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NRL wins it but Seven takes glory

Nine's NRL Grand Final gave it reason to smile as the week's #1 show, but it wasn't enough to stop Seven from taking another week. At least TEN scraped past the ABC.

It was the week that TEN was in breach of subliminal ads (a ruling first leaked by TV Tonight), ACMA instructed Nine to sell part of its Darwin operation, two former premiers will now defend Pay TV v Free to Air battles, while two television gardeners faced off over the environment, a Footy Show comedian defended a school principal under fire, a musical about the media in Beaconsfield was branded as tasteless, a former Idol died in tragic circumstances, Perth’s Telethon broke its own record, SBS lost a top Drama Executive, Kath and Kim launched in the US and Anna Coren was shown the door by Seven.

Seven again won with a 30.7% share over Nine’s 25.9% and TEN’s 19.5%. The ABC had 18.7% and SBS 5.2%.

Seven won in all cities, although Nine had the #1 show with 2.05m viewers for the NRL Grand Final.

Packed to the Rafters was again Seven’s top show with 1.97m viewers, which together with RSPCA Animal Rescue, Find my Family and All Saints again gave the network an unassailable Tuesday night. Monday was equally powerful with Border Security, The Force and City Homicide. Wednesday continued the good fortune with Criminal Minds and Medical Emergency. Better Homes and Gardens clinched it for Friday. Elsewhere, Seven News, Today Tonight and Home and Away all performed. Against the NRL, Seven rested Dancing with the Stars. Anna Coren’s final TT scored 1.25m, a regular figure for the show. The disappointment for Seven was the return of Heroes and Prison Break. Two once-glorious series landed disappointing figures of 878,000 and 378,000 at best. On a night when the top show could only manage 1.29m viewers –less than Friday’s best show– it suggests audiences are unhappy with what’s on offer. Out of the Question took 468,000 upon 437,000 in Week 40.

As expected Nine found glory with the NRL Grand Final, helping it to win Sunday and launch The Mentalist. Along with 60 Minutes it was a good result, even if the shift to a 5pm match did drag shares down. Normally a week with the NRL would equate to a weekly win for Nine, but it was not to be. Two and a Half Men was its only other star performer, on Wednesday on Monday in particular. Nine should be concerned that a new episode of the sitcom landed under the 1m mark on Tuesday night, even Bert Newton’s clip show bettered that. Will Charlie Sheen go the way of Gordon Ramsay? Also notching up a figure of less than 1m was Nine News on Friday night. Fringe was fourth in its timeslot while shifting Wipeout and Hole in the Wall to Fridays has not addressed the lowly Friday figures.

TEN’s week improved by a paltry .4% from its lousy Week 40, and still finished behind the 20% barrier. At least it beat the ABC. As it seeks to rebuild some of its schedule, audiences continue to demonstrate they are unhappy with shows dropping from view. Its best performer was NCIS with 1.29m viewers and Australian Idol’s 1.21m. It’s worth mentioning that without Doctor Who and Dancing with the Stars the show only improved around 10,000 for Abba night. Seems only a name of the likes of Cyndi Lauper will lift these semi-finals. Law and Order: CI also passed the 1m mark with 1.02m. Old favourites did not attract stellar figures: House 858,000, new Simpsons 823,000, Supernatural 777,000, Jamie Oliver 764,000, America’s Next Top Model 659,000 and Californication 501,000. Rush’s 833,000 is battling against the local drama of All Saints despite good word of mouth.

A peek behind the scenes of Spicks and Specks was ABC’s best with 1.34m viewers. It was joined by triumphs from Midsomer Murders, ABC News, Australian Story, 7:30 Report, Taggart, The New Inventors, Two in the Top End, The Bill, Catalyst and Life at 3. The final episode of The Hollowmen took 931,000 –a consistent figure suggesting the ABC should pursue a third series should Working Dog’s arm so be twisted.

Top Gear Australia shed around a third of its audience in the second week, down to 674,000 amid audience criticism the hosts are emulating the British presenters. Bogan Pride took a humble 376,000 but was the best return for the timeslot this year and up on South Park’s 367,000.

Week 41

9 Responses

  1. A finale usually gets higher numbers than usual though, as was the case with Dexter. I think during the season it ranged from 400k – 550k so Californication’s numbers were about the same, hence why I was saying they weren’t too bad. We’ll have to see how next week’s episode goes though.

    And yeah, I know “officially” Californication started at 10:10 p.m, but Rove went overtime by about 10 minutes, as it always does.

    I actually am in full agreement with you though about the favourites being on shaky ground – Ten are in serious trouble.

  2. Mitch, Californication (10:10pm) was down 100,000 on the finale of Dexter the week before, which is not so promising for the first ep. I think it’s fair to say several favourites are on shaky ground.

  3. I think Seven has realised it can’t allow itself to be as slack in the first half if next year, so i expect some better programming from them for next year. Just as Nine will have alot of well-performing local product, so will Seven – PTTR won’t finish it’s initial run this year, so expect more episode for the first few months of next year which should (hopefully) continue Seven’s good Tuesday run

    TEN have no hope for this season, it’s going to be all about somehow re-building for a stronger 2009…their first half looks decent (SYTYCD, Biggest Loser) but what’s going to replace BB or even Idol if it doesnt get the go ahead? Nine should capitalise on their current 2.5 Men popularity and place other sitcoms behind it in order to build an audience…how about The Big Bang Theory?

    Seven need to take Out of the Question away from Monday’s and move it to say a Tues – whilst they still easily win the night, Boston Legal is suffering becuase of the weaker lead-in

  4. How is 501,000 for Californication bad (bearing in mind that it started at about 10:20 – 10:25)? Of course it’s not going to get the figures it was getting at 9:30 on Mondays.

  5. I reckon 9 will win 2010. 2009 they’ll be very close but I think 7 will just get it – 9 should win the first half of next year though like they won the 1st half of this year with Underbelly, Sea Patrol, Domestic Blitz etc.

  6. what an embarssment of a week for 9, despite them havingt he NRL grand final, Seven go on to record one of their most comfortable wins of the year (outside the Olympics)
    David Gyngell should be looking to get a large Christmas gift for Charlie Sheen 2.5 men is the only thing making nines figures look even remotely respectable at the moment.

  7. I predict 9 wont be back on top comfortably till they have the Olympics in 2012. I know its a big prediction but I have a feeling thats how it’ll pan out.

  8. Another great recap for the week David, looks like ch 7 is still winning with most shows, just hope they don’t drop Heroes or Prison Break as the season are better than before. I have to wonder again with 2.5 Men, is it beginning to bore some viewers with the endless re-runs.

    OT – will we get any numbers for Bathurst, how does it usually rate after the AFL?

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