★★★★★ 0/5

Promising start for Redfern Now, but Nine wins Thursday.

Ratings: Redfern Now was second in its timeslot and winning rave reviews on social media, but Nine won Thursday night.

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When it comes to choosing between powerful Indigenous stories and a geek makeover, alas it was the geeks that won. ABC’s Redfern Now was down on the finale for Rake (850,000) but it still put in a decent number for its debut episode of 721,000 viewers and was second in its timeslot.

Significantly, the word of mouth on social media was glowing. Amongst the Twitter comments were:

#RedfernNow Wow, what wonderful television! I’ll be back again again next week.
#RedfernNow is brilliant. Much better than the shows we import!
@blackfellafilms amazing television! Proud to be an Aussie. Take note Commercial television. #RedfernNow
More power to Auntie, Brilliant ! #RedfernNow
#RedfernNow 1st class.
#RedfernNow was awesome!! I wish I could watch tv like this all the time!!
#RedfernNow cool. Leah Purcell kicks arse.
Australian TV just showed us it can have some substance. What a powerful show! #RedfernNow
First ep of #RedfernNow had one of the best characters on TV in a long time, thank you @ABCTV #feminism
Leah Purcell – gorgeous and amazing. Can’t wait for the next episode. Great work. #RedfernNow
Putting #RedfernNow in my watch list on @abciview right now because I’m dreadful at remembering when shows are on tv.  #redfernnow Brilliant. Just brilliant television.
@ABCTV ‘s #RedfernNow has the wrong title. Should be Redfern Wow! Excellent drama, #LeahPurcell played a blinder. 
Now I want to go camping #Redfernnow but seriously, great Australian drama. Enthralled from start to finish.

The hashtag #Redfernnow is still trending on Twitter.

But the night was actually won by the Nine Network with 28.7%, then Seven 26.1%, TEN 21.1%, ABC  19.3% and SBS 4.8%.

Nine News (1.03m) was best for Nine followed by ACA (1.02m), Big Brother (926,000, Confidential: 783,000), AFP (702,000), Hot Seat (559,000), CSI: Miami (460,000) and Australian Families of Crime (278,000).

Seven News (1.05m) topped the night for Seven followed by Beauty & The Geek Australia‘s makeover episode (1.03m), Today Tonight (897,000), Home and Away (883,000), How I Met Your Mother (715,000), Brynne: My Bedazzled Life (644,000), The Unbelievable Truth (532,000), Deal or No Deal (454,000) and Family Guy (259,000).

The 300th episode of Law & Order: SVU was best for TEN with 681,000 (rpt: 483,000). TEN News was 643,000, Jamie’s 15 Minute Meals was 614,000 / 583,000, Modern Family was 576,000, The Project 6pm was 390,000.

ABC News (950,000) topped ABC1 then 7:30 (878,000), Catalyst (751,000), Redfern Now (721,000), Qi (513,000) and a repeat of Summer Heights High (217,000).

On SBS ONE it was Luke Nguyen’s Greater Mekong 2 (242,000), One Born Every Minute (190,000), Jimmy and the Giant Supermarket (173,000) and World News Australia (173,000).

The Big Bang Theory led multichannels with 350,000.

Sunrise: 395,000
Today: 333,000
ABC News Breakfast: 52,000 / 37,000
Breakfast: 41,000

The Morning Show: 164,000
Mornings: 110,000
The Talk: 20,000

Thursday 1 November 2012

16 Responses

  2. Outstanding drama from the ABC’s indigenous department. Jimmy McGovern’s fingerprints all over it – weaving searing drama out of contemporary life. This is precisely the kind of bold drama I was expecting from the funding increases rather than the mixed bag of drama we’ve seen lately.

  3. Agree with the last tweet…Enthralled from start to finish.
    @ Shire_Guy…I checked IceTV…does not appear to be any repeats..
    @ .Gonzo ….mental health issue affect all walks of life…not just a certain stereotype…I thought the young woman playing the role of the sister…portrayed it exceptionally well…
    Also just checked…DVD out 12th Dec.

  8. Unfortunately, I missed it but good to see it get solid ratings. ABC is certainly on a roll.

    Apart from iView, does anybody know if it will be replayed? Can’t see it in any schedules yet.

  9. I also loved this show, and commented that I now have a new “must watch” TV show!! The beauty of the show was that it actually presented you with real people (none of whom were idealized) and real choices. Would I have gone to Bali? If the boy was scaring my children would I take him in? The whole issue of family loyalty. I loved the fact that the lead character’s motivation wasn’t just the care of the children, but also her own needs. There was so much more – what dramas should be, entertaining and thought provoking. I’ll be back

  10. I watched Redfern Now on ABC1 and cried the entire show. This is quality television. It does not have to be perfect but it does need to have soul, people you care for and feel for. Brilliant job. Well done.The script was outstanding and the acting/directing was excellent.

  15. Was really looking forward to this. It was clumsy in parts and i just wonder if it was the right story to go with first.

    The crazy sister sounded like an accomplished theatre actor and perhaps could have benefited from taking on an accent for the role.

    Looking forward to the next story.

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