Nine get off the mark

The first official week of ratings has been and gone with Channel Nine the number one network providing hope for 2008.

Nine 28.7%
Seven 27.2%
Ten 22.5%
ABC 16.4%
SBS 5.3%

A strong debut from Underbelly plus assistance from CSI, RPA, the cricket and its batch of new shows which made an indent in a number of Seven's juggernauts such as Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares: USA, The Chopping Block, Terminator and A Year with the Royal Family.

Their results were not high rating shows but equally impressive with the challenges.

*CSI (1,462,413) had more viewers than Desperate Housewives (1,270,713 ).
*A Year with the Royal Family (1,067,494 ) made a dent in Border Security (1,351,089 344) and The Force (1,342,725 ) which both use to hover around the 2 million mark.
*It Takes Two only debuted with 1.3million viewers (another 2 million viewer show) while Terminator peaked at a little over 1 million and Women's Murder Club on Ten almost had the same numbers as It Takes Two.
* The Chopping Block had almost similar figures to The Real Sea Change and was helped by Back To You on Channel Ten.
* Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares: USA had over 1.1 million viewers while Lost did not even reach 900,000.

Week 2 will be very interesting to see if the new programs retain their viewer numbers or if they start to slide and whether networks will have to start re-configuring schedules.

Seven will be wary of Dirty Sexy Money and hope that figures improve for Border Security & The Force, Desperate Housewives and It Takes Two. None of these shows face the axe but the network would be expecting more.

Seven executives would be keeping a close eye on The Real Sea Change while their Thursday night is in trouble especially with the low figures for Out of the Question and Family Guy which is restricting Lost.

Over at Nine they launch Cashmere Mafia on Wednesday night after Underbelly which should debut strongly with that lead in. Monster House still does not look safe but will probably hold on for the moment as Nine are winning the week. This show would be better suited to a Saturday night slot after Australia's Funniest Home Videos.

For Ten So You Think You Can Dance Australia continues to impress but The Biggest Loser has been disappointing. Women's Murder Club will hopefully hold its audience.

Tonight should have been won by Nine with an exciting Cricket match between Australia and India as the momentum continues into week 2.