The ABC of Getting Bumped From 7.30
So it seems the rumours are true: Clarke & Dawe and 7.30 have broken up:
It’s been rumoured for some time and now it’s clear, John Clarke and Bryan Dawe have been dropped by ABC’s 7:30, but have been retained in a weekly stand-alone comedy spot.
They will now be seen at the new time of 6:56pm Thursdays on ABC1.
Good news or bad? As usual, it depends: on the one hand, at least they’re still on the ABC and being divorced from the increasingly shrill and scattershot 7.30 isn’t automatically the worst thing ever.
On the other, this is directly out of the “dammit, we can’t just dump them” handbook. Shunt them off for a while to a graveyard timeslot – the “sexy new time” of 6.56pm isn’t exactly a ratings goldmine – and then when everyone’s forgotten about them quietly shut the door. Which, considering the ABC’s current obsession with churning out no-budget comedy, seems a little odd. What’s cheaper than two guys and a couple of chairs? Presumably on The Agony Guide to Life the guests bring their own chairs.
Basically, Clarke & Dawe have been put on notice. As it stands, it’s clear the ABC just isn’t interested in their brand of comedy any more. And if the audience still is… well, we’ll soon see about that once the audience has to put in some effort just to find them. Still, at least we have time to let the ABC know how we feel about this. Let the letter-writing campaign begin!
To make lemonade –
The ABC has promoted them from a guest spot to their own show, and put them in the plum position to catch people tuning over for the 7 o’clock news.
They need a few more dick jokes. Or poo jokes. Or gay fisting jokes. Or they should just spend their whole segment throwing a giant dildo around. Or better still, they should add a third member to their team – an aboriginal lesbian in a wheelchair. And they should stop telling actual jokes and being witty. Hasn’t anybody told them – if they want to do ABC comedy then it shouldn’t actually be funny. End of rant.