0/5

Not much joy for Joy of Sets

On Tuesday night audiences kept networks guessing as they flocked to a handful of shows and stayed well clear of others.

If television programming is about the art of retention, last night audiences kept Programmers on their feet, cherry-picking their choices and sending numbers up and down all over the place.

The top show for the night was The X Factor. Moved from Monday to Tuesday due to the Brownlow count it pulled up 1.4m viewers. There were some pitchy performances amid some Eistedfodd production numbers (they are seriously upstaging the singers this year), but Reece Mastin, YMS, Audio Vixen and a surprising number from Johnny Ruffo were the better acts.

When the show ended, Seven plummeted to 553,000 for Dinner Date UK, luckily it was the final episode for now.

TEN managed second place in network shares, with a new NCIS on 1.07m as its best. NCIS: Los Angeles followed on 899,000. Earlier The Renovators had managed 803,000.

Nine’s Charlie’s Angels began with 815,000, but then numbers surged to 1.25m for Two And A Half Men. Although it lost some 1.1m curious viewers from last week it was still a good number, especially given the unusual X Factor competition. Can it keep those numbers every week?

But it was bad news for Tony Martin and Ed Kavalee’s Joy of Sets, dropping to a lowly 545,000 viewers. It’s a cheap and cheerful show but it does feel overly scripted rather than drawing upon their abilities to work live. That left Survivor: South Pacific to kick off with just 455,000. If it doesn’t rise next week it could be headed for GO! Nine slipped to third place in network shares.

At ABC1 the ABC News was 891,000 and 7.30 was 642,000. The decision to move United States of Tara to Tuesdays hasn’t worked, with 354,000 tuned in -a modest lift on last week.

The Meth Epidemic on SBS ONE was 285,000.

Neighbours topped multichannels with 370,000.

Seven won Tuesday night.

Week 40

53 Responses

  1. You can see the quality, but Joy of Sets just been Channel Nined so much – they get on a roll and then you get 3 minutes of ads. It feels too ‘bitsy’, for want to a better word. Will keep watching it though – good on Nine for employing actual talent.

  2. The Joy of Sets is great. It’s well produced and is consistently funny, hosted by two of the most experienced presenters. I don’t think people know about it as it has only been on for a short time. QI took some time to gain a sizable viewerbase, so it’s possible that its ratings will go up, because it’s not a bad show.

  3. @jake
    I wouldn’t worry about “angels” and where it moves to, I feel confident in saying it will not get picked up for anymore than the initial 9 episodes.

  4. Prediction: That woeful Charlie’s Angels will be thrown to one of those little watched digital stations within weeks and will be in good company with other sorry shows such as Neighbores….

  5. The Joy of Sets is ok but can improve on the content. I think Tony Martin is a funny bloke but maybe they should throw in some comedy sketches or go out on the streets & ask people questions.

  6. @Mr Phister
    While it is true that the highest ratings shows in australia are not good quality, I dont think you can use that as a reason for “sets” failing. I mean there were uninspired c*ck jokes, that is right up the alley of people who like 2 and a half men. As far as the concept goes, most people are not big fans of analysing television, meta humour is something that will never reach a broad audience, because to enjoy it, you need to have a lot of pop culture knowledge. Even on that level though, there a other shows that do it much more effectively that the joy of sets.

  7. I agree with you David, the scripting is killing what should be an ‘out there’ show. They’ve transformed Ed and Tony into commercial TV alter egos. Boys! Be yourselves, relax and let it happen, stop trying to force it!

  8. There has been alot of talk of x factor being a bit OTT but this is what differentiates this from Idol. This is a show about performance, not just voice alone – otherwise we might as well call it Australia idol if that is the case.

    It’s how they present the song to the audience and if you think about singers who hold concerts, there are going to be props and dancers etc… It’s part of their delivery and so I think this adds value to the performance. Love it keep going!

    Love Mel B btw…

  9. Joy of Sets is brilliant albeit lovely shoddy. The problem is that the Australian viewing public is utterly brain dead – thus the high ratings for The X Factor.

  10. @Gil – I was at the taping of ep 4 for JoS, and the special guest for that episode was unexpectedly great (look out for their involvement in the ending), though not sure how much will make it to air.
    I agree, though, that the 2 so far have offered very little.

  11. Although, I like to support Aussie shows, that keep local people employed, Joy of Sets is just woeful. How can they get it so wrong? And X Factor??? Whilst I watch it, and will stick with it, I find the “overpraising” to become a serious distraction. Last night such accolades as “that was the best performance Ive ever seen on Australian TV” and “You already are worldwide superstar material”, I personally thought both performers that received those compliments were average at best. and some of the production values in those numbers is bordering Eurovision/Rock Estedfodd kind of kitch. Please no more OTT antics with this show. Keep it real guys.

  12. Oh well I enjoyed both eps of JOS.

    Thought it was a very interesting topic, love the p*ss-takes, actually found it reminiscent of some of the segments on the old skool Late Show.

    Whoever said it is not even on par with community tv has no idea what they are talking about. If you don’t like a show, fine, but don’t make outrageous claims that don’t even make sense, please.

  13. Gave JOS a second chance last night and it was a half hour wasted. Just dont find it terribly funny….or eye opening about the world of TV. Won’t be returning. Didn’t mind Charlie’s Angels as a bit of mindless fun (was caught off guard by a dead Angel in the opening minutes!) but don’t think it’s long for this world.

    Nine needs to give shows a few weeks to build an audience…if it shoves Survivor to GO after one week, that just shows total disrespect for the audience, and a pointed finger at why Nine is no longer #1 and won’t be until it gets it’s act together.

  14. I enjoyed listening the Ed and Tony’s radio show, which was consistently funny. Joy of Sets however is a huge failure, the comedy sketches are funny enough, but as stated the studio stuff is so scripted that it is awkward to watch (not good awkward like the office). It is a shame because I share their style of humour and love shows like community that dissect tv shows, I just dont think Ed and Tony work on television.

    Did not see charlie’s angels (very much on purpose) but everyone with a small sense of the televesion landscape knew this would be terrible and not have any success, everyone except for channel nine and the fools that even greenlit a pilot to be made. No one even accepts for a second that it is a workable concept in this day and age, 3 beautiful women rangled up to solve crimes at the behest of an anonymous man, yeah no, the c.i.a. and homeland security would shut that down in 5 days. Hawaii five-o works well enough because its just a normal crime procedural with stunning backdrops. Things that are a bit out there, with a cheesy 70s/80s vibe will not work…something something knightrider.

  15. Missed the first JOS but caught this one. Bitterly disappointed.
    The Masterchef dissection was ok, but the rest was try-hard, undergraduate, over-scripted & forced. Who the hell was the guest? Never heard of her – is she some CH9 ‘star’? Geez I’m annoyed!
    Tony & Ed, hang your heads, you’ve lost a lot of credibilty with even diehard fans like me. Or have you simply been “Channel Nined”?

  16. I loved Joy of Sets last night. Hilarious stuff – biggest laugh I’d gotten on tv last night, and Mr Beckala really enjoyed it too. Stuff on Masterchef was great, the other stuff was too.

    Tried 2 and a half men again – watchable, but I think that’s to do with Ashton Kutcher more than the script writers – it was adequate for me.

  17. I think Survivor was scheduled too suddenly. Several people I know who are Survivor fans did not know it was on last night as the “TV Guide” said that the David Hasselhoff Roast was on. I had to send a friend a TV Tonight link to prove that Survivor was going to be on 😉 Many people still rely on printed guides.

  18. Ash – I agree. I thought last night’s episode of JOS was better than the first one. I think Tony Martin said 5 eps are in the can already so a bit tough to do any improvements to the format. In saying that, they could lose the special guest – adds nothing to the show.

  19. I watched it last night and though this is more ABC not channel 9, it has the wrong audience. Last night I thought was very clever, probably too clever for “Still the One” but more the Gruen crowd…

Leave a Reply