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I think it’s safe to say this season’s outing of the Paul Vautin-less NRL Footy Show has been a drama-filled affair.
From missing seats, to sound and location issues and a general lack of public support, the rugby league community is wondering if the program has the legs to make it through the season.
Long gone are the days of the Dare Devil Dudes, The Anti Ads, and the Crack a Fat; today’s NRL Footy Show more resembles a stale version of the Sunday Roast. With host Erin Molan taking the reins after Nine stepped down Paul ‘Fatty’ Vautin after 23 years on the show the results so far have been disastrous, with viewership dropping by 31 per cent in Sydney alone after just three weeks.
Change can be a tough thing for people to accept, but is the new format the reason viewers are turning away, or is it related the handling of the rebranding of the show?
The audience was made aware of the axing of Fatty back in October in the off-season, and many people tuned into the first episode to see if this was addressed or if at least there would be a tribute to the man, who dedicated a good chunk of his life entertaining Australia on a Thursday night.
Nothing came. Ejecting a mainstay of the program and not speaking a peak of it? That’s a very poor way to get loyal viewers to stick around.
(CC BY-SA 2.0, Eva Rinaldi)
Another issue is Erin Molan being pushed into the spotlight. While she is joined by experienced players Andrew Johns and Ryan Girdler to chime in on topics, she comes off like a deer in the headlights at times. I do understand the move to push a woman at the helm in a time of gender equality, but surely there is a woman who’s playing in the woman’s league with enough personality and knowledge to carry the show’s discussions.
If the move has been to adjust away from a variety show to more in-depth discussions on the game, hoisting a reporter to the front and not someone who has played the game is a poor decision.
Nine hasn’t fully committed to the transition either. They’ve persisted with former funnyman Beau Ryan, who’s allowed one segment per week. Most of these clips have gone down like lead balloons, with the studio audience giving an awkward chuckle and viewers at home wondering how long this can keep up for.
They’ve also kept the social media-popular segment Small Talk with Big Marn, hosted by former player Darryl Brohman, but many viewers have been quick to point out these segments seem to get shorter each week and get pushed to the back of the episode, which begs the question of how long this will be kept around.
(Image: Naparazzi CC BY-SA 2.0)
I’ll be the first to admit the NRL Footy Show definitely needed fixing, particularly with its fall in ratings in recent years, but this move has really gone the wrong way has divided viewers.
Keeping Fatty involved in the show, even in a minor role, would have kept viewers on board and could’ve transitioned a successor in the role. Finding a way to balance entertainment and information has been achieved with other formats, like with the Late Show with Matty Johns on Fox Sports, which I’m sure Nine was trying to emulate, but it has come off looking like a dollar-store knockoff.
With public opinion available online even before they’ve finished a show, Nine will need to find a way to plug the leak. With ratings dropping and online pages like ‘Footy show boycott, Bring back the Fat‘ boasting 28,000 followers already, they can’t afford to dig their heels in and hope it works.
Nine executives have noted they’re sticking with the program even because they want a prime-time program about a sport they broadcast, but we will see if they make a move in the middile of the year when Erin leaves the show on maternity leave.
Time will tell by the end of the season if they can turn it around and score with viewers or if, as the old NRL Footy Show saying goes, the show will be ‘goooooone’.
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