High-profile ABC host Fran Kelly says she has no regrets, despite her Friday night talkshow Frankly not being commissioned for a second season.
Kelly said she was grateful the national broadcaster gave her the opportunity to try something different and she understood there were competing interests to juggle.
“I am very proud of Frankly,” Kelly said. “I’m grateful for the opportunity and understand that the ABC has a lot of competing interests to juggle as we straddle this moment of transition from broadcast to digital first.”
The veteran journalist, who left Radio National Breakfast in December 2021 after 17 years, spoke to Guardian Australia after news broke earlier in the week that Frankly would not be returning.
Kelly said the show covered multiple and diverse issues with guests including body image, fat shaming, cyberbullying, climate change, the voice, neurodivergence, racism, LGBTQ issues, courage and resilience – and had “a lot of laughs doing it”.
“The team and I delivered a fun, warm and intelligent show that turned a well-worn format into a surprising place on Friday nights with a varied line up,” Kelly said.
“We built a broadcast audience that stayed for the duration of the season and our social media engagement was very strong.”
Comedians Shaun Micallef, Magda Szubanski, Adam Goodes and Wil Anderson, anaesthetist and Thai cave rescuer Richard Harris, and musicians Natalie Imbruglia, Colin Hay and Vika & Linda Bull were among the guests.
Kelly had hoped to be back with a second season this year, especially since the show’s numbers built over the eight shows.
“They’ve gone up basically every week since week two, and the social media is going gangbusters,” she said last year in an interview.
“I’m getting nothing but positive feedback. But these things are a process. I’m learning these things are commissioned in seasons.”
On Friday Kelly, who got her first job at the ABC as a reporter on Triple J’s Drum program in 1988, was philosophical about the ABC’s decision and pleased so many people enjoyed the show.
“I’ve received a lot of love for the show, people enjoying the mix of guests,” she said.
Frankly was commissioned by the former ABC director of entertainment, Michael Carrington, who departed the broadcaster last July. This week the ABC announced a major restructure with the entertainment division to be run by a chief content officer, Chris Oliver-Taylor. Oliver-Taylor will have to address criticism that the ABC is not catering to younger audiences and that its panel shows are not diverse.
In 2018 the ABC was accused of abandoning younger audiences when it axed the daily comedy show Tonightly with Tom Ballard a year after it launched as the flagship show for a new comedy channel.
The ABC didn’t give a reason but said it was “time for a fresh approach”, sparking internal fears it was no longer committed to nurturing new talent and producing challenging material.
