''The Contrarians'' is an Australian television news and commentary program broadcast weekly on
Sky News Australia throughout the week.
The series focuses on mainly political topics, with the program's host being joined by a panel of usually three commentators (sometimes four), who generally have opposing political views, and discuss the issues of the week. The program initially used the phrase "this is the only show on Sky or anywhere else where we truly involve you the viewer by reading out your tweets and emails."
The programs aired at 4pm on Friday afternoons, in the timeslot ''
PM Agenda
''Agenda'' is the name given to a series of Australian television news and commentary programs, broadcast on Sky News Australia throughout the week. The ''Agenda'' series of bulletins serve as the channel's flagship program.
The series focuses ...
'' holds on other weekdays, and was broadcast from the Sky News centre in the
Sydney
Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...
suburb of
Macquarie Park.
Revivals of ''The Contrarians'' had been announced, having previously ended in 2014, with original host
Peter van Onselen but never eventuated.
Format history
The program was hosted by
Peter van Onselen until 2014 when he was given his own primetime program ''
PVO Newshour''. From the start of 2014, the program had rotating guest hosts each week from the existing Sky News family of contributors or presenters, including
Paul Murray,
Stan Grant,
Helen Dalley,
Ross Cameron and even van Onselen.
In July 2014, the format of the program was changed slightly when
Kristina Keneally and Ross Cameron were made regular co-hosts of the program, and they would be joined by just two panellists, plus occasional interviews with journalists or commentators outside the studio.
On 19 September 2014, ''The Contrarians'' was replaced by a new series ''
Keneally and Cameron'', which is of a similar format. However, the format was absorbed into original host Peter van Onselen's new program ''PVO Newshour'', airing as a "week in review" segment during the back half of the Thursday episode, until that program ended.
Revival
On 22 June 2016, former host van Onselen revealed the format would be returning following the
2016 federal election to Sundays. However, this never eventuated, and instead van Onselen began hosting a new format ''
Sunday Edition
A newspaper is a periodical publication containing written information about current events and is often typed in black ink with a white or gray background.
Newspapers can cover a wide variety of fields such as politics, business, sports an ...
''. In October 2017, it was confirmed ''The Contrarians'' would be revived in 2018.
However, this revival never eventuated either, with van Onselen leaving Sky at the end of 2017.
See also
*
List of Australian television series
Future shows
Seven
* ''The 1% Club'' (Seven Network game show 2023–)
* ''Apartment Rules'' (Seven Network reality 2023–)
* '' Animals Aboard with Dr Harry'' (Seven Network reality 2023–)
* ''Armchair Experts'' (Seven Network sports ...
References
External links
Sky News Official site
{{DEFAULTSORT:Contrarians
Sky News Australia
Australian non-fiction television series
2009 Australian television series debuts
2014 Australian television series endings