Chip off the Old Block

Nine executives are this morning feeling sick, tearing out their air after the much anticipated debut of The Chopping Block bombed last night.

That same feeling from a defeat in 2007 must have crept back in this morning and it's only February and the ratings season has not even started. Nine face an uphill battle as it is and they did not need the poor result that The Chopping Block returned last night.

It's figures:

20 THE CHOPPING BLOCK Nine 718,000
(Tribal Mind: http://www.smh.com.au/)

The Chopping Block was only the 20th most popular show last night up against So You Think You Can Dance Australia (Ten) the nights most popular show and Seven's documentary The Shape of Things To Come. Perhaps that title for the Seven show subtly refers to year both networks will have.

So what was wrong with The Chopping Block and why has it bombed all ready?

The show resembles a format that Seven used and failed, My Restaurant Rules so if the market did not embrace that then why would they embrace a clone?

Maybe Catriona Rowntree is the problem as a host the previous shows that she has fronted have not been a rating success apart from Getaway and she should stick to that, she does it very well. The Great Weight Debate was a flop, The National IQ Test and The National Driving Test all programs that have not worked and unfortunately had her name to it.

But would the result have been any different with another host, say Jennifer Hawkins?

Maybe a few more viewers but the show was doomed from its creation. An old concept, dusted off, produced and attached to David Barbour and Julian Cress who created The Block and Celebrity Overhaul which were successful but their failures are often over looked, Celebrity Circus and Dancing On Ice.

Another problem I had with the show was that in the first segment before the first ad break there were three occassions when people swore. Is p***ed off and a** hole ok to use on a show at 7:30PM? Surely parents with families would have been incline to turn the show off just because of the language.

It is disappointing for Nine that the show has all ready failed after only one episode plus added pressure of a court ruling as to whether Underbelly can be screened or not because it may influence an upcoming trial. If this is the case then Nine is all but doomed for 2008.

Will The Chopping Block be pulled from the schedule now or be given a new timeslot?