Rove (TV series)
Rove, also titled Rove Live, is an Australian television variety show that featured live music performances and interviews with local and international celebrity guests. The program premiered on the Nine Network on 22 September 1999, before moving to Network Ten which aired the program from 2000 until November 2009. The show was hosted by comedian Rove McManus through his production company Roving Enterprises, and featured an ensemble cast who presented various segments throughout the course of the show. The show won the Logie Award for "Most Popular Light Entertainment Program" five times (2002, 2003, 2005, 2007 and 2009).
Rove
Gary Newnham (1999)
Peter Ots (2000–2009)
Rove McManus
Peter Helliar
Corrine Grant (1999–2005)
Hamish Blake (2007–2009)
Andy Lee (2007–2009)
Ryan Shelton (2007–2009)
Liam Pattison (2009)
Kristy Warner (2009)
Judith Lucy (2009)
Australia
English
11
354
Campbell Craig
Approximately 60 minutes (inc. commercials)
Nine Network (1999)
Network Ten (2000–2009)
22 September 1999 –
15 November 2009
History[edit]
Origins: The Loft Live[edit]
Rove McManus began his television career hosting the RMITV-produced[1] The Loft Live on C31 Melbourne, a community-access television station. It was a straightforward tonight show, with a comic monologue from the host, pre-recorded skits and guest interviews. The show had unusually high production values for a community access show.
1999: Rove (Nine Network)[edit]
The Nine Network developed the show into a commercial production. In 1999, the show, named Rove, ran in a late-night timeslot for 10 episodes. The show featured McManus and three co-hosts he referred to as 'the kids on the couch': Peter Helliar, Corinne Grant and Dave Callan. However, Nine decided not to renew the program and the cast moved to Network Ten the following year.
Ratings[edit]
The show has sometimes struggled in the ratings. This was most obvious in the ratings for the final show of 2005, which was broadcast on 22 November. The show gave away six cars, and had media heavyweights Bert Newton, Jerry Seinfeld and Kath & Kim as guests. The show rated 19th for the day, with only 797,000 viewers nationwide.[7]
On 16 May 2006, the ratings peaked over a million for the first time since 2002 when 1,040,762 viewers watched nationwide. This episode involved an intruder entering the Big Brother house live during the show.[8] The final episode for 2006 attracted only 700,000 viewers nationally.[9] This wasn't intended to be the final episode, but it eventuated as the result of the death of McManus' wife Belinda Emmett.
The first episode of the revamped series, which began 1 April 2007, attracted 1,693,000 viewers nationwide, and was the highest-rated program for the day.[10] For the second episode of the season, which aired on 8 April, viewership fell to 999,000.[11] The third episode was shown on 22 April, achieving around 1,073,000 viewers.[12] Since then, the show has consistently rated above 1 million viewers nationally.
Rove's final show for 2007 featured then Leader of the Opposition Kevin Rudd, as well as Australian Greens leader Bob Brown, comedian Jerry Seinfeld and actor Jason Donovan. It was watched by 1.368 million viewers.[13] The season premiere for 2008, broadcast on 30 March, only attracted 777,000 viewers.[14]
Eight hundred and fifty-five thousand viewers watched the 2009 return of Rove, up nearly 100,000 viewers on the previous year. Ratings frequently average 800,000 to 1 million viewers.
International broadcasters[edit]
In 2004, the show began broadcasting on TV3 in New Zealand at a late-night time slot. The show quickly gained a following and was given a primetime slot on Friday nights (8:30pm–9:30pm). It was not broadcast live in New Zealand (in spite of its former title Rove Live); rather, it was televised five days after the Australian broadcast.
Controversy[edit]
On 28 June 2009, McManus interviewed Sacha Baron Cohen (appearing in character as Brüno Gehard). During the course of the interview, Brüno joked that "I hear [Cohen's] wife gets less sex than Katie Holmes", a reference to long-time rumours of her then-husband Tom Cruise being gay.[15][16] However, when televised, the words "Katie Holmes" were censored. A further joke at the expense of Holmes towards the end of the interview was not even televised. Throughout the interview, Brüno made numerous jokes about other celebrities, especially Prime Minister Kevin Rudd. These jokes were not similarly censored.[17]