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Molly a #1 hit as Seven smashes the competition

Ratings: With 1.79m viewers Molly becomes an instant chart-topper for Seven, with a bumper network share on the first night of the ratings year.

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Molly Meldrum has helped deliver Seven a thumping start to the TV ratings year.

The miniseries drew a whopping 1.79 million viewers last night, as the #1 drawcard on the first night of the ratings year.

It smashed Vera (688,000), 60 Minutes (607,000) and The X Files (556,000).

The show trended at #1 on Twitter for much of the night where the reaction was positive, with 656,000 viewing in Melbourne and 457,000 in Sydney. Part 2 will come next week.

Together with My Kitchen Rules on 1.4m viewers, and Seven News on 1.07m, Seven’s combo was unbeatable. They will be popping champagne today in Jones Bay.

Seven network pulled 39.2% then Nine 22.4%, ABC 17.9%, TEN 14.8% and SBS 5.7%.

Nine was unable to crack the magic million all night with Nine News (967,000), Australia’s Got Talent (884,000), 60 Minutes (607,000). Murder Games was just 207,000.

ABC had some success with Doc Martin (1.00m) followed by ABC News (867,000) and Vera (688,000). Antiques Roadshow was 309,000.

After a good summer TEN fell back to earth last night. I’m a Celebrity Get Me Out of Here divided into 2 figures with most of the show at 600,000, rising to 626,000 for the elimination of Courtney Hancock. The X-Files had to settle for fourth place on 556,000 and Modern Family was 463,000. Limitless was just 163,000.

On SBS China: Treasures of the Jade Empire was best on 200,000 then Movie: Monty Python and the Holy Grail (180,000), Planes that Changed the World (174,000) and SBS World News (143,000).

ABC2’s Ready Steady Wiggle topped multichannels with 203,000.

OzTAM Overnights: Sunday 7 February 2016

33 Responses

  1. 60 Minutes only getting 600,000. I’m sensing Nine will start strategically coding it if those ratings continue so its average at the end of the year looks better.

  2. I felt so out of the loop at work today as everyone was talking about Molly and I didn’t get to see it as I went out and my PVR only recorded I’m a Celebrity. Will part 1 be getting a replay? Are there plans for the mini-series to be released on DVD?

  3. I found it interesting when Molly got angry at ABC executives about the golf running over by after an hour and how he said how can he call 3 million Australians to tell them Countdown would be on at 6.30. I found this funny given networks do this all the time now (not with sport but in general) and they have no regard for ‘running over time’ and not even update EPGs. I wonder if Aussie actors get fired up when their drama shows are delayed due to reality TV.

    1. Yes absolutely. Noni is very vocal about this (just ask a Seven exec) as she believes it directly relates to audience loyalty. John Wood has also spoken about the state of programming. Note that both are highly-regarded veterans.

  4. I just watched it now on dvr and found it thoroughly entertaining. I had a worry in the first minute where a yellow topped modern recycle bin was in the background of early 70’s Melbourne, but it pulled through. The only question now, will Darryl Sommers insist on playing himself for the Hey Hey era?

  5. Wow, that was refreshing. Molly started pretty much on time, ad-breaks were kept at an even spread over the 2 hours and it was a polished production from start to finish. Samuel Johnson gave a stellar performance and was aided by a brilliant supporting cast. I loved the tension between the cardigan brigade of ABC management and Molly and co, the energy of the Countdown production team and the use of factual news clips to set the timeline. The fact that it focused a lot on the wild side of Molly, such as the brawling and parties is fine. I’m sure that a good part of Mr Meldrums life was doing lots of research, endless hours in recording studios, listening to below par bands etc which all makes for dull viewing. Like his book, only the wild bits, the big hits and celebrities will be featured.

  6. I really enjoyed Molly too. I thought it was great. It was great to see the Molly wasn’t scared to through a punch at someone and stand up for his principles & his friends. I know that kind of behavior is frowned upon these days but I found that surprising. Good on ya Molly. If they ever do a bio on John English, Samuel Johnson would be a ring in. He’s the spiting image J. English.

  7. There was a point in the show when the ratings were mentioned and I thought the figure given was 3 million. Can that be right considering we are now getting excited about 1.79 million? Have ratings fallen that much since 1974?

    Loved the show by the way and looking forward to part 2 also.

    1. Countdown used to brag how many cities and towns it was seen in (one of its opening titles i recall had the map of Australia with little dots showing where it was being beamed to) as it was truly national; something the ABC and the show used to great effect. With many regional viewers only getting the ABC or one commercial, an audience of 3 million was probably likely. I’m not sure if it had that in the first year or whether at its peak, that was its success. By the mid 80’s it was waning and resembled other music shows; resorting to more arty clips than performances.

  8. Like INXS and Peter Allen, Ch7 have done it again with another great bio. The music should have got second billing after Johnson – superb soundtrack to my life. Bit scattergun at the beginning but then really hit its stride. Some issues brushed over but liked how Molly kept his integrity about what music was shown and didn’t except bribes or people turning up at his house. Can’t wait for next week.

  9. Really enjoyed Molly last night. Remember the real Molly had editorial control over the movie so he must have been fairly pleased with how he was portrayed. It jumped around far too much at the start but Ill be watching next week. I hope his time at Hey Hey is featured.

    1. Yes, so did I.
      A good representation of that “heady” era of the early to mid seventies, I think.
      A pretty good portrayal of the buzz and excitement of the early days of Countdown and all the “shenanigans” that went along with it. Lots of LOL humorous moments as well.
      Of course there was a lot left out and brushed over way too briefly but would be impossible to include everything.
      Agree with another comment here though that the character of Molly comes across as rather one-dimensional , looking pretty dopey and quite shallow a lot of the time.
      By all accounts he was much more complex and intelligent than he is portrayed here by Samuel Johnson.

      1. Yes he is way smarter. Who can forget his performance on Who Wants To Be a Millionaire. A complex but wonderful man. He was always the rock star interviewer interviewing the Rockstars. I hope they have an encore as I missed the first 20 mins.

  10. I cant reconcile what channel 7 broadcast last night and the Ian Meldrum in our living room each Sunday night for most of the 1970’s. The Prince Charles interview and various other incidents with JPY were portrayed to make him look a lot less professional than he really was. He was powerful in the music industry because he knew what the public liked and he didn’t just do it for Aussies he helped Blondie, the village people etc. Some of his private behaviour might have made the show more sensational for TV but lets face it, he was the best in his profession as a promoter and a tv entertainer and interviewer !

    1. Oh I can. I remember how shambolic his segments were, so i can only imagine how unpredictable and unconventional he was at the time, and is now. None of that detracts from the huge impact as a reporter, a presenter, a record producer, a celebrity and tireless advocate of the music industry he has always been. He may have been the best in his profession but ‘professional’ in the conventional sense, i think not.

      1. In 1974, the measure of professionalism on television, was James Dibble, Bill Peach, Brian Henderson and Mike Willesee and yet if we were measuring demographics then Ian Meldrum would have been head and shoulders above these guys because he actually connected to the teenage and young adult audience. He was a natural tv performer, no need for cue cards.

  11. MKR will dominate ratings for the first three months of the year, without a doubt. As usual, Seven has done a stellar job with the casting this year and they have the right mix of villains and heroes, as they always do. They consistently nail the casting of their reality offerings. I did not stay on to watch Molly afterwards, despite being a teen throughout the 70s. I love the Oz music from that era, but if I want to relive any of it, I’ll go to Youtube! Congrats to Seven, though, on fantastic ratings for this program.

  12. I Thought Molly was excellent I watched the entire 2 Hours and will watch the conclusion next Sunday Night – But why do people bother watching MKR it is just another cooking contest they are now a dime a dozen not exciting compulsive viewing at all

  13. Wow, 10 fell into a massive hole, what the hell happened?? Celebrity has been enjoyable but obviously not resonating.

    Massive figures for Molly, 7 have really owned this space and well deserved

  14. I say this every year…ratings are back on, must be time for TEN to flounder again! Good to see Molly continue Seven’s good streak with telemovies. I thought it might have been a dud because it was only released for preview yesterday, and there didn’t seem to be much ‘buzz’ around it.

      1. Yeah I was just referring to the bad night. While I know their strategy is to launch their shows before the other networks, I should have rephrased what I said as an issue of unfortunate timing, with their good results last week not officially part of the ratings year. More generally, I only hope TEN continues to grow in 2016. We need them to be competitive.

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