Rove | |
---|---|
Developed by | Roving Enterprises |
Directed by | Gary Newnham (1999) Peter Ots (2000–2009) |
Presented by | Rove McManus |
Starring | 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) |
Country of origin | Australia |
Original language | English |
No. of seasons | 11 |
No. of episodes | 354 |
Production | |
Executive producer | Campbell Craig |
Running time | Approximately 60 minutes (inc. commercials) |
Original release | |
Network | Nine Network (1999) Network Ten (2000–2009) |
Release | 22 September 1999 – 15 November 2009 |
Related | |
Rove LA |
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 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.
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.
The new show, very similar to the Nine production, was named Rove Live. The show was sometimes known as Rove [Live] or Rove (Live), owing to the use of (square) brackets around the word 'Live' in some of the show's graphics.
Dave Callan left the show after one year, to pursue standup comedy and radio opportunities. Corinne Grant left the show at the end of 2005, to concentrate on The Glass House and other interests. Carrie Bickmore joined the cast in 2006, presenting a parody news segment. Meshel Laurie joined the cast for only one year.
In November 2006, Rove Live was suspended until further notice due to the death of McManus's wife Belinda Emmett. Rove wrote a personal message on the Rove Live website, saying that it "is a very difficult period for all of us and some time away is the best thing for me right now".
The show reverted to the title of Rove in 2007. Production moved from the Global Television facility in Nunawading to the old Seven Network studios in South Melbourne. It now occupied the premium timeslot of 8:30pm on Sunday nights.
Peter Helliar returned to McManus's side. Bickmore's role in the show increased. Following the cancellation of the show The Glass House , Dave Hughes joined Rove. The comedy duo Hamish & Andy, who had previously collaborated with Roving Enterprises with their television show Real Stories , began appearing every second week. Their associate Ryan Shelton also began presenting a segment each week.
Each year, the show's set changes in some way from the previous. In a previous year, the set was changed to be less like a traditional late-night talk show and more like a variety show. In 2007, the show's set was reconfigured back into a more traditional late-night talk show again, even going so far as having a view of the Melbourne cityscape in the background.
In July 2007, a special show was filmed at Times Square in New York. Rove, Helliar and Adam Hills attended, and a live Australian audience was present. In late July a second special was filmed in Los Angeles at the Bob Barker Studio.
Hayden Guppy now also co-host of Video Hits also became a cast member, who shows TV viewers what the cast does during ad breaks.
In 2008, Myf Warhurst, who co-hosted a breakfast radio show with Peter Helliar on Triple M, joined the cast as an infrequent addition whenever a regular cast member was unavailable. Again in 2008, Elmo returned as a guest.
In 2009 the program moved premises to ABC studios in Elsternwick which housed a new set. Dave Hughes, Hamish Blake and Andy Lee began only appearing on a fortnightly basis. Between May and July 2009, actor Brian Wenzel had a weekly skit at the end of the show.
After 12 July, the show went off-air to let the team take a mid-year break due to the show starting in February (earlier than 2007 and 2008). It was also announced that this episode would be Bickmore's and Hughesy's final episode as regular cast members, [2] due to them both leaving to focus on their new show, The 7pm Project , [2] which premiered on 20 July 2009, [3] and is also produced by Roving Enterprises. [2]
Various news reports appeared in the lead-up to the scheduled season finale for the 2009 season of Rove that it would be the final season. The Herald Sun originally reported that McManus had confirmed that his show would not return until later in 2010. [4] Despite not appearing on a list of shows at Ten's 2010 launch event, it was rumoured that Rove would return in 2010 with a new format, similar to Hey Hey It's Saturday , which rated over two million viewers for its two reunion shows. McManus made a comment to the Herald Sun and stated: "This show is my love and my passion and it's always what I've wanted to do." McManus then continued to say "If everything else fell down, as long as I still get to do this thing I love then I’m happy. We have that connection with the audience at the moment and that's where my enthusiasm is coming from." [5]
However, rumours appeared the day before the 2009 finale of Rove in that "staff on his TV show were told this week to look for alternative work next year." Ten's publicity department denied these claims by stating: "We have checked with Roving (Enterprises) and no such discussion was had. As for what changes may or may not be made with Rove for 2010, this will be announced on the show this Sunday, stay tuned." McManus was spotted earlier dining with Merrick Watts and Peter Helliar in Sydney, prompting talk that he might return to radio in 2010. [6]
The rumour of the show ending later revealed to be true, as, during the finale on 15 November 2009, McManus confirmed that the show would be ending with the 2009 finale. He said: "It's purely my decision. It's not one I've made lightly or flippantly. The timing was right to stop, stand back and see what happens next."
The final show finished at 11:11pm with a montage of clips from the 2009 season and a performance by Powderfinger. Rove's last words was a variation of his signature sign-off: "I'm Rove McManus. Say bye to your mum for me."
The show starts with Rove performing a comedic monologue about a variety of news events that have occurred during the previous week. He then introduces Peter Helliar and the other cast members present on the couch that week.
PeteSpace, a parody of social-networking website MySpace, consists of Helliar presenting a selection of celebrities, news-makers and online video clips that make up his top events of the week.
Kristy at the news desk, presented by Kristy Warner, was a parody news report, similar to the long-running Weekend Update segment of the American sketch show, Saturday Night Live (replaced Carrie at the news desk from 17 August 2009 onwards).
Judith Lucy presented by Judith Lucy. Lucy delivers a satirical and comedic commentary on a personal or newsworthy topic (Replaced Hughsey! from 17 August 2009 onwards).
Throughout each show, Rove will interview several celebrity guests. Each interview ends with a segment titled Public Probe where he will ask his guests five different questions that have been posted to the website by the general public. At the end of the interview, Rove would usually spruik the product or event that guest was promoting, and the words The Plug will appear on the screen.
Throughout the course of the show, a variety of other segments are shown, presented by members of the Rove cast:
Two other segments are occasionally shown, not necessarily every week.
The final segment of the show was What Have We Learnt?, in which each cast member, and usually each guest, give a humourus example of what they have learned during the week. Peter Helliar always answers last and ends with "and you can read all about it in my new book..."
The show will usually end with a live performance from a band in the studio, and McManus will end the show by saying his trademark line "Say hi to your mum for me!" Starting in 2005 the band performs before the closing credits. In previous years the credits would roll while the band performed. In 2006, Rove had a house band, which may have been the same band as the main act, or an Australian band of much smaller stature than the main act. They would play live music when returning from ad breaks.
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.
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.
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]
Rove, Peter and Corinne hosted a radio program originating from FOX FM in Melbourne for Austereo's Today Network, as well as selected regional stations, until 2004. It was initially known as Saturday Morning Rove. It was then called Rove Live Radio.
Two soundtracks were released by Sony featuring musical performances from the show, one in November 2001 and the second in November 2002. Both albums peaked within the ARIA top 40.
Chart (2001) | Peak position |
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Australian Albums (ARIA) [18] | 46 |
Chart (2002/03) | Peak position |
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Australian Albums (ARIA) [19] | 35 |
John Henry Michael "Rove" McManus is an Australian triple Gold Logie award-winning comedian, television and radio presenter, producer and media personality. He was the host of the eponymous variety show Rove and was also the host of the comedy talk show Rove LA. He is the co-owner of the production company Roving Enterprises with business partner Craig Campbell. He hosts Whovians on the ABC.
David William Hughes is an Australian stand-up comedian, television and radio presenter. He is known for his larrikin personality, drawling Australian accent, and deadpan comedic delivery.
The Glass House was a half-hour Australian comedy talk show which screened on the ABC from 2001 to 2006.
Skithouse is an Australian sketch comedy television series that ran on Network Ten from 9 February 2003 to 28 July 2004. The series was produced by Roving Enterprises. It featured many well-known Australian comedians, including comedy-band Tripod. Reruns can now be seen on The Comedy Channel on Foxtel. In the UK, it is shown on the channel Paramount Comedy 2 and Trouble. The title name itself is a pun on the colloquialism "shithouse".
Peter Jason Matthew Helliar is an Australian comedian, actor, television, radio presenter, writer, producer and director. He is best known for his work on television as a former regular co-host of The Project on Network Ten from January 2014 to December 2022, replacing previous presenter Dave Hughes to host alongside Carrie Bickmore, Waleed Aly and Lisa Wilkinson. Helliar also appeared with Rove McManus as his sidekick on The Loft Live from 1997 to 1998, on Rove from 1999 and 2009 and in Before the Game as alter ego Bryan Strauchan. Helliar initially worked the Melbourne comedy circuit in the mid-1990s, performing in various venues and the annual Melbourne International Comedy Festival. He has performed in numerous television ads, most notably for Fernwood Fitness. Helliar has been nominated for the Gold Logie, a prestigious award bestowed upon the Most Popular Personality on Television in 2017.
Judith Mary Lucy is an Australian comedian and actress, known primarily for her stand-up comedy. Lucy joined the team of the ABC's The Weekly with Charlie Pickering in 2019.
David Gerard Callan is an Irish-born stand-up comedian, who has had a career in television and radio, and is based in Melbourne, Australia. Up until 2010 he worked as a Triple J disc jockey.
Thank God You're Here is an Australian television improvised comedy program created by Working Dog Productions, which premiered on 5 April 2006 on Network 10, where it aired for the first three and from the fifth season onwards; the fourth season aired on the Seven Network.
Carrie Bickmore is an Australian radio presenter, comedian and former television presenter. She currently co-hosts the national drive radio show on the Hit Network, Carrie & Tommy, from 3–6pm weeknights alongside Tommy Little. She was previously a co-host on Network 10's talk show The Project from 2009–2022.
Wil & Lehmo was an afternoon drive time radio program broadcast nationally on Triple M and was hosted by Wil Anderson and Anthony "Lehmo" Lehmann. It began broadcasting on 2 April 2007.
Hughesy & Kate was an Australian radio station drive show on the Hit Network. The show was hosted by Dave Hughes and Kate Langbroek with anchor Jack Laurence. In addition to the national radio drive show, an inflight version was also produced and available in audio podcast section of inflight entertainment on Qantas fleets.
The Project is an Australian news-current affairs and talk show television panel program, airing weeknights and Sunday across Australia on Network 10, produced by Roving Enterprises. The show is hosted by Waleed Aly, Sarah Harris, Georgie Tunny, Hamish Macdonald, Rove McManus, Sam Taunton and Michael Hing with rotating daily panellists usually appearing once a week.
Before the Game was an Australian rules football comedy panel television show which aired on Network Ten on 1 March 2003 until 27 September 2013. The show was hosted by Andrew Maher with regular panelists Mick Molloy, Dave Hughes, Anthony Lehmann and Neroli Meadows. The format of the show was light-hearted discussion and analysis of Australian Football League (AFL) news and views and included appearances by current players.
This Week Live is an Australian comedy chat show screening weekly on Network Ten from 24 July 2013. It is hosted by comedians Dave Thornton, Tommy Little, Tom Gleeson and Meshel Laurie. The show features discussions of topical subjects, guests on the panel and pre-recorded interviews and skits. The show is created and produced by Craig Campbell, Kevin Whyte, Tom Whitty and Hayden Guppy.
Thomas Little is an Australian comedian, writer, actor, television and radio presenter. He currently co-hosts Carrie & Tommy on the Hit Network with Carrie Bickmore. He formerly was a co-host on The Project on Network 10.
Studio A is an hour-long live variety, comedy and sketch program produced as the RMITV Flagship production between 2008–2011 and was hosted by Dave Thornton and then later Tommy Little. Supporting cast included many up and coming comedians and media personalities including Jess Harris (Twentysomething), Alison Bice, Karl Chandler, Tom Ballard, Tommy Dassalo, Oliver Clarke, Xavier Michaelidies, Teegan Higginbotham, Nick Cody, Nat Harris, Anne Edmonds, Ted Wilson, Luke McGregor and John Campbell. The show featured weekly celebrity guests and an array of Melbourne's up and coming talent. Guests included Peter Helliar, Colin Lane, Wayne Hope, Rove McManus, Adam Richard.
Under Melbourne Tonight was a weekly live variety hour television program produced by RMITV that broadcast on C31 Melbourne. Reaching a weekly viewership of 55,000 people each week, the show was reviewed in The Age's Green Guide by Jim Schembri on 22 December 1994 as "Sometimes funnier than Letterman". Under Melbourne Tonight was hosted by Stephen Hall and Vin "Rastas" Hedger and featured regular segments with 3RRR's Tony Biggs, Merrick and Rosso's Merrick Watts and Tim Ross, Corinne Grant, Peter Helliar and many more. The show included segments ranging from live music, stand-up comedy, movie reviews, music reviews, video game reviews, sports, news, current affairs, science and sketches. In 1998 the show was rebooted as Under Melbourne Tonight Presents...... What's Goin' On There? and Whose Shout at the Stumpy Arms in 1999.
What's Goin' On There? was a weekly live variety hour television program produced by RMITV that broadcast on C31 Melbourne. The show was a reboot of Under Melbourne Tonight but with quiz show elements. The show featured a combination of theatre sports, live bands, topical quizzes and sitcom sketches. The regular cast included Stephen Hall, Vin "Rastas" Hedger, Tony Biggs, Corrine Grant, Bernie Carr and Bambii Lush as the scorer for the quizzes. Special guests included Alan Brough, Rove McManus, Wil Anderson, Adam Richard, Dave Hughes, Dave O'Neil, Lawrence Mooney, Peter Helliar. The second reboot of Under Melbourne Tonight was called Whose Shout and aired in 1999.
The Loft Live was a weekly live variety hour television program produced by RMITV that broadcast on C31 Melbourne. The cast included Rove McManus (1997–1999), Scott Brennan, Peter Helliar, Adam Richard, Myf Warhurst, Ged Wood, Bert Kennedy, Kim Hope, Matilda Donaldson, Bernie Carr, and special reporters. Like its predecessor Under Melbourne Tonight, The Loft Live provided a platform for up-and-coming talent to get airtime; it gained a following between 50,000 and 100,000 viewers a week.