Source: David Dale, Sydney Morning Herald
Are Australian viewers going on strike in sympathy with the Hollywood
TV scriptwriters? Interest in US dramas seemed to slip last week, just
as they head towards their suspenseful season finales. House, on Ten, lost 200,000 in its fall to 1.3 million; Ghost Whisperer, on Seven, lost 100,000 in its fall to 1.1 million.
Or perhaps we’re just going through one of our rare patriotic
periods, with 17 of last week’s top 20 program made in Australia. We
even seem to be embracing our rural heritage — Channel Nine’s
matchmaking show The Farmer Wants A Wife, boosted its audience to 1.4 million last week, gaining the 300,000 who dropped away from McLeod’s Daughters this year.
As usual, Channel Seven won the week, averaging 28.8 per cent of the
prime time audience, with Nine on 26.7, Ten on 22.1, ABC on 17.2 and
SBS on 5.1. But on Sunday night, Seven went into a slump, as viewers
finally realised they’d seen Kath and Kim before, and the old folks switched to Nine for 60 MInutes and CSI while the under 40s switched to Ten for Australian Idol and Rove.
Nine won the night with 30.4 per cent of the prime time audience, while
Ten got 26.4, Seven got 23.0, ABC got 16.2 and SBS got 3.9.
What Australia watched, week ending November 17, 2007
1 DANCING WITH THE STARS 7 Seven 1,768,000
2 CITY HOMICIDE Seven 1,722,000
3 CSI Nine 1,472,000
4 KATH & KIM (R) Seven 1,467,000
5 THE CHASER’S WAR ON EVERYTHING ABC 1,463,000
6 AUSTRALIAN IDOL Ten 1,419,000
7 MISSING PERSONS UNIT Nine 1,397,000
8 ALL SAINTS Seven 1,372,000
9
SEVEN NEWS – SUN Seven 1,368,000
10 THE FARMER WANTS A WIFE Nine 1,358,000
11 SURF PATROL Seven 1,334,000
12 SPICKS AND SPECKS ABC 1,316,000
13 HOUSE 4 Ten 1,315,000
14 AUSTRALIAN IDOL – THE LIVE VERDICT Ten 1,292,000
15 NEW TRICKS ABC 1,291,000
Popularity: 1%
