A tight Race for Wednesday
John Safran's Race Relations was fourth in its timeslot, well behind what United States of Tara took when it premiered in the same slot.
- Published by David Knox
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There wasn’t a lot of space in between four shows last night at 9:30pm. John Safran’s Race Relations was fourth at 705,000 but not a long way behind the timeslot winner, Nine’s Criminal Investigation Australia on 797,000.
But by comparison it was well down on the premiere of United States of Tara which took 1.27m in August in the same slot. With so much pre-show outrage today there seems to be little.
Yesterday ABC’s Director of Television Kim Dalton wrote an editorial on The Punch which defended the decision to run the show and let the audience make up their own mind. But he did point out if viewers were easily offended it would not be the right fit for them. Other media opted to run sections of the story with the angle that the ABC was supposedly telling viewers not to watch the show at all. Context, context, context….
Meanwhile the big winner of the night was another rerun of Two and a Half Men at 1.3m, even beating Celebrity MasterChef at 1.27m. An unthinkable scenario some months ago. TEN’s cook-off was won by cricketer Simon Katich. Seven’s Coastwatch let down the channel on 850,000 (standby for more Border repeats?) leaving City Homicide on 989,000. The Wednesday switch for the crime drama is proving hard to defend.
More concerning for Nine was its News dropping below the 1m mark at 969,000 -maybe the wayward seagull could become a regular cast member?
23 Responses
I thought Hungry Beast is excellent, and it’s a shame it doesn’t get the audience it deserves. Recommended it to a colleague and she made a point of coming to find me to tell me how much she enjoyed it too. At times it can be a little hit and miss, but at times the reporting and stories are amazing and far better than any of the commercial networks can come up with.
If City Homicide gets axed by Seven then there will only be 2 Aussie dramas on Seven PTTR and H&A,
Maybet his might coinvince them that its time Blue Heelers returned to our screens I could see its first episode back easily getting 1.5 mill +.
And maybe if they leave it until 2016, ten years on from its axe it may acheive ratings similar to Hey hey.
Race Relations was damn funny. I can’t wait for next week’s episode judging by the previews.
John Safran is doing it again! A brilliant mind giving us another insight in what we don’t understand – even if we claim to.
Race Relations really grabbed me last night, not due to John’s humour or the “disgusting” undies bit ( I’m writing my angry letter as I type…with the right hand, this one here is with my left) but what grabbed me is the obvious journey that we will travel with him in the series.
His genuine ability to put himself out there and take the pi** out of himself constantly makes for good tv. I’m looking forward to seeing where this goes and also the arc in the story that John has mentioned.
I enjoyed last nights episode of Race Relations, In my opinion it was kind of a mash up between Borat and the Chasers War which is the kind of humour I enjoy but is not for others.
The previews for next weeks episode looked like a riot, can’t wait.
How many of the A Current Affair Audience and this includes the Adelaide Edition with Kate Collins are actually staying around on Channel Nine for those 2.5 Men.
I watched Race Relations on iView when I got home and it was Worth It! Looking forward to the next episode.
Looking at the ratings figures, there was a 35% drop from Specks and Speaks to Hungry Beast, both of which I think are great television. I wonder what all those people did between 9 and 9:30pm given that the other channels had hour long programs on.
I watched Race Relations last night to see what all the fuss was about. Won’t be watching it again.
John Safran is a bit like Andrew Denton’s evil twin brother, less intelligent and funny, and only let off the leash occasionally because he has a social disorder that prevents him from recognising how to behave in polite company.
I found Race relations pretty solid for a first outing and cant wait for the second.
Why the hell are people watching 2.5 dorks, i don’t get it. It’s tired, pathetic and It offers the same scenario week after week and yet they still flock. Come on people Try Something Different, it wont hurt you !
Am chastened, and should not make up my mind on the basis of hype or lame-ish trailers. Will watch RR next week, cheers
I personally really liked Race Relations. It was entertaining, fresh and struck the right tone. Didn’t think it was try hard at all.
Silly Seven. Cancelling All Saints that reguarly gets 1-1.2m or so viewers a week, and maintaing City Homicide that now can’t even manage 1m.
Race Relations was hilarious!
There is something about John Safran’s genuine enthusiasm for his subject matter that overcomes what some people may view as offensive. While it may not be in the league of the timeslot’s predecessor, it was certainly one of the better programs on FTA last night.
Greatly looking forward to next week…
Next week’s Safran is a better end product.
Was Race Relations any good? Seemed a bit try hard for mine so gave it a miss
That’s two nights in a row that Nine News average less than 1 million viewers.
Its so sad that reruns of two and a half men is topping the australian ratings.
Forgot all about Race Relations, looking forward to the repeat on ABC2.
I’m really disappointed with Channel 7 and what they have done with City Homicide. In it’s first season, it was regularly getting over 1.5m viewers on Monday nights. Then they moved it to Sunday and it slipped. Then back to Monday and it didn’t regain its audience. And now they’ve shafted it to Wednesday because of Flashforward and it’s suffering! But then again, the first season had much more about their personal lives and was more interesting than the current episodes