Country of origin Australia No. of seasons 4 | Original language(s) English | |
Presented by Alan JonesMark Latham (2016-2017)Graham Richardson (2014-2016) | ||
Jones + Co (originally known as Richo + Jones) is a weekly Australian television news and commentary program, broadcast on Sky News Australia. The program was originally co-hosted by Graham Richardson and Alan Jones, when it premiered in February 2014, and airs each Tuesday night at 8pm AEST.
Contents
Due to the ill health of Richardson, Mark Latham replaced Richardson as co-host in 2016, and the program was re-titled to its current name, with Latham affectionately referred to as "Co." Latham's employment was terminated by Sky News on 29 March 2017 following several controversial statements made on the program and his other program Outsiders with his last appearance on 21 March 2017.
The program is a spin-off of the Richo program which premiered 23 February three years earlier, which is hosted solely by Richardson.
The series focuses on mainly political topics. The program usually beings with the duo interviewing a prominent politician or political commentator. In the final segment of the show, Richo and Jones discuss a variety of topics between themselves. From 25 November 2014 the show started simulcasting on radio 2GB alongside the Sky News broadcast.
Reception
The highest rating episode of the season (as of September 2014) was on 21 August 2013, which reached 55,000 viewers. The episode on 22 April 2014 was the twentieth most watched show on subscription television reaching 39,000 viewers and was the channel's second highest broadcast that day. An episode on 17 June, featuring a live interview with Clive Palmer, was the seventeenth most watched show on subscription television and the most watched broadcast on Sky News with 43,000 viewers.
Guest hosts
For a few weeks in July 2014 while Jones was commentating the 2014 Commonwealth Games for another network, Peter Reith filled in for Jones on the program, however it was still referred to on air as Richo + Jones.
Jones hosted the program solo on September 23, 2014 when Richo was absent for an unspecified health reason. On September 30 and October 7, 2014, Kristina Keneally filled in for Richo while he was on holidays, and the show was also referred to as Jones + Keneally in some promos during this period.
Frequently throughout 2015, Jones hosted the program alone due to Richo's ill health and associated cancer treatments. The program was referred to as Jones + Beattie when Peter Beattie filled in for Richo on June 23, 2015.
From April 2016, the program was retitled as Jones + Co due to Richardson being absent while undergoing major surgery, with Mark Latham among those guest co-hosting with Jones.