Rove

History

Origins: The Loft Live

Rove McManus began his television career hosting the RMITV-produced 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)

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.

Move to Network Ten

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.

Series finale

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. 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."

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.

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."

Cast

Main cast

Rove McManus (1999–2009)

Hamish Blake (2007–2009)

Andy Lee (2007–2009)

Peter Helliar (1999–2009)

Ryan Shelton (2007–2009)

Corinne Grant (1999–2005)

Carrie Bickmore (2006–2009)

Dave Callan (1999–2000)

Meshel Laurie (2006)

Judith Lucy (2009)

Dave Hughes (2007–2009)

Ron Steward (2006)

Kristie Warner (2009)

Secondary cast

Jess Harris (2009)

Nick Maxwell (2008–2009)

Liam Pattison (2008)

Tom Piotrowski (2008)

Hayden Guppy (2008–2009)

Myf Warhurst (2008–2009)

Brian Wenzel (2009)

Format

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:

Kevin Rudd PM was a small dramatic-comedy mini-series about the Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd. The series involves video news clips of Rudd that are spliced together.

Two other segments are occasionally shown, not necessarily every week.

Hamish & Andy Comedians Hamish Blake and Andy Lee presented a pre-recorded report, frequently on location overseas.

Former show elements

20 bucks in 20 seconds was a titled segment at the end of an interview with a guest where Rove would ask questions for twenty seconds. Once the time was up, Rove would always ask the question: "Who would you turn gay for?" (if the guest was openly gay, the question would be changed to "Who would you turn straight for?"). A popular solution to this question was to respond "I'd turn gay for you, Rove". In a particular episode featuring known prankster and member of The Chaser team, Chas Licciardello, Licciardello expressed his annoyance that everyone answered "I'd turn gay for you, Rove" but that nobody ever followed up on it. He then leapt on Rove and French kissed him, before licking Rove on the face. This segment was again replaced by Final Five in 2009, and halfway through the 2009 series, it changed once again and became the "Public Probe", where Rove would ask the guest 5 questions submitted online from the public.

All That Glitters: Rove, along with regular presenters and guest artists perform a scripted radio play with the help of a Foley artist live on the show.

Amazing Talents: Viewers with 'amazing' (or just plain bizarre) 'talents' are brought to the studio and given a few minutes to display their skills. This could be balancing lawn furniture, or nailing a fork into each nostril. This is comparable to the "Stupid Human Tricks" segment on the Late Show with David Letterman.

Carrie at the Newsdesk was a parody news report, similar to the long-running Weekend Update segment of the American sketch show, Saturday Night Live. The segment had been presented by a variety of personalities in Bickmore's absence. While on maternity leave in 2007, Bickmore was replaced by Jane Hall and Meshel Laurie. In 2008, Bert Newton and Myf Warhurst have presented the segment when Bickmore was ill.

Final Five where he will ask his guests five different questions and often include their opinion on something that has happened during the week in popular culture (such as asking Alan Cumming what he thought of Matthew Newton's bum in Underbelly: A Tale of Two Cities). The last question was always a visual question where Rove will show the interviewee an unusual image and ask them to say what they think about the image.

Flick Your Switch: The show broadcasts a live video shot of an area of an Australian city. Rove then asks those residents of the area who are watching the show and willing to respond to flick their houselights on and off, sometimes to give answers to questions.

Ratings

The show 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.

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. The final episode for 2006 attracted only 700,000 viewers nationally. 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. For the second episode of the season, which aired on 8 April, viewership fell to 999,000. The third episode was shown on 22 April, achieving around 1,073,000 viewers. Throughout its run, the show 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. The season premiere for 2008, broadcast on 30 March, only attracted 777,000 viewers.

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

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

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. 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.

Other media

Radio

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.

Soundtracks

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.

"Amazing" – Alex Lloyd (4:00)

"Somewhere in the City" – Paul Kelly (3:22)

"Runaway Train" – Kasey Chambers (3:43)

"Just the Thing" – Paul Mac featuring Peta Morris (4:04)

"Not That Kind" – Anastacia (3:31)

"Three Dimensions" – Something for Kate (3:50)

"Little Things" – Good Charlotte (3:51)

"'Coz I'm Free" – Christine Anu (3:45)

"Shining Star" – Even (3:24)

"Made Me Hard" – The Whitlams (3:29)

"Don't You Know Me" – Mark Seymour (3:51)

"Get Up" – You Am I (3:10)

"Take Me Away" – Lash (3:41)

"Leroy" – Wheatus (3:41)

"Bitter Words" – Area-7 (3:33)

"Coulda Woulda Shoulda" – Judith Durham (1:16)

"The Many Sounds of What the...?" – Rove (2:19)

"Superman (It's Not Easy)" – Five for Fighting (3:39)