Idol struggles to stay relevant
Even with Suzi Quatro and no dancing celebrities, Australian Idol couldn't crack the 1m mark.
- Published by David Knox
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Even with Suzi Quatro Australian Idol couldn’t crack the 1m mark last night -and it had no dancing celebrities to contend with either.
Idol now has a fight on its hands to stay relevant, and to fend off suggestions that dumping Kyle Sandilands was a mistake.
The Top 11 show, in which Ashleigh Toole was sent home, took 990,000 viewers, beaten by Border Security (1.54m), The Force (1.52m), Domestic Blitz, Sunday Night (both 1.24m) and Stephen Fry in America (1.11m).
Midsomer Murders (1.36m) defeated Rescue: Special Ops (1.01), Seven’s Bourne Ultimatum movie (965,000) and Rove (816,000), which was the top show for the night in 16-39yos.
Nine News also had a rare win over Seven News.
As expected just 396,000 sampled Nurse Jackie in its late timeslot, behind Little Britain USA’s 537,000.
Wipeout took a big 248,000 on GO!
Quatro, who according to reports in the weekend newspapers was even offered a permanent judging gig on Idol, proved a spirited judge even if her vocal performance seemed a little under the weather.
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- Tagged with Australian Idol, Little Britain USA, Midsomer Murders, Nine News, Nurse Jackie, Rescue Special Ops, Rove, Seven News, Wipeout
62 Responses
Suzi Quatro made some good comments but I couldn’t get past her outrageous mullet!
If you want ratings you bring back mark Holden, sack that new judge and make a media storm about it end of story. Its the only way.
Shelly, exactly – bland contestants, all of whom seem completely incapable of singing on key for more than five seconds (that bland doofus murdering Muse’s “Starlight” was the highlight of the lowlights!). A ‘rock night” theme that instantly alienates much of the show’s core audience.
And Suzi Quatro, who looked like she’d been exhumed from a lost Madame Tussaud’s exhibition and whose opening performance was a case study in Reasons Why Ageing Rock Stars Should Retire. The woman can barely sing these days. It was embarrassing to watch.
The contestants this year are bland, lifeless and astonishingly short on talent, originality and personality. Meanwhile Lisa Mitchell, who Idol ridiculed, rejected and forced out a couple of seasons ago, releases on of the year’s most admired debut albums.
Goes to show how relevant Idol is not. Its time is over.
And “Jay Dee” Springbett should get off television before he makes an even bigger fool of himself, by the way.
You just know who’s watching and who’s voting (teeny bopper girls in the main) when one of the bright sparks of this series is the first to leave (Vanessa Amorosi look/sound-a-like). Watch the other female contestants take a tumble before the young voters vote Scott Whathisname for the win just because he’s cute and adorable, not because he is truly talented. There’s no true star left now that makes you think, geez I wanna buy their CD! Hence why people are not watching. Put the damn thing out of its misery now. And we’re all tired of watching Marcia add absolutely nothing to the show except You Go Girl; You Go Darling: Stay True to Yourself: Did You Enjoy Yourself? Well That’s All That Matters, Don’t Worry About What Anyone Else Says!
Hey Bazza, Thanks for those comments. I don’t have digital and signal was really bad for me too in the Hinterland! Grr. I hadn’t watch RSO since the first episode and I decided to give it another go and I couldn’t even watch it!!!
Marcia looks different in that picture. The stress of the failing franchise must be taking its toll on her.
Maybe they need Ellen to help with the ratings 😛
The contestants were good??? Every time I flicked over, someone was singing off key! Puh-lease! Who wants to listen to that?
Dumping Kyle had nothing to do with Idol not getting ratings. It is over-rated and needs to be dumped. Now..
This does not surprise me. I have always been and out and proud Idol fan over the years, and was really looking forward to this series, but there is something about this series (and other viewers obviously agree!) that is just really boring. I never used to miss a minute of Idol, but the last couple of weeks I have find myself spending more time over on Stephen Fry’s America or The Force. Despite me arguing to the contrary for a few years now, perhaps it really is time to consider hanging up the microphone Idol.
its odd that a show that seeks a younger audience would have Suzie Quatro as a judge, surely there was some other “rock chick” more relevant to Gen Y than her, I mean, geez, im 32 and barely remember her, the Kyle factor has nothing to do with it, its an ageing show and is way past its best, the fact the contestants are dull as dishwater doesnt help matters either and I actually kind of miss James Mathieson and the cheeky edge he brought to the show…oh, and Mr G, your not and never will be Ryan Seacrest so be yourself and stop trying to be emmulate him!
Suzi Quatro was fantastic last night, the Idol kids really stepped up the mark thanks to her knowledge & guidance.
It would be great if they could keep her or the wonderful Cyndi Lauper from last years season, & get rid of the very dull Jay Dee – he’s so boring & a complete waste of space!
i am just sick of the judges, before the season started they should of started afresh with three new judges. also i think they could learn a few lessons from x factor uk. like perhaps with the voting system. the voting lines are usually only open for 1 hour or two, and later the same night of performances they eliminate someone. they could eliminate someone after rove. it would be different, but could work.
forget about Suzi Q… bring in the original rock chick with better credibility and stage persona… Debbie Harry !!
Maybe people are a little sicko f this mainstream radio-friendly karoke style teeny competition and want something with a bit more substance?
It has to be a sign when even the people who vote for the winner of Idol don’t even bother to buy their albums.
Again, how many of these stories about total people when Ten does not target total people? “Idol struggles to stay relevant”?? really?
Considering in commercial TV the demos are relevant and total people irrelevant, this headline and story is well, this headline and story is a beat up. I suspect Stephen Fry (ABC1) and perhaps even Seven and Nine’s offerings were less relevant that Idol, which I’m sure did well in the demos.
I know you don’t get the demos for shows David. But these headlines and stories are 10 years out of date. A show relevancy on Ten is decided by 18-49..
No doubt Idol is down. No doubt at all. But Ten itself does not measure success in total people, but 18-49.
If you’re going to determine the date of shows based on ratings at least do it based on the ratings that are well… relevant!
Kyle has nothing to do with it. The contestants are simply too boring this year. I flicked between the first hour of Idol and “Sunday Night”, and then watched the final episode of Stephen Fry in America.
did these Idol contestants have to ask their grandparents who Suzi Quatro was?
Dumping Kyle was a massive mistake… The contestants are all pretty good. The Jay Dee thing is terrible…
idol isn’t even doing that well in the demos. didn’t win 18-49 and barley won 16-39. what’s worse is that the competition was 7&9’s supposedly old skewing nights. they run out of new excuses every week.
“and to fend off suggestions that dumping Kyle Sandilands was a mistake.”
my opinion: whether or not dumping kyle was a mistake is irrelevant when it comes to ratings. the thing that killed it most was the 6:30 timeslot. who thought that was a good idea? and it will only get worse when daylight savings kicks in.
judging from the last few years. the best ratings from idol are behind them already. bar the final, the best rating episodes are the semis, the wildcards, and the early auditions. the top 12 is the bad stretch of ratings. so anyone that says it will pick up is being very optimistic.
Everything defeated Rescue Special Ops here on the Gold Coast, the digital transmission was constantly breaking up throughout the show.
In fact the transmission from all channel 9 streams was broken one way or another for most of the day and Go had no audio most of the afternoon. The broadcast data was so badly bugged that our HD plasma set locked up a couple of times and had to be unplugged at the wall to get it operational again.
Suzi Quatro? None of the Idols have every heard of her I would assume? Was her hair and overall look like that for a joke? Was it 80’s night or something? I dont watch it these days.
Dumping Kyle Sandilands shouldn’t effect the ratings, surely no one watched it just for him, there are contestants singing, thats the premise of show.
I have to say she seemed like a perfect fit, way better than Marcia.
It feels like we’re quickly seeing the death of Idol coming up. This is exactly the same stuff Ten did with Big Brother (the inundation of guests), and when a big show can’t break the million mark, you know something is seriously wrong.
The thing is, if Ten did cancel Idol, it would be a massive red face moment. It would also make me wonder whether any other network would pick it up (a perfect fit for Fox8, but I doubt they have the cash to take it).
Judges can’t fix the major problem – the ‘talent’ aren’t that good, and we as viewers haven’t been given reason enough to care about them, there is no real connection with these people, and its really that bad that its a glorified kareoke talent quest, the type you would expect at your local shopping centre/mall.
10 have killed the golden goose, move this to 9:30pm Monday and let it ride off into the sunset.
Suzi Quatro hasn’t been relevant in thirty years.