Agreed. Roast was a abysmal with Tim Tam as host. Prefer current format.
Having said that, the Roast with Voss was some of the best NRL TV we have seen
If I were on the management department for Fox Sports programming, this would be the perfect time to pick up the Sunday Roast concept (although you couldn't call it the Sunday Roast as it remains the 'intellectual property" of Ch9, even though it was Vossy's creation) and have it as a show IMMEDIATELY after Monday Night Football. It'd rate very well, as has been shown by the ratings for Matt Johns' Monday Night show this year.
Matt Johns has another show on Thursday nights, let him have that timeslot to do whatever comedic shenanigans he wants to do with Fletch and Hindy, and replace his Monday Night show with the Sunday Roast-type of show, incorporating some of the segments that were on the old Sunday Roast (i.e. when Vossy was host), as well as other stuff Vossy used to do like "Stuff You May Have Missed", and definitely a Boots N All type of segments where viewers can write in and request to see highlights or incidents from old matches etc and talk about them. Maybe a segment where the studio audience is involved and allow them to ask questions to the panellists, or allow them to have a short rant on a certain RL topic (like what The Footy Show used to have at the beginning of last year, with the 5 in the Bin segment by having a fan from another club on the panel to have his two cents. It was a very good idea, but was wrecked when Hadley just talked over the top of them and berated the fan).
Now that several of the Ch9 personnel are now contracted to Fox Sports, it'd be great to see the following panel:
Voss (Host)
Matt Johns (the larrakin)
Sterlo (the intellectual panellist, playing the role Gus used to do)
MG (the hard hitting, controversial panellist)
There you have three of the original 4 Ch9 cast-members of the Roast when the Roast was at its peak before Matty left Ch9 (Voss/Matt/Gus/MG). Gus would be the only one not there, as he is not contracted to Fox Sports. I'd definitely set time aside to tune in every week to watch it, and I know many on this forum who have Foxtel - as well as other passionate league supporters not on this forum but who do have Foxtel - would be tuning in. The beauty would be to watch the show flow without having Tim Gilbert stifle it and constantly interrupting after panellists had their allocated 30 seconds. Vossy allowed more spontaneity and improvisation from the other three panellists, which is what kept the interest in the show, and one of the reasons why it was compulsory viewing for me every Sunday. He allowed them to have their say, and there was no strict time allocations to adhere to.
Have a studio audience, promote the crap out of the show during the week, make it the flagship RL show on Fox Sports catalogue.....this is something Fox Sports should be seriously considering and planning for during the off-season for next year's lineup.
Your thoughts on this idea?
