How I Met Your Mother

8:30pm – Thursday, July 8 on Seven

When the gang tries to convince Ted that he is being strung along by Tiffany, they reflect about relationships where each of them has been in the same situation, this week on HOW I MET YOUR MOTHER.

HOW I MET YOUR MOTHER stars JOSH RADNOR as Ted, NEIL PATRICK HARRIS as Barney, ALYSON HANNIGAN as Lily, COBIE SMULDERS as Robin and JASON SEGEL as Marshall, with BOB SAGET as the narrator.

8:30pm – Thursday, July 1 on Seven

When Lily and Marshall forget to fix up Ted on a blind date for Valentine’s Day, they use one of Barney’s many discarded girls to see if they will become Ted’s future wife, this week on HOW I MET YOUR MOTHER.

Meanwhile, Robin’s obnoxious colleague invites her to a party at his apartment.

HOW I MET YOUR MOTHER stars JOSH RADNOR as Ted, NEIL PATRICK HARRIS as Barney, ALYSON HANNIGAN as Lily, COBIE SMULDERS as Robin and JASON SEGEL as Marshall, with BOB SAGET as the narrator.

Updates to Seven programming.

From July 4, Seven are bringing back their ratings winning combination of Bones and Castle, after Dancing with the Stars at 8.30pm. This move comes after several weeks of movies which have not done too well for the network. Bones and Castle will be repeats as there are no new episodes available for the next few months.

Recently announced comedy program “Australia Versus” will air at 9.30 Tuesdays, from July 6, following Packed to the Rafters. Read more about the show here.

Seven’s programming issues continue on Thursdays nights, with True Beauty being pushed back from 10pm to 10.30pm from July 1. Although not rating well, Cougar Town will play in double episodes from 9.30 that night – which may be an attempt to burn off episodes, as the first season has concluded in the US. How I Met Your Mother remains at 8.30 – the fifth season of this show has also concluded in the US – with a repeat at 9pm. Why not do the same – play double new episodes?

Beauty and the Geek Australia will most likely return to Thursday nights on Seven at 8.30pm some time in September.

Seven’s Thursday nights get a new look from Thursday June 17.

Thursday night, as mentioned in a number of other posts, has been a problem for Seven since the removal of the Bounce in AFL states, Cougar Town and How I Met Your Mother. So far alternatives like Benidorm and Criminal Minds have not rated any better than Cougar Town and How I Met Your Mother were in the same timeslot, while double episodes of The Amazing Race have brought its ratings down.

Now, with Amazing Race finishing on June 10, Thursday June 17 provides for a completely new night which sees both How I Met Your Mother and Cougar Town reinstated as part of that night’s line up.

How I Met Your Mother will air in double episodes from 8.30pm (and a little later in AFL markets should the Vicar of Dibley remain on at 7.30pm) with the first one new, the second one a repeat. That will be followed by two episodes of Cougar Town from 9.30. After 10.30 is Family Guy and American Dad. Flashfoward remains at 11.30, with the final episode ever to be seen June 24.

How I Met Your Mother appeals mostly to a younger demographic should attract some of those viewers back who currently end up watching Glee on Ten or Big Bang Theory on GO! The idea of using How I Met Your Mother is that timeslot to help improve Seven’s position on Thursday night I have suggested in other posts, including “What Should Seven do with Thursday Nights?”

Here’s how the night will look, from June 17:
8.30 How I Met Your Mother (new)
9.00 How I Met Your Mother (rpt)
9.30 Cougar Town (new)
10.00 Cougar Town (new)
10.30 Family Guy (new)
11.00 American Dad (new)
11.30 Flashforward (new – final episode ever June 24).

Programming information: TV Tonight.

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.

With heavy competition from both Ten and Nine early Thursday night, Seven has struggled to get a grip on the night. Masterchef and Glee on Ten top their respective time slots while Getaway and Sea Patrol on Nine come second after Ten. While The Vicar of Dibley may do very well on a Saturday night when there are fewer options on free to air TV, it does not fit well into a competitive prime time weekday timeslot where you would expect a network to offer better programming than 15 year old British comedies.

While Seven should probably be applauded for trying something different like Benidorm at 8.45 after the Vicar, it is reasonably obvious that such a show will have a more niche audience, and is best suited to 7TWO where will rate probably as well as many of the other British comedies that channel offers. Benidorm will never do well on a main channel. As a result, it will no longer be on from Thursday June 10 and may come to 7TWO at a later date.

As for showing Criminal Minds repeats after Matty Johns in the NRL markets, just because the show rates well in other time slots, does not mean it will do well at 8.30 Thursday night after a football show. The figures have been woeful to say the least, with the combined ratings for the 8.30 timeslot in both markets on Seven no better than what they were for Cougar Town and How I Met Your Mother – both of which were axed when The Bounce was pulled. How I Met Your Mother can usually draw a million viewers but the show was victim to being paired with the less popular Cougar Town and simply lost in Thursday night especially considering that late running footy shows meant the start time could be anything up to 15 minutes late.

Then there is the Amazing Race. I am an Amazing Race fan, but cannot understand why Seven would want to rush through the series so quickly by putting double episodes on which end up finishing close to midnight. The Amazing Race concludes on June 10. All that has done is to reduce interest in the show as viewers have been lost with the late finishes. The ratings for the Amazing Race are the lowest they have ever been and Seven would have been better off playing them once per week at 8.30 with perhaps How I Met Your Mother and other comedies following from 9.30. A comedy Thursday night on Seven would offer an alternative to crime on Ten and footy on Nine and would lift the networks’ shares to a better position.

But what about 7.30pm Thursday? To me, the solution is simple. With AFL fans in Melbourne in particular screaming for live AFL coverage on Friday night, why not give them the live AFL and move Better Homes and Gardens to 7.30 Thursday night in AFL markets? That way, in NRL markets, you would have the Matty Johns Show on at 7.30pm Thursday with Better Homes and Gardens remaining on Friday nights – at the same time Nine shows live NRL. Meanwhile – Seven in AFL markets would have Better Homes and Gardens on Thursday nights at 7.30 and live AFL on the Friday nights from 7.30pm (although would still be delayed in Adelaide and Perth).

With Amazing Race finishing June 10, Seven will need to come up with a completely new Thursday line up form 8.30pm. Had they not have rushed through the series, Amazing Race at 8.30 followed by a comedy night as mentioned earlier might have been a good idea.

Which ever way Seven goes, expect a completely new Thursday night on Seven from June 17. As for June 10 in the AFL markets, Benidorm’s 8.45pm timeslot is still reaming as TBA for now.

We will update with programming details as they come to hand.

9:00pm – Thursday, May 6 on Seven

This week on HOW I MET YOUR MOTHER, Barney is about to complete the perfect week, landing seven different girls in seven days.

The gang roots him on in order to forget about their own miserable weeks.

HOW I MET YOUR MOTHER stars JOSH RADNOR as Ted, NEIL PATRICK HARRIS as Barney, ALYSON HANNIGAN as Lily, COBIE SMULDERS as Robin and JASON SEGEL as Marshall, with BOB SAGET as the narrator.

With the Bounce now gone in AFL markets, Seven have taken the opportunity to revamp its Thursday night line up. As suggested in an earlier post, Cougar Town and How I Met Your Mother have been chopped from the Thursday night line up effective immediately. Figures for both shows were very poor to say the least, not helped by erratic start times and incompatible lead-ins and lead-outs.

While I am not a big believer in lead ins – it seemed very odd that a show like Cougar Town would follow a Football show unless the network was sticking to accurate start and finish times. I have seen comments in other TV blogs with Cougar Town viewers annoyed at having to sit through minutes of either Footy show to get to the one they want to watch. Further more, How I Met Your Mother appeals to a different audience again – and is more established now being in its fifth season.

The resulting programming is now as follows:

Sydney, Brisbane:
7.30 The Matty Johns Show
8.30 Criminal Minds Repeat
9.30 The Amazing Race Season 16
10.30 Flashforward
11.30 American Dad Repeat
12.00 Auction Squad Repeat

Melbourne, Adelaide and Perth:
7.30 The Vicar of Dibley repeat
8.45 Criminal Minds Repeat
9.45 The Amazing Race Season 16
10.45 Flashforward
11.45 American Dad Repeat
12.15 The Matty Johns Show

Seven usually makes programming changes with enough notice for printed guides to be correct, but in this case they have chosen not to wait in response to a very bad result last Thursday that cost them the win for the week.

Over on 7TWO, Heartbeat will also be taken off at 7.30 Thursday as the audience is too similar to the Vicar of Dibley. Airline USA will fill that time slot. That means only 3 episodes a week of Heartbeat instead of 4!

Some programming info from TV Tonight.

Thursday nights will have a distinctly different look on Seven from this week onwards.

The network has pulled US comedies Cougar Town and How I Met Your Mother and replaced them with repeats of Criminal Minds.

With The Bounce given the boot last week as well, it looks like Seven is well and truly trimming the fat when it comes to underperforming shows.

The new Thursday line-up on Seven looks like this:

Melbourne, Adelaide and Perth

7:30 – The Vicar of Dibley (repeat)
8:30 – Criminal Minds (repeat)
9:30 – The Amazing Race (new)
10:30 – FlashForward (new)
11:30 – American Dad (repeat)
12:00 – The Matty Johns Show

Sydney and Brisbane

7:30 – The Matty Johns Show
8:30 – Criminal Minds (repeat)
9:30 – The Amazing Race (new)
10:30 – FlashForward (new)
11:30 – American Dad (repeat)
12:00 – Auction Squad (repeat)

9:00pm – Thursday, April 22 on Seven

This week on HOW I MET YOUR MOTHER, the gang helps Ted woo the perfect girl.

The gang tries to help Ted when the perfect girl is finally available; and Marshall takes action when he finds a letter written by his younger self.

HOW I MET YOUR MOTHER stars JOSH RADNOR as Ted, NEIL PATRICK HARRIS as Barney, ALYSON HANNIGAN as Lily, COBIE SMULDERS as Robin and JASON SEGEL as Marshall, with BOB SAGET as the narrator.

9:00pm – Thursday, April 15 on Seven

- CHRIS ELLIOTT GUEST STARS

This week on HOW I MET YOUR MOTHER, Marshall bequeaths one slap to Ted and Robin.

Barney freaks out when Marshall bequeaths one of only two remaining slaps from his slap bet to Ted and Robin.

And Lily’s estranged father, whom she hasn’t seen for three years, shows up for Thanksgiving.

HOW I MET YOUR MOTHER stars JOSH RADNOR as Ted, NEIL PATRICK HARRIS as Barney, ALYSON HANNIGAN as Lily, COBIE SMULDERS as Robin and JASON SEGEL as Marshall, with BOB SAGET as the narrator, and special guest CHRIS ELLIOTT as Mickey.