Rafters stays relative while Rush starts to slide

Packed to the Rafters was again Australia’s most popular show with just under two million viewers, a similar result for lead in Find My Family.

Seven had all the momentum last night with RSPCA: Animal Rescue capturing almost 1.8 million viewers thanks to high ratings from Seven News, Today Tonight and Home and Away which just accounted for Two and Half Men, again Nine’s most popular show.

Nine News, A Current Affair and Wipeout were all around the 1.2 million mark, which is not a bad result but well behind all of Seven’s shows from 6-8:30 and in the 8:30 slot Two and A Half Men finished third in its slot beaten by Rafters and NCIS who had 1.2 million viewers.

Rush didn’t capitalize on last week’s figures or the lead-in from NCIS dropping about 200 000 viewers to finish third at 9:30PM with 912 000 viewers behind All Saints with 1.3 million and 20 to 1 who had 941 000 viewers.

Last night’s episode of Rush was not as sharp as its debut and was a bit of a let down. If the show continues to slide, we may, unfortunately have another Canal Road on our hands. A great shame when Rush looks like it could promise so much but perhaps this is why Ten are hiding the show in the 9:30 slot.

Tuesday’s ratings saw Seven (34.6%) win by almost 10% from Nine (25.5%), Ten (20.2%), ABC (15.4%) and SBS (4.3%)

It's all about Seven

Another week and another victory to Channel Seven (29.4%) but as the op_inion predicted the gap was closed by Nine (26.7%). Seven’s domination is led by Australian dramas Packed to the Rafters and City Homicide as well as all their factual documentary programs which have become synonymous with Seven’s brand.

Find My Family, Medical Emergency, RSPCA Animal Rescue, Border Security, The Force, Crash Investigation Unit are winning Seven the key 7:30-8:30PM slots Monday-Wednesday.

The reality television genres bubble has definitely now burst with Dancing with the Stars only debuting with 1.3 million viewers last week and Make Me A Supermodel failing to fire for Seven.

It’s all Australian drama and factual entertainment that is putting bums on seats for Seven and the formula is working.

Nine’s most popular program was 60 Minutes but Nine News and A Current Affair are continually thrashed by Seven News and Today Tonight amidst rumours that Eddie McGuire may soon be permanently in the ACA hot seat as Tracy Grimshaw may find herself on 60 Minutes.

Seven wins the week with their Monday-Wednesday schedule where Nine struggles but they will be banking on Gordon Ramsay to save them when a new season of Kitchen Nightmares: USA launches tomorrow night at 8:30PM.

Tuesdays have always been a problem for Nine who use to surrender the night when Seven screened Dancing with the Stars. Wipeout started to reverse that trend and the Two and A Half Men does OK but does not impact Rafters or NCIS.

At the moment Nine is surrendering Wednesdays by showing movies but that will change when Fringe launches this month, a gamble that the network needs to take.

Other notable performances last week were Domestic Blitz which defeated The Outdoor Room, The Strip debuting with 1.45 million viewers and Rush who had 1.1 million viewers of their own.

And they’re off… but is there room for three?

The Strip, Australia’s newest drama by two days was launched last night with 1.45 million viewers tuning into the Gold Coast cop drama helping Nine to win the slot and win the night. This comes off the back of Ten’s new cop drama, Rush which debuted on Tuesday night and Seven’s Packed to the Rafters which was launched last week.

After seeing all three dramas, Rafters has appealed to the most number of people reflected with their two million plus viewers watching on Tuesday night while Rush claimed 1.1 million themselves.

Each drama is led by recognisable Australian actors and introduces a number of new and fresh faces but will each drama have a second season?

The early indication is that Rafters will get the green light for series two after growing their audience in the first two episodes with over two million viewers, Seven look to all ready look to be backing a winner here.

Rush’s debut was softer but also expected against All Saints and in a 9:30PM time slot, there are not as many people watching TV as there are at 8:30. It’s disappointing that Ten has not scheduled Rush at 8:30 on Wednesday or Thursday night although the latter might hurt The Strip.

The op_inion wrote on Wednesday that Rush is the dark horse of the bunch but after seeing The Strip last night, I wish to reiterate my comments that Rush is the darkhorse but The Strip may struggle.

Setting the drama in the Gold Coast has given The Strip some fabulous visuals and Aaron Jeffery plays a stone cold police detective opposite some obvious onscreen (and rumoured off screen) chemistry with Vanessa Gray but this drama was harder to get in to.

Possibly the scripting had something to do with it with some of the dialogue delivered by Bob Morley really made you think about changing the channel. Luckily, The Strip has next to no competition in its schedule because Seven never does well on Thursdays and Ten has Law & Order which should see The Strip complete its first season unless Seven or Ten become more competitive on Thursday nights or the stories improve, you wouldn’t be rushing to commission a second series.

And excuse the pun because Rush should get a boost next week and hopefully by the end of the year we see Ten, like Seven announce that there will be a second series for Rush and Rafters respectively.

I am not writing off The Strip just yet, I hope that I am proved wrong and the storylines pickup next week and The Strip also gets a second series otherwise viewers may choose with their remote control to go elsewhere.

Rafter's rating through the roof

Packed to the Rafters lifted its ratings in the second episode which aired last night, eclipsing the magical 2 million viewer mark to win the night’s most popular show with 2.05 million viewers.

These enormous figures for Rafters are even more impressive with Ten screening a brand new episode of NCIS and Nine had their ‘Adult’s Only’ hour of Two and A Half Men.

Channel Ten’s new drama, Rush debuted with 1.16 million viewers, beaten by All Saints which had 1.3 million viewers also paying respect to deceased actor Mark Priestly.

Rush’s figures are OK for the new Australian drama in a program that had another take on policing. John Edwards’ influence is obvious with a Police Rescue-esque feel but the team are involved in more than just rescue operations.

Perhaps the show may be a bit of a dark horse with the number of new Australian dramas being launched, this one has not had the same push as Seven and Nine’s new shows but I think it definitely has legs and I was most impressed with the show. Rodger Corser leads the cast well and Catherine McClements is an obvious strength while Callan Mulvey and Nicole de Silva also impressed. Expect to see Rush’s ratings improve next week.

Tuesday is still owned by Seven with 34.4% of the audience share, thrashing Ten who finished second on 23.7% and Nine finished third with 23.1% of the audience share.

Seven has really struck a chord with audiences by scheduling RSPCA: Animal Rescue (1.7 million), Find My Family (1.6 million), Packed to the Rafters (2.045 million) and All Saints (1.3 million) on Tuesday night.

Nine’s best show was the Two and A Half Men repeat at 7pm (1.2 million viewers) but was beaten by Home and Away (1.4 million).

A huge night for Seven and a great night for Australian drama with the three products all rating above 1 million and for Rafters, the magical 2 million plus. Isn't it good to see that Australian television drama is back and we don't have to rely on American imports for ratings... now it's to The Strip

Olympic momentum continues Seven's Gold medal haul

Not surprisingly Seven finished first again in Week 35 (Week 27 of the Official Television Ratings) with Gold Medals going to The Beijing Olympics Closing Ceremony, Packed to the Rafters, City Homicide, Border Security, The Force, Home and Away, Find My Family, RSPCA: Animal Rescue, Medical Emergency, Criminal Minds, Crash Investigation Unit, All Saints, Today Tonight and Seven News.

There were some forgettable performances as well namely Alan Sugar: The Apprentice and Ugly Betty while Make Me A Supermodel picked up bronze.

Gold medals were few and far between for the Nine Network surprising everyone when Doug Mullray’s Naughtiest Home Videos won its race, Getaway and The Footy Show but the much hypes series Wipeout and Hole in the Wall fought off for silver.

Ten had no gold medals this week but Australian Idol put up a good performance and maintained a healthy silver, there best Gold medal chances are to come this week launching Taken Out and Rush.

Seven won the week which looked like this:

SEVEN: 32.1%
NINE: 24.5%
TEN: 21.7%
ABC: 16.7%
SBS: 5.0%

OzTam

Tonight’s results will be most interesting in the key battles:

6:30PM
Jamie Durie’s The Outodoor Room (Seven) V Scott Cam’s Domestic Blitz (Nine)

7:30PM
Dancing with the Stars (Seven) V 60 Minutes (Nine) V Australian Idol (Ten) V Doctor Who (ABC)

8:30PM – 10:30PM
Dancing with the Stars / Criminal Minds (Seven) V Scorched (Nine) V Australian Idol/Rove (Ten)

Such good Australian shows on one night is making a viewers choice very difficult. I think Nine will win the night with a very narrow margin because of their choice to have Lauren Huxley on Domestic Blitz and three very interesting stories on 60 Minutes plus an Australian tele-movie should win them the night unless the Dancing with the Stars juggernaut works on Sunday.

As for the rest of the week:

Seven News and Today Tonight will dominate the news war with Nine but the 7PM slot could get interesting with Ten attempting to challenge with new dating series, Taken Out. Viewers may be pulled away from Seven’s Home and Away and Nine’s Two and A Half Men making the 7PM slot very competitive.

Monday will go to Seven with Border Security, The Force and City Homicide edging between 1.6 – 2 million viewers

Tuesday will go to Seven with RSPCA Animal Rescue, Find My Family and Packed to the Rafters but expect Ten’s new drama Rush, which will air at 9:30PM to beat All Saints. Nine may pick up some later viewers with it’s raunchy new series, Secret Diaries of A Call Girl debuting in the 10:30PM slot.

Wednesday will again be won by Seven with Medical Emergency and Criminal Minds but the hour of Two and A Half Men from 7PM could beat Crash Investigation Unit and Hole in the Wall may challenge Medical Emergency. Don’t forget there is good TV on the ABC with Spicks and Specks and The Hollowmen from 8:30.

Thursday is Nine’s with Getaway and hopefully somewhere close to 2 million viewers for the debut of The Strip.

Friday should, as per usual go to Seven with Better Homes and Gardens plus the first round of the AFL Finals.

Saturday could go to Ten with their screening of the AFL Finals in primetime while Seven show the movies Freaky Friday and Pretty Woman and Nine screen Australia’s Funniest Home Videos followed by Zathura: A Space Adventure and Hellboy.

The week should be won by Seven but not by the same gap as last week, expect about a 2-3% gap between Seven and Nine. My picks of the week is Rush on Ten and The Strip on Nine and it will be interesting to see if Packed to the Rafters can retain it's huge audience, almost 2 million viewers tuned in last week, but will they be back?

Three new drama’s on three different networks

Australia’s three commercial television networks have announced where each of their much anticipated new dramas will be scheduled.

Tuesday’s at 8:30 will be the home of Seven’s Packed to the Rafters and at 9:30 over on Ten, the brand new cop drama Rush will air.

Nine’s Gold Coast based cop drama, The Strip will screen at 8:30 on Thursday’s.

Rafters and The Strip have picked sensible and winnable slots and Rush has probably as well with NCIS as lead-in but it is disappointing to see Ten schedule a brand new Australian drama at 9:30.

Makes you think that Rush may in-fact embody its name, being rushed in production. Have Ten produced their own Canal Road?

Rush will also have to compete with Seven’s All Saints which has recently seen a deserved upward trend in the programs ratings, which is another reason why not to scheduele Rush at 9:30 because it is Australian drama against Australian drama. Commercial television is overloaded with foreign content, so to see two Aussie dramas competing against each other, in the same slot is poor scheduling and a slap in the face to the Australian audiences, making them choose which Australian drama they want to watch, not both, so one will get the axe.

Rafters starts next Tuesday with Rush and The Strip debuting the following week.

It’s great to see Aussie drama back and the networks investing money into producing new shows. Let’s hope each series has a successful season and they all are commissioned for a second series.