Rupert Murdoch’s network Fox TV has axed Australian comedian Rove McManus’ improvisational Riot game show in the US after its debut last month garnered terrible ratings.
The show, which is hosted by Rove and produced by The Office‘s Steve Carell, is loosely based on an Australian series called Slide Show, which was in turn inspired by a French program Vendredi tout est permis. It involves two celebrity teams competing against each other in a series of skits on an elevated stage that tilts back and forth.
Speaking to Fairfax Media earlier this year, Rove said the show was born out of a friendship he’d developed with Steve Carell, who started his own production company Carousel Television, in 2007.
“I’d say to anybody out there, ‘Get Steve Carell to promise you something’,” Rove told the publication, “because he will make it happen. He’s a very sweet man who’s true to his word. When he says to you, ‘Hey, I want to do something with you’, he will back that up – no matter how long it takes.”
Also axed by the network was the bizarre reality dating show I Wanna Marry Harry, which revolved around a group of clueless American women competing for the affections of a guy who resembled Prince Harry. For the few fans still clamouring to find out who ends up with the fake Prince, Fox has said it will make the rest of the dating show’s episodes available through video-on-demand and online.
