What is happening to Packed to the Rafters?
In the last two weeks, Australia’s current most watched show has dropped about 10% of its audience. Just two weeks ago, Packed to the Rafters was rating close to 2 million in the 5 city metro ratings results. Last night (Tue Sept 22) it was below 1.8 million. If the show continues down the route of that episode, I would expect its ratings to drop further.
The episode had not one, not two but three separate fantasy scenes by the guys in the show. There was a lot more than usual in terms of sexual references with Nathan caught masturbating by his wife after saying he was too tired to have sex with her.
Nathan Rafter’s fantasy scenes were about the girl he works with - Layla. Layla - who has an open relationship with her partner Steve - has been tempting Nathan to cheat on his wife Sammy. Sammy was upset catching Nathan in his compromising personal situation which set the mode for the show.
A surprise character - Lexie - who works with Ben Rafter at the bar played a major part in the show. Lexie befriended Carbo’s friend from Lesbos Greece Artie - who I might add is a very annoying character. Funny she has been in for two weeks and the ratings have been falling. Coincidence? Doubt it.
The two ended up in a washing the car scene based on Jessica Simpsons’ video "These Boots Were Made For Walking". Carbo then has his fantasy about the two girls and also seems to go off and masturbate.
Then there is Ben’s fantasy. He just wants to marry his girl friend Melissa. We see Ben fantasize about Mel appearing to be pregnant symbolising that he wants to spend his life with her.
Fantasies aside though, why have they brought back the annoying Warney? The Rafters hate him, and having Sammy’s mum start dating him seems a ridiculous story line. Doesn’t really make for good viewing. In real life, the chances of those two sorts of people hooking up would be extremely unlikely (well, in my opinion).
And my final word on Packed to the Rafters story lines. It’s a shame that Rachael continues to have bad luck with guys like she did with Jake. Thought they could have taken that story further considering the tension between the two prior to them getting together.
Next episode, we see another new character - Dave’s mum - who we met a few weeks ago drop a bombshell in the family. Rumours say it is to with drugs.
Hopefully, they get the show back to quality story lines and not focus on fantasies and excessive sexual innuendo or they will risk losing a large percentage of their audience. Generally, Packed to the Rafters has been a very family oriented show and does so well as it is one of the very few shows on TV that is not a crime show or a panel show.
Koalamaiden
Does any one know what becomes of Nathan & Sammy. Do they save their marriage?
Joolz
I liked to watch Packed to the Rafters because it was reflecting true Australian life and all the crap that goes on in our lives but after Nathan chose to snort cocaine I nearly turned off! And this week, cheating on Sammy - what a louse! If they continue with the masturbating and drug taking, I will stop watching altogether. I don't need to see that shit. It started to resemble Big Brother (which I liked right up until the last season)with all the drivel that is going on (fantasy scenes, pffft!). Come on writers, lets get back to some storylines that endeared us to the show in the first place. Cheers - JoolzAndy B
Well said Good Fairy and AndrewBGood Fairy
Thanks, AndrewB, you have answered my question about WHY Packed to the Rafters chose to sink to the depths it did on Tues 22 Sept 09! RATINGS! I couldn't figure out why the best rating show on TV would start showing this sort of rubbish whereas before it had been a great QUALITY program. I must say that the endless "fantasy" scenes got tedious pretty quickly! It actually became laughable and cringe worthy after the first one was shown! Unless they are hoping to attract a HUGE audience largely made up of prepubescent boys channel surfing in the hope of stumbling across ANYTHING that remotely resembles SMUT, I suspect that the shows foray into this tired and stereotypical "formula" will do more harm than good to the ratings. What a thinly constructed plot - with the very tired, repeated "on average men think about sex every 52 seconds" statement, the masturbating scenarios, the car washing, soapy, sponge squeezing and gyrating latex or denim short clad females! Yep, there's a COMPLETE lack of any originality right there! How many times have we seen ALL of that before on trashy, attention seeking programs? I really thought Packed to the Rafters was different. It managed, up until now, to steer clear of those trite and done to death 'topics' so was this a pathetic attempt at ratings grabs? A big thumbs down from me! So Chrissy has the hots for Dave now? Oh give me a break!!! And poor Dave, presented as the 'boring, stick in the mud' "voice of reason" in the context of all the other genital driven guys giving in to their 'natural, manly urges'! Will we now see him give in to these irrepressible male urges and bang Chrissy?? Ah yes, of course, the old husband bangs wife's best friend because wife is fat and pregnant story line - now there would be yet ANOTHER original story line to follow!!! I must have blinked and missed the fantasy Ben was having about Mel being pregnant! Perhaps I was distracted by the scene showing her gyrating around on the stair railings and was on total fantasy overload by then! If Packed to the Rafters cannot see its way clear of dishing out this trashy rubbish they can kiss any future Logies goodbye and rename the show - "Gone down the Gurgler". Dare to be DIFFERENT, for goodness sake! That's why we all loved the show in the first place! Oh and I couldn't agree more with the statement that Artie is an INTENSELY annoying character! The irritating, FAKE Greek accent and an actress who looks about 30 portraying an 18 year old???!!! Surely the producers need to have a good close look at where they are going with all of this. Let's get this show back on track, please. We have come to expect QUALITY not garbage form this show! Of course having rolled so far down the hill it's a tough road to get back to the summit! Let's hope they can do it.Tony34
That episode is what Packed to the Rafters would be like all the time if it was made by channel 9.