Nine spins a win

It was the week that Nine stood down its football jester, Wheel took on Deal, Today Tonight and Seven lost a defamation case, SBS unveiled its top team for Top Gear, Russia won Eurovision, Chas and Rove pashed, Victoria delivered a guilty verdict in the “Underbelly ban” case, the ABC welcomed Working Dog back to the fold, Wil Anderson showed us truth, or at least comedy, in advertising and Austar’s boss was miffed over a perceived friendship between free to air networks and the Rudd Government.

And it was fortune that spun Nine’s way as it snatched another ratings win from Seven, winning Week 22 with a 27.7% share over Seven’s 27.5%.

TEN slipped again, now down to 20.9% -its lowest result for survey weeks so far this year. The ABC had 17.8% and SBS 6.0%.

With two wins in a row, Nine is now just one week behind Seven in total weekly wins. Nine won Sunday, Thursday and Saturday with Seven grabbing the remainder. They were neck and neck as they went into Saturdays, but Nine won the night -just. Nine won Sydney an Melbourne, Seven took Brissy, Adelaide and Perth.

60 Minutes was the top show of the week with 1.71m viewers. Nine’s win was no doubt bolstered by the lowly figures for Big Brother, and indeed Seven’s own hour (Most Shocking / My Name is Earl). Nine’s other strong figures were for News (Sun), Sea Patrol, Domestic Blitz, 20 to 1, David Attenborough: Tiger: Spy, CSI, Search and Rescue, Fire 000, News (Mon – Fri) and A Current Affair. Nine unveiled its bright new hope, Million Dollar Wheel of Fortune but was beaten each night by Deal or No Deal (with its extra $200k case). While it would have hoped to win the first night, Nine will know change will be a long-term, rather than a short term goal. By Friday the show saw its first U-turn on diminishing figures, including a win in Melbourne. But there is much ground to make up. Figures for the celebrated Gordon Ramsay are dropping –but while the Tuesday show was a repeat, others are not as taken by the Hell’s Kitchen format over Kitchen Nightmares. The combined figures for the “Sam-less” AFL and NRL Footy Shows were 973,000. The previous week was 929,000. Nothing like a bit of good publicity? Repeats of Two and a Half Men continue to perform and delay a return of Temptation (thanks, Big Brother). The return of Missing Persons Unit to 9:30pm Wednesday night was just 841,000, third in its timeslot. With its strong track record, Nine would do better to move it. Flipping it with 8:30pm’s Cold Case would allow the network to flow from its 7:30 factual doubles into another.

Seven’s top show was again Border Security with 1.65m viewers. This week the US announced its own adaptation of the hit show. But so far in 2008 Seven is without a show that gives it regular glory figures of 2m viewers –can Battle of the Choirs become the new network darling? If there is any dux of the class this year it is Seven News, regularly the #1 show of the night –hence the importance of Nine’s Wheel moving in. Also strong for Seven were Surf Patrol, Australia’s Got Talent, Better Homes and Gardens, Today Tonight, Desperate Housewives, All Saints, Gladiators, and Home and Away. The return of Criminal Minds didn’t fare too well against the might of Spicks and Specks and House –for that matter neither did Cold Case (who will blink first?). Crimes That Shook The World on Tuesday night underperformed. The Rich List dropped again. There was better news on Fridays, which is the only night Seven owns outright, until Nine brings new shows to its line-up in “AFL states.”

It’s hard to find much good news for TEN, continually heading southward. Across-the-board programming of Big Brother is great when the show captures our imagination, but it’s a risk if it doesn’t and 2008 is one such year. The live eviction show barely managed 1m viewers. All the 7pm daily shows landed under the 1m mark, so did its hypnotism stunt and its normally-popular Friday Night Live. Big Mouth is in big trouble. It would appear TEN’s only way out is re-assess its programming and cut short the show by a few weeks. Upcoming Olympics will make such a move difficult given it is impossible to bring Idol forward. TEN’s most popular show of the week was NCIS with 1.37m viewers. Other performers were House, The Simpsons, Law and Order: SVU. Monday nights are a disaster, Sundays and Fridays are lousy and Saturday TEN was fourth behind the ABC. The Oprah ‘Sex & City’ reunion flopped. Rove should do better from next week when he starts 30 minutes earlier.

ABC had a strong week, delighted with its premiere for The Gruen Transfer (1.28m), the best premiere for one of its entertainment formats since 1991. Its lead in from Spicks and Specks (1.31m) was the broadcaster’s top show of the week. Wild China was also a big winner with 1.2m –second in its Sunday timeslot. It again proves dissatisfaction with commercial offerings. Bed of Roses increased on its previous week, winning its timeslot. As critics bemoan its “seachange” qualities the audience is clearly pleased with feelgood entertainment. Elsewhere, Silent Witness, The New Inventors, Spooks, Collectors, Australian Story and The Sally Lockhart Mysteries all did good business. Q+A dropped from 509,000 (the Kevin Rudd forum) to 460,000 this week.

SBS’ annual Eurovision final attracted 427,000 viewers just below the 2007 final (436,000) –an average that will always appear low given the 3 hr telecast. It was strongest in Melbourne with 159,000 viewers over Sydney’s 144,000. It gave SBS its best night of the week and helped the network have its best week since February.

Week 22