The Natural Order of Things

Wednesday 20 May 2009
A very good night for Seven with Thank God You’re Here holding steady, Criminal Minds on the improve (by 76,000) and My Name is Earl over the 900,000 mark!

It’s easy to forget that at one stage My Name is Earl was broadcast in tandem with How I met Your Mother and Earl was always the more popular of the two, well this week the natural order reasserted itself with the preppy New Yorker’s making only 790k. Strangely both sitcoms were upstaged by Scrubs a show that was once left for dead in an 11.30pm timeslot! Just goes to show that nothing is certain in television and nothing is forever.

It would be remiss of me to bang on about comedies without recognising that particularly Australian variety, the light entertainment/comedy show, last night the ABC had two of them and Spicks and Specks posted a whopping 1.4 million viewers – I’m almost certain that’s its biggest audience this season.

In fact the whole 8.30 hour had all the hallmarks of one of those slots where there’s something for everyone, with 5 shows over 1 million viewers and the season finale of House going out on a much better note than in recent weeks (up 213,000 viewers week on week!)

Numb3rs, however, has got to go – give it a run over Christmas or stick it on Fridays (where they don’t seem to care) but it’s not budging from 600k, this, Supernatural and Harpers Island all need to be flicked to late night, Ten can’t continue with 9.30 letting down the side like this.

Finally a special mention for Cold Case which has well and truly come back from the brink of extinction on Nine and has just been renewed for next season in the US, you’re on a winner here Nine – don’t screw it up!

Numb3rs you don't want to see

Wednesday 13 May 2009

Another Wednesday night win to Seven last night. Although Thank God You’re Here was down slightly on previous performance, their post 8.30 figures lifted with Criminal Minds up 32,000 and a couple of people meters behind The Gruen Transfer, while My Name is Earl was up 64,000 viewers and Family Guy up a healthy 105,000. After a shaky start this post 9.30 lineup is beginning to acquit itself, it’s still down on Seven’s older skewing fare but with old skewing fare everywhere else they need to make up ground on the young demographics where they often miss out.

As a rabid fan of Lost I considered the intrusion of Ponderland to be an affront to people everywhere who took up this show in 2005, but I have to admit waiting around between Family Guy and Lost this odd little show has grown on me.

Also up at 9.30 was Cold Case which added 141,000 viewers week on week, all these shows are benefiting from Numb3rs a 4 year veteran for Ten which has never performed that well (usually hovering around the 800,000 mark) I would remind Ten that this is the second 9.30 show that is woefully underperforming for them, a few years ago they pulled Smallville from a 7.30 timeslot when it was getting 1 million viewers! Now they’re allowing all sorts of failure in the 9.30 slots.

Perhaps they’re hoping for a boost when the stronger SVU comes online in a few weeks to battle for the 8.30 slot, perhaps this is just warming the bench for Rush which will need a timeslot very soon if they’re going to run 22 episodes.

House also suffered an embarrassing fall dropping 91,000 viewers week on week and back under the 900,000 mark, similarly The Simpsons fell 107,000 viewers week on week making Wednesday a bad night for Ten.

It was, however, a great night for Nine, achieved somewhat at its own expense. A Current Affair ran an interview with NRL Footy Show Star/Melbourne Storm Coach Matthew Johns about a 2002 incident dissected by the ABCs Four Corners on Monday night.

That program has cost Johns two jobs and whatever good reputation preceded him. Whether its deserved or not I’m sure there are people more qualified than I to judge, but what amazes me is that Nine stands him down, he fronts up for an interview! Think about that – if you were given the sack and your employer turned around and asked you to humiliate yourself in front of the customers? Would you?

Nine should cut the guy a cheque – his bad behaviour gave the program a rare win over Today Tonight and a week on week boost of 277,000 viewers. Now it remains to be seen if this train wreck can revive interest in the NRL Footy Show – don’t hold your breath…

Still waiting... Dog

Wednesday 6 May 2009

Well week two of Thank God You’re Here and we’re still waiting for that massive audience that will discover the show now that its on the Seven Network! Seems like some of that aud has discovered Masterchef, the cooking game show virtually tied with the defecting superhit in the 7.30 – 8pm half hour!

The Simpsons has proved a good move to Wednesday nights with the aging show pulling some decent numbers as opposed to its more subdued Friday night outings – I expect it to stay on Wednesdays for the remainder of the year.

More troubling is the performance of House, the show is stuck, Grey’s Anatomy like, just below 1 million, it’s going to get worse next season when Seven has two shiny new medical dramas to dilute the market with (the paramedic themed Trauma and a nurse-centric Mercy both of which have been picked up by NBC and are made by NBC-Universal)

Actually I can see why viewers are flocking to The Gruen Transfer (a very smart and easy to watch show) and Criminal Minds (which I occasionally watch, and saw again last night. Flicking between Criminal Minds and House last night (sorry but couldn’t less interested in The Mentalist) the FBI drama just seemed punchier and less predictable than House which feels played out, at one point House was even talking to a ghost??? Cuz yeah that really worked for Grey’s Anatomy!

The night’s other FBI drama, Numb3rs didn’t fare too well, partly because with all of ten’s launches this week it’s been a little under the radar, and secondly, the show has always struggled here for some reason – it’s a pity because it’s one of the more inventive procedurals out there.

In other news My Name is Earl went up by 79,000 viewers the night’s biggest week on week increase, of course this good news is tempered by the news in America the show is teetering on the edge of cancellation.

Something we should all Ponder

Wednesday 22 April 2009

Last night everyone had a reason to smile, and a reason to worry.

Ten can take heart that The Simpsons has settled nicely on Wednesdays and has scored some of its best numbers in years thanks to the better timeslot.

They can also worry about Life a show whose audience won't grow no matter what Ten does, it's very likely when Life leaves the stage in a week's time it will be for good, soon to be replaced by Numb3rs, so will Numb3rs improve ten's numbers at 9.30 or is the slot itself a problem?

Nine can be pleased with Cold Case which has bounced back after erratic scheduling over summer, a breif fling with 10.30, now with Seven's Gangs of Oz dispatched we see Nine dominating the post 9.30 field.

But they should be worried as to why The Mentalist seems to be fading, for the past couple of weeks it's been neck and neck with House which indicates that perhaps either its aud have lost interest due to a cliched format or worse, erratic scheduling (witness what AFL interruptions did to Life on Mars)

Seven can be happy with Australia's Got Talent which routinely been Wednesday's best performer, and ecstatic even that the channel ten megahit Thank God You're Here will be filling that slot next week.

They can also fire someone over the boneheaded decision to move their crime docos and bump Lost for a sitcom lineup at 9.30.

My Name is Earl has always gotten good ratings on Thursdays, then late 2007 Seven started fucking with success (sound familiar) by moving the show to Sundays, now it's on 9.30 Wednesdays?? I'm all for having sitcoms later into the night, but this show was a success at 8pm, why on earth would they mess with that?

Family Guy fared even worse - I can't help but think if Ten was screening this show it would be an 8.30pm hit, instead Seven, admirably keep persisting, but the old axiom that people watch shows and not networks continues to be proven false - both show and network need to mesh and Seven does not equal Family Guy.

As for bumping Lost, how do you insult fans of this show any further??, oh yeah bump their show behind a low rent comedian whose entire schtick seems to be poking fun at old educational videos.

Seven are currently at the top of the heap in TV, so these kinds of incompetent programming mistakes probably don't bother their top brass too much, but you really have to wonder if they managed to be consistent with the scheduling of their shows, how much more dominant they'd be.

Across the Pacific - Thursday 30 October 2008

Well here's something different - I've decided to take a look at US Ratings and how shows are doing in their home market, and because it's the most recently available data, we'll start with Thursday night.

It's obviously been more than a year since I looked at US ratings because last time I noticed Grey's Anatomy and CSI were neck and neck, and My Name is Earl was a lot more popular.

Grey's Anatomy seemed to take a big hit in 2007-08, this was the writers strike season but it's numbers dropped from 19 million to 16 million and it doesn't look to have recovered, buy contrast CSI held steady through the strike and still to this day.

Even more disturbing is My Name is Earl - the arse (ass) has well and truly fallen out of that show, it's not like the competition is that intense, but when The CW is chasing you down you know you've got problems.

The show has had a steady slide after a great first year in a 9pm timeslot, moving to 8pm certainly hasn't agreed with the show shedding over 30% of it's audience since the move.

The night's lowest rated show was Supernatural, which does however record good numbers of 18-49 year old viewers, similarly the younger set have ensured a full season pickup for Kath & Kim less than a fortnight after Seven unceremoniously dumped the show here in Australia