Fans rally to change show's timeslot

Mark Richardson hosts The Crowd Goes Wild with Andrew Mulligan. Photo / Supplied

Fans angered by the moving of Prime TV's The Crowd Goes Wild to late at night are rallying together to get the show back to its original timeslot.

Prime moved the half hour sports show from 7pm to 10.30pm last month, replacing it with repeats of American '90s sitcom Home Improvement.

The show hosted by Andrew Mulligan and Mark Richardson has been on air since June 2006 and while it never competed in the ratings against the likes of TVNZ's Close Up, Shortland Street and TV3's Campbell Live, it still attracts a cult following.

The sporting highlights, mixed with wit and humour, were a welcoming difference from the serious current affair shows and television dramas that also run at the coveted 7pm timeslot.

Fans of the show Graeme Beasley and Nick Baker have set up a petition to move the show back to its original timeslot and have so far attracted more than 600 signatures.

Mr Beasley said he created the petition as a result of "the jaw-droppingly appalling decision by Prime to shift The Crowd Goes Wild to the unfriendly time-slot of 10.30pm, and substituting it with some dreadful comedy re-runs at peak viewing time."

The duo have had success in the past going down this route after sending a petition to Sky to air the this year's FA Cup final after the network announced they wouldn't be showing the game.

"That one actually worked. That petition was open for about a month and got to 600-odd. We are hoping to get past the 1000 mark which is supposedly the benchmark for New Zealand only petitions," Mr Beasley said.

In just a week The Crowd Goes Wild petition has attracted 700 signatures while a Facebook group titled 'Bring Back The Crowd Goes Wild to 7pm' has more than 1800 followers.

Once the petition reaches the 1000 signature it will be presented to Sky Television and then it's wait and see for show's fans. After the FA Cup petition was sent in Mr Beasley didn't hear anything until Sky sent out a press release stating they would be airing the game.

"I know this is on a bigger scale. It's five days a week and not just putting on a show for a couple of hours. But we're hopeful," he said.

"It isn't at a decent time slot. 10.30pm is getting a bit late. The show also appeals to a younger market and I think the timing should be important there."

Sky's Director of Communications Tony O'Brien told nzherald.co.nz that the show was moved to a later time to ensure it could cover all sporting events from the day.

"We decided that if we moved it back there are so many more sports events on in the evening, it would give much broader and in depth coverage as opposed to waiting and talking about an event the next day," he said.

"A decision was made a few weeks ago to just do it. There are no plans to make any changes to the show. We'll just carry on and see how we go."

- Herald online