★★★★★ 0/5

Frankly leaves them wanting more

At just 30 minutes long, viewers appeared to want more of Fran Kelly chat show.

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If less is more then that’s just what viewers got with the first outing of Frankly, ABC’s new Friday night chat show.

Fran Kelly hosted for a short and sweet 30 minutes in her debut episode, with guests Shaun Micallef, anaesthetist and Thai cave rescuer Dr Richard Harris, astrophysicist and science communicator Kirsten Banks.

Kelly’s interview skills delivered in the first episode, probing the former Mad as Hell host on whether he is “the real Micallef” on TV; questioning Dr. Richard Harris on the moral dilemmas of the famed Thai cave rescue; and helping to demystify how Indigenous traditions can read the night sky.

There was a smattering of guests interacting, but the brief running time could have allowed for more, along with a guest performer, if it had run to 40 -50 minutes.

That seemed to be the consensus too from social media reactions, where the vibe was largely positive for the first outing.

 

17 Responses

  1. Just caught Frankly about on I View. Fantastic! A long missed format on FTA. Great interviews.
    Hopefully if the show succeeds with its shirt run this year, that in 2023 it moves to a Monday or Wednesday night for Overnight viewing. However, given the economics of FTA these days, keeping the format at 30 minutes might mean it’s survival. Sometimes less is more.
    Well done and hope this show does have a legs to return next year, with a new time slot.

  2. All three guests were fascinating to listen to and Fran’s interviewing skills are without question. A solid first performance in this role, which I think she will get more comfortable with. But yes, the chats were far too short and ended abruptly. Three guests is a good number, so the show should be longer – 45 or 60 minutes. And please give the house band a bit more to do.

  3. I watched and thought it was nothing special. Bog standard studio talk show to be honest . Why was the much trumped band even there – to provide 5 second musical ” stings ” and nothing else ?
    Why was the audience required in that silly little nightclub setting – they really added nothing. I’ve seen these elements before for many decades , and generally much better done elsewhere.
    Three guests were too many it all felt brushed over and clipped , but to stretch this to one hour would be worse.It looks cheap and feels like they just wanted to give Fran something to do … but I can’t see it going past the already ambitious 8 episodes.

  4. I have watched the show, and my suggestions are

    Firstly, drop the band, it’s totally unnecessary and will save costs.

    Secondly, either cut the guests to 2 in the 30 minutes or extend the show to 40 minutes.

    Overall though I think it’s as dull as Tonightly. Fran and Tom Ballard are not suited to TV

  5. Some observations & suggestions:
    Overall a good effort.
    FK a proven radio interviewer is clearly as good on TV with non political content. She was warm and welcoming.
    The guests had depth and were a good mix, research was on the ball.
    Duration was too short. Felt rushed and over-edited given the talent and stories on the couch. Needs to develop into a 50-60min show.
    Ditch the audience in the foreground. Too loosely placed – looked like an event nobody turned up for & there was no interaction.
    The house band was a weak point. No interaction, the arrangements just ordinary at best. No stand out characters amongst the musicians. Maybe get a name MD who FK can interact with. Compose a unique uptempo theme/song.
    Please fix the lighting on FK and the guests – it was too “toppy” causing dark shadows around their eyes and foreheads & was generally way too harsh.
    I felt I was watching an off-broadway try-out season for a better early to mid-week time slot next year.

  6. I also forgot it was on. Another reason I like this page so much. I would miss so many good things if I didn’t do my daily check here. Just watched on iview and really enjoyed it. Finished on a high with Shaun’s little joke about the needle jab. Really funny. I agree with it needing a bit longer.

  7. Great guests and interviews. ABC Researchers did a great job on their backgrounds. Dr Harris is so humble, what a human. I hadn’t realised it took 3 hours to snake thru the cave in the dark. He is my new Hero.

    1. The Doc Martin was a repeat. The final series (series 10) is currently being shown in the UK.
      Not sure when the ABC will have it on. Next year I would guess. Thought Fran Kelly’s new show went quite well but agree with everyone else that it needed to be longer. An interesting selection of guests.

  10. Yes I enjoyed the show but I thought it could have been a bit longer maybe 45 minutes to give better longer interviews and maybe a full song.

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