OK the basic premise was copied from the Panel but it had enough originality and a lively enough host to make it work well. I'm not big on Australian sport culture but The Fat didn't overdo the Aussie/sports angle, they kept it aimed at a general audience. The show had a half hour runtime originally, it always seemed like the credits would roll just when they were warmed up. The Fat got an extension to one hour but the conversation seemed drawn out in comparison, maybe a 45 minute limit would have been the ideal. Not long after it was bumped up to something crazy like two and a half hours, and featured live skits and the past-their-due-by-date Flacco and Sandman (Squires didn't even bother to hide his contempt for the non-panel segments when introducing them). Fortunately it was scaled back to one hour (if I remember correctly) and the damage sustained wasn't too great, the show was still watchable although still drawn out.
After a while the show appeared on Seven in a later timeslot, I somehow had the impression that The Fat was anti-commercial (maybe they were lured by a substantial payrise). The show sucked on Seven, the whole low-key dynamic was gone, the set was too brightly lit and flashy and the conversation was interrupted by advert breaks. I may have the wrong impression as I didn't watch it much, just enough to confirm that The Fat was no longer on my watch list. It disappeared pretty quickly and ended as another one of Seven's failed late night ratings experiments.
