Tuesdays not so funny for Please Like Me
Ratings: Did ABC2 pick the wrong timeslot for Josh Thomas? Nine takes its third night of the week.
- Published by David Knox
- on
- Filed under News
It’s no laughing matter when a network picks the wrong timeslot for your show, and it’s a fate that appears to have befallen Please Like Me for Josh Thomas.
Last year it launched to 176,000 viewers on Thursday nights on ABC2 and was the channel’s highest-rating scripted show. This year on a Tuesday night it began with 103,000, but has now dropped to 57,000 in a timeslot not known for local comedy offerings. Despite positive reviews, viewers are either not warming to the material this season or are just forgetting it’s there.
Last night also saw the debut of Foxtel’s acclaimed Devil’s Playground which attracted 48,000 viewers. There’s much to factor in here. Screened on the Showcase channel, it isn’t available on the basic tier, and the number appears to be an average across its double episode premiere. The STV platform of course also works on multiple playouts, and heavy catch-up, so a final number is yet to be sorted.
Nine network easily won the night with a 34.3% share then Seven 26.4%, TEN 17.4%, ABC 16.1% and SBS 5.8%.
The Block is still tops at 1.43m for Nine then Nine News (1.13m / 1.06m), ACA (1.05m), Big Brother (924,000) and Hot Seat (657,000). Arrow was 254,000.
Seven News (1.08m / 1.05m) was best for Seven then Home and Away (822,000), Winners and Losers (730,000), Bringing Sexy Back (617,000), Million Dollar Minute (559,000) and Chicago Fire (365,000 / 251,000).
The Project was 643,000 / 492,000 on TEN then TEN Eyewitness News (622,000), NCIS (439,000) and Save with Jamie (421,000).
ABC News (826,000) topped ABC then 7:30 (766,000), Foreign Correspondent (664,000), The War that Changed Us (472,000), QI (453,000) and At the Movies (344,000).
On SBS ONE it was Who Do You Think You Are? (320,000), Insight (236,000), Dateline (216,000) and SBS World News (138,000).
Neighbours again led multichannels at 323,000.
The Morning Show: 146,000 / 98,000
Mornings: 129,000
Studio 10: 41,000 / 35,000
OzTAM Overnights: Tuesday 9 September 2014
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- Tagged with 7:30, A Current Affair, ABC News, Arrow, At the Movies, Big Brother, Bringing Sexy Back, Chicago Fire, Dateline, Devil’s Playground, Foreign Correspondent, Home and Away, Hot Seat, Insight, Million Dollar Minute, Mornings, NCIS, Neighbours, Nine News, Please Like Me, Qi, Save with Jamie, SBS World News, Seven News, Studio 10, TEN Eyewitness News, The Block, The Morning Show, The Project, The War That Changed Us, Who Do You Think You Are?, Winners and Losers
46 Responses
I’m the target Demographic for ‘Please Like Me’ and I really like this show, but always watch in on ABC iView, because tht’s how the target Demo of this show watch most of their TV these days…
@emurray – I agree! Based on ratings and just anecdotally it seems that many people forget about the multichannels, I’m not sure why that is.
Leaving aside merits of josh Thomas .. I think the main issue is people (or more specifically people with people meters) aren’t turning to multichannels in great enough numbers. You can look at figures for swans games on 7 mate compared to last week when on 7 and while it was a final there was nearly a 100000 increase on normal weeks when 7 mate
I love Josh Thomas, I’ve seen him live a few times, he’s hilarious & endearing. I enjoy PLM, especially the storyline with his mum having bipolar, it is written very realistically. PLM is a dramedy, I don’t believe it’s meant to be a belly laugh show. It was funnier in the first season but I don’t think the quality has diminished, it’s just gotten a little deeper.
I think it’s unfair to judge a show as poor because ratings are low. Baywatch was one of the most watched shows in the world but it wasn’t exactly quality entertainment!
I believe I read somewhere today that one of the 65k eps went up to around 100k after time shifting. So that’s a pretty decent improvement. Like SBS2 much of the ABC2’s audience doesn’t watch much live tv. I still don’t like the show but Littleton didn’t do much better and there’s very little new programming on ABC2
Is the numbers for Studio 10 down Today Show and Sunrise have been in America? Studio 10 starts at 830 while these shows are still on
Can I do a reverse late list? Arrow started 29 mins early and I missed the start! As if people are meant to check the EPG every day?! Bloody disgusting! Will it be repeated before next week??
While Josh is obviously polarising, we should probably avoid saying “people won’t like him” and just speak for yourself.
Please Like Me tied for Best Comedy of 2013 by readers of this very site.
Part of the appeal of PLM was that it was fresh. The second season isn’t fresh and lacks the story that the first series had. It is a series of loosely connected sketches that don’t go anywhere. Some are amusing, some aren’t.
Arrow rates 0.9 18-49s in the US. It’s never going to get huge numbers in primetime in Australia. Interestingly it shares very few viewers with BB here (it’s target audience).
Studio 10 starting to slide in the mornings battle. Don’t know why….
I’m sure all the haters are keeping Josh Thomas up at nights, since his show has been renewed for series 3 by Pivot in the US and he’s all over billboards there and stuff. Probably laughing all the way to the bank.
The only time laughed at Josh was when Shaun was finding new ways of throwing food at him on TAYG.
Arrow is wasted at this late time slot. 9’s lack of faith is appalling. The Wed time with Origin hurt it last year!
More twists this year, I enjoy it!
I agree that the day and time is a huge factor for many shows!
I watch on iView probably somewhere form Thu-Sat. 9:30pm on a Tuesday just doesn’t work for me. I love it. Think it is the best show on TV at the moment and am glad it has a season 3 green light already but it is definitely an each to their own type of show.
Josh Thomas is one of those people that the media tried to turn into a star for whatever reason and it just didn’t work. The same thing happened to Taylor Kitsch who Hollywood gave 2 massive blockbuster to and continued to fail.
Not a fan of Josh Thomas (to the extent that I won’t consider Optus because of his ads) but if his show is as good as several suggest, why is it on ABC2? It’s not as if they have a full, repeat-free schedule.
Folks, if you manage to lose nearly half the audience who started the 2nd season of the show in what some have described as ‘an obscure timeslot’, then it’s pretty obvious the show is now rubbish, whatever charms it may have had in the first iteration.
I agree with the people bagging Josh Thomas. Please like me? Er, no.
I can not say too much about Please Like Me as I have never watched an episode but I can’t stand Josh Thomas. I have seen him on various programs ie on panels and doing stand up, and well he is about as funny as a fart in a spacesuit. To have a whole program with him as the main actor would be torture to watch. His Optus ad aren’t helping his cause either.