Ten’s other key programming for 2016

With its 2016 schedule, Ten is making a considerable investment in both locally produced series, as well as international acquisitions. Mediaweek sat down with Ten chief programming officer Beverley McGarvey for an insight into the other new locally produced series.

Long Lost Family

“WTFN brought this to us with Chrissie Swan and family audiences are something TEN is keen to appeal to. When Chrissie came in with WTFN it was a real passion project for her. She is very warm and engaging and the subject matter is so interesting. As soon as we heard the pitch we thought it sounded very good. We are thrilled to have Anh Do on the network as the co-host and he brings something completely different to the table. We actually shot the first reunion last week and it was very engaging. We have been overwhelmed by the amount of people wanting to be part of the show. It is something that affects so many people, but you don’t often hear a lot about it. It’s one hour once a week with closed end episodes that is a different kind of structure to multi-night formats that we are all doing across the schedule.

The Wrong Girl

“This is the first time we have had a project with Playmaker Media. We are excited by the drama project because the source material is a great read from the very talented Zoe Foster Blake. Jessica Marais is attached and the writers from The Secret Life Of Us. When you line all those things up, and the fact that romantic comedy tends to be something that works very well for our audience, it was again something that was very interesting for us as soon as we heard the pitch.

“We really want to expand our drama slate next year.”

Marais will continue on Playmaker’s Love Child on Nine next year too much in the same way Julia Morris works for Nine and Playmaker on House Husbands and on TEN in I’m A Celebrity. “We are very open to working with talent in different ways and we want recognisable talent on our shows.”

All Star Family Feud

This spinoff from the weeknight 6pm game show is headed for prime time later in the evening, explained McGarvey. “We didn’t want to do this too soon. In the UK the All Star program is the only version that plays and is very popular. We wanted to make sure the regular version was well established before we did it.

“Compared to some of our shows this is a very easy show to cast. People do want to play. It will be a short-run event series. When you say All Star Family Feud it is easily understood.”

The Biggest Loser

“It is not confirmed to be returning, but we are certainly not saying it won’t be back,” said McGarvey. “The current season average is where we expected it to be and it is a very established format. We do not want to throw formats away too quickly. We still think there is life in Loser and we don’t expect to be making any announcements about it until early next year after we have worked through the options.”

Media Release:

19 November 2015
TURN ON TEN IN 2016.
Network Ten Announces 2016 Content And Delivery Plans.
• New And Returning Content Across Multiple Screens And Devices.
• New Reality Hits: Australian Survivor, Long Lost Family.
• Offspring And Asher Keddie Return For Big Sixth Season.
• New Australian Drama: The Wrong Girl, With Jessica Marais.
• MasterChef Australia Returns, With Nigella Lawson.
• New Events From The US: The X Files, American Crime Story.
• The Biggest Big Bash League Season Yet.

Network Ten tonight announced its content plans for 2016, revealing a strong lineup of
new and returning local and international hits, delivered to consumers across TEN, ELEVEN,
ONE and the industry-leading online catch-up and streaming service tenplay.

Network Ten’s commitment to local content will increase next year, with a significant
investment in six new domestic productions – Australian Survivor, Long Lost Family, The
Wrong Girl, Brock, All Star Family Feud and I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out Of Here! Now –
and the return of the iconic, much-loved drama series Offspring. More new local series will
be announced next year.

Network Ten Chief Programming Officer, Beverley McGarvey, said: “Content that lives on all
screens is at the heart of our business. In 2016 we will continue to introduce innovative,
contemporary content with mass appeal that our viewers can engage with in multiple ways
on numerous platforms.

“For several years now, our strategy has been to encourage people to enjoy our content
anywhere, at any time and on any device. That will remain our mantra in 2016. It is
television as it should be, with our viewers being able to watch our great content whenever
they want, wherever they are and however they want.”

The five new local hits launched on TEN this year – I’m a Celebrity… Get Me Out Of Here!,
Shark Tank, Gogglebox, The Great Australian Spelling Bee and The Bachelorette Australia –
will all return in 2016, along with new seasons of the proven hit series Family Feud, The
Living Room, The Project, The Bachelor Australia and Have You Been Paying Attention?

After increasing its audience 15% this year and taking the title of the #1 non-sport television
program of the year with its The Winner Announced episode, MasterChef Australia is back
for its eighth season with a new special guest chef – Nigella Lawson.

Network Ten Chief Executive Officer, Paul Anderson, said the strong 2016 program lineup
and the rapid expansion of tenplay highlighted the company’s commitment to giving
viewers great television content how, when and where they want it.

“Tenplay is now on 12 different distribution platforms, more than any other free-to-air
television online catch-up and streaming service. No other online television service makes it
as easy for people to access content,” he said.

“People will always want great television content and this year they have responded
strongly to the content we delivered to them.

“The main TEN channel and Network Ten were the only primary free-to-air commercial
channel and the only commercial free-to-air network to increase their prime time audiences
in 2015. Both also recorded their highest commercial prime time shares since 2011,” he
said.

“Maintaining our momentum across all platforms is a key priority for 2016 and we have the
content and the delivery channels to achieve that.”

McGarvey said the addition of a local version of the global television phenomenon
Survivor to a schedule that already offered MasterChef Australia, I’m A Celebrity… Get Me
Out Of Here!, The Bachelor Australia, The Bachelorette Australia and other hit series gives
Network Ten an impressive lineup of fresh, unique and compelling family entertainment.

“Our other new shows including Long Lost Family, All Star Family Feud and I’m A
Celebrity… Get Me Out Of Here! Now will offer viewers even more innovative and engaging
entertainment.

“Plus we are delighted to welcome to Network Ten such stars as Nigella Lawson, Anh Do and
Jessica Marais,” she said.

Network Ten is stepping up its investment in premium local drama next year, with the
return of Offspring for its sixth season; the two-part television event Brock; and the exciting
new series The Wrong Girl starring Jessica Marais.

The first match of the 2015-16 KFC Big Bash League, on December 17, marks the start of a
big year of sport on Network Ten, including the inaugural Women’s Big Bash League, the
best Formula One races, the best V8 Supercars races, MotoGP and Rugby Union.

New international series on Network Ten in 2016 include American Crime Story, The
Grinder, Life In Pieces and one of the television events of the year: the return of The X Files.

NEW LOCAL CONTENT
•  Australian Survivor
Part docu-soap, part competition, part human drama, Survivor is the world’s most talkedabout
television program. It is the show that launched the mainstream reality genre of
television programming and it continues to be the centrepiece of broadcasting schedules
around the world. Coming to TEN and tenplay in 2016, Australian Survivor will be set on a
remote tropical island overseas. Produced by Endemol Shine Australia in association with
format creator Castaway Television Productions, Australian Survivor will be big, noisy and
exciting family entertainment across all of Network Ten’s media platforms.

•  Long Lost Family
Hosted by Anh Do and Chrissie Swan, Long Lost Family is an uplifting factual series that
reunites mothers, fathers, daughters, sisters and brothers after years of separation. Moving
and real, Long Lost Family will take viewers through the complex, emotional and often
painful process of reuniting people who have been lost to each other, sometimes for
decades. This extraordinary new series is based on the highly successful, award-winning UK
format and will be produced by WTFN.

•  The Wrong Girl
From production company Playmaker Media, the maker of House Husbands, The Code and
Love Child, and from the writers of The Secret Life Of Us comes the story of Lily, the
producer of a successful cooking segment on a daily morning television show. Lily and her
flatmate Simone are taking a sabbatical from men, but Lily falls in love with Jack, the show’s
gorgeous new chef. Based on the best-selling book by Zoe Foster Blake, The Wrong Girl
stars Jessica Marais (Love Child, Carlotta, Packed To The Rafters) as Lily and a stellar
supporting cast.

•  Brock
A champion on the racetrack and a hero to generations of Australians, Peter Brock was
loved and admired by many. But his life off the track was complicated and controversial. The
King of the Mountain’s story will be the television drama event of the year. The title role will
be played by one of Australia’s finest actors, Matthew Le Nevez (Offspring, The Society
Murders), with an outstanding supporting cast that includes Steve Bisley, Natalie
Bassingthwaighte, Brendan Cowell and Ella Scott Lynch. Brock is created by the team behind
INXS: Never Tear Us Apart and Peter Allen: Not The Boy Next Door and produced by Endemol
Shine Australia.

•  All Star Family Feud
It is Australia’s most popular game show, delighting viewers six nights a week. Now Network
Ten is giving viewers more fun, more laughs and more family entertainment with All Star
Family Feud. Hosted by Grant Denyer, the new series will run in addition to the regular
Family Feud and will feature everyone from politicians and pop stars to football players and
fashion icons competing for cash prizes for their favourite charities. All Star Family Feud will
be produced by FremantleMedia.

•  I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out Of Here! Now
One of the most talked-about television series of 2015 returns in 2016, with a brand new
companion show. Hosted by the crown prince of comedy, Joel Creasey, and Heather
Maltman from The Bachelor Australia this year, I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out Of Here! Now
will run each night after the main show on ELEVEN and streamed live on tenplay. It will give
viewers behind-the-scenes action from the jungle, updates about their favourite celebrities
and exclusive news and gossip. Like the main series, I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out Of Here!
Now will be broadcast from South Africa and produced by ITV Studios Australia.

RETURNING LOCAL CONTENT
The eighth season of MasterChef Australia will bring more amazing food, remarkable
stories, inspirational contestants and incredible results.

George Calombaris, Gary Mehigan and Matt Preston are back in the kitchen, helping our
contestants turn their dreams into reality. Joining them are mentor Shannon Bennett, plus
guest chefs including Marco Pierre White, Heston Blumenthal and the incomparable Nigella
Lawson.

Next year brings the highly anticipated return of Offspring for a sixth season. Asher Keddie
will reprise her award-winning role of Nina Proudman in this much-loved, iconic and groundbreaking
local drama series.

Joining Asher will be Kat Stewart and the rest of the cast. The new season of Offspring will
be a major television event, as the story of Nina and her unpredictable, messy and often
hilarious life continues to unfold.

After reaching new heights of popularity this year, the television, online and social media
sensation that is The Bachelor Australia will be back in 2016, with a brand new Bachelor and
a new group of Bachelorettes looking for love, all under the watchful eye of host Osher
Günsberg.

The five new series that were successfully launched this year all return in 2016, led by the
big new season of I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out Of Here!. Julia Morris and Chris Brown will
again lead a new collection of celebrities deep into the wilds of South Africa, where they will
live, laugh, cry and compete to be crowned the King or Queen of the Jungle.

The first season of I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out Of Here! was an instant family
entertainment hit across multiple screens and season two will be bigger, more dangerous,
funnier and more compelling.

Also returning for their second seasons in 2016 are Shark Tank – with Steve Baxter, Janine
Allis, Andrew Banks, Naomi Simson and a brand new Shark, Dr Glen Richards – and the show
families around the country fell in love with this year, The Great Australian Spelling Bee,
with Grant Denyer and Chrissie Swan.

Gogglebox captured Australia’s attention and imagination during its first two seasons this
year. The Goggleboxers will be back in 2016 to pass judgement on the good, the bad, the
ugly and the bizarre on television each week.

The inaugural season of The Bachelorette Australia produced big numbers and a huge
reaction across television, social media and the internet. The hit show is coming back, giving
a new Bachelorette the chance to find love with one of Australia’s most eligible bachelors.

TV Week Gold Logie Award winner Carrie Bickmore, Waleed Aly and Peter Helliar will be
back at The Project desk in 2016 – delivering news and entertainment in their innovative,
unique and highly informative way – while Grant Denyer will keep the country laughing and
guessing the right (and wrong) answers in Australia’s #1 game show, Family Feud.

Fans of Have You Been Paying Attention? will not be disappointed in 2016: after increasing
its audience significantly this year, the sharp, funny series will return with quiz master Tom
Gleisner, regulars Sam Pang and Ed Kavalee, and a revolving cast that includes some of
Australia’s funniest people.

The TV Week Logie Award winning series The Living Room has become a firm Friday night
favourite with viewers. Amanda Keller, Chris Brown, Barry Du Bois and Miguel Maestre are
getting ready for another big year of information, entertainment, laughs and surprises.
Also returning in 2016 are brand new seasons of the hit observational documentary series
Territory Cops, Bondi Rescue and Bondi Vet.

Network Ten’s exclusive partnership with the Melbourne International Comedy Festival
continues in 2016, when the festival celebrates its 30th anniversary. TEN will broadcast a
series of special television events, including the Melbourne International Comedy Festival
Gala.

NEW OVERSEAS CONTENT
•  The X Files
It was a brand-defining series for Network Ten in the 1990s and now The X Files is coming
home, complete with David Duchovny as Fox Mulder and Gillian Anderson as Dana Scully.
The six-part television event has been developed by series creator Chris Carter, who
promises it will deliver “fresh, new material” while at the same time taking viewers “back to
the Mulder and Scully we were so familiar with”. New cast members in the hotly anticipated
revival include Robbie Amell and Joel McHale.

•  American Crime Story
It does not launch in the US until February 2016, but American Crime Story is already one of
the most talked-about new television series of the year, thanks, in part, to an outstanding
cast that includes John Travolta (Grease, Pulp Fiction), Cuba Gooding Jr (Jerry Maguire),
David Schwimmer (Friends), Nathan Lane (The Birdcage), Selma Blair (Cruel Intentions),
Malcolm Jamal-Warner (The Cosby Show) and Evan Handler (Sex and the City). The first
season of this gripping new series will focus on the murder trial of O.J. Simpson.

•  Life In Pieces
A smart new comedy, Life In Pieces is an irreverent look at family dynamics from multigenerational
points of view. One family, four stories, all of which tie together in the end. In
short, it is about life, in pieces. Already picked up for a full season in the US, Life In Pieces
stars Academy Award winner Dianne Wiest (Hannah and Her Sisters, Bullets Over
Broadway), Hollywood legend James Brolin (Marcus Welby, M.D., Hotel), Colin Hanks
(Fargo, Dexter), Thomas Sadoski (The Newsroom) and Betsy Brandt (Breaking Bad).

•  The Grinder
Screen Actors Guild Award winner Rob Lowe (The West Wing, Brothers & Sisters) stars as a
famous actor whose long-running television series, in which he played a lawyer, is cancelled.
Convinced acting as a lawyer qualifies him as a real lawyer, he returns to his hometown and
joins his family’s law firm. The Grinder, which has received a full season order in the US, costars
Fred Savage (The Wonder Years) and William Devane (24, Knots Landing).

RETURNING OVERSEAS CONTENT
The best overseas series are returning to Network Ten in 2016, including the most-watched
television show in the world – NCIS – its spin-offs NCIS: Los Angeles and NCIS: New Orleans,
Modern Family, Madam Secretary, Law & Order: SVU, CSI: Cyber, Scorpion, The Good Wife
and Limitless.

From the UK comes The Graham Norton Show – the award-winning chat show that always
delivers the best and biggest guests – plus new series and specials from Jamie Oliver and Sir
David Attenborough.

SPORT
Network Ten’s big year of sport starts on December 17, with the first match in the 2015-16
KFC Big Bash League. With 35 matches in just 39 days, including four double headers, this
summer’s Big Bash League will be the most exciting, competitive and action-packed season
yet.

All 35 matches will be broadcast live and free into all states on TEN or ONE, and each of the
eight clubs will play in four home and four away matches around the country.
The competition will feature some of the best players in the world and the best hosting and
commentary team on television, led by Mel McLaughlin and Adam Gilchrist AM, and
including Ricky Ponting AO, Mark Waugh AM, Damien Fleming, Andrew “Freddie” Flintoff,
Kevin Pietersen, Mark Howard and Andy Maher.

Network Ten will also broadcast eight matches of the 2015-16 season of the inaugural
Women’s Big Bash League, including the Final, live and free on ONE. The coverage will be
hosted by Andy Maher, with commentators Lisa Sthalekar and Mel Jones.
As the home of big event motorsport, Network Ten will bring viewers the best and most
exciting events from Australia and around the world.

Presented by a team that includes Matt White, former Formula One world champion Alan
Jones, Mark Larkham, Rick Kelly and Daryl Beattie, the motorsport lineup covers the
beloved magazine show RPM, the biggest V8 Supercars events – including the Supercheap
Auto Bathurst 1000 – the Australian Formula One Grand Prix and other key Formula One
races, and the best MotoGP races, including Phillip Island.

For Rugby Union fans, Network Ten will present the Wallabies Test matches.

ELEVEN AND ONE
A strong lineup of local and international hits will dominate ELEVEN and ONE in 2016, as
the channels continue to strengthen their positions in their respective core target markets
of 13 to 29s and men aged 25 and older.

On ELEVEN, the longest-running drama series on Australian television, Neighbours, will
mark its 31st year with new twists, new surprises, new cast members and fans’ favourite
characters.

Other local productions on ELEVEN include the increasingly popular music and movie show
The Loop, Couch Time and I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out Of Here! Now.
ELEVEN’s international lineup of first-run content covers The Simpsons, American Horror
Story, Love Island, Bordertown, Bob’s Burgers, Sleepy Hollow, New Girl, Fresh Off The
Boat, Crazy Ex-Girlfriend, Angel From Hell, The Strain and more.

In 2016, ONE will bring viewers the best of Formula One and MotoGP races from around the
world, plus the ANZ Championship Netball and eight matches of the 2015-16 season of the
inaugural Women’s Big Bash League.

ONE’s 2016 lineup of first-run content also includes Megafactories, Hell’s Kitchen, Epic
Meal Empire, Last Man On Earth, Rosewood, The Comedians, Backstrom, Last Man
Standing, Ripper Street, Zoo, The Americans, Graceland, Tyrant and more.