A 20 to 01 shot

Thursday 4 June 2009

Biggest Disappointments
Mask & Memory
ABC 9.30pm down on Q&A by 38.58%

Sunrise
Seven Early Morning down Week on Week by 12.21%

Biggest Improvements
Rules of Engagement
Ten 8pm up 50.96% on Worst Week

Medium
Ten 9.30pm up 23.89% week on week

Well here something encouraging – another sitcom it starting to connect with the public and lo and behold it’s one them old timey laugh track shows!

Rules of Engagement, currently in it’s 3rd season (if it doesn’t feel that old that’s because all of it’s seasons have been shortened due to the dearth of available half hour timeslots on CBS and ten only debuted the show in 2008 anyway) is starting to take off achieving some of it’s highest ratings yet.

While still 3rd in the 7.30 hour the removal of the also-ran Worst Week has turned Rules into a viable competitor

Now that that’s’s sorted and Medium is lifting Thursday nights are starting to become a close-run affair, even Criminal Intent lifted its game with a 20.58% increase week on week.

It’s also the only night of the week right now where Nine has any sort of dominance, the Footy Show is on a hot streak in the southern markets right now with 687,000 tuning in to the AFL vs 375,000 rugby league tragics.

Meanwhile my hat is off to 20 to 01, back in 2006 (the show’s second season) people were wondering whether Nine could sustain the series beyond it’s initial 7 episodes but lo an behold there have been 87 episodes (yet 87) since then and the show is still going strong! Kudos!

Worst (part of Ten's) Week

Thursday 28 May 2009

Biggest Disappointment
Private Practice
Down 164,000 week on week

Biggest Improvement
Rules of Engagement
Up 84,000 week on week

So there you go, Rules of Engagement, ten's only foray into multicamera comedy is doing better while it's companion - the single camera Worst Week is trending in the wrong direction, while Rules gained 84,000, Worst Week lost 84,000 - there's some weird symmetry at work there.

I see two explanations here.

1) People are lukewarm on single camera sitcoms. Television critics may crap on ad nauseum about how a laugh track is insulting to their intelligence but the numbers tell a very different story

The top rated comedy shows over the past seven days have been
Talkin' 'bout Your Generation 1.6 million viewers
Spicks & Specks 1.6m
The Chaser 1.5m
Thank God You're Here 1.5m
Two and a Half Men 1.3m
Funniest Home Videos 1.1m
Scrubs 1.1m
Good News Week 1m

See a trend, all except Scrubs are filmed in front of a studio audience thereby featuring that dreaded laugh track. Perhaps the average viewer actually likes the live audience feel and is self assured enough not to feel their intellence is being insulted by the program's producers.

It's also a given that multicamera sitcoms tend to rely more on wit and timing while single camera coms fall back on sight gags and non sequiters.

2) Australian viewers are not so much in the dark anymore, it wouldn't a genius to work out that Worst Week is already toast in its home market - why get involved with something where there's no prospect of a future?

Rules of Sitcom Scheduling

Thursday 14 May 2009
Thursday night is such an even little night, nothing lunges much past 1 million yet nothing goes too low, each of the networks has points to be proud of and things to work on, but the folks at Ten have to be concerned over the ratings for Rules of Engagement.

Rules of Engagement is an inoffensive sitcom that plays like a cross between King of Queens and Mad About You. Its funny and if it weren’t for David Spade it would be really funny, if you happen to watch it you’ll probably enjoy it – but its not the kind of show you’d set your watch for.

Two and a Half Men used to be in the same boat, funny but non-committal. Given that Rules is a lock for renewal into 2010 Ten could do worse than stick with it and hope it catches fire, but right now the show is funny but non memorable and the non-impression that it leaves is going to hurt it.

Ten needs a genuine zinger to line it up with – they had it last year with the hilarious Back to You which unfortunately bit the dust in the US over cost/benefit issues and haphazard strike scheduling (here it was hurt with haphazard Big Brother scheduling!)

Unbeknownst to Ten they actually have a memorable, funny, water-cooler type show to line it up with, no not Worst Week (though I’ve heard good things the show is axed in the states) I’m talking about The Office.

Currently buried late on Sunday nights, The Office is a show that ten tried for 1 week in prime time (one ep on a Wednesday and two on the Thursday IIRC) and then baulked at the low ratings, its no surprise it rated badly – the first 6 episodes (the entire first season) were pretty unfunny, but the show got renewed in the states and the second season (which aired 11pm Sundays after The Ronnie Johns Half Hour) was a rare late night TV treasure, of course back then it was regularly scheduled, since it has been all over the map with no thought to consistency.

The show is suitable for a 7.30 audience, after finishing the current season late at night Ten should think about revisiting The Office in a visible prime-time slot, it’s the sort of show that viewers remember the next day, which makes them want to watch the next week, which means they may stick around for what else is on…