The Week Belonged To Seven

The Age

Thursday September 4, 2008

Debi Enker

BACK IN 2001, a shell-shocked Seven Network was attempting to redefine itself in the wake of the loss of its long-held AFL broadcast rights to Nine, Ten and Foxtel. The following year, for the first time in a long time, Seven would be footy-free and, at that stage, the network and the game seemed inextricably intertwined: Seven's schedule without AFL looked pitifully thin.

Seven's initial strategy, which proved short-lived, was to become the home of local drama. At several network functions that year, executives proudly presented a new slate of productions and talked up existing ones.

The city-country family drama Always Greener premiered, and a purportedly racy new vehicle for Lisa McCune, the legal series Marshall Law, was commissioned. The stalwart Blue Heelers continued with its seventh season, All Saints rolled into its third, and Home and Away followed the trials of Summer Bay residents through their 13th year.

With this handful of productions, Seven hoped to fill some of the gaping holes in its schedule left by the exit of the AFL. Always Greener premiered strongly, but following an unduly long summer break and an ill-advised timeslot reshuffle ended up struggling through two seasons and winding up in November 2002. Marshall Law screened late in 2002 and limped through a single unspectacular season.

By that time, Seven had reconsidered and decided that infotainment and reality TV were the way to go, and that the idea of repositioning itself as the home of local drama was ill advised: better to invest in stuff like Dog Eat Dog and Your Life on the Lawn. Ahem.

But a funny thing happened last week. Seven launched a new local drama, Packed to the Rafters, and it rated through the roof. Preceded by a robust publicity campaign and aided by the promotional platform afforded by the Olympic Games, Seven's new family drama, starring Rebecca Gibney and Erik Thomson, attracted 1.94million viewers and was second on the national ratings ladder only to the closing ceremony of the Beijing Olympics.

As well, the second season of Seven's Melbourne police drama, City Homicide, continues to rate well: it was No. 4 nationally last week with 1.88 million viewers. Which means that Seven currently has that prime-time pair, along with All Saints and Home and Away, all performing well.

Overall, last week was an exceptionally good one for Seven, which had 16 of the top 20 programs nationally, including the first 14 entries on the ladder.

The first non-Seven show to register was the premiere of Australian Idol. Tweaked by Ten for its sixth season - Mark Holden out, Ricki-Lee Coulter in - Idol came in at No. 15 with 1.4 million viewers.

Nine managed only three entries, well down the list, and 60 Minutes didn't make it at all (No.22 nationally with 1.27million viewers).

However, it should also be noted that Nine's "back end" push had yet to begin, and the network still holds high hopes for its line-up of new product, including The Strip, Battlefronts, Fringe and The Mentalist. A Victorian screening of the banned Underbelly has also been mooted.

But last week was very much Seven's, with an array of new and returning programs performing strongly. Seven easily won the week in Melbourne with a 31.2% share, ahead of Nine (24.7%), Ten, a close third with 23.7%, ABC1 (15.8%) and SBS (4.7%).

Melbourne Top 20

1. Olympics: Closing Ceremony (7) 641,000

2. Packed to the Rafters (7) 609,000

3. City Homicide (7) 598,000

4. Olympics: The Heroes of Beijing (7) 525,000

5. Find My Family (7) 505,000

6. Seven News - Sun (7) 490,000

7. The Force (7) 482,000

8. Border Security (7) 471,000

9. Australian Idol (10) 470,000

10. RSPCA Animal Rescue (7) 448,000

11. National Nine News - Sun (9) 444,000

12. Getaway (9) 439,000

13. Law & Order: Criminal Intent (10) 434,000

14. AFL: Carlton v Hawthorn (10) 428,000

15. AFL: Fremantle v Collingwood (7) 422,000

16. Two and a Half Men (rpt, 9) 407,000

17. The Footy Show (9) 406,000

18. Seven News - Sat (7) 402,,000

19. Criminal Minds (7) 400,000

20. Bones (7) 396,000

National Top 20

1. Olympics: Closing Ceremony (7) 2 million

2. Packed to the Rafters (7) 1.94m

3. Seven News - Sun (7) 1.92m

4. City Homicide (7) 1.88m

5. Border Security (7) 1.79m

6. Find My Family (7) 1.77m

7. Olympics: The Heroes of Beijing (7) 1.77m

8. The Force (7) 1.72m

9. RSPCA Animal Rescue (7) 1.68m

10. Seven News - Mon-Fri (7) 1.55m

11. Seven News - Sat (7) 1.43m

12. Today Tonight (7) 1.42m

13. Better Homes and Gardens (7) 1.41m

14. Criminal Minds - Wed (7) 1.402m

15. Australian Idol (10) 1.40m

16. Home and Away (7) 1.37m

17. Aus.Naughtiest Home Video Show (9) 1.36m

18. National Nine News - Sun (9) 1.34m

19. Medical Emergency (7) 1.30m

20. Getaway (9) 1.29m

© 2008 The Age

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