That didn’t take long.
After just one week Nine has pulled Parade’s End from its Wednesday schedule and moved it to GEM at 9:30pm as a double episode.
It will be replaced with the Movie: Sherlock Holmes (2009).
This week the show rated just 453,000 / 322,000 for its two episodes.
While the drama was slow even before the commercial interruptions, the problem here is a bit of a dog chasing its tail.
Audiences are reluctant to commit to shows if they do not trust the network will keep it on air, and networks cannot keep a show on air when not enough viewers are watching.
Updated.
So that’s where it’s gone. As usual, this blog is a lifesaver because the TV networks themselves are so awful at telling us.
Airing 2 episodes at a time is a tremendously dumb idea. It’s just too lengthy for something of this nature.
What a surprise!! So typical of Nine!! I don’t watch their programs for this reason. How on earth do they grow their audience if they don’t have confidence in them. I didn’t watch this show because of this, and blow me down they did it. At least Seven gives their shows a chance.
TV stations as a rule though, have forgotten that with the internet and cable, people don’t sit at home eagerly anticipating their programs. They have a choice.
Might be a reason, why more and more people are switching off.
Don’t they get it???
@Chris B
The RPA viewers are OK Parade’s End is on at 9:30pm. So it only those watching repeats of the Closer who won’t get eps for two weeks. Somebody has to miss out. Just like The Office (US) viewers missed out to make way for Glee.
Parade’s End didn’t rate much worse than the last Wednesday night movie. Whether there are make goods depends on what Nine promised.
And yes they are accounted, if only in reduced revenue. Channel 9 booked $60m in losses for shows that rated less than expected in the last two financial years.
@Secret Squirrel – as additional free ads, “make-goods” are advertising inventory that could be sold to make more money for a Network. When they are given away as freebies, that should be considered a “cost”. If not, it’s another weak business proposition in the FTA model. While you can’t guarantee a rating, each Network must have some expectation of how a programme will perform. Surely they reflect this to advertisers. If not – another poor practice in the business model. Also, the buck doesn’t stop with Nine. A “buck” should stop with an individual or individuals.
“Hey look at the upside, it will now be in HD!”
Not if they didn’t buy the HD version. Can you spell “upscaled”?
@Chris B – the buck stops with Nine but there are no guarantees regarding ratings. If ratings are sufficiently low there are a number of mechanisms by which Nine can appease their clients including “make-goods” (additional free ads) if the situation warrants it.
So, the 200,000 Gem viewers who’ve been watching RPA at 8.30 Wednesday for the past few weeks don’t matter. Nor do those who’ve been watching the final season of Cold Case. The decision to play Parade’s End on Nine, and then pull it after a week, now impacts on loyal viewers to programmes on Gem. What about advertisers who may have paid good money and been promised much better ratings by Nine if they bought commercials in Parade’s End? They’ve been hurt too. Who takes responsibility? Where does the buck stop?
Trusting Nine to intelligent programming is like trusting your teenage kid never to indulge in Sex,drugs and rock and roll.
There is always that rare chance they will get it right but as time goes on they both seem to show signs of abusing any plausible deniability.
Parade’s end ‘Was’ as boring as bat shit!
I do want to reiterate that as a viewer I like that it will be on next or really this week on Wednesday. Thank you for that. I am happy about it. Despite the bad news.
Wasn’t a show that interested me. Even if it was a show that interested me I wouldn’t have had faith that nine network would treat it with respect so I wouldn’t have bothered anyway. Thats what happens when the nine network does things like not air drop dead diva season 4.
I’ll join with Craig then to thank you for the update David. I’ll admit I don’t get the logic of keeping changes secret either. That’s why I thought they’d tell you. But I guess not.
I just want to add I hope they remember to tell viewers that the shows that got moved because of Parade’s End when they might expect them back. Also that 8.40pm timeslot might only be needed the first week. It could be an earlier more sensible time the next 2 weeks. Although they probably won’t go for trying for the highest figure they can for GEM. I really don’t get why. But I’m only a viewer that want them to do the best they can from this. Plus it would also be good for the remaining viewers too. If they are told about it. Seems like a win-win scenario. But as I said it’s an imperfect universe. I’m glad it will finish before midnight. But for many it will be impossible to watch.
Thanks for the update and no thanks to Nine for letting you know of the changes.
Hey look at the upside, it will now be in HD!
There was no hindsight needed for me. I knew this was exectly how it would be played out. As others have mentioned, this show is so not nine’s audience. It makles me laugh when they advertise these “big” shows over summer as coming soon. And in most cases they come and then go, like this and Dallas, or they never come at all like Invasion from years ago now, that ended being shown on digital in its early days so I never ended up seeing it. At least they are showing Parades end on Gem, unlike Dalllas that still hasn’t seen the light of day since nine dumped it.
Nine did not send me advice on this. In fact they are the only network to not send out standard amendments. This actually leads to much confusion and errors.
I think you’ve hit the nail on the head David. I have mixed feelings about this development. I’m glad they chose to stick to the same day. I’m sorry that it didn’t get the numbers to stay on the main channel. But I live in the land of reality and if it didn’t then it didn’t.
The things I’m happy about are 1. They had a GEM contingency plan! Again not that it became necessary. 2. They kept it on the same day! 3. They told David about the change of plans so people here could know about it. I worry about the other viewers finding out but I assume they have plans there.
But there is one thing I’m not a fan of and that’s two episodes at 9.30pm?!? I think that’s deeply stupid to be very honest. It rated terribly when it ended around 11pm. So they think ending it even later will make it better?!?
I think there are two better options. Either play 3 separate episodes on 3 separate weeks on GEM at 8.40pm. The reason 8.40pm was so you can tell people on Nine that it’s on GEM instead so they can flick over. Or if you prefer at 9.30pm but only one episode each week. That way perhaps you can boost GEM numbers a little. Although I have no access to the numbers and it’s a guess. Also they could get them in before Easter starts. Seems silly that they didn’t do one of the two options. Oh well it’s an imperfect universe.
This is a great shame.
Adelaide Clemens the Aussie actress was great in the show.
It makes you realise how bare Nine’s cupboard’s are. Michael Healy knew all of this before it happened. It’s a pity they don’t have a solid Australian drama to screen mid-week. House Husbands will be well-placed in this slot in 2013.
I’m just glad Seven stuck with Smash when it was rating fairly low. Nine wastes no time in pulling the plug though, which could be a good thing I suppose.
“Audiences are reluctant to commit to shows if they do not trust the network will keep it on air, and networks cannot keep a show on air when not enough viewers are watching.”
Absolutely. Nine, and as a result the Australian FTA networks lost me as a viewer of anything international when they stuffed around Fringe after a couple of episodes. Turning off the HD simulcast for the waste of bandwidth GEM, One and 7 Mate has ensured i haven’t reconsidered.
Will it be in HD on GEM? Somehow I doubt it.
Is it any wonder more and more people find alternate ways of obtaining programmes they want to watch?
Quality of the programme, commercial interruptions and a late finish aside … one thing Nine can’t deny is that the promos were so bad the viewer had no reason to even start watching Parade’s End. As with the Sherlock series last year, and a majority of promos for Person of Interest, The Mentalist, CSI etc, the promos are so poor, Nine is just pissing ratings into the wind. A real shame. (TV Tonight readers. If you’re not watching Person of Interest, you’re denying yourself a great piece of TV)
who wants to bet they will stuff up Arrow and Following?
seriously Nine is getting worse every year, where is the final season of Weeds or even Dallas. they promise so much and don’t deliver, and when they do they move them around and take them off.
and why wait till Easter to air new shows?! what’s wrong with airing a new show in Feb and having a week off at Easter? 9 should take lessons from 7!
I usually love period dramas and watched about 45 minutes before flicking over the channel. I just didn’t warm to the characters at all especially the 2 leads. Shame really because some of the scenery looked spectacular. To me it doesn’t matter what channel it was on. Watched and enjoyed The Good Wife instead.
It is up to ch9 to assess how good a product is before they schedule it as they will have very little input to the production side of this purchase. Now if it does come over as a little slow and not exactly dynamic, they need to be realistic. Bear in mind each of these eps is 60 mins, so we all know they are going to cram in 25-30mins of ads etc and that a double ep will be a 3 hour marathon.
So if I was an experienced programmer, would I really put this up on a Wed night, starting at around 8.40pm ish, when many folk have work the next day?
No I would have to be really dumb to do that. To get the best value out of this, it would have been better to slate it on either a saturday night to pull in and attract a different demo, or like others have suggested, put it on during non ratings.
FTA has a great track record of these scheduling stuff ups and ch9 are world class at wrecking any show they buy. So all the criticism is justified. Will they learn? Of course not, they never do
Scheduling issues aside, how should Nine have influenced a better product from the BBC / HBO?
‘Nine purchased the program rights before the project had even been made, so therefore it isn’t their fault the show was not up to scratch’.
Being a semi refined person I shall refrain from publishing an eight letter word that sums that statement up, other than to say it starts with bull….!
Sorry David, I can’t agree, it serves them right.
Nine denied attempting to on sell this. See interview with Andrew Backwell.
I remember they tried to on sell this to the ABC and ABC rejected Nine. If they played it over non ratings period it could of fitted on a Tuesday when there was no cricket or tennis
The double-ep and late finish was what did it for me. Way too much commitment for something that I, along with many others, was pretty sure would tank and be pulled. I didn’t even bother recording it.
I f’king hate double-eps. I may have mentioned that before.
no one is watching Parade’s End because of Benedict Cumberbatch’s hair.
I agree with Nine’s decision to move it to Gem. Why show it on the main channel if it’s not rating at least they are going to show it on Gem.
Good they are screening it on Gem now at least.
Everybody knew Parade’s End would be dumped after ratings came out Thursday Morning, Nine were just waiting until Friday evening to do it.
The BBC had a track of excellent and popular period dramas. Lately it has had a very poor record.
Channel 9 knew it was a 5 hour mini-series made without ads for BBC2 so it was unlikely to be another DA. They took a gamble and lost.
They also knew all about it before they choose to air it this week. There was no hindsight in the programming.
Nine should have just taken their lumpy bits, not promoted it much, and shown it over Easter. That way the media would be writing about yay – something good on in non-ratings instead of what idiots Channel 9 programmers are and who pissed of fans who can’t watch the rest of it are.
Channel 9 could now quite likely just screen Parade’s End on Gem just before the non-exclusive rights become available for UK TV.
Lol David .. this site is full of “smarter programmers”. Everyone’s an expert.
I reckon Sunday nights over easter non-ratings if 7 pull Downton, which no doubt they will. They may even get away with double eps then.
Maybe just give it (sell it cheap) to the ABC where they’ll get 700k.
Oops it’s 9.30pm so it won’t finish until around midnight. Way to kill a show Nine…..
When will they ever learn, I suppose they were trying for another “Downton abbey” but thse shows come along once in a while and then everyone tries to copy them…..it doesn’t work.
And two episodes during the week….get real some people do actually work. I have enough on the PVR of a wednesday night with “White Collar and Last resort” to catch up with let alone another two hour waste of time.
EPG says it’s on GEM from next Wednesday 8.30, again in double episodes.
The Following is getting good audiences 18-49 and Nine need it to succeed.
Launching it now while Seven are dominating that demographic with MKR and following dramas would be risky. Trying it a couple of weeks before the Easter and the School Holidays cause disruptions for a month would even sillier.
What’s more The Following may get an MA rating in which case it can’t be shown before 9:30pm and it would need a good lead-in. Which Nine don’t have at the moment except on Monday with the TBBT when POI is doing quite well.
Channel 9 are going to wait till after Easter when they can put in place a new lineup before trying to launch shows.
Television is always part-gamble. Sometimes they pay off and sometimes they don’t. Nine purchased the rights before the project had even been made, so it isn’t their fault the production did not meet expectations. BBC has a great track record in period dramas, and with a name like Tom Stoppard we all saw its potential to be another Downton. You also gamble when you Programme a show. Will it work? What’s the competition got? Have the promos succeeded? Do you play 2 episodes to hook people in, or does that overcook it? I agree we are all smarter programmers in hindsight, and not just on this occasion.
I guess it easy to criticise ch9 with the benefit of hindsight….. However, why the hell did some one not have the foresight to realise, wrong time, wrong night and too bloody long.
Seriously who stuffed this up? and how much did it cost them to buy it?
One dumb decision cost $100,000s
As this was a BBC co-production, each episode runs for a full 60 minutes, pump in loads of ads, multiply by 2 and start it latish on a Wednesday…..great move…..not
Slow moving? I didn’t watch it but from the ad it seemed to be a techno action fest
Why why why do they keep doing this? Really pisses me off. Don’t know why they think a repeat of a show will rate better, why not start showing The Following, which they have been advertising as ‘coming soon’ since before Christmas, instead of waiting till after Easter.
What a surprise! This never had a chance considering it was aired for the knuckle-dragging audience of 9. They must have used up their allotment of “encore presentation”s of ’2.5 Men’.
It was always a strange purchase for Ch. 9 or perhaps they thought they might have another Downton Abbey.
Those programs only work on commercial free ABC. It is impossible to enjoy a lavishly produced English period costume drama adapted by Tom Stoppard no less, only to be rudely interrupted by plugs for out of control drug addicts on a Current Affair!
So who called it?
Seriously Nine after one week, maybe you should have played this over the summer non ratings period… will they every learn?
I think the biggest problem was showing a double ep and ending so late, of course the ratings are going to suffer, people are either not going to bother or record to watch later. I can see many now just deleting this from their PVR and not bothering to watch it now.
No surprise considering it flopped here in the UK.
Was late Wed night the best slot for a movie-length double episode of a slow period drama requiring concentration and commitment from the audience?
Seemed more like an early Sunday evening show.