0/5

Chopping Block lacking customers

Nine had a disappointing debut with The Chopping Block last night.

The show which pitted competing Cronulla cafes only garnered 718,000 viewers nationally.

Even in Sydney the show was all but ignored with 194,000. TEN’s Sydney auditions for So You Think You Can Dance Australia had a whopping 1.6m viewers. It peaked at 1.94m. Seven’s The Shape of Things to Come had 1m viewers.

Nine has decided to schedule an “encore” screening of Chopping Block tonight at 10:30pm.

It will be an “uncut” version, presumably with no bleeps over the swear words that were flying. It replaces Amazing Medical Stories.

No word from Nine if anyone has actually asked for an encore….

First Review: The Chopping Block

Ratings: Week 6

10 Responses

  1. just seen the repeat on Thursday and loved this show. I can’t stand all this bagging of aussie shows just for the sake of it. It was as good as any US/UK concept I have seen and loved all the human emotion. Only 2 things I would have like. 1-More of the food critic and Matt Moran. We didn’t really get to see what advice Matt gave apart from showing them 1 dish. 2-They could slightly turn down the volume when playing the violins everytime someone cries. Although not a ratings hit the people who saw it at my work were definately talking about it at the water cooler. I really hope Nine doesn’t axe it after 2 weeks just because they get less than a million viewers.

  2. As neonkitten said, Channel 9 ruined so many shows supering the CB promos that they set almost everyone away from it before the show was broadcast.
    It;s immoral to screen spam which they are now doing for their UB crime show, which they have already blown by ruining other shows with UB supers.
    Kerry Packer must be shovelling through the ground to get to stop all this crap.

  3. Forget about the production values of CB.
    Make no mistake, this sorry production is a “make good: from David Gyngell to the chaps who were boned by his predecessor.
    Now that David has given them another chance, and they below it, according to the lack of ratings, David’s now “off the hook”, and the CB lads should retire.
    The days of confrontation and all that are “tired” and fresh ideas are “in”.
    David’s done the right thing, given them a chance which they blew, all’s square and David should wipe his hands of this rubbish and use his efforts with more professional programs with some values,
    Sorry lads, but D.G. honoured his previous promises outlawed by the master boner, so now is the time to produce some quality television.

  4. I was a bit like Cathy – after an enjoyabel Ransay’s show thought I would give it a go – even though I would have preferred the scheduled Amazing Medical Stories. I stuck it out to see who won but it really was just so-so. All these shows where everyhting is overhuled in 48 hours just don;t cut it. Everything about it is unrealistic – it’s too rushed. I much prefer Gordon Ramsay, Wife Swap even the Dog Training Lady (she took a week to fix the dogs probs).

    Now seeing in my tv guide tonight (Melb)that The Chopping Block is having another repeat (sorry, encore) screening tonight I am even more annoyed. It smacks of Damages – done to death in the first two weeks – then died – Channel 9 will never learn.

    SYTYCD had already absorbed the bulk of the sudience that may have watched The Chopping Block – that is why it’s initial ratings were SO low – similar demographic. It was never going to have huge figures – surely they can’t be surprised. I have to say Catriona Rowntree nearly had me switching off last night.

  5. I decided to watch this encore screening since I had just watched Ramsay’s Kitchen Nightmares and so was in restaurant-revamp mode.

    Not even half way through the show and I’m ready to give up on it. In comparison to Ramsay’s show, The Chopping Block has nothing to offer. Boring, boring, boring.

  6. neonkitten is correct, the spam advertising that Channel Nine does these days makes me go out of my way to [i]not[/i] watch their TV programs. What they do is just plain insulting to viewers, and it also insults the programs they advertise by “cheapening” their general appeal. The main attraction for watching new shows is the fact that you only know a little bit about them, and the mystery creates a lot of its appeal. But when you go about spam advertising something, the viewers become so de-sensitized to it that, by the time the show actually airs, we all feel like we’ve been watching it for a very long time and are now so bored with it to the point that it is painful.

    Maybe their new slogan should be “We break the heart of TV”.

  7. I’m not at all surprised.

    Firstly, it sounded like (and from what I saw, pretty much was) the same old thing all over again – “My Restaurant Rules” was never a blockbuster but by its last season people were already speaking with their remotes – bored now, let’s try something else.

    And secondly, this proves beyond doubt that the insulting campaign of spam advertising for this show – especially the obscene all-show-long watermark advertising the past few weeks – does nothing but annoy viewers and does NOT make them want to watch the show you’re getting in someone’s face with. So You Think You Can Dance more than doubled this show’s viewing numbers without one single corruption of other programming. Take this as proof, Nine – your CW-style spam watermarks DO NOT WORK. Lose them permenently.

    Oh, and having your marketing team constantly refer to the fact that this one was from “the same guy behind the success story that was The Block” is a bit silly when that show’s last season tanked embarrassingly too.

    “ER” rated better than this in a non-ratings period and was pulled mid-season. Presumably the chopping block awaits almost immediately for The Chopping Block, in true Nine style with absolutely no notice.

    I doubt an unadvertised “encore” at 10.30 at night can save this one.

  8. aww! that’s sad. I really enjoyed The Chopping Block and thought it would have rated better than that.

    Maybe ratings will improve next week when Dance won’t be on?

    hopefully.

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