Over at rivalToday,things have certainly calmed down this year after the bloodbath that was 2019. The current lineup,led by Karl Stefanovic and Ally Langdon,is not likely to change in 2021 as the show continues to rebuild its audience.
Elsewhere at Nine (owner of this masthead),while there are high hopes for the next season ofMarried At First Sight,observers question what the future looks like for some of the network's traditional"tent pole"shows like60 Minutes.
Sixty stalwart Liz Hayes will front a new spin-off calledUnder Investigation next year,which will come out of the same team behind60 Minutes.
Insiders insist news and current affairs is actually good value programming on a"cost per viewer per hour"basis,despite the huge audiences and advertising dollars that less,ahem,intellectually challenging shows such as MAFS bring in.
Of course Nine has other significantly more challenging obstacles to overcome in the immediate future,including the long term fate of news director Darren Wick following his drink driving scandal,not to mention finding a new chief executive officer after the sensational resignation of Hugh Marks last month.
Rest assured the increasingly toxic media wars are certain to continue in 2021. The delay of the Australian Open until February,which will be broadcast on Nine,will no doubt throw a spanner in Seven's plans to launch its new showHoley Moley with Sonia Kruger around the same time.
Seven has a lot riding onHoley Moley. If Kruger's show flops,it will cast a shadow over the various other projects she is due to front - at great expense - on Seven next year,fromBig Brother toThe Voice.
Meanwhile at Ten the dismal ratings ofStudio 10 surely spells doom for the morning show. Insiders say it is only a matter of time before the axe falls,but what that means for well regarded hosts Sarah Harris and Angela Bishop is unclear,while newcomers Tristan McManus and Narelda Jacobs have yet to make a real impact.
On the radio airwaves,the Ben Fordham"experiment"seems to have worked a treat at the Nine-owned 2GB.
He and stablemate Ray Hadley appear to get along,unlike the poor relations between Fordham's predecessor Alan Jones and Hadley.
Jones himself now commands a TV audience on the periphery of broadcast as a talking head on Sky,though it is but a fraction of his old radio numbers. Despite this,Jones continues to preach to the choir and News insiders tell me his columns in theDaily Telegraph are generating plenty of subscriptions for the paper.
As for what the future holds for Melbourne funny man Dave Hughes as he relocates to the harbour city and recreates himself as a Sydney radio star with Ed Kavalee and Erin Molan on 2DayFM,there are those who wonder if the show will make it to April given how many others have tried - and failed - to unseat Kyle Sandilands and Jackie O from their FM breakfast radio throne.
Perhaps we should look to the world of social media influencers to really gauge how difficult 2020 has been,and how challenging 2021 is shaping up to be.
Roxy Jacenko has already spoken at length about her business being smashed by the pandemic,but even I was surprised to see she was offering free home fumigation in return for media exposure last week.
And what are we to make of the darling of high end fashion houses,Nadia Fairfax,spruiking a cleaning company on her Instagram feed?
Yep,from Gucci to scrubbers,but a gal's gotta eat,right?
Similarly former cricket star Michael Clarke's oversharing of his relationship with tracksuit"designer"Pip Edwards on social media is leaving many potential sponsors cold.
Clarke has been unable to land a significant cricket commentating gig this summer,and one of his former baggy green peers told me:"He's the poor man's Warnie,and worst of all there is no irony in that."
And while Edwards'PE Nation has been an online success story racking up millions of dollars in sales,given she is designing tights and hoodies she's hardly Dior Downunder.
Indeed,one high end fashionista purred to me:"All that branding on everything,that's why the bogans love it ... it's too ubiquitous to remain cool."
Sounds a bit like some of the people mentioned above.
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