''The Front Bar'' (formerly ''Friday Front Bar'') is an
Australian Football League-based talk show that airs on the
Seven Network
The Seven Network (commonly known as Channel Seven or simply Seven) is a major Australian commercial free-to-air television network. It is owned by Seven West Media Limited, and is one of five main free-to-air television networks in Australia ...
.
The show is hosted by journalist
Andy Maher and comedians
Mick Molloy
Michael Molloy (born 11 July 1966) is an Australian comedian, writer, producer, actor and television and radio presenter who has been active in radio, television, stand-up and film. He currently hosts '' The Front Bar'' on the Seven Network.
...
and
Sam Pang.
Hosts
* Regular
**
Andy Maher, journalist and
Carlton supporter
**
Mick Molloy
Michael Molloy (born 11 July 1966) is an Australian comedian, writer, producer, actor and television and radio presenter who has been active in radio, television, stand-up and film. He currently hosts '' The Front Bar'' on the Seven Network.
...
, comedian and
Richmond supporter
**
Sam Pang, comedian and
Carlton supporter
* Semi-regular
**
Andy Lee, comedian and
Carlton supporter
**
Ryan Fitzgerald, retired
Sydney and
Adelaide
Adelaide ( ) is the capital city of South Australia, the state's largest city and the fifth-most populous city in Australia. "Adelaide" may refer to either Greater Adelaide (including the Adelaide Hills) or the Adelaide city centre. The dem ...
player and Adelaide supporter
**
Santo Cilauro, comedian, writer, filmmaker and
Collingwood supporter
** Titus O’Reily, comedian, writer, broadcaster and
Melbourne
Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...
supporter
**
Mark Knight, ''
Herald Sun'' editorial cartoonist and AFL premiership poster creator
**
Marty Sheargold
Martin Donald Sheargold (born 19 June 1971) is an Australian stand-up comedian and radio broadcaster.
Sheargold was part of Nova FM's national drive show '' Kate, Tim & Marty'' with Kate Ritchie and Tim Blackwell until 11 September 2020. He ...
, comedian and
North Melbourne supporter
**
Luke Darcy
Luke Darcy (born 12 July 1975) is a former Australian rules footballer who played with the Western Bulldogs in the Australian Football League (AFL) and now works for the Seven Network and Triple M covering the AFL and the Olympics.
Early life
L ...
, Channel 7/Triple M commentator and
Western Bulldogs
The Western Bulldogs are a professional Australian rules football team that competes in the Australian Football League (AFL), the sport's premier competition.
Founded in 1877 as the Footscray Football Club, and based in West Footscray in the o ...
supporter and retired player
**
Matthew Richardson, Channel 7/3AW commentator and Richmond supporter and retired player
History
The show, which airs from March to September during the AFL season, launched in 2015 as an online-only show on the official AFL website,
AFL.com.au, although Molloy and Maher had previously worked together on ''
Before the Game
''Before the Game'' was an Australian rules football comedy panel television show which aired on Network Ten on 1 March 2003 until 27 September 2013. The show was hosted by Andrew Maher with regular panelists Mick Molloy, Dave Hughes, Anthony ...
''. In 2016, the Seven Network picked up the show, with episodes being split into two versions, with snippets of the show being uploaded to AFL.com.au on Friday afternoon and the full version of the program airing after the Friday night match on the Seven Network in the
traditional AFL states and on
7mate in
New South Wales
)
, nickname =
, image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg
, map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates:
, subdivision_type = Country
, subdivision_name = Australia
, established_title = Before federation
, es ...
and
Queensland
)
, nickname = Sunshine State
, image_map = Queensland in Australia.svg
, map_caption = Location of Queensland in Australia
, subdivision_type = Country
, subdivision_name = Australia
, established_title = Before federation
, establishe ...
. Episodes were filmed at the All Nations Hotel in
Richmond in the first two seasons of the show.
In 2017, the show was renamed to ''The Front Bar'' and extended to a one-hour studio-based format airing on Thursday nights occasionally airing after Thursday night match when played during the season.
In April, the show moved timeslots from 9:30pm to 8:30pm to go head-to-head with the
Nine Network's long-running
''The Footy Show''.
The series is produced by Front Bar Entertainment, a group operated by Molloy, with episodes generally featuring the hosts and special guests drinking Carlton Draught beer as they discuss the week's topics in a light hearted way.
To date, the guest pool has included
Kevin Bartlett,
Brian Taylor and
Jason Dunstall
Jason Hadfield Dunstall (born 14 August 1964) is a former Australian rules footballer who played for the Hawthorn Football Club in the Australian Football League (AFL).
Dunstall is arguably the greatest Australian rules footballer to come from ...
. In 2019, they also welcomed
Garry Lyon
Garry Peter Lyon (born 13 September 1967) is a former professional Australian rules football player and was captain of the Melbourne Football Club in the Australian Football League (AFL). Since his retirement from football, he has been mainly ...
as a guest, which was significant since he had been a longtime co-host of ''The Footy Show'', and in similar fashion later welcomed
Billy Brownless
Anthony William Brownless (born 28 January 1967) is a former Australian rules footballer and radio and television media personality who represented in the Australian Football League (AFL) during the 1980s and 1990s.
Early life
Brownless was ...
as a guest in 2022.
In 2018, during the AFL offseason, the show made editions of the show centered on the
2018 Winter Olympics
The 2018 Winter Olympics ( ko, 2018년 동계 올림픽, Icheon sip-pal nyeon Donggye Ollimpik), officially the XXIII Olympic Winter Games (french: Les XXIIIes Jeux olympiques d'hiver; ko, 제23회 동계 올림픽, Jeisipsamhoe Donggye Ollimpi ...
in Pyeongchang. Later that same year, they also did specials that included nods to the
2018 Commonwealth Games on the Gold Coast and in November that year a
Melbourne Cup
The Melbourne Cup is a Thoroughbred horse race held in Melbourne, Australia. It is a 3200-metre race for three-year-olds and over, conducted by the Victoria Racing Club on the Flemington Racecourse in Melbourne, Victoria as part of the Melb ...
version of the show ahead of the
2018 Melbourne Cup. In 2019, their Grand Final show was held at the Hotel Esplanade in St Kilda and included AFL CEO Gillon McLachlan as a guest and Picket Palace as the house band. In November also in 2019, two episodes aired ahead of the Australian cricket season, this continued the following year also two episodes.
The show consistently beat ''The Footy Show'' in the ratings beginning in the latter half of the 2017 season and continuing until Nine Network axed ''The Footy Show'' in 2019.
In 2022, the show received its first
Logie Awards nomination as it was nominated for the
Logie Award for Most Popular Panel or Current Affairs Program.
See also
*
List of Australian television series
*
List of longest-running Australian television series
References
External links
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Front Bar, The
Seven Network original programming
2015 Australian television series debuts
Australian rules football television series
English-language television shows