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Renovations Set for Home Run on Nine

It looks like we're getting nightly renovations next year on Nine.

Editorial Review

As we know too, too well, Two and a Half Men has been one of Nine's salvations in 2008. The 7pm repeats have fared so well, that Nine even delayed plans for Temptation to make a comeback (it will finally air new episodes at 7pm from 1 December).

By all accounts, next year Nine is planning something new in the timeslot - a nightly renovation show, Home Run.

If it proves to eventuate, it could echo TEN's attempted series The Hothouse in 2004. That series bombed dreadfully when viewers tired of seeing teams compete in the building of a single home. It was eventually won by a Sydney couple, but only after TEN threw in an outspoken, working class couple from Adelaide in a feeble attempt to invest some conflict.

Home Run is created by Julian Cress and David Barbour, who had one of television's biggest hits with The Block. They also devised The Chopping Block, which hasn't done quite so well for Nine.

The Block was brilliant for its mix of soapie style-characters living side by side and an early exploiter of our fascination with makeovers. Since then we've been smothered in the genre with every indoor, outdoor and restaurant format imaginable.

Julian Cress says Australians still have a huge appetite for such shows.

“They are shows that combine many of the DIY elements viewers are familiar with but add an element of human drama because the audience gets to live the renovation experience with the contestants," he said.

In its call for contestants, Nine has been searching for people who live in a house with two or more bedrooms that's due for a makeover. It promises to provide contestants with 'a healthy budget and a team of professionals to help make their vision come alive, as they compete with another family for big prize money.'

At the same time it is seeking sponsors who want to plug their wares in "multiple exposures and integration of products across the entire week."

So if we end up with Home Run v Home & Away v The Biggest Loser in 2009, do you think ABC News will be the biggest winner?

Probably.

David Knox for Citysearch, November 2008

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