New Zealand’s Got Talent

New Zealand’s Got Talent and Mitre10 Dream Home have been dropped by TVNZ in favour of new multi-night format shows.  This news comes on the back of announcements from TVNZ that My Kitchen Rules is getting a New Zealand version which, if as the statement suggests, will be at least two nights per week, or more.

Australia has developed strong series like Masterchef Australia and My Kitchen Rules as multi-night formats which have delivered ratings boosts for their prospective broadcasters and the successes are finally starting to gain traction here.  With The Block working well for Mediaworks, it was only a matter of time before TVNZ jumped on the bandwagon and began producing more of their own multi-night shows. Continue reading »

via twitter: @ahmadnz

2013 wasn’t really too bad of a year for television.  If anything, free to air broadcasters have struggled the most with much of the new drama content, particularly out of the US, being substandard to the likes of what the cable channels and digital networks are providing.  In any case, here are ten things that didn’t do it for me in 2013.

# 3rd Degree
Where do I begin. Continue reading »

You would think that with the show over there would be nothing more to say about New Zealand’s Got Talent.  Unfortunately, there is not.  On Saturday I received an email from one of the contestants who was “deeply hurt and very upset” about the comments I’d made about their singing on the talent show.  What I wrote was:

Paula Bisphan is appalling.

That was it.  She was.  Like many of the unrealistic wannabes who present their vocals as talent to the world to be judged.  There was little context around her as far as I can recall and like many of the auditionees, I moved on fairly quickly in the search for something worth getting excited about.  However, it appears as though Bispahn is perhaps disappointed that she didn’t get to play her sympathy card like many of the others on NZGT who unfairly snuck through to the next round.

She writes:

I was deeply hurt and very upset about the comments you published Regan about my singing act on Nzs Got talent. It wasn’t my best day when I auditioned as tragically my precious son died the day before my audition from acute cardiac failure. and the nzs got talent staff only found out after I had ,my husband told them and they commended me on my bravery and sent me flowers from the judges and whole crew which I was amazed by their kindness. So please apologise to me and you should not write scathing comments about me when you don’t know the heartache and pain  that I was experiencing that day of my audition. Continue reading »

In 2012, New Zealand’s Got Talent was the highest rating show of the year and the biggest series in the last decade so 2013 was shaping up exactly to be as was promised by TVNZ, bigger and better.  The reality, though, has been rather different.

To begin with, the grand finale saw more than a quarter of a million viewers abandon the series compared to last year with the average audience down 27%.

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Last nights win by Renee Maurice on New Zealand’s Got Talent was a bit anticlimactic.  After failing to make the finals on TV3′s The X Factor New Zealand earlier in the year, for obvious reasons, Maurice then tried out for the show that was more suited to her.  She then went on to win the public vote and walk away with the $100,000 prize and car.

It’s not the first time a contestant has appeared on two shows.  Most recently has been Taylor Henderson in Australia who was the runner up on Australia’s Got Talent in 2010 and then this year, came runner up on The X Factor Australia.  The only difference is that Henderson didn’t enjoy $3.2 million in public funding for his exposure. Continue reading »

Tonight’s grand finale finale of New Zealand’s Got Talent was going to be a sponsor fueled celebration of product placement so rather than watch the show live, I started a bit later so I could fast forward through the ads.  It was a great idea until the end.

In Australia, the TV networks are pretty ruthless when it comes to programming and are renown for extending episodes and having them run over time to entice viewers to stick with the channel rather than flip over to watch something else somewhere else.  However, this has a side affect for anyone using a PVR to record the show and watch later.

PVR’s tend to record programs based on their schedules as per the EPG data.  When a show goes over, even with a bit of extended time, sometimes these extra minutes get cut off, as was the case tonight.  The announcement that Renee won made it but I never got to the part where she had the chance to respond to winning. Continue reading »

Finally. New Zealand’s Got Talent comes to an end tonight. Possibly for good unless TVNZ can prove it is actually commercially viable.

The final result announcement was unsurprising. I suspected Renee Maurice and Silhouette would be in the final three and Gore country singer, Jenny Mitchell, being there as well wasn’t surprising either.

There’s an hour of advertising tonight interspersed with a couple of performances before we find out who actually won. Continue reading »

New Zealand’s Got Talent really is a terrible show.  Last night’s grand finale was particularly appalling.  When it came time for the judges to pick who was going through to the grand final, which was about to start, Rachel Hunter, on being left with the deciding vote declared that even if she was not liked for her decision, she was going to put them both through.  Tamati looked shocked.  Jason asked “Can we do that”, trying his best to not use his “pretending voice” but failing.  It was so obviously staged it was sickening.

If that’s not obvious enough, check out these two images from the rehearsals.  It is clearly obvious from these that both acts were rehearsing for the Grand Final before the decision was announced at the recording.

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KEY: BLUE – A PLACE TO CALL HOME (2013) / RED – NOTHING TRIVIAL (2012)

In regards to TVNZ’s decision to cancel Nothing Trivial Matt Griffiths said in the comments:

The lower ratings are probably caused from the timeslot switch to Wednesday from Sunday after NZ Got’s Talent (last year’s highest rated show, eh?). Not sure why TVNZ are so surprised.

He’s right, of course, that Nothing Trivial did air after New Zealand’s Got Talent for part of the season in 2012 and NZGT was the highest rating show of the year.  But let’s take a look at some context just for a minute, which I suspect would be part of TVNZ’s response to that statement.

There are two things to consider.  Firstly, the ratings of New Zealand’s Got Talent this year and secondly, the show that replaced Nothing Trivial. Continue reading »