Magda Szubanski’s The Weakest Link plummets in second week of ratings

Magda Szubanski’s quiz show The Weakest Link has shed more viewers and joins the list of failed Aussie TV reboots.

Magda Szubanski’s new quiz show is shaping up to be the weakest link on prime time TV.

Latest ratings figures show The Weakest Link reboot, launched by Nine last week, sank from 420,000 viewers watching the May 25 premiere, to 300,000 tuning in on Tuesday night.

Up against it in the same timeslot, ABC TV’s Love on the Spectrum pulled 403,000, and The Good Doctor, on Channel 7, got 343,000.

TV expert Colin Vickery said: “Shedding 120,000 viewers from week one to week two is not a good sign. Twenty five per cent of viewers who tuned in for the debut didn’t like what they saw.”

Nine had no comment on the figures, but network insiders said the post-9pm numbers were “within expectations.”

The show debuted just weeks after the comedian lashed out at the Prime Minister’s wife Jenny Morrison.

Ms Szubanski commented on a photo of Mrs Morrison near her husband while he signed a condolence book for Prince Philip.

Szubanski tweeted: “I genuinely thought this was a photoshopped Handmaid Tale’s meme. But no. It’s 21st century Aussie life.” The Handmaid’s Tale is a TV series that depicts subservient wives.

Vickery said the problem might be casting Szubanski in a role made famous by the acerbic Cornelia Frances, and the tone of the updated show.

“Is it a serious or comedic quiz show? It seems to be stuck in the middle, and so is Magda’s hosting style,” Vickery said.

“With Cornelia Frances, it was a serious quiz show. What Nine has tried to do, in my opinion, is try make it like the Hard Quiz (ABC), with that biting, humorous style.

“But, with The Weakest Link, we feel like Magda’s playing a character.

“It’s not the image we have of her in our minds. She’s got star power in her name, but this is a strange gig for her.”

Here’s some other Aussie TV reboots that have struggled:

Neroli Meadows, Brendan Fevola, Anthony 'Lehmo' Lehmann, Dylan Alcott and Shane Crawford. Picture: Nicki Connolly

Daryl Somers and Ossie Ostrich on the set of Hey Hey It's Saturday. Picture: Channel 9

THE FOOTY SHOW

The OG of AFL shows went through several line ups over the journey, including hosts Eddie McGuire, Sam Newman, Garry Lyon, James Brayshaw, and panellists Trevor Marmalade, Billy Brownless and Shane Crawford.

But the short-lived reboot, with Neroli Meadows, Dylan Alcott, Anthony ‘Lehmo’ Lehmann, and Brendan Fevola didn’t last four quarters.

HEY HEY IT’S SATURDAY

The success of two reunion specials in 2009 bode well for a full season return. The Hey Hey reboot premiered with 1.5 million viewers in April, 2010, but ratings steadily dropped soon after, and the show was not renewed for further episodes.

In 2012, Hey Hey host Daryl Somer said he had unsuccessfully approached other networks for another Hey Hey revival.

Rove McManus.

Manu Feildel and Colin Fassnidge.

SATURDAY NIGHT ROVE

TV favourite and Gold Logie prince Rove McManus returned to the variety show circuit in 2019 after hosting making his name with the successful Rove Live program in the early 2000s.

Saturday Night Rove featured McManus’ broad appeal hosting style, mixed with celebrity guests, skits, and comedy.

Ten commissioned six shows but Saturday Night Rove was axed after two episodes aired.

MY KITCHEN RULES – THE RIVALS

Technically not a reboot, but definitely a new spice in a cooking show favourite that was starting to lose flavour with audiences. In an odd collision of reality show tropes, the cooks and judges bunked down in the same lodgings while plating up meals and bitching about each other’s dishes.

The show delivered good ratings, but by season’s end, MKR lost a main ingredient: Pete Evans.

CHANGING ROOMS

Triple threat (singer, dancer, actor) Natalie Bassingthwaighte fronted this revived favourite which was hosted by hosted by Suzie Wilks in the late 1990s. The format — couples making over each other’s homes — inspired a new generation shows like House Rules.

Ten shot eight episodes of the reboot version, but after negative reviews and poor ratings, the show was shelved after four chapters were aired.

Dancing with the Stars judges Helen Ritchie and Todd McKenney.

DANCING WITH THE STARS

Like the routines on this shiny floor show, Dancing With The Stars has had many twists and twirls of fortune and failure. The latest season, an all-stars edition with original judges Todd McKenney and Helen Ritchey, did disappointing numbers, but it regularly went up against couples doing against the horizontal cha-cha on MAFS.

Channel 7 had DWTS from 2005-2015, Ten revived it in 2019 and 2020, before Seven took it back in 2021.

FAMILY FEUD

Survey says this viewer favourite was a success for four years. Ten remodelled this version on Bert’s Family Feud, a show hosted by Bert Newton, and based on a US game show.

Ten’s Family Feud cemented Grant Denyer’s status as a top-tier presenter, but the show was axed in 2018.

Denyer had the last laugh, though: he won a Gold Logie for a his services to quiz mastering.

Shelley Craft hosted Perfect Match.

PERFECT MATCH

The original dating show, hosted by Greg Evans, and later Cameron Daddo, set the scene for good, wholesome relationship fun. Long before “swipe right” became a thing, contestants were asked a series of questions to determine compatibility. Ah, the 1980s.

Shelley Craft hosted a short-lived reboot in 2002 that failed to find any love from viewers.