Fat, old and tired
- by: Rebecca Wilson - The Daily Telegraph
NINE network boss Jeff Browne, who works directly underneath head honcho David Gyngell, is a lawyer from Melbourne. He is the bloke who has been placed in charge of the revamp of the network's The Footy Show, the alleged jewel in the crown of the station's rugby league coverage.
It is a show which has been pummelled in the ratings in recent years, running against the overall trend of soaring ratings for the game across the nation.
Browne worked closely alongside Eddie McGuire at Collingwood before being handed the job of managing Nine's Melbourne operation.
He moved to Nine's Sydney bunker less than two years ago but he gave every impression this week that he knows how to make the truly terrible The Footy Show sing again.
Browne has stood by host Paul Vautin this week (who also happens to be a good mate of Gyngell).
Vautin,
who advertising guru and rugby league junkie John Singleton described this week as an average footy player and an average host, is one of television's astonishing survivors.
In the face of poor ratings and a growing younger audience that has turned off in droves, Nine has held out for Vautin. Ignoring the fact that the show has gone from being compulsory viewing to unwatchable in recent years, Browne and Gyngell are holding firm with a host who has become irrelevant and very unfunny.
I will add a rider here that the former Queensland Origin player is no friend of mine, having humiliated me on a single The Footy Show appearance many moons ago. Then again, I am no real mate of Matthew Johns either, who was embroiled in a sex scandal several years ago.
Matty Johns has served his time in the wilderness and come back as a better man in his current role as a breakfast radio host.
He remains very smart and often very, very funny. Singleton manages him and this week claimed Johns had refused a role at The Footy Show because Nine would not budge on Fatty's hosting status and told Johns he could not exert any creative control over the program.
Each year since 2008, Nine has trumpeted that it was revamping The Footy Show. Gyngell claimed last year that the program had lost its way and was going to be transformed. It would once again reclaim its place as the go-to show for anyone who loved league and a laugh on a Thursday night.
Instead, Nine bosses have stuck rigidly to a format that is tired and often cringeworthy. There is no sign of improvement. It remains one of the most avoidable programs on any Thursday night in winter.
Browne said this week that Fatty was still "the man", even though it is doubtful Browne has ever watched a show from start to finish given he is not a league fan.
He would not know that Vautin has not changed his act for nearly two decades.
He is still a smart arse who purports to have been a rugby league demigod during his time playing for Queensland.
As my memory serves me, he was very much a bridesmaid in those great Queensland sides, playing fifth fiddle to the likes of Wally Lewis, Allan Langer, Gene Miles and Mal Meninga.
During Vautin's early days as host, he was a funny guy, always quick with the one-liners and a real find as a television talent. He kept the show moving along at a good pace and, together with Peter Sterling, created real talking points for the league world each week.
In recent years, however, he and the rest of the panel have looked like they would rather be home in bed than churning out the same old tired routine. The show is so unfunny I often find myself wishing I lived in Melbourne so I could watch the AFL version of the program. (Well, not really, but you know what I mean.) Matty Johns has every right to believe he could have played a part in revitalising it. He is at least a familiar face to league fans under 30.
Browne has hired former The Footy Show producer Glenn Pallister to come back for another crack at it. Pallister is talented enough but he has worked with Vautin and the rest before.
Fatty did not take much notice of him back then so he is hardly going to start listening now.
The Footy Show needs to become an information-based show with funny bits. That's how it became successful in the first place. We had our hit of news, but we had a laugh as well. Browne, Gyngell and Pallister will never fix it if they keep this lot on fat contracts in return for very little effort.
Singo is right about all of it but I reckon Matty Johns will be better off without it, just like the rest of us.
