australian television information archive

Sydney rules Stingers

Melbourne fans are seething as the powers-that-be at Nine stand by their Stingers decision.

NINE network bosses in Sydney have been giving the lunatic soup a big nudge, according to Eye readers.

Their decision to shift timeslot-winning Stingers back an hour to 10.30pm Tuesdays got a universal thumbs down from Melbourne and country Victorian fans.

Alison was just one who didn’t hold back.

“I am totally disgusted by Channel Nine’s decision,” she told The Eye. “I am a fan of Stingers, and Rove could never compete with their fantastic story lines until now!

“I will NOT be sitting back with great interest to see what s—t, probably from America they put at the 9.30pm time slot.”

And that’s the nice stuff from Alison, who went on to suggest she’d be watching Prime or even Austar from now on.

Glen went a step further and looked at Nine’s 7pm to 10.30pm line-up for the next week.

“Not one local Australian drama in the 3 1/2 prime-time hours on a weekday. A disgrace on the part of Channel 9,” was his verdict.

“Channel 9 has lost another viewer if they don’t reverse this decision to move Stingers.”

Glen said he not only complained to The Eye, he e-mailed Nine, and whacked in a phone whinge as well.

Have to say Mick was pretty much to the point as well when he contacted The Eye.

“As an avid fan of Stingers I too am worried that the 10:30 timeslot has signed its death knell,” he wrote.

“Is there any chance that you know a contact at Channel 9 who I can harass?”

Not surprisingly, a lot of people who got in touch with The Eye wanted to know a name or phone number of somebody at Nine they could scream at.

Just ring the switchboard folks, they’ll be getting used to it by now, and lodge your complaints.

And with the way people at Nine Melbourne are feeling, every single grizzle will be passed on to Sydney.

We also know a lot of mostly unprintable comments are being made inside Nine Melbourne about the Stingers shift.

But the command has come from Sydney, and nobody at the Bendigo St bunker is silly enough to have a go on the record at the Sydney dopes.

July 05, 2004
the Herald Sun

TV move stings loyal fans

THE outrage surrounding the Stingers move to 10.30pm have moved to the web.

Unofficial Stingers fan website www.stingers.tv has had many people write intotheir forum about the move, which starts this week. The Eye continues to get e-mails and phone calls from outraged fans, but we doubt that Channel 9 will back down.

Lets hope they do something to satisfy the fans and give the show another season next year.

July 12, 2004
the Herald Sun