Post by Inside Australian Idol on Mar 21, 2004 2:08:30 GMT 10
Ten's last Resort
By Sophie Tedmanson
March 20, 2004
AS the Seven network rolled out the red carpet last night and held glitzy opening parties around the country for its reality show My Restaurant Rules, the TV genre was dealt a blow when Ten announced it was pulling The Resort five weeks ahead of schedule.
The show, where 15 people renovate a dilapidated island resort then open it up to the public and run it as a business, is the first major casualty in this year's unusually high reality climate.
Discounted holidays and gimmicks - including inviting Australian Idol runner-up Shannon Noll to stay on the island and encouraging singles to stay and be "wed in a week" - could not improve the show's ratings, which dropped from 822,244 viewers to 513,430 over the past month.
General manager of network programming, David Mott, said the station was "really disappointed to be wrapping the show earlier than planned". "However, in this competitive environment we had no alternative," he said.
Ten also axed 20-something drama The Secret Life Of Us earlier this month and rescheduled its other reality show The Hothouse, which also has received underwhelming ratings.
The winner of The Resort was to receive a share of the business profits but a Ten spokeswoman said the producers were "working through that now". Also to be worked out is who will run the island in Fiji, which is owned by NZ TV company Touchdown Television, after the production finishes next week.
The spokeswoman said she expected people who had booked holidays on the island - some worth over $2000 - to be reimbursed. "Touchdown ... are going to honour all obligations and commitments at this stage," she said.
While Ten's reality slate is foundering, Seven's Popstars Live is doing reasonably well and My Restaurant Rules is slowly gaining viewers. The network is hoping for a ratings boost beyond last week's 1.19 million viewers now the restaurants are open for business.
The Australian
entertainment.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,4459,9016548%255E10431%255E%255Enbv,00.html
By Sophie Tedmanson
March 20, 2004
AS the Seven network rolled out the red carpet last night and held glitzy opening parties around the country for its reality show My Restaurant Rules, the TV genre was dealt a blow when Ten announced it was pulling The Resort five weeks ahead of schedule.
The show, where 15 people renovate a dilapidated island resort then open it up to the public and run it as a business, is the first major casualty in this year's unusually high reality climate.
Discounted holidays and gimmicks - including inviting Australian Idol runner-up Shannon Noll to stay on the island and encouraging singles to stay and be "wed in a week" - could not improve the show's ratings, which dropped from 822,244 viewers to 513,430 over the past month.
General manager of network programming, David Mott, said the station was "really disappointed to be wrapping the show earlier than planned". "However, in this competitive environment we had no alternative," he said.
Ten also axed 20-something drama The Secret Life Of Us earlier this month and rescheduled its other reality show The Hothouse, which also has received underwhelming ratings.
The winner of The Resort was to receive a share of the business profits but a Ten spokeswoman said the producers were "working through that now". Also to be worked out is who will run the island in Fiji, which is owned by NZ TV company Touchdown Television, after the production finishes next week.
The spokeswoman said she expected people who had booked holidays on the island - some worth over $2000 - to be reimbursed. "Touchdown ... are going to honour all obligations and commitments at this stage," she said.
While Ten's reality slate is foundering, Seven's Popstars Live is doing reasonably well and My Restaurant Rules is slowly gaining viewers. The network is hoping for a ratings boost beyond last week's 1.19 million viewers now the restaurants are open for business.
The Australian
entertainment.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,4459,9016548%255E10431%255E%255Enbv,00.html
