Three Downsizes Big Brother
July 14, 2020 
6 Comments
Three is shifting low-rating Big Brother from ultra-prime time to a later time slot.
The Sunday broadcast is being dropped and the Monday and Tuesday episodes will switch from 7.30 to 9.25.
Three will revert to Sunday night movie double-bills, starting this weekend with Despicable Me 2 and Downsizing.
The previously scheduled X-Men: Apocalypse will air at a later date.
Replacing Big Brother on Mondays at 7.30 will be re-runs of Lost & Found while the 9.30 SVU repeat will be usurped by Big Brother in its new slot.
On Tuesday at 7.30, Three will replace Big Brother with Bondi Rescue; an original episode from season 15 will air ahead of a S11 repeat.
NCIS: LA will screen at 8.30 and the NCIS: LA repeat will be dropped for Big Brother.
Since its premiere, Big Brother has rated third, well behind the competition on TVNZ 1 and TVNZ 2’s MasterChef Australia.
While Big Brother started out as a huge hit in Australia, here’s it’s been the biggest reality flop since Three scored Love Island UK.
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July 14, 2020 at 6:35 pm
I’m disappointed by Big Brother’s relative failure here. It gave me something fresh to enjoy three nights a week. NZ viewers still seem obsessed with reality cooking shows, which have dropped in popularity in Australia.
That seems to be true, Dave. MKR: The Rivals bombed in Oz but savvy scheduling by TVNZ 2 has made it a modest hit here.
Masterchef is enjoying somewhat of a renaissance in Australia with its All-Stars format and new judging team, so not as much of a drop there. I’m guessing there’s no seasons of The Block Australia up the sleeve or anything else in the offing either. Could be a piecemeal schedule for the rest of the year.
I got an e-mail from Spark saying since I have spent more than 3 hours on Neon they will add Neon to my Spark account from August, WOW really, I didn’t realise 🙂 Oh, I love Legends of Tomorrow too, it’s wonderful 🙂
That could well be the case, Clint. Three was betting heavily on Big Brother as an evening drawcard and is having to revert to stop-gaps like movies, Bondi Rescue and Lost & Found in the meantime.
That’s right, Trevor, Spark is automatically adding Neon subs to the accounts of broadband customers who spend more than three hours using it during the free trail period. But the service won’t be bundled free like Lightbox.