Programming Archive:
Gone: Deadly Surf. Returning: Old Christine.
And the first dumping of the silly season goes to: Channel Nine.
Last night Deadly Surf rated 761,000, down from 10 to 1’s 910,000 before it. It was beaten by Air Crash Investigations, 7:30 Report and The Simpsons.
From next Wednesday December 10th The New Adventures of Old Christine returns with “Richie Scores” episode 12 of the second season.
After its success with Two and a Half Men Nine is drawing heavily on sitcoms this summer.
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2008: International hits
The Nine Network has topped the list of television’s most popular international shows in 2008.
While Seven is riding on its Aussie programming, Nine has seven of the top ten overseas shows this year, led by Charlie Sheen and Gordon Ramsay.
Averaging out the various shows and timeslots indicates Two and a Half Men led with the highest series average, of 1.503m viewers this year. It was closely followed by Ramsay’s Kitchen Nightmares at 1.501m viewers.
Significantly, both were ‘hits by accident’, trialled by Nine over summer and left long enough on air to …
Nine’s Secret Millionaire
In Nine’s 2008 ratings report it indicated some of the shows that are due next year. While most are already known to us there were two new titles:
Secret Millionaire and Little Britain.
Secret Millionaire is a British format in which millionaires give away tens of thousand of their own money after spending time living in a community where no one knows that they are wealthy. A US version also begins this week on FOX.
At this stage it’s unclear if Nine airs an international or local version -presumably, it wouldn’t involve a Packer….
As …
Final week (almost) a Seven sweep
It was the last week of ratings for 2008, and the week all the free to air broadcasters bonded (temporarily) for Freeview with 4 of 5 metro CEOs there for the party, Nine scrambled to refinance its loans, an Australian actress was trapped in international terror, Seven sacked a reporter, former Sunday journos won the Gold Walkley, Nine let go another network celebrity, ACMA slapped Nine three times for A Current Affair, Ramsay’s Kitchen Nightmares and Spiderman, TEN dumped 90210 and rearranged its summer schedule again, a gangster’s wife was at …
Celebrity Santa
Yes it was none other than Sam Newman, frocking up for some festive fun at Channel Nine Melbourne’s Xmas drinks for Publicity and Marketing clients.
Newman was in fine form, playing the role for several hours as guests lined up to sit on Santa’s knee.
He might not have been the most convincing Santa to ever visit Xmas, but he was a good sport, playing it up for photos. He was so amiable, some didn’t even know they’d just sat on Newman’s knee. Aided …
Ratings logic as easy as ABC
There are more (in)glorious quotes today from network execs to marvel over. It’s nice to see the ABC thrown into the pack for once, too.
ABC TV director Kim Dalton has told The Australian he was particularly pleased that so many hit programs on the ABC this year were Australian-made.
“In 2008, more people watched ABC TV than ever before and that demonstrates the importance of the public broadcaster and the way we connect with all Australians,” Mr Dalton said.
While Seven will win the year in ratings weeks and total viewers, Nine …
You better smile. It’s Nine.
It was the week that the industry took action on piracy against an ISP, news crews were assaulted by angry locals, a regional broadcaster axed its entire news department, a court ruled regional licenses must be sold, a reality host pleaded guilty to welfare fraud, another reality show mucked up correct voting information, Screen Australia’s new CEO signalled a smoother ride for film over television, a daytime soap would be destined for primetime, the axe fell on more US shows and an old sitcom face left for the bus depot in …
Hamish & Andy to TEN’s rescue
After weeks of ailing Wednesday nights, it was Hamish & Andy who came to TEN’s rescue last night. Their Re-Gifted special nabbed 1.13m viewers, second in its slot. It was light years ahead of recent shows including Big Cat Diary, Futurama, Jamie’s Ministry of Food and Bondi Rescue: Bali. They frequently hovered between 500,000 - 700,000 viewers.
The success of the two might well prompt TEN to look at more for the Austereo duo in 2009, which would be ironic given their previous attempts at a TV show haven’t fired and it …
Are we there yet?
It was the week that everybody said they had new toys to unwrap, TEN declared the 2014 Commonwealth Games, Aussie producers gathered on the Gold Coast for their annual gab-fest just as Nine decided not to revisit the only drama set there, TiVo dumped one of its key partners, the last original member of Hi-5 chose to retire, the axe fell on several shows in the US, network programmers tried to defend late amendments, Seven apologised for comments made by one of its stars, Nine was revealed as wanting “no …
Nine’s summer of Gossip
Gossip Girl, Pushing Daisies, Survivor: Gabon, Temptation, Fringe, ER, McLeod’s Daughters -are all coming to Channel Nine over summer.
Gossip Girl, the teen soap set in affluent Manhattan high school circles, has been screening on FOX8 (Pay TV has season two from December) but finally gets a Free to Air screening. Nine, which on-sold the rights to FOX8, will start with Series One. It is the second time the network on-sold a series by writer / producer Josh Schwartz, after it let TEN take The OC.
Also on Nine over summer is …
The race that tops the nation
It was the week a Pay TV spokesperson called broadcaster feuding “juvenile” while another exec wanted better inclusion at the digital switch table, a TEN programmer conceded it had massive timeslot problems, Nine axed production staff, Sonia Kruger was criticised for an on air joke, a former soap star said he didn’t really enjoy soaps, belated guide amendments left viewers confused, an ABC journo pleads guilty to charges in Singapore, drug charges against a Seven personality were dropped, Seven revisits its C7 case against Pay television, the ABC launches its new …
TEN failing 7pm test
This will come as no surprise to any reader of this site. But it’s good to hear the problem being addressed publicly.
TEN’s chief programmer has conceded it is in the doldrums due mostly to the 7pm timeslot.
“Where the problem is for us - and it’s the elephant in the room - is 7pm and there’s no question it’s our biggest challenge,” Mott told the Daily Telegraph. “It’s hurting us and we have to bring people back . . . at 7pm.”
TEN has cycled through Friends, Taken Out, Friends (again) and …