Throng

It’s all about the ratings but to what extent should our networks go to grab ratings?

Last Thursday night, July 29, saw GO achieve the highest ratings share ever for a digital channel. With a figure of 6.9% in overall shares, GO rated better than SBS did and helped the Nine Network to a resounding win for the night.

But the huge share comes as a result of an extreme last minute programming change that saw the 80’s classic movie Dirty Dancing switched in favour of four episodes of The Big Bang Theory on top of the two that already play from 8.30pm.

In ratings for both Sunday and Tuesday this week, Modern Family has taken a hit - dropping by over 400,000 viewers from the highs of over 1.5 million it was getting in its 8pm timelsot on Tuesdays after Masterchef.

The lower figure for Sunday night was easily attributed to viewers not being aware of the new timeslot, as well as the fact it was a Christmas episode may not have helped, but on Tuesday night Modern Family now comes third after Top Gear and Minute to Win It - two shows it was rating significantly better than.

Those who believe in lead ins would argue that the lower ratings for Modern Family are due not having a high rating show before it like Masterchef. More realistically, the reason why Modern Family has dropped in ratings is now it starts at 7.30 (and 6.30 on Sundays) viewers have the choice whether to start watching Modern Family at that time, or start watching a show on the other channels at the same time.

I've just watched the first episode of this new talent show and cannot, for the life of me, understand what Network Ten are thinking if the Australian version is going to be anything like the UK one.

Don't Stop Believing is a cross between Australia's Got Talent and Glee but without all audition episodes.  When the show starts, it straight into the competition.  You get a brief intro to the act, their performance and then some judging.  Granted, the Australian voting system is unlikely to be as short as the 12 minutes the UK gives their viewers to vote, but I fail to see how this show has any longevity when it seems apparent to me that they're not interested at all in giving acts the opportunity to build a fan base.

Who else that recorded Masterchef last night missed the end of it?

In Sydney (can’t speak for everywhere else) the Ten EPG had Masterchef finishing at 8.30pm exactly, with the Great Debate ending at 10.17pm.

Masterchef did not end up finishing until 8.45pm. The debate finished within a minute or two of the time on the EPG.

As wrong as it is, we are all used to channel Nine especially not having correct EPG times ever, and Seven on occasions, but when it happens on Ten, it comes as a surprise. When recording a show on Nine in prime time, I always automatically make sure to use the “plus 20” feature on my IQ2 (which adds 20 minutes of recording to the time a show was supposed to end.

On Ten, I never worry about recording significant extra time - the 10 minute overrun default is usually enough - and usually not even needed thanks to Ten almost always keeping their EPG up to date. At worst - they may be off by a few minutes.

Can Seven PLEASE stop combining a new and a repeat episode of How I Met Your Mother into a single one hour block of programming.

While I have nothing against a repeat episode being played after a new one, I do have a problem with two episodes being joined into a one hour block when one of the episodes is a repeat.

Some of us have seen the repeat episodes before, and have no desire to watch them again. With How I Met Your Mother as a one hour block, you are forced to record the one hour block on your PVR unless you manually program in the recording time. Not to mention unnecessary PVR recording conflicts if you are recording a half hour of programming you do not care about.

This is not the only show Seven have done this to. Last Wednesday, a one hour episode of Highway Patrol was billed as being new despite the fact the second half hour was a repeat of the show seen last year.

Well - this would be the clipshow Seven were reported to be working on earlier this year - but thankfully not another countdown as previously reported.

The point of difference was that the show was done in a style pitching country against country in “rounds” comparing movies, songs, sports people and the like but not actually counting down like Nine’s 20 To 1 and the flopped Spearman Experiment seen on Ten last year.

Australia Versus, like all clip shows, shows footage of the feature being compared, followed by a number of celebrities or personalities discussing their thoughts on the subject. The first episode was billed as Australia Versus the UK.

In movies for example, they compared Australia’s Crocodile Dundee to Britain’s Mr Bean, and discussed. Each round of comparison was awarded a win to one of the sides, with one country being declared the winner at the end.

So why does GO make so many programming changes?

Simple. Ratings.

GO is nothing more than a tool for the Nine network to prop up their network ratings shares and to help out winning some of the ratings for key demographics.

Originally pitched as a “youth” channel, GO promised to bring a lot of content to free to air TV for the first time, including many shows only previously seen on Pay TV like Gossip Girl, Terminator: The Sarah Conner Chronicles and Chuck and premieres like The Vampire Diaries.

The original GO program offered an alternative to main stream free to air TV with 24 hour a day programming as well as Pay TV channel-style block programming meaning prime time shows were repeated in the early hours of the morning and during the day, classification permitting.

GO has also allowed shows dumped by channel Nine to be played out, including ER and Fringe for example.

Surprise, surprise - the Masterchef twist was to return eliminated contestants back into the competition.

Eleven out of the 17 that had been eliminated from this season so far returned to battle it out for one of three positions made available for eliminated contestants to return back into the competition, unbeknown to the remaining seven who have battled it out to be the strongest so far in the competition.

The Sunday night show saw these eleven cut down one by one to six - who would then go on to Monday to be further cut down to the three who would ultimately rejoin the Masterchef competition with the remaining seven contestants to battle it out for the title of second Masterchef winner.

Is it really fair that eliminated contestants are able to return in some cases weeks after they had left the show to rejoin the competition like they never left?

Well, it had to happen one day, didn’t it?

Two and a Half Men is about to hit GO - with double episodes after Big Bang Theory at 8.30 Sunday nights from July 4. This is the first week that Underbelly is not on Nine so Nine’s strategy here could be to build up the Sunday night on GO further to help the network win the night even if the primary channel doesn’t do so well.

This means, that between Channel Nine’s weekday 7pm strip, the recently added (on and off though) 9pm Tuesday night ep, 7.30pm Monday Two and a Half Men episodes, and the two now added to GO, the show is now on NINE times a week! Back to how it was last year, and further dilution of the GO brand into something more like 9TWO.

With Wimbledon occupying late nights on Nine for the next two weeks, the network have chosen to air the AFL Footy Show on GO at 12 midnight for the next two weeks so that AFL fans in Sydney and Brisbane can still see the AFL Footy Show as it will not be on Nine during this time.

This week, the AFL Footy Show will air on GO at midnight Thursday night (June 24) and next week at midnight Wednesday night (June 30). The AFL Footy Show is on Wednesday night that week, thanks to an AFL game being held on the Thursday night (which will be aired live on Ten).

We don’t normally talk about DVD releases here, but the release of Underbelly: The Golden Mile on DVD the day after the final show airs prompts the question as to whether more money is made by Nine from Underbelly ratings or through DVD sales.

The Golden Mile is the third Underbelly series and the poorest rating so far overall. Like the previous two series, the DVD release comes the morning after the last show of the series has aired on channel Nine.

Last Sunday night, Underbelly: The Golden Mile was watched by little over 1.3 million - the lowest five city ratings ever for the show. During this episode, the DVD release was promoted. Typical of long weekend Sundays, the ratings were way down on usual, and many would have missed the episode.

It’s the battle of the 5.30 game show this week, with both Seven’s Deal or No Deal and Nine’s Hot Seat spruiking contestants winning large sums of money.

On Seven, they have made it no secret that a contestant this week will walk away with the $200,000, having chosen the correct case and played the game to the end without making the deal to take the money to reveal that her case in fact has the $200,000 in it.

The story that the $200,000 goes off this week was reported on Today Tonight last Friday. The story revealed this lady ends up with three cases where one is the $200,000, another the $100,000 and the third the 50 cents. Today Tonight did not give away what was in the next case she chose to get down to two cases - saying you will have to watch the show.

The past week saw Seven win their first week of ratings over Nine since Easter. The win has for the most part been attributed to the huge share the network on Friday night by showing live AFL into Melbourne. Losses in previous weeks have been mostly due to Seven’s poor Thursday night performance where, since AFL show The Bounce was rested, the network has shown different programming in different markets.

In the NRL markets, the Matty Johns Show remains at 7.30pm while the AFL markets see UK comedy the Vicar of Dibley. At 8.30, the NRL markets get Criminal Minds repeats while the AFL markets were given another UK comedy - Benidorm - to try. These programs are then followed by double episodes of the Amazing Race with Flashforward wrapping up the night after 11.30pm.

What happened to Ten last night? For only the second time this year that I am aware of, Ten did not offer a correct EPG for the night - the very night that their latest programming addition Modern Family was to premiere.

Unlike Nine and a lesser extent, Seven, Ten are the only network who you can rely on to offer a correct EPG. Having a correct EPG means that when you record shows, they start within a minute or less of the start of the recording, and end at the time they should. We are all used to the fact that Nine do not offer a correct EPG at all, while Seven only selectively offers a correct EPG - usually choosing not to on very competitive nights like Sundays.

Is Usher appearing on Hey Hey this week really a special event? Is having a heart monitor on contestants on Hot Seat a special event? Are double episodes of Underbelly a special event?

Well - according to Nine they are. It seems just about everything on Nine is portrayed as being a special event or must see television.

Even your basic episode of Top Gear - whether new or previously seen on SBS or BBC Knowledge is announced as an event or special episode on Nine. If a show is extended by way of an extra episode or is just longer than usual - then it too is a special event.

Do they have any idea that the over use of the word special detracts from the very meaning of the word? Isn’t special by definition a unique and interesting occurrence - surpassing what is usual, common or normal?