Seven’s campaign for Cougar Town through the Australian Open has paid off with a big debut of 1.34m viewers. It was the #1 show of the night, defeating Law and Order: SVU 1.01m and Adults Only 20 to 1 on 693,000.
The Cougar word is certainly all the buzz at the moment, even being the subject of recent stories on A Current Affair and The 7PM Project.
Seven won the night despite a lukewarm debut for The White Room on 812,000 which had nowhere near as much marketing hype. But it was a soft hour all round with The Biggest Loser winning on 882,000 while Getaway was underperforming on 830,000. Even The 7:30 Report was close with 714,000.
Also struggling for the night were The 7PM Project on 621,000 and Neighbours managing just 515,000.
But GO’s Big Bang Theory was a star performer on 255,000. The channel pulled a 4.1% share for the evening.
How I Met Your Mother did well at 9pm with 1.04m viewers.
Hot Seat‘s 579,000 beat Deal or No Deal‘s 567,000 winning Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane.
Don’t forget it was a different survey system back then.
i don’t think we will ever see shows in Aus with 2.3, 2.5, 2.8 million viewers per episode of a TV show, like Friends and ER did around 1996-2002, because we can’t understand why shows don’t air all 22 episodes a season in a row if we fast track it from the states, and if we do air all 22 episodes in a row in Feb, there are already people who have seen the episode, by the internet or whatever…
i wonder how much longer Neighbours is going to last………
@critic – B grade celebrities on 20 to 1? Now I’ve heard everything. D grade more like…
They really need to make Thursday a comedy night by adding 30 Rock, Parks & Rec and Scrubs!!! Why have a rerun in primetime??? At least try something else. Are you listening Seven?
1.34 is big for a Thursday night because of late trading, and in these times, with viewer numbers decreasing because of other mediums
yeah i agree, 1.3 isnt a big number at all, i mean ncis got over 1.4 and thats not a new show, not good for 7 cause means there wasnt much interest in it.
1.34 is not a Big figure. It’s the biggest of the night but not a stand out number. 1.8 is a big number and worth talking about. Underbelly and PTTR will remind everybody what big numbers are.
the problem with shows like 20-1 is no have no viewer loyalty, people only seem to watch it when there is nothing else on. while with shows like svu and cougar town people will often go out of there way to watch each week.
Big figure for Cougar Town. I watched it and liked it. Not too many LOL moments but its genial tone together with the presence of Courtney Cox, the actor who plays her son, and the woman who lives next door were all very good. I will be back next week.
I was pleasantly surprised. I thought it looked like it might not have had many laughs but I laughed out loud several times – for a pilot episode it was great. Just need to wait and see how they go once they are into the normal season. But Bill Lawrence – another triumph!!
watched this show for 20 minutes and then Off..ratings will drop to 950,000 next week and die a slow death
I actually liked Cougar Town. I thought it would just be all about Courtney Cox’s character picking up all these you menin an episode. But I like the family side of it with the poor son having his mother embarrass him then his dad working at the school. It’s about time ch7 put something decent on thursday nights at 8:30.
Can’t see the white room lasting. Maybe the amazing race needs to come on at 7:30. Im sure they are about to strat a new series in the states.
Cougar Town was actually really funny despite the over saturated advertising from Seven. This one’s going to hurt Nine this year for sure.
The Big Bang ratings also prove that GO! needs to hit the younger market more, as they initially promised. Seriously, the Jetson’s and Get Smart replays are killing me.
Why they don’t buy some cheap reality TV shows from the US, and play them at 7pm – catch a few channel surfers from H&A and 7pm and slowly build an audience. What happened to repeats of the Hills, Gossip Girl etc etc?
Yes see Programming.
Does anyone know if Seven is going to screen an encore of Couger Town? My PVR crashed last night and didn’t record while we were out. thanks
Loved Cougar Town. Had me laughing out lound in certain scenes. Courtney’s fantastic, also love Busy Phillips and the guy across the road who palyed Ally McBeals love interest in the last season of Ally McBeal and the first season of Brothers and Sisters.
I’m still wondering why channel 9 persists with 20 to 1 I personally dont care what B grade personalities think about certain ridiculous topics. Im also wondering what type of viewer actually sits through and enjoys this show.
The premiere wasn’t bad, but I have a nasty feeling it’s one of those shows that will get old fast. I mean exactly how many jokes can you do about the central premise? Maybe they’ll prop it up with periodic flashes of Courtney’s flesh…
Without GO! Nine would be dead in the water!
Good going Cougar Town, now lets hope it can keep those kinds of numbers.
Big?
I wouldn’t have thought those numbers are big when compared to other shows premiere’s in the past.
To H- plus 7 on the web is where you can watch it again but knowing 7 their will be a encore’
Also liked the thursday line up quite funny end to the working week.
The good thing about Cougar Town, is it doesnt change too much from the Pilot. The only noticable difference is the exterior scenes, they use a different street for the remainder of the season. Odd thing is that Greysons house from Ep2 is identical to Jule’s however the interior is not the same. They only use one room.
I have found the most recent episodes to be a little weak, but hopefully it picks up.
The low score for Neighbours sounds right, it is going downhill again. I PVR it and watch on the weekend, mainly fast forwarding any scene with Donna, Zeke or the younger kids, or storylines which are so predictable there is no need to watch when you can guess the result.
Cougar Town was fantastic. Best show of the week IMO.
Although these figure are alarmingly low there is nothing short of disaster ahead for Nine’s main channel. 2010 could mean that long overdue blood on the carpet for programming. Go is pulling 4%! Maybe Nine should rethink their misogyny? Do any of the women in senior management or programming have a voice at the programming or commissioning table? Even adults only 20-1 was soft. There is nothing on this network for women. Don’t you have advertisers who want to target women? I don’t get it. It doesn’t make business sense for starters. Doesn’t sales ask for female skewing shows in prime time? Lucky they have Underbelly, and we all know it was foisted upon them. The rest of the drama slate is very lame, tame, same same. Kate Ritchie is not the messiah.
Well Deserved! I didnt expect Couger Town to exceed my expectations but it did – It was Hilarious and an excellent comeback by Courtney Cox! also loved The White Room and HIMYM at 9pm. Great night on Thursday!
Will this ep be repeated for those of us who missed it?
I liked Cougar Town, it wasn’t as bad as I had expected it to be. I’ll have to wait and see whether it will keep me hooked in the long run.
it will be interesting to see if it holds the same rating next week…i suspect not….thought that it over promised and under delivered