Todd Sampson to put his life on the line, but still no word on Gruen return
Former Leo Burnett CEO Todd Sampson, who recently announced his departure from adland altogether, will front a new TV show on the ABC, where he puts his faith in science to the test – but the broadcaster is still yet to confirm its plans for the Gruen franchise this year.
At an ABC TV Slate 2017 announcement today, Richard Finlayson, director of television – who will finish up on March 31, making this his final media launch – and Rebecca Heap, head of programming and digital, announced more programming plans for the broadcaster in 2017.
Finlayson said the ABC creates more than 2,000 hours of original television every year, making it near-impossible to present its plans for the year all at once, noting this announcement complements the broadcaster’s initial revelations in November 2016.
I’m not saying it couldn’t go a long time (look at some of the BBC radio shows) but I think Gruen has got stale. The dynamic of the host riffing jokes off the ads, and the interplay between the main actors (and, lets be frank, they are performing to a role now) is too predictable.
We’re all still fascinated by the underlying questions in advertising, but I don’t know this show is the one which best gets there.
To your underlying story, I think the ABC is racing to get ahead of the news on themselves. We’re all talking about the extent of the redirection from the top, and none of that sells as a net-positive. The release here is timely, its also normal to presage whats coming, but I think the context has got a bit more heated: we’re on the brink of needing another ‘6 cents a day’ campaign because a *lot* of the glued on ABC backers are now feeling pretty miffed about how many sacred cows got slaughtered on TV and Radio.
That whole canning of the shortwave long-reach broadcasts in the bush? That was a massive food-in-mouth moment for the national broadcaster. Seriously misjudged the charter role, the community obligation.