Seven debuts sketch comedy, as MAFS rolls on.
Seven comedy takes aim at TV rivals. Nine shows win their slots from 7pm on Tuesday.
- Published by David Knox
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- Filed under News
Seven last night unveiled its new sketch comedy We Interrupt this Broadcast, parodying television shows from across the spectrum.
While MAFS rolled on at Nine, Seven even opened with a parody in which a marriage celebrant declared, “By the fake power invested in me by reality television, I now pronounce you bottom tier D-list celebrities.” Timeslot rival Australian Survivor: ‘Dopes v Idiots’ would also come in for a shellacking.
The show drew mixed reactions in the binfire of social media from these welcoming a change of pace to those criticising a laugh track, another reminder that comedy is a heavily subjective genre where everybody is seemingly an expert.
Married at First Sight was #1 at 898,000 metro viewers followed by 7:30 (473,000), Australian Survivor (456,000), We Interrupt this Broadcast (379,000), Better Date than Never (251,000) and Who Do You Think You Are? (117,000).
Later The Hundred with Andy Lee was 409,000, with low numbers elsewhere from Queerstralia (188,000), NCIS (176,000 / 101,000), The Good Doctor (164,000) and Insight (117,000).
Nine network won Tuesday with 36.0% then Seven 23.8%, 10 17.0%, ABC 15.2% and SBS 8.0%.
Nine News was 760,000 / 739,000 for Nine. A Current Affair led with 634,000 then Hot Seat (353,000 / 227,000). Nine News Late was 236,000.
Seven News won with 840,000 / 837,000 for Seven. The Chase was 464,000 / 288,000 then Home & Away 435,000. Quantum Leap was 88,000.
The Project drew 300,000 / 182,000 for 10. 10 News First was 240,000 / 163,000.
ABC News pulled 554,000. The Drum (136,000), Kweens of the Underground (109,000) and Girl Like You (76,000) followed.
On SBS it was SBS World News (142,000 / 114,000), Where Are You Really From? (99,000) and Mastermind (65,000).
Kangaroo Beach on ABC Kids topped multichannels at 109,000.
Sunrise: 212,000
Today: 189,000
News Breakfast: 99,000 / 48,000
In Total TV numbers last Tuesday were:
Married at First Sight : 1.86m
The Good Doctor: 482,000
Australian Survivor: 873,000
Australian Idol: 783,000
The Hundred with Andy Lee: 616,000
Better Date than Never: 389,000
OzTAM Overnights: Tuesday 28 February 2023
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- Tagged with 10 News First, 7:30, A Current Affair, ABC News, Australian Survivor, Better Date Than Never, Girl Like You, Home & Away, Hot Seat, Insight, Kangaroo Beach, Kweens of the Underground, Married at First Sight, Mastermind, NCIS, News Breakfast, Nine News, Quantum Leap, Queerstralia, SBS World News, Seven News, Sunrise, The Chase, The Drum, The Good Doctor, The Hundred with Andy Lee, The Project, Today, We Interrupt this Broadcast, Where Are You Really From?, Who Do You Think You Are?
22 Responses
Family loved this show we will be back for more
It was very funny. Of course not everything hit perfectly but no comedy show even the best sketch or otherwise she can hot 100% constantly not even the old Comedy Company and Fast Foward. And for that person saying they shouldn’t just parody TV shows I can’t think of anything better to especially reality ones. By the way I did not notice any laugh track maybe as my own laughing drowned it out!
Good on 7 for trying a new comedy format which we are lacking but it was no full frontal. I did like half of it though, and the MasterChef take off was spot on and so funny. They should just mock Australian shows though so it’s more relatable, like Today, Sunrise, news, The project and if The Living Room was still on they could have done them well. I will give it a 6/10 and watch again.
I wish them the best of luck but parodying tv shows alone will not be enough to sustain or attract an audience. The Comedy Company had Uncle Arthur, Con, Kylie and Col’n while Fast Forward had the air stewards, Brent Smythe and Barry; Indian Rug salesmen among many others.
Not a bad show, but like others have commented, the laugh track is very annoying and soooo cheesy. Enough to make me turn it off and I won’t be back. Seriously, how do they let this happen when they are competing against so much other content, including YouTube videos?
The promos for “We Interrupt This Broadcast” looked so bad that it turned me off watching the actual first episode.
I imagine there was a curiosity factor that helped Seven last night, will the program have the same audience next Tuesday night? That’s the real question.
So far it looks to be the highest debut for a new format this year.
WITB had some funny gags, but the best ones were in the first block. After that it was repetitive and the laugh track was very annoying.
We Interrupt This Broadcast rated better than I thought it would. The bar is obviously low because of Seven’s shocking start to the year, but a sketch comedy debuting to those number in 2023 is pretty decent. Future success will depend on the week two figures and 7plus no doubt.
WITB got what it deserved, not totally awful, but not flash either, was so looking forward but was disappointed, I’ll watch again, but it’ll be background fare/occasional giggling perhaps. Geez, Seven at the moment a shadow of their past 18 years self, currently mirroring something from its bad circa 2003 era when Leckie first took over, while then new David Gyngell under John Alexander (the other one) had a brief dominant resurgence after Packer did major sackings a year or so prior After OzTAM started and while still on top showed they weren’t as dominant as the 90s.
i watched about 5 mins of witb…shockingly unfunny.australians aren’t funny and can’t sing..unless howling,screeching and ululating with your eyes closed passes as singing nowadays.canadians on the oher hand…john candy, eugene levy,dan ackroyd,jim carrey,mike myers,rick moranis…titans of comedy…and what do most of them have in common?..they don’t laugh at their “jokes”…they’re like most good comics, stoic ,deadpan ..knowing its the audience that should be laughing,not themselves.watch the project..everyone on the panel is laughing uproariously to every thing that gets said.was that how george carlin or richard pryor made us laugh?i won’t get into music right now…but neil young,joni mitchell,buble,dion,kd lang,the transcendent nickelback….well you see where i’m going…straya sucks in comparison.now acting…that’s a different matter…australia has wonderful actors..blanchette,collette,wenham,crowe,bana.i must be grumpy but just had to vent here…lol
Everyone entitled to a couch view sure, but “Australian’s aren’t funny and can’t sing” is surely pushing the boundaries.
After watching this show I also said to my other half “Australians just aren’t funny” of course being British born say that knowing I can give endless examples of funny British comedies. my other half who is Australian born is very defensive. But on this occasion agreed with me . We only laughed once and that was at Lip Island .
I got to the first 20 minutes of We Interrupt This Broadcast and that was about all I could handle, to be honest. I really think 1 hour for a show like that is too long. Less is more – and I feel they tried to cram in way too much that fell flat – especially when were are already circling back to a second Master Chef gag within that 20 minutes. I personally did chuckle a couple of times during the time I watched though, however, I won’t be going back.
Also forgot WITB until halfway through. Good on them forgiving it a red hot crack. Soft start but hopefully Seven sticks with it until it finds its feet. I’m sure Fast Forwsrd and The Comedy Company took a while to warm up.
Talk about throwing it under a bus against MAFS and Survivor.
In 1987, Media Arts was asked by Network Ten to produce a one-hour-a-week comedy program. The Comedy Company became the most successful comedy program of the decade being the highest rated weekly television program, particularly of note it ran against the Nine’s popular 60 Minutes. It ran for 3 years. Then later along came this rubbish, complete with canned laughter to tell us when it was supposed to be funny. I lasted until the 7:55 commercial break then went channel surfing. At 8:01 Seven was still running promos so went elsewhere. Had been looking forward to it. What a letdown. Won’t be back.
But Ten debuted The Comedy Company on Tuesday nights at 9.30. Giving it a chance to find an audience before putting it up against the previously unbeatable 60 Minutes.
I have really enjoyed the point of difference that Better Date Than Never provided. Their journey was heartwarming and insightful. Kudos to SBS for making this series!
ABC actually!
Oops, Thanks ABC, clearly I am watching lots of SBS and ABC and forgetting where each show airs!
I completely forget the show was on. I’ll have to watch it on catch up. It can’t be any worse than Let Loose Live, or Live from Planet Earth with Ben Elton? Right? Right?
I mean good on them for trying something different with “We Interrupt This Broadcast”, but did anyone really think it was going to go well debuting it half way through seasons of MAFS and Survivor?