Sunday Rant

That's right the RANT is back - let's jump into it!

Sunday 15th November 2009
Sunday night was good for Seven and bad, bad, bad for everyone else.


At 6.30 Ten’s Electric Dreams almost got done by Wipeout on the increasingly strong GO! While even the combined auds of 20 to 1 and Wipeout couldn’t match the might of Sunday Night with almost 1.3 million tuning in!


The Magic continued for Seven at 7.30 with Border Security and The Force proving that there were still people using their televisions in November, while 60 minutes really struggled, despite having a well balanced show. Australian Idol continues to be a disappointment, no amount of promotion seems to be able to interest viewers in this clapped out old format, yet still they talk about renewing it for 2010.


Bones was the only game in town at 8.30, Nine fell right off the map with some unknown telemovie, get used to it because this is the season when Nine starts trotting out bad first run Australian movies to shore up their drama quota (there’ll a forthcoming rant about that!) for the year – you’d think with Underbelly, Sea Patrol and Rescue Special Ops they wouldn’t have to do too much this year but we’ll see…


At 9.30 Castle almost broached the million mark, if only it could hold its ground in the US market! The final Rove managed only 760,000 viewers, imagine what they could’ve pulled had they promoted the move beforehand.

Roving On

What were they thinking?

That’s the first thing that sprung to mind on Monday morning as I sat in traffic (in my car, not out on the road) hearing the news that Rove McManus ended his show with next to zero notice.

It’s one thing to leave television – it’s quite another to do it on your own terms. It’s a completely different thing altogether to do it and almost not tell anyone! We’re in Dave Chappelle territory now!

I’m a little sad that I didn’t know it was going to happen – I have watched the show on and off since it’s commencement all the way back on channel nine. It was an off period for me, helped along by the launch of two new digital channels (GO! and 7TWO) and, last night, the launch of several new channels on Foxtel to keep me distracted!

So it’s sad and annoying that they didn’t promote it as the last one – but what of the decision itself? What does it mean?

Did Rove jump, or was he pushed? That’s the big question hanging in the air after this – everyone with something official to say on the matter will say that he jumped, and while he may have been the one who ultimately pulled the plug, I think there were some very compelling reasons to so.

The Show itself
Rove’s show, has not had a good year. In ratings terms it has been on the skids ever since Australian Idol surfaced but even prior to this – it’s only high notes were thanks to a lead-in from the all-conquering Masterchef.

The show’s other major problem has been the dilution of its talent with Dave Hughes and Carrie Bickmore moving to the 7pm Project.

The Sunday Night conundrum
4 years ago, Rove Live was on Tuesday nights at 9.30, in that timeslot it regularly posted sub 800,000 figures off the back of a weak lead-in The O.C. Ten solved this problem by moving Rove to Sunday’s at 8.30 – instantly giving his show a better lead-in and freeing up Tuesdays to be conquered by NCIS.

But the 8.30 timeslot created it’s own problem, talk-shows, by their nature, start off strong at the top of the hour and then trail off as the hour goes on, when you devote a chunk of your show to interviews then audience drop-off is inevitable – some people are just there for the comedy segments.

In the three years that Rove has been on Sundays Ten have not found anything remotely suitable to follow it, sitcoms= bomb, sketch comedy = bomb, NCIS reruns = bomb, fast-track US dramas = bomb, Dexter = bomb, Reality shows = bomb.

Ten’s biggest problem on Sundays for three years has been the 9.30 slot – and the cause of that problem is obvious, the lead-in. Rove at 8.30 is not a good lead in.

So here you have a situation where the show was tanking at 9.30, but the show does alright at 8.30 yet everything after it tanks

Roving Enterprises
In past years it has been noted that Rove was always safe at channel ten because he provides them with a plethora of programming across their schedule, that has certainly been true – it is still true now but some of the paint has come off. Look at the run-down.

The ARIA Awards
Rove had produced this show for years but this year Nine has the rights (for reasons I cannot fathom) so that’s off the table

The 7pm Project
Ten have thrown their weight behind this show and IMO it’s a good show, I hope it does well, there is conjecture that Rove has finished his own show to concentrate on 7pm which is a production on a much bigger scale.

The show struggles to stay above 700,000 viewers a night and is hampering ten’s post 7.30 sked, though not to the extent of last year’s Taken Out.

It is hoped that the show will pick up over summer with Home & Away out of the picture.

Before the Game
This show rates really well in Melbourne and Adelaide, I don’t even know if they get it in Perth and in the northern states it shows on Channel One because over there it’s a niche concern.

Are You Smarter than a Fifth Grader?
They wrung three seasons out of this show and when I saw wrung I mean wrung – at it’s send off this year there was about 600,000 people watching – at 7.30 on a Monday night.

When you look at this bigger picture you can see a production empire that’s appears to be on thin ice, with these ratings they could go from 4 shows to none over the summer. You can already bet that 5th Grader has been axed.

I think that Rove has decided to concentrate his efforts on 7pm (potentially the most lucrative of all the shows) I wish him the best of luck.

Shaken up Sunday

Some big changes afoot on Sunday night with the return of Dancing with the Stars pushing out seven's current affairs skein (Sunday Night) and their fly on the wall hour.

Dancing with the Stars was heavily promoted for several weeks with the promise of seeing a blind man dance and it seems that viewers were only too eager to check it out.

Though 1.5 million is nowhere near the lofty heights of the show's early years - it's way better than last season and a marked improvement over last week's schedule for the net.

The move also pushed Bones in front at 8.30 with Rove dropping back on account of a weaker guest lineup, also Rove's shorter running time meant an earlier Biggest Loser, doing more damage to Ten's overall evening share.

However, Ten can pat themselves on the back for showing a "special" on their drama hit Merlin in the 6pm timeslot giving them a 69% increase in the slot week on week.

Nine's decision to sked in a Hugh Grant movie (a premiere at that) may seem logically sound but it didn't work out that way with viewers already preferenced to the ongoing series on rival channels, there isn't that many remaining viewers to woo, and one off movies aren't going to draw people away from regular hit series.

Share the wealth

Been busy the last few days so only time for a quick round up of the action.

We find on Saturday, Sunday and Monday each of the networks getting a turn at winning.


Nine shrewdly took out Saturday and by extension the preceding week by scheduling a last minute tribute to Michael Jackson, both Seven and Ten were locked into sporting commitments giving Nine the upper hand with a more flexible schedule to respond to current events.


On Sunday it was Ten’s turn to shine, mostly thanks to Masterchef, not only the show itself but booking one of its stars (Matt Preston) to guest and leaving him till late in the show ensured a massive turnout, one of Rove’s biggest ever and certainly the biggest this year. I’m interested to see whether the Masterchef crowd liked what they saw and whether they’ll stick around in the following weeks.

Monday night Seven showed some flexibility with a Michael Jackson special of their own – this one produced before the singer’s death in support of his upcoming UK tour, while held down in the 7.30 half hour by Masterchef, after 8 it rated it’s socks off delivering big blows to Recruits and Australian Story (though Nine’s Big Bang theory was actually a vast improvement on their previous week’s ratings at 8pm) and ensuring a staggering 1.8 million people witnessed an extended promo for The World’s Strictest Parents, making the 2 minute short the top show of the night, that’s a hard debut to top whenever that show bows!

CSI: Time of Death

Sunday 7 June 2009



First of all, Monday is a public holiday - which automatically means that Sunday audiences will be down as people go out to fireworks or nightclubs or whatever. So even though the bulk of shows lost weight over last week it was to be expected, well mostly anyway.

Just like last week Ten did well with Merlin, Masterchef and Rove (and their decision to run Rove long won them the night) and Seven had great success with Sunday Night, Bones and Castle.

But Nine, Nine was having some trouble. Already they chosen to correctly single out HomeMADE a show which was a bit too late to the housing boom, that show is getting banished to Tuesdays, Nine's worst performing night.

But Nine's best minds need to now focus on what the fuck has happened with CSI!


This was once their flagship program, they have a rare commercial advantage with this show in that unlike NCIS, the Law & Orders, Bones, Desperate Housewives and half a dozen other current dramas, Nine is the only place on TV where you can see it. CSI does not show on cable, so it's audience can't be diluted by conventional means.

So what's going on? 810,000 viewers for two new episodes is a disaster! Plain & Simple. 4th place is a major disaster! I'm gonna call it...

Time of death 29 March 2009: that was the airdate of the first episode without Gil Grissom, which seems to be the moment a lot of viewers decided to say goodbye to the show.

Scoreboard

Biggest Drop
The Bear Man Of Kamchatka
ABC1 - 7.30pm
Fell 27% week on week on last week's Doctor Who Special

Biggest Lift
The Biggest Loser USA
Ten - 9.50pm
Rose 3% week on week

A doctorate in high ratings

Sunday 31 May 2009

Biggest Week on Week Disappointment
Weekend Sunrise
Seven Early Morning, down 194,000 viewers

Biggest Week on Week Disappointment (Prime Time)
Merlin
Ten 6.30pm, down 164,000 viewers

Biggest Week on Week Improvement
Filth: The Mary Whitehouse Story
ABC1 8.30pm, up 224,000 viewers over the previous week’s episode of Dirt Game

Well there you go! A lot going on last night. Not only the return of Doctor Who, which unlike Star Trek, Stargate, Lost, Heroes or any other sci fi in this country, seems to have a large (probably older and more patient) following pushing the ABC over a million in that slot and doing some damage to Masterchef which was down by 107,000 viewers.

The other major story is the ascendance of Seven’s Sunday Night. Their current affairs flagship leaping 99,000 viewers week on week for a timeslot win and a comparison win against 60 minutes.

Nine’s post 8.30 fortunes took a beating with Bones a full 379,000 viewers clear of CSI (it was even beaten by Rove), Nine only managed to save face at 10.30 with CSI NY proving even more popular than The Evidence (a 152,000 week on week lift)

Realty Reality Bites

Sunday 10 May 2009

Another Sunday, another round of series premieres, this time Nine debuted it’s great white reality (or is realty) hope for 2009: HomeMADE.

It had the perfect lead-in for once Nine’s 6pm news tied Seven in Sydney, won in Melbourne and Adelaide with only Brisbane and Perth letting down the side, but it was a great aud for Nine news which at 6.30 – completely falls away.

HomeMADE from the much ballyhooed creators of The Block lost 471,000 or 31.5% of its lead-in, by contrast Sunday Night, Seven’s current affairs beast lost only 17% from Seven News, was up a whopping 336,000 viewers week on week, within millimetres of a timeslot win and for the first time that I’ve noticed, actually eclipsed 60 minutes in the audience stakes, with the 30 year veteran only managing 1,181,000 off the back of the HomeMADE lead-in.

Ten, however, has the most to smile about, Merlin, a retelling of the medieval tale made all the more better by the lack of Sam Neill represented a massive switch on for ten with an additional 725,000 tuning in after The Simpsons finished, representing a lead-in “retention” of 225%

Now for the real shock, Masterchef, with no Logie awards in its way, raised 376,000 week on week for an average aud of 1,470,000. The Ten reality machine has done it again!

The only thing that prevented them from winning the night was the non-performance of new limited-run serial thriller Harper’s Island, only 576k tuning in at 9.30 for the murder mystery proving that Aussies prefer to see old British geezers get offed, rather than young American hotties! (Well maybe not – I’ll leave that kind of deep cultural analysis to Tribal Mind!)

I wouldn’t be surprised to see this at 10.30 in the coming weeks, the problem is, what the hell do you put after Rove, Rove is, as a show, essentially a late night format, yet it airs at 8.30, Ten have tried just about every format under the sun after this show and nothing seems to take, part of the problem is that once you get to 9.30, the teens start going to bed for school the next day, I don’t know the demographic breakdown of Rove, but I’d imagine they make up a sizable proportion given the audience drop-off that seems to take place no matter what show follows, whatever Ten puts at 9.30 Sundays, they’re going to need something that will entice older adults to switch over from the opposition.

To Catch a Killer (in a later timeslot) Sunday 15 March 2009

Uh wow, I never thought I could declare Dexter a timeslot winner, but I guess moving to 11pm does wonders for a show, what’s more bizarre is its against the show which consigned it to late night to begin with!! Most of its followers having followed it to Sunday Night

Rove too had an impressive night for a late start. Starting after 9.30 doesn’t tend to favour that show but somehow he pulled off a nice win, perhaps an increase in younger viewers confined to the house in light of bad weather in the nation’s two largest cities is to blame.

City Homicide sunk beneath CSI both of which are far away from their series’ peaks, meanwhile Border Security continues to go from strength to strength and in a surprise result Domestic Blitz had a revival after looking very poor the previous Sunday.

With so many shows inexplicably up or down on the previous week the only trend that seems to be emerging on Sunday nights is a very close contest from all networks, Programs are winning timeslots with barely a hair’s breadth between them.

Sunday 8 March 2009

Sunday night saw another fine performance from Seven and Ten, though Ten's shows are considerably lower due to the public holiday today in Melbourne and Adelaide, lowering the proportion on under 40s watching the box.

This caused Ten the greatest Week on Week losses in Prime Time with Dance down 142k and Rove down 92k while CSI Miami on Nine took a hit with 137,000 people deserting, again the poor performance of 9.30 skeins illustrates an older skewing night than usual.

60 Minutes continues to slide at the expense of Seven's factual shows with Border Security adding 59,000 viewers from last week.

Ten is again persisting with the late night Sunday Movies but did anyone even know it was on???

I've gotta follow an act like that? Sunday 1 March 2009

Second Sunday with all shows on deck and Seven shows a big week on week improvement, with City Homicide recording a half hour win and an increase of 165,000 viewers, Border Security scared an additional 122,000 people, Triple Zero Heores was up 92,000 and won its timeslot, Sunday night added 103,000 people from last week and even Bones clocked an extra 116,000 living persons to its tally.

Over on Ten both Loser (-11,000) and Dance (-18,000) had negligible losses while Rove, half an hour earlier this week rakes in an extra 103,000 folks – I have no doubt Rove’s figure spikes for Petespace and the fake news segments they do at the start so the early start time is a clear benefit.

More troubling is what to do after Rove, cops shows don’t work (see NCIS), esoteric comedy flops (Californication), right now Ten is trying out movies with very poor results, after two years of Rove ten continues to have these woes in the 9.30/10pm slot, what is worse this year is than in two months they face an additional hour long hole in their Sunday night when Dance and Loser wrap up, Masterchef will only be filling one of those hours (place your bets now on whether it will be 6.30 or 7.30!)

Over on Nine they had one thing to smile about and a lot of things to worry about, first of all they can smile about CSI Miami up 158,000 viewers week on week and looking quite respectable for a 9.30 show, but their early evening lineup is floundering – Domestic Blitz has never faced the Biggest Loser before and it would seem that weight-loss comp is taking the shine off those renovators, meanwhile as the oldest thing on television 60 minutes is being hit by fresher competition – although still keeping its head above water it took a hit of 128,000 viewers the night’s biggest decline.

A Rising Tide - Sunday 15 February 2009

Another Sunday, another cricket match for Nine and a boost in viewers all around with all commercial nets averaging over 1 million viewers for the four hour prime time last night.

Seven can consider their Sunday night a success with Border Security and Triple Zero Heroes looking like Sunday hits, and Sunday Night losing Sydney but winning Melbourne in it’s first stoush with Domestic Blitz.

Not so lucky was City Homicide whose older Audience spent the second week in a row glued to the cricket – we’ll no more once its regular competition (CSI) moves in from next week.

So You Think You Can Dance had a great night last night with the first live performance and The Biggest Loser Weigh In improved Week on Week.

Also smart on Ten’s part was the decision to return The Simpsons to 6pm Sunday, although keeping Out of the Blue at 5.30 at the expense of Sport Tonight is still hurting their ratings in that slot.

Rove, too is hurting, unable to hurdle a rerun of Bones, one of the most boring procedurals this side of Crossing Jordan!!

Opening Night - Sunday 8 February 2009

Last night was the first night the official 2009 Australian Television Ratings season.

The night was thrown into chaos with split scheduling across the board owing to the developing news story of the Victorian Bushfires which so far has become the worst natural disaster in Australian history.

All networks devoted extended coverage to the event in their Melbourne markets as well as additional bulletins at night, pushing existing shows all over the schedule

My chart attempts to make as much sense of all the moves as possible but a clear picture of the night won’t be available until figures adjusted sometime later in the week.

Anyhow here’s how they fared on the first night in

Seven

Seven had a big night – deferring their afternoon programming for news and pushing the debut of newsmagazine Sunday Night back to 7pm in Melbourne didn’t hurt them one iota, the new lineup of Sunday Night/Border Security/Triple Zero Heroes pulled a mammoth audience for it’s first outing – it looks as if Seven has successfully transplanted their Monday shows to Sunday night – but the real test will be up against 60 minutes next week.

Nine

Nine had the cricket all day and reaped a huge rating as a result, but it was their news coverage of the fires which stood out for this viewer, they seemed to have almost every reporter in their employ out at a different location bringing some truly memorable vision of the day.

Ten

Ten had the most uneven day and they were partly to blame. Ten have the unique advantage on big news days of being the first cab off the rank at 5pm, but Saturday, when these fires started (not to mention the hottest day in Melbourne’s history) saw Ten run with a national Sydney based bulletin, giving Sydney stories priority over the unfolding crisis.

Sometimes Ten’s national weekend bulletins are interesting because you get to see a bit of what is going on across the country as compared to the more parochial market leaders – but on days like this a local approach is really needed.

By Sunday Ten had realised their error and had brought in Mal Walden for a special hourlong Sunday bulletin but viewers ignored them in favour of Seven’s early coverage.

This result, and the decision to persist with Out of the Blue saw Ten’s share fall dramatically last night. The Biggest Loser was easily dropped by a news hungry public although they recovered nicely with So You Think You Can Dance – proving the show has a devoted audience – Rove got off to an inauspicious start, I suppose people weren’t much in the mood for snarky fun after all sheer horror – they’ll pick up next week.

Primetime Preview: Sundays

You may have noticed I haven't posted any updates for a few days, I decided a few days back that the info coming through this week (the second week of the tennis) was pretty sparse and would be distorted due to the sports, whereas next week (the first week of February and the last week of non ratings) would be the first major test for a lot of new and returning shows.

So lets go through what we know about returning shows in the new season - what's coming and when it'll be and most Importantly what the match-ups are...

Let's start with Sunday Nights

6.30-7.30
Sunday Night vs Domestic Blitz vs The Biggest Loser

The Unknown quantity on this night is Sunday Night a new newsmagazine from Seven. To be co-hosted from Nine defector (or is that retiree) Mike Munro, the show has an impressive roster of reporters and a one hour jump on 60 minutes foreshadowing a possible upset on this night, which has long been Nine's to lose.

Nine are slotting in Domestic Blitz, a 'feel good' renovation program (an offshoot of onetime hit Backyard Blitz) which had a successful run in this slot last year and an even bigger Monday night special late last year.

Ten, for it's part returns with the mega successful Biggest Loser with a new innovation, the contestants are all in couples which is sure to pack even more emotional punch for a show which is equal parts reality contest and maudlin tearjerker.

The hot tip...
Every show has an equal chance here - there will be a curiosity factor about Sunday Night, but ultimately that show will succeed or fail on the choice and presentation of it's stories. Without another gardening show to dampen it's aud, Backyard Blitz could run away with the slot and yet I still feel that The Biggest Loser has another big season in the tank, it will be the first show out of the blocks (this Sunday) and has a habit of building over the course of the season - however Sundays are typically it's weakest night.

On balance though - I'm going to say Backyard Blitz

7.30 - 8.30
Border Security/Triple Zero Heroes vs 60 Minutes vs So You Think You Can Dance

Again it's seven taking a leap into the unknown moving one of their proven hits (Border Security) into the path of ongoing freight train that is 60 minutes.

Put aside the dancers for a minute - that show has it's own young audience which will probably eclipse the other shows on the night - the actual timeslot battle will be between 60 minutes and Border Security - each fighting tooth and nail for the old curmudgeon audience, joined in the battle no doubt by the ABC and their endless reams of old skewing Sunday fare.

Seven has taken Border Security out of the frying pan and thrown it into the fire and I'm not sure which viewers are going to choose - my instinct says BS, which frankly could mean either show!

After the customs thing Seven goes to reality playbook and looks up rescue 911 to produce Triple Zero Heroes - I expect this to be huge - there has been a lot of pre-show buzz and this may even pick up viewers that Border Security does not have as this kind of ordinary folks in every day jeopardy stuff will skew a lot more female than people getting cavity searches.

The hot tip...
I think So You Think You Can Dance will dominate but even it could be shaded by Triple Zero Heroes which will probably exploit an untapped vein of this reality programming. The more interesting test will be whether Border Security can be a stayer against the ultimate marathon runner: 60 minutes. Me thinks that ticking clock is going to have to sing for it's supper this year...

8.30 - 9.30
City Homicide vs CSI Miami vs So You Think You Can Dance

This is weird Nine and Seven have just moved their Monday night fight to Sundays - Nine will come a close second to Seven on this one (although Seven will get a scare on William Peterson's last ep) This paves the way for Dance to cut through as the alternative but something tells me it'll be City Homicide with the other two fighting over second place.

The hot tip...
Yep City Homicide in a rerun of late last year's 8.30 monday battle.

9.30 - 10.30
Bones vs TBA vs Rove

Bones will follow its previous lead in all the way to Sundays pitting it against Rove on Ten and whatever Nine pulls out of the cupboard. Smart money is on Nine debuting Eleventh Hour in this slot (given the Bruckheimer pedigree a CSI lead in is on the cards) but Bones has been a dominant force wherever it goes in the last few months and with the City Homicide lead in I expect it to continue pulling a crowd.

The hot tip
Bones - mediocrity always wins!

Viewers stuck in the outdoor room - Sunday 2 November 2008

A reprieve for the Outdoor Room? Anything is possible and the fate of Jamie Duries’ Big New Show™ looks a little healthier after it nudged a million last night – but still this is Seven and such a low figure for what does not look to be a cheap show, whilst a very cheap show (20 to 01) knocks it out doesn’t make for a good look, especially when compared to other hits on Seven coupled with the fact that they already seem to have a plan for 6.30 Sundays next year.

Ten can be happy they managed two shows over 1 mill last night (that’s as many as they got for the whole of last week) and improved ratings for the NCIS rerun.

Overall it was another low rating night (though not the dead zone that Saturday was) with a slightly lower turnout than last week although everything more or less held it’s place from the week before without much variation.

Perhaps viewers are getting the jump on the networks and starting summer non-ratings a month early.

It will be interesting to see what happens tonight when Seven switch from Border Security/The Force to The Rich List and what the knock on effect will be for the City Homicide vs CSI battle.

Watch this space.

Ten Lifts, Seven Sags, Nine’s the one – Sunday 12 October 2008.

All the attention in the early evening was focused on Seven, buoyed by a generous lead in from the Bathurst 1000, the network had two aces up it’s sleeve, the US version of Kath & Kim (more on that later) and the David Koch special on what to do during the all consuming world financial crisis.

This half hour news special features Kochie at the news desk, a quick cut to Kevin Rudd (that’s the Prime Minister for any overseas readers) who announced that they’re guaranteeing deposits a la Ireland’s recent move, a response for the opposition leader Malcolm Turnbull and any number of crackpot economic theorists who varying predicted we would either “ride the storm out” or spiral in Armageddon!

It worked because people watched – shoving Thank God You’re Here under the million mark and pushing Battlefronts (how many of these Gardening makeover shows can they do) out to the boondocks.

Kath & Kim held over 80% of that Audience and wasn’t that bad really, the trick for them will be to make it there own, like they did with The Office (the first 6 episode season of The Office was shaky but from second season on they had nailed it)

Alas none of this helped Dancing with the Stars, it’s worth noting that even though this show has only been around since 2004, this is season 8 (two rounds per year in 05, 06 & 07) is it possible they’ve made one to many trips to the well, expect to see an all stars edition next year I reckon.

It was beaten by Australian Idol which cleaned up in the demographics as did it’s follow on Rove which also held over 1 million viewers, Californication even rose by 45,000 viewers.

The question for ten is – have they hit their nadir, or is there worse to come?

In the past two weeks only 3 Ten shows have over the million each week (Wk 40 TGYH, Idol Sunday, NCIS, Wk 41 Idol Sunday, NCIS, Criminal Intent) With the return of Good News Week and Download this week can they lift their performance on Mondays and Fridays or will their 6pm – 7.30pm sked keep them underwater?

Nine had the run of the night, clearly affected by Seven’s bolt out of the gate the panicking aspirationals took a look at Kath & Kim then headed over to 60 minutes for even more Kevin Rudd action.

The Mentalist dropped but still won it’s timeslot as did CSI Miami a show which once dominated Wednesday nights but is now reliant on a good lead in to get by. Will a fast-tracked CSI (Las Vegas) be the evidence viewers need to switch to Nine or will it be DOA?

Stay tuned to find out…