Network Ten Exec Explains The Brutal Cancellation Of Rove’s TV Return After Just 2 Eps

Rove McManus’ return to Aussie late night TV with new series called Saturday Night Rove was met with quite some controversy, leading to its cancellation after just two episodes.

[jwplayer yo2PmhqJ]

Last week in a statement, McManus said the numbers just weren’t strong enough to keep the show going for another week, telling TV Tonight “the audience we hoped would find a free-wheeling live show on a Saturday night just weren’t there.

“We spoke with 10 today and we both called it.”

Now, Network Ten’s chief content officer Beverley McGarvey has commented further on the axing of the series.

Speaking to The Gold Coast Bulletin, Beverley surmised that there is no place for a variety show on telly anymore.

“There’s a place for entertainment, there’s a place for comedy. Is there a place for what you’d traditionally call variety, I don’t know,” she said.

She went on to sing her praises about Rove, adding that if he can’t make a variety show work then pretty much no one can.

“Rove is such a good talent and is such a legacy talent in this country, so if Rove can’t resonate the way that we want [I’m not sure who could],” she added.

Saturday Night Rove, billed as a loose and breezy return for the former talkshow host, reportedly sunk to 138,000 viewers during its Saturday broadcast, down from 244,000 on its debut.

Although the show hosted a suite of Australian comics and even former Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, a Channel 10 rep told TV Tonight it “hasn’t resonated with viewers the way we had hoped.”

The cancellation comes after the show was singled out for selectively editing and broadcasting viewers’ tweets to make social media reactions appear more positive than they really were.

More Stuff From PEDESTRIAN.TV