Real reason Channel 9’s Today show failed in 2019

One of Australia’s leading TV commentators has revealed why the Today show with Deb Knight and Georgie Gardner failed this year.

One of Australia’s leading TV commentators has revealed why the Today show failed in 2019.

After Karl Stefanovic was messily axed from the breakfast show in December 2018, Today relaunched on January 14 this year with a new line-up.

Deb Knight and Georgie Gardner were the new co-hosts, Tom Steinfort was the newsreader, Tony Jones presented the sports news, Brooke Boney was brought in to share the entertainment role with Richard Wilkins and Stevie Jacobs did the weather.

But now, less than a year later, Nine executives have been forced to admit they got it wrong and have culled the entire team apart from Boney for 2020.

“2019 was Today’s Annus horribilis as viewers switched off and the wheels came off behind the scenes,” Rob McKnight, the editor of TV Blackbox and a former executive producer of Studio 10, told news.com.au.

“It will be a year executives would rather forget. We were promised a brand new show and simply got more of the same just with different presenters. There was nothing for viewers to get excited about and watching the show was more of a punishment than entertainment.”

Tom Steinfort, Deborah Knight, Georgie Gardner and Steve Jacobs in April.

The Today show’s ratings in 2019 were deplorable. With Gardner and Knight at the helm, the show experienced record low ratings, with its metro audience dipping below 200,000 for the first time. In March, ABC’s News Breakfast drew in more viewers nationally than Today for the first time. And at the start of November, Today suffered its worst result for the year, attracting just 155,000 viewers in five capital cities.

Ultimately, the 2019 Today show failed for one reason in particular, McKnight told news.com.au.

“The biggest problem with the show was a complete lack of chemistry. Deb Knight and Georgie Gardner are both fantastic newsreaders, but they just didn’t click in the breakfast environment. I know commentary has been written about the fact Australia doesn’t want two females hosting, but that’s a load of old tosh. The problem was the chemistry.”

LACK OF CHEMISTRY ON SHOW

There were several awkward on-air moments on Today in 2019 that highlighted the lack of chemistry between the presenters.

In late January, when the show was broadcasting from The Australian Open in Melbourne, Tony Jones was raving about the crowd at the tennis event.

“I love walking around and hearing all the different accents because so many people come from so many different parts of the world. It’s just like our own little Europe for two weeks here,” Jones said.

“Well, there’s a fair few people from Asia as well here,” Tom Steinfort responded.

There was couple of seconds of awkward silence before a visibly annoyed Jones replied, “OK, there’s some Asians here as well, Tom.”

Jones was also involved in one of the other most awkward moments of the year on Today.

Towards the end of the year, the sports presenter was crossing into the show live from Sandown Racetrack.

Jones posed a question to his colleagues Gardner, Knight and Steinfort about what kind of Australian food might be included on a menu for French visitors.

When Gardner suggested “a kangaroo burger, maybe”, Jones shot back, “Oh, you’d just go and slaughter a kangaroo, would you, Georgie?” eliciting a confused reaction from the panel.

And when Knight, in a desperate attempt to shift the mood asked if he had brought his dog to the track, she was berated.

“Deb, we’re at a racetrack,” Jones snapped. “Probably not a great idea to bring the dog, I wouldn’t have thought.”

Taken aback by the snarky response, Knight replied: “OK, well sorry for asking. Never mind. Good on you, TJ.”

And who can forget the way Gardner’s farewell from Today was handled by Knight and Steinfort on-air in November.

Gardner’s departure was originally announced off-air after what turned out to be her final show, with the host saying in a statement at the time that she was “disappointed” to be leaving Today.

The following Monday morning, before 6am, Knight said on-air: “We wanted to acknowledge our colleague and friend Georgie Gardner. You might have read over the weekend that Georgie has left the Today show. After a really challenging year we want to wish Georgie all the very best.”

At the end of the break Knight said, “She gave it a red hot go.”

WHAT’S TO COME IN 2020

A new look Today show will launch on January 6 with Karl Stefanovic and Allison Langdon as the main co-hosts. Tracy Vo will read the news, Alex Cullen will present sport, Boney will still deliver the entertainment news and Tim Davies is the new weatherman.

What does success look like for Today in 2020?

“If the show starts getting over 200,000 metro viewers each day Nine will call that a success, but it’s not,” McKnight told news.com.au. “Success is beating Sunrise, it’s that simple.

“I expect Karl to bring back some of his followers so we should see a boost, and their goal should be 250,000 metro viewers daily. That would still be a loss to Sunrise but at least they could hang their hat on real improvements. Anything below 220,000 will have been a waste of time and effort.

Allison Langdon and Karl Stefanovic.

“My sources are telling me the show will focus on news as the driving force of the show, which is a good start, but will it be enough? Viewers want information but they also want laughs.

“There are plenty of places to get a hit of news these days. What is the Today show going to do that’s different to everyone else? Has Channel 9 asked one basic question: Why should viewers watch us? If they can’t answer that question, why should we bother watching?”