0/5

All the drama of Week 44

Last week viewers bid farewell to All Saints after 12 seasons across 11 years, helping Seven to win Week 44. Just 4 weeks of official ratings remain.

astIn Week 44 viewers bid farewell to All Saints after 12 seasons across 11 years. The 70 minute episode ensured the show departed with its reputation intact and possibly signalled the end of an era of long running weekly dramas. It finished on 1.5m viewers -time will tell if Packed to the Rafters ever comes close to its legacy. Seven, which has been top-heavy in local drama with an embarrassment of riches, won the week and with the introduction of 7TWO today may have ended a winning run by the Nine / GO! combo.

Seven won with 28.8% over Nine’s 26.4% and TEN’s 20.8%. The ABC had 18.4% and SBS took 5.7%.

GO! had 2.6% over ABC2’s1.6%, ONE’s 1.0% and SBS TWO’s 0.4%.

TEN won 16-39 and Seven took 18-49, 25-54 demos.

Seven won Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday. Nine won Sunday, Thursday and Saturday. All cities were won by Seven except Melbourne which fell to Nine.

Packed to the Rafters soared to 1.95m viewers, no doubt pulling in a lot of viewers for the last All Saints, on 1.51m viewers.  Other top performers were The Force, Border Security, Seven News, Today Tonight, Destroyed in Seconds, Highway Patrol, RSPCA Animal Rescue, Last Chance Surgery, Better Homes and Gardens and Medical Emergency. This week City Homicide returned to 1.19m viewers, a similar number to FlashForward‘s 1.18m  already struggling to retain its big debut. At least the return of Criminal Minds held the audience at 1.12m. Bones and Sunday Night both won their slot. From this week Seven gets an extra kick along with shares from 7TWO to be tallied into weekly shares.

A new episode of Two and a Half Men was again Nine’s best on 1.43m viewers. That left Nine News (Sunday) and 20 to 1 as its only other drawcards above 1.2m viewers. Bringing up the rear were The Mentalist, Getaway, 60 Minutes, CSI, Rescue: Special Ops and A Current Affair. A major concern is Nine News, which landed outside the top 10 on 3 of its 5 weeknights, with two nights below 1m viewers. Melbourne remains its strongest market where its tussle with Seven News is neck and neck. This week The Apprentice Australia took a hit from the debut of Criminal Minds, down to 747,000. The Seinfeld Reunion (Curb Your Enthusiasm) on 596,000 and Aussie Ladette to Lady on 574,000 failed. Money for Jam is an inadequate 834,000 -by comparison Secret Millionaire gets 886,000 in a 9:30pm slot. Nine also dumped Moonlight after 282,000 viewers tuned in. The Today show was breathing down the neck of Sunrise. On GO! Wipeout‘s 310,000 was a clear winner, helping Nine win the night.

This week NCIS took 1.37m as the best for TEN. Celebrity Masterchef 1.13m was its next best followed by NCIS: LA and Australian Idol, both scraping over the 1m mark. Other firebrands hovered around 900,000: Rush, Glee, Good News Week, The Simpsons, with Lie to Me on 974,000. Jamie’s American Road Trip was a modest 704,000. Neighbours continues to outrate The 7PM Project, this week hosted by Andrew Gunsberg. TEN renewed almost all of its local slate this week for 2010 but neglected to outline the future for Are You Smarter than a Fifth Grader? and a Reyne-less 9AM with David and Kim. The 2009 MotoGP on ONE was 93,000.

There is no denying the power of a classic whodunnit as an old episode of Midsomer Murders pulls 1.38m viewers for the ABC on Friday -better than anything on TEN. Elsewhere, Spicks and Specks, Australian Story, ABC News, Ganges, Four Corners, Media Watch, The Great Escape, The Bill, Hope Springs and Catalyst were strong. Hungry Beast rose slightly on its previous week while John Safran’s Race Relations dipped. Sunday Arts, given its notice this week, had 155,000 while Good Game -this week upstaging Safran in the headlines- took 47,000 on Monday night (and 51,000 in its ABC1 rerun). Junkyard Wars remains ABC2’s best. The ABC beat TEN on Friday and Seven and TEN on Saturday.

Top Gear drove to 781,000 for SBS. Man Vs Wild was strong on 514,000. But Maggie Beer gave Who Do You Think You Are? its best figures yet on 477,000. Luke Nguyen’s Vietnam was 292,000 but East West 101 struggled on its impossible slot of 141,000. Dateline‘s 25th anniversary was 195,000 and RocKwiz sang to the tune of 280,000.

Just 4 survey weeks remain in 2009.

Week 44

18 Responses

  1. @goffy – Glee and NCIS (along with Mentalist, FlashForward and a few other shows) are fast tracked as a result they will be rested over the break regardless what local networks want to do they can’t air them before the US. The question is will they keep a couple in reserve that air in the US last this year and not show them here until Feb or March, like they did last year for some shows. IMO they will.

  2. No matter who is winning the ratings, one has to ask?

    In a country where a high amount of people illegally or legally download, and ratings have dropped immensley in the last 2 or 3 years alone, does it matter that much anymore?

  3. The high figures for Midsomer Murders on the ABC on Friday just shows the massive amount of Australia’s older generation, and that they like to stay home on a Friday night. The fact that it beat anything on Ten for the week shows how hard it is to get the younger viewers to regularly watch free-to-air tv at the moment. That’s why when a network manages to get the attention of those younger viewers, advertisers love them. Why do you think Nine gave up on Midsomer Murders, handing it to the ABC? Advertisers aren’t interested in a show that probably has an average age of 60!

  4. not only the 7opm has to be revamped. but 10 are too diluted to realise that. idol needs a massive overhaul as well if they want it to be a contender in the ratings war

  5. It will be interesting how well The All Saints Replacement Private Practice will do in much the same timeslot each week.
    Will the All Saints Viewers watch that I don’t know.

  6. Ten need to revamp the 7pm project, i dont mind Charie but Dave Hughes doesnt suit this kind of format at all..his lame gags are painful to watch at times. He polarises the audience as well, for every person that finds him roll around the floor funny there is another person who cant stand the sight of him.

  7. From tonight GO! is backing on the success of Wipeout, by showing double episodes from 5:30pm.
    Ridiculous that a repeat of Midsomer on ABC rated higher than any show on TEN over the entire week. It shows that people want to watch quality movies, not another repeat of Mean Girls.
    City Homicide was much better this week in storyline. Seven still need to move City Homicde to 8.30 Monday, Criminal Minds, 8.30 Wednesday, and FlashForward to 8.30 Thursday. Makes much more sense that way. I dont think the viewers will be coming back after the mid-season break of FF.

  8. I know when it is referred as nationally that the regionals are not in it…i maen regional Australia, is actually a different country, you only have to look at how the federal and state governments and now Prime with the non starting of the second channel to see how they treat regional and rural areas to know that.
    If you look at the true national figures…and again i know no one will cause of advertising revenue…the figures may be closer than we all think…. what is the brak down David on the weekly wins..how many are 7 infront by?

  9. Just on the “70 minute episode” thing with All Saints: it was a 70 minute episode every bloody week. Those waiting for shows airing after it knew that all too well.

  10. I must say that I rather Andrew Gunsberg as the central host of The 7pm Project. He felt more suited to the role then Charlie.

    It was such a relief that I didn’t have to put up with Hughsey the other night, no awkward on the spot jokes that didn’t quite work as well as hoped. I like Hughsey, but only in small doses like on Rove, once a week (where he’s had time to well rehearse his section).

Leave a Reply