I read the other reviews here and felt I had to correct some of their idiocy.
Steve Vizard began one of Australia's first late night talk shows. Channel 9 WAS airing the David Letterman show, and had been for years, and channel 7 decided "why import, let's make our own home grown version"? Tonight Live was born. A variety show that drew inspiration from ALL U.S late night talk shows, not just Letterman.
The show created it's own style, and featured everyone of the whose who of the early 90s, both Australian and world famous celebrities and entertainers. If a show was bad, it would not have had so many recognised names as guests.
The show was highly successful for 2 years, creating classic Australian TV moments that can be found on the best moments DVD which was a special run for TV to celebrate 10 years since the show first aired.
Shows like these do not run for 3 years if they're not rating well, especially in the just before midnight time slots. The show didn't lack viewership or ratings, it was cancelled due to Steve Vizard wanting to step away from the show and persue a career in politics. The show ended up being guest-hosted by various names such as Agro and Bob Geldof, but mostly by Richard Stubbs.
I felt Stubs did do a great job of hosting the show, however he didn't create the same atmosphere Vizard could, and it was confusing audiences as to why the shows title was not just changed to Tonight Live with Richard Stubbs? Perhaps he couldn't commit and a suitable replacement couldn't be found, or channel 7 just decided not to continue with Stubbs? Who knows, but it was not due to lack of viewer interest. It also could be that despite Stubbs being a good host, he wasn't really creating any classic moments.
Vizard played with the idea of reviving the show in the mid 2000s, but Australian TV won't put any money into anything that can't be filmed cheap and superficial anymore.
Unfortunately shows like this most likely will never be seen again. Perhaps bits might show up on YouTube not taken from the DVD, but it's one of those shows where if you didn't watch it when it was on, it's not likely there's a place to see it ever again in its entirity creating any new fans or fulfill any late comers curiosity. The show is now most likely lost forever in a vault somewhere. Hopefully another best-of may see the light of day sometime, but till then, R.I.P Tonight Live, and thanks for the memories.
