Rove McManus uses his new show as a good excuse to challenge former PM Kevin Rudd to a game of handball. CREDIT: Saturday Night Rove

Rove McManus’ TV show Saturday Night Rove has been axed after just two episodes.

The variety show was a ratings disappointment for Channel 10. After premiering with 244,000 metro viewers on August 24 it dropped to a dismal 138,000 metro viewers for episode two.

Speaking to TV Tonight, Rove said: “It was clear looking at the numbers that the audience we hoped would find a freewheeling live show on a Saturday night just weren’t there. We spoke with 10 today and we both called it.

“The opportunity to play live in front of Australia again was fun, no matter how brief, and I would like to thank my amazing co-stars, the behind the scenes team and everyone at 10 who got behind Saturday Night Rove.”

A Network 10 spokesperson told the website, “Unfortunately Saturday Night Rove hasn’t resonated with viewers the way we had hoped, so Rove and 10 have made the decision to remove it from the schedule. Rove is a sensational entertainer and a close friend of 10, and we thank him for all his hard work, and all the laughs, on Saturday Night Rove.”

The variety show was part of Channel 10’s Pilot Week in 2018 and was picked up by the network for a six episode run in 2019.

In the lead up to the show’s premiere this year, Rove was adamant there was an audience for a Saturday night TV show despite the timeslot being considered TV wilderness.

Speaking to Hit TV before the first episode aired, Rove was well aware of the challenges his show faced.

“Finding a way of getting people’s attention is the big one — there are so many options for an audience now,” he said. “But not only is the audience fractured, within each household the audience is fractured. You could have each individual member of the house watching their individual program on a laptop or a tablet or a phone. So how do you get everyone in a household together to watch something?”

After the first episode’s disappointing ratings, Channel 10 was busted promoting the show’s second episode with an ad displaying glowing tweets from viewers praising episode one — some of which had been heavily edited and were, in fact, less than complimentary.

As industry blog TV Blackbox first reported, one tweet Ten splashed on screen during the promo exclaimed “ROVE! Fantastic to have you back!!!”

The original tweet, by user @TdWhiteWhite, actually read: “Rove it’s fantastic to have you back, but you need to listen to your loyal fans and change the format please.”

This was among several other tweets from the same user criticising the show as “flat” and “disappointing”.

Another tweet Ten screened in the ad said simply “Amazing … FUNNY!”

The full original tweet, from user @RVenusaur, read: “Soo I kinda liked it, it’s not amazing but it’s funny and can we get some musical performances please?”

A Ten spokesperson told TV Blackbox “the inclusion of these tweets was human error. We have updated our processes to ensure it doesn’t happen again.”

Viewer reaction to episode two, which featured former prime minister Kevin Rudd beating Rove in a game of handball, was … mixed, to say the least:

#SaturdayNightRove I'm a Huge Rove fan. I hate to say this it'ss F#!king Terrible!!! So awkward! So un funny! Judith Lucy is so annoying! the new sidekicks are just as bad. Bring back the old format....Rove behind a desk with Peter Helliar to support him — James (@nutcase12) August 31, 2019

When Kevin Rudd is the funniest thing on your show, ou have a problem #SaturdayNightRove — 💧Dr Jos 🇦🇺🇫🇷🇱🇧 (@redruby17) August 31, 2019

Channel 10 has not yet announced a replacement for Saturday Night Rove. As for Rove himself, he told Hit TV recently that he is considering a national comedy tour.

“It’s funny how when you first start doing stand-up it’s like ‘well, what else do I want to do in comedy?’” Rove said. “Now stand-up comedy is the trade I have to fall back on.

“No matter what else happens you can always get up in a room with a microphone and a swag full of jokes and entertain anybody. I love it and have been doing a bit more of that in the last couple of years since I got back from the States.

“I have taken a bit of a break, but I am still writing jokes for what could be the next tour after this show.”