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JonBenét mystery keeps viewers guessing

Ratings: Australian viewers sent networks a message last night: true crime still rates.

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Australian viewers sent networks a message last night: true crime still rates.

The Case of: JonBenét Ramsey won its timeslot with 1.02m viewers and scored handsomely in the Demos. It was a sweet pay-off for Nine after a gamble with a 20 year old mystery from the US -two factors that could have easily seen it fail. But fast-tracking the show paid off, with new circumstantial clues that supported its chosen narrative (complete with a whopping Disclaimer as the credits rolled).

Earlier The Block also won its slot, up on last Monday at 1.02m viewers. 7:30, Australian Survivor and Zumbo followed.

Nine network won Monday with 32.1% then Seven 25.2%, TEN 19.0%, ABC 18.5% and SBS 5.3%.

Seven News and ACA both won their timeslots.

The Block (1.02m) was best for Nine followed by The Case of: JonBenet Ramsey (1.01m), Nine News (973,000 / 965,000), A Current Affair (882,000) and Hot Seat (515,000). Killing Spree was 199,000 in 2 cities and Footy Classified was 178,000 in 3 cities.

Seven News was #1 for Seven with 1.06m / 1.00m then Home and Away (706,000), Zumbo’s Just Desserts (647,000), The Chase (628,000 / 404,000) and Mrs. Brown’s Boys (507,000 / 426,000). The Big Bang Theory was 219,000 / 204,000.

Australian Survivor drew 699,000 for TEN. Have You Been Paying Attention? was 682,000. The Project was 620,000 / 420,000. TEN Eyewitness News was 438,000.

On ABC it was ABC News (744,000), 7:30 (743,000), Australian Story (701,000), Four Corners (604,000), Media Watch (524,000) and Q & A (479,000).

24 Hours in Emergency (241,000 / 194,000) and SBS World News 152,000 ranked for SBS. But Richard Hammond’s Jungle Quest failed at just 56,000.

ABC2’s Kazoops! led multichannels with 247,000.

Today: 312,000
Sunrise: 288,000
ABC News Breakfast: 79,000 / 60,000.

OzTAM Overnights: Monday 19 September 2016

26 Responses

  1. I watched 24 Hours in A & E on SBS….double episode…it is more about the back stories of staff and patients…I find it interesting……also interesting is why SBS tweak the titles of some of these docos…they did it with a British house/castle series awhile back…makes them difficult to find…

      1. David, quick question
        Do you watch most of your television through advance copy review formats or equally through free to air?
        Just wondering because I would like you to comment on the amount of commercial breaks in last nights Ramsey program. It was like three minutes of content, three minutes of advertising for two hours. Isn’t there some rule about this?

        1. It depends on the show and my time, case by case basis. I watched this on air as it was fast-tracked. But there was a lot on so I dropped into the second hour and zapped thru ads for the first hr. There is a rule about the amount of ads but it can also be weighted to allow more ads early evening when they are of more value, and fewer late nights.

          1. Thanks.
            I believe, back in the day when I worked in advertising that there was a rule of no more than five ads and one promo per break, and a maximum of three breaks per half hour.

  2. I really enjoyed the Case of JB, this is the sort of stuff that should be on TV more, 7 should seriously think about bringing back Forensic Investigators as it was always a great watch and rated solidly.

    10 should also look at these docos too as a way to fill some holes

    It was very well done, but I could’ve done without the massive ‘wave’ forms taking up my screen on the Voice clean up of the 911 calls – I thought that part could’ve been condensed a bit more, but otherwise very well done!

    1. 9 uses the 48 Hrs series from the US as a late night filler-there are a multitude of US series covering this case at the moment as well as many of the other unsolved crimes there.

  3. It was a great investigation. I thought they would throw in a few red herrings, but right from
    the get go, they’re blaming the family. But who in the family did it is the big question? Why? and also why did both the parents cover it up??? so many questions.

    1. Motive was the elephant in the room. I thought the new clues were food for thought, but used to drive a narrative that appears to be pinpointing one family member. They weren’t challenged very much by opponents.

      1. My thoughts exactly.
        In fact, they weren’t challenged by anyone. They wanted us gullible viewers to believe that no one, twenty years ago were smart enough to put the pieces together the way they have. Please.
        The reason nobody has been convicted of the crime is that the evidence they have would not hold up in a court of law. Doesn’t mean that they don’t know who’s responsible.
        It’s OJ all over again. (and I did notice the line about OJ being “found innocent” – a glaring mistake even a rookie would correct)

      2. Agree. But according to the show, The Ramsay family weren’t exactly put through the ringer all those years ago. They weren’t even questioned by the police for months after the murder. That is weird. So many bizarre things about the investigations. Maybe if the documentary makers are so far from the truth, the police and other witnesses etc can now come forward and say if they think the doco was a lot of unfounded rubbish.

  4. Oz Survivor ticks up which is nice. Whilst I’ve enjoyed the series, I thought last night was a classic example of having a “twist for twists sake” – unless the producers were meddling to save Phoebe (which she was going to do herself) or it was pre-planned before the series (and should’ve been saved for next season given tribe make-ups), I fail to see any rationale behind the twist. The only way it was going to work was if Vavau won and there was a slim chance of that. And if things were pre-planned it is an odd way to structure a season, as logically after handling the swap as they did, you’d be inclined to not run with it for more than 2-3 episodes before re-swapping to avoid a Pagonging. Given the twist I also wasn’t a fan of Jonathan just telling Brooke how Craig went home, surely he could’ve been subtler.

  5. Have the JonBenet thing on PVR to yet watch. Being 72 have some interest whereas others are saying ” who? where?” – but weren’t we promised there would be a ‘finally reveal’? Seems nothing definitive, again.

  6. On the topic of true crime, I remember Ten had Wanted a few years back, and they got new info and leads on a lot of cases. It was on Mondays before HYBPA started scoring in the slot. I wonder if it could return later in the week I guess there’s a difference between smaller local cases and globally intriguing cases like Jon Benet. I hope we’ve seen the end of Zumbo.

    1. Yes, I too watched the two hour block of advertising scantily interspersed with some documentary about the mostest biggest crime in galactic history.
      Shame that they laid out their picnic rug in the first ten minutes and made sure we knew that someone in the family was involved. No one in the last twenty years has thought that for a second! For people who claim to have 250+ years in forensics, a layman armchair lawyer would rip apart their “investigation” like tissue paper. Not even presenting a possible alternative argument?
      Where’s Brenda Lee Johnson when you need her?

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