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FlashForward debuts with 1.78m

Seven New US drama FlashForward enjoyed a solid premiere, which ultimately came at the expense of The Apprentice Australia.

flashforward18New US drama FlashForward enjoyed a solid 1.78m viewers last night, landing as the #1 show of the night.

It was a strong debut for the new Seven acquisition after months of promotion and hype. The audience was strongest in Sydney where 516,000 viewers tuned in, just ahead of Melbourne’s 493,000. While it was nothing like the debuts for Desperate Housewives, Lost or even Prison Break it streaked ahead of its competitors, a fastracked Mentalist (988,000), Good News Week (828,000), Four Corners (814,000) and High Altitude (228,000) / South Park (173,000).

Seven was first from 6pm right through to 10:30pm with wins for Border Security, Highway Patrol and Mercy which took 1.07m, well ahead of Nine’s premiere of The Apprentice Australia (692,000). There will be repeats on the weekend if you still want to sample the show. Seven’s wins were also helped by running overtime and thwarting channel switching.

Nine fared best with its new Two and a Half Men episode on 1.31m. Even a $1m question on Hot Seat didn’t gain much traction. Its 645,000 was beaten by Deal’s 732,000, and Mondays are usually their best night.

TEN had another one of those nights where it coudn’t lift beyond TEN News at Five (841,000). Are You Smarter Than a Fifth Grader? was crushed in the melee at 606,000. Just 396,000 watched the second ep of Nurse Jackie, down from its lead in Little Britain USA on 680,000 -better than the 7PM Project (675,000).

Top Gear was virtually untouched by the commercial brawl, taking a cool 883,000 for SBS.

The Vampire Diaires took 147,000 across its two screenings on GO!

As the week from hell continues to unfold, Seven now has two out of two wins.

Week 40

37 Responses

  1. Ok Yes, the first episode of Flash Forward was hard to follow and actors with small parts not too good. However I will be watching it again because I enjoyed it once I started to follow the storyline….

    I’m not a seasoned blogger/critic like some posters, just an ordinary viewer who thinks you have been a bit tough on Flash Forward.

  2. @Justin: That oceanic poster caught my eye too. I rewound and paused on it for a few seconds. Anyway, the tagline on the Oceanic poster says “Perfect Safety Record”- some are speculating that this could mean the H-bomb at the end of last season worked and history has been re-written (in the lost universe).

  3. Great Pilot episode!

    There is no doubt that FlashForward has drawn a lot of inspiration from Lost.
    Obviously the opening is pretty much the same as the Lost pilot episode, just the island being replaced by downtown Los Angeles. And of course the word flashforward is the term used for the scenes in Lost depicting the characters future storylines. Also 2 former Lost alumni are part of the FlashForward cast. Of course one thing it couldnt copy is the quality of the writing, acting, tension, drama and one forgotten aspect…the score. The sounds and music used in Lost evokes such a hightened sense of emotion, whereas FlashForward seemed to stick with the plain and boring action movie score. Lost is the King of Motion Picture Television and it has planted the seeds for shows such as Heroes, Prisonbreak and now FlashForward.

    And FlashForward knows it has Lost to thank for its chance to be produced.
    Did anyone notice the easter egg in the first part of FlashForward? On one of the buildings, was a large billboard for the fictional “Oceanic Airlines” which is of course the airline that features in Lost, the doomed (or possibly not doomed, come 2010) “Oceanic 815”.

  4. I didn’t even realise FlashForward was on, and I have no idea When it is on… Clearly Where Seven is promoting FlashForward as much as possible, Prime is not really succeeding

  5. @ nelly

    yes, as far as i know most networks still have HD master tapes. that’s how a studio or production company delivers the final broadcast copy to a network.
    the network may the ingest the tape onto a hard drive server and play it it out from the server to air, but the master copy is still delivered in tape.
    they need a physical copy i case the computer were to crash.

    shows like ET and Oprah in the US are fed to individual stations (say 250 affiliates) across the US each day via fibre optic and satellite.

    but for network dramas and comedies a physical tape is delivered.

  6. Russell – do they physically have ‘master tapes’?!?! i always wondered about this … but thought they probably just beamed over via a direct feed (in “olden days” via satellite), or digitally via computer …

    hmm? anyone know ~

  7. I cant’ believe nine go about wasting time on an Australian Version of the Apprentice when they just cant make those type of shows. As JohnTv pointed out, Survivor
    Australia was an absolute train wreck. The Australian apprentice needs a tougher boss like Donald Trump who didn’t give those contestants a free ride and seemed to give the final boardroom some tension and spark.
    The Australian Contestants aren’t that bad but its the final boardroom that lets the show down. Mark Bouris seems weak, the set seems fake and as David pointed out even the secretary typing seems fake.
    Bring back American Apprentice, the original or the British version.

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