Peter Van Onselen: ABC regular calls for struggling Q+A program to be scrapped amid plummeting ratings: ‘One-sided, uninteresting and rarely funny’
The call for ABC’s low-rated program Q&A is being scrapped for good, as the show is labeled “one-sided, uninteresting and rarely funny.”
Political commentator Peter Van Onselen said the program would not be missed if it did not return to ABC’s roster in 2024.
In an op-ed for The AustralianVan Onselen said Q&A – currently hosted by Patricia Karvelas – had been viewed 203,000 times nationally as of Monday evening.
The program attracted 59,000 viewers in Sydney, 81,000 in Melbourne, 25,000 in Brisbane, 25,000 in Adelaide and just 19,000 in Perth.
Media Watch aired immediately before the Q&A and was watched by 374,000 people, while Channel Nine’s afternoon news bulletin attracted 240,000 viewers.
Van Onselen said it was time to ‘completely scrap Q&A’.
Political commentator Peter Van Onselen said the program would not be missed on Australian screens if it did not return to the ABC roster in 2024.
“With such dismal figures coupled with how out of touch the program is with mainstream Australia, it really needs to be put out of its misery,” he wrote.
“There have been enough failed reboots to justify abolishing it for good.”
The commentator said cracks started to appear after Tony Jones stopped hosting after a decade in the role from 2008 to 2019.
“It wasn’t that long ago that the program was lively and interesting, with discussions led by former presenter Tony Jones,” Van Onselen wrote.
‘I remember appearing on it at the time. The viewing figures regularly reached the one million mark, which sparked the discussion about changing the time slot.’
Van Onselen criticized the show for not being informative enough and organizing discussions that were “one-sided, uninteresting and rarely funny.”
He claimed it was the ABC’s “stubbornness” that saw the show axed for good, but that a replacement would be welcome.
Hamish MacDonald replaced Jones as host in 2020, but resigned in July 2021 after overwhelming personal abuse and social media trolling.
In May 2021, Q&A returned to its original Thursday timeslot at 8:30 PM and saw viewership fall from 600,000 to 200,000 in five major capitals in April.
David Speers organized Q&A together with Virginia Trioli and Stan Grant from 2021 to 2023
Hamish MacDonald (pictured) replaced Jones as host in 2020, but resigned in July 2021 after overwhelming personal abuse and social media trolling
Virginia Trioli, the co-host of ABC News Breakfast, also hosted Q&A in 2021 and 2022
There are calls for ABC’s lowest-rated Q&A program to be permanently axed as the show is branded ‘one-sided, uninteresting and rarely funny’ (photo, former host Stan Grant)
The program now airs on Monday evenings at 9.30pm and features a panel of five public figures such as politicians, media personalities and academics.
After Macdonald resigned in 2021, Q&A was presented by three rotating presenters until July 2022: Stan Grant, David Speers and Virginia Trioli.
It was later announced that Stan Grant would host the show permanently from August 1.
However, less than a year later, the host resigned in May 2023 after receiving “grotesque racist abuse” and threats to his safety.
The abuse came after Grant criticized the monarchy during an ABC panel discussion ahead of King Charles III’s coronation.
Grant was disappointed by the lack of support he received from the ABC.
He said that during the May 6 panel discussion, “no one shouted over anyone, no one abused anyone” and that it had been a healthy, respectful and constructive debate about the history of the monarchy.
“If there had been a white person on the air … if they had talked about invading the country, they just wouldn’t have been abused the way I was,” he said.
“It wasn’t just what I said, it was the fact that I said it. The racist abuse and attacks started before I even said a word.”
Q&A is currently hosted by ABC breakfast radio host Patricia Karvelas (pictured)
Q&A is currently hosted by ABC breakfast radio host Patricia Karvelas.
A discussion of the deepening crisis in Israel and Palestine did not make it into the top 20 best-rated programs on Monday evening.
Twitter users debated whether Q&A should be scrapped in 2024.
‘The problem is the hosting of recent years. Before 2020 when Tony Jones was the host it was a show worth watching,” one person said.
‘I liked it more without an audience. I watched it the next morning on ABC iView. Although I rarely watch it,” tweeted a second.
‘The ABC went to great lengths to find the right tone during last night’s Q&A. They did well,” wrote a third.
“Q&A scores better than anything on Sky News after 6pm, even with an interested national audience,” a fourth tweeted.
‘If only ratings matter on TV, it will only be gambling and porn.’
On Tuesday, Channel 10 announced that it was canceling Studio 10 after ten years on TV.