Country of origin Australia No. of seasons 1 First episode date 8 October 2015 Presented by Karl Stefanovic Number of seasons 1 | Original language(s) English No. of episodes 8 Final episode date 25 November 2015 Network Nine Network Cast Karl Stefanovic | |
Opening theme "Shut Up and Dance"
by Walk the Moon Ending theme "Shut Up and Dance"
by Walk the Moon (instrumental) Similar House of Bond, RBT, 20 to One, The Sunday Footy Sh, Today | ||
The Verdict was an Australian television panel discussion program on the Nine Network, hosted by news journalist Karl Stefanovic, which premiered on 8 October 2015.
Contents
A pilot for the series was ordered by the Nine Network in August 2015, to be filmed the following month. The series was green lit on 14 September 2015 for 8 episodes to air on Sundays at 9:30pm from 11 October 2015. However, the series was moved prior to launch to the Thursday 8:30pm timeslot starting from 8 October 2015. In addition, it was announced the network had only committed to 5 episodes.
On 28 October 2015, the series was renewed for a second season, which was set to air in 2016, but the series has since been cancelled.
Format
The Verdict has been modelled on a mixture of Q&A and The Project, and features a rotating panel of guest. They discuss hot-button issues in front of a live audience. The panel give fielding opinions from the studio audience, while viewers at home can vote on weekly topics. Host Karl Stefanovic injects his own opinion into the show, something he has been doing increasingly while hosting Today.
Reception
The show has received mostly negative reviews, being called by people as "Q&A for bogans". The tone and nature of discussion is a problem, the show is a clumsy mish-mash of elements. Panellists arrive in the arena like players appearing on The Footy Show: entering centre stage, smiling and waving to the studio audience as their names are announced. Once seated, they start weighing in on the chosen topics and appear primed for some argy-bargy. No measured presentation of views. They interrupt each other, talk over each other and try to shout each other down as Stefanovic sits in the centre, unsuccessfully trying to moderate the debate. Meanwhile, a small and fairly desultory studio audience looks on and suggests a little too strongly that they've been instructed on when to clap and nod.