Idol returning to 7:30pm
Australian Idol addresses its sinking ratings by shifting back to its 7:30pm slot. "We're listening to public opinion," Dicko told The 7PM Project.
- Published by David Knox
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Australian Idol is leaving its 6:30pm timeslot and returning to 7:30pm.
Dicko broke the news tonight on The 7PM Project.
“We’re listening to public opinion,” he said.
The change is immediate, beginning Sunday September 20th.
The show has been struggling this year with the network indicating its ratings were low due to a slimmer audience at 6:30pm.
On Sunday night it took just 990,000 with some media asking whether the show should be put to rest.
With Daylight Saving due to start on October 4th the network was also staring down the barrel of a more alarming situation as its younger audience enjoy the extra sunlight.
5:30pm – Sports Tonight
6:00pm – The Simpsons
6:30pm – Talkin’ ’bout Your Generation rpt
7:30pm – Australian Idol
9:30pm – Rove
11:00pm – Movie: The Shape Of Things
TEN’s Head of Programming, Beverley McGarvey says of this change, “In television we have the benefit of daily feedback on what audiences want, and it’s clear by the data that the earlier timeslot wasn’t working for Idol, the switch on at 7:30pm was quite distinct.”
“We gave the timeslot change a good go but in this business, you can make a quick change to get back on track and that’s what we’re doing here…the audience spoke and we listened.”
Updated: Ep 2 of Little Britain USA and Nurse Jackie will shift to Monday nights from September 28th, to follow Good News Week -a move that effectively leaves Supernatural in the balance. Previous advice from TEN they would follow Rove this week was incorrect.
Meanwhile Don’t Forget the Lyrics is now out.
49 Responses
If they were really listening to what audiences wanted, they would stop showing such painful television as Australian Idol.
The format is tired and needs to be rested.
Aussie Idol….mmm its not the time its the show, was good with real comments from the love to hate judge Kyle, at least he said things most where too scared to say. new Judge JD how boring its become very Dull,
i have stopped watching… channel go is a go for me on sunday nights
re Rove’s twitter comment – if your show actually performed consistently from week to week you wouldn’t get shoved around so much!
I can’t stand Idol or Lyrics and I have seen all the eps of TBYG so I’ll be staying on Go! on Sundays thank you.
Morons. Nurse Jackie should have always been on a Monday night.
How about cutting Idol into 90mins tops? I don’t think its the timeslot, I think its the show!
It sounds like Australia has voted…..
Hands Up who will be getting Nurse Jackie from other sources now!!
Me!
What a digraceful way of treating a new show.
Maybe they should also listen to public opinion that suggests that the show has had its day and it’s time to axe it. 😛
Nurse jackie ……Heres a tip 10 why not put it on at 3.45 am …F wits
They’d never air Legend of the Seeker at 6.30 – way more violent than Merlin and it would be censored to shreds. Great show though!
nooo! I wanted to watch Nurse Jackie, but now it’ll be too late 🙁
Nurse Jackie deserves so much better, Ten would’ve been better holding this until summer and airing it in an earlier timeslot along with Californication.
It could be worse They could replace Idol at 6:30pm with Jerry Springer assuming that show is still around
Don’t touch Supernatural! Or at least ensure it is still “fast-tracked” and screened on another evening.
Channel 10 should definitely “fast-track” season 2 of Merlin. Or buy the rights to “Legend of the Seeker” and screen that in the 6:30pm on Sundays time-slot (although I’d prefer to see it at a later time-slot to prevent the clumbsy editing of violence that plagues Merlin).
@ Mike Retter: too late, Mark Holden officially became a lawyer yesterday and won’t come back.
Timeslot is not solely the issue. Merging the show with the results was a bad idea – one week is too long a wait for impatient viewers. And making the contestants rehearse etc for the next show is a waste of everyone’s time involved if they’re only to be booted off (and the producers will know who said person is on the Monday before the Sunday show), and then making them sing the song which got them voted off in the first place at the top of the show is ridiculous. It just delays getting the show on the road and people just switch off in boredom. The show needs resting to replenish the talent pool. And new judges who actually add value and constructive feedback to the contestants so they have something to go with in improving their next performance.
Unbelievable Ten.
How about moving Idol from sunday altogether to a wednesday slot?Repeating TBYG already is beyond belief & i can only shake my head at the treatment to Nurse Jackie & lesser extent Little Britain USA which is fine after Rove.
Nurse Jackie is the kind of show Ten need as a hit and a fine follow up to Rove at 9.30 or 10 at the latest.You people in the boardrooms making these decisions are morons.Do you even watch any of it?Sadly so much money is put into Idol that it takes precedent.Crazy.
Idol is finished,it has nothing to do with timeslots,it is boring & tired.Andrew G is helpless without James,Marcia looks like she is over it & Dicko is still in midlife crisis mode.The newie?Doesn’t offer much.A new look,new hosts & a sprinkling of talent wouldn’t go astray to keep it fresh & yes it should be finished in 2009.Ten should have got hold of the Come Dine With Me concept (from the UK),which Foxtel is producing.After Masterchef it would have been a winner.
Now all I hope for is Merlin back at 6.30 on Sundays since it is just now returning to the UK, and perhaps even Mark Holden rejoining Idol again.
Lyrics is rubbish and does not belong in prime time, let alone ratings period. It’s even slower and more painful to watch than Millionaire. I expect Merlin to move into the 6.30 slot the week after next .
And I am sick of all the bulls**t comments about the talent this year being crap – it’s arguably one of the strongest line ups in years despite a couple of the wildcards being stupidly overlooked.
I’ll admit the whole Kyle saga has damaged the Idol brand which is a shame. But it’s time to move on – I miss him too but he f’d up and the producers had no choice but to remove him. The hypocrites in the media who called for his blood now running stories about the show dying without him make my blood boil
Yet again, channel is showing contempt for it’s viewers by pushing Nurse Jackie back to 11:45. In a few weeks there’ll be no audience left, so it’ll either be moved to the middle of the night, or just disappear. And they wonder why people have Foxtel.
Bring back Holden.
Good idea with rpts of your-gen.
Bring back holden and sack and I meen sack the new judge that people just dont watch. You cant introduce us with hype big shots any more it dousnt work. Think XFactor Australia. You can only use old big shots. The ones we are already fooled by because we wont be fooled again.
Damn…… i was enjoying Lyrics. Couldnt care less about Idol.
U just lost a viewer Ten…. Back to the internet i go.
Damn them 🙁
On the one hand it’s good that a network says it is listening to its audience. But it is a phrase they will likely live to regret as it comes back to haunt them time and time again.
TEN would be better off holding Little Britain for a week and running 3 Nurse Jackie eps from ep #1 on Monday 28 from 9.40.
Ten’s treatment of Nurse Jackie is absolutely disgusting. They may as well not bother at all.
That good news. Should have never changed it from the start! Generation will be better than nothing..