★★★★★ 0/5

Idol: Too long, too low.

Australian Idol sank under the 900,000 mark last night, after dragging out its show for far too long.

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aiaAustralian Idol sank again last night.

At just 890,000 it was the second-lowest return all season (it took 883,000 in early September)

TEN’s insistence on dragging out the show across two hours this year, together with viewer fatigue, is proving a fatal mix. In previous years the show would get shorter as the contestants were eliminated. While they have previously allowed their finalists to sing two songs, last night viewers had to sit through three each from just three singers.

With no elimination at the end of the show there wasn’t enough to draw them through to the end of the show. The victim of that decision was Rove, having to settle for a disappointing 678,000. Next week Idol will stretch for another two hours with just two finalists, while Rove‘s finale will have to wait for a 9:30 start before airing live to air (next Sunday’s Rove is not recorded). Crazy.

TEN was very nearly beaten by the ABC with Electric Dreams also sinking further, to 513,000 viewers.

Meanwhile Seven was the one smiling all the way to OzTAM with 1.6m for The Force, 1.51m for Border Security. 1.36m for Bones and 1.2m for Sunday Night.

Nine’s best was Nine News at 1.09m with 60 Minutes scraping in at 1.02m.

Source: Week 46

65 Responses

  2. does anyone apart from teenage girls watch this? and lets face it, they would idolise me if i got up on stage. the prob is these artists don’t go any further so there is no real substance to the show.

  3. david is an idiot for letting this happen! and no doubt it was in some part his decision, 2 hrs is way too long and hearing 3 contestants sing 3 crap songs is enough to put you off the show! We should be down to 1 hr by now with rove starting at 8.30~~~!

  4. @CD — Rove is shit?? I think the fact it still ranks #1 in two key demo’s (16-39 and 18-49) disagrees with that. Did you actually watch Rove last night or were you not a part of the 678,000 that did?

    Last night’s episode of Rove was excellent! One of the best Rove episode’s of the year, especially the part’s featuring Joel & Benji Madden and the comic genius that is Hamish & Andy.

    If you didn’t watch it CD I don’t believe you are allowed to comment on the program.

  5. I suspect Ten is primarily interested in the demos as opposed to total number of viewers. That being said, if the show must come back year, it needs a major shakeup – including scrapping most of the judges, and like American Idol, the audition process needs to look for “voices” and not just pretty faces that can hold a note. Idol here just focuses too much on finding pretty faces and not proper vocal talent. There is not one person in the top 12 I would have been interested in buying their music. Where are the Jessicas, the Emilys, the Cosimas and the Anthonys who you watched week after week hoping they’d get to the final? This year I couldn’t have cared less who left each week. I ask myself why I keep watching. Some habits are just hard to break. I won’t waste my time next year if they don’t at the very least scrap Marcia and JayDee.

  6. I’m watching out of habit, but couldn’t really handle such a drawn out show. They really need to revamp the show like they did in 2006. None of the changes they’ve made seem to have worked. I hate to say it, but I never thought I’d miss Kyle!

  7. at the end of the day idol has been on for 7 years and each year the winner makes a few song shortly after winning and then never make a song again, when was the last time you saw a new video by casey donovan or damein leith, the show is not about the constants but rather ratings and when the season is finished idol couldn’t care less what happens to them. the description of idol should be “a group of people compete to see who will become a singer for one year then fade away”

  8. Australian Idol isn’t dead.

    It just needs to be made shorter.

    When will Ch 10 realise that by making the show an hour and an half is enough??

    Maybe even an hour show would be okay.

    Cut all the crap out and just put the singers singing. Trust me.

    Make the show shorter and you’ll get back the viewers!

    But then again, who am i? Just a lonley tv viewer who knows nothing!!

  9. Great piece David. Wonder how much all the special international guests are costing Channel Ten? With all the associated costs, one can only wonder how much longer Ten can keep propping up the show for ratings under 1 mill. If you compare this to many other “prime time” shows, 890K is pretty low. Also doesn’t help when the talent pool is starting to wear pretty thin.

  10. Oh Please David… Don’t blame Idol on Rove’s figures – Rove is sh*t… It’s hard to believe even 678,000 tuned in last night… it’s time for both Aust Idol and Rove to go to the TV graveyard… I can see MasterChef eventually going down the same road. I think 10 should at the very least rest Idol next year… bring it back in 2011 with 3 decent judges & better Talent, this years top 12 were crap! I’ve seen better performances at the local karaoke bar!

  11. Without the 7pm Project Ten would have to go back to Seinfeld Reruns and All those other long dead US Sitcoms for an offering at that time of day.
    Also some of us are not home for the 5pm and 6pm News Bulletins but still need their Evening News and other than waiting till 9:30pm for SBS what are they going to do.
    They could sell the Idol Thing to the ABC but will they buy it.

  13. Idol has to go. Sunday nights on TEN in 2010 should be like this:
    Family viewing until 9.30.
    6.30pm: Merlin (I dont watch but rates well)
    7.30pm: The Simpsons (new)
    8.00pm: Modern Family – New US Comedy Import
    8.30pm: Glee (Move Rove to 9.30 Tuesdays again)
    9.30pm Quality scripted show (Dexter Season 4, Nurse Jackie Season 2 (when available), True Blood Season 1/2

  14. American Idol, even after 8 seasons, is still one of the most popular and highest rating shows over there. I think TEN are desperate to get that kind of popularity over here, but it’s just falling apart.

    Over in America, the winners and semi-finalists usually do quite well in the charts and are usually quite respected. Here in Australia, the finalists are looked down upon and I haven’t met one person who thinks the performers are legitimate musicians. It takes years to shake off the Australian Idol image and do something noteworthy (look at Guy Sebastian, Jessica Mauboy) and the majority of winners flunk out.

    TEN need to realise that here in Australia, people are over Idol. But they won’t get rid of it because they are so desperate for the popularity that Idol has in America.

  15. Oh dear, when are Ten going to wake up to the fact that Idol is dead? Why must they insist on dragging it on and on? If Idol was on Nine it would have been put out of its misery a long time ago. But Ten want to bring the show back next year, when it’ll only get even worse. Then the next year, and the next…

  17. I pointed out that 9 performances in 2hr 2min (add overrun Amazingly) is totally unacceptable.

    PayTV gets through 9songs in about 40mins.. Rage can get through’em in about 26mins.. and yet Ch10 takes over 2hrs!!

  18. Personally, I find with so much content about (Bigpond movies, FTA, downloaded content) that I have to be much more critical about what I watch. Not enough hours in the day to watch it all, so somethings have to go. I’ve haven’t quite dumped Idol yet though largely because we are nearing the end and because of the time already invested in it over the season. However, there is no way I’ll spend two hours watching it. I manage Idol in ‘sampler’ mode – fast forward on the PVR in 20 minutes to get the gist of what is going on.

    I watch TV for enjoyment, however with some shows it seems to become an endurance test. I’ll even extend that to regular TV series that run for 20+ episodes. It’s too much of a commitment to same old thing. Some shows get it right – quality vs quantity
    – Dexter as 12 eps/season
    – Nurse Jackie – 12 eps
    – The Shield 10-13 eps.
    – Most UK series run to 6 or so eps. Special mention to Torchwood season 3 – 5 consecutive shows that worked brilliantly.

    I guess their thinking it that is cost effective to produce in bulk, but if a show gets canned because of poor ratings then it was all for nothing.

  22. Last night’s two hour opus from Idol was insane. Since when is it necessary for them to sing three sings each? Puh-lease! Absolute overkill and thoroughly unnecessary. Worst season of Idol ever.

  24. people have lost in this show and 10 are too diluted to realize this. they want to bring it back next year as well. the show and this kind of format is dead and 10 and alot of it’s upporters should realize this

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