Four words you never expected – or perhaps wanted – to hear; Daryl Somers is back.

However, when the veteran showman reappears on his alma mater Nine Network next year, it won't be as host of a nostalgic variety show. Instead, he'll be coaxing people out of a hypnotic slumber in a game show called You're Back In The Room, in which contestants try to win cash prizes while under a hypnotic spell.

Daryl Somers is coming back to TV sans Plucka Duck on Nine.

It's one of several new and returning shows that will air on the rebranded Nine Network in 2016.

"The New Network", as Nine primed itself during a slick "upfront" presentation that was never short on hyperbolic statements, marks what network executives are claiming is the arrival of the "most important evolution in Australian entertainment".