The ABC axes satirical news show The Roast
The ABC has announced it is axing The Roast, its satirical news program screen on ABC2 at 7.30pm, from next year.
The cancellation was announced by the show’s creators on social media yesterday with a tweet: “The Roast won’t be back on the ABC next year. If you want a ridiculous parody of a news show, you’ll have to watch the Bolt Report.”
At the time of posting the ABC had not responded to requests for comment however over its three years on air the show has tackled on a daily basis news, politics, sport and even media stories.
The satire has often taken on pointed areas across a variety of areas, for example, a recent media story saw it take on a News Corp newspaper The Australian over its coverage of bias being taught at journalism schools.
In a tongue-in-cheek statement on Facebook the show said: “We would like to thank you for all the support you’ve given us over the years. Especially those tax dollars you didn’t have a choice about giving to us.
“We appreciate everyone who has watched the show, shared our videos or dropped us a line to let us know that tonight’s episode isn’t up on iView yet. We’d also like to wish young, promising comedians like Shaun Micallef and The Chaser the best of luck as we pass the torch down to them.”
Nic Christensen
Bum. They’re good.
I trust they will embrace new delivery platforms to continue mocking idiocy.
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I didn’t find them funny or clever or biting or subversive at all. They seemed to have the same sacred cows as everyone else on the ABC and it really showed. They came across as bitter and defensive when I think they were aiming for satire with a bit of righteous anger. The Chaser boys might be a bit juvenile but at least they ‘take no prisoners’.
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I say good on the ABC.
Without the ABC all of the Uni student dropouts would be unemployed for the whole of their lives. Lets face it. Nobody in the real world would employ these taxpayers burden.
In the good old days we had Telecom and now we have the ABC.
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Sure, lets see them do it with their own money. ? If they are that great the commercials will hire them ? No? So the poor taxpayer gets some relief from the leftie rubbish. Good riddance to a below average show. ABC management showing some decent judgement for a change.
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Ok some of you hate the ABC. I get it. Now just show me a commercial network that truly questions the governments actions,in depth,with substance.
And no, Karl Stfanovic asking a real question,accepting the spin doctor answer ,then asking a flippant question about the kids/footy doesn’t cut it
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We don’t hate the ABC. We hate that it has been completely hijacked by leftists. The vast majority of issues covered by the Roast were anti government and obtusively juvenile. Truely low brow entertainment from a bunch of university union types. I would not dignify their content by calling it satire.
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Just started watching it a month ago. Bummer.
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@dogrockdog I have no problem with The Roast mocking the Abbott government. There’s plenty of material there, clearly. The issue is, if the ALP were in power, The Roast would still spend most of the show criticising Tony Abbott, with a few critiques of Rudd/Gillard for either being ineffective, or too right-wing. In essence, the show represented a kind of Gen-Y attempt at a satirical show for people with the cultural and political leanings of the Junkee/Guardian/ABC/Buzzfeed crowd. This isn’t a problem in itself. The problem is that there are a lot of hypocrisy, silliness and ridiculousness on the Left that is ripe for satirising, but for some reason The Roast didn’t go there at all. This is either comes from a desire to avoid alienating the show’s audience, or some serious ideological blind-spots that betray a fatal lack of self-awareness. When it comes to satire, nothing should be sacred, but in this case some things clearly were. I say this as a political centrist who tries to expose himself to political media from a range of perspectives as a means of constantly testing and challenging my views and assumptions.
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The Roast is not dead! They’re commenting as “John from Newcastle”!
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“I get it. Now just show me a commercial network that truly questions the governments actions,in depth,with substance.”
Show me an ABC that did this in the prior 7 years of Labour.
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Wow, how very sad, actually one of the best things on TV at the moment.
Thanks Tony
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Fantastic show. News satire that covered significant issues with brilliant wit and insightful observations that you’d never ever get on commercial tv that’s riddled with vested interests and hidden agendas. Will be sadly missed.
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Maybe Quickflix or presto or streamco should pick up the show.
Perhaps then someone will give two shits about those services.
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To all the right-wing loony trolls. If you don’t like ABC then stop watching US television via a VPN. You couldn’t be talking about the ABC at Ultimo as they are giving the current government an armchair ride and not prosecuting them on Abbott’s election promises such as ‘no surprises’, ‘ no tax increases’ , ‘no cuts to the ABC’, ‘no cuts to health’, ‘no cuts to education’. Can anyone cite a government that in its first year broke so many promises with barely a whimper raised from the media?
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Some comments above read as Team Rupert’s recitals.
Am outraged Roast is off the menu. I look forward to a Govt when criticism can again be served at our fair and fearless ABC as a matter of course.
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Right wingers complain that The Roadt mocks the right and leaves the left alone, but only because the right’so idea of humour usually starts with “I’m not racist, but…”then something like “a Jew, a black and an illegal boat arrival walk into a bar.”
If they had half the humour required to write s satire right wingers wouldn’t have stopped the brain storming session at “Ditch the witch.”
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I wonder if this was a political decision. Liberal already control main steam media through their right wing political bias (which has been proven in a court of law unlike the claims of bias in public media which was proven false in a court of law multiple times) , now they are are trying to control public media through threats of budget cuts. Turnbull himself previously praised abc for doing such a great job on a shoe string budget and now, suddenly, they’re over financed? I hope that’s not the reason or it is a sad day for democracy in Australia.
I really liked this show. I’m sad to see it go.
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Some people have short memories or should really stop talking about shows they’ve never watched. The roast mostly ripped on the government of the day. I’m not sure if you hadn’t noticed but the current government isn’t the ALP…
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Depressed about The Roast going.
People may complain that it (and the ABC) was lefty but in a sea of right wing horseshit, reality TV and recycled US garbage surely it could have been allowed to survive in the interests of trying to get a balance of views across all TV programming.
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Adrian, you wonder if this was a political decision? Wonder no more.. LNP know how to humiliate and enslave a public institution. Cut, cut, cut.
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I will miss The Roast. In times like these it was the only political news I could face.
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The Roast was the only satirical program on TV that had a justifiable] go at everyone who is scrabbling for their 15 minutes in the limelight. The Roast gave it to them with humour and succinct comments. The truth obviously hurts those who “can’t handle the truth”. – and they have taken their revenge. I am a former Liberal MP who thoroughly enjoyed The Roast’s “take” on matters of public concern. I never saw the cast as “Leftist Uni Trolls” as claimed by some. They are highly intelligent, scathingly truthful and approached every issue with a “tongue in cheek” sense of irreverence that I found refreshing.
I want my taxes spent on educating and informing the Australian public. The Roast is very effective at achieving that objective by nudging people to question what they hear and see rather than accepting what they are told by the media.
The ABC has made a very serious mis-judgement in axing The Roast. The Left=leaning pundits running the ABC seem to have taken umbrage at criticism of their biased position – and have axed the only program that was not Leftist-leaning. What a great shame for the Australian people that Bureaucrats are still buggering up our country. Bring back The Roast. Show some guts!!
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