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Bumper premiere for Foxtel’s Open Slather

Comedy Channel's new sketch series manages the near-impossible by topping AFL on Sunday.

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Subscription TV viewers just sent a message to Free to Air networks that they want more local comedy.

Last night’s premiere for Open Slather pulled a big Sunday night audience averaging 243,000 on the Comedy Channel.

It was bigger than an AFL match, which on the STV platform is a bold statement.

It was far bigger than recent Sunday episodes of The Real Housewives of Melbourne (around 100,000) and was even 1,000 higher than the 11am season premiere of Game of Thrones! Most impressive.

Last night the show also drew plenty of feedback on social media, with some division over its comedic net value.

As an exercise in local comedy for Foxtel it has succeeded in getting the conversation started.

The premiere is already freely available on YouTube as part of a promotional push by Foxtel.

20 Responses

  1. There was something wrong with the format for me. Titles, sketch, sketch, sketch… End Titles. I felt like it needed another element – perhaps some of the comedians in front of a studio audience, occasional linking segments or something. The parodies also felt tired and there were too many fart jokes. But that said, I’ll give it a few weeks and come back.

  2. I enjoyed the show. There were some sketches that fell a bit flat and some that were really funny. If you looked at any individual episode of Fast Forward it was probably the same.

  3. It was a mixed bag of lollies – but a great start. It will take a while to get the writing and production teams working smoothly and they’ll build on their strengths. Those figures are very encouraging and make you realise just how much most of us miss this kind of sketch comedy – holding up a mirror to us all and satirising what we see around us all the time. More power to them!

  4. The Slap cracked me up! And the part where Magda/Gina Rinehart can be heard in the background saying ‘mine… mine…mine’, while looking around Downton Abbey.

  5. The Dominos Pizza video at the end has been on facebook/youtube for ages. Wasn’t original content made for the show, was confused when it came on at the end.

  6. The only one I didn’t like was the weather “feels like” just didn’t get it… the rest were great and I loved the “Domino’s Pizza” comments to the background of RL tragedies. Smart, funny, only thing missing is a laugh track like Fast Forward, Full Frontal and practically every sketch comedy had.

  7. I watched (for about 10 minutes) this show. I was expecting (because of the Fast Forward alumni) a reasonably entertaining show. However, I thought it was bloody awful.

    Bob

  8. Well, i’m happy for Rick/Gina et al at Foxtel, the heavy promotion campaign worked; not sure if they got many converts to the package with comedy; or existing viewers in that number. I wish it was funnier.

    1. We don’t have the package that Comedy channel is in, but it was available over the weekend together with some of the Lifestyle channels we don’t normally get. Most likely as a promo – although I would not have been aware if I didn’t flick through channels.

      Noticed Open Slather is also on FOX8 a few times during the week – a channel which everyone gets.

    1. Left after the Masterchef skit – for the few I saw, I thought they were too long, not all that funny and overdid the jokes to overkill – especially that one about the guy trying to get an email address.

      Having said that though I will watch the rest of the show during the week to see how the rest went.

    2. Agreed but lasted about 35 minutes before I turned it off. Was really disappointed as I hoped it would be as funny as The Wedge or Comedy Inc. Either it has been that long since I have seen them that they are idealised in my mind and weren’t as funny as I recall, or Open Slather just didn’t meet their standard.

  9. Comedy is risky and the ACMA doesn’t count it highly for local production points and it has little chance of OS sales.

    It makes more sense for the ABC, SBS and Foxtel which need to do local content but aren’t micromanaged to do comedy.

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