| Better Homes and Gardens | |
|---|---|
| Genre | Lifestyle Home improvement |
| Presented by | Noni Hazlehurst (1995–2004) Johanna Griggs (2005–) |
| Opening theme | "Getting Better" |
| Composer(s) | Jay Stewart |
| Country of origin | Australia |
| No. of seasons | 14 |
| Production | |
| Executive producer(s) | Craig Walsh |
| Location(s) | Melbourne |
| Running time | 60 minutes |
| Broadcast | |
| Original channel | Seven Network |
| Picture format | PAL (576i), 1080i (HDTV) |
| Original run | 1 February 1996 – present |
| External links | |
| Website | |
Better Homes and Gardens is a popular Australian lifestyle television program broadcast on the Seven Network. The show covers a wide variety of lifestyle related activities including gardening, cooking, craft, pet care and DIY.
Australian actress Noni Hazlehurst hosted the show during its premiere year in 1995 through to 2004. Her husband at the time, John Jarratt was also a presenter on the show. Former swimmer-turned-television presenter Johanna Griggs replaced Noni as host in 2005. The show also features pet advice from Dr. Harry Cooper, a popular TV vet, after his TV series, Harry's Practice, which also featured Dr. Katrina Warren and Dr. Chris Brown, was axed in 2003.
The theme song for the show until 2005 was a cover of The Beatles' "Getting Better". This was changed to a new theme in 2006, composed by Jay Stewart.
Contents |
The program originally aired on Tuesdays at 7.30 pm at ran back to back with The Great Outdoors until the travel program was moved to Mondays early in the 2000's. It then aired before Room For Improvement, which was hosted by then-DIY presenter Scott McGregor. Better Homes was moved to Saturday nights at 7.30 pm in 2004, before being shifted to 6.30pm. Both timeslots were reportedly disastrous for ratings and the show struggled immensely against Australian rules football on other networks. In 2005, it was shifted to 7:30pm on Friday nights, where it has enjoyed ratings success since. It is now the longest-running Australian TV lifestyle program and the highest rating show on Australian TV. It was often among the top 10 rating programs in Australia during the 1990's, sometimes with audiences in excess of two million.
From 2007 until 2011, the Seven Network showed Better Homes and Gardens at 7:30pm, prior to its coverage of Friday Night Football starting at 8:30pm. This was a very successful timeslot for the show, but the scheduling was unpopular amongst football fans on the east coast, because it meant that the football was shown on a one-hour delayed telecast (except for matches in Perth, which were live due to the time difference). Sports fans and media continually called for Seven to shift Better Homes and Gardens and show the football live, but Seven preferred to leave the show in its top-rating timeslot, moving it only for particularly large matches.[1][2] Better Homes and Gardens will be forced into a new timeslot from 2012 (at least during the football season), as the new AFL Broadcast Rights deal will force Seven to show the football live on Friday nights.[3]
At the conclusion of the 2011 AFL football season, Better Homes And Gardens was extended permenently (or at least to the start of the 2012 AFL season) to 90 minutes.
During the course of the Australian Open, which is televised live on seven, Better Homes And Gardens is cancelled.
On Good Friday Better Homes And Gardens is shifted to Saturday night so seven can televise The Royal Children's Hospital Good Friday appeal. There is no AFL game on Good Friday with the AFL Friday night game moved to Thursday.
In 2012, Better Homes And Gardens will move to Thursday nights.