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1.5m farewell All Saints

Australian viewers last night bid a fond farewell to long-running drama and for once propped up its lead in, instead of the reverse.

asrAustralian viewers last night bid a fond farewell to long-running drama All Saints.

The show netted a huge 1.51m viewers for its 70 minute finale -an excellent result given its timeslot. It was streets ahead of the competition: Lie to Me (974,000), Qi (578,000) and Aussie Ladette to Lady (574,000).

The finale featured a montage remembering its favourite actors and a celebratory drink at its favourite watering hole, with actress Judith McGrath afforded the final camera shot, in keeping with her longevity on the show.

Exiting on such good figures will reiterate the fan argument that the 12 season show was unnecessarily axed by Seven.

Seven stormed home on Tuesday, with Packed to the Rafters nudging the 2m mark. After months of supporting All Saints, last night it was probably the other way round, with many viewers clearly returning for the finale episode. One actor, Luke Pegler, was lucky enough to appear in both episodes.

Amended: NCIS pulled a very good 1.37m, 20 to 1 was 1.24m but Nine’s phony Seinfeld Reunion pt 2 (Curb Your Enthusiasm) was snubbed at 596,000 with Jason Alexander and Michael Richards nowhere to be seen.

Aussie drama East West 101, alas, limped out on 141,000 -languishing in an impossible timeslot. SBS would kill to have a drama anywhere near as popular as one no longer wanted by Seven.

Week 44

20 Responses

  1. I’ve watched “All Saints” since the very beginning.
    I was really sad to see it finish after 12 years.
    I still think it could have continued on for many more years.
    In finale episodes I’ve seen of other shows, it was an excellent way to go out.
    The montage was lovely too.
    Congratulations to all involved & Best wishes for the future.

  2. No Jolenes murder was never solved. They shut down that storyline after Mark left. Great episode last night. Loved how the finale centred around Von. The character that’s been there for the whole 12 seasons. Such a fantastic show. I will miss it. 7 you did the wrong thing.

    The irony of last nights ep was when Mike said they may have to shut down the MRU until they found a surgeon. That’s what killed the show off in the first place. Spending all that money on the chopper. And the finale didn’t involve a rescue and that’s whay it showed we never needed the MRU. The ward story lines were great.

    RIP All Saints

    Thanks to all the actors. You were brilliant

  3. I was never a big fan. although I did go in and out of watching it the last couple of years and liked last nights happy endings. Just one question i’d like to ask. Did Jolene Andersons character’s death ever have an answer, as to who did it and why? I don’t think it was, but if some one can confirm that would be great.

    Oh and how cute was that guy who appeared last night in both Rafters and AllSaints? I’d like to see him in more ongoing role in either Nieghbours or Home & Away.

  4. It was good ending for Judith as Von,at least she got the last shot of the series,but it would of been better if the whole show was character driven to show us all the loose ends tied up,instead it was normal show will 10 minutes at the end about the main characters,well l miss the show another great aussie drama sadly gone.

  5. Would it really have been that big a loss of face to lose the MRU? While I appreciate that taking the show out of the hospital more made it visually more interesting, it also meant we spent a lot less time with our favourite characters. The increase in budget just made it foolish. Rather than axe the show could they not have just gotten rid of the new element?
    In recent years the show really has had some of the best acting, writing and production values on Aussie TV. (I wasn’t a fan at all in the old ward 17 days)

  6. This must be a first….a show that leaves on top of the ratings without being run into the ground. Oh well it’s gone. Maybe Always Greener too. City Homicide – Booooo!

  7. Russell, are you serious? 1.5 million in a 9:30 timeslot. Other Australian drama and cheap imports struggle to get that number in a 8:30 timeslot most of the time.

    Anyway it was a great sendoff, lots of character moments and the final scenes with them all at Von’s farewell were brilliantly written.

    Now the truly interesting thing after last night is what 7 replaces All Saints with. Forty hours of Australian content axed and countless jobs too.

  8. Yes why on earth did SBS schedule that drama on Tuesdays – Tuesday’s were where they had those really interesting PBS docos, it was a great alternative to the other stuff that’s on.

    Still last night I watched Curb Your Enthusiasm and it was really funny!

  9. Will miss u All Saints….. one of my fav shows…. I will say tho the montage at the end of last weeks episode was way better than the one at the end of this week.

  10. Is 1.5 million really that great?

    AS has been averaging around 1.1 million this season.

    So that means it only spiked an extra 400,000 for the finale.

    Not much, considering it’s been on the air for 12 seasons.

    I would have thought more of those viewers from the last decade would have come back for one last time.

  11. I think Curb could be a big hit here if it got the 2 and a half men treatment but its like Shaun Micallef it needs time to become something of an accquired taste.

    Its funny but I can see how it would be snubbed. Doesn’t bode well for 9 next week.

  12. Re:Seinfeld Reunion.
    Wasn’t Julia Louis-Dreyfus to be seen? She knew Jerry and Larry’s assistant’s mother or some-such and pressured them to re-hire the assistant.

  13. Great finale, both ratings and content wise for All Saints. Nothing over the top but enough to leave fans content without entering the realms of corny I thought. Good to see it go out on top, not many shows can say that.

  14. I’ve never watched All Saints before. I watched episode 1 of this year because of the change and it looked good, quite liked it. And i watched the finale last night and thought it was an excellent episode. So even though i’m not a dedicated fan i still think it doesn’t deserve to be axed.

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