, Yvette Mooney, Tina Altieri and Andrea Burns will be present or at least get a mention on the final edition.

  4. But the questions that should be asked are:
    1) How will Media Watch survive without the trash from Today Tonight?
    2) If the Chaser returns, where will they get their jokes from (Today Tonight was basically half their show)?
    3) Who will be the butt of comedy now without Today Tonight?
    4) Will David still be harassed by people thinking that this website is Today Tonight?

  5. I have very mixed feelings. On the one hand, I want Perth to have more visibility of our stories on TV. Also, two of my closest friends do a lot of production work for Today Tonight and I’m pained that they will be affected. On the otherhand, it was appalling journalism that was only occasionally credible or defensible and was desperately in need of the reset button being pounded. I would have preferred that to an outright axing. This has just confirmed this household as sticking with the ABC from 7pm for our news.

  6. Wish news was only 30 minutes at 6pm. They have early afternoon editions, early morning and others. I realise it is cheap as the stories are replayed all day and the evening stories air again the next morning with the same commentary, but different presenter?!?!

  8. Just goes to show that Sydney-based TV execs will never learn. 7 Sydney did the same thing to 7 Brisbane’s State Affair in 1987 and the ratings for the 6pm hour plummeted from twenties to sixes and sevens allowing 9 to take the lead and dominate the market for years.

    2. Let’s all bow our heads and pray that Alleged Current Affair gets axed next. I checked Alleged Current Affair’s website and it was mostly junk, like 6 minutes of Wild Walid and next to nothing on the important issues that shapes the world we live in.

  10. While surprising, I have noticed of the last couple of years that the TT run time has gotten smaller in Adelaide from what I see in the EPG. It regularly goes from 6.37pm-7.00pm, then after commercial breaks, it must be only 16 mins of content. When AFL screws over the Thursday/Friday scheduling, then we don’t get it at all because suddenly 7News can finish on time and the AFL is on at 6.30pm.

    1. Sounds like the same as TT Perth. 7 news running well past 6.30pm, then a TT “story”, some other fluff, a “special sport story” followed by another weather report.

  11. Elements of TT will live on ss has been the case on the east coast 1 hour news bulletins.
    The Helen Wellings consumer segments in the east bulletins are very TT, but won’t be hosted by a local TT host, but the local news host.
    Think this is more a cost saving move by Seven by not employing a separate host and line up producer in Adelaide and Perth.

  12. This is an interesting change, I guess when you’re number 1 in the market you can take a gamble. I don’t TT will be missed, I’ve seen it a few times and wasn’t even sure if the episode actually went for 30 minutes or if it was less.

    I guess car dealership owners, dodgy tradies and crappy landlords must all be towing the line.

    Speaking for Adelaide, Rosanna is lovely, hopefully they keep her on air in some format she has a lot of warmth when she reports and is always very professional.

  13. I presume that some people will say that TV Tonight is slow as this happened a couple of years ago, but it was only axed in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane but continued in Adelaide and Perth until now.

  15. I’ve never been a TT viewer, but I expect that is a straight up and down financial decision.

    Now, if only 7 could add a half-an-hour of international news to their bulletin – instead of the inconsequential rubbish that fills TT – they could be on to something.

    Rosanna Mangiarelli is much loved in Adelaide; as was Leigh McClusky before her.

    1. Amen. There is some international news on The Latest (and I have seen bits of it and its okay, unlike the 6:00pm bulletin. We don’t need the latest consumer report, we need the latest news from around the world, which SBS does very well. But we need to acknowledge that Seven News is commercial, so commercial interests will play a major role on Seven, so sadly it is highly unlikely that we would see international news on the now-1 hour bulletin in Adelaide and Perth

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