4 weeks on… Its Nine and Seven with 2 a piece

The cricket finals helped Channel Nine win the fourth week of ratings in 2008 with strong performances on Sunday March 2 and the following Tuesday which were the two most popular shows securing Nine the all important fourth week.

Underbelly, RPA and CSI returned all holding their audiences and winning the important 8:30PM prime time slots throughout the week although their 7-8:30PM slot needs some work.

The cries for Burke’s Backyard to return to a weekly series hit a speed bump with the latest instalment, ‘Autumn Special’ bombing, being defeated by almost double the amount of viewers by Better Homes and Gardens.

Nine did manage to win the fourth week however, which looked like this:

Nine: 29.1%
Seven: 27.3%
Ten: 22.4%
ABC: 16.0%
SBS: 5.3%

Week 5 has started in Nine’s favour with 60 Minutes return capturing 1.2 million viewers to be the third most popular show behind Seven News and So You Think You Can Dance Australia in first place with 1.5 million viewers. Nine also screened Wedding Crashers which sustained an audience of 1.1 million being the sixth most popular show.

The ‘one-off’ This is Your Life of Lleyton Hewitt was a miss, not even reaching 900 000 viewers, placing the series in fourteenth place. Nine still won Sunday, with Ten Second and Seven 0.1% behind in third, making the night look like this:

TEN: 26.2%
NINE: 28.7%
SEVEN: 26.5%
ABC: 14.0%S
BS: 4.6%

With no cricket this week and no RPA will Nine be able to win the week?

They are launching a few new series and have adjusted their schedule slightly. Tuesday has troubled Nine for the last two years and has so far proven difficult against It Takes Two.

This week Nine will show the much-talked about controversial American show, “Moment of Truth” followed by Kitchen Nightmares and now Terminator will screen at the later 9:30PM slot.

Thursdays have also been tweaked with RPA concluding, Kitchen Nightmares moves to Thursdays and The Footy Show returns to 9:30 while Friday night Rugby League will dominate the screen from 7:30.

With the change of seasons and the AFL season still being a week away will Nine be able to go into the Easter Break with three weeks under their belt or will Seven bring home the bacon?

I highly doubt Seven will lose a week for the rest of the year, but stranger things have happened.

Still to screen for Seven is Gladiators, starting Sundays soon plus Australia’s Got Talent must return, Where Are They Now?, City Homicide, Dancing With the Stars and more.

Nine will again mix things up in the coming weeks launching Animal Emergency, Sensing Murder, Royal Flying Doctor Service, Search and Rescue as well as the final series of McLeod’s Daughters and host of new Aussie dramas to launch in 2008.

The ratings race continues