The first episode of Thank God You’re Here on Seven was the #1 show for Wednesday. It managed an impressive 1.74m viewers, beating RPA / What’s Good for You (1.22m, 1.20m), and MasterChef Australia, The Simpsons (994,000 / 1.09m).
All eyes were on Seven to see how the show would fare with viewers after a switch from Network TEN.
Seven took the night easily with a 29.9% share over Nine’s 25.6% and TEN’s 21.2%.
On the network switch, Working Dog’s Michael Hirsh told The Age, “We thought long and hard about a move as such, but ultimately it’s not such a big deal.”
Working Dog was, he says, under no obligation to TEN. “There was a perception we were linked to Channel TEN, (but) we have never received a cent as part of an obligation or a development deal.” The company even paid for the Thank God You’re Here pilot from its own funds, not TEN’s.
Working Dog insists it did not, as the headlines suggested, sign with Seven because of money, though sources say the final offer from Seven was formidable.
“It’s not a factor. If money was what it was all about, we would not have taken the year off, it’s as simple as that. We would have just worked it like a factory,” Hirsh says.
Meanwhile MasterChef Australia has slipped from its premiere of 1.42m to 994,000 in just two nights, suggesting the network might have been wiser to by-pass its Idol-like auditions and jump straight into the challenges and personalities that will drive the show.
Viewers will get a proper taste of how the series will run from next week, presuming they come back for more.
Only 200,000 less than on TEN…not too bad I guess. And Masterchef numbers are the same as what Biggest Loser was doing on weeknights…I think TEN should be very happy.
I Love TGYH and can’t wait for next weeks show. OH, and yes I’m one of those over 50 viewers………but not a new one to TGYH, Just because we are older doesn’t mean we don’t enjoy good comedy……Geesze !!
I don’t care which TV channel shows TGYH and am puzzled by all the whingers regarding its demise from Ch 10. Who cares, its just good Aussie TV,
Hahaha!, Take that Ch10!!
I thought the episode was fine, with no major changes. I did like the criketer advertising sketch as well. Looking forward to when they get Josh Lawson on as I always thought he was their strongest performer. What annoyed me greatly though was how long the show ran overtime, which is pretty much a constant problem at 7. I’m not sure but I think it’s Home and Away which sends the entire 7 schedule 10 minutes late. Would be extremly annoying for anyone who wants to go straight from TGYH to Spicks and Specks on ABC.
well i agree that the numbers definitely had the potential to be higher. but those figures and demo’s do not make the promotion and money a waste. and unlike other shows TGYH is very likely to pick up as the season goes on. last season started with the same 1.7 and rose and stayed above 2mil by ep5.
as far as the rumoured $1mil per ep goes, i don’t think it’s that big of a deal. i think if 9 and ten kept bidding 7 would of easily paid more money. 7 did not renew their 2 $1mil per hour shows of 2008 (gladiators and the outdoor room) and i think TGYH is a wonderful way of directing that money.
and even if the show doesn’t pay itself off, the network made an indulging risk that looked good for returns and it still has bigger lasting benefits like bringing new people to the network.
Lowie, I agree completely.
If anyone would love to look back upon past seasons of TGYH, they would see that every season has seen the premiere episode debut lower than the average for that season. This is more than likely to be the case once again.
“There’s no doubt that Seven and Working Dog would have been disappointed with those figures”
Has anybody ever heard of a network being “disappointed” with a figure of 1.74m and a win in all demo’s? I seriously doubt it. Sure, they might not have been as ectatic as they would have been had it premiered to 2m+, but in no way would they have rejected last nights numbers.
The analogy I’ve heard going round is “Would you not take the same job for more money?”
I thought the episode was a little flat. The all in challenge was alright, but Rhys was a big let down.
As for all this fanboi talk, it is really becoming tiresome. If you were a fan of the show (not network ten), you wouldn’t have even noticed the change, and shouldn’t really have a problem.
It was alright, but not great. I think I read somewhere (it was either here or in the paper) that there were gonna be some changes with “more stuff to do” but I didn’t see any changes aside from the changed background music when people are coming out, and they ditched the intro (D:).
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Tom Gleisner was quoted as saying “the decision was based upon the desire to introduce the show to a new and potentially bigger audience”.
Well, if their desire was to introduce the show to an older audience…then they have succeeded. TGYH was not only down in total people compared to Ten, but it was down in every demographic except 50+.
If there had been one positive thing to say today when comparing TGYH on Seven to how it performed on Ten, then Seven would have put it in a press release. But they could hardly release a headline saying “Seven pays a truckload of money for a show that draws more older viewers than it ever did on Ten”.
The facts are simple…Working Dog obviously moved networks for more money and because they wanted to be on the number 1 network. After seeing what Kath & Kim achieved on Seven, I’m sure they thought their show could do just as well. Seven would have paid more than Ten offered…which is reported to have been 1 million dollars. Seven spent a lot of money advertising this show, and definitely would have been expecting 2 million + viewers. At the very least, they would have expected more viewers than Ten was getting in 2007…I mean, How To Look Younger in Ten Days had more than 1.3 million viewers watching at 9.30pm for its debut, and that wouldn’t have cost anywhere near as much as TGYH.
There’s no doubt that Seven and Working Dog would have been disappointed with those figures. Aint karma a bitch!
I wasn’t surprised the Border Security was plugged, but what surprised me was that they said the word “Underbelly.” That was weird seeing as Underbelly pretty much killed City Homicide (even though they are on different days), especially with Shane hosting.
TGYH was great last night. I think there wasn’t much of a difference except for the change in networks. Masterchef Australia might rate better since it’s now in the challenges which is more interesting than the auditions.
what did they do?? plug i mean?
I agree with some of the comments mentioned- TGYH was ok but not great. Considering it was the first one for the season I would have thought they’d have huge hilarous show prepared. I reckon 7 would have expected a bigger number also.
Masterchef needs some action or something now- getting boring really quick. Don’t know why Ten bothers with 1 hour of this show a night.
@ Matthew R – I noticed the BS plug. What I couldn’t believe was that it was in like the first 10 minutes!!
Anyone notice the Border Security plug during Shane’s intro?
It was enjoyable but I’d like to see some of the “big guns” from the Ten days making an appearance. Josh Lawson, Woodley, Tony Martin, Pete Rowsthorne, Angus “Goozy” Sampson, Shaun Micallef (well, maybe not now that he’s on Ten). I just don’t want them to go back to the days of “token guests who are here to make a plug”.
wat a load of crap! if it wasnt about money then why move when you would get the same ratings?/
I was really looking forward to this show, however at best I would say it was mildly amusing. There were no real belly laughs, and I actually found myself channel surfing to the Simpson’s. When the forklift came in, it felt….. Forced, they showed it just because they could. The sets looked fine, it just didn’t have the ‘edge’ for me.
Come on Masterchef was going to dip from premiere, it got 1.056 million on Tuesday and only slipped to 994k last night, up against strong competition, I firmly believe Ten don’t have a problem with Masterchef, I think it will be quite a stable franchise for them, it won’t be huge like TBL or BB, But I think it will quietly do the job for TEN.
On the other hand TGYH is down compared to Ten’s airing of the show.
So they changed to 7… but it wasn’t because of money?
Then what was it for?
I think they should have gone with stronger talent for the first ep considering the work they have to do make up for ditching 10, it was on par with the other mediocre episodes back in the 10 days (i know its got nothing to do with 7 since they are hands off).
Nothing wrong with 1.74 mil. Didn’t think it would be 2 mil. Its popular but not to everyones taste.
Masterchef auditions are relatively boring, show will pick up once in competition mode.
to tell u the truth…watching tgyh last night…. i thought i was still watching ch 10!!
remove the 7 bug and u wouldnt of known the difference!
iam not a 7 fan..but i am a fan of tgyh!
regardless what network it was on it was always going to rate well….
oh..Rhys Darby wasnt lame….. thats just his style…
I personally dont think masterchef is doing that badly. It was up against TGYH and still managed a respectable number for the hour. I think tonight will give better idea of how the show will go, but hehehe, all that blood and people with knives made it fun last night
Well to be accurate not “all eyes were on 7″, only 3.48m eyes were there – the other 40 million (or so) eyes in Australia were somewhere else entirely.
oh no I completely forgot about the Simpons! did enjoy TGYH, for some reason did feel a little different…. thought they would get higher numbers than that though
I saw the first episode last night and it was very funny. Colin Lane and Merrick Watts did a great job, Cal Wilson performed well but Rhys Darby was a bit lame. Also, I noticed that a Worksafe Victoria commercial was shown in the ad break immediately after Merrick’s skit (in which he played an union official talking to inspectors from Worksafe Victoria, at a building site). Was it a coincidence or not?
I think those figures were very weak in comparison to what seven and working dog would have been wanting
im so glad it did well. And im so glad they didn’t change the show. I was worried the move would mean changes in casting or format or something, but its the same old awesome show!!!