The Front Bar
Seven, 8.30pm
This relative newcomer to the Thursday night AFL footy show scene has had a fine season. Broadcast live from a compact studio at Seven's Docklands HQ in Melbourne, The Front Bar conjures an atmosphere that is warm, welcoming and good-humoured. Andy Maher, Mick Molloy and Sam Pang have grown into a winning on-air combo and they're unfailingly entertaining hosts, hugely respectful of their guests, who are frequently former players, but also happy to poke fun at them and at each other. The banter between them is a joy and there's an ease to it that has been lacking for years on its veteran yet struggling rival, Nine's The Footy Show.
The Front Bar: Andy Maher, Mick Molloy, Sam Pang.
Regular segments, such as Fresh From the Archives, Under the Pump and Mick's Multi (don't bet on it, whatever you do) all work well.
Then there's Sam's pet project, sadly unloved by his co-hosts, Point of the Week, which has its merits, for sheer nuttiness alone.
Given the support of a major sponsor that is lavishly plugged and the show's deliberately modest scale, The Front Bar must be costing Seven a fraction of what Nine is paying for The Footy Show. Yet the relative newcomer has sprinted ahead in the Melbourne ratings.
In April last year, when Seven took a punt and moved it from a Friday night post-match slot into a prime berth on Thursdays, the difference in viewer numbers between the shows was initially small, perhaps a few thousand either way. More recently though, The Front Bar has doubled the audience of its competitor, proving a clear winner for Seven.
Guests in this edition are Richmond Hall of Famer, Jim "The Ghost" Jess, and former West Coast coach and current Essendon coach, John "Woosha" Worsfold. DE
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