Both shows were co-hosted by Chrissie Swan, who started as a contestant on the 2003 season of Ten's hit reality show, Big Brother.

Since then, she has forged a career with the network as co-host of The Circle (2010-11) and Can of Worms (2012-13). In 2015, she appeared on I'm a Celebrity Get Me out of Here!

Swan presented the debut season of Long Lost Family – adapted from a BAFTA-winning British series – with comedian Anh Do. Featuring private investigator Julia Robson, it re-united family members who had not seen each other for years. Though it had a loyal fanbase, it averaged just 515,000 viewers in the five major cities.

Still, Swan ends this year on a triumphant note.

Her Nova breakfast show Chrissie, Sam & Browny – which launched in Melbourne in January – added more than 100,000 listeners throughout 2016. In the battle for younger audiences, she's on 7.3 per cent - within striking distance of Fox's Fifi, Dave & Fev (8 per cent) and ahead of Kiis's Matt & Meshel (5.8 per cent).

Beverley McGarvey, Ten's chief content officer, says the network intends to use Swan and Do again.

"Chrissie is always top-of-mind for us when we do anything," McGarvey tells Fairfax Media. "And this was the first time we'd worked with Anh. It was a great experience; he's such a talented guy. We're always open to the idea of working with those guys."

When asked if The Great Australian Spelling Bee – co-hosted by Grant Denyer and Swan – will return next year, McGarvey says: "No, probably not in 2017."

In 2015, the series averaged 718,000 metropolitan viewers. This year, it dropped to 339,000.

"I don't think it's game over for Spelling Bee," McGarvey adds.

"We're still looking at some options, we still really like that show ... we think it being 'smart' is a desirable asset; it's something we really want to try and make work.

"It had a very challenging timeslot this year and we would have preferred it had done more [in the ratings]. But we like the show and we like the brand. I certainly wouldn't say [it will return] in the first half of the year but we wouldn't say, 'Definitely no'."

Returning to Ten in 2017

Offspring fans, rejoice. Ten has confirmed a new season will air in 2017, and has also confirmed the return of:
The Wrong Girl
MasterChef
Survivor
The Bachelor
The Bachelorette
I'm a Celebrity Get Me Out of Here!
Gogglebox
Have You Been Paying Attention?
Shark Tank
Todd Sampson's BodyHack
Big Bash League
The Project
Family Feud
All Star Family Feud
The Living Room
Studio 10

New on Ten in 2017

Sisters: More Magda can only be a good thing. Szubanski has a supporting role in this feel-good family drama, from the makers of Offspring. Starring Lucy Durack, Maria Angelico and Antonia Prebble, it asks the questions: "What makes you 'you'? And what's the difference between being related and being family?" McGarvey says: "It's likely to appeal to viewers who watch Offspring and The Wrong Girl."

Wake in Fright: This two-part thriller – a new adaptation of Kenneth Cook's classic Australian novel – tells the story of John Grant, a young schoolteacher who descends into his own personal nightmare after being stranded in a small outback town. McGarvey says it won't be watered down for television: "It will be a dark, moody thriller, true to the source material. It is something we think will appeal to a very particular type of audience. It will be very high-end, very premium, and we will get star casting ... it's the type of show that attracts big names." And she hopes blokes will tune in. "With Offspring and The Wrong Girl ... female viewers contribute so much to the total percentage of people watching [so it's important] we offer something for men."

Russell Coight's All Aussie Adventures: After 15 years, Glenn Robbins' outback adventurer is back – older, but none the wiser. "The beauty of Russell Coight is that it is what it is," McGarvey says. "If we do too much to it, we'll be taking away the essence of what made it special in the first place."

The Biggest Loser - Transformed: The Biggest Loser last aired in 2015 as TBL Families, and the franchise has had a patchy run. "Loser has had some huge years and some less successful years. But we're so confident about this particular iteration because it will be more relatable. Previously, Loser had occupied a particular end of the spectrum in terms of people needing to get more healthy. This time, it will be people who want to lose their baby weight, or who hit 40 and discovered they had a beer belly instead of the six-pack they had when they were 25. It will be full of take-home tips and material people find really useful."

Common Sense: Think Gogglebox, but in the workplace. Indeed, Common Sense is made by the creators of Gogglebox – and this new series will also be shared by Foxtel and Ten. It features people discussing the week's news, politics and sport. 

Aussie biopics

So far, we've had telemovies or miniseries about Molly Meldrum, INXS, Peter Brock, Princess Mary, Gina Rinehart, Ita Buttrose, Kerry Packer, Rupert Murdoch, Graham Kennedy, Bob Hawke, and magazine editors Nene King and Dulcie Boling. Even Ivan Milat got a two-part dramatisation on Channel Seven. And there's more to come: Seven will have series about Olivia Newton-John, Paul Hogan and disgraced detective Roger Rogerson in 2017, while Nine – yet to reveal its full programming slate - has an Alan Bond project in the works.

But Ten is tapping out. "We kind of think there's nobody left," McGarvey says. "These things are great and they do so well in the ratings, but there's a lot of them. It always works better for us to move in a slightly different direction – hence Wake In Fright ... we're trying to tell Australian stories in a different way." 

Ten's 7.30 slot

After Survivor finished, Ten's cupboard looked a little bare with Jamie's Super Food Family Classics, and repeats of All Star Family Feud on Mondays. McGarvey says the 40-week official ratings season will be "structured differently" in 2017. "Everything was scheduled a bit funnily this year because of the Olympics. And we talk strongly about how we have a 52-week domestic schedule; Big Bash keeps us [going] through summer."

Sport

Ten's cricket coverage starts in December of this year with its Big Bash League, followed by the Women's Big Bash League. The network will also broadcast the Australian Formula One Grand Prix and other Formula One races, key MotoGP races, its RPM program, the biggest Supercars Champions events, and the Bathurst 1000.

Overseas shows

This is Us: Follows a group of people – some of whom were born on the same day – as their paths cross and their stories intertwine in surprising ways. "It's doing incredibly well for NBC. It feels like thirtysomething, and it has the sort of energy and vibe that Grey's Anatomy has. It's not a hospital show. I just mean, 'I like these people and I want to watch them for a long time.'"

24 - Legacy: A spin-off of the classic series 24, it tells the series of Eric Carter, a US military hero who returns home after leading a mission to assassinate a terrorist leader – only to find he and his squad are now targeted by assassins. "They've done a great job of contemporising that story with a confident young actor. And he's not anything like Kiefer [Sutherland, who played Jack Bauer in the original series]. A very good back story and the pilot is really engaging."

Bull: Former NCIS star Michael Weatherly plays Dr Jason Bull in a drama inspired by the early career of Dr Phil McGraw, who founded a prolific trial consulting firm.

Man with a Plan: Golden Globe winner Matt LeBlanc plays Adam, a contractor who starts spending more time with his kids when his wife Andi goes back to work after 13 years as a stay-at-home mum.

Doubt: Katherine Heigl plays Sadie Ellis, a brilliant attorney who falls for her client, Billy Brennan, a surgeon recently accused of murdering his girlfriend 24 years ago.

Returning overseas programs: NCIS, NCIS: Los Angeles, NCIS: New Orleans, Modern Family, Law & Order: SVU, Madam Secretary, Life in Pieces, The Graham Norton Show, and more David Attenborough specials.

TenPlay to expand

Ten's catch-up and live streaming service service TenPlay will become available on five new platforms next year, including Samsung smart TVs, and Sony Playstations 3 and 4. Ten says the number of unique video views over the past year have grown by 14 per cent to 220 million.

But around 30 million of those views can be attributed to this reporter, forced to re-start TenPlay every three minutes while trying to watch Have You Been Paying Attention? And call me crazy, but how is making the ads twice as loud as the program a clever idea, given it all but guarantees viewers will hit the mute button? Not to mention TenPlay's habit of showing that damn George Clooney Nespresso ad three times in a row, in every break. It's the advertising equivalent of Chinese water torture, which I'm not sure is what Nespresso was hoping for.

McGarvey says Ten does not control the app's commercials. "TenPlay isn't 'buggy', as such ... the ads are served in all of the catch-up services from the same company ... there's all sorts of complexities around it.

"The service we provide now is much better than the service was 12 months ago, and you will see in 12 months, it will get better and better. That sort of platform is highly reliant on technology constantly being improved."

TenDaily

Ten will launch a stand-alone, mobile-first website providing new, exclusive, short-form content every day. The network says the "breakfast to bedtime" offering will span entertainment, lifestyle, sport, and parenting.

Channel Eleven

The Simpsons and Neighbours return to Eleven. New shows include No Tomorrow and The Great Indoors.

Channel One

One will offer "male-skewing programs" including Building Invincible, Rocky Mountain Railroad and Car Crash Global.

What does McGarvey see as Ten's advantage over Nine and Seven?

"We have a really solid slate of established franchises that are at different stages of their life cycle," she says, pointing to Survivor, MasterChef, The Bachelor, The Bachelorette, The Biggest Loser, and I'm a Celebrity Get Me Out Of Here!

"We have a broad slate of big, known brands that can re-invent themselves. We're not having to put in a big new franchise at a certain point in the year. But they're not old and tired, some are mature and some are young ... and it's important for us to differentiate ourselves, so we're not running the same genres against other people doing the same genres. It just never works.

"It takes people a while to find things now. Nothing is an overnight sensation these days."