Monsters before bedtime

Monday 4 May 2009

The final episode of Underbelly: A Tale of Two Cities last night and a massive turnout for the event, let down however by the performance of everything else around it, although Eleventh Hour won its timeslot it still lost over half the audience from the Underbelly lead in.

This raises a question – why on earth did Nine screen a double episode of Underbelly 3 weeks ago, when they could of used that first week back to debut Eleventh Hour (clear of Biggest Loser) and have an extra week next week to cement an aud for the show? Just a nonsensical decision really – and that first week back they really took a bath on the audience, only recovering to it’s median level this week.

Next Year if there is indeed, another story, I’d advise the geniuses at Nine to hold off screening it until after the Easter break to make the most of the available Audience and have an unbroken run. Also I’d advise against double-eps – you get the most bang for your buck in the 8.30 hour, which with a 2 mill aud is enough to win you the night, there’s every reason to stretch those shares out to 13 weeks rather than compress them into eleven.

Also for f***’s sake next year figure out what you want to do with the 9.30 hour before you bow – this year was a dog’s breakfast, Ladette to Lady (a completely unrelated reality skein), Crime Investigation Australia (a Cable repurposing) and now Eleventh Hour (should have put it here from the start)

The new Nine 7.30 hour reality skeins are not as popular as that Custom Mash-Up that preceded them with Ten actually winning the 7.30 hour with a great debut aud for The Recruits, which along with Masterchef was their bright spot for the night.

The return of Supernatural, though, was less lively, managing only a paltry 633,000. The problem for Supernatural is pretty simple really in my estimation – it’s aimed squarely at teenagers most of whom probably have to be at school the next day and therefore can’t stay up to watch it.

The other point is it’s a genre show, mixing sci-fi and horror. We’ve seen year after year high-concept shows thriving at 8.30 (think Lost, 24, Prison Break, Heroes, yes Supernatural, Charmed) and the second they’re moved to 9.30 the audience dwindles, Supernatural is the only one here holding onto a 9.30 slot by the skin of its teeth!

So what kind of shows are suitable for 9.30? Well lets look at what works, procedurals – Lie to Me, NCIS, Criminal Minds, Cold Case, Bones, CSI Miami, light entertainment – The Footy Show, Enough Rope, 20 to 01, and soaps like All Saints, even Brothers and Sisters looks respectable this week!

Essentially I don’t think these kinds of shows work at 9.30 – Ten has the perfect out, they can swap GNW with Supernatural, that will give more people the chance to catch GNW (getting it out of the way of Desperate Housewives and Four Corners) and give the kids a chance to watch Monsters before bedtime!

Tuesday 24 March 2009

Some big movements last night but very little change in the rankings as Seven brought the season of Packed to the Rafters to a close, the show gained 147,000 viewers on last week to close out over 2 million, a sign that the show is an entrenched hit.

Similarly Find My Family found another 132,000 viewers this week, while it’s main competition Bondi Rescue lost 176,000 viewers week on week.

Wipeout improved on last week dismal number to keep itself in the game, while another finale, this time Ladette to Lady saw an extra 66,000 people tuning in (for what exactly I’m not sure – it was a reunion special)

Do you laugh or cry? Tuesday 3 March 2009

I’m sure Ten’s programmers wouldn’t know whether to laugh or cry – laugh because a rerun of a five year old drama takes down All Saints, or cry because their acclaimed local drama Rush couldn’t do the same.

At any rate it’s wonderful that two dramas can bring over 1.2 million each to the screen at 9.30, in fact viewing across the 5 capitals was up week on week with an average of 147,000 additional people tuning in between 7.30 and 10.30.

Seven’s early evening benefited immensely with Seven News recording a whopping 238,000 gain week on week. Nine’s news also gained an extra 134,000 viewers.

Kudos goes to Wipeout which built on its audience by 75,000 viewers and the new ep of Two and a Half Men increased it’s aud by 109,000. Although Ladette to Lady continues to disappoint in total people terms, at least its not going down, and I can’t see it doing much better given that the Tuesday night game is really between Seven and Ten.

Ten News won the battle at 10.30 – in fact the surge for news across the board indicates intense interest in this unexpected attack on the Sri Lankan cricket team in Pakistan.

Saints beat sinners - or is it just a lie? Tuesday 25 February 2009

Word has it that Nine have already greenlit a second season of Ladette to Lady (for those of you playing at home “seasons” are now about 6 episodes long, 22 episodes is so 1990s)

You’ve gotta wonder whether there’s a meeting somewhere in channel nine today where they’re looking for a way to get out of those contracts, this reality show has settled below 900,000 (which we’ll assume is the new pass-mark) now 800,000 is probably enough to keep it at 9.30 but Nine won’t be feeling too good about a renewal.

Over on Seven we learn the value of overruns, on most ratings reports this morning you will see a figure for All Saints of 1,223,000 Indeed I did and was preparing to write a paragraph on how All Saints has finally bested upstart Lie to Me, but word comes down from a reliable source that the 1.2 million figure represents 9.30 – 10.30 whereas All Saints ran from 9.45 – 10.45 and between those times Seven netted a still impressive 1,135,000 viewers.

Lie to Me was still bested in its timeslot due to the Packed to the Rafters overrun. Given that rarely anyone (including myself) checks back at the end of the week to see adjusted figures we can see how nets can use rubbery scheduling to spin the numbers their way.

Fortified to the Rafters – Tuesday 17 February 2009

This is the first day we’ve gotten a look at a regular Tuesday sked for all three nets and Nine is learning the price of coming late to the party.

Seven’s Tuesday was according to the script – they are virtually unassailable from 6pm to 9.30pm with their gooey family line up but then look at 9.30 – what is happening there? All Saints has lost its punch.

Now given that All Saints probably runs on the smell of an oily rag and is still pulling over 1 million I doubt that it will be given the chop, but Seven must be seriously considering a timeslot change to have something else take advantage of Packed to the Rafter’s massive lead-in.

Over on Ten all of their shows bar Neighbours suffered audience drops as younger viewers leaked over to Nine, but not enough of them to cause an upset, although Bondi Rescue dropped by 292,000 viewers week on week as people decided splashing around in a big pool was preferable to a day at the beach!

Wipeout was Nine’s only bright spot, their decision to blow new eps of Two and a Half Men at 8.30 Tuesdays is turning out to be a costly decision, these eps on a different night could attract a much larger number but instead Nine is both limiting their reach and contracting their run of new eps (already shortened due to last year’s unnecessary fast-tracking)

At 9.30 Nine’s game of ‘follow that show’ has backfired with Aussie Ladette to Lady recording a 519,000 viewer night on night drop. Thanks Ladette’s – its been real.