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Axed: City Homicide?

Update: Responding to media reports of City Homicide's demise, Seven says a decision on renewal will be made in the new year.

3AW has reported that Seven has axed its police drama City Homicide.

The series in its fourth season has been challenged by a slip in audiences and tough competition in the 8:30pm Wednesday timeslot.

This week it pulled 1.03m viewers against The Big Bang Theory 1.18m, second in its timeslot. When it previously aired in its original Monday slot it was pulling figures around 1.8m viewers. Back in 2007 it had less competition from rival local dramas.

Last year the show also screened on Sunday nights.

Noni Hazlehurst recently spoke to TV Tonight about the challenges for the show when it was moved around the schedule, including with late starts.

“There are a lot things impacting on figures, but I don’t think shifting timeslots helps,” she insists.

“I truly believe once something is working in a timeslot you do not move it. But that’s not my decision to make.

“People like reliability. It’s not easy to change viewing habits and I think people get annoyed.”

It isn’t just the changes from Monday to Sunday to Wednesday that factor into the equation, either.

“I personally would like to see it start at 8:30 too but that’s not my call. That’s a decision made for a number of reasons,” she says.

The show has surely boasted a strong cast including Shane Bourne, Nadine Garner, Damien Richardson, David Field, Aaron Pedersen, more recently adding John Adam, Nadia Townsend, and Ryan O’Kane. But since its launch more police procedurals have joined the TV landscape including TEN’s Rush and Nine’s COPS L.A.C. In addition Nine now has its emergency drama Rescue Special Ops. The net result is that TV audiences are showing fatigue with the policing genre.

Unlike its competitors, City Homicide‘s premise has also seen it boxed in by its whodunnit premise, denied the opportunity to explore wider policing issues. This season it began to add more personal stories for its key characters as a way to compensate.

Meanwhile Seven has been expanding its drama slate, including the development of Winners and Losers under producer Maryanne Carroll, who left City Homicide to helm the new series which will air in 2011. The series had changed hands to new producer Richard Jasek this year.

The loss of City Homicide is significant, and follows the end of All Saints last year.

While Seven can boast an embarrassment of local drama riches with Packed to the Rafters, Home and Away and Winners and Losers, City Homicide was still able to deliver in stories and performances.

Seven is yet to respond to enquiries from TV Tonight.

UPDATE: Seven has now confirmed that principal photography on Series Four will wrap on November 12th.

A decision on the production of Series Five will be made in the new year.

Director of Programming and Production, Tim Worner said: “City Homicide is a gripping drama that has continued to improve and develop through each of its 84 episodes.

“In the days of old, its renewal would have been a no brainer.”

City Homicide will remain in Channel Seven’s prime time schedule until the end of the current ratings period with a six part mini series titled “No Greater Honour” guest starring Claire Van Der Boom, Marcus Graham, John Howard, and Graeme Blundell to air in 2011.

“But in this multi channel environment these decisions are not as clear cut as they once were.”

68 Responses

  1. Serves Seven right. The networks get all they deserve when they start switching round timeslots. Has no one told them ‘if it’s not broke, don’t fix it”

    The same thing happened with House. When it was on Wednesday night it used to get at least 1.5 million viewers, then 10 moved it to Sunday night which led to alot of the viewers switching to the ABC and staying there. Now House can barely get 700k viewers.

    The shame with CH is that if it doesn’t come back, there will be alot of Aussies out of work.

  2. No No ch7 its your fault. You stuffed it up by changing timeslots. You should have left it on monday nights. This season has been one of the best. Its the only good cop show on tv. Leave some aussie drama on.

    Tim Worner I still havent forgiven you for axing All Saints. Dont be an idiot by axing CH. Listen to the viewers. Put it back Monday nights! That’s where it rated you fool.

  3. And what will we get in it’s place? More mind-numbing reality TV?

    They have three channels running rubbish and repeats, why can’t we make space for one decent Australian drama? This show is maturing and improving, plus I’m not really seeing much better programming coming from elsewhere. To cancel it now would be sheer stupidity.

    The general impression that it’s on the wrong night in the wrong timeslot is bang on the mark too. Instead of trying to steal market share from their competitors (and mostly failing) 7 would be much better served if they claimed another night and time for the show, one that’s currently unloved, then get it buried like a tick then let the others try to steal it away.

  4. what about trialling that 6-part miniseries on 7TWO next year. If that works perhaps 7TWO could be the new home for City Homicide. With 900,000, the show definately does have a loyal audience and the quality of the show is obviously great.

  5. God Ch 7 are gutless. Will they ever just say a show’s being axed? Tim Worner always says A. We’re bringing it back later, (and then they never do) or B. We’ll make a decision on its future at a later date. Either way it means its cactus, kaput, here’s ya hat what’s ya hurry!

  6. No No No, CH has been great this season with new actors and interesting story lines. It’s by far the best local Cop Show with Rush coming second.

    IMHO Ch 7 ruins its own shows by never starting on time…….

  7. So true what Noni said about it losing numbers due to it moving timeslots.

    Look at Packed to the Rafters for example. It continues to rate incredibly well because it has been on at the same timeslot for years.

  8. City Homicide has averages only 332,000 viewers in 25-54 over the last 4 telecasts, which is the demo Seven targets and sells advertising to.

    That is a third of the 950,000 or so Rafters gets in 25-54. And way under even home and away, offspring, rush, sea patrol etc. Th only Aussie drama
    That gets worse 25-54 numbers is Cops LAC.

    If Seven can get 950,000 with Packed, and CH was pulling 332,009 (just a third) that prob figure they can commission a new drama that will
    Do a lot better numbers than CH

  9. I’ve really liked the episodes of City Homicide that I have seen, but to be honest, if it does get axed, it’d give a newer perhaps fresher show a chance. There’s too many cop shows on Aussie T.V. at the moment.

  10. This is one aussie cop show that I hope stays around.
    It has good actors, scripts!
    They need to keep this one.
    Get rid of the others … like Cops LAC … which is rubbish!!!

  11. Channel 7 need to have a certain amount of Aussie stuff to be aired each week as a rule. City Homicide is a fantastic show. Why didn’t they just leave it in the Monday 8.30pm position. Why do they always have to mess with a good thing?!

    God, they drive me up the wall!!

    And Rafters is running out of storylines now. I watched it the other night and was shocked at how bad it had actually gotten.

    CH now has a new producer and this season has been incredible. By adding the personal lives of the detctives into it; it has added a new dimension and (as the ratings show, by increasing every week!!) they are adding a new genre of viewers.

    If Channel 7 axes CH and doesn’t give the new producers a chance I will be livid.

    We need to support Aussie drama and stop buying this imported s**t.

  12. I’ve been dissapointed with this season, while still a good show with a quality cast, the stories have been less interesting. The same goes with Rush. These are two shows I have watched from the start, but now I have a few of each unwatched on the PVR while it sits on a series link.

  13. I hope it’s not true – CH is a quality show, with good writing and top performances. There is no reason, in this day and age of multi-channelling, to let this show go. Fingers crossed it survives this scaremongering!

  14. Note to seven. I would have watched City Homicide this season, but the thing was, with it starting at 8.40 I knew it wouldn’t finish in time for me to change change channels and watch Tara at 9.30. So I didn’t bother. The tv landscape you created makes it all too hard.

  15. If this is true, it’s a bit sad because I always felt it was one of the better local shows. I think the audience exhaustion with cop shows is not only Australia – look at all the Law & Order, NCIS, etc coming from the US. The Bill has just suffered the same fate, and I think that’s what is the significant trend. People are tired of all them all. Another problem for Oz shows is that it’s hard to compete with the “crime waves” coming out of the US – we just don’t have as many guns (thank goodness) – so our shows are either really stupidly unrealistic (Rush) or appear mundane by comparison.

  16. how about the networks take that axe to the heads of drama at 9 and 10, an even 2. OMG! How do they keep their jobs. That article in the GG was right. All the important jobs have gone to all the wrong people.

  17. City Homicide was the best performing cope show on our screens and it’s now been axed…

    COPS LAC, Rush, and Special Ops will be all gone this time next year. There isnt much of a future for all 3 shows.

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