The Seven Network’s departing co-host of its Sunrise breakfast show, David Koch, will announce on his last day in the chair this Friday that he has been picked as the new host of ABC TV’s Monday night public discussion program Q&A.
But I can reveal now and exclusively for readers of The Bug the details of the deal that will see him succeed Stan Grant.
My sources within Sunrise tell me Koch is very excited about taking on the Q&A hosting role.
In particular he is very pleased that the ABC saw fit to agree to some of his key demands before he would agree to sign a contract with the national broadcaster.
“Kochie insisted that he would take the Q&A job only if the ABC would also recruit the Cash Cow which was dropped from the Sunrise line-up a couple of years ago,” one Network Seven insider told me.
“The ABC readily agreed because it wants to liven up the tired old Q&A format and to widen its viewership. It may not sound like a good fit, but in secret rehearsals (main picture) the Cash Cow has proved a real hit.
“Its new role is to give a handful of cash to members of the studio audience if they can actually ask Q&A panel members a short sharp question without making a lengthy and often totally off-topic, tedious, and time-wasting speech as a preamble.”
My network sources also tell me that the ABC has agreed to another concept that David Koch wants to bring to Q&A.
“The Sunrise segment called Cooking With Coles is a popular part of the brekkie line-up,” one source told me. “It enables Kochie or his co-host Natalie Barr to indulge in some comic banter while whipping up a meal based on ingredients supplied by advertiser Coles supermarkets.
“Of course this idea was initially ruled out because the ABC cannot allow advertising or commercial promotion on its programs.
“But Kochie being Kochie had a solution. So now the segment will go ahead but will showcase only dishes that need to be char-grilled and will be called Cooking With Coals.
“The rehearsals show that the concept works pretty well, although I notice that Kochie has taken to giving a theatrical, exaggerated wink to the camera every time the word ‘coals’ is used.”
My network sources also tell me that while some other ideas Koch had for the ABC program were totally rejected by the national broadcaster in his contract negotiations, he did secure agreement for them to be adopted or at least reconsidered in future years.
“In particular the ABC has agreed to include a sports segment in Q&A for 2024 that would be hosted by Mark Beretta, or Beretts (below) as most viewers know him,” a Seven source said.
I understand from my ABC contacts that Koch also wants to have Eddy, that’s Edwina Bartholomew (below left), included in 2024 as a permanent Q&A panel member who can dish the latest showbiz goss and for Sam Mac (below right) to deliver a weather report at the end of every Monday night episode.
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