Restoration

If nothing else we now have rock solid proof that there are people who will not watch something, even if it may interest them, for the simple reason that appears on SBS.

There's at least 600,000 of these people in the 5 major metro areas according to Oztam!

Top Gear certainly performed well in it's new digs on Channel Nine, if Nine can keep up the interest it will go a long way to restoring a night which for them has been one disaster after another in recent years.

Though it had a strong debut, its 8.30 hour was bested by NCIS on Ten which demonstrated that despite the network's woes there are still some things on the channel people watch regardless of the lead in!

There is some concern over the performance of NCIS Los Angeles at 9.30 but as this was a rerun it's probably a very good result, much more concerning is Grey's Anatomy on Seven which collapsed under the weight of NCIS and Top Gear (I guess men managed to west control of the remotes on Tuesday night!) to burn two new eps to under 900,000 viewers is not a good sign for this show, though I'd be interested to see the timeshifting figures for these eps - and we'll come back to them next week when they become available.

Betting on NCIS

Tuesday 2 June 2009

Biggest Disappointment
Millionaire Hot Seat
Nine 5.30pm down by 88,000 viewers

Biggest Prime Time Disappointment
Two and a Half Men
Nine 9pm rebroadcast down by 84,000 viewers

Biggest Improvement
NCIS
Ten 9.30pm rebroadcast up by 216,000 viewers week on week

Ten had an absolute blinder last night helped immensely by a rerun of NCIS. The first run NCIS eps are due to finish very soon, what ten will do after that is anyone's guess but you can bet that they'll keep the reruns in the schedule

It's also a good bet that NCIS Los Angeles will be fast-tracked come September it's as close to a guaranteed hit that any network has next US season.

Nine continues to flounder with slipshod post 9.30 programming betraying a bare cupboard and a programming department that has lost it's zeal - honestly how many times can they play those Miss Congeniality movies - Nine are quickly morphing into a parody of last year channel ten endlessly rerunning the same movies in desperation to increasingly diminishing returns.

There's also a cloud over the future of HomeMADE, on a night where most shows gained viewers, HomeMADE lost 18,000 of them! There are unconfirmed reports that it has been yanked from Nine's Sunday Lineup, I have no doubt the series will be played out in primetime, the commitment to sponsors and a borderline ratings will ensure that, but I'm pretty sure the real estate/reno/reality genre is dead for the time being.