Daryl Somers could be back hosting a Saturday evening variety show before we know it.
Seven is reported to be agreeable to a pilot allowing Somers to "reinvent Hey Hey It's Saturday" in 2007. Word is Somers has been keen to bring back variety to Saturday nights. There is speculation he has approached John Blackman to be a part of the project.
This sounds risky to me. Hey Hey is an institution and should not be tampered with. Ernie Carroll and Blackman helped make an indomitable force with Somers. But that was a long time ago. It's also a bit wrinkly around the edges, and there had become a strong boys club element about the show with Wilbur Wilde, Red Symons, Russell Gilbert, Blackers, Plucka and more..... Part of the popularity of Dancing with the Stars lays not with the host, although he remains entirely accomplished at the task at hand. There are few with Somers' skills at live and impromptu television.
It would be fantastic if Somers were behind the scenes on this one. What Somers knows about putting television together can't be bought. Find a protege to pass on the torch, Daryl?
Meanwhile, Seven has also agreed to a Tonight show pilot for Andrew O'Keefe. This could be hard to fathom week in, week out. Again O'Keefe is very, very skilled at his plentiful hosting duties. But as Daryl showed us all those years ago, you also need to be likable. Sometimes I feel O'Keefe would be a lot more watchable if he turned the velocity down. True, all his shows have been hits, but humility can be a wonderful thing on telly.
Finally it also seems strange that Seven has money th throw around with pilots but there was none in the kitty for The Naomi Show?
Source: Herald-Sun.
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