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TEN’s tears for Idol

Idol sent three photos of a tearful 16yo to media yesterday. But it's TEN who should be sobbing over the ratings.

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Cheer up Tom Williams, Channel TEN is crying a lot more than you today after Australian Idol’s lousy Monday performance in the ratings.

TEN finished fourth again (it seems to be pretty regular for Mondays) with just 15.5% share for the evening. Only 893,000 viewers tuned in for the verdict show. Not only was it beaten by The Force, Border Security, Top Gear Australia and Australian Story -it was even beaten by Top Gear Australia in the all important 16 – 39 demographic.

Worse was to follow with 90210 attracting only 616,000, but a better grip on 16-39yos finishing #4 overall for the night in that demographic.

Meanwhile, Top Gear Australia managed 933,000 which was down on an old UK version the week before (939,000). Given all the hype, the network would have been hoping to crack the 1m mark.

Nine should be pleased with 709,000 viewers average for a four hour miniseries. But despite a significant drop for Border Security it was Seven’s night again.

For the second week running, Idol sent TV Tonight photos of a tearful 16yo eliminated from its show (3 of Tom being consoled by Marcia). While it may be the moment of drama captured, it seems a merciless way to publicise the show. Where was the photo celebrating his achievement for making it so far? What does this say about the show’s editorial position?

Meanwhile, calls to lift the age of reality contestants from 16 to 18 go begging….

Week 40

33 Responses

  4. Idol sucks. Ten should axe it and be done with the whole reality obsession. FYI, 25-39 age group generally have better things to do than watch this drivel. The most likely to watch/vote are the 10-16’s who are bored, but don’t have the cash to ultimately support the ‘Idol’ when they release an album.

    Ten, Australia has spoken, and we are over the show. Its time to say goodbye.

  5. I was really suprised to see Tom go. I never liked him and thought he absolutely butchered “You Raise Me Up” and “I Don’t Wanna Miss A Thing” (but the judges thought otherwise and I must be wrong because I’m a mindless viewer) but he seemed popular with all these air-headed girls. I won’t be shedding any tears of his departure but I still think Madam should’ve gone instead.

  6. Tom deserved to go, but with all due respect Darren Hayes and Vanessa Amorossi, Cyndi Lauper is a much bigger drawcard.

    No wonder the ratings went down. The ratings should go up with the Abba show – is Benny or Bjorn taking part??

  7. How can I put this nicely ?

    I can’t..

    Suffer in your jocks Ten.
    Even the clueless teenagers realise your new revamped results show is just another grab for cash.

    ntertainment- my foot !!

  9. omg, stop posting mean comments about him ,
    and to the person that put ‘he’s too zac efron for my liking’ well im sorry ! farr out. he’s awesome ! and not because his looks he can really sing!
    yes he can improve, but that’ll just make him even more amazing than he already is! so shut up and go get a fn life!
    you go tom, we love you ~ ignore those that posts lam comments. you came 10th out of 38 thousand! congratts ! keep going (:

  10. a better grip on 16-39yos finishing #4 overall for the night in that demographic

    Well I guess coming 4th in overall is better than Idol coming 5th, but really if 16-39 is Ten’s main (or at least desired) demographic, surely even coming fourth is not what you’d consider “a better grip”? They should be coming first or second. Third would be ordinary. Fourth is nothing – especially with their so-called big ticket shows like Idol and 90210 on the night.

  11. Neil, I don’t know what version of American Idol you watch – but their results shows this year were NOT half an hour long – they were an hour as well. But, they will be snipped to half an hour for next year’s season.

  12. Tom should not have been put through to the final 24 – he was just undercooked – not his fault. Age isn’t the issue – Chrislyn is amazing at 17yo, Brooke had one Teen Idol last year and was obviously quite a seasoned performer. Last year Ben & Matt were also talented performers, musicians and composers. Tom has had an uphill battle against juvenile arthritis and cam across as a lovely young man but also reasonably young in 16yo terms. He is talented and will only get better with further tuition and experience, They did him no favours putting him through this year but they make money from the tweeny boppers and their prepaid phone credits – so he was partly there to bring in the votes and the revenue.

    As for verdict show – I think it should follow SYTYCD format – public decides final 3, EXPERT judges decide who goes based on their performances to date. I like the idea of the guest mentor/judge aka Cyndi & Darren – their presence seems to curb the inane comments often made by Dicko & Kyle – and they have mroe credibility than the contestants when they challenge the judges for their inconsistent advice or dumb suggestions about making songs upbeat when they shouldn’t be etc.

    And yes – half an hour would be enough. And yes – where are the fun group performances with the boy band choreography.

  15. The announcement of the final 3 went from being extremely draaaaawn out to being extremely quick. Now there’s no suspense. Where do they get these producers from ?????????? Bizarre indeed !!

  16. i think someone made this suggestion before

    -Just tune in at the start of the show to see who the top 3 are – then change channels until final 5-10 mins , to see who gets kicked out

    I hope the ratings dipped further, then TEN will change the format

  17. Thank god he is gone … did not belong in this year’s show, should have given him a couple of years to mature first!
    The results show is a complete bore (apart from Cyndi Lauper’s performance) and is only worth recording and fast forwarding through … wake up 10!!! Sorry Kyle, they have not strengthened it anywhere near enough!
    Overall, they are not the best group of finalists and there is none that i really want to support … poor choice of finalist!
    Jack!

  18. The results shows are barely watchable nowadays…have they even cut out the group performances now?

    I hope this is the last year of Idol as they obviously can’t refresh the format.

  19. TEN had promised to revamp this Monday night elimination show! its more painful than ever, even Kyle was bewildered that the new format sees the three worst performers perform again..bizarre stuff….Australians have been wise to these 1 hour long, painful results shows and have been for years, its a shame 10 dont realise that!

  20. Again for those who’ve forgotten it:

    Dicko: “Idol’s Monday night was always a bit of a naff for the audience because it was really just 15 minutes of content rolled out over an hour, but we’ve recognised that and strengthened it.”

  21. We’re all thinking the same thing Benno.

    The verdict doesn’t need to be extremely long. I reckon they should announce the bottom three at the start of the show, tell people to keep voting WITHOUT the three performing again, have the weekly guest performer and then say who got eliminated. Easy as pie.

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