''The Big Night In with John Foreman'' was an Australian

variety show Variety show, also known as variety arts or variety entertainment, is entertainment made up of a variety of acts including musical theatre, musical performances, sketch comedy, magic (illusion), magic, acrobatics, juggling, and ventriloquism. It is ...

airing on

Network Ten Network 10 (commonly known as Ten Network, Channel 10 or simply 10) is an Australian commercial television network owned by Ten Network Holdings, a division of the Paramount Networks UK & Australia subsidiary of Paramount Global. One of five ...

and

Ovation The ovation ( la, ovatio from ''ovare'': to rejoice) was a form of the Roman triumph. Ovations were granted when war was not declared between enemies on the level of nations or states; when an enemy was considered basely inferior (e.g., slaves, p ...

. It premiered on 3 December 2005 and concluded its first series 6 January 2006 then returned for another season in October 2006. It ran overnight, usually starting at either 11.30pm or past 12am. The show's premise is based on having musical acts perform and give interviews in a late-night chat show format with a bigger focus on musical guests and interviews with those guests. It was hosted by

John Foreman John Foreman may refer to: * John Foreman (musician) (born 1972), Australian musician * John Foreman (producer) (1925–1992), American film producer * John Foreman (footballer) (1913–1964), English footballer See also * Jon Foreman (born 1976), ...

, a renowned Australian musician who has appeared on shows such as '' Good Morning Australia'' and ''

Australian Idol ''Australian Idol'' is an Australian singing competition, which began its first season in July 2003 and ended its initial run in November 2009. As part of the ''Idol'' franchise, Australian Idol originated from the reality program ''Pop Idol' ...

'' as a musical director. The show was notable for its premiere when an in-depth and engaging interview was featured with

Russell Crowe Russell Ira Crowe (born 7 April 1964) is an actor. He was born in New Zealand, spent ten years of his childhood in Australia, and moved there permanently at age twenty one. He came to international attention for his role as Roman General Maxi ...

. Crowe later performed two songs for the show. This episode also featured guests

Tina Cousins Tina Patricia Cousins (born 20 April 1974) is an English singer, songwriter and former model. She has had five singles in the Top 20 of the UK Singles Chart, both as a solo artist and in collaboration with others, including "Mysterious Times" wit ...

and

Deborah Conway Deborah Ann Conway (born 8 August 1959) is an Australian rock singer-songwriter and guitarist, and had a career as a model and actress. She was a founding member of the 1980s rock band Do-Ré-Mi with their top 5 hit "Man Overboard". Conw ...

. It often included

ad lib In music and other performing arts, the phrase (; from Latin for 'at one's pleasure' or 'as you desire'), often shortened to "ad lib" (as an adjective or adverb) or "ad-lib" (as a verb or noun), refers to various forms of improvisation. The ...

promotions by the cast and guests, in a style reminiscent of

Graham Kennedy Graham Cyril Kennedy AO (15 February 1934 – 25 May 2005) was an Australian entertainer, comedian and variety performer, as well as a personality and star of radio, theatre, television and film. He often performed in the style of vaudevilli ...

's variety programs.

Episode guide

Series 1 Series 2

Burt Bacharach Special

On 10 October 2007, ‘John Foreman Presents Burt Bacharach’, a special presentation of The Big Night In, was broadcast on Network Ten. It was taped at the State Theatre in Sydney, and featured a line-up of Australian artists performing songs composed by Bacharach, accompanied by the Sydney Sinfonia. Bacharach appeared on the show, was interview by Foreman and performed his composition, “Alfie”.

New Year's Eve 2006 special

On 31 December 2006, a special episode was broadcast on the Ten Network featuring Anthony Callea, John Paul Young, Matthew Newton, New Zealand band Dragon, Jade MacRae and cabaret performer Maria Venuti. It was meant to be different from the telecasts that the

Nine Network The Nine Network (stylised 9Network, commonly known as Channel Nine or simply Nine) is an Australian commercial free-to-air television network. It is owned by parent company Nine Entertainment and is one of five main free-to-air television netw ...

had provided in past years in that it was mainly aimed at a younger audience. Despite that clear focus, older viewers and families complained about the content on the programme, calling

talkback radio Talk radio is a radio format containing discussion about topical issues and consisting entirely or almost entirely of original spoken word content rather than outside music. Most shows are regularly hosted by a single individual, and often featur ...

stations such as

2GB 2GB is a commercial radio station in Sydney, Australia owned by parent company Nine Radio, a division of Nine Entertainment Co., who also own sister station 2UE. 2GB broadcasts on 873 kHz, AM. In 2010, 2GB held 14.7% of the total rad ...

to complain the programme had strong language and sexual references; and that Newton was intoxicated, though there was little to none of the alleged content in the programme. Based on the talkback reaction, ''

The Daily Telegraph ''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a national British daily broadsheet newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed across the United Kingdom and internationally. It was fo ...

'', along with the daily tabloid programmes on competing networks (''

Today Tonight ''Today Tonight'' is an Australian current affairs television program produced by the Seven Network. It aired from January 1995 to November 2019 in Adelaide and Perth. Editions in Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne were previously produced befo ...

'' and ''

A Current Affair ''A Current Affair'' may refer to: * ''A Current Affair'' (Australian TV program), 1971–present Australian current affairs program that airs on Nine Network * ''A Current Affair'' (American TV program), a 1986–1998 American television news ...

'')Ten's smutty party an insult , NEWS.com.au Entertainment
/ref> attacked Ten's broadcast. It is thought that those viewers and media sources may have been confused by another televised presentation the same night involving the musical '' Priscilla, Queen of the Desert''. The show aired from 9:30pm until 11:30pm, and was the lead-up to Network Ten's coverage of the New Year's Eve Sydney Fireworks. The show was one of the last variety productions to be taped at Global Television's studios in North Ryde, NSW (Network Ten's former Sydney headquarters).

References

External links

Official website

The Big Night In MySpace Page

{{DEFAULTSORT:Big Night In With John Foreman, The Australian variety television shows Australian music television series Network 10 original programming 2005 Australian television series debuts 2006 Australian television series endings