This comes to us courtesy of Sydney’s The Daily Telegraph and thanks to RoveOnline for transcribing it.

…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.

Rove McManus is helping out Bob Brown launch his new mini-book and says that he is no Climate Change skeptic.

“When we were kids … you could turn the hose on in the backyard with the sprinkler … and … get wet,” the 35-year-old television funnyman said.

“Kids can still run around the backyard, but it’s not the same when they are having a bucket of grey water thrown on them.”

The host of Rove Live made the comments at the launch of a new book about climate change by Australian Greens leader Bob Brown. The 500-word self-published mini-book, Earth, is a series of photographs taken by the senator in his home state of Tasmania, accompanied by short statements, words and poetry about climate change.

McManus, who serves as the vice-president of the world’s oldest conservation foundation, Flora and Fauna International, says global warming is a big issue. “It’s a beautiful planet, but Bob (Brown) sums it up very well … we have to be careful we don’t destroy it.

Hamish & Andy bring Ghosting to the states for the second time when they return to ‘The Jay Leno Show’. It airs Wednesday at 6pm on 7TWO (Channel 72 on Free-to-air Digital). This time Jay speaks to them via a satellite link to Melbourne but they are due to return for a 3rd time in December from the Los Angeles Studio.

Despite News Limited fueled ‘reports‘ that the show would not return until after June, in a new article Rove confirms it will be back at the usual April/May start time. It started earlier than usual this year.

ROVE McManus is going to live life on his terms and he doesn’t give a hoot what TV executives, the media, or even you think about it.

It’s an “I’ll do it my way” attitude that’s won him a legion of fans, a thriving production company and a successful TV career for 10 years.

Another example of that “my way” spirit is McManus’s decision to delay the return of Rove in 2010 until April/May. The 2009 season finale is on November 15, so the 35-year-old will have nearly a six-month break.Rove has had its ups and downs. It peaked at 1.54 million viewers nationally in June but has dropped to about 880,000 in recent weeks after losing Dave Hughes and Carrie Bickmore and being shunted back into a 9.30pm timeslot. The show hardly featured in Ten’s 2010 program launch last week. Weekend rumours had it getting a major revamp for next year, perhaps into a Hey Hey it’s Saturday-style format.

A Ten spokesperson says: “Rove will be back in 2010.”

“With the 7PM Project, it’s a new show and I’m assuming it will need time to find its feet as a program and a format and hopefully people will give it that time,” McManus says.

“This show (Rove) is my love and my passion and it’s always what I’ve wanted to do. If everything else fell down, as long as I still get to do this thing I love the most then I’m happy.

“We have that (a connection with the audience) at the moment and I think that’s where my enthusiasm is coming from.

“When your personal life is in a good place it helps with your professional life as well.

“People say to me, ‘do you still have plans to go to the States?’ and (the answer is) no, because I’m happy with what I’m doing here.

“It’s nice to enjoy the ride, which I haven’t always been able to do.”

Not sure what to make of this…

NETWORK Ten is planning to “rest” its flagging show Rove before a major overhaul that may turn it into a Hey Hey It’s Saturday-style variety program.

The network denied rumours Rove will be axed completely, despite the show hardly featuring at the network’s 2010 programming launch last week.

Ten’s head programmer, David Mott, said Rove would not return at the start of the year but he would not comment on the reason or when the next season would screen, The Sunday Telegraph reports.

A Ten spokesperson later said: “Rove will be back on Ten in 2010.”

A source close to the production said changes were being proposed to the Gold Logie-winner’s show after Ten executives eyed the recent success of Channel Nine’s Hey Hey It’s Saturday specials.

“Things will be different (on Rove) and, with the numbers attached to the recent Hey Hey outing, it’s possible to see a more encompassing variety-type format when we come back,” the source said.

Since the return of Australian Idol on Sunday nights, Rove’s ratings have again slid to under a million people nationally. Last Sunday it was well down on its 2009 peak, with just 852,000.

Recent media reports that the hiatus for Rove would enable its star, Rove McManus, to make changes to The 7pm Project were labelled “untrue” by the source.

The 7pm Project has struggled in its slot, with a nightly national audience of around 700,000.

Sydney University media lecturer Dr Marc Brennan questioned the future of Rove’s current format.

“It’s been through so many changes over the years to keep it fresh, there’s possibly nothing left, really,” Dr Brennan said.

Octobers Poll Results are in, Vote in the November poll on the right side of the site!

What do you think of ‘The 7pm Project’?
Love it – 43% (34 votes)
It’s not bad – 38% (30 Votes)
I don’t like it – 19% (16 Votes)