In Week 44 viewers bid farewell to All Saints after 12 seasons across 11 years. The 70 minute episode ensured the show departed with its reputation intact and possibly signalled the end of an era of long running weekly dramas. It finished on 1.5m viewers -time will tell if Packed to the Rafters ever comes close to its legacy. Seven, which has been top-heavy in local drama with an embarrassment of riches, won the week and with the introduction of 7TWO today may have ended a winning run by the Nine / GO! combo.
Seven won with 28.8% over Nine’s 26.4% and TEN’s 20.8%. The ABC had 18.4% and SBS took 5.7%.
GO! had 2.6% over ABC2’s1.6%, ONE’s 1.0% and SBS TWO’s 0.4%.
TEN won 16-39 and Seven took 18-49, 25-54 demos.
Seven won Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday. Nine won Sunday, Thursday and Saturday. All cities were won by Seven except Melbourne which fell to Nine.
Packed to the Rafters soared to 1.95m viewers, no doubt pulling in a lot of viewers for the last All Saints, on 1.51m viewers. Other top performers were The Force, Border Security, Seven News, Today Tonight, Destroyed in Seconds, Highway Patrol, RSPCA Animal Rescue, Last Chance Surgery, Better Homes and Gardens and Medical Emergency. This week City Homicide returned to 1.19m viewers, a similar number to FlashForward‘s 1.18m already struggling to retain its big debut. At least the return of Criminal Minds held the audience at 1.12m. Bones and Sunday Night both won their slot. From this week Seven gets an extra kick along with shares from 7TWO to be tallied into weekly shares.
A new episode of Two and a Half Men was again Nine’s best on 1.43m viewers. That left Nine News (Sunday) and 20 to 1 as its only other drawcards above 1.2m viewers. Bringing up the rear were The Mentalist, Getaway, 60 Minutes, CSI, Rescue: Special Ops and A Current Affair. A major concern is Nine News, which landed outside the top 10 on 3 of its 5 weeknights, with two nights below 1m viewers. Melbourne remains its strongest market where its tussle with Seven News is neck and neck. This week The Apprentice Australia took a hit from the debut of Criminal Minds, down to 747,000. The Seinfeld Reunion (Curb Your Enthusiasm) on 596,000 and Aussie Ladette to Lady on 574,000 failed. Money for Jam is an inadequate 834,000 -by comparison Secret Millionaire gets 886,000 in a 9:30pm slot. Nine also dumped Moonlight after 282,000 viewers tuned in. The Today show was breathing down the neck of Sunrise. On GO! Wipeout‘s 310,000 was a clear winner, helping Nine win the night.
This week NCIS took 1.37m as the best for TEN. Celebrity Masterchef 1.13m was its next best followed by NCIS: LA and Australian Idol, both scraping over the 1m mark. Other firebrands hovered around 900,000: Rush, Glee, Good News Week, The Simpsons, with Lie to Me on 974,000. Jamie’s American Road Trip was a modest 704,000. Neighbours continues to outrate The 7PM Project, this week hosted by Andrew Gunsberg. TEN renewed almost all of its local slate this week for 2010 but neglected to outline the future for Are You Smarter than a Fifth Grader? and a Reyne-less 9AM with David and Kim. The 2009 MotoGP on ONE was 93,000.
There is no denying the power of a classic whodunnit as an old episode of Midsomer Murders pulls 1.38m viewers for the ABC on Friday -better than anything on TEN. Elsewhere, Spicks and Specks, Australian Story, ABC News, Ganges, Four Corners, Media Watch, The Great Escape, The Bill, Hope Springs and Catalyst were strong. Hungry Beast rose slightly on its previous week while John Safran’s Race Relations dipped. Sunday Arts, given its notice this week, had 155,000 while Good Game -this week upstaging Safran in the headlines- took 47,000 on Monday night (and 51,000 in its ABC1 rerun). Junkyard Wars remains ABC2’s best. The ABC beat TEN on Friday and Seven and TEN on Saturday.
Top Gear drove to 781,000 for SBS. Man Vs Wild was strong on 514,000. But Maggie Beer gave Who Do You Think You Are? its best figures yet on 477,000. Luke Nguyen’s Vietnam was 292,000 but East West 101 struggled on its impossible slot of 141,000. Dateline‘s 25th anniversary was 195,000 and RocKwiz sang to the tune of 280,000.
Just 4 survey weeks remain in 2009.