The Sun-Herald

The Who We Are update: V goes down the toilet. Yasmin must be an alien.

... One more week like this and it'll be shifted to GO!

What Australia watched, Sunday
Description Total Sydney Melbourne Brisbane Adelaide Perth
1 AIR WAYS Seven 1,488,000 460,000 434,000 244,000 179,000 172,000
2 BORDER SECURITY Seven 1,474,000 467,000 421,000 236,000 177,000 173,000
3 BONES Seven 1,383,000 353,000 448,000 254,000 166,000 162,000
4 SEVEN NEWS - SUN Seven 1,364,000 293,000 394,000 317,000 154,000 206,000
5 NINE NEWS SUNDAY Nine 1,300,000 397,000 386,000 255,000 151,000 111,000
6 SUNDAY NIGHT Seven 1,295,000 317,000 401,000 260,000 147,000 170,000
7 TALKIN' 'BOUT YOUR GENERATION Ten 1,212,000 330,000 427,000 218,000 110,000 127,000
8 60 MINUTES Nine 1,134,000 303,000 336,000 276,000 94,000 125,000
9 THE GOOD WIFE Ten 1,123,000 304,000 350,000 216,000 118,000 136,000
10 CASTLE Seven 1,012,000 264,000 337,000 160,000 127,000 124,000
11 DOMESTIC BLITZ Nine 911,000 259,000 279,000 191,000 92,000 90,000
12 HOUSE Ten 872,000 211,000 304,000 150,000 106,000 102,000
14 THE BIGGEST LOSER (AUS) - THE WEIGH-IN Ten 853,000 244,000 247,000 192,000 63,000 107,000
15 V Nine 799,000 282,000 328,000 189,000
20 NINE'S SUNDAY FOOTBALL Nine 456,000 287,000 Not shown 169,000 Not shown Not shown
24 V -ENCORE Nine 399,000 61,000 78,000 73,000 72,000 115,000
25 DESPERATE ROMANTICS ABC1 379,000 95,000 125,000 70,000 44,000 45,000
31 TOP GEAR GO! 317,000 57,000 91,000 61,000 60,000 47,000

• by David Dale in whoweare-index at 08:52 AM
• Comments (12)

The Who We Are update: Biffo kicks a goal for Nine

To discuss if Oscars boost Australian audiences, go to The Tribal Mind.
To explain why Australians don't report serious crimes, go to Who We Are.

The ratings race, updated 10am Monday
Channel Nine won the week, largely because of the NRL in Sydney and Brisbane (Seven was on top until Thursday). If this column's theory of a political link is correct, Tony Abbott will rise in the opinion polls.

The prime time audience shares for the week went like this: SBSTWO 0.3%; ABC3 0.4%; ONE 0.8; ABC2 1.0; 7TWO 2.5; GO 2.7; SBS1 3.9; ABC1 11.8; Ten 15.1; All Pay Stations: 17.2; Seven 20.6; Nine 21.2.

This was Pay TV's account of itself: "Some 257,000 viewers watched Live: NRL Sharks v Storm on FOX Sports and saw defending premiers Melbourne Storm beat the Cronulla Sharks in the first round of the 2010 National Rugby League competition. In other sport, 209,000 people watched the Australian and New Zealand cricket teams play each other in Live: Cricket: ODI NZ V Aus 5th ODI S2, 177,000 viewers saw Melbourne Victory earn a home ground grand final by beating Sydney FC during Live: Football: A-League Major SF Syd v Melb and 82,000 watched the ACT Brumbies prevail in Live: Rugby Union: S14 Brumbies v Sharks (all on FOX Sports). [This pic is designed to illustrate the reference to Aus v NZ cricket, and is in no way an attempt to exploit a personal tragedy involving two national icons]

"The Curious Case of Benjamin Button premiered on Movie One with 133,000 viewers, NCIS had its best result of the year so far with 99,000 watching the program on TV1, Wizards of Waverly Place on Disney Channel also had a year-to-date largest audience with 99,000 viewers and the American Idol Performance Show on FOX8 was watched by 94,000 viewers. Movie Extra's live coverage of the Oscars, The 82nd Academy Awards Live 2010, was seen by 84,000 people, How I Met Your Mother on Arena was watched by 70,000 people and Property Ladder on Lifestyle Channel was seen by 69,000 people.

"In week 11, subscription TV channels had more viewers than any other network around Australia with 24.0% of all metropolitan viewing between 6am and midnight, 23.1% of all regional viewing and 59.3% of all viewing in subscription TV homes." (These figures seem at odds with OzTAM's earlier summary, which suggests Pay TV had only 17.2 pewr cent of the prime time audience. We are seeking clarification.)

Most timeshifted shows, week ending March 6
Description STN Overnight Consolidated 000's Increase % Increase
1 HOUSE TEN 772,000 901,000 129,000 16.70%
2 THE GOOD WIFE TEN 912,000 1,017,000 105,000 11.50%
3 MIDSOMER MURDERS RPT ABC1 460,000 560,000 100,000 21.80%
4 BROTHERS & SISTERS-TUE 7 887,000 980,000 93,000 10.50%
5 BONES 7 1,231,000 1,321,000 91,000 7.40%
6 NCIS TEN 1,365,000 1,454,000 89,000 6.50%
7 GREY'S ANATOMY 7 1,048,000 1,136,000 88,000 8.40%
8 CASTLE 7 907,000 994,000 87,000 9.60%
9 DESPERATE HOUSEWIVES 7 1,027,000 1,112,000 86,000 8.30%
10 BROTHERS & SISTERS 7 895,000 979,000 84,000 9.40%
11 CRIMINAL MINDS 7 1,264,000 1,348,000 84,000 6.60%
12 LOST 7TWO 186,000 262,000 76,000 41.20%
(OzTAM)

What Australia watched, week ending March 13
Description Total Sydney Melbourne Brisbane Adelaide Perth
1 TWO AND A HALF MEN 9 1,588,000 340,000 636,000 310,000 126,000 177,000
2 NCIS TEN 1,519,000 423,000 416,000 296,000 168,000 217,000
3 SEVEN NEWS - SUN Network 7 1,471,000 336,000 503,000 326,000 123,000 183,000
4 MY KITCHEN RULES-TUE Network 7 1,462,000 361,000 522,000 271,000 154,000 154,000
5 BORDER SECURITY 7 1,444,000 389,000 413,000 286,000 156,000 200,000
6 AIR WAYS Network 7 1,434,000 413,000 403,000 271,000 141,000 205,000
7 MY KITCHEN RULES-MON Network 7 1,396,000 361,000 452,000 245,000 171,000 167,000
8 CUSTOMS Network 9 1,349,000 342,000 475,000 238,000 136,000 158,000
9 NINE NEWS SUNDAY Network 9 1,311,000 382,000 454,000 209,000 147,000 118,000
10 THE MENTALIST Network 9 1,310,000 369,000 457,000 230,000 99,000 155,000
11 V Network 9 1,295,000 401,000 382,000 240,000 100,000 172,000
12 CRIMINAL MINDS Network 7 1,295,000 314,000 364,000 272,000 140,000 205,000
13 THE BIG BANG THEORY Network 9 1,270,000 294,000 461,000 267,000 98,000 149,000
14 BONES Network 7 1,270,000 354,000 352,000 254,000 135,000 174,000
Continuedhere

• by David Dale in whoweare-index at 06:06 AM
• Comments (55)

The Tribal Mind: How do we love Oscar? Count the ways

by David Dale
THE OSCARS exist for one purpose: to boost audiences -- at the cinema, on TV and for DVDs. They achieve that goal pretty effectively in America, but what happens 12,000 kilometres away from LA's Kodak Theatre? Are Australians moved by the Hollywood hype?

On television, yes we are. Between noon and 4pm last Monday, 527,000 people in the mainland capitals sat through the live presentations from the Kodak, and later that same night, another 701,000 sat through three hours of edited highlights. In this year of sagging TV numbers, that makes the awards ceremony a huge hit. Mind you, last year Hugh Jackman attracted 1.2 million to the late night version alone, and another 545,000 to the daytime version. But he's always exceptional. It was still worth Channel Nine buying the rights this year.

In cinemas, the Oscar effect is powerful. These were the nominated movies showing in Australian cinemas last week (followed by their total earnings so far and the percentage change in ticket sales since the previous week): The Blind Side ($6.5 million, down 25 per cent during peak Oscar publicity); Avatar ($110m, down 36 per cent); The Hurt Locker ($2.2m, up 12 per cent); A Single Man ($745,000, down 13 per cent); Up in The Air ($8m, down 25 per cent); Precious ($1.1m, down 6 per cent); Invictus ($7m, down 49 per cent). The biggest earner was Alice in Wonderland, which stunned everyone by taking $14 million in its first week, needing no nominations because it has The Depp Factor.

On average, any movie's takings decline about 30 per cent from one week to the next. So a drop of less than 30 (as with The Blind Side, The Hurt Locker, A Single Man, Up in the Air and Precious) means Oscar buzz made a difference, and the punters were apparently saying "I wasn't going to see that, but since it was nominated for awards, I'd better rush off to the flicks and give it a go".

The biggest winner, The Hurt Locker, will go on to even bigger growth in coming weeks. Precious probably won't be much assisted by its wins for Best Supporting Actress and Best Adapted Screenplay. A low budget tale of squalor and child abuse sounds too much like a typical Australian film to attract Australian audiences.

Of course, the cinema industry doesn't need as much help from the Oscars as does the DVD industry. The multiplexes are holding up brilliantly against the onslaught of alternative media. Last year Australians bought $1.09 billion worth of movie tickets -- 15 per cent more than the record figure in 2008. Last year, we spent $1.58 billion buying 83.02 million DVDs - an impressive score until you discover that in 2008 we spent $1.56 billion buying 85.28 million DVDs. So the sales of the silver disc have started a slow decline.

DVD distributors would love to be able to attach to their boxes a sticker saying "Winner of three Academy Awards", or even just "Oscar-nominated", which is no doubt why the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences this year increased the number of best picture nominees from five to ten.

Last year's top selling DVDs included Australia, Twilight, and Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen -- none of which had won Oscars. The main Oscar winner of 2009, Slumdog Millionaire, didn't make the sales top 30.

This year's DVD chart will doubtless be topped by Avatar, which has already proved it needs no peer approval to saturate the market. But if The Hurt Locker should gather even a couple of thousand extra sales when its disc comes out next month, then all the embarrassment of Steve Martin and Alec Baldwin last Monday will not have been in vain.

Go to Comments to discuss how Oscar buzz affects your entertainment choices.

• by David Dale in The Tribal Mind at 04:08 PM
• Comments (4)

WHO WE ARE: Crime doesn't say

To learn how television tastes predict how you'll vote, go to The Tribal Mind.

A column about Australia by David Dale, published in The Sun-Herald, 7/3/2010
DON'T be a dobber. That's been a fundamental of Aussie etiquette for 220 years. It goes back to our convict founders, who knew the world was divided between Us and Them, and you never volunteered to one of Them what one of Us was doing, even if it was mass murder, because mate, whose side are you on? Since then, we've applied the principle in the playground, in the office, in the home and in politics.

This historical aversion to dobbing may explain the mystery contained in the report scarily titled Crime Victimisation Australia, just released by the Bureau of Statistics.

Between June 2008 and June 2009, The Bureau interviewed 25,600 people aged over 15 about whether they'd been robbed, bashed, raped or threatened. That's a massive sample from which to draw conclusions about the nation -- in television ratings, a sample of 3,000 households is used as the basis for billion dollar programming decisions.

As the statisticians would say, the data is reliable - and, at first sight, pretty reassuring. The nation of convicts is not in the grip of a crime wave. Only 3.1 per cent of people aged over 15 (527,400) said they had suffered a physical assault; only 0.6 per cent (96,700) had experienced a personal robbery; only 3.3 per cent of households (267,800) were victims of a break-in and only 1.1 per cent (91,000) had a car stolen. The crime that affected the greatest number of people was "malicious property damage", which happened to 11 per cent of households (912,500).

The bureau reports: "Types of property commonly damaged, defaced or destroyed in the most recent incident were exterior items - including walls, windows, doors and fences - (66%) and cars or other motor vehicles (29%)." Graffiti are a nuisance, but they hardly represent the decline and fall of the Roman Empire.

From that section of the report, I have derived this useful advice ...

How to minimise your chances of being a victim of crime:
1. Live in South Australia (low in all types of crime); 2 Be female; 3 Be over 65; 4 Live alone (The bureau reports: "62 per cent of people who experienced a physical assault knew the offender ... with 14% indicating that the offender was a member of their family" and "29% of the most recent physical assaults occurred at the victim's home"); 5 Be married (but presumably you'd have to live separately from your partner); 6 Don't own electronic or gardening equipment (the most commonly stolen items after money); 7 Get a job.

How to maximise your chances of being a victim of crime: 1 Live in the Northern Territory (highest rate of all crimes); 2 Be single; 3 Be male; 4 Be aged between 15 and 19; 5 Be unemployed.

The bureau reported: "The victimisation rates for physical assault were 8.7% for people aged 15-19 years ... compared with 0.4% for people aged 65 years and over. The victimisation rate was higher for people who were not married (5.3%) than for people who were married (1.7%). The victimisation rate was higher for people who were unemployed (7.1%) ... than for people employed full-time (3.3%) and people employed part-time (3.7%)."

But now we come to the mystery. While Australians are happy to regale researchers from the Bureau of Statistics with their experience of theft and violence, they show a marked reluctance to talk to those who might do something about it. Around one third of the horrors discussed were never reported.

As the bureau puts it: "The proportion of crime incidents people reported to police varied depending on the type of crime: 86 per cent for motor vehicle theft; 70 per cent for break-in; 39 per cent for physical assault; 36 per cent for malicious property damage; 23 per cent for robbery; 23 per cent for threatened assault."

So 61 per cent of people who are bashed and 77 per cent of people who are robbed don't tell the cops. Why not? I can imagine three possible explanations: 1 They've got something to hide; 2 They think it would be pointless, because Underbelly has led them to believe criminals are clever and cops are dumb or corrupt; 3 The anti-dobbing philosophy is so deeply ingrained in our culture that we're prepared to expose our fellow citizens to thugs and thieves rather than give evidence against them.

Go to Comments to offer your theory.

• by David Dale in whoweare-index at 08:47 AM
• Comments (2)

The Tribal Mind: The politics of television, and vice versa

To explain why Australians don't report serious crimes, go to Who We Are.

by David Dale
IT WORKED before, so lets see if it can work again. This is the analogy: Channel Seven is the Labor Party, and Channel Nine is the Liberal/National coalition. Follow the fortunes of Nine and Seven in the ratings, and you will anticipate the fortunes of Opposition and Government in the opinion polls. That was the tool with which this column predicted the result of the 2007 election. Will it work for the 2010 election?

Three years ago, we discussed how television tastes offer clues about the changing national mood, noting that after September 11 and the Bali bombings, Australians retreated into their cocoons. "The favourites of the early Noughties were all about lifestyle -- home renovations, gardening, domestic bliss. The dramas were about crimes solved and stability restored in a single episode ... Viewers avoided programs that required them to come back next week, because life was too crazy to allow such a commitment.

"But since 2005, our favourite shows have been serials, keeping us in constant suspense about who will be voted off the dance floor, who will be murdered on Wisteria Lane, what will the island do to the survivors, how will Dr House outsmart the cop who wants to jail him, etc. Instead of being reassured by our mass entertainment, we demand to be surprised.

"What follows from this transformation in public mood? That Australians will be inclined to vote for Kevin Rudd at the federal election. Where once they craved security, now they relish change ... Australia's current preference for Channel Seven, which offers novelty, over Channel Nine, which offers 'we know what's best for you', suggests that the nation is in sit-forward mode. If an election were held now, we'd vote for surprise and risk rather than predictability and comfort."

Three years later, lets look at the state of the stations. Nine is resurgent, Seven is sinking. In the morning, Today regularly beats Sunrise in Sydney and Melbourne. In the afternoon, The Hot Seat is neck and neck with Deal or no Deal. Nine has hits with Top Gear, The Mentalist and Two and a Half Men, soon to be followed by Underbelly: The Golden Mile (legal action permitting).

Seven's big dramas, Grey's Anatomy and Desperate Housewives, have jumped the shark. Its only new hit, My Kitchen Rules, is a rehash of MasterChef, which does not suggest much imagination in the programming department. Seven's celebrity game show, The White Room, got axed after two weeks because it was hastily conceived and badly managed (just like a certain home insulation program we've heard about recently).

Over the past two weeks, the prime time audience shares have been: Seven 25.6 per cent, Nine 26.7 per cent. At the same time, the opinion polls have shown a slump for the Government and a rise for the Opposition. Kevin Rudd now finds himself where John Howard was in March of 2007 - representing stodgy stability, while Tony Abbott and Barnaby Joyce represent edgy unpredictability.

To restore his reputation for innovation, Rudd has just unveiled visionary schemes in education and health. If our analogy is correct, Channel Seven will need to unveil some big new programming plans very soon.

The last paragraph of this column on May 28, 2007 said this: "You can expect the prime minister to hold off the election date till as late as possible this year. He'll be watching the ratings, tracking the rise of Nine and the decline of Seven, waiting for clear evidence that we have settled back onto the sofa of life. Then he'll pounce."

Go to Comments to discuss whether this year will be different.

• by David Dale in The Tribal Mind at 12:42 PM
• Comments (5)

The Who We Are update: Courtney goes down

To learn how television tastes predict voting intention, go to The Tribal Mind.

To learn how Australia became the land of the short attention span, go to Who We Are.

The ratings race, updated 10 am Sunday
The decline of Cougar Town is more apparent than real. Despite being described as "a shit show" by David Leckie, the boss of Channel Seven, and dropping to No 43 in the weekly chart, Courtney Cox's sitcom is the most watched program of Thursday night with these demographics: women 16-39, men 25-54, and women 25-54. That's a strong incentive for advertisers, and a good reason for Seven to keep showing it in prime time. And as you'll see from the chart below, it's one of the most recorded prgrams each week. Go to Comments to tell us if it has got better or worse, now that it has settled in.

The prime time audience shares for the week went like this: SBSTWO 0.5%; ABC3 0.5%; ONE 0.8; ABC2 1.5; 7TWO 3.4; GO 3.4; SBS1 5.0; ABC1 14.7; Ten 19.0; Nine 25.5; Seven 26.6.

And thiw waw Pay TV's account of itself: "Live: Cricket: Twenty20: NZ v Aus Game 2 on FOX Sports topped the week for subscription TV, when 314,000 viewers watched New Zealand narrowly beat Australia in an "extra time" over. In other cricket, 244,000 people watched Australia beat NZ in the second one day international, Live: Cricket: ODI NZ v Aus 2nd ODI, 183,000 watched Football: Premier League World, 151,000 watched Live: Football: AFC Asian Cup Qualifier Aus v Ind and 123,000 watched Live: Rugby Union: S14 Waratahs v Sharks (all on FOX Sports).

"America's Next Top Model on FOX8 was viewed by 104,000 people, NCIS on TV1 was seen by 81,000 people and Two And A Half Men on Arena was watched by 76,000 viewers. Jesse Stone: Death in Paradise premiered on 13th Street with 76,000 viewers, SpongeBob SquarePants had 72,000 viewers on Nickelodeon and Wizards of Waverly Place on Disney Channel was watched by 69,000 people.

"In week 10, subscription TV channels won the week with 24.3% of all metropolitan viewing between 6am and midnight, 22.9% of all regional viewing and 60.4% of all viewing in subscription TV homes. "

What Australia timeshifted, week ending February 27
Description STN Overnight Consolidated 000's Increase % Increase
1 NCIS Network TEN 1,386,000 1,508,000 122,000 8.80%
2 BROTHERS & SISTERS 7 849,000 970,000 121,000 14.30%
3 DESPERATE HOUSEWIVES 7 937,000 1,043,000 106,000 11.30%
4 DOCTOR WHO: THE END OF TIME Part 2 ABC1 842,000 944,000 102,000 12.10%
5 HOUSE TEN 969,000 1,070,000 101,000 10.50%
6 BROTHERS & SISTERS-TUE 7 852,000 952,000 100,000 11.70%
7 CRIMINAL MINDS 7 1,201,000 1,298,000 97,000 8.10%
8 COUGAR TOWN 7 1,017,000 1,113,000 96,000 9.40%
9 THE GOOD WIFE TEN 1,260,000 1,353,000 92,000 7.30%
10 BONES 7 1,156,000 1,236,000 80,000 6.90%
11 GREY'S ANATOMY 7 1,019,000 1,099,000 80,000 7.90%
12 BLUE MURDER ABC1 550,000 630,000 80,000 14.50%
(OzTAM mainland capitals

What Australia watched, week ending March 6
Description Total Sydney Melbourne Brisbane Adelaide Perth
1 TWO AND A HALF MEN Nine 1,436,000 392,000 500,000 273,000 105,000 165,000
2 MY KITCHEN RULES-MON Seven 1,410,000 383,000 443,000 277,000 160,000 147,000
3 MY KITCHEN RULES-TUE Seven 1,406,000 352,000 462,000 274,000 158,000 159,000
4 TOP GEAR -EP1 Nine 1,385,000 385,000 402,000 281,000 144,000 174,000
5 NCIS Ten 1,365,000 402,000 341,000 265,000 157,000 201,000
6 AIR WAYS Seven 1,354,000 391,000 433,000 238,000 145,000 146,000
7 THE MENTALIST Nine 1,351,000 430,000 428,000 237,000 118,000 138,000
8 SEVEN NEWS Seven 1,345,000 324,000 385,000 293,000 165,000 178,000
9 SEVEN NEWS - SUN Seven 1,344,000 339,000 387,000 326,000 125,000 168,000
10 SEVEN NEWS - SAT Seven 1,299,000 266,000 459,000 302,000 112,000 161,000
11 WICKED LOVE: THE MARIA KORP STORY Nine 1,299,000 360,000 527,000 203,000 111,000 97,000

• by David Dale in whoweare-index at 09:34 AM
• Comments (60)

The Tribal Mind: Your chance for revenge at the Bogies

To learn why Labor needs to replace Kevin Rudd with Julia Gillard, go to Who We Are.

To find out what Australians are reading -- and what they're no longer reading -- go to Print is dead?.

by David Dale
When Channel Seven's programmers decided last week to kill off a show called The White Room, after only two weeks on air, they also killed their best chance of winning one of this year's coveted Bogie Awards. The category I had in mind for The White Room was "Lamest Ripoff of Another Station's Hit", because it so shamelessly replicated Ten's Talkin' 'Bout Your Generation (which is itself derived from the ABC's Spicks and Specks, but improved by the addition of apostrophes and Shaun Micallef).

Seven probably felt free to withdraw The White Room from contention because it has two other candidates for this award: My Kitchen Rules (cloned from Ten's MasterChef) and Gangs of Oz (a spoiler for Nine's Underbelly). But with The White Room out of the race, Channel Nine becomes the favourite with Customs, which was crafted to capture the paranoid geriatrics who cling to Seven's Border Security.

This column started the Bogies three years ago to celebrate achievements of the television industry that are mysteriously ignored by the Logies - the most irritating, embarrassing, overhyped and underrated programs and people in Australia's most popular form of entertainment.

Last week I discovered this invitation on the Logies website: "Voting for the 2010 [brand name] Logie Awards is now open! Simply by voting you will go into the draw to win a romantic getaway to [brand name] Island Resort and Spa, valued at over $10,000! Plus, each week we are giving away a [brand name] Glamour Photography pack!"

This column can't match such incentives, but I'm hoping you'll be content with eternal glory as your reward for helping to create the Bogies of 2010. We try to add at least five new categories each year.

The most popular new category in 2009 was "Best use of breasts to exploit viewers' base instincts". From a field that included Satisfaction, True Blood, Ghost Whisperer and Nigella Express, the winner was Underbelly: A Tale of Two Cities, which one reader spoonerised as "Overbelly: A Sale of Two Titties".

Underbelly 3 hasn't started yet, so we don't know if we'll even need that category this year. But you'll have plenty of time to reflect on such issues, and to think of categories and candidates, because we're taking suggestions all through March (go to Comments to join the game). At the beginning of April, this column will publish a voting form, and the Bogie winners will be revealed in a glittering ceremony on Saturday May 1 - one day before the Logies are announced.

Here's a summary of last year's awards: From a field that included Ricki-Lee Coulter, Krystal Forscutt and Fifi Box, the winner of "Most Unnecessary Personality" was Lara Bingle. (Fifi Box will be consoled by becoming a candidate this year for the new category "Weather presenter least likely to be promoted to a real job").

The winner of Most unnecessary adaptation of an overseas show was Top Gear Australia. "Most offputting commercial" was "the impotence one with the guys playing the piano". "Worst attempt at an accent from a country not your own" went to Matthew Newton. Most Underrated Program was Dexter.

Most annoying person (from a field that included Jason Coleman, Georgie Parker, Sam Newman, Andrew O'Keefe, Ajay Rochester and Danny Weidler) was David Koch. Most Missed Program was The Chaser's War on Everything. Most Embarrassing Program (the Naomi Robson Cup) was Today Tonight. Furthest past use-by date (the Bert Newton Trophy) was Richard Wilkins. And The Black Bogie (the Eddie McGuire Chalice) went to Kyle Sandilands.

This year Eddie McGuire's Olympic performance might make him a prime candidate for the award named after him, but that's for you to determine. Lets hear your new categories and candidates.

• by David Dale in The Tribal Mind at 06:26 AM
• Comments (16)

The Who We Are update: House and Despos are hits with the timeshifters ...

... but if the timeshifters fast-forward through the ads, why should the networks care about the extra audience? Which leads to a fundamental issue: how do the makers of TV commercials stop people from fast-forwarding? For the background on all this, and to discuss your playback habits, go to Lets do the timeshift.

To nominate television's most annoying, overhyped and underrated people and programs, go to The Bogies 2010.

The ratings race, updated 10 am Monday
The week doesn't really count towards the year's official ratings, because the winter Olympics are a special event, but for what it's worth, the prime time audience shares went like this: SBSTWO 0.4%; ABC3 0.5%; ONE 0.9; ABC2 1.3; 7TWO 3.3; GO 3.4; SBS1 4.8; ABC1 14.6; Ten 19.7; Seven 25.2; Nine 26.8.

This was Pay TV's account of itself for the week: "On Saturday night, the Mardi Gras Special on Arena brought the colour and spectacle of the 2010 Sydney Mardi Gras parade to 133,000 viewers around Australia. Family Guy on Fox8 was watched by 109,000 people, The American Idol Performance Show on FOX8 was watched by 103,000, Zack And Miri Make A Porno premiered on Movie One with 77,000 and How Do You Solve A Problem Like Maria? was watched by 72,000 on UKTV. NCIS on TV1 was watched by 72,000, Property Ladder on LifeStyle Channel was seen by 65,000 and Helen West on 13th Street was watched by 64,000 viewers.

"In sport, Live: Cricket: Twenty20: NZ v Aus Game 1 on FOX Sports was watched by 189,000 people and 180,000 watched the Dragons and Rabbitohs play the traditional Rugby League season opener in Live: Rugby League: Charity Shield. Live: AFL: NAB Cup Geelong v North Melb was seen by 157,000 people, Live: Rugby Union: S14 Reds v Blues was watched by 106,000 people, Live: Football: EPL Chelsea v Man City was viewed by 68,000 and Live: Football: A-League Semi Final by 65,000 people (all on FOX Sports).

"In week 9, subscription TV channels accounted for 22.9% of all metropolitan viewing between 6am and midnight, 21.7% of all regional viewing and 57.0% of all viewing in subscription TV homes."

What Australia recorded in the week ending February 20 and watched within seven days
Description Overnight audience Consolidated audience 000's Increase % Increase
1 HOUSE Network TEN 946,000 1,081,000 135,000 14.20%
2 THE GOOD WIFE Network TEN 1,208,000 1,308,000 100,000 8.30%
3 GREY'S ANATOMY Network 7 866,000 963,000 97,000 11.20%
4 DESPERATE HOUSEWIVES Network 7 1,087,000 1,183,000 96,000 8.80%
5 CASTLE Network 7 963,000 1,059,000 96,000 10.00%
6 CRIMINAL MINDS Network 7 1,095,000 1,186,000 91,000 8.30%
7 BROTHERS & SISTERS Network 7 903,000 993,000 89,000 9.90%
8 BONES Network 7 1,251,000 1,339,000 88,000 7.10%
9 NCIS Network TEN 1,369,000 1,457,000 88,000 6.40%
10 TOP GEAR -EP1 Network 9 1,685,000 1,772,000 86,000 5.10%
11 GREY'S ANATOMY-EP.2 Network 7 911,000 995,000 84,000 9.20%
12 DOCTOR WHO: THE END OF TIME Network ABC1 803,000 885,000 82,000 10.20%
13 COUGAR TOWN Network 7 1,093,000 1,168,000 75,000 6.90%
14 THE MENTALIST Network 9 1,231,000 1,306,000 74,000 6.00%
15 BURN NOTICE Network TEN 423,000 495,000 72,000 16.90%
16 LOST Network 7TWO 180,000 247,000 67,000 37.20%
17 MONTY PYTHON: ALMOST THE TRUTH THE LAWYER'S CUT-EV Network ABC1 806,000 867,000 61,000 7.50%
18 SILENT WITNESS Network ABC1 933,000 993,000 60,000 6.40%
19 LAW AND ORDER: SVU Network TEN 904,000 961,000 57,000 6.30%
20 HOW I MET YOUR MOTHER Network 7 897,000 952,000 55,000 6.10%
(OzTAM mainland capitals)

What Australia watched, week ending February 27
Description Total Sydney Melbourne Brisbane Adelaide Perth
1 TWO AND A HALF MEN Nine 1,397,000 374,000 481,000 259,000 110,000 173,000
2 NCIS Ten 1,384,000 399,000 374,000 264,000 154,000 193,000
3 MY KITCHEN RULES-TUE Seven 1,355,000 330,000 422,000 252,000 179,000 172,000
4 SEVEN NEWS - SUN Seven 1,292,000 364,000 351,000 274,000 129,000 173,000
5 THE MENTALIST Nine 1,279,000 393,000 421,000 202,000 110,000 153,000
6 CUSTOMS Nine 1,276,000 374,000 380,000 241,000 114,000 166,000
7 BORDER SECURITY Seven 1,274,000 308,000 385,000 249,000 156,000 176,000
8 AIR WAYS Seven 1,267,000 311,000 399,000 248,000 149,000 161,000
9 THE GOOD WIFE Ten 1,260,000 347,000 355,000 260,000 117,000 180,000
10 TODAY TONIGHT Seven 1,247,000 311,000 368,000 241,000 154,000 174,000
Continued here

• by David Dale in whoweare-index at 11:27 PM
• Comments (45)

WHO WE ARE: The films Australia loved

List of the 150 highest-grossing movies of all time, and list of the 65 movies seen by the greatest number of Australians, prepared by David Dale from data provided by the Motion Picture Distributors Association of Australia. Last updated February 28, 2010.

For the latest media trends, bookmark blogs.sunherald.com.au/whoweare

Top flicks of the past 12 months: Avatar $109 million; Sherlock Holmes $26m; Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakuel $23m; It's Complicated $15.5m; Valentine's Day $15m; Old Dogs $9.5m; Tooth Fairy $10.5m; hangovers from last year: Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince $40.6m; Transformers 2: Revenge of the Fallen $40.3m; New Moon $37m; Ice Age 3: Dawn of the Dinosaurs $29.8m; Up $28m; The Hangover $21.4m; Monsters Vs Aliens $20.5m; 2012 $20.2m;
Australian films in the past 12 months: Mao's Last Dancer $15.2m; Bran Nue Day $7.1m; Charlie and Boots $3.7m; Samson and Delilah $3.2m; Daybreakers $2.4m (worldwide $35m).

Australia's total box office for 2009 was $1.09 billion -- 15 per cent more than the record figure in 2008.

Chart 1: The Australian box office
1. Avatar (2009) $108m (to learn what Avatar has in common with the oldest story ever told, go to Gilgamesh)
2. Titanic (1997) $57.6 million
3. Shrek 2 (2004) $50.4m
4. The Return of the King (2003) $49.4m
5. Crocodile Dundee (1986) $47.7m
6. Fellowship of the Ring (2001) $47.4m
7. The Dark Knight (2008) $46.1m
8. The Two Towers (2002) $45.7m
9. Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (2001) $42.3m
10. Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince (2009) $40.6m
11. Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen (2009) $40.3m
12. Star Wars I: The Phantom Menace (1999) $39m
13. Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest (2006) $38 m
14. New Moon (2009) $38m
15. Finding Nemo (2003) $37.5m
16. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (2002) $37.5m
17. Australia (2008) $37m (US$50m, world $US205m)
18. Babe (1995) $37m
To read and discuss the complete charts, go to The culture

• by David Dale in The Tribal Mind, in whoweare-index at 10:50 PM
• Comments (17)

WHO WE ARE: The DVDs Australia loved

For the latest media trends, bookmark blogs.sunherald.com.au/whoweare.
List of most most purchased DVDs since 1998, prepared by David Dale, using data from GFK Australia. Last updated February 28, 2010.

Top selling DVDs of all time
1. Finding Nemo (2004)
2 Mamma Mia! (2008)
3 Monsters Inc (2002)
4 Fellowship of the Ring (2002)
5 The Two Towers (2003)
6 Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (2003)
7 Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (2006)
8 Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (2004)
9 Return of the King (2004)
10 Pirates of the Caribbean (2004)
11 The Notebook (2005)
12 Shrek 2 (2004)
13 Dirty Dancing (2000)
14 The Dark Knight (2008)
15 Pirates 2: Dead Man's Chest (2006)
16 Cars (2006)
17 The Matrix (1999)
18 The Incredibles (2005)
19 Ice Age (2002)
20 Gladiator (2000)
21 Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (2007)
To read and discuss the complete charts, go to The culture

• by David Dale in The Tribal Mind, in whoweare-index at 12:10 PM
• Comments (6)

WHO WE ARE: The TV shows Australia loved

This contains charts of the most watched programs of the 20th and 21st centuries, prepared by David Dale and based on data from OzTAM and ACNielsen. Last updated February 28, 2010. For the latest media trends, go to blogs.sunherald.com.au/whoweare

Chart 1. The top shows since 2001
Based on OzTAM's audience estimates for the mainland capitals. Series figures are for the most watched episode of the year.
1 Tennis: Aus Open final - Hewitt v Safin 2005 (7) 4.04 million
2 Rugby World Cup final 2003 (7) 4.01 million
3 MasterChef Australia - Winner Announced 2009 (10) 3.74 million
4 Commonwealth Games Opening Ceremony 2006 (9) 3.56m
5 AFL Grand Final 2005 (10) 3.39m
6 Australian Idol final verdict 2004 (10) 3.35m
7 Australian Idol final 2003 (10) 3.30 m
8 AFL Grand Final 2006 (10) 3.15m
9 The Block auction 2003 (9) 3.11 m
10 September 11 reportage, September 12, 2001 (9, 7, ABC) 3.10 m
11 Tennis: Wimbledon day 14 2001 (9) 3.04 m
12 AFL grand final 2003 (10) 2.96 m
13 AFL grand final 2009 (10) 2.70m
14 Big Brother winner announced 2004 (10) 2.86m
15 Australian Idol Live from Opera House 2004 (10) 2.86 m
16 Beijing Olympics opening ceremony 2008 (7) 2.82m
To read and discuss the complete charts, go to The culture

• by David Dale in The Tribal Mind, in whoweare-index at 11:50 AM
• Comments (18)

WHO WE ARE: The music Australia loved

Lists of top selling albums and most successful performers, prepared by David Dale using data from ARIA and last updated February 28, 2010.

The top selling albums of the CD era
1. Whispering Jack (John Farnham) 1986
2. Come On Over (Shania Twain) 1997
3. Jagged Little Pill (Alanis Morissette) 1995
4. Innocent Eyes (Delta Goodrem) 2003
5. Music Box (Mariah Carey) 1993
6. Thriller (Michael Jackson) 1983
7. Savage Garden (Savage Garden) 1997
8. Falling Into You (Celine Dion) 1996
9. Recurring Dream (Crowded House) 1996
10. Abba Gold (Abba) 1992
11. Immaculate Collection (Madonna) 1990
12. Age of Reason (John Farnham) 1988
13. The Very Best of (The Eagles) 1994
14. Don't Ask (Tina Arena) 1994
15. Remasters (Led Zeppelin) 1990
16 I'm Not Dead (Pink) 2006
17 Funhouse (Pink) 2009
18. Soul Deep (Jimmy Barnes) 1991
19. Forgiven Not Forgotten (The Corrs) 1995
20. Come Away With Me (Norah Jones) 2002
21. The Sound of White (Missy Higgins) 2005
22 Yourself or Someone Like You (Matchbox 20) 1996
23 Forrest Gump (Soundtrack) 1994
24 Only By The Night (Kings of Leon) 2008
25 Get Born (Jet) 2007
To read and discuss the complete charts, go to The culture

• by David Dale in The Tribal Mind, in whoweare-index at 08:50 AM
• Comments (47)

WHO WE ARE: Addicted to surprise

To find out what Australians are reading -- and what they're no longer reading -- go to The Tribal Mind.

A column about Australia by David Dale, published in The Sun-Herald, 21/2/2010
What you're about to read is just between us, OK? I want your feedback on an idea for a best-selling book, but if it gets around, somebody will steal it. So mum's the word.

The book would be called A.D.D. Nation - How neophilia consumed Australia. The ADD in the title refers not only to Attention Deficit Disorder but also our compulsion to add new experiences to our lives at an ever-increasing rate. Ten years ago most homes had a radio, a telly, a VCR and a landline. Now we've got three plasma screens, two DVD players, a games box, iPods, iPhones, and a high speed internet connection. Ten years ago most of us knew the food of Italy, France, and China. Now we chase a new culinary culture every week - Moroccan, Thai, Brazilian, Bengali, north Indian, south Japanese, Greek island, Burmese, Szechuan, and Hunan.

It's wonderfully open-minded of us, but is the search for The Next Big Thing happening too fast? The book would suggest Australians are so ADDicted to constant change we're about to rush over a cliff. Come to think of it, the title could be Land of Lemmingtons. What do you reckon?

I would raise this scenario: Because we have become Early Discarders as well as Early Adopters, we are at risk of burning through our stock of competent politicians before they've had a chance to be useful. It took us 10 years to get bored with John Howard, but only two years to get bored with Kevin Rudd (if current opinion polls are to be believed). He doesn't surprise us any more.

That means we'll discard him simply because he is less new than Tony Abbott. The only way Labor could prevent defeat would be to replace Rudd with Julia Gillard three months before the election. Labor won't do that, so Abbott will become the new prime minister.

But next year the Liberals will need to feed our appetite for novelty by replacing him with Joe Hockey. Labor will discard Julia Gillard as Opposition leader because she'll be old news by the 2013 election.

My reflections on whether it's all happening too fast were prompted by reader reaction to what this column said last month. I published a list of comparisons between the old Australia and the new Australia, suggesting this is a different country from 20 years ago. The contrasts included Chiko roll/ chicken wrap; lamington/ tiramisu; Eddie McGuire/ Shaun Micallef; tea with milk and sugar/ skim latte; dripping/ olive oil; Hey Dad/ Packed to the Rafters.

Nola wrote: "I agree Australia is a more interesting country now than in 1960. However, speed, convenience, and instant everything -- including gratification -- seem to rule supreme."

Graeme Tutt wrote: "We've become more open, sophisticated and multicultural, which makes Oz more vibrant, interesting & deep. Yet we have incredibly high expectations of life and a high standard of living that can't be sustained."

Mike Williams wrote: "As a baby boomer I have embraced the wave of change known as the sixties and beyond, but I can't help feeling a little anxious when ... Yo-Yos became a Nintendo DS; Mental Arithmetic became the calculator; Anonymity became celebrity obsession; School spirit became what's in it for me?; Self-discipline became legislation, by-laws and ordinances; The six oclock swill became teenage binge drinking; Shopping became a national pastime; A lottery ticket became a scratchie, Lotto, Oz Lotto and Powerball; The backyard became a courtyard; Parents became child micro-managers."

Many readers lamented the constant craving for new stimulation, and wondered if it might be time to just slow down. Hence the book idea -- except of course, if our national attention span really has become as short as I suspect, nobody will have the patience to read a book anyway. I'm lucky you got this far in the column. Tell us what you think at Comments.

• by David Dale in whoweare-index at 04:26 PM
• Comments (4)

The Who We Are update: Week 8

This week's forum is now a heritage item - worth studying but no longer current. For the latest on Australian attitudes and media trends, go to blogs.sunherald.com.au/whoweare.

To learn why Labor needs to replace Kevin Rudd with Julia Gillard, go to Who We Are.

To find out what Australians are reading -- and what they're no longer reading -- go to The Tribal Mind.

The ratings race, updated 10 am Sunday
Top Gear rather than the Olympics caused Channel Nine to win the week, and even then it was close. These were the prime time audience shares: SBSTWO 0.4%; ABC3 0.5%; ONE 0.9; ABC2 1.5; 7TWO 3.2; GO 3.3; SBS1 4.7; ABC1 14.4; Ten 18.5; Seven 26.0; Nine 26.6.

Not everybody loved Top Gear. With women 25-54, the week's top shows were My Kitchen Rules, Grey's Anatomy and The Good Wife. With people over 55, the top shows were Seven news, Border Security and ABC News. Funny how the viewers with the shortest future are the ones most interested in the state of the world.

This was Pay TV's account of itself for the week: "On Monday night, 149,000 viewers watched FOX Sports' live coverage of Live: Cricket: The Allan Border Medal. At the event, all-rounder Shane Watson was recognised as the best cricketer in Australia for the year, just beating Michael Clarke and Mitchell Johnson for the honour. In other sport, Live: AFL: NAB Cup Bulldogs v Lions was seen 111,000 people, Live: Cricket: Ford Ranger Cup was viewed by 108,000 people, Live: Rugby Union: S14 Reds v Crusaders by 107,000 and Live: Football: A-League Sydney v Melb by 92,000 (all on FOX Sports).

"In entertainment programming, 115,000 watched The Simpsons on Fox8, 108,000 saw American Idol Hollywood Show on FOX8, 93,000 watched America's Next Top Model (also on FOX8) and Gran Torino premiered on Movie One with 96,000 viewers. How Do You Solve A Problem Like Maria? picked up its biggest ever audience on UKTV with 82,000 viewers, Wizards of Waverly Place on Disney Channel was viewed by 79,000 people, SpongeBob SquarePants on Nickelodeon had its best result of the year with 74,000 people and NCIS on TV1 was seen by 69,000 viewers.

"In week 8, subscription TV channels accounted for 22.6% of all metropolitan viewing between 6am and midnight, 20.6% of all regional viewing and 55.5% of all viewing in subscription TV homes."

What Australia watched, week ending February 20
Description Total Sydney Melbourne Brisbane Adelaide Perth
1 TOP GEAR -EP1 Nine 1,681,000 436,000 522,000 330,000 180,000 213,000
2 MY KITCHEN RULES-MON Seven 1,471,000 353,000 463,000 292,000 201,000 162,000
3 NINE NEWS SUNDAY Nine 1,412,000 429,000 489,000 220,000 147,000 128,000
4 SEVEN NEWS - SUN Seven 1,392,000 346,000 368,000 302,000 167,000 209,000
5 NCIS Ten 1,366,000 423,000 371,000 287,000 130,000 155,000
6 AIR WAYS Seven 1,365,000 364,000 407,000 260,000 160,000 174,000
7 BORDER SECURITY Seven 1,365,000 373,000 430,000 244,000 141,000 177,000
8 TWO AND A HALF MEN Nine 1,330,000 339,000 399,000 305,000 110,000 177,000
9 CUSTOMS Nine 1,277,000 342,000 397,000 262,000 109,000 168,000
10 SEVEN NEWS Seven 1,263,000 295,000 360,000 264,000 155,000 190,000
11 BONES Seven 1,250,000 353,000 359,000 219,000 158,000 161,000
12 TOP GEAR -SPECIAL Nine 1,241,000 330,000 353,000 209,000 151,000 199,000
13 THE MENTALIST Nine 1,230,000 354,000 363,000 240,000 116,000 156,000
14 MY KITCHEN RULES-TUE Seven 1,214,000 336,000 373,000 239,000 121,000 144,000
15 THE GOOD WIFE Ten 1,207,000 355,000 346,000 216,000 113,000 177,000

• by David Dale in whoweare-index at 07:31 PM
• Comments (63)