I first saw Rove on channel 9 back in 1999, I liked the vibe, the people, the grungy-yet-trendy set. Channel Ten obviously saw Potential in Rove and poached him after the inevitable channel 9 cancelling (if it's a comedy variety show on 9, you just know it's going to be cancelled in short order). I preferred the darkly lit channel 9 set to the brightly lit channel 10 set but the show seemed to cross over okay in it's first season on Ten. Rove was the sort of show that seemed okay when it was new, but the trouble is Rove never seemed to build on his experience and grow as a host, if anything he's worse now than in the first seasons. Dave Callan didn't stay around for the second season and I've noticed Peter Helliar and Corinne Grant have much more stand-offish attitudes towards Rove than they did in the past, where they seemed like a closely knit bunch.
Rove just doesn't have things together enough to be host of a nationally televised show. I think Australian audiences can be partly to blame here because the audiences of Rove Live are far too forgiving, if they didn't laugh at everything slightly humorous that Rove did he might have to actually try to be funny. "Tonight Live with Steve Vizard" and "Denton", both on Seven, were a lot better than Rove Live just on the strength of their hosts, who were not self-destructive idiots like Rove.
Rove just doesn't have things together enough to be host of a nationally televised show. I think Australian audiences can be partly to blame here because the audiences of Rove Live are far too forgiving, if they didn't laugh at everything slightly humorous that Rove did he might have to actually try to be funny. "Tonight Live with Steve Vizard" and "Denton", both on Seven, were a lot better than Rove Live just on the strength of their hosts, who were not self-destructive idiots like Rove.