The Bounce – Suspended until AFL Finals in September

The Seven Network has halted production of Peter Helliar’s weekly football show, The Bounce, but insists it will be back in a revised form to coincide with the AFL finals in September.

The Thursday night show, attempting to provide a more family-friendly format up against the later Footy Show on Nine, has had five episodes go to air but has failed to gather an audience in the AFL-dominated Melbourne market.  The show debuted to a Melbourne audience of 326,000 but this week’s show attracted only 161,000.

Despite the disappointing ratings, programming chief Tim Worner defended the program:

“There are some great things happening in the show that we love.”

“Anecdotally from players, clubs and viewers alike – there is a great deal of warmth for the show.”

“That’s why we’ve decided to take some time to rethink some aspects of the show and bring it back during the finals series.”

Producer Rick McKenna remained optimistic about the show:

“We’re not axed.  We start work on Tuesday morning about what September will look like.”

“I don’t think the show failed. We are in a tough slot on a very competitive Thursday night. And then you throw in Masterchef.”

The Herald Sun reports that the program will be replaced by British comedy The Vicar Of Dibley.