★★★★★ 0/5

Observational docos to the rescue

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It was the week that Justice Betty King banned Underbelly again –this time in a story on Today Tonight, Seven’s CEO woke from an induced coma, the ABC was under fire on two counts, first for threats to withhold a live ANZAC telecast and secondly for its Logie campaign, Rove was ducking for cover over a police escort for kd lang, subscription TV acknowledged its best with the ASTRAs and a camp community TV clip show won a top award at the Antennas.

After losing Week 16 to Nine, Seven took back ratings glory in Week 17.

Seven won with a 29.0 share ahead of Nine’s 27.6 and TEN’s 22.0. The ABC had 16.2 and SBS 5.3.

Seven won every night except Thursday and Saturday, which fell to Nine. Seven won Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide and Perth. Nine won Brisbane.

As the health of their CEO improved so too did the performance of the Seven Network, taking back a win from rival Nine. It was again observational documentaries that led the way for Seven. Both RSPCA Animal Rescue and a repeat of Border Security tied on a preliminary figure of 1.76m viewers. They were supported by Seven News (Sunday), Gladiators, SCU: Serious Crash Unit, Desperate Housewives, Today Tonight, Seven News, Grey’s Anatomy, The Real Seachange, Better Homes and Gardens and It Takes Two. The 1.4m finale of the karaoke show is almost a million shy of the best finales by Dancing with the Stars –still a big figure but clearly the show needs a rethink before another season. Seven’s biggest problems are on Thursdays, when Ghost Whisperer limps in at 893,000 viewers at the painful expense of lost Lost viewers, and Saturdays when Seven tries to take on the ABC. Replays of Fawlty Towers and Vicar of Dibley didn’t solve the timeslot switch with Michael Palin’s New Europe. It will hope for a better result once Doc Martin finishes soon. Dirty Sexy Money has also been a disappointment for Seven, its finale is tomorrow.

Nine had a strong Sunday, just 0.2 points behind Seven, thanks to saviour Gordon Ramsay being included in 60 Minutes (1.73m). His two editions of Kitchen Nightmares continue to defy critics of a loosening of language standards with 1.56m and 1.43 viewers. Nine’s other strong shows included its Sunday News, Sea Patrol, David Attenborough’s – Life In Cold Blood, Underbelly (it has held 1.2m every week of its season), CSI, a Harry Potter film, A Current Affair, National Nine News weeknights, The Footy Show and Animal Emergency. Of most concern was the drop for Canal Road, down some 250,000 on the premiere. Big problems also remain with 7:30 Tuesdays (Moment of Truth is replaced this week with 20 to 1) pushing Nine into third place behind TEN for the night. Also struggling is My Kid’s a Star (cut to 30 mins from this week –it won’t help). Aside from Gordon Ramsay, Nine’s audience continues to flock to quality ahead of shock tactics, what a shame David Attenborough doesn’t have a restaurant…

Continuing the observational flavour, Bondi Rescue was TEN’s strongest show, winning Tuesday with 1.6m viewers. Doubtless, a big chunk of viewers aren’t satisfied by either It Takes Two or Moment of Truth. It even bettered So You Think You Can Dance, The Biggest Loser, NCIS and Rove –all strong performers. Without its Dance verdict show, Monday fell away for TEN, suggesting GNW has been propped up in part by the strong lead-in. Law & Order completely tanked. TEN even landed third behind the ABC Friday despite the public holiday footy. Look to Big Brother to address this. Neighbours fluctuated wildly to as low as 686,000, but the hope is in the highs of 892,000. There remain deep problems for 9am with David and Kim, hovering around 100,000 against The Morning Show (around 200,000) and Mornings with Kerri-Anne (around 130,000). TEN’s best hope for a ratings week this year, starts now with Week 18.

Doc Martin (1.42m) continues to ignite Saturdays for the ABC –a good sign for its replacement, Aussie drama Bed of Roses. It has doubled the audience of the more prestigious hope, East of Everything (717,000). Other top shows were Spicks and Specks, ABC News, Midsomer Murders (rpt), Australian Story, The New Inventors, Four Corners and Collectors.

SBS best night were both Sunday and Saturday each on 6.2%.

Week 17

2 Responses

  1. DSM was a horrible show. Not much dirt and not much sex, just a bunch of rich estranged cousins of Paris Hilton whining about how much life sucks in the upper-class neighbourhood. Its already gotten a nod for a second season though.

    So are Ten just going to air NCIS repeats on the Tuesday 9:30pm slot until the end of the year? Now would be a good time to burn off those 3 remaining Women’s Murder Club episodes, there’s no reason why they can’t fast-track them from the US. Oh, and Canal Road is one of the worst shows Nine has ever aired, and that’s saying something. Its no surprise it’s gotten the boot, Nine are learning from their previous mistakes e.g. Terminator SCC as they aren’t airing a steaming pile of crap like Canal Road in a slot before 10:30, unlike TSCC where they aired it for 4 weeks at an 8:30 slot to horrible ratings before they shafted it to later and later timeslots. I really don’t mind Ramsay being on 3 nights a week, he’s pretty much the only thing holding the network up right now and once their poster boy’s shows run out of new eps, what will they air in six months? We’ll see.

  2. David, thank you for returning the weekly ratings reviews. I know you said in an earlier post that they take some time to write but I think you will find that us readers really appreciate the effort.

    Oh, and you have accidently linked to Week 16 instead of Week 17.

    Ian

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