The Project is a New Zealandcurrent affairs show hosted by Jesse Mulligan, Kanoa Lloyd, and Jeremy Corbett with rotating guest panelists. It premiered on 20 February 2017 as a replacement for Story and airs from 7 pm weeknights on Three. The show runs for half an hour. It was simulcast on RadioLive, Monday – Thursday, until 5 June 2017. The show's format was purchased from Roving Enterprises and is the same as that of the Australian version, The Project, which airs on Network Ten. It draws topical and controversial current affairs content as well as comedy from recent news stories.
The first television advertisement for the show was released in early February and promoted the show as "not the same old song and dance". The program launched on 20 February 2017 with hosts Jesse Mulligan, Kanoa Lloyd, and Josh Thomson, and guest host Rove McManus, and became the number 1 trend on Twitter during its timeslot. Fill-in hosts throughout the first season include Ben Hurley, Peter Helliar, Jeremy Elwood, Rhys Mathewson, and Dai Henwood for Josh Thomson, Jon Bridges, Michael Wesley-Smith and Wallace Chapman for Jesse Mulligan, and Nadine Higgins for Kanoa Lloyd. On Monday through Thursday, episodes aired for half an hour, and on Friday, for a whole hour. On 5 June 2017, RadioLive ceased simulcasting The Project.
Season 2: 2018
The second season of The Project debuted on 15 January 2018, three weeks earlier than its competitor, Seven Sharp. On 16 March 2018, Josh Thomson left his position as panelist on The Project, although he "will continue to contribute to The Project, and will join Jesse and Kanoa on the desk regularly." His position was filled by Jeremy Corbett, who had usually been the fourth host on Monday nights. On 18 May 2018, Francesca Avent and Toby Gilsenan got married live on The Project, with Jaquie Brown officiating, as a culmunation of the show's week-long celebration of the wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle.
The fourth season of The Project debuted on 20 January 2020. The Friday episodes were reduced to half an hour. On 17 February, they aired at 6:30pm due to a network outage at Newshub, which forced Three to re-air the 4:30pm bulletin at 6pm, and meant that they didn't have an autocue. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the show stopped having an audience from 16 March, and from 23 March, it stopped having a rotating guest panelist, changing to a three-host format. A physically-distanced studio audience returned on 18 May. A full studio audience and rotating guest panelist returned on 8 June, with Patrick Gower being the first.
