Who We Are

Wednesday May 9, 2007 04:08 PM

Wednesday, January 30, 2008

WHO WE ARE: Wankers, geeks, and dust sniffers

To learn why State governments should be abolished, go to The next big thing.
For background on popular culture, go to
The films Australia loved.
The TV shows Australia loved.
The music Australia loved.
The DVDs Australia loved.

A column about Australia, by David Dale, published in The Sun-Herald 4/2/2007.
Anybody who goes to an art gallery is a wanker, right? There are 3.6 million wankers in Australia. Only geeks go to libraries, so this country has 5.4 million geeks. Dance performances are for poofs and fag-hags, and now we know Australia has 1.6 million people like that.

Outside of school projects, you wouldn't go sniffing dust in a museum unless you were a complete dag. Ring up 3.6 million as the national dag total. And anybody who has time to go wafting round a botanic garden needs to get a life - advice you must now offer to 5.4 million of your compatriots.

A survey released by the Bureau of Statistics under the catchy title Attendance at Selected Cultural Venues and Events challenges the conventional wisdom that Australia is a land of jocks and slobs. It turns out Australians are wankier, poofier, geekier and daggier than most of us imagined.

When I wrote about similar research back in 2002 (using the same introductory paragraph as I used here) the librarians got excited and reprinted my report in their journals. They'll be less inclined to celebrate this time. At the beginning of this decade, 38 per cent of Australians said they visited a library at least once a year. Now only 34 per cent say that.

That's not to say we're replacing scholarly pursuits with vulgar amusements: attendance at sporting events dropped from 46 per cent in 1999 to 44 per cent last year, with the main losers being tennis, motor sports, and cricket. Art gallery attendances have risen from 21 per cent to 23, museums from 20 to 23 and dance from 9 to 10. And the librarians may be consoled to learn that their remaining fans are loyal bordering on obsessive -- two thirds of whose who visit libraries do so more than six times a year, and a quarter of them go more than 20 times a year.

The Bureau drew these conclusions from interviewing people aged over 15 in 14,200 households. That's an enormous sample compared with the 3000 households from which television ratings are estimated. It enabled the bureau to dissect our leisure cholices thus:

HOW AUSTRALIA GOES OUT
Percentage of people over 15 who visit at least once a year ...
1. The cinema: 65 per cent. Peak attenders: women aged 15-24.
2. Sporting events: 44 per cent (of which AFL 16 per cent, horse racing 12, rugby league 9, motor sports 9, cricket 5, soccer 4). Peak attenders: men 18-24.
3 Zoos and aquariums: 36 per cent. Families with young children.
4 Libraries: 34 per cent. Women 35-44.
5 Botanic gardens: 34 per cent. Women 55-64.
6 Pop concerts: 25 per cent. Unmarried people 18-24.
7 Museums: 23 per cent. Families with young children.
8 Art galleries: 23 per cent. Women 45-64.
9 Theatre: 17 per cent. Women 45-64..
Continued here

10 "Other performing arts" (such as revues, variety shows and circuses): 17 per cent. Women 25-44.
10 Musicals and operas: 16 per cent. Women 45-64.
11 Dance performances 10 per cent. Girls 15-17.
12 Classical music concerts: 9 per cent. Women 55-64.

Some 12 per cent say they don't go out to any of the listed activities, even once a year, which means that only 1.7 million of us are couch potatoes. All in all, we may reach this conclusion: at least 15 million Australians are a diverse, active and charming bunch of sophisticates. Well, the female Australians, anyway.

We welcome your comments.

by David Dale in Who We Are at 05:40 PM
Comments (23)

Tuesday, January 29, 2008

THE RATINGS RACE: The silly season stops here

This edition of the blog is now a heritage item -- worth studying but no longer current. For the latest media trends, go to Prime Time starts NOW
To learn how Australians are different from Americans, go to The Tribal Mind
For daily updates, bookmark http://blogs.sunherald.com.au/whoweare.

What Australia watched on the last day of the silly season, February 9, 2008
Description STN Total Sydney Melbourne Brisbane Adelaide Perth
1 SEVEN NEWS - SAT Seven 1,325,000 397,000 377,000 240,000 124,000 187,000
2 DOC MARTIN RPT ABC 1,204,000 361,000 365,000 224,000 134,000 120,000
3 AUSTRALIA'S FUNNIEST HOME VIDEO SHOW -RPT Nine 1,113,000 318,000 372,000 184,000 126,000 114,000
4 NINE NEWS SAT Nine 1,049,000 317,000 336,000 204,000 119,000 73,000
5 ABC NEWS-SAT ABC 1,026,000 335,000 305,000 183,000 91,000 111,000
6 COLLECTORS (SHORTS) ABC 962,000 294,000 306,000 178,000 92,000 92,000
7 The BILL ABC 874,000 235,000 285,000 153,000 84,000 118,000
8 SURVIVOR: CHINA Nine 784,000 211,000 277,000 106,000 83,000 108,000
9 TEN NEWS AT FIVE SAT Ten 657,000 172,000 204,000 110,000 65,000 107,000
10 2008 NAB CUP: COLLINGWOOD V ADELAIDE Seven 642,000 19,000 298,000 17,000 187,000 121,000
15 HEARTBEAT Seven 502,000 182,000 113,000 113,000 94,000
17 MYTHBUSTERS SBS 458,000 156,000 126,000 95,000 29,000 52,000
(OzTAM preliminary estimates, mainland capitals)

David Dale's daily media report, updated 10 am Saturday
In this column's opinion, it was a crackerjack episode of Lost on Thursday night, with flashforwards replacing the customary flashbacks. But it seems the writers left it too late to get their act together. Only 912,000 viewers in the mainland capitals were prepared to give it another try, after the gimmickry and confused plotting of last season. What did you make of it?

Lost was beaten by yet another Gordon Ramsay cooking show, which makes Wednesday's poor performance of The Chopping Block (see below) all the more worrying for Nine. Apparently the foodies want more aggression with their meals. And does anybody think Out of the Question is a careful mix of The Panel, Spicks and Specks and Thank God You're Here, with too many in-jokes about Kath and Kim?

What Australia watched, Friday
Description Total Sydney Melbourne Brisbane Adelaide Perth
1 NINE NEWS Nine 1,266,000 408,000 380,000 253,000 125,000 100,000
2 SEVEN NEWS Seven 1,238,000 354,000 332,000 218,000 152,000 183,000
3 ONE DAY CRICKET - AUS V SRI LANKA - GAME 3 SESSION 2 Nine 1,190,000 370,000 364,000 227,000 113,000 115,000
4 TODAY TONIGHT Seven 1,164,000 354,000 289,000 213,000 151,000 157,000
5 HOME AND AWAY Seven 1,148,000 365,000 320,000 183,000 109,000 170,000
6 BETTER HOMES AND GARDENS SUMMER Seven 1,123,000 391,000 308,000 189,000 96,000 140,000
7 M-LARA CROFT TOMB RAIDER Seven 970,000 315,000 281,000 153,000 104,000 117,000
8 THE MURDER ROOM RPT ABC 885,000 244,000 250,000 171,000 102,000 119,000
11 KID NATION Ten 744,000 134,000 315,000 124,000 61,000 110,000
12 THE BIGGEST LOSER (AUS) Ten 732,000 183,000 273,000 102,000 88,000 86,000
13 ONE DAY CRICKET - AUSTRALIA V SRI LANKA - GAME 3 SESSION 1 Nine 713,000 239,000 216,000 121,000 79,000 57,000
15 NEIGHBOURS Ten 631,000 166,000 204,000 102,000 67,000 92,000
16 JAM AND JERUSALEM SPECIAL ABC 611,000 203,000 138,000 120,000 67,000 83,000
21 FRIENDS Ten 529,000 145,000 162,000 79,000 74,000 69,000
22 SAMANTHA WHO? (Rpt) Seven 437,000 139,000 124,000 60,000 50,000 64,000
STATELINE ABC 604,000 182,000 187,000 97,000 57,000 81,000

What Australia watched, Thursday
Description Total Sydney Melbourne Brisbane Adelaide Perth
1 RPA Nine 1,379,000 396,000 435,000 231,000 155,000 163,000
2 SEVEN NEWS Seven 1,356,000 411,000 323,000 279,000 126,000 216,000
3 TODAY TONIGHT Seven 1,275,000 404,000 308,000 239,000 136,000 187,000
4 HOME AND AWAY Seven 1,222,000 351,000 301,000 288,000 119,000 162,000
5 NINE NEWS Nine 1,158,000 377,000 312,000 228,000 132,000 108,000
6 ABC NEWS ABC 1,105,000 299,000 328,000 229,000 113,000 136,000
7 A CURRENT AFFAIR Nine 1,093,000 305,000 354,000 227,000 112,000 93,000
8 KITCHEN NIGHTMARES U.S.A. Nine 1,088,000 297,000 370,000 144,000 139,000 138,000
9 THE AMAZING RACE Seven 1,027,000 238,000 327,000 227,000 113,000 121,000
10 GETAWAY Nine 1,021,000 309,000 310,000 200,000 80,000 121,000
11 LAW AND ORDER: SVU RPT Ten 1,005,000 295,000 273,000 189,000 119,000 129,000
12 OUT OF THE QUESTION Seven 997,000 290,000 306,000 174,000 104,000 123,000
13 THE BIGGEST LOSER (AUS) Ten 957,000 267,000 300,000 159,000 102,000 129,000
14 TWO AND A HALF MEN Nine 934,000 273,000 278,000 196,000 88,000 99,000
15 LOST Seven 912,000 239,000 294,000 180,000 98,000 102,000
16 FAMILY GUY Seven 893,000 230,000 285,000 161,000 109,000 108,000
20 SAVING KIDS WITH DAMIEN LEITH Ten 823,000 236,000 259,000 115,000 105,000 108,000
25 FRIENDS Ten 587,000 141,000 206,000 91,000 57,000 92,000
28 AMERICAN DAD Seven 506,000 141,000 139,000 87,000 71,000 68,000
30 IN THE COMPANY OF ACTORS ABC 466,000 150,000 131,000 81,000 41,000 64,000
(OzTAM preliminary estimates, mainland capitals)

The cinema box office, week to February 7
1 JUNO sold $1.7 million worth of tickets in its third week, for a total of $7.2m, which means it is getting amazing word of mouth.
2 27 DRESSES sold $1.5m (total so far $13.4 m)
3 SWEENEY TODD $1.3m ($3.6m)
4 3.10 TO YUMA $1.3m ($1.3m)
5 AMERICAN GANGSTER $1.1m ($10.1m)
6 CHARLIE WILSON`S WAR $0.86m ($2.2m)
7 JANE AUSTEN BOOK CLUB $0.78m (0.78m)
8 I AM LEGEND $0.70m ($22.6m)
(MPDAA -- for more detail go to urbancinefile.com.au. To see how they fit with the all-time recordbreakers, go to The films Australia loved)

Australians would rather dance than eat, it seems. Or at least, watch dancing in preference to cooking.

Ten's talent quest we must abbreviate to SYTYCDA is holding its audience comfortably, while Nine's reworking of My Restaurant Rules could manage only 718,000 in the mainland capitals -- nearly 300,000 fewer than the fan base of Gordon Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares. Clearly Catriona Rowntree and Matt Moran will need to add more expletives to their dialogue.

Nine can't afford a single misstep this year. How long before The Chopping Block becomes a prophetic name?

What Australia watched, Wednesday
Description Total Sydney Melbourne Brisbane Adelaide Perth
1 SO YOU THINK YOU CAN DANCE AUSTRALIA - AUDITION 3 Ten 1,628,000 439,000 487,000 329,000 176,000 197,000
2 SEVEN NEWS Seven 1,483,000 413,000 400,000 271,000 187,000 213,000
3 HOME AND AWAY Seven 1,251,000 390,000 301,000 242,000 144,000 174,000
4 TODAY TONIGHT Seven 1,238,000 351,000 332,000 194,000 161,000 201,000
5 ABC NEWS ABC 1,193,000 360,000 355,000 230,000 108,000 140,000
6 A TOUCH OF FROST (R) Seven 1,124,000 311,000 339,000 185,000 139,000 150,000
7 NINE NEWS Nine 1,117,000 283,000 335,000 282,000 124,000 93,000
8 THE BIGGEST LOSER (AUS) Ten 1,093,000 263,000 394,000 185,000 130,000 122,000
9 SPICKS AND SPECKS ABC 1,022,000 300,000 290,000 194,000 115,000 122,000
10 THE SHAPE OF THINGS TO COME Seven 1,006,000 290,000 252,000 230,000 100,000 134,000
11 A CURRENT AFFAIR Nine 995,000 262,000 310,000 248,000 105,000 70,000
12 LITTLE BRITAIN ABROAD ABC 958,000 281,000 289,000 171,000 100,000 118,000
18 BRIDGET JONES'S DIARY RPT Ten 738,000 214,000 266,000 109,000 60,000 89,000
19 THE NEW INVENTORS ABC 737,000 191,000 210,000 163,000 81,000 92,000
20 THE CHOPPING BLOCK Nine 718,000 194,000 248,000 110,000 89,000 77,000
24 NIGELLA FEASTS ABC 532,000 149,000 165,000 87,000 65,000 66,000

Some readers have been speculating that the US writers' strike is over, and thus we may after all get complete seasons of Grey's, House and the Despos. Bit premature, apparently. The excellent Entertainment Weekly reports: "While rumors continued to swirl in Hollywood that both the Writers Guild of America leadership and the conglomerates had hammered out a tentative deal, WGA Negotiating Committee Chairman John F. Bowman sent an email to members late Monday that was obtained by EW.com. 'While we have made important progress since the companies re-engaged us in serious talks, negotiations continue,' he said. 'Regardless of what you may hear or read, there are many significant points that have yet to be worked out'."

What Australia watched, Tuesday
Description Total Sydney Melbourne Brisbane Adelaide Perth
1 SEVEN NEWS Seven 1,482,000 428,000 373,000 294,000 156,000 231,000
2 BONDI RESCUE Ten 1,467,000 427,000 442,000 249,000 163,000 187,000
3 NCIS RPT Ten 1,356,000 369,000 368,000 240,000 173,000 206,000
4 TODAY TONIGHT Seven 1,340,000 400,000 341,000 237,000 150,000 212,000
5 HOME AND AWAY Seven 1,265,000 374,000 320,000 259,000 136,000 175,000
6 ABC NEWS ABC 1,238,000 356,000 386,000 229,000 112,000 155,000
7 NINE NEWS Nine 1,224,000 337,000 376,000 258,000 158,000 95,000
8 THE BIGGEST LOSER (AUS) Ten 1,162,000 300,000 389,000 187,000 148,000 138,000
9 A CURRENT AFFAIR Nine 1,151,000 291,000 387,000 248,000 129,000 98,000
10 7.30 REPORT ABC 1,010,000 329,000 299,000 188,000 93,000 101,000
13 THE KYLIE SHOW Seven 920,000 265,000 268,000 163,000 89,000 136,000
14 JIHAD SHEILAS ABC 889,000 279,000 271,000 172,000 78,000 89,000
16 NEIGHBOURS Ten 775,000 171,000 250,000 148,000 104,000 101,000
18 FRIENDS Ten 702,000 165,000 237,000 132,000 86,000 81,000
22 CRICKET ONE DAY SERIES - SRI LANKA V INDIA Nine 506,000 129,000 188,000 69,000 70,000 49,000

Updated 10 am Tuesday
The viewing audience split by age on Monday night. The under 40s stuck with So You Think You Can Dance, while the geriatrics peeled off to bend the knee to the Royal Family on Nine. The biggest loser was SBS, where Top Gear dropped from last week's 1 million to just under 800,000. It seems some revheads are closet monarchists -- or devotees of the turpsichorean arts.

What Australia watched, Monday
Description Total Sydney Melbourne Brisbane Adelaide Perth
1 SO YOU THINK YOU CAN DANCE AUSTRALIA - AUDITION 2 Ten 1,616,000 438,000 515,000 308,000 180,000 175,000
2 SEVEN NEWS Seven 1,517,000 440,000 385,000 296,000 164,000 231,000
3 TODAY TONIGHT Seven 1,404,000 401,000 385,000 243,000 158,000 217,000
4 CSI -RPT Nine 1,379,000 367,000 413,000 294,000 162,000 143,000
5 A YEAR WITH THE ROYAL FAMILY Nine 1,333,000 410,000 431,000 248,000 112,000 132,000
6 CSI: NY Nine 1,309,000 313,000 425,000 253,000 165,000 153,000
7 HOME AND AWAY Seven 1,303,000 391,000 309,000 280,000 147,000 177,000
8 NINE NEWS Nine 1,260,000 334,000 405,000 262,000 135,000 124,000
9 A CURRENT AFFAIR Nine 1,231,000 322,000 399,000 279,000 119,000 111,000
10 ABC NEWS ABC 1,180,000 369,000 354,000 241,000 108,000 108,000
11 THE BIGGEST LOSER (AUS) Ten 1,054,000 251,000 361,000 183,000 136,000 123,000
14 NEIGHBOURS Ten 921,000 200,000 327,000 175,000 103,000 117,000
17 TOP GEAR SBS 799,000 227,000 215,000 173,000 115,000 69,000
21 FRIENDS Ten 723,000 145,000 248,000 144,000 84,000 103,00
(OzTAM preliminary estimates, mainland capitals)

To find out if you are suitable to be an Australian citizen, go to Who We Are

Channel Ten has a new franchise and Natalie Bassingthwaighte has a new career. Just when you thought talent quests were on the fade, Ten takes a risk on a younger, hipper version of Dancing With The Stars, with a younger, hipper host than Daryl Somers, and is rewarded with 1.8 million viewers -- an astonishing figure in the silly season for anything that is not cricket or tennis.

Ten said SYTYCD peaked at 2.1 million and was its highest rated summer premiere since people meters were introduced in 2001. What will be chuffing Ten is that the show didn't just grab junior viewers. The launch was also number one with people aged 25 to 54. Meanwhile, with the over 55s, Miss Marple was number one.

And Channel Seven will be pleased that, up against such tough competition, its new sitcom, Samantha Who? managed 1.3 million. Sunday is back to being a big viewing night -- look at how many shows got more than a million in the mainland capitals.

Click on 'Comments', below, to tell us what you made of So You Think You Can Dance. Is it the new Australian Idol?

What Australia watched, Sunday
Description Total Sydney Melbourne Brisbane Adelaide Perth
1 SO YOU THINK YOU CAN DANCE AUSTRALIA - AUDITION 1 Ten 1,829,000 538,000 556,000 343,000 199,000 193,000
2 SEVEN NEWS - SUN Seven 1,540,000 403,000 366,000 384,000 136,000 251,000
3 NINE NEWS SUNDAY Nine 1,519,000 476,000 501,000 271,000 185,000 86,000
4 THE ZOO Seven 1,386,000 350,000 368,000 295,000 133,000 240,000
5 SAMANTHA WHO? Seven 1,292,000 289,000 402,000 263,000 129,000 208,000
6 THE BIGGEST LOSER (AUS) - LAUNCH Ten 1,284,000 285,000 458,000 244,000 133,000 163,000
7 BUSH DOCTORS Seven 1,233,000 308,000 333,000 246,000 137,000 209,000
8 ONE DAY SERIES - AUSTRALIA V INDIA Nine 1,201,000 351,000 368,000 238,000 127,000 117,000
9 AGATHA CHRISTIE'S MISS MARPLE ABC 1,182,000 348,000 374,000 165,000 147,000 149,000
10 KATH & KIM (R) Seven 1,167,000 263,000 360,000 247,000 103,000 194,000
11 M-BRUCE ALMIGHTY Seven 1,128,000 312,000 348,000 183,000 128,000 158,000
15 BILLY ELLIOT RPT Ten 715,000 226,000 220,000 97,000 92,000 80,000
17 ROBIN HOOD ABC 697,000 220,000 194,000 115,000 81,000 87,000
19 TRINNY AND SUSANNAH UNDRESS Seven 563,000 189,000 137,000 77,000 67,000 92,000
22 WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE? SBS 516,000 187,000 130,000 95,000 45,000 59,000
29 GOLF: AUSTRALIAN WOMEN'S OPEN 2008 ABC 321,000 81,000 110,000 62,000 33,000 35,000
(OzTAM preliminary estimates, mainland capitals)

Updated 10 am Sunday
It seems the redoubtable Glenn Robbins, of Kath and Kim and All Aussie Adventures fame and one of Australia's coolest people, can do no wrong. Hosting Out of the Question, a modest new game show which Seven cautiously tested in the silly season, he managed to pull nearly 1.2 million viewers to a night that usually manifests miniscule audiences.

Indeed, looking at the number of shows with more than a million viewers on Thursday (see chart below), you'd have to conclude that the viewers are back from holidays and eager to be entertained. What a pity the official ratings season is still seven days away.

On Friday, Nine regained control of the nation's sets, attracting 2 million to the cricket. And on Saturday, the ABC took over, offering a repeat of Doc Martin to the kind of viewers who don't go out at night.

SBS averaged a healthy 6.8 per cent of the prime time audience (thanks mainly to a million viewers for Top Gear), while ABC got an unimpressive 15.2 per cent, Ten got 21.0, Nine got its standard 26.5 and Seven managed 30.6.
What Australia watched, Saturday
Description Total Sydney Melbourne Brisbane Adelaide Perth
1 SEVEN NEWS - SAT Seven 1,110,000 297,000 260,000 238,000 124,000 191,000
2 DOC MARTIN RPT ABC 1,103,000 316,000 325,000 206,000 127,000 131,000
3 ABC NEWS-SAT ABC 1,044,000 295,000 323,000 186,000 115,000 126,000
4 NINE NEWS SATURDAY Nine 997,000 273,000 340,000 194,000 106,000 85,000
5 M-GARFIELD Seven 971,000 283,000 267,000 198,000 114,000 109,000
6 MEN IN BLACK II RPT Ten 920,000 292,000 267,000 123,000 107,000 131,000
10 WIFE SWAP USA Nine 773,000 231,000 240,000 127,000 99,000 75,000
12 SURVIVOR: CHINA Nine 748,000 176,000 248,000 139,000 91,000 93,000
13 THE BILL ABC 746,000 219,000 226,000 112,000 95,000 93,000
15 HEARTBEAT Seven 666,000 166,000 191,000 134,000 70,000 105,000
17 KEEPING UP APPEARANCES Seven 617,000 220,000 143,000 102,000 90,000 63,000
19 FRIENDS Ten 545,000 119,000 157,000 100,000 93,000 76,000
21 WAKING THE DEAD Nine 514,000 125,000 168,000 74,000 75,000 72,000
26 MYTHBUSTERS SBS 388,000 108,000 124,000 70,000 43,000 44,000
27 IRON CHEF RPT SBS 382,000 112,000 134,000 65,000 40,000 32,000

What Australia watched, Friday
Description Total Sydney Melbourne Brisbane Adelaide Perth
1 TWENTY/20 - AUS V INDIA Nine 2,029,000 598,000 672,000 357,000 210,000 191,000
2 SEVEN NEWS Seven 1,276,000 389,000 317,000 232,000 117,000 221,000
3 TODAY TONIGHT Seven 1,204,000 355,000 306,000 251,000 104,000 189,000
4 NINE NEWS Nine 1,119,000 303,000 309,000 251,000 153,000 102,000
5 HOME AND AWAY Seven 1,104,000 351,000 271,000 225,000 111,000 145,000
6 A CURRENT AFFAIR Nine 993,000 304,000 287,000 138,000 158,000 106,000
10 THE MURDER ROOM ABC 779,000 241,000 190,000 144,000 92,000 113,000
11 NEIGHBOURS Ten 733,000 176,000 266,000 117,000 89,000 85,000
20 FRIENDS Ten 616,000 132,000 205,000 134,000 75,000 70,000
22 JAM AND JERUSALEM ABC 507,000 154,000 121,000 102,000 65,000 65,000

What Australia watched, Thursday
Description Total Sydney Melbourne Brisbane Adelaide Perth
1 SEVEN NEWS Seven 1,305,000 335,000 330,000 291,000 143,000 205,000
2 HOME AND AWAY Seven 1,285,000 360,000 319,000 302,000 121,000 183,000
3 TODAY TONIGHT Seven 1,231,000 349,000 306,000 238,000 144,000 194,000
4 OUT OF THE QUESTION Seven 1,170,000 292,000 451,000 181,000 96,000 151,000
5 RPA Nine 1,162,000 308,000 353,000 238,000 128,000 134,000
6 A CURRENT AFFAIR Nine 1,132,000 286,000 388,000 259,000 115,000 84,000
7 NINE NEWS Nine 1,131,000 290,000 361,000 247,000 144,000 88,000
8 WHAT A YEAR Nine 1,131,000 294,000 349,000 263,000 98,000 127,000
9 RAMSAY'S KITCHEN NIGHTMARES Nine 1,085,000 287,000 381,000 133,000 160,000 123,000
10 ABC NEWS ABC 1,047,000 272,000 362,000 186,000 110,000 117,000
11 THE AMAZING RACE Seven 1,014,000 229,000 371,000 194,000 93,000 128,000
15 YUSUF ISLAM: A FEW GOOD SONGS ABC 813,000 259,000 237,000 137,000 73,000 107,000
16 NEIGHBOURS Ten 808,000 165,000 282,000 187,000 90,000 83,000
17 FAMILY GUY Seven 807,000 209,000 269,000 126,000 86,000 116,000
21 FRIENDS Ten 738,000 181,000 266,000 136,000 91,000 63,000
23 SLEEK GEEKS ABC 680,000 216,000 187,000 120,000 68,000 89,000
24 AMERICAN DAD Seven 624,000 176,000 215,000 83,000 77,000 74,000
29 INSPECTOR REX RPT SBS 471,000 133,000 136,000 89,000 55,000 58,000
(OzTAM preliminary estimates, mainland capitals)

What Australia watched, Wednesday
Description Total Sydney Melbourne Brisbane Adelaide Perth
1 SEVEN NEWS Seven 1,375,000 395,000 329,000 259,000 163,000 230,000
2 HOME AND AWAY Seven 1,289,000 370,000 311,000 266,000 145,000 197,000
3 TODAY TONIGHT Seven 1,259,000 369,000 304,000 230,000 150,000 205,000
4 A TOUCH OF FROST (R) Seven 1,218,000 332,000 380,000 190,000 146,000 170,000
5 THE BONEYARD Seven 1,199,000 326,000 365,000 243,000 113,000 152,000
6 ABC NEWS ABC 1,193,000 329,000 408,000 216,000 111,000 128,000
7 NINE NEWS Nine 1,170,000 309,000 354,000 269,000 141,000 98,000
8 A CURRENT AFFAIR Nine 1,128,000 289,000 370,000 240,000 130,000 99,000
11 MY FAMILY ABC 933,000 249,000 253,000 202,000 97,000 134,000
13 DON'T FORGET THE LYRICS WED Ten 865,000 196,000 294,000 158,000 95,000 122,000
15 NEIGHBOURS Ten 833,000 200,000 284,000 146,000 107,000 96,000
16 THE SIMPSONS Ten 805,000 185,000 299,000 136,000 107,000 78,000
17 TURN BACK YOUR BODY CLOCK Nine 799,000 236,000 214,000 152,000 93,000 105,000
18 E.R. Nine 798,000 235,000 209,000 166,000 85,000 103,000
19 FRIENDS Ten 779,000 188,000 268,000 145,000 98,000 80,000
21 YOU ARE WHAT YOU EAT Nine 771,000 195,000 226,000 154,000 82,000 114,000
22 MOONLIGHT Nine 688,000 204,000 171,000 133,000 94,000 85,000

What Australia watched, Tuesday
Description Total Sydney Melbourne Brisbane Adelaide Perth
1 SEVEN NEWS Seven 1,409,000 411,000 364,000 279,000 145,000 210,000
2 TODAY TONIGHT Seven 1,359,000 397,000 361,000 257,000 143,000 201,000
3 HOME AND AWAY Seven 1,255,000 372,000 309,000 257,000 129,000 189,000
4 ABC NEWS ABC 1,212,000 332,000 382,000 237,000 112,000 148,000
5 NATIONAL NINE NEWS Nine 1,167,000 299,000 364,000 265,000 137,000 103,000
6 THE SIMPSONS TUES EP 2 Ten 1,131,000 286,000 403,000 186,000 130,000 126,000
7 NCIS RPT Ten 1,129,000 291,000 334,000 188,000 162,000 154,000
8 A CURRENT AFFAIR Nine 1,110,000 274,000 373,000 252,000 112,000 99,000
9 COLD CASE -RPT Nine 1,095,000 302,000 325,000 228,000 125,000 115,000
10 MEDICAL EMERGENCY Seven 1,017,000 295,000 296,000 212,000 85,000 130,000
11 NURSES Nine 989,000 271,000 293,000 192,000 121,000 112,000
15 SENSING MURDER Nine 902,000 206,000 283,000 152,000 111,000 149,000
16 BURN NOTICE Ten 875,000 256,000 251,000 141,000 130,000 96,000
17 TWO AND A HALF MEN Nine 871,000 242,000 264,000 182,000 99,000 84,000
20 NEIGHBOURS Ten 747,000 131,000 264,000 131,000 111,000 110,000
23 THE SIMPSONS Ten 719,000 112,000 293,000 122,000 95,000 97,000
24 FRIENDS Ten 716,000 141,000 273,000 121,000 98,000 83,000
26 MONARCHY ABC 592,000 223,000 183,000 69,000 50,000 65,000
39 BLAIR AT WAR SBS 369,000 161,000 110,000 53,000 20,000 26,000

What Australia watched, Monday
Description Total Sydney Melbourne Brisbane Adelaide Perth
1 NINE NEWS (and end of cricket) Nine 1,539,000 453,000 497,000 307,000 157,000 125,000
2 A CURRENT AFFAIR Nine 1,390,000 383,000 464,000 288,000 139,000 117,000
3 SEVEN NEWS Seven 1,387,000 397,000 348,000 276,000 171,000 195,000
4 BORDERLINE Seven 1,337,000 396,000 342,000 270,000 152,000 178,000
5 HOME AND AWAY Seven 1,319,000 435,000 292,000 279,000 149,000 165,000
6 TODAY TONIGHT Seven 1,239,000 387,000 263,000 229,000 162,000 199,000
7 COASTWATCH Seven 1,166,000 339,000 300,000 226,000 143,000 159,000
8 ABC NEWS ABC 1,102,000 293,000 350,000 219,000 103,000 138,000
9 FOURTH TEST - AUSTRALIA V INDIA Nine 1,084,000 325,000 322,000 190,000 144,000 102,000
10 TOP GEAR SBS 1,026,000 313,000 309,000 202,000 115,000 87,000
11 CSI: -RPT Nine 1,000,000 279,000 318,000 172,000 104,000 126,000
12 TWO AND A HALF MEN Nine 983,000 284,000 293,000 204,000 105,000 97,000
13 CRIMINAL MINDS (R) Seven 959,000 228,000 264,000 193,000 147,000 127,000
14 THE CRICKET SHOW Nine 908,000 289,000 292,000 179,000 61,000 86,000
15 AMERICA'S NEXT TOP MODEL 6 Ten 882,000 229,000 269,000 179,000 102,000 104,000
(OzTAM preliminary estimates, mainland capitals)

Strangely, Australians seem to prefer men in long pants to women in short skirts, and men in short pants to men in long pants. They followed the tennis closely on television every night last week (with 1.6 million in the mainland capitals seeing the demise of Roger Federer), but only 690,000 tuned in for the Australian Open Women's Final on Saturday afternoon, while 851,000 opted for the cricket's Fourth Test.

Later in the day, 864,000 joined Channel Ten in farewelling Heath Ledger via his action comedy A Knight's Tale.

Then on Sunday, 2.3 million watched the tennis men's final, setting an audience standard it will be hard to beat in the next 11 months. (For more on such viewing records, go to The TV shows Australia loved)

The best non-sports programming achievement of the week was Channel Nine's, with more than a million viewers on Monday for Cold Case, Nurses and Police Ten 7. But the tennis won the week for Seven, which averaged 33 per cent of the prime time audience, with Nine on 23.5, Ten 21.3, ABC 15.5, and SBS on a healthy 6.7.

What Australia watched, Sunday
Description Total Sydney Melbourne Brisbane Adelaide Perth
1 TENNIS: 2008 AUST OPEN - MEN'S FINAL Seven 2,346,000 671,000 851,000 362,000 229,000 233,000
2 NINE NEWS SUNDAY Nine 1,406,000 460,000 444,000 237,000 147,000 117,000
3 SEVEN NEWS - SUN Seven 1,337,000 341,000 386,000 287,000 140,000 183,000
4 M-CRIMSON TIDE Seven 1,145,000 346,000 409,000 195,000 130,000 64,000
5 FOURTH TEST - AUSTRALIA V INDIA Nine 1,102,000 319,000 340,000 195,000 132,000 116,000
6 WHAT'S GOOD FOR YOU -RPT Nine 907,000 280,000 277,000 131,000 110,000 110,000
9 THERE'S SOMETHING ABOUT MARY Ten 746,000 237,000 187,000 165,000 63,000 93,000
15 EXTREME MAKEOVER Nine 521,000 185,000 160,000 117,000 59,000
16 WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE? SBS 508,000 192,000 148,000 80,000 40,000 49,000
17 DON'T FORGET THE LYRICS Ten 508,000 117,000 137,000 125,000 68,000 61,000
21 MEERKAT MANOR Ten 462,000 108,000 150,000 100,000 34,000 70,000
22 THE LINE OF BEAUTY ABC 441,000 122,000 109,000 81,000 53,000 75,000.
(OzTAM preliminary estimates, mainland capitals)

There's good news for lovers of US movies and TV shows: The Writers Guild of America is having some success in breaking the unity of the producers of America. The writers are on strike for a better share of profits made when the producers onsell their work via DVDs and online. Small companies have started signing interim profit-share agreements with writers that will let them go back into production.

The producers who have caved so far are Lionsgate, Marvel Studios, United Artists, The Weinstein Company, Media Rights Capital, and David Letterman's Worldwide Pants. Lionsgate's projects include Rambo, Saw 5 and the pay TV series Mad Men, while Marvel is making a new Wolverine movie in New Zealand with High Jackman, Iron Man with Robert Downey jnr, and yet another version of The Incredible Hulk, with Edward Norton. So we'll have something to watch this year after all.

David Dale is the author of Who We Are -- A snapshot of Australia today (Allen and Unwin). His latest book is Soffritto -- A delicious Ligurian memoir. For further observations of Australian attitudes and behaviour, go to http://blogs.sunherald.com.au/whoweare/.

in The Tribal Mind at 10:45 AM
Comments (135)

Monday, January 28, 2008

THE TRIBAL MIND: D'Oh! We forgot John Clarke

To find out if you are suitable to be an Australian citizen, go to Who We Are
For the latest media trends, go to http://blogs.sunherald.com.au/whoweare.
To find out which stories and characters Australians love best, go to The Tribal Mind
For background on popular culture, go to
The films Australia loved.
The TV shows Australia loved.
The music Australia loved.
The DVDs Australia loved.

by David Dale
Being cool is not necessarily the same as being successful, or hard working, or talented, or famous. And coolness is certainly not determined by popular vote. Nevertheless ...

Many readers were infuriated and some were inspired by this column's attempt last week to list the ten coolest people in Australian entertainment. I was operating on a loose definition that included a certain individualism, integrity, nonchalance and elusiveness.

A few readers complained that they'd never heard of half of our nominees, which is kind of the point.

A reader who wished to be known as Nicholas picked up on an observation this column made a while ago -- that daggy is the new black. He was moved to reflect on 21st century Australian values: "Interesting definition of coolness, given how many of your nominees depend on their dorkishness for their success. Shaun Micallef consciously presents himself as a dag in series after series. Remember SeaChange? Micallef as the archetypal 'decent dork' against McInnes as archetypically cool (and both perfectly cast) ?

"Frank Woodley was always the dork to Lane's suave straight man and I doubt Glenn Robbins has ever played anything except dorks, including his one serious role in Lantana. In a way, the coolness of dorkishness is inevitable in a country where you claim the advantage by claiming to be the underdog. Gallipoli, Ned Kelly and Micallef. Our greatest military victory was a fiasco, our greatest criminal is celebrated for the way he was captured, and our coolest man (Micallef) is a dork. That's Australia's paradox."

I asked readers to create their own list, and this is how the voting went:

The coolest people in Australian entertainment (readers' choice)
1 Chris Lilley (creator of Summer Heights High)
2 Juanita Phillips (ABC newsreader)
3 Andrew Denton (ABC interviewer)
4 Myf Warhurst (Triple J broadcaster and panellist on Spicks and Specks)
5 Sam Neill (actor)
6 Toni Collette (actor)
7 Dave Graney (singer, songwriter, comedian)
8 Rachel Griffiths (actor)
9 Wil Anderson (comedian, former host of The Glasshouse, often confused with Adam Hills, host of Spicks and Specks, who is too nice to be cool)
10 Brendan Cowell (actor, screenwriter)
11 Hugo Weaving (actor)
12 Judy Davis (actor)
13 Hamish Blake (broadcaster, comedian)
14 Deborah Mailman (actor)
15 John Doyle (TV presenter and alter ego of Roy Slaven)
16 Dave Hughes (comedian)
17 Peter Cundle (80 year old host of the ABC's Gardening Australia)
18 Geraldine Doogue (ABC TV and radio presenter)
19 Kerri-Anne Kennerley (Channel Nine presenter)
20 B1 and B2 (that's the Bananas in Pyjamas, not Bob Hawke and Blanche d'Alpuget). But is B1 more cool than B2?

Only Juanita Phillips appeared on both my list and the readers' list (with one objection that she would more accurately be described as "hot").

What's interesting is how many nominees are employed by the ABC. This presumably makes the national broadcaster cool-by-association. Or maybe just daggy.

What do you reckon? Have we finally got it right?

by David Dale in The Tribal Mind at 11:46 AM
Comments (9)

Saturday, January 26, 2008

The death of The Bulletin -- one editor's view

To find out if you are suitable to be an Australian citizen, go to Who We Are
For daily updates on Australian attitudes, bookmark http://blogs.sunherald.com.au/whoweare.

by David Dale
On my first day as editor of The Bulletin, in February 1988, I was taken to lunch at Mario's restaurant in East Sydney by the then managing director of Kerry Packer's empire, Trevor Kennedy.

I'd just spent six weeks in New York researching trends in the magazine industry, and I outlined a transformation plan that included a physical redesign, new sections on architecture, entertainment, technology and food, and an irreverent approach that would take the magazine back to its larrikin roots. I used the phrase "a tone of benign scepticism" a lot.

"Yeah, yeah, that's all fine," Kennedy said, "but there's only one thing you need to save this magazine." Goodness, I thought, my first day on the job and already I'm getting the magic formula from the man who'd taken The Bulletin to its peak of political influence in the 1970s.

"What's that?" I asked. "F---ing good stories," Kennedy replied.

I argued with him then, and I argued with Kerry Packer when I met him a week later, that magazines were no longer about breaking stories.

That function was being performed very well by daily papers and by TV stations. What a magazine could do was break ideas, attitudes, and new ways of understanding society, and present them in an individual voice that would delight more readers than it would offend. That could be the point of difference that might attract readers under the age of 50.

I'm not sure that Kennedy ever agreed with me and I'm quite sure Packer never agreed with me. Two years and one month later, Packer fired me for publishing a cover story called "The Great Australian Balance Sheet - Our human assets and liabilities" (an updating of an earlier cover called "The 100 Most Appalling People in Australia").

Apparently at least one of the human liabilities was close enough to Packer to persuade him that this irreverence was not the best way forward for his venerable weekly.

When I left, the circulation was 112,000 a week. These days, as the mag takes its terminal breath, circulation stands at 60,000 a week.

It's sad that a piece of Australian history will disappear from our newsstands, but it's not surprising. If not for Packer's nostalgia, it would have gone ten years ago. Like John Howard, The Bulletin outstayed its welcome.

I was just one of a series of band-aids applied to the magazine over the past two decades, each trying a different desperate measure to avert the inevitable.

Better journalists than I have edited The Bulletin before and since my period, but none has been able to overcome the fundamental problem -- there is no role in a multimedia society for a weekly publication that simply reports and analyses news.

Packer never recognised that. He kept the magazine going against the advice of his money managers. He never lost hope that it could still exert influence.

One afternoon in 1989, he ranted at me for an hour about the need for a cover story that would stop the federal government from embracing free trade, because the economy would not survive the removal of protectionist barriers.

I said that would make a discussion for the business pages, but as a cover story it would bore our target audience and destroy all the circulation gains we'd been making recently. He didn't care.

The Bulletin has gone and with it, the age of media proprietors who will allow eccentricity to override expediency. That's the really sad part.

David Dale is the author of Who We Are -- A snapshot of Australia today (Allen and Unwin). His latest book is Soffritto -- A delicious Ligurian memoir. For daily updates on Australian attitudes and behaviour, go to Who we are.

in The Tribal Mind at 06:54 PM
Comments (6)

WHO WE ARE: I know what you did this summer

To find out if you are suitable to be an Australian citizen, go to Who We Are
For the latest media trends, go to http://blogs.sunherald.com.au/whoweare.
For background on popular culture, go to
The films Australia loved.
The TV shows Australia loved.
The music Australia loved.
The DVDs Australia loved.
A weekly column about Australia, by David Dale, published in The Sun-Herald, 27/01/2008
There's much to be learned about a nation from the way it relaxes. The Australia Day weekend is the symbolic closure of the summer holidays, when we reflect on what we've seen and heard over those lazy, hazy and (this year) rainy days. Here's what Australia discovered this month:

1. If you type a letter you don't intend to send, and you include a swearword in the letter, and then accidentally send the letter, you shouldn't be surprised if it ruins your life.

2. "I'm Mrs Most likely to get on the TV for strippin' on the streets, when getting the groceries, no, for real. I'm Mrs Lifestyles of the rich and famous. I'm Mrs Oh my God that Britney's Shameless. I'm Mrs Extra! Extra! this just in. I'm Mrs She's too big, now she's too thin."

3. The It Girl of the moment is Katherine Heigl - featured on the cover of every second glossy on the newsstand and able to draw an audience to a movie on the strength of her name alone. Her male counterpart is Will Smith.

4. "My heart's crippled by the vein that I keep on closing. You cut me open and I keep bleeding, keep, keep bleeding love, keep bleeding I keep, keep bleeding love."

5. It's possible to continue a television career after a car crash in which you suffered massive brain damage.

6. "I feel so untouched right now, need you so much somehow, I can't forget you, I've gone crazy from the moment I met you."

7. Although she's made some dumb script choices in recent years, Nicole Kidman is actually not a bad actress - she's certainly the most interesting thing in The Golden Compass, apart from the special effects. Matt Damon, by contrast, is a limited actor who makes brilliant script choices. One question raises itself, though: what actually was Bourne's ultimatum, and at what point in the film did he deliver it?

8. A packet of mixed fruit counts as "one ingredient".

9. In America in the early 1960s, racial integration was achieved through music.

10. "I'm holding on your rope, got me ten feet off the ground, and I'm hearing what you say but I just can't make a sound."

Those observations are explained by this data ...

travolta%20copy.jpg What we've been reading: According to Nielsen BookScan, the top selling books this month were Atonement, by Ian McEwan (1); 4 Ingredients, by Kim McCosker and Rachael Bermingham (8); The Persimmon Tree, by Bryce Courtenay; and Jamie At Home, by Jamie Oliver.

What we've been watching: According to OzTAM, the second India vs Australia cricket test peaked at 2 million viewers in the mainland capitals; the Federer-Berdych night match in the Australian Open tennis peaked at 1.9 million; and Top Gear, with Richard Hammond (5) back from his car crash, peaked at 1 million, a miracle for SBS. According to GfK Marketing, the top selling DVDs this month were The Bourne Ultimatum (7), Hairspray (10), and The Simpsons Movie.

What we queued for: According to the Motion Picture Distributors Association of Australia, I Am Legend, starring Will Smith (7), sold about 2 million tickets; The Golden Compass (3) and Alvin and the Chipmunks each sold 1.4 million; 27 dresses, starring Katherine Heigl (7), and Enchanted each sold one million.

What we listened to: According to the Australian Record Industry Association, the most downloaded tracks this month have been Piece of Me, by Britney Spears (2); Bleeding Love, by Leona Lewis (4); Untouched, by The Veronicas (6); and Apologise, by Timbaland (10). The top selling albums have been Shock Value by Timbaland; In Rainbows, by Radiohead; and As I Am, by Alicia Keys.

What we've been talking about: Corey Worthington's party; Heath Ledger's death; the collapse of the share market.

And now we can get back to work.

What does all this reveal about Australians?

by David Dale in Who We Are at 06:14 PM
Comments (0)

Wednesday, January 23, 2008

WHO WE ARE: A State of the Nation report

To find out if you are suitable to be an Australian citizen, go to Who We Are
For the latest media trends, go to The Ratings Race

A column by David Dale, published in The Sun-Herald, 20/1/2008
A landmark in Australian history took us by surprise last year. The population passed 21 million. Twelve months ago the Bureau of Statistics was predicting we'd reach our new millionstone sometime in 2008, based on the theory that we were getting a new baby every two minutes and four seconds and a new immigrant every four minutes.

Then the boffins saw the latest birth and immigration figures and hurriedly revised their calculations, giving us only a few week's notice of the big event on Friday June 29, 2007.

In the mid Noughties, Australian women between 30 and 39 started breeding like bunnies, pushing our birth rate up from 1.79 babies per woman in 2001 to 1.81 in 2006. And the economic boom created huge demand for skilled immigrants, so our net intake rose from 110,000 in 2004-2005 to 147,000 in 2005-2006 -- mostly from Britain, China and India.

If you look at the bureau's population clock today (at www.abs.gov.au), you'll see a figure close to 21,200,000, based on a kid arriving every one minute and 56 seconds and an immigrant joining us every three minutes and five seconds. We'll hit our next millionstone early in 2010. Better start organising the party now.

This is how our 21 million splits up: 13.3 per cent of us are over 65, 19.8 per cent are under 15, 2.3 per cent are of Aboriginal background, and 22 per cent were born overseas (of whom 1.6 per cent speak Italian at home, 1.3 per cent speak Greek and 1.1 per cent speak Mandarin, like Kevin Rudd.) Some 21 per cent are smokers, 48 per cent are overweight or obese, and 85 per cent live within 50 km of the sea.

Here's what else we can say about ourselves after a year of transformations ...

FAMILY LIFE
In 2006 there were 265,900 births - the highest number since 1971. There were 133,700 deaths, which meant the lowest death rate ever. The health system is keeping us alive longer.

But the demographers think the baby shower will be brief -- more of a blip than a boom -- and by the year 2020, Australia's dominant family type will couples without children. At the moment they form 37 per cent of Australia's 5.7 million families (up from 34 per cent in 1996), while 45 per cent are couples with children (down from 50 per cent), and 15.8 per cent of families have only one parent (up from 14.5). In addition, there are 2.2 million households containing only one person.

As our families shrink, our wealth expands. The average household is earning 30 per cent more than ten years ago, and living large - 77 per cent of homes have at least one empty bedroom. The average household has wealth of $563,000 (assets $655,000, debts $92,000).

But we're spending way ahead of what we're making. The Reserve Bank says Australians owe more than $41 billion on our 13.7 million credit and charge cards, almost double the amount of five years ago. Nearly 32,000 people went bankrupt in 2006-07.

RELATIONSHIPS
Maybe it's laziness, or maybe it's modesty, but an online survey organised by the condom maker Durex found that Australia ranks 12th among 16 western nations in terms of the amount of sex we say we're getting.

On average, Australians said they have sex 106 times a year, and get it over with in 17.3 minutes. That puts us behind Greece (where they claim to have 164 couplings a year), Poland, Switzerland, Italy, France, and Spain, about equal with American and ahead of Japan (with 48 couplings).

Only 40 per cent of Australians described their sex lives as "exciting", compared with a global average of 49 per cent. They blamed stress, fatigue and lack of time in the bedroom for their disappointment.

Despite all this (or as a symptom of it), the marriage rate is rising and the divorce rate is falling. There were 114,222 marriages in 2006 - up from 106,000 in 2001, and 51,375 divorces, down from 55,300. The Bureau of Stats notes that 76.1 per cent of couples "indicated they had cohabited prior to registering their marriage", the naughty things.

Not every couple feels the need to make the relationship official. In the latest census, some 15 per cent of permanent partnerships are de facto (up from 7 per cent in the mid 90s ). Among de facto relationships, four per cent were same sex. About 13,000 male couples and 12,000 female couples were brave enough to specify their relationship on the census form.

FUN AND GAMES
Australians have developed a talent for multitasking when they amuse themselves. Instead of replacing one mode of entertainment with another, they keep adding new media.

That's how come, over the past 12 months, more than three million Australians queued at the multiplex to see Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, Pirates of the Caribbean Three, Shrek The Third and The Simpsons Movie; more than two million Australians watched Kath and Kim, The Chaser's War on Everything, Dancing With The Stars and Thank God You're Here on the box; and hundreds of thousands bought the DVDs Happy Feet, Casino Royale, Summer Heights High and Transformers, the games Halo3, SuperMario Galaxy and The Simpsons Game, and the albums I'm Not Dead, by Pink, On A Clear Night by Missy Higgins, Future Sex/ Love Sounds by Justin Timberlake, and Call me Irresponsible by Michael Buble.

We even found time to indulge in the oldest of media, with more than half a million reading the magical Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, the mystical The Secret by Rhonda Byrne and the practical Spotless by Shannon Lush and Jennifer Fleming. And we did all that while chatting with each other via mobile phone, email, MSN, MySpace, bebo and Facebook.

COMMUNITY
As families shrink and working hours expand, you'd think we're at risk of turning into a nation of selfish introverts. But when the Bureau of Statics interviewed people over 18 in 13,000 households about their social networks, 96 per cent of the respondents reported having contact in the previous week with family or friends with whom they did not live, and 93 per cent said they felt able to ask people outside their household for small favours.

Most people were keen on helping others -- 77 per cent said they had donated money to a charitable cause in the past 12 months, while 32 per cent of men and 36 per cent of women said they did volunteer work to help others (both up 2 percentage points on the early Noughties).

Overall, we're cheerful - 84 per cent considered themselves to be in "good, very good or excellent health".

WHAT WE BELIEVE
In the 2006 census, 30 per cent of Australians either wrote "no religion" or left the space blank - a rise from 25 per cent in 1996. So a lack of faith seems to be our fastest growing belief system, followed by Buddhism (up from 1.1 per cent to 2.2 per cent in tenyears) and Islam (up from 1.1 to 1.7). Our most popular religions are Catholic (down from 27.0 per cent to 25.8), and Anglican (down from 22.0 per cent to 18.7).

Other Australian attitudes are revealed in a survey of 4,000 people conducted every two years by the Centre for Social Research at the Australian National University. More than three quarters of the adult population say they agree with these statements:

1. To be truly Australian, it is fairly important that you speak English (92 per cent agreement)
2. The father should be as involved in the care of his children as the mother (90)
3. A woman should have the right to choose whether or not she has an abortion (87)
4. The gap between those with high incomes and those with low incomes is too large (84)
5. Generally speaking, Australia is a better country than most other countries (83)
6. When big businesses break the law they often go unpunished (81).

And that's how Australians are in 2008: we want it all and we want it now and we have no trouble coping with it when we get it.

What else do you think we learned about ourselves since last Australia Day?

by David Dale in Who We Are at 04:50 PM
Comments (11)

Tuesday, January 22, 2008

The Tribal Mind: The cool acid test

For the latest media trends, go to http://blogs.sunherald.com.au/whoweare
For daily updates on Australian attitudes, bookmark http://blogs.sunherald.com.au/whoweare.
For background on popular culture, go to
The films Australia loved.
The TV shows Australia loved.
The music Australia loved.
The DVDs Australia loved.

by David Dale
The horror writer Stephen King recently ventured beyond his area of expertise to discuss who is cool and uncool in the entertainment industry, provoking this column to attempt a similar foolish exercise for Australia.

Writing in Entertainment Weekly magazine, King doesn't define his terms, but apparently a cool person does his or her own thing with competence and flair, without caring how it looks to others. King says Jack Nicholson, Holly Hunter and Morgan Freeman are always cool, even in bad movies, while "the best consistely uncool actor" is Tom Hanks on the male side and Charlize Theron on the female side.

King continues ... "In 3:10 to Yuma, it's the hat. Russell Crowe is cool because of the hat. But here's the thing -- you or I could wear that hat and not be cool. It's Russell Crowe under the hat that makes it cool.

"On TV, Prison Break isn't very good, but it has stayed cool. Battlestar Galactica? Was cool; last season started out cool, then warmed up. It may regain its coolness factor, but probably not; that rarely happens. Lost has stayed cool because it's so weird ...

"There's no rhyme or reason to the coolness thing. Look at politicians, the ultimate entertainers. Barack Obama is cool. Hillary Clinton, who will probably win the Democratic Party's nomination to run for president, is not. "

In Australia the only cool politician is Bob Brown, but that's not this column's department. Here's our first annual listing ...

The coolest people in Australian entertainment:
1 Shaun Micallef
2 Julia Zemiro
3 Justine Clarke
4 Frank Woodley
5 Juanita Phillips
6 Chris Taylor
7 Glenn Robbins
8 Sonia Kruger
9 Shane Bourne
10 Cate Blanchett.

Being cool requires a certain elusiveness, which is why Cate Blanchett is almost Not There. She seems to have developed the ability to walk red carpets simultaneously on three continents. We need to see a lot less of her this year if she's to make next year's cool list.

Same problem for Sonia Kruger. Although anybody would look interesting when placed next to Daryl Somers (who shares with Eddie McGuire the title of Least Cool Person on Australian Television), Kruger earned her spot on the list through a quality of mischievous nonchalance that is now being diluted by too-frequent appearances on morning radio. Much depends on who becomes her support host on this year's Dancing With The Stars.

This is not to say that Micallef and Zemiro got the top spots because their SBS shows attracted fewer than 400,000 viewers last year. There's more to them than cult appeal. Like Frank Woodley, they have a deep-seated strangeness that makes them eternally intriguing.

Like Juanita Phillips, Justine Clarke exudes a calm intelligence in all her endeavours -- -- singing on Play School, frowning in Look Both Ways and The Surgeon, and playing straightman to Richard Roxburgh in the play Toy Symphony.

Shane Bourne is cool in City Homicide and not cool in Thank God You're Here (because he's overshadowed by the likes of Micallef, Woodley and Zemiro). The Chaser boys stayed semi-cool despite their success last year, but Chris Taylor made the list because he seems to seek fame less than the others. The key to cool is not trying to be.

Who else would you include on the 2008 list of Australia's coolest?

by David Dale in The Tribal Mind at 10:51 AM
Comments (45)

Sunday, January 20, 2008

The ratings race: Week 4

This edition of the blog is now a heritage item -- worth studying but no longer current. For the latest media trends, go to http://blogs.sunherald.com.au/whoweare
To find out if you are suitable to be an Australian citizen, go to Who We Are

David Dale's daily media report, updated 10 am Sunday January 27
Here's what Australia watched on Saturday ...
Description Total Sydney Melbourne Brisbane Adelaide Perth
1 NINE NEWS SATURDAY Nine 1,296,000 376,000 445,000 220,000 162,000 93,000
2 SEVEN NEWS - SAT Seven 1,211,000 356,000 383,000 197,000 87,000 188,000
3 AUSTRALIA'S FUNNIEST HOME VIDEOS -RPT Nine 897,000 254,000 302,000 145,000 117,000 78,000
4 DOC MARTIN RPT ABC 864,000 276,000 227,000 148,000 108,000 106,000
5 A KNIGHT'S TALE RPT Ten 864,000 272,000 242,000 172,000 89,000 89,000
6 FOURTH TEST - AUSTRALIA V INDIA Nine 851,000 240,000 264,000 145,000 124,000 78,000
7 ABC NEWS-SAT ABC 839,000 249,000 254,000 147,000 91,000 98,000
8 THE BILL ABC 791,000 236,000 258,000 123,000 90,000 83,000
9 HEARTBEAT Seven 775,000 224,000 221,000 149,000 85,000 95,000
10 TEN NEWS AT FIVE SAT Ten 740,000 164,000 218,000 141,000 68,000 149,000
11 TENNIS: 2008 AUST OPEN - DAY 13 - FINALS Seven 690,000 182,000 280,000 92,000 63,000 74,000
12 THE CRICKET SHOW Nine 657,000 194,000 181,000 125,000 102,000 55,000
13 SURVIVOR: CHINA Nine 638,000 174,000 232,000 111,000 55,000 66,000

What Australia watched, Friday
Description Total Sydney Melbourne Brisbane Adelaide Perth
1 TENNIS: 2008 AUST OPEN - DAY 12 NIGHT SESSION Seven 1,619,000 459,000 581,000 276,000 146,000 158,000
2 NINE NEWS Nine 1,200,000 366,000 375,000 264,000 113,000 82,000
3 SEVEN NEWS Seven 1,125,000 293,000 266,000 238,000 135,000 194,000
4 TODAY TONIGHT Seven 1,059,000 283,000 258,000 228,000 113,000 177,000
5 A CURRENT AFFAIR Nine 1,014,000 318,000 311,000 216,000 99,000 70,000
6 ABC NEWS ABC 983,000 279,000 292,000 208,000 102,000 101,000
7 THAT '70S SHOW Seven 789,000 219,000 197,000 169,000 87,000 117,000
8 TEN NEWS AT FIVE Ten 775,000 211,000 227,000 113,000 100,000 124,000
9 KISS THE GIRLS RPT Ten 761,000 201,000 207,000 145,000 112,000 96,000
10 FRIENDS Ten 744,000 196,000 213,000 180,000 82,000 73,000
11 THE KING OF QUEENS -RPT Nine 694,000 183,000 209,000 160,000 75,000 68,000
12 7.30 REPORT ABC 684,000 217,000 154,000 145,000 78,000 91,000
13 KID NATION Ten 680,000 162,000 205,000 153,000 69,000 90,000
14 AUSTRALIAN GEOGRAPHIC - BEST OF AUSTRALIA Nine 661,000 171,000 170,000 144,000 78,000 97,000
15 LIKE FATHER LIKE SON ABC 637,000 146,000 174,000 131,000 86,000 99,000
16 FOURTH TEST - AUSTRALIA V INDIA Nine 633,000 158,000 203,000 121,000 91,000 60,000
18 NEIGHBOURS Ten 600,000 141,000 190,000 117,000 72,000 81,000
19 JAM AND JERUSALEM ABC 546,000 182,000 106,000 113,000 76,000 70,000

And at the box office ...
1 27 DRESSES $3.93m worth of tickets in the week to Wednesday (total $9.44m)
2 CLOVERFIELD $3.5m worth of tickets.
3 ALVIN AND THE CHIPMUNKS $3.3m ($14.41m)
4 JUNO $3.03m
5 AMERICAN GANGSTER $2.73m ($7.33m)
6 I AM LEGEND $2.57m ($20.46)
7 THE WATER HORSE: LEGEND OF THE DEEP $1.85 ($3.89m)
8 THE GOLDEN COMPASS $1.2m ($13.8m)
9 ENCHANTED $1.27m ($11.62)
10 ATONEMENT $0.95m ($8.34m)
MPDAA

What Australia watched, Thursday
Description Total Sydney Melbourne Brisbane Adelaide Perth
1 TENNIS: 2008 AUST OPEN - DAY 11 NIGHT SESSION Seven 1,338,000 346,000 485,000 231,000 125,000 150,000
2 SEVEN NEWS Seven 1,263,000 351,000 329,000 261,000 133,000 189,000
3 NINE NEWS Nine 1,248,000 355,000 394,000 278,000 130,000 91,000
4 TODAY TONIGHT Seven 1,151,000 335,000 298,000 200,000 129,000 188,000
5 A CURRENT AFFAIR Nine 1,123,000 331,000 370,000 249,000 95,000 78,000
6 ABC NEWS ABC 1,087,000 291,000 374,000 187,000 116,000 119,000
7 TWO AND A HALF MEN -RPT Nine 955,000 263,000 263,000 194,000 103,000 131,000
8 THE KING OF QUEENS -RPT Nine 884,000 229,000 321,000 179,000 82,000 73,000
9 WHAT A YEAR Nine 875,000 220,000 240,000 221,000 80,000 114,000
10 RAMSAY'S KITCHEN NIGHTMARES Nine 874,000 238,000 290,000 120,000 123,000 103,000
11 THAT '70S SHOW Seven 846,000 248,000 200,000 180,000 92,000 126,000
12 AMERICA'S NEXT TOP MODEL 6 THURS Ten 840,000 239,000 235,000 167,000 94,000 105,000
13 LAW AND ORDER: SVU RPT Ten 795,000 252,000 191,000 166,000 94,000 92,000
14 7.30 REPORT ABC 779,000 228,000 247,000 132,000 78,000 94,000
17 GRACE KELLY: DESTINY OF A PRINCESS ABC 743,000 248,000 192,000 135,000 83,000 86,000
18 FRIENDS Ten 729,000 205,000 221,000 155,000 79,000 69,000
19 SLEEK GEEKS ABC 649,000 200,000 173,000 119,000 73,000 85,000

What Australia watched, Wednesday
Description Total Sydney Melbourne Brisbane Adelaide Perth
1 SEVEN NEWS Seven 1,441,000 404,000 364,000 283,000 149,000 241,000
2 TODAY TONIGHT Seven 1,305,000 365,000 301,000 250,000 154,000 235,000
3 TENNIS: 2008 AUST OPEN - DAY 10 NIGHT SESSION Seven 1,283,000 337,000 445,000 238,000 131,000 132,000
4 NINE NEWS Nine 1,258,000 360,000 392,000 259,000 140,000 108,000
5 A CURRENT AFFAIR Nine 1,191,000 372,000 368,000 217,000 132,000 102,000
6 ABC NEWS ABC 1,157,000 309,000 362,000 212,000 118,000 156,000
7 THAT '70S SHOW Seven 931,000 248,000 218,000 208,000 102,000 156,000
8 TEN NEWS AT FIVE Ten 921,000 236,000 261,000 138,000 125,000 160,000
9 THE KING OF QUEENS -RPT Nine 868,000 213,000 300,000 146,000 105,000 104,000
10 LIAR, LIAR RPT Ten 866,000 238,000 251,000 157,000 112,000 109,000
11 DON'T FORGET THE LYRICS WED Ten 840,000 221,000 236,000 171,000 119,000 93,000
12 7.30 REPORT ABC 840,000 260,000 238,000 147,000 90,000 104,000
13 YOU ARE WHAT YOU EAT Nine 805,000 188,000 253,000 161,000 82,000 121,000
14 FRIENDS Ten 790,000 246,000 212,000 152,000 91,000 88,000
15 E.R. Nine 773,000 185,000 216,000 162,000 85,000 125,000
16 TURN BACK YOUR BODY CLOCK Nine 727,000 168,000 214,000 152,000 75,000 118,000
17 MY FAMILY ABC 710,000 204,000 161,000 148,000 89,000 108,000
18 MOONLIGHT Nine 670,000 153,000 185,000 148,000 92,000 92,000
20 NEIGHBOURS Ten 642,000 155,000 237,000 104,000 62,000 84,000
27 SEVEN'S TENNIS: 2008 AUST OPEN - DAY 10 Seven 465,000 137,000 148,000 79,000 54,000 46,000
28 NIGELLA FEASTS ABC 459,000 121,000 154,000 79,000 55,000 51,000
30 MEN IN TREES Nine 425,000 83,000 114,000 95,000 60,000 74,000

What Australia watched, Tuesday
Description Total Sydney Melbourne Brisbane Adelaide Perth
1 SEVEN NEWS Seven 1,377,000 360,000 327,000 344,000 147,000 200,000
2 ABC NEWS ABC 1,239,000 314,000 411,000 237,000 129,000 148,000
3 TODAY TONIGHT Seven 1,213,000 317,000 294,000 262,000 142,000 197,000
4 TENNIS: 2008 AUST OPEN - DAY 9 NIGHT SESSION Seven 1,199,000 331,000 445,000 191,000 116,000 116,000
5 NINE NEWS Nine 1,099,000 315,000 346,000 238,000 131,000 69,000
6 A CURRENT AFFAIR Nine 1,072,000 322,000 317,000 226,000 132,000 74,000
7 COLD CASE -RPT Nine 1,071,000 295,000 323,000 213,000 109,000 131,000
8 NURSES Nine 1,043,000 283,000 280,000 215,000 110,000 155,000
9 POLICE TEN 7 Nine 1,023,000 298,000 276,000 207,000 98,000 145,000
10 THE SIMPSONS TUES EP 2 Ten 980,000 223,000 368,000 180,000 96,000 113,000
11 SENSING MURDER Nine 968,000 239,000 327,000 155,000 117,000 130,000
14 THAT '70S SHOW Seven 951,000 277,000 199,000 251,000 84,000 139,000
17 FRIENDS Ten 903,000 227,000 279,000 185,000 115,000 97,000
18 BURN NOTICE Ten 772,000 208,000 212,000 128,000 119,000 106,000
19 NEIGHBOURS Ten 756,000 195,000 234,000 155,000 82,000 90,000
29 SEVEN'S TENNIS: 2008 AUST OPEN - DAY 9 NIGHT SESSION - LATE Seven 468,000 128,000 219,000 45,000 33,000 43,000
30 SEVEN'S TENNIS: 2008 AUST OPEN - DAY 9 Seven 462,000 119,000 177,000 82,000 52,000 31,000

What Australia watched, Monday
Description Total Sydney Melbourne Brisbane Adelaide Perth
1 TENNIS: 2008 AUST OPEN - DAY 8 NIGHT SESSION Seven 1,659,000 487,000 611,000 256,000 173,000 131,000
2 SEVEN NEWS Seven 1,374,000 405,000 364,000 284,000 161,000 161,000
3 NINE NEWS Nine 1,363,000 378,000 391,000 280,000 158,000 156,000
4 TODAY TONIGHT Seven 1,335,000 388,000 367,000 224,000 164,000 192,000
5 A CURRENT AFFAIR Nine 1,327,000 346,000 387,000 291,000 155,000 147,000
6 ABC NEWS ABC 1,213,000 346,000 406,000 196,000 125,000 141,000
7 THAT '70S SHOW Seven 1,134,000 301,000 237,000 292,000 125,000 177,000
8 CSI: CRIME SCENE INVESTIGATION -RPT Nine 987,000 287,000 224,000 202,000 130,000 144,000
9 FRIENDS Ten 914,000 257,000 265,000 185,000 94,000 112,000
10 THE KING OF QUEENS -RPT Nine 905,000 251,000 296,000 141,000 104,000 114,000
11 AMERICA'S NEXT TOP MODEL 6 Ten 891,000 253,000 231,000 180,000 104,000 123,000
12 TOP GEAR SBS 887,000 265,000 271,000 185,000 97,000 69,000
13 TEN NEWS AT FIVE Ten 882,000 229,000 255,000 159,000 97,000 142,000
14 THE CLOSER Nine 870,000 237,000 226,000 156,000 136,000 115,000
15 7.30 REPORT ABC 804,000 254,000 241,000 137,000 83,000 89,000
16 DEADLY SURF Nine 766,000 239,000 191,000 132,000 70,000 133,000
17 NEIGHBOURS Ten 754,000 211,000 248,000 133,000 78,000 85,000
18 INFERNO Nine 712,000 219,000 161,000 132,000 86,000 114,000
24 COUP! ABC 528,000 179,000 141,000 87,000 52,000 68,000
25 SEVEN'S TENNIS: 2008 AUST OPEN - DAY 8 Seven 515,000 157,000 183,000 79,000 52,000 44,000
27 NIP/TUCK Nine 475,000 105,000 156,000 70,000 75,000 69,000
(OzTAM preliminary estimates, mainland capitals)

Sunday
1 SEVEN NEWS - SUN Seven 1,615,000 397,000 494,000 374,000 154,000 196,000
2 WILD VETS Seven 1,541,000 344,000 497,000 292,000 160,000 248,000
3 TENNIS: 2008 AUST OPEN - DAY 7 NIGHT SESSION Seven 1,459,000 393,000 603,000 197,000 143,000 123,000
4 WHACKED OUT SPORTS Seven 1,276,000 261,000 389,000 283,000 128,000 216,000
5 NINE NEWS SUN Nine 1,137,000 292,000 380,000 227,000 153,000 84,000
6 ABC NEWS-SUN ABC 1,032,000 273,000 344,000 188,000 129,000 99,000
7 KALAHARI: THE GREAT THIRSTLAND ABC 818,000 201,000 204,000 171,000 119,000 123,000
11 TENNIS: 2008 AUST OPEN - DAY 7 Seven 739,000 170,000 295,000 114,000 80,000 80,000
12 FRIENDS Ten 693,000 146,000 259,000 128,000 81,000 79,000
15 WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE? SBS 608,000 202,000 189,000 89,000 69,000 59,000
16 THE LINE OF BEAUTY ABC 572,000 183,000 150,000 90,000 57,000 92,000
21 THIRD TEST - AUSTRALIA V INDIA Nine 463,000 131,000 134,000 81,000 47,000 70,000
46 TENNIS: LAST PART OF HEWITT MATCH (2am to 4.33am) Seven 178,000 45,000 100,000 8,000 10,000 14,000

And on the box ...
If it's not cricket, it's tennis. If it's not tennis, it's cricket. And the few who watch neither turn to SBS. Those are the viewing habits of Australians at the moment.

On Saturday, 850,000 viewers in the mainland capitals stayed up past midnight to see if Lleyton Hewitt could hold his place in the Australian Open, only learning the answer at 4.30am on Sunday. Earlier on Saturday evening, 1.4 million saw Roger Federer keep himself in contention (The Federer match peaked at 1.9 million; the Hewitt match peaked at 1.0 million). And earlier still, the cricket stuck 1.09m to Channel NIne for most of the day.

Against such sporting competition, Sir Michael Parkinson's final show could manage only 940,000 on Saturday for the ABC -- which is pretty good for a show starting after 10 pm.

The pattern of last week was night-tennis and day-cricket each averaging around a million viewers, while SBS pulled 863,000 for the Jack Thompson edition of Who Do You Think You Are on Sunday; 934,000 for Monday's return of Top Gear (with Richard Hammond apparently unaffected by his accident) and 516,000 for Richard Hammond meets Evel Knievel on Wednesday.

What Pay TV subscribers watched, week ending Jan 19
1 CRICKET: DOMESTIC TWENTY20 FINAL WA V VIC (Fox Sports 1) 274,000
2 AMERICA'S NEXT TOP MODEL (FOX8) 189,000*
3 AN AUSSIE GOES BOLLY (FOX8) 171,000"
4 CASINO ROYALE (Movie One) 166,000*
5 THE SIMPSONS (FOX8) 157,000*
6 THE FUGITIVE (TV1) 155,000*
7 RELOCATION RELOCATION Lifestyle 144,000*
8 FAMILY GUY FOX8 142,000*
9 AMERICAN IDOL FOX8 137,000*
10 FUTURAMA FOX8 135,000*
11 LAW & ORDER 123,000 *
12 A GOOD YEAR Showtime 119,000*
13 LAW & ORDER: SVU TV1 118,000*
14 GOSSIP GIRL FOX8 113,000*
(OzTAM) *First showing plus two hours later.

by David Dale in The Tribal Mind at 09:02 AM
Comments (65)

Saturday, January 19, 2008

WHO WE ARE: Graduating from the spaghetti sandwich

To find out if you are suitable to be an Australian citizen, go to Who We Are
For the latest media trends, go to The Ratings Race
To find out which stories and characters Australians love best, go to The Tribal Mind

A weekly column about Australia, by David Dale, published in The Sun-Herald, 20/1/2008
Peck's paste; lettuce and vegemite; Smith's crisps and tomato sauce; peanut butter, honey, and sultanas; Nutella and margarine; mashed banana and corn flakes ... tempting as these fillings sound, they are not enough to convince me that the sandwich could ever be the pinnacle of Australian culinary endeavour.

Last week (see below) this column lamented the news that Australia's most purchased takeaway item is not the hamburger, not fried chicken, not pizza, not the meat pie but, after all these years of cultural development, still the sandwich. An avalanche of protest descended upon me.

"Sydneysider" wrote: "Nothing but nothing will ever beat the good old Aussie salad sandwich or roll, not forgetting the mandatory beetroot! Mum used to make us our salad sangas for school and thoughtfully wrap the beetroot in a bit of Gladwrap separately so it didn't turn the entire lunch box pink!!!! It's still my favourite for lunch."

Some readers realize now that they didn't know when they were well off ... Louisa: "Coming from an Italian background, my sandwich fillings were always exotic -- crumbed veal (my fav), or fried capsicum (also yum), salami cheese and lettuce, the source of many derogatory comments from my classmates. If I could talk Mum into it, she would give me Vegemite or Peanut Butter (but this was yuck by the time you got to eat it). I was jealous of the devon and tomato sauce sangers my friends used to get."

Onie: "Trading was a bit hard with sultanas & jam, cold meatballs & tomato, home made spag bol (very stinky). I eventually rebelled and asked for tomato, celery and plastic cheese for the next 6 years."

Others found ways of improving on traditional stylings ... Richard Salter: "My favourite was 2 sausage rolls stuffed in a buttered roll." Iain Gorry: "We brought buttered bread from home and put in either a Wagon Wheel or salt & vinegar chips." Shaygh: "My youngest sister invented the crunchy nut breakfast sandwich: crunchy nut corn flakes, peanut butter, honey and squashed banana."

Amy: "I'd buy a pack of BBQ chips and squash them between my chicken roll (or devon) sandwich. Although I really do miss that sugar rush of a 100 & 1000s spinkled on a triangle of buttered bread for only 5 cents."

There were, however, a few readers who shared my horror ... Ian: "Mum made us Peck's paste sandwiches for the week on Sunday - froze them all and gave us them frozen each morning for years. None of us wanted to hurt her feelings so we loyally ate them - sometimes defrosted, sometimes half frozen. Jeez it gave us a strong digestive system."

Crooklyn Dodger: "Nothing was worse than my mum's bizarre early morning concoction for my packed lunch: Nutella and margarine on a cheese and bacon roll! Straight in the bin, love ya mum."

EP: "Occasionally we used to get tinned salmon sandwiches, which were nice fresh but smelt like dead fish after half a day in your 'port' (to use Qld vernacular). But the King of all sandwiches has to be Peanut Butter, Bacon and Banana."

I remain unconvinced. Give me cold leftovers of pad thai noodles any day.

Published in The Sun-Herald, 13/1/2008
"Tell me what you eat and I will tell you what you are," said the French philosopher Anthelme Brillat-Savarin in 1826. "A strong cup of tea and an iced Vo Vo" said the Australian politician Kevin Rudd in 2007, suggesting how to celebrate Labor's election victory. So that's what he thinks of us?

Well of course not. Rudd was parodying the traditional teatime of the 1950s for which John Howard held such nostalgia. If he'd meant to describe this nation in the Noughties, Rudd would have said "a skim latte and two Tim Tams".
Our coffee consumption (2.4 kg per person per year) is more than double our tea consumption. The Tim Tam (invented in 1964) outsells the Vo Vo (invented in 1906) more than ten to one. In fact, Australians eat 380 million of the insidious cuboids a year.

But that's not to say we're a nation of bikkiephiliacs. Our annual consumption rate of 7kg of biscuits per person falls well behind the American rate of 9kg per person. Nor are we a nation of chocoholics -- the average Australian consumes 4.4kg of chocolate a year, while the British eat 9.2kg each a year and the Swiss consume 11.3kg each.

So if we're not chocolate biscuits, what are we? According to a survey of 1700 eaters by the economic analysts Bis Shrapnel, we're sangers and chips. Look at this chart:

Australia's most purchased takeaway foods: 1 Sandwiches; 2 Hot chips; 3 Hamburgers; 4 Cakes/ pastries; 5 Chinese food; 6 Pizza; 7 Fried or grilled fish; 8 Ice cream; 9 Meat pies; 10 Filled rolls.

Apparently every Australian buys 20 sandwiches and 18 orders of potato chips a year, as part of an expenditure of $9 billion on 1.4 billion takeaway meals - up 3 per cent on the early Noughties.

To me, this news is more depressing than the notion we might be the land of tea and Vo Vos. I've nothing against the chip, but I must confess a bias against the sandwich that began when my mother got into the habit of sending me to school with white bread slices squashed round spaghetti from a tin.

Spaghetti sandwiches have no swapping value and by lunchtime they're so soggy your thumb goes straight through them. Now that I'm grown up, I will never eat a sandwich again, not even when it's disguised with a trendy name like focaccia.

Obviously millions of Australians were never traumatised by their school lunches. The only good news in the Bis Shrapnel survey is that over this decade our consumption of sandwiches and chips has remained static (the way they do in the gut), while our order of Chinese takeaways has risen from six a year in the early Noughties to nine now. Chinese is apparently most popular with eaters over 35, while sushi is the Asian choice for people aged 18 to 24 and Thai for people between 25 and 35. That sounds pretty progressive.

Now back to the bad news: Hamburgers are declining in popularity, while rolls are rising (reflected in Subway outlets - 851 of them -- now outnumbering McDonald's outlets).

I don't care how they dress them up, filled rolls are still a form of sandwich. It would take only the slightest hint of economic downturn for unscrupulous operators to start filling them with tinned spaghetti. And then society would be on the toboggan.

What are the other foodstuffs that symbolise Australia in the 21st century? Is pad thai replacing spag bol as the national dish?

by David Dale in Who We Are at 07:33 AM
Comments (82)

Monday, January 14, 2008

The Tribal Mind: Our never ending stories

by David Dale
It's the story, stupid. And then it's the characters. Always has been, always will be. That's the answer you can give to people who declare that "movies these days are only about marketing/ special effects/ car chases/ big-name stars/ nudity/ remakes/ teenage romance/ dirty jokes/ explosions."

If they still complain, throw these names at them: Dory, Jack Sparrow, Hermione Granger, Michael Corleone, Gollum, George McFly, Darth Vader, Scar, Dr Elsa Schneider, Donkey, Mike Wazowski, Commodus, and Danny Zuko. And if they don't recognise them, walk away, because the fools know nothing about what matters to Australians.

The evidence is in this chart, prepared for us by the research agency GFK Marketing to celebrate the tenth anniversary of the arrival of the DVD, the most speedily embraced entertainment technology this country has ever known ...
The top selling DVDs of all time in Australia:
1 Finding Nemo (2004)
2 Indiana Jones Box Set (2003, though our picture shows Cate Blanchett as the villain in the 2008 Indy instalment)
3 Star Wars Trilogy (2004)
4 The Two Towers (2003)
5 The Fellowship of the Ring (2002)
6 Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (2003)
7 Shrek 2 (2004)
8 Return of the King (2004)
9 Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (2004)
10 Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (2006)
11 Pirates of the Caribbean (2004)
12 Monsters Inc (2002)
13 Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (2002)
14 Gladiator (2000)
15 Pirates of the Caribbean 2: Dead Man's Chest (2006).

In addition, the all-time 50 favourites include The Matrix, the Back to the Future trilogy, The Godfather Collection, The Lion King, Fawlty Towers Box Set, Seinfeld Seasons 1 and 2, Grease, Troy, The Notebook and Love Actually.

It seems Australians enjoy a story in which a hero is summoned on a quest, learns from a mentor, meets friends, lovers and enemies on the road, fights a series of skirmishes before confronting the ultimate evil, goes through a form of death and resurrection, and returns with The Solution. And they love characters who make them laugh, cry, wonder, rage and cheer. That's what produces the kind of disc we keep in our home library and show to our grandchildren.

Australians spent $1.46 billion buying 82 million DVDs in 2007 -- $500 million more than what we spent on cinema tickets and ten times what we spent on DVDs in 2001. Here's where most of the money went ...

Top selling DVDs in 2007: 1 Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix; 2 The Simpsons Movie; 3 Transformers; 4 Happy Feet; 5 Pirates of the Caribbean 3: At World's End; 6 Summer Heights High; 7 Casino Royale; 8 Shrek The Third; 9 Night At The Museum; 10 Grey's Anatomy Season 2.

Now you're in a position to say if they still make movies the way they used to. Do those films and TV shows have stories as intriguing as the ones in the first chart? Can we add Ja'mie King, Mr Burns, Sam Witwicky, Mumble and Izzy Stevens to the pantheon of classic characters in the second paragraph?

That's for you to say. Give us your answers, below.

Year DVDs sold Value
2001 5,320,581 $170,276,765
2002 16,524,751 $490,696,484
2003 30,885,144 $827,938,463
2004 48,176,513 $1,110,573,129
2005 55,547,100 $1,131,819,532
2006 63,872,881 $1,256,837,650
2007 81,875,501 $1,462,293,997

by David Dale in The Tribal Mind at 10:38 AM
Comments (9)

Wednesday, January 9, 2008

Black is the new rock n roll, and vice versa

For daily updates on Australian attitudes, bookmark http://blogs.sunherald.com.au/whoweare.
For background on popular culture, go to
The films Australia loved.
The TV shows Australia loved.
The music Australia loved.
The DVDs Australia loved.
by David Dale.
This is about the things that are the new. Not new, but the new. The topic probably would have made a book, but since articles are the new books (what with the shrinking of attention spans), I have made it a short feature. Consider these quotes:

Folk Is The New Black (title of latest album by Janis Ian).
Fatisthenewblack (name of self-esteem website).
"After 60 years of ridicule, Vegan is the new black" (Vegan Society press release).
"Jazz is the new rock n roll and the new black" (website of Sanity music store).
"Why cricket is the new rock and roll: The players may wear fusty all white, but it's the new black too" (Eurosport site).
"Poetry, it seems, is not the new rock'n'roll, but the new Prozac" (The Independent, UK).
"If the world of international politics can be compared to the fashion industry, then 'soft power' is the new black" (International Association for Political Science Students newsletter).
"With new anti-sweatshop creations being paraded at this year's Australian Fashion Week, is equity the new black and are sweatshops the new fur?" (Workers Online).
"Falsetto is the new black. It's very in at the moment, with The White Stripes the latest to abide by this trend" (Rocknerd site).
"VoIP is IN. It's the new black" (People to People, the torrent tracker site).
"The new black in biocontrol is immunocontraception. It is a method whereby a sexually transmitted viral disease from the target species is genetically modified" (Biochemist Brendan Duffy site).
"Red is the new black -- or is it?" (Proceedings of the Australasian Conference on Robotics and Automation).
"Suits are seen as old-fashioned and boring at a time when business is reinventing itself as the new rock 'n' roll" (Galt Global Review site).
"The new rock n roll in television is secret cameras" (Ezilon infobase site).
"Bargains are the new black. The good news for those of us whose last name isn't Hilton is that cheap is the new expensive" (Voyeur magazine, published by Virgin Blue airline).
"Among race goers at Flemington on November 1, green is the new black. It's a cliche I know, and every season we seem to have a 'new black', but honestly it was overwhelmingly the colour of choice for the Melbourne Cup" (Victorian racing website).
"Who knows, South Africa just might be the new Australia. Or the new rock 'n' roll" (wine column, The Guardian).
Continued here

If you put "the new black" into Google, you are offered 1,760,000 entries. Refine the search by adding the word Australia, and you get 138,000 entries.

These are examples of other things that have been described as the new black in the past two years: Age diversity at work (EEONA press release); Australia (The Age); awareness (Brotherhood of St Laurence newsletter); brown (Hair Extensions Information site); cancelling tours (themusic.com.au site); chamber music (The Age); civilian integration (Defence magazine, published by the Australian Government); climate change (Sophie Cunningham site); cryptography (Math Department site, College of Charleston); The Defender silver station wagon (Ford site); "faux outrage" (Daai Tou Laam site); five runs per over (New Zealand cricket site); gold (Dismal Scientist magazine); Melbourne -- for Sydney fashion shoppers (The Sun-Herald); Men (Sydney Observer); "nuclear" (Currents of Awareness newsletter); poker (Voyeur magazine); seriousness (The Economist); simplicity (Mobile Jones site); speed dating (Fast impressions website); unions (Workers Online); Visa mini (NAB personal finance site); zombies (myspace.com blog).

If you google "the new rock n roll", you get 33,700 possibilities. Here are examples of things that have been described as the new rock n roll in the past two years: Archeology (Channel 4 site, UK); "bipolar" (Lithium site); blogging (Surftrail site); comedy (The Daily Mail, UK); cultural entrepreneurship (The Observer, UK); dance music (Sevenmag); fine English furniture (Webuser magazine); gambling (Casino City Times); history (the buyAustralian bookstore site); Islam (spiked.com); knitting (The Daily Telegraph, UK); medicine (Medschoolguide); property development (Homesearch site); reading (Literacy forum site); real estate (The Village Voice, USA); rocking chairs (Amazon UK); science (The Guardian, UK); software (Forbes).

We learn two things from all this: 1) journalists and marketers are unimaginative; 2) the world needs a new "the new". Below, we are accepting nominations for the new "the new black" and the new "the new rock n roll".

David Dale is the author of Who We Are -- A snapshot of Australia today (Allen and Unwin). His latest book is Soffritto -- A delicious Ligurian memoir. To join a daily discussion of Australian attitudes, go to http://blogs.sunherald.com.au/whoweare.

by David Dale in The Tribal Mind at 06:00 PM
Comments (17)

The ratings race: week 3

This edition of the blog is now a heritage item -- worth studying but no longer current. For the latest media trends, go to http://blogs.sunherald.com.au/whoweare
To find out which stories and characters Australians love best, go to The Tribal Mind

David Dale's media report, updated 10 am Sunday
Here's what Australia watched on Saturday ...
Description Total Sydney Melbourne Brisbane Adelaide Perth
1 TENNIS: 2008 AUST OPEN - DAY 6 NIGHT SESSION Seven 1,441,000 379,000 525,000 237,000 152,000 147,000
2 NINE NEWS SATURDAY Nine 1,408,000 489,000 445,000 225,000 153,000 97,000
3 SEVEN NEWS - SAT Seven 1,234,000 355,000 325,000 240,000 132,000 182,000
4 THIRD TEST - AUSTRALIA V INDIA Nine 1,095,000 351,000 344,000 181,000 109,000 110,000
5 PARKINSON ABC 940,000 315,000 273,000 145,000 103,000 103,000
6 DOC MARTIN RPT ABC 907,000 257,000 234,000 172,000 109,000 134,000
7 HEARTBEAT Seven 873,000 221,000 241,000 183,000 96,000 133,000
8 TENNIS: 2008 AUST OPEN - DAY 6 NIGHT SESSION - LATE Seven 854,000 241,000 331,000 102,000 98,000 82,000
11 THE BILL ABC 725,000 247,000 159,000 142,000 75,000 102,000
15 SURVIVOR: CHINA Nine 603,000 121,000 203,000 127,000 54,000 99,000
16 FRIENDS Ten 572,000 137,000 174,000 136,000 69,000 55,000
17 SEVEN'S TENNIS: 2008 AUST OPEN - DAY 6 Seven 532,000 124,000 210,000 85,000 55,000 59,000
22 WIMBLEDON RPT Ten 448,000 124,000 125,000 85,000 55,000 59,000
25 MYTHBUSTERS SBS 392,000 137,000 94,000 79,000 48,000 33,000
26 IRON CHEF SBS 369,000 125,000 114,000 63,000 41,000 27,00
(OzTAM preliminary estimates, mainland capitals)

What Australia watched, Friday
Description Total Sydney Melbourne Brisbane Adelaide Perth
1 NINE NEWS Nine 1,490,000 466,000 441,000 270,000 167,000 147,000
2 SEVEN NEWS Seven 1,299,000 335,000 334,000 280,000 130,000 220,000
3 TODAY TONIGHT Seven 1,252,000 373,000 339,000 247,000 125,000 168,000
4 TENNIS: 2008 AUST OPEN - DAY 5 NIGHT SESSION Seven 1,173,000 290,000 393,000 202,000 99,000 189,000
5 THIRD TEST - AUS V INDIA Nine 1,022,000 329,000 305,000 175,000 110,000 103,000
6 ABC NEWS ABC 896,000 248,000 270,000 178,000 90,000 110,000
7 THAT '70S SHOW Seven 844,000 230,000 211,000 169,000 83,000 151,000
8 KID NATION Ten 797,000 193,000 238,000 160,000 101,000 106,000
9 TEN NEWS AT FIVE Ten 773,000 231,000 233,000 115,000 93,000 101,000
10 FRIENDS Ten 772,000 207,000 267,000 116,000 102,000 79,000
11 HOW TO LOSE A GUY IN 10 DAYS RPT Ten 731,000 230,000 204,000 116,000 101,000 80,000
12 LIKE FATHER LIKE SON ABC 702,000 186,000 221,000 140,000 78,000 78,000
13 ALI Nine 675,000 216,000 216,000 108,000 68,000 68,000
14 NEIGHBOURS Ten 649,000 154,000 245,000 96,000 93,000 60,000
15 7.30 REPORT ABC 645,000 179,000 177,000 129,000 69,000 90,000
16 JAM AND JERUSALEM ABC 643,000 187,000 159,000 140,000 66,000 91,000
(OzTAM preliminary estimates, mainalnd capitals)

And at the movies over the week to Wednesday...
1 27 DRESSES opened with $5.5 million
1 I AM LEGEND made $4,993,155 (total $17.9m). Anyone think the ending of this is terrible?
3 AMERICAN GANGSTER opened with $4.6
4 ALVIN AND THE CHIPMUNKS made $4.5m ($11.1m)
5 THE WATER HORSE: LEGEND OF THE DEEP opened with $2.05m
6 THE GOLDEN COMPASS made $1.75m ($12.68)
7 ENCHANTED made $1.7m ($10.35)
8 ATONEMENT made $1.24m ($7.39)
9 NATIONAL TREASURE: BOOK OF SECRETS made $1.06m ($12.17)
10 P.S., I LOVE YOU made $828,000 ($4.76)
11 And the best film around at the moment, NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN, made $543,000 on a mere 53 screens ($2.9m).

If you'd care to predict the final total of any of those movies, we'll put your prediction on record and you can get bragging rights. Will Golden Compass pass $15m? Will I Am Legend pass $30m? Will Old Men reach $5m? Demonstrate your understanding of the Australian moviegoer's mind.

What Australia watched, Thursday
Description Total Sydney Melbourne Brisbane Adelaide Perth
1 NINE NEWS Nine 1,434,000 445,000 452,000 269,000 143,000 125,000
2 TODAY TONIGHT Seven 1,384,000 387,000 394,000 268,000 149,000 186,000
3 SEVEN NEWS Seven 1,208,000 333,000 269,000 241,000 156,000 210,000
4 TWO AND A HALF MEN -RPT Nine 1,050,000 374,000 420,000 158,000 98,000
5 TENNIS: 2008 AUST OPEN - DAY 4 NIGHT SESSION Seven 1,013,000 247,000 380,000 187,000 88,000 111,000
6 ABC NEWS ABC 944,000 238,000 277,000 216,000 95,000 118,000
7 THAT '70S SHOW Seven 915,000 264,000 199,000 213,000 83,000 156,000
8 THIRD TEST - AUSTRALIA V INDIA Nine 909,000 260,000 279,000 161,000 97,000 111,000
9 LAW AND ORDER: SVU RPT Ten 869,000 241,000 232,000 182,000 103,000 112,000
10 JAMIE AT HOME Ten 860,000 250,000 238,000 169,000 107,000 96,000
11 STARDUST: THE BETTE DAVIS STORY ABC 845,000 290,000 216,000 142,000 88,000 109,000
12 SLEEK GEEKS ABC 802,000 228,000 197,000 198,000 84,000 96,000
13 MEDIUM THURS RPT Ten 776,000 201,000 212,000 125,000 103,000 135,000
14 RAMSAY'S KITCHEN NIGHTMARES Nine 756,000 194,000 257,000 101,000 114,000 90,000
15 TIL DEATH Nine 725,000 189,000 220,000 112,000 97,000 107,000
16 FRIENDS Ten 717,000 191,000 226,000 146,000 86,000 68,000
17 SEVEN'S TENNIS: 2008 AUST OPEN - DAY 4 NIGHT SESSION - LATE Seven 707,000 199,000 307,000 82,000 60,000 59,000
What Australia watched, Wednesday
Description Total Sydney Melbourne Brisbane Adelaide Perth
1 TODAY TONIGHT Seven 1,491,000 443,000 428,000 273,000 144,000 203,000
2 NINE NEWS Nine 1,387,000 425,000 399,000 283,000 146,000 133,000
3 SEVEN NEWS Seven 1,306,000 362,000 333,000 248,000 135,000 227,000
4 E.R. Nine 1,132,000 352,000 390,000 187,000 86,000 118,000
5 ABC NEWS ABC 1,026,000 256,000 359,000 181,000 103,000 127,000
6 DON'T FORGET THE LYRICS WED Ten 1,012,000 295,000 283,000 204,000 134,000 96,000
7 TENNIS: 2008 AUST OPEN - DAY 3 NIGHT SESSION Seven 992,000 266,000 373,000 165,000 93,000 95,000
8 THAT '70S SHOW Seven 970,000 309,000 242,000 169,000 100,000 150,000
9 THIRD TEST - AUS V INDIA Nine 905,000 271,000 273,000 156,000 103,000 102,000
10 FRIENDS Ten 836,000 210,000 263,000 178,000 108,000 77,000
11 MOONLIGHT Nine 834,000 252,000 218,000 173,000 97,000 94,000
12 TEN NEWS AT FIVE Ten 815,000 226,000 237,000 150,000 97,000 104,000
13 7.30 REPORT ABC 809,000 236,000 244,000 145,000 91,000 92,000
14 MY FAMILY ABC 759,000 206,000 184,000 166,000 89,000 114,000
15 NEIGHBOURS Ten 723,000 197,000 243,000 123,000 86,000 73,000
16 THE STARTER WIFE Ten 679,000 233,000 156,000 132,000 80,000 78,000
17 THE SIMPSONS Ten 650,000 167,000 235,000 109,000 78,000 60,000
18 BLACK BOOKS RPT ABC 517,000 135,000 178,000 89,000 67,000 49,000
19 RICHARD HAMMOND MEETS EVEL KNEIVAL SBS 516,000 127,000 142,000 91,000 83,000 73,000
20 THE CRICKET SHOW Nine 512,000 165,000 183,000 93,000 71,000
21 THE COMPLETE GUIDE TO PARENTING ABC 502,000 123,000 159,000 89,000 66,000 65,000
22 MEN IN TREES Nine 493,000 165,000 146,000 75,000 65,000 42,000
24 SEVEN'S TENNIS: 2008 AUST OPEN - DAY 3 NIGHT SESSION - LATE Seven 422,000 131,000 181,000 41,000 34,000 35,000
25 LIFE ON MARS RPT ABC 413,000 113,000 133,000 68,000 54,000 45,000
26 SEVEN'S TENNIS: 2008 AUST OPEN - DAY 3 Seven 411,000 122,000 142,000 65,000 39,000 43,000

What Australia watched, Tuesday
Description Total Sydney Melbourne Brisbane Adelaide Perth
1 SEVEN NEWS Seven 1,323,000 374,000 336,000 279,000 154,000 181,000
2 TODAY TONIGHT Seven 1,274,000 368,000 338,000 244,000 131,000 192,000
3 NINE NEWS Nine 1,258,000 363,000 410,000 237,000 155,000 93,000
4 A CURRENT AFFAIR Nine 1,215,000 352,000 412,000 219,000 128,000 104,000
5 COLD CASE -RPT Nine 1,198,000 351,000 323,000 224,000 144,000 155,000
6 ABC NEWS ABC 1,151,000 311,000 349,000 246,000 113,000 131,000
7 IN THE LINE OF FIRE Nine 1,136,000 326,000 308,000 207,000 122,000 174,000
8 POLICE TEN 7 Nine 1,110,000 327,000 319,000 211,000 112,000 140,000
9 THE SIMPSONS TUES EP 2 Ten 975,000 269,000 315,000 160,000 110,000 121,000
10 NCIS RPT Ten 961,000 286,000 265,000 174,000 110,000 126,000
11 THAT '70S SHOW Seven 924,000 244,000 223,000 187,000 122,000 148,000
12 SENSING MURDER Nine 919,000 266,000 255,000 157,000 110,000 131,000
13 THE SIMPSONS TUES EP 1 Ten 882,000 218,000 294,000 174,000 100,000 97,000
14 THE KING OF QUEENS -RPT Nine 868,000 242,000 317,000 156,000 75,000 78,000
15 BURN NOTICE Ten 852,000 250,000 239,000 148,000 120,000 95,000
16 TEN NEWS AT FIVE Ten 838,000 170,000 265,000 162,000 105,000 136,000
17 7.30 REPORT ABC 819,000 252,000 222,000 154,000 83,000 108,000
18 FRIENDS Ten 796,000 211,000 240,000 171,000 90,000 85,000
19 NEIGHBOURS Ten 790,000 173,000 236,000 172,000 105,000 104,000
20 ANTIQUES ROADSHOW -RPT Nine 702,000 188,000 209,000 123,000 116,000 66,000
21 AUSTRALIAN OPEN 2008 - DAY 2 NIGHT SESSION Seven 696,000 184,000 257,000 109,000 73,000 73,000
(OzTAM preliminary estimates, mainland capitals)

On the box, Monday
Description Total Sydney Melbourne Brisbane Adelaide Perth
1 SEVEN NEWS Seven 1,363,000 357,000 318,000 291,000 168,000 229,000
2 TODAY TONIGHT Seven 1,312,000 354,000 315,000 254,000 156,000 233,000
3 NINE NEWS Nine 1,256,000 380,000 404,000 226,000 143,000 103,000
4 ABC NEWS ABC 1,230,000 340,000 341,000 260,000 122,000 167,000
5 A CURRENT AFFAIR Nine 1,201,000 384,000 386,000 210,000 126,000 95,000
6 DEADLY SURF Nine 1,165,000 428,000 278,000 181,000 120,000 158,000
7 CSI -RPT Nine 1,155,000 393,000 248,000 219,000 131,000 163,000
8 THAT '70S SHOW Seven 1,029,000 286,000 218,000 233,000 107,000 184,000
9 TOP GEAR SBS 934,000 262,000 295,000 195,000 88,000 95,000
10 7.30 REPORT ABC 921,000 280,000 250,000 194,000 78,000 119,000
14 NEIGHBOURS Ten 837,000 190,000 265,000 170,000 95,000 119,000
18 AUSTRALIAN OPEN 2008 - DAY 1 NIGHT SESSION Seven 772,000 204,000 296,000 113,000 81,000 78,000
26 AUSTRALIAN OPEN 2008 - DAY 1 Seven 440,000 114,000 168,000 81,000 42,000 35,000
27 SUNRISE Seven 439,000 169,000 86,000 106,000 32,000 46,000
44 TODAY Nine 254,000 82,000 64,000 54,000 21,000 33,000

It's been a dry, dry summer for television. Normally the Silly Season produces one or two surprise successes -- programs the networks were afraid to schedule in the "official" ratings period but which found an audience when there was nothing else to watch. The sitcom Frasier was a classic example, going from silly season to prime time glory against Channel Nine's expectations. But there's been no Frasier this year.

Australians have used the box for news and cricket (2 million in the mainland capitals saw the final hour of the Second Test) and largely ignored the newcomers which the networks were trying out, meaning there will be little to fall back on when the Hollywood writers' strike cuts off hits such as Desperate Housewives and Grey's Anatomy.

These were the humble highlights since Christmas: Doc Martin (ABC) 1.1m; A Touch of Frost (7) 1.1 m; Borderline (7) 1.1m; Top Gear Polar Special (SBS) 1.0m; Bones (7) 1.0m; The Dagg Sea Scrolls (ABC) 1.0m; The Amazing Race (7) 998,000; Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares (9) 965,000.

As you can tell, most viewers registering on OzTAM's people meters at this time of year are over 50.

What Australia watched on Pay TV, week ending January 13
1 AN AUSSIE GOES BOLLY FOX8 210,000
2 LIVE: CRICKET: DOMESTIC TWENTY20 QLD V TAS Fox Sports 1 150,000
3 BORDER SECURITY: AUSTRALIA'S FRONT LINE Lifestyle 143,000
4 LIVE: CRICKET: DOMESTIC TWENTY20 VIC V TAS Fox Sports 1 125,000
5 AMERICA'S NEXT TOP MODEL FOX8 188,000
6 LAW & ORDER: SVU TV1 129,000
7 TRINNY & SUSANNAH UNDRESS Lifestyle 149,000
8 FAMILY GUY FOX8 150,000
(OzTAM)

What Australia watched, Sunday
Description Total Sydney Melbourne Brisbane Adelaide Perth
1 SEVEN NEWS - SUN Seven 1,424,000 416,000 393,000 309,000 123,000 183,000
2 WILD VETS Seven 1,328,000 405,000 394,000 245,000 133,000 151,000
3 ABC NEWS-SUN ABC 1,143,000 326,000 343,000 214,000 136,000 123,000
4 NINE NEWS - SUN Nine 1,090,000 304,000 375,000 212,000 113,000 85,000
5 KALAHARI: THE FLOODED DESERT ABC 1,008,000 286,000 279,000 211,000 121,000 110,000
6 WHACKED OUT SPORTS Seven 988,000 302,000 266,000 200,000 105,000 114,000
7 TEN NEWS AT FIVE SUN Ten 922,000 254,000 277,000 167,000 113,000 110,000
8 GHOST WHISPERER (Rpt) Seven 895,000 296,000 185,000 191,000 105,000 119,000
10 WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE? SBS 863,000 279,000 278,000 118,000 88,000 100,000
12 M-OPEN WATER Seven 730,000 242,000 161,000 128,000 93,000 107,000
15 DON'T FORGET THE LYRICS Ten 715,000 153,000 221,000 164,000 79,000 99,000
18 EXTREME MAKEOVER -RPT Nine 630,000 185,000 206,000 101,000 63,000 74,000
19 BATTLE OF THE BRAINS SBS 615,000 177,000 213,000 111,000 54,000 60,000
24 EXTREME: SKINNY CELEBRITY MUMS Seven 455,000 153,000 127,000 67,000 51,000 58,000
(OzTAM preliminary estimates, mainland capitals)

Meanwhile, in other media ...

The top selling books of 2007
1 Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, J. K. Rowling 1,036,200
2 The Secret, Rhonda Byrne 267,200
3 The Persimmon Tree, Bryce Courtenay 166,000
4 Guinness World Records 2008
5 The Memory Keeper's Daughter, Kim Edwards 143,100
6 A Thousand Splendid Suns, Khaled Hosseini 137,400
7 4 Ingredients, Kim McCosker and Rachael Bermingham 131,400
8 The Six Sacred Stones, Matthew Reilly 127,200
9 The Dangerous Book For Boys, Conn and Hal Igguldon 95,600
10 Nineteen Minutes, Jodi Picoult
11 The Quest, Wilbur Smith
12 Those Faraday Girls, Monica McInerney
13 Book of the Dead, Patricia Cornwell
14 The God Delusion, Richard Dawkins
15 Spotless, Shannon Lush and Jennifer Fleming
16 Monsoon, Di Morrissey
17 Road To Paradise, Paullina Simons
18 Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince, J. K. Rowling
19 The Kite Runner, Khaled Hosseini 71,300
(Nielsen Bookscan)

by David Dale in The Tribal Mind at 12:43 AM
Comments (79)

Monday, January 7, 2008

The Tribal Mind: Aussies lose the cinema struggle

For the latest media trends, go to http://blogs.sunherald.com.au/whoweare
To find out which stories and characters Australians love best, go to The Tribal Mind
For background on popular culture, go to
The films Australia loved.
The TV shows Australia loved.
The music Australia loved.