Biggest problem facing Saturday Night Rove
He may be one of Australia’s most loved comedians, but Rove McManus’s latest crack at television was always going to be high risk. Not least because of its ridiculous timeslot, writes Cameron Adams.
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Let’s be honest, Saturday Night Rove was always always going to be a risk because the days of people watching free to air TV on a Saturday night are long gone — unless it’s sport.
Rove debuted two weeks ago with 244,000 viewers. Not amazing, but in the scheme of Saturday night ratings, not death row figures.
Unfortunately for Rove that week he was up against high profile cricket and AFL matches.
This week, with no cricket or AFL to compete with (there was NRL), Rove’s second week figures took a dangerous nose dive. Just 138,000 viewers across the country tuned in live.
To put that in perspective, he was beaten by a repeat of the 1984 Michael Douglas and Kathleen Turner film Romancing the Stone on 7Flix.
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Viewing figures suggest people still watching free to air TV on a Saturday night are the older demographic (the ABC still blitz Saturday nights — the premiere of Deep Water rated 364,000 against Rove) while SBS’s Inside North Korea’s Dynasty and the umpteenth repeat of 1996 movie Twister on Channel 9 also beat the Australian comedy legend’s new venture.
The other demographic watching on Saturday nights is kids and families. Channel 7 opted to air The Lego Batman Movie, which still only rated 168,000, but again, still beat Saturday Night Rove.
This is a huge problem considering how much live TV costs.
It’s also worth noting that his seminal chat show, Rove Live, only finished 10 years ago.
The people who grew up with that show are still at the age where they’re either leaving the house on a Saturday night or barely watch free to air TV anymore, opting for the convenience of streaming services instead.
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Perhaps the saddest reality of all this is that Saturday Night Rove while imperfect, was at least trying something different to the tired reality TV dating, renovation and cooking show tropes.
It’s good to hear (if not see) Judith Lucy back on commercial TV, and Rove has always been unselfish when it comes to surrounding himself with comedians — he wants everyone to win and doesn’t care who’s making the jokes, as long as there’s jokes. And he’s giving young comedians national TV airtime.
But Saturday night is a tough spot, because he’s going for a style of comedy that is going to alienate a lot of people who aren’t already on Netflix on a Saturday night.
And having Kevin Rudd as your money shot to attract viewers may have worked in 2009, but in 2019, it’ll see people switching to Romancing the Stone faster than you can say leadership challenge.
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The good news is Channel 10 do tend to stick with shows. Look at The Project (which Rove’s company produces) which other networks would have given up on, so there could still be hope for Rove to turn it around.
But frankly, the only live show that might work on free to air on a Saturday night is exhuming Hey Hey It’s Saturday from the TV crypt yet again.
If you’re going to tap into nostalgia, you need to appeal to an older audience happily home on a Saturday night who don’t know what this newfangled Netflix thingo is.
So is there any coming back for Rove? Only time and ratings will tell.
Cameron Adams in a national music writer for News Corp.
Originally published as Biggest problem facing Saturday Night Rove