Head of Programming and Production for Seven Network, Tim Worner had this to say about the announcement:

“We didn’t think it was going to be easy. We went into it knowing it was going to be a pretty difficult challenge, but we wanted to give it our best shot. We don’t think we’ve done that yet, the show’s still got legs, there’s no question.

“The ratings tell one story. But looking at the show, and from what people tell you about the show, there’s another story.”

Worner remains supportive of Helliar and envisages the show returning in its early evening timeslot.

“He’s put his heart and soul into that show. He’s bloody funny,” he said.

“It’s always been our ambition to come up with something that’s family friendly, as a point of difference. We want something that’s fun that everyone can watch. There are parts of that show that are incredibly good fun.”

In the meantime, Helliar is out promoting his film I Love You Too which hits cinemas May 6th.

The Herald Sun also gave it a review following its premiere:

PETER Helliar channeled his inner Rove McManus for the debut episode of Channel 7’s new footy show, The Bounce, tonight.

The structure of The Bounce was nearly a carbon copy of McManus’s Sunday night entertainment show Rove, which ended last year.

A clearly nervous Helliar stumbled early with a too-fast opening monologue that was straight out of Rove. Later gags felt as if they were lifted from Helliar’s Pete Space segment on Rove.

A challenge for Helliar on The Bounce was always going to be doing the meat-and-potatoes hosting duties as well as being funny. It’s a dual role that undid super-talented comedian Mick Molloy on The Nation.

Tonight it wasn’t quite there but it was the first show and it will definitely get better. Peter Helliar just needs to relax.

Hamish and Andy dig deep for Channel 31, kind of. Crikey’s story yesterday highlighting struggling Melbourne community TV station Channel 31’s desperate plight produced instant results, with Austereo comedy duo Hamish Blake and Andy Lee kicking in $1,000 for their alma mater shortly after our story went live. But that’s where it ended — sadly, no response has been received from C31’s other glittering graduates, including Rove McManus, Peter Helliar and Corinne Grant. McManus’ manager Kevin Whyte told Crikey that an email received yesterday morning was “the first we’d heard” of the subscriberthon and that he was happy to take out a basic subscription for himself, pending a response from Rove.

Channel 31 has been hit hard by the Federal Government’s mandated switch to digital television and the need to upgrade its studio facilities. Without an immediate cash injection the station could be forced to stick with its second-rate analogue signal, which is being switched off around Australia.

For years, Channel 31 has served as an incubator for talent that has then been poached by commercial networks keen to exploit the youth advertising market, with megastars Rove McManus, Corinne Grant and Peter Helliar all making the jump to the big league.

The question is should the past stars be expected to finanically help the station? Feel free to leave your comments below.

Also an interesting tid-bid from the Crikey story…

Speculation has been swirling for months that Rove will soon stitch up a lucrative Los Angeles-based chat show deal following high-profile appearances last year on the Jay Leno Show.

Join Peter Helliar, Matthew Richardson and Leigh Matthews in this fun, family footy show that will entertain AFL fans around the country. Each week, there’ll be a look at the full teams for the weekend’s matches as well as other hot footy news, guests, stunts and gags, plus live crosses to wherever the pre-round action is happening.

Visit the official site for more information.

…while news of the double departure spoiled the station’s plans to stage manage the exit, it sparked a new round of wireless whispers, including speculation that Rove McManus and Peter Helliar had tested to take their place.

Industry sources said the TV duo worked well with Merrick Watts, the last man standing when the Merrick and Rosso and Kate Ritchie show signs off next month.

Station insiders said management believed only a “mega name” would narrow the [ratings] gap, with McManus or Helliar likely to broadcast from their home base of Melbourne.

I’m not sure about this for a number of reasons.

a) They have done a radio show before with Rove, Pete and Corrine and I’ve never heard of any reports that Rove was interested in ever returning to radio and he is quite busy as it is.
b) Nova would want their Sydney show predominately out of Melbourne.
c) Peter just left a radio gig this year at Triple M and would he want to go back so soon?

Another ‘we’ll see’ I guess.

The video of the interview is on their website for viewing.

Peter Helliar, best-known in New Zealand for his recurring role on chat show Rove, is an Australian it’s okay for New Zealanders to like.

He travelled across the ditch today for this weekend’s Big Night In, but first dropped into Campbell Live for a yarn.

View the interview here.

Video by RoveOnline, Courtesy Roving Enterprises/Network Ten