Only a
couple of shows left in Roy and HG, The Memphis Trousers Half Hour and
the money’s them being the last.

The duo
might be cult heroes to sports tragics and those
viewers on the Seven Network at Olympics time, but to ordinary ABC viewers,
their appeal is fleeting; strong at first then
wearing thin.

Only
251,000 people watched last Friday night’s program, a dismal number which will
confirm the feeling in ABC TV management that the show’s time has
come.

The
Memphis Trousers show started on Saturday nights but declining viewer numbers
saw it switched to Friday nights where it did OK at 9.30pm. But
with the ABC showing the second series of the British
spy thriller Spooks at 9.25pm, Roy and H. G. have been pushed out to around 10.20pm.

This
moveable feast of a start time has helped cut viewer numbers, as it always does
when programs become spack filler material (like Last Man Standing on Seven).

The ABC
won’t say anything but word will seep out of the Ultimo Centre eventually that
Roy and HG will be looking for a new vehicle in 2006.