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“The entire industry dips our lid to Channel 10 and Have You Been Paying Attention?”

10 sticking with Working Dog's panel show through early years of soft numbers paid off in the long run.

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Comedy can take time to find its audience….

Nine has publicly acknowledged 10 sticking with Have You Been Paying Attention? as important for the local industry, and a reminder of the importance of nurturing a new format.

Speaking last week at Screen Forever, Nine exec Adrian Swift said, “The entire industry dips our lid to Channel 10 and Have You Been Paying Attention? They way they persevered with that, in the first couple of seasons was anything other than a ratings success…. and yet today it’s one of the most popular shows on Australian television. Even The Hundred with Andy Lee owes its genesis to Have You Been Paying Attention? It was a really important programming move.”

10 also acknowledged the input of producers Working Dog in launching the show under the radar. Initially it offered no press reviews, which as I recall was somewhat frustrating to 10 -but it paid off as the show found its feet.

“We like to have original Australian ideas,” said 10’s Beverley McGarvey. “For us they tend to be – not exclusively but often 8:30- things like Have You Been Paying Attention? Last year, we commissioned The Cheap Seats, and we’re about to have another Pilot Week, which we haven’t done for a few years, mainly due to the pandemic.

She added, “Traditionally one of the things that works for us is given things a bit of time and not making knee jerk reactions… giving shows, especially things like comedy, time to build an audience. Everybody’s so busy and things move so quickly. Sometimes it just takes a couple of series for something to kick in. I think we all experience that.”

Have You Been Paying Attention? is expected to return after Easter.

16 Responses

    1. It usually starts in late April (last year it was a week late, May 3), runs 30 episodes each year, and goes thru to November without a break.

  2. Love the way Working Dog go about their business. Everything understated but always innovative, funny and supportive of new talent.

    A few other people/production companies in entertainment could learn a thing or two from these guys.

  3. It depends on the quality of the show as to whether it’s worth sticking with it. Working Dog productions is a quality production company so it seems as though it was worth staying with HYBPA? and it paid off with word of mouth getting out that it was a good show, hence the rise in ratings and popularity over time. On the other hand, there are shows like The Project which they hold onto, but keep declining in ratings. The Project is not a show based on quality, rather it is a show that is kept based on pushing a particular political agenda and narrative in a condescending manner, and that’s where the program and strategy fails. It’s so dishonest and biased.

    1. Going to agree to disagree with you there. The Project struggled with low ratings but it was another show 10 stuck with and now has a decade plus behind it and 2 Gold Logies. It’s still one of their best performers in demos. If there’s a perception problem with it at the moment, and there does seem to be, it could benefit from a refresh. It would help if critics could outline the examples of bias though, which rarely seems to happen. What story was biased?

      1. Totally agree with you David, great answer, I’m so sick of people criticizing The Project who never actually watch it consistently anymore. It’s amazing how the left leaning think they’re biased to the right and the right think they’re biased to the left the truth being they are balanced. I don’t agree with all their stories, or opinions etc but it doesn’t send me screaming to the remote or social media about them. Except their own page if I want to give my opinion I post it to their Facebook page.

        1. Leilani….I record The Project every night and watch every episode and have so for probably 7 years. I used to watch it cause it was a great entertaining/informative show. I only really watch it now just to see how biased will they be tonight. So based on this I think I can comment on The Project if that is OK? The vast majority of people comment on the show being biased to the left. Every night there is multiple stories against the right. I don’t like Sky being biased to the right. Just like I don’t like The Project being biased to the left. The both go out of their way to not be balanced. Examples…..how many would you like? Here is one. Lismore Protesters when the PM visited. Project made out it was locals protesting against government poor response. The ABC reported it was a Climate Change protest organised by a Greens senator – Therefore it was a political protest. A bit different. Project was incorrect. Sorry…..HYBPA is an awesome show. Love Working Dog! Bring back The…

      2. I think the people that call The Project condescending and biased have never watched it but get their talking points from News Corp papers, etc. Because they never have any examples. They seem to have this image that it’s an hour of Waleed or Lisa bashing the desk and shouting editorials telling us what to think. Apart from the fact that is not how they conduct themselves at all, I don’t agree with everything they might say but it’s hardly bashing us over the head with extremist opinions.

        1. I’m personally not one to take talking points from News Corp. I read across the board to get a balanced view. I used to watch the show but stopped watching it. An actual example I recall was when they misleadingly edited a report to claim that a lady Scomo spoke to said he was not her PM without providing context. It wasn’t as implied as the lady was from the UK. The other week they had an advocate talking about the government’s childcare subsidies and was advocating for free childcare, which is a far-left position, as opposed to Labor’s cheaper childcare position. I don’t keep a pen and paper to write down every example, though I know it’s not balanced and fair from what I’ve seen, and the values and opinions of the presenters like Lisa, Waleed or Jan don’t fulfill confidence in balance. In the same way Sky News after dark presenters don’t fulfill confidence in balance either.

          Ultimately I want to keep the pressure on the media to keep it real and balanced.

          2. I take your point about the “not my PM”. Claimed to be a mistake but I’m not so sure. I don’t pretend that The Project is perfect, it has flaws, but I don’t think it warrants the type of criticism levelled against it, often, but not always, from people who’ve never seen it.

    2. An example for The Project would be Jan Fran’s recent opinions on the latest accusations against Scomo. Running on it as if it were entirely factual when there is a lot of doubt, the accusations being denied by Scomo including the intention for statutory declarations, and the accusations coming out before the election when they refer to accusations from many years ago. I’m all for reporting on any indiscretions regardless of which political party, but the journalism is imbalanced and atrocious. It’s clearly taking a partisan biased approach given the actual details and circumstances. It’s laughable.

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