The Late Report

For reasons I don't know I watched all of the episodes of The Big News and The Late Report. Maybe I just wanted to go down with the ship and see how bad it really got. This is a combined review because there appears to be no page for The Big News.

The Big News had a bad concept and bad writing, and things were probably bad behind the scenes too going from the increasing amount of weird vibes going on between the "presenters". Only one presenter withstood the storm and went on to host the combined The Big News/The Late Report, and appeared on Seven a few years later for a short period (he seems to have disappeared since Seven acquired Tony Squires). Thankfully The Big News didn't last long, I'm sure only a handful of people including me were watching it.

The Late report started off comparatively strongly and the format of reporter-produced segments helped it to last longer. Add Emma Tom as co-host (where did she disappear to?) and the occasional segment by John Safran and you have a show of watchable standard. This show didn't hold together for long either (I really do wonder what was going on behind the scenes) and this unfortunate chapter in Australian late night variety TV was closed.

Seven had another go in 2004 by poaching The Fat from ABC, however the long-running show mets its end there, only lasting about as long as the above-mentioned shows.