David Tench Tonight
Encyclopedia
David Tench Tonight was a short-lived television talk show created for Network Ten
Network Ten
Network Ten , is one of Australia's three major commercial television networks. Owned-and-operated stations can be found in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide and Perth, while affiliates extend the network to cover most of the country...

 in Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

. The series featured David Tench, an animated fictional character, as host.

The name "Tench" is a partial anagram created from the name Channel Ten.

Tench conducted interviews with various "celebrities" including Pat Rafter
Patrick Rafter
Patrick "Pat" Michael Rafter is an Australian former World No. 1 tennis player. He twice won the men's singles title at the US Open and was twice the runner-up at Wimbledon. Rafter was elected to the International Tennis Hall of Fame in 2006. He was known for his natural serve-and-volley style of...

, Nick Lachey
Nick Lachey
Nicholas Scott "Nick" Lachey is an American singer, songwriter, actor, producer and television personality. Lachey rose to fame as a member of the boy band 98 Degrees. He later starred in the reality television series Newlyweds: Nick and Jessica with his then-wife, Jessica Simpson. He has released...

, Ronn Moss
Ronn Moss
Ronald Montague "Ronn" Moss is an American actor, musician and singer/songwriter, a member of the band Player, and best known for portraying Ridge Forrester, the dynamic fashion magnate on the CBS soap opera The Bold and the Beautiful since 1987.- Early life and music career :Ronn Moss was born...

, Nelly Furtado
Nelly Furtado
Nelly Kim Furtado is a Canadian singer-songwriter, record producer and actress. Furtado grew up in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada.Furtado first gained fame with her debut album, Whoa, Nelly!, and its single "I'm Like a Bird", which won a 2001 Juno Award for Single of the Year and a 2002 Grammy...

 and Ella Hooper
Ella Hooper
Ella Keighery Hooper is an Australian rock music singer-songwriter. Hooper is the lead singer of Killing Heidi, which she has fronted, with her older brother Jesse Hooper, since its formation in 1996...

.

The 2006 season finale (episode 15) was shown on 23 November 2006. A Christmas special aired on 25 December 2006 at 10:30pm.

It was reported in The Daily Telegraph
The Daily Telegraph (Australia)
The Daily Telegraph is an Australian tabloid newspaper published in Sydney, New South Wales, by Nationwide News, part of News Corporation.The Tele, as it is also known, was founded in 1879. From 1936 to 1972, it was owned by Frank Packer's Australian Consolidated Press. That year it was sold to...

on 5 April 2007 that David Tench Tonight had been axed by Network Ten
Network Ten
Network Ten , is one of Australia's three major commercial television networks. Owned-and-operated stations can be found in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide and Perth, while affiliates extend the network to cover most of the country...

.

Technology

The actor behind the digital Tench was Australian actor Drew Forsythe
Drew Forsythe
Drew Forsythe is an Australian actor, singer, writer, and comedian.He attended Atherton Primary School, far north Queensland....

.

Tench was rendered and animated in real-time using motion capture
Motion capture
Motion capture, motion tracking, or mocap are terms used to describe the process of recording movement and translating that movement on to a digital model. It is used in military, entertainment, sports, and medical applications, and for validation of computer vision and robotics...

 technology. The guests were therefore able to see him and respond to him in real-time.

Radio host Mick Molloy
Mick Molloy
Michael "Mick" Molloy is an Australian comedian, writer and producer who has been active in the fields of radio, television, stand-up and film.-Biography:...

, who was a guest on the 11 October 2006 episode, clarified on his radio show Tough Love
Tough Love with Mick Molloy
ToughLove was an Australian comedic radio talk program broadcast from Melbourne through the Triple M network from 12:00PM - 1:00PM AEST in Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane and Adelaide....

that the David Tench desk had no-one behind it and the guest spoke to a television setup behind the desk to "interact" with Tench.
The character of Tench was conceived by Andrew Denton
Andrew Denton
Andrew Christopher Denton is an Australian television producer, comedian, Gold Logie-nominated television presenter and former radio host, and was the host of the ABC's weekly television interview program Enough Rope. He is known for his comedy and interviewing technique...

 and technically designed by Australian visual effects company Animal Logic
Animal Logic
Animal Logic is an Australian digital visual effects company based at Fox Studios in Sydney, Australia and Santa Monica, California. Established in 1991, Animal Logic's core business has traditionally been the design and production of high-end visual effects for commercials and television programs,...

. Animal Logic used the VICON MX40 technology to create David Tench.

The concept of an animated talk show host was not entirely new. Hand-drawn animation was used to bring Space Ghost
Space Ghost
Space Ghost is a fictional superhero created by Hanna-Barbera Productions and designed by Alex Toth for CBS in the 1960s. In his original incarnation, he was a superhero who, with his sidekick teen helpers Jan, Jace, and Blip the monkey, fought supervillains in outer space...

 to life in the 1994 talk show Space Ghost Coast to Coast
Space Ghost Coast to Coast
Space Ghost Coast to Coast is an American animated parody talk show hosted by the 60s Hanna-Barbera cartoon character Space Ghost. The show premiered on April 15, 1994 on Cartoon Network...

. An earlier similar gimmick was used in the British talk and music video show The Max Talking Headroom Show, featuring Max Headroom
Max Headroom (character)
Max Headroom is a fictional British artificial intelligence, known for his wit and stuttering, distorted, electronically sampled voice. The character was created by George Stone, Annabel Jankel, and Rocky Morton in the mid nineteen eighties, and portrayed by Matt Frewer as "The World's first...

. Max, however, was not computer-generated but was realised by a clever mixture of prosthetic costuming and video effects, and was also able to interact with his guests.

Viral marketing

Before the program's airing, Network Ten
Network Ten
Network Ten , is one of Australia's three major commercial television networks. Owned-and-operated stations can be found in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide and Perth, while affiliates extend the network to cover most of the country...

 utilised a technique called viral marketing
Viral marketing
Viral marketing, viral advertising, or marketing buzz are buzzwords referring to marketing techniques that use pre-existing social networks to produce increases in brand awareness or to achieve other marketing objectives through self-replicating viral processes, analogous to the spread of viruses...

 to create publicity for the then unestablished show and character. Publicity included small spot television advertisements with David Tench quotes written for the show, accompanied by the simple tagline, "finally, someone real on television."

A large amount of general interest was generated with seemingly minimal effort. However, this method of marketing was criticised by some as a cheap stunt to fool people's better judgment.

Revelation and premiere

During the finale of Big Brother 2006
Big Brother (Australia series 6)
Big Brother Australia 2006 was the sixth series of Big Brother Australia, and was aired on Network Ten in Australia. The series began on 22 April 2006 and finished on 31 July 2006; a duration of 101 days. In the auditions, which had been held in November and December 2005, producers asked for...

on 31 July 2006, Network Ten had revealed Tench as an animated talk show host with an American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 accent. However, he often lapsed into a quasi-Australian accent during his interviews.

The 30-minute premiere episode aired on Thursday, 17 August 2006 at 8.30pm (AEST).

The show then moved to a new timeslot - Thursdays at 9.30pm AEST. The timeslot switch was promoted as a change to accommodate a new (in the network's words) "naught[ier]" content shift for the program, although based on the steady decline of viewing figures, it is easily visible that this is a change based on an attempt to reclaim audience share in the preceding timeslot.

The studio audience was made up of the general public who attended the show's taping.

Public opinion and media regarding David Tench

  • On the morning of the first episode, The West Australian
    The West Australian
    The West Australian is the only locally-edited daily newspaper published in Perth, Western Australia, and is owned by ASX-listed Seven West Media . The West is published in tabloid format, as is the state's other major newspaper, The Sunday Times, a News Limited publication...

    newspaper compared Tench's appearance to Liam Bartlett
    Liam Bartlett
    Liam Bartlett is a journalist from Perth, Western Australia.He currently works on the Nine Network's 60 Minutes current affairs program. Previously, he had a six year stint with ABC radio station 720 ABC Perth, presenting the morning program. He had previously worked for GWN in Bunbury as a news...

    , who had recently left Perth radio to join 60 Minutes.

  • eBroadcast reported that the ratings for the first show averaged 1.162 million viewers to be number 10 on the most-watched list but was behind new shows that premiered the same night including Celebrity Survivor
    Celebrity Survivor
    Celebrity Survivor, also known promotionally as Celebrity Survivor: Vanuatu and Australia's Celebrity Survivor, was an Australian television series that screened on the Seven Network in 2006, based on the popular reality television show, Survivor...

    .

  • The City Weekly (a Sydney publication) discussed in its 24 August 2006 print edition how Channel Ten tried to pass off a promotion for David Tench Tonight as a "legitimate" news item during its 5pm main news bulletin.

  • David Tench was interviewed by Flip Shelton in the Herald Sun
    Herald Sun
    The Herald Sun is a morning tabloid newspaper based in Melbourne, Australia. It is published by The Herald and Weekly Times, a subsidiary of News Limited, itself a subsidiary of News Corporation. It is available for purchase throughout Melbourne, Regional Victoria, Tasmania, the Australian Capital...

    regarding his background and return from the United States to host David Tench Tonight (despite the obvious fictitious nature of both the character and the identity outside the character).

  • The Daily Telegraph
    The Daily Telegraph (Australia)
    The Daily Telegraph is an Australian tabloid newspaper published in Sydney, New South Wales, by Nationwide News, part of News Corporation.The Tele, as it is also known, was founded in 1879. From 1936 to 1972, it was owned by Frank Packer's Australian Consolidated Press. That year it was sold to...

    has discussed Drew Forsythe
    Drew Forsythe
    Drew Forsythe is an Australian actor, singer, writer, and comedian.He attended Atherton Primary School, far north Queensland....

    , the voice behind David Tench, and how he goes about "playing" Tench via motion-capture technology.

  • The Australian
    The Australian
    The Australian is a broadsheet newspaper published in Australia from Monday to Saturday each week since 14 July 1964. The editor in chief is Chris Mitchell, the editor is Clive Mathieson and the 'editor-at-large' is Paul Kelly....

    newspaper (via news.com.au) reports that Andrew Denton
    Andrew Denton
    Andrew Christopher Denton is an Australian television producer, comedian, Gold Logie-nominated television presenter and former radio host, and was the host of the ABC's weekly television interview program Enough Rope. He is known for his comedy and interviewing technique...

     and Anita Jacoby are in Europe pitching David Tench to television networks at the MIPCOM television sales conference - the article also reports that Network Ten originally committed to a 26-episode run merely to make the series' development viable. The article also discussed the poor ratings of late.

  • The Daily Telegraph
    The Daily Telegraph (Australia)
    The Daily Telegraph is an Australian tabloid newspaper published in Sydney, New South Wales, by Nationwide News, part of News Corporation.The Tele, as it is also known, was founded in 1879. From 1936 to 1972, it was owned by Frank Packer's Australian Consolidated Press. That year it was sold to...

    reported that The Wiggles
    The Wiggles
    The Wiggles are a children's group formed in Sydney, Australia in 1991. Their original members were Anthony Field, Phillip Wilcher, Murray Cook, Greg Page, and Jeff Fatt. Wilcher left the group after their first album...

      endured a "lashing" in a then-upcoming episode (19 October 2006) and may not want to return for a second interview.

Cancellation

Andrew Denton
Andrew Denton
Andrew Christopher Denton is an Australian television producer, comedian, Gold Logie-nominated television presenter and former radio host, and was the host of the ABC's weekly television interview program Enough Rope. He is known for his comedy and interviewing technique...

 was interviewed by the Daily Telegraph
The Daily Telegraph (Australia)
The Daily Telegraph is an Australian tabloid newspaper published in Sydney, New South Wales, by Nationwide News, part of News Corporation.The Tele, as it is also known, was founded in 1879. From 1936 to 1972, it was owned by Frank Packer's Australian Consolidated Press. That year it was sold to...

on 5 April 2007 and confirmed that David Tench Tonight was axed by Network Ten
Network Ten
Network Ten , is one of Australia's three major commercial television networks. Owned-and-operated stations can be found in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide and Perth, while affiliates extend the network to cover most of the country...

..

The program's website is no longer online.

Segments

  • A Tench Thought - A thought by Tench.
  • Return Fire - David Tench reads a letter or two from viewers and respond controversially.
  • For Legal Reasons - Tench says some controversial things that his lawyers and celebrities' lawyers tell him to apologise for.
  • You Got Me, Dave - A prediction if a celebrity came on the show; most notably, calling Germaine Greer
    Germaine Greer
    Germaine Greer is an Australian writer, academic, journalist and scholar of early modern English literature, widely regarded as one of the most significant feminist voices of the later 20th century....

     a revolting old reptile
    Reptile
    Reptiles are members of a class of air-breathing, ectothermic vertebrates which are characterized by laying shelled eggs , and having skin covered in scales and/or scutes. They are tetrapods, either having four limbs or being descended from four-limbed ancestors...

     for insulting Steve Irwin
    Steve Irwin
    Stephen Robert "Steve" Irwin , nicknamed "The Crocodile Hunter", was an Australian television personality, wildlife expert, and conservationist. Irwin achieved worldwide fame from the television series The Crocodile Hunter, an internationally broadcast wildlife documentary series which he co-hosted...

    .
  • Last Burst of Tench - Tench would finish with a brief, controversial statement.

Episode list and guests

Ep# Airdate Guests
01 17 August 2006 Patrick Rafter
Patrick Rafter
Patrick "Pat" Michael Rafter is an Australian former World No. 1 tennis player. He twice won the men's singles title at the US Open and was twice the runner-up at Wimbledon. Rafter was elected to the International Tennis Hall of Fame in 2006. He was known for his natural serve-and-volley style of...

, Ella Hooper
Ella Hooper
Ella Keighery Hooper is an Australian rock music singer-songwriter. Hooper is the lead singer of Killing Heidi, which she has fronted, with her older brother Jesse Hooper, since its formation in 1996...

02 24 August 2006 Nelly Furtado
Nelly Furtado
Nelly Kim Furtado is a Canadian singer-songwriter, record producer and actress. Furtado grew up in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada.Furtado first gained fame with her debut album, Whoa, Nelly!, and its single "I'm Like a Bird", which won a 2001 Juno Award for Single of the Year and a 2002 Grammy...

, Nick Lachey
Nick Lachey
Nicholas Scott "Nick" Lachey is an American singer, songwriter, actor, producer and television personality. Lachey rose to fame as a member of the boy band 98 Degrees. He later starred in the reality television series Newlyweds: Nick and Jessica with his then-wife, Jessica Simpson. He has released...

03 31 August 2006 Claudia Karvan
Claudia Karvan
Claudia Karvan is an Australian actress popular for her roles in the television series The Secret Life of Us and Love My Way. She is also a producer and writer on Love My Way. She currently stars in the drama series Spirited...

, Mark Holden
Mark Holden
Mark Holden is an Australian singer, television personality and barrister. He was one of a panel of three judges on the television series Australian Idol.-Acting career:...

04 7 September 2006 Ronn Moss
Ronn Moss
Ronald Montague "Ronn" Moss is an American actor, musician and singer/songwriter, a member of the band Player, and best known for portraying Ridge Forrester, the dynamic fashion magnate on the CBS soap opera The Bold and the Beautiful since 1987.- Early life and music career :Ronn Moss was born...

, Toni Collette
Toni Collette
Antonia "Toni" Collette is an Australian actress and musician, known for her acting work on stage, television and film as well as a secondary career as the lead singer of the band Toni Collette & the Finish....

05 14 September 2006 Shannon Noll
Shannon Noll
Shannon Noll first came to prominence as runner-up of the first series of Australian Idol which led to him being signed to Sony BMG. Since then he has released five Top 10 albums and ten Top 10 singles. His first two albums That's What I'm Talking About in 2004 and Lift in 2005 debuted at No...

, Amanda Keller
Amanda Keller
Amanda Rose Keller is an Australian journalist, radio presenter, and media personality.-Education:Keller went to Carlingford High School, and then went on to study media and communications at Charles Sturt University as a contemporary of Andrew Denton...

06 21 September 2006 Jimmy Barnes
Jimmy Barnes
James Dixon Swan , better known as Jimmy Barnes, is a Scottish-born Australian rock singer-songwriter. His father Jim Swan was a prizefighter and his older brother John Swan is also a rock singer. It was actually John who had encouraged and taught Jim how to sing as he wasn't really interested at...

, Daniel MacPherson
Daniel MacPherson
Daniel Donald MacPherson is an Australian actor and television presenter, best known for his roles as; Joel Samuels on Neighbours, PC Cameron Tait on British police drama The Bill, and Detective Senior Constable Simon Joyner in City Homicide...

07 28 September 2006 Layne Beachley
Layne Beachley
Layne Beachley is a former professional surfer from Manly, Australia. She won the World Championship seven times.-Surfing career:At the age of 16 Beachley became a professional surfer. By the age of 20 she was ranked sixth in the world. Beachley became the Women's ASP World Champion in 1998, and...

, Matthew Reilly
Matthew Reilly
Matthew John Reilly is an Australian action thriller writer. His novels are noted for their fast pace, twisting plots and intense action.- Biography :...

, Meat Loaf
Meat Loaf
Michael Lee Aday , better known by his stage name, Meat Loaf, is an American hard rock musician and actor...

08 5 October 2006 Georgie Parker
Georgie Parker
Georgina "Georgie" Parker is an Australian television actress. She grew up in the suburb of St. Ives.-Personal life:...

, Jason Stevens
Jason Stevens
Jason Anthony Stevens is a former professional rugby league footballer who represented his country and state. He primarily played at prop...

, Troy Cassar-Daley
Troy Cassar-Daley
Troy Cassar-Daley is a multi-award-winning country musician from New South Wales, Australia.He released his first EP, "Dream Out Loud", in 1994 and was nominated for his first Golden Guitar for Best Male Vocalist the same year...

09 12 October 2006 Mick Molloy
Mick Molloy
Michael "Mick" Molloy is an Australian comedian, writer and producer who has been active in the fields of radio, television, stand-up and film.-Biography:...

, Tara Moss
Tara Moss
Tara Moss is a bestselling Canadian-Australian author, television presenter, journalist and former model....

10 19 October 2006 Anthony Field
Anthony Field
Anthony Donald Field AM is an Australian musician and actor. He is best known as a member of the children's group The Wiggles and the 1980s and 90s band The Cockroaches with his brothers, Paul and John and another future Wiggle, Jeff Fatt.Field was the youngest of seven children, and grew up in...

 and Murray Cook
Murray Cook
Murray James Cook AM is an Australian vocalist, songwriter and guitarist. He is best known as one of the founding members of the children's band The Wiggles...

 (The Wiggles
The Wiggles
The Wiggles are a children's group formed in Sydney, Australia in 1991. Their original members were Anthony Field, Phillip Wilcher, Murray Cook, Greg Page, and Jeff Fatt. Wilcher left the group after their first album...

), Gia Carides
Gia Carides
Gia Carides is an Australian actress. She is best known for her portrayals of Liz Holt in Strictly Ballroom, Susy Connor in Brilliant Lies, and Cousin Nikki in My Big Fat Greek Wedding.-Early life:...

11 26 October 2006 Guy Sebastian
Guy Sebastian
Guy Theodore Sebastian is an Australian pop, R&B, and soul singer-songwriter who was the first winner of Australian Idol in 2003. He is currently a judge on the Australian version of The X Factor. Sebastian has released six top ten platinum/multi platinum albums, including a number-one and...

, Kate Fischer
Kate Fischer
Kate Fischer, aka Katie Fischer, is an Australian model and actress. She attended the Canberra Girls' Grammar School....

, Matt Welsh
Matt Welsh
Matthew "Matt" Welsh is an Australian swimmer who is the former world champion in the backstroke and butterfly. Welsh trained under coach Ian Pope at the Melbourne Vicentre Club. He took two golds in 50 metres butterfly and 50 metres backstroke, during one hour, at the World Championships in...

12 2 November 2006 Adam Gilchrist
Adam Gilchrist
Adam Craig Gilchrist AM , nicknamed "Gilly" or "Churchy", is an Australian international cricketer who currently captains Kings XI Punjab and recently captained Middlesex. He is an attacking left-handed batsman and record-breaking wicket-keeper, who redefined the role for the Australian national...

, Kate Ceberano
Kate Ceberano
Kate Ceberano is an Australian singer. She achieved success in the soul, jazz and pop genres as well as in her brief forays into musicals with Jesus Christ Superstar and film...

13 9 November 2006 Marcia Hines
Marcia Hines
Marcia Elaine Hines, AM is a vocalist, actress and TV personality who achieved success in her adopted homeland of Australia. Hines made her debut, at the age of sixteen, in the Australian version of the stage musical Hair and followed with the role of Mary Magdalene in Jesus Christ Superstar...

, Father Bob McGuire
14 16 November 2006 Ronan Keating
Ronan Keating
Ronan Patrick John Keating is an Irish recording artist, singer-songwriter, musician, and philanthropist. Keating debuted on the professional music scene alongside Keith Duffy, Mikey Graham, Shane Lynch and Stephen Gately, in 1994 as the lead singer of Boyzone. His solo career started in 1999, and...

, Liz Ellis
Liz Ellis
Elizabeth "Liz" Ellis AM is a retired Australian netball player, a member of the national team from 1992 until 2007 and captain for the last four of those years. She is the most capped international player for Australian netball....

, Angry Anderson
Angry Anderson
Gary Stephen "Angry" Anderson AM is an Australian rock singer, television presenter/reporter, actor and conservative political activist. He is best known as the vocalist with the hard rock band Rose Tattoo since 1976 but he is also recognised for his acting roles and his charity work...

15 23 November 2006 Johnny Knoxville
Johnny Knoxville
Philip John Clapp , better known by his stage name Johnny Knoxville, is an American actor, comedian, screenwriter, stunt performer, best known for being the co-creator and principal star of the MTV reality series Jackass, with the catchphrase "I'm Johnny Knoxville, and welcome to Jackass."-Early...

, Andrew Gaze
Andrew Gaze
Andrew Barry Casson Gaze is Australia's best known basketball player, and one of its most successful. He is considered as the greatest player in the history of the NBL....

, Julia Gillard
Julia Gillard
Julia Eileen Gillard is the 27th and current Prime Minister of Australia, in office since June 2010.Gillard was born in Barry, Vale of Glamorgan, Wales and migrated with her family to Adelaide, Australia in 1966, attending Mitcham Demonstration School and Unley High School. In 1982 Gillard moved...

16 25 December 2006 This special Christmas episode featured all of David Tench's 35 past guests

External links

  • David Tench Tonight on TV.com
    TV.com
    TV.com is a website owned by CBS Interactive. The site covers television and focuses on English-language shows made or broadcast in the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Ireland and Japan...

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