We look at a high rating celebrity-obsessed radio breakfast show trying to translate into a late night television chat show.
Highly popular Sydney Breakfast radio personalities Kyle Sandilands and Jackie O (Henderson) have dominated the FM side of breakfast radio for years, with Kyle successfully transferring to TV as judge for Australian Idol and Australia’s Got Talent. Jackie hosted two seasons of Australian Princess, prank show Surprise Surprise Gotcha and as a gossip reporter for the ill-fated The Nation with Mick Molloy.
Hot off the wrap-up of AGT and X-Factor, Kyle persuaded Channel Seven executives to get him and Jackie a celebrity interview and gossip based chat show – Kyle & Jackie O’s Night With The Stars. Aimed at the gossip-mag crazy, teeny-boppers and “like, you know, whateverrrrr!” generation, the special was shown late on Monday 21st November 2011 for a test run.
Live from Hollywood, Kyle and Jackie O interviewed in studio comedian Nick Cannon, former Playmate Kendra Wilkinson, former supermodel Janice Dickinson, and reality star The Situation. Other pre-recorded interviews were with pop star Justin Bieber (which Kyle showed the sleazy side of Hollywood while he was waiting for the interview) and crooner Michael Bublé. In between and after interviews, Kyle and Jackie discussed “Top 5” marriages / naked scandals / bullshit that came with stroking the Hollywood ego.
When the ratings came out the next day for the hour long special (560,000), the news and media journalists ripped the show apart, with one NewsCorp journalist nit-picking the ratings slump from start to the end. So much so, Kyle infamously threatened the journalist, resulting in companies boycotting their breakfast show at the time.
It wasn’t until early 2012, where each TV channel revealed their show line-ups for the year, Channel Seven announced that Night With The Stars was not the success they were after, resulting in no renewal. Fast forward to present day (2018), and Kyle & Jackie O still continue to dominate the radio airwaves, after moving from Southern Cross Austereo to ARN in 2014.
