Nine cancels The Footy Show after 25 years following ratings plunge
An emotional Eddie McGuire has paid tribute to The Footy Show, admitting that the new program should have been rebranded with a new name. It comes as co-host Brendan Fevola opened up on the moment the show was axed, saying the reboot just wasn’t the same as its ground-breaking predecessor.
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An emotional Eddie McGuire has paid tribute to The Footy Show, saying it was “the biggest free kick football has ever had”.
Channel Nine star McGuire, the AFL show’s former co-host, told the Herald Sun: “When people have been writing the show into the ground in recent years, I’ve always said to them: ‘Be careful what you wish for, because you’re going to lose an hour and a half of primetime advertising for Foxtel and Seven’s coverage of the game on the big network.’
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“It was without doubt the biggest free kick football has ever had.”
McGuire’s reflections came after Nine axed a revamped version of the show, helmed by Brendan Fevola, Neroli Meadows, Dylan Alcott, and Shane Crawford.
Bad ratings forced Nine to cancel the show, which is produced by McGuire’s company JAM TV, after last night’s episode.
“It’s like anything ... when things go out of fashion, that’s what it is,” McGuire said. “It happened to Hey Hey It’s Saturday, it happened to Graham Kennedy.
“Hopefully, now people will look back on this show with the same affection, of what happened in the last 25 years, and not what happened with the last little bit.
“Unfortunately, this year, there were so many Thursday night games of footy, it never got a chance to settle in.”
McGuire also said the new show should have been rebranded.
“We should have gone for a different name,” he said. “We bounced a few ideas around.”
But, he added, “there are no recriminations”.
“I think Channel Nine should be congratulated for having a go. Last year’s Grand Final show (co-hosted by McGuire and Sam Newman) won the ratings by a mile. It was an absolute beauty.
“This year’s show is a different type of thing. It had its chance, the figures weren’t there, and that’s showbusiness. It’s a show and it’s a business.
“We walked in that very first night knowing we had to fire, we had to rate or die. Eventually, that’s what happens to all shows. But now is not a time for ‘what ifs?’ We had an amazing run.”
McGuire said The Footy Show, which launched in 1994, was a trailblazer.
“We broke stories, we made people cry, we made people laugh, we pushed agendas. We changed what football entertainment was,” McGuire said. “People forget that no football show had ever worked in prime time.”
McGuire remembers The Footy Show’s first night on air like it was yesterday.
“I was revved up and sparring. I would shadow box beforehand,” he said. “Sam turned to me and said: ‘So, Ed, what are we gonna do out here?’
“I said, ‘Mate let’s just do a sportsman’s night. I walked out, and did a tennis shot to pay homage to The Don Lane Show. Then I said, ‘Welcome to The Football Show.’
“I mispronounced my own show in the opening,” he said, laughing. “In the first ad break, I knew there was magic happening. There was no texting in those days, but you could feel it in the audience. I thought, my goodness, this is all coming together.”
THE MOMENT FOOTY SHOW WAS AXED
Brendan Fevola has spoken about the moment The Footy Show was axed, admitting that the program and its co-hosts’ days had been numbered.
The final siren last night sounded for the embattled footytainment program after weeks of falling ratings, with Nine blindsiding its hosts minutes after the program aired.
“The writing was on the wall when the ratings are down. It wasn’t The Footy Show,” he said.
“It was a different way that we wanted to do the show. It’s funny, its light, it’s easy to watch but it just isn’t The Footy Show.
“If we had changed the name, maybe it would have gotten a little bit of traction but who’s to know.”
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Fevola revealed how the hosts learned the show’s fate after the cameras stopped rolling last night.
“We got off air ... and then we got taken into a room by all the big dogs at Channel 9,” he said.
“They said that obviously, with the ratings, that they couldn’t go on any more, which is fair enough.”
He said the team went out for a beer and a few laughs but the mood was “sombre”.
Fevola had been part of the former iteration of the show, sitting on the panel alongside some of the game’s biggest names over the years.
He said it had been an honour and was sad that he didn’t get a chance to thank the viewers who had tuned in to a show that launched so many careers.
But he did give a nod to Sam Newman, who made a “farewell” speech last year that not even Eddie McGuire knew the details of. Newman did not appear on the new show.
“He got to do a speech last year, which was amazing. And we didn’t know what he was going to say,” Fevola said.
“And we were all very nervous but I think he nailed it.
“He got in early, he knows what’s going on. He was The Footy Show, he, Eddie and Trev.”
Current footy stars like Mason Cox remembered the show fondly, with the Pies player saying he “always enjoyed being part of it.”
“I can remember watching it before I debut thinking how awesome it was to be named in the team on that day. Has always been a staple in AFL culture and forever will be. RIP,” he posted on Twitter today.
But the axing came after a ratings lift for the flagging show, which had 78,000 viewers in Melbourne — close to a 50 per cent increase from last week’s dismal 53,000.
In comparison, The Front Bar was the winner by far, with smash ratings of 308,000 viewers.
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Former Footy Show panellist Garry Lyon this morning slammed Nine for the manner it axed the program, labelling the cancellation an “execution”.
“That is an execution,” Lyon told SEN Breakfast.
“The Footy Show went to air last night, Neroli farewelled and said, ‘Thanks for watching, see you next week’.
“Then an hour later, out comes the press release. Bang! The Footy Show’s gone.”
The Footy Show suffered a continual decline in ratings since debuting a reinvigorated cast in March, with the announcement coming just days after Nine denied the new-look version was destined for the axe.
But Lyon said the program showed its initial signs of slowing down after producers started to rein in Sam Newman’s polarising behaviour.
“You had to be conscious that it’s a different world we live in,” Lyon said. “But I think it was an overcorrection down the track.
“You ended up spending way more time dealing with those issues than dealing with the issues you should have been dealing with, which was putting together a show that was entertaining for 90 minutes. The biggest star on the show was Sam Newman.”
Lyon was co-host with James Brayshaw before leaving in 2016, putting his media commitments on hold after a falling-out with colleague Billy Brownless.
But he said the original cast should reunite, urging Nine to put together a final farewell show.
“Now there needs to be a celebration. There should have been a celebration,” Lyon said.
“They should have said, ‘Listen, we’re no longer, but next we’ll farewell The Footy Show.
“’Eddie (McGuire), Sam (Newman) and Trevor (Marmalade) will do the first half-hour … celebrate that and send it on its way. That’s what should happen. This is an iconic show.”
Meanwhile former Footy Show co-host Sam Newman had a somewhat unusual response to the axing of the program which made him a stare.
Infamous for having an acid tongue, Newman often landing himself in hot water after on-screen clangers and multiple controversies.
But when contacted by the Herald Sun, Newman’s comment was: “I have nothing to say — yet.”
There had been calls for the crew from The Sunday Footy Show, hosted by Tony Jones with panellists including Billy Brownless, Damian Barrett, Nathan Brown, Matthew Lloyd, with special appearances by Newman, to take over the Thursday slot.
Newman recently said he had not been watching the revamped program.
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HOSTS’ SECRET FINAL PACT REVEALED
The Footy Show co-host Anthony “Lehmo” Lehmann has revealed the panel made a secret pact before what turned out to be their final show last night.
Lehmann said he spoke with co-host Neroli Meadows about making the best possible episode.
“We’ve got eyes and ears and we’re not idiots, so we knew that there was potentially, a bit of heat on the show,” Lehmann told Triple M Hot Breakfast today.
“We said: ‘If this is our last show’ — and we had no idea at the time — I said: ‘Let’s make a show that makes every single person who watches it really disappointed that it’s not gonna be back next week.’
“I feel we achieved that last night.’”
Hot Breakfast co-host Eddie McGuire, whose company JAM TV produces The Footy Show for Nine, told Lehmann: “You did what the network asked of you. You pitched it at an audience — the audience wasn’t necessarily there, but the shows were great.
“You showed absolute professionalism: you, Neroli, Fev and Crawf, and Dylan … you couldn’t have done any better.”
McGuire added: “Lehmo took this show on in the week of the first show. There was a lot of talk on whether the show was gonna go on. Lehmo being the professional that he is, and up for anything, put himself on the line and had a go.
“The network wanted to try something different, and Lehmo, you walk out of this with your head held high.
“You’re a total professional. My estimation of you, which was high to start with … you’re an absolute star.”
Lehmann said he felt for the crew, some of whom had worked on the show for decades.
“We had a great team behind the scenes. They really worked their arses off. I really feel for that crew. Some of those people have been there for 25 years, and they lost their jobs last night. That made me sadder than anything,” he said.
McGuire added: “I’d like to congratulate the Channel 9 management.
“They had a go at something different. The Footy Show finished, really, on the Grand Final show last year. In the end, they rolled the dice, (it) didn’t come up.”
Lehmann compared being the last host of The Footy Show to “(the movie character) Ferris Bueller … when he drove his dad’s Ferrari off the balcony”.
McGuire also opened up on The Footy Show’s humble beginnings, revealing the pressure its original cast was under when it first aired 25 years ago.
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“When we first started the show, we were told ‘you’ve got six weeks to make it rate’ — and here we are 26 years later and we’ve got 729 more episodes out of it than anybody thought on the first night,” McGuire said on Triple M this morning.
“It’s been a huge success, I think it transformed football, and certainly the entertainment and the commercialisation of the game, so we’re hugely proud of that.
“Sam Newman should be in the TV hall of fame … there is no doubt that Sam Newman has been one of the most influential people in the history of media in this town.
“Now that the show’s finished we can actually reflect on that.”
HOSTS BLINDSIDED BY DUMPING
Hosts Anthony “Lehmo” Lehmann, Neroli Meadows, Dylan Alcott, Shane Crawford and Brendan Fevola were not told of the plan to dump the program before the final broadcast last night.
At the end of last night’s show, Meadows said: “We’ll see you next week.”
The show was Australia’s longest-running sports entertainment show, clocking up 735 episodes since it premiered in 1994.
The revamped version was aimed at winning back viewers the program had lost over the years with its regressive humour and panel of controversial figures.
Panel stalwarts Sam Newman and Eddie McGuire left the program, but fresh blood did nothing to stem a ratings haemorrhage.
Lehmann was the first of the show’s five hosts to respond this morning, saying he was “bloody disappointed” by the shock move.
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He also paid tribute to his colleagues, writing: “I’m bloody disappointed The Footy Show has been cancelled but I’m grateful for the opportunity to host it with Nez, Fev, Dylan and Crawf and am really proud of the shows we made.
“Our team were brilliant and spare a thought for the crew, some of whom had been there for 25 years!”
Co-host Neroli Meadows looked back fondly on her time on The Footy Show, saying she gave it her best.
“Gave it a crack — loved every second,” she said.
Here’s to the people behind the scenes who worked on this show every year it was on air … Proud of the show we created this year and proud of the people who worked on it. Fun episode to go out on!”
“It is with regret that The Footy Show will no longer be produced,” the network’s Melbourne managing director Matt Scriven said last night.
“It has been a tough decision to end the program that has been such a trailblazer, but sadly the new show has not captured audiences in the way we had hoped.”
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