One more episode please, Network Ten
Network Ten has chosen to end two popular series for the season without showing a pivotal episode. Mumbrella contributor Aaron Ryan takes a look at a few reasons why.
Network Ten has the least amount of shows this year that have been pulled from the schedule, or have rescheduled.
Network Ten has been one of the few networks to buck the trend and increase its overall viewership and revenue base and has just three programs, Miguel’s Feasts, Law & Order: SVU and Life in Pieces, that have been yanked from the schedule this year and that have yet to resurface.
While the viewers are the real winners here by having a consistent schedule, it is the finer details of these three shows that make this situation a little head scratching.
Of the three shows, two have just a single episode to screen, which begs the question: why would the network risk the trust of viewers by not screening the missing shows.
Miguel’s Feasts was a spin-off from The Living Room featuring Miguel Maestre, who presented the 13 episode series, that aired mostly on Saturday nights. However Ten did not screen the 13th and final episode.
Even more curiously, Ten then repeated the series on Monday mornings at 11:00am, but again chose not to broadcast that final 30-minute episode. Miguel is one of the network’s breakout stars and is popular with viewers, so it is curious as to why the station would choose to cut the series off before its final episode?
Law & Order SVU recently completed its 17th season with the final episode airing the week before the Rio Olympic Games in August. Throughout 17 seasons there has been 389 episodes, yet Ten has screened 388, skipping episode 21 of 23 in the series’ most recent season. A little digging of the synopsis for the episode may point to a reason:
‘The producers of a reality dating series make Benson and the SVU part of the show when they investigate a contestant’s claim that she was raped.’
This article ignores shows moved haphazardly around the schedule, like Great Australian Spelling Bee. This show was pulled every which way in the schedule, including being shifted to 2pm Saturdays before being shunted off to Eleven. The claim that viewers are benefiting from a consistent schedule is a bit hard to sustain.