The Sun-Herald

The Tribal Mind: Farewell old tape, we won't miss you

For further discussion of Australian attitudes, go to http://blogs.sunherald.com.au/whoweare.

by David Dale
When the VCR first came out in Australia, people joked that every home needed a 10 year old child to show their parents how to program it to record TV shows. This year those clever children will turn 40, and are asking their ten year olds to show them how to download TV shows off the internet.

We're about to celebrate the 30th birthday of the technology that transformed home entertainment. At the same time we celebrate the 10th birthday of the technology that killed it -- the DVD.

You should expect a tsunami of VCR nostalgia. The first ripple is in the form of a movie called Be Kind, Rewind. It is directed by Michel Gondry, who made some of the greatest music videos of the 1990s before directing strange and beautiful films such as Eternal Sunshine of The Spotless Mind.

In Be Kind, Rewind, Jack Black accidentally erases all the tapes in a video store, and recruits his friends to make amateur versions of such classics as Ghostbusters, Lion King, Robocop, and Driving Miss Daisy. The videos become the hit of the neighbourhood -- until the copyright police arrive.
It sounds like fun, but really, what is there to be nostalgic about? Is there any way in which VHS beats DVD -- convenience of storage, ease of fast forward, clarity of sound and image, space for extra features? The video simply has age on its side.
Lets do the chronology: In 1975, Sony launched (in America) a recording and playback technology called Betamax. In 1977 another Japanese company, JVC, introduced a competing technology called VHS, which came with a remote control. Both made test appearances in Australia in 1978, and in 1980, The Sydney Morning Herald reported: "Relief is at hand for film buffs who want to watch at home movies uncut and uninterrupted by commercials. The one condition is that you have a video recorder. All the signs seem to indicate that 1981 will usher in the era of home video ... at present the VHS format seems to be the dominant one on a world basis."

By 1984, 26 per cent of Australian homes had VCRs. By 1997 the VCR had spread to 87 per cent of households. Then the DVD arrived (the first movie released on disc was Evita, with Madonna, but things improved rapidly).

In 2000 Australians spent $174 million buying videos and $48 million buying dvds. In 2007 we spent $1.5 million on videos and $1.2 billion on dvds.

What kind of people still buy their home entertainment on VHS? You'll get some impression from the top sellers of the past month, as measured by GfK Marketing: 10 Things I Hate About You, Volume 8 of the cartoon series Samurai, School of Rock, Scooby Doo, and two collections of the TV series Sleepover Club. Now that's weird: 30 years later, the main audience for videos is ten year olds.

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

• by David Dale in The Tribal Mind at 03:47 PM
• Comments (14)

WHO WE ARE: Chipped, baked, boiled and mashed

To discuss whether Nicole Kidman has jumped the shark again, go to Nut guards.
To discuss the most important speech ever given in Australia, go to Who We Are.

A column about Australia by David Dale, published in The Sun-Herald 24/2/2008
Deep within that seemingly staid organisation called The Australian Bureau of Statistics there are wellsprings of wondrous eccentricity. How else can we explain the Bureau's decision to include, among the 778 useful but dry pages in its just published 2008 Year Book Australia, a chapter devoted to "the world's favourite vegetable" -- a hymn which includes this observation: "The average potato, with the skin, has ... more iron and vitamin C than half a cup of spinach and important B vitamins and natural fibre .... If Popeye the Sailorman had known this, he may well have swapped his can of spinach for a baked potato!"

When I remarked to a friend on the bureau's mysterious passion, he offered this explanation: "Ah, they're sucking up to the new Government. The Labor Party is run by Irish Catholics and the Bureau of Stats thinks it'll get more funding if it promotes the spud."

That's too cynical for me. And it doesn't fit with the timing -- the book clearly went to press before November, because it declares on page 115: "Mr KM Rudd MP (Australian Labor Party) has been Leader of the Opposition since 4 December 2006".

The Bureau has good reason to nominate the potato as Our National Veg - even if it originated in South America (allegedly brought to Britain by Sir Walter Raleigh around 1590 and first successfully planted on this continent in 1797).

Australia is a world leader in spud production. Although we limit ourselves to just 12 of the 5,000 varieties available, it's the veg we produce in greatest quantity (1.3 million tonnes a year, well ahead of the tomato on 449,000 tonnes, and the carrot on 272,000).

The bureau's anonymous essayist says: "Average world yield in 2005 was about 18 tonnes per hectare. Australia's national average yield (35.4 tonnes/ha) easily surpassed this rate and was on a par with that for Denmark and Ireland." Equal with Ireland! It doesn't get much cooler than that, potato fans.

But we're not pulling our weight on the consumption side. "In Europe, people eat an estimated 93 kg of potatoes a year," the chapter reports, while the average Australian swallows only 63 kg a year. "The probable causes for this decline in consumption are lifestyle changes, takeup of well marketed substitute products and dietary factors," the chapter laments.

To me, 64 kg a year for every child, woman and man seems quite a lot, but we need to eat faster if we're to match those frying fools in France.

Of course you are asking at this point: "If the potato is the national vegetable, what is the national fruit?" The answer is round and orange. We produce 496,000 tonnes of oranges a year (from 6.5 million trees), compared with 276,500 tonnes of apples (from 8.8 million trees), 177,000 tonnes of bananas and 175,000 tonnes of pineapples (the bureau doesn't count the number of banana plants and, as you know, pineapples don't grow on trees).

And just to complete the bureau's picture of our eating habits, I should unveil the national animal. We share this continent with 2.7 million pigs, 29 million cattle, 93 million sheep, and 94 million hens and roosters. (Of course, we should be eating kangaro, for both health and environmental reasons, but we don't.)

So the message is clear. For the true patriot, it's chicken and chips every night. Even if you're Popeye the Sailorman.

What should we celebrate as the national veg, fruit and animal?

To learn how DVD killed VHS, go to The Tribal Mind.
David Dale is the author of The Little Book of Australia -- A snapshot of who we are (Allen and Unwin). For daily updates on Australian attitudes, bookmark blogs.sunherald.com.au/whoweare.

• by David Dale in Who We Are at 06:59 PM
• Comments (13)

The Who We Are update: Week 11

This edition of the blog is now a heritage item - worth studying but no longer current. For the latest discussion of Australiian attitudes, bookmark http://blogs.sunherald.com.au/whoweare.
To learn why there are four sexes in Australia, go to The Tribal Mind.

What Australia watched, Saturday
Description Total Sydney Melbourne Brisbane Adelaide Perth
1 DOC MARTIN ABC 1,232,000 330,000 420,000 220,000 119,000 142,000
2 SEVEN NEWS - SAT Seven 1,166,000 286,000 345,000 259,000 108,000 168,000
3 ABC NEWS-SAT ABC 1,071,000 260,000 357,000 233,000 95,000 126,000
4 M-NATIONAL TREASURE (R) Seven 996,000 255,000 318,000 226,000 102,000 95,000
5 NINE NEWS SAT Nine 989,000 208,000 325,000 217,000 144,000 96,000
6 COLLECTORS (SHORTS) ABC 942,000 258,000 316,000 164,000 87,000 117,000
Continued here.

7 ABC NEWS UP-DATE ABC 896,000 246,000 291,000 146,000 88,000 125,000
8 AUSTRALIA'S FUNNIEST HOME VIDEO SHOW Nine 859,000 195,000 284,000 167,000 113,000 100,000
9 TEN NEWS AT FIVE SAT Ten 820,000 187,000 291,000 129,000 113,000 100,000
10 BILL ABC 806,000 216,000 257,000 140,000 80,000 114,000
11 THE INSPECTOR LYNLEY MYSTERIES Seven 723,000 180,000 239,000 129,000 89,000 86,000
12 GARDENING AUSTRALIA ABC 707,000 173,000 239,000 137,000 79,000 79,000
13 THE LONGEST YARD -RPT Nine 663,000 205,000 223,000 143,000 92,000
14 SPORTS TONIGHT SAT Ten 654,000 142,000 219,000 100,000 86,000 107,000
15 MATILDA RPT Ten 603,000 144,000 170,000 118,000 64,000 107,000
16 THE SIMPSONS SAT Ten 574,000 165,000 171,000 88,000 85,000 65,000
17 TERMINATOR 2: JUDGMENT DAY RPT Ten 567,000 117,000 176,000 94,000 71,000 109,000
18 ABC NEWS UP-DATE-LE ABC 507,000 141,000 150,000 95,000 58,000 62,000
19 SHREK 2 -RPT Nine 506,000 204,000 219,000 84,000
20 KEEPING UP APPEARANCES Seven 502,000 156,000 135,000 81,000 72,000 58,000
21 TOP GEAR (SERIES 1) SBS 454,000 112,000 149,000 107,000 56,000 30,000
22 THE GOOD LIFE Seven 450,000 139,000 117,000 67,000 75,000 52,000
23 AUSTRALIAN FIA FORMULA ONE WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP 2008 - DAY 2 Ten 387,000 82,000 152,000 54,000 74,000 25,000

The ratings race, updated 10am Sunday March 16
Nine won Thursday comfortably, and Friday narrowly, but the rugby league was not enough to push Nine past Seven, and with Seven winning Saturday, the audience shares for the week averaged at Seven 28.2 per cent, Nine 27.6, Ten 22.5, ABC 16.6 and SBS 5.1.

We are seeking your nominations for the Bogie Awards of 2008. Last year's winners are displayed below. If you'd care to suggest TV's most annoying, embarrassing, unnecessary and underrated personalities, programs and advertisements, go to "Comments".

What Australia watched, Friday
Description Total Sydney Melbourne Brisbane Adelaide Perth
1 SEVEN NEWS Seven 1,261,000 360,000 284,000 228,000 185,000 204,000
2 BETTER HOMES AND GARDENS Seven 1,256,000 383,000 324,000 232,000 150,000 167,000
3 TODAY TONIGHT Seven 1,171,000 327,000 304,000 224,000 139,000 177,000
4 NINE NEWS Nine 1,161,000 285,000 421,000 233,000 129,000 93,000
5 HOME AND AWAY Seven 1,057,000 299,000 247,000 232,000 127,000 152,000
6 DALZIEL AND PASCOE ABC 1,052,000 280,000 343,000 153,000 117,000 159,000
7 ABC NEWS ABC 1,027,000 274,000 329,000 217,000 112,000 96,000
8 A CURRENT AFFAIR Nine 943,000 245,000 303,000 210,000 116,000 69,000
11 NINE'S LIVE FRIDAY NIGHT FOOTBALL Nine 807,000 432,000 Not shown 375,000 Not shown Not shown
19 KING KONG Ten 669,000 171,000 246,000 89,000 83,000 81,000
22 MY FAMILY ABC 573,000 130,000 187,000 100,000 76,000 81,000
25 NINE'S FRIDAY NIGHT FOOTBALL Nine 458,000 291,000 Not shown 167,000 Not shown Not shown
31 MISS CONGENIALITY 2: ARMED AND FABULOUS -RPT Nine 359,000 206,000 Not shown 68,000 85,000
(OzTAM preliminary estimates, mainland capitals)

What Australia watched, Thursday
Description Total Sydney Melbourne Brisbane Adelaide Perth
1 RAMSAY'S KITCHEN NIGHTMARES Nine 1,527,000 438,000 523,000 219,000 180,000 168,000
2 SEVEN NEWS Seven 1,355,000 344,000 339,000 284,000 159,000 229,000
3 TODAY TONIGHT Seven 1,256,000 316,000 346,000 243,000 156,000 194,000
4 THE FOOTY SHOW Nine 1,235,000 332,000 462,000 175,000 138,000 128,000
5 HOME AND AWAY Seven 1,163,000 367,000 272,000 242,000 122,000 161,000
6 LAW AND ORDER: SVU Ten 1,142,000 365,000 263,000 231,000 127,000 155,000
7 ABC NEWS ABC 1,068,000 296,000 357,000 187,000 106,000 122,000
8 GETAWAY Nine 1,065,000 325,000 301,000 203,000 123,000 113,000
9 THE AMAZING RACE Seven 1,046,000 246,000 327,000 202,000 120,000 151,000
10 NINE NEWS Nine 1,045,000 282,000 314,000 196,000 147,000 105,000
11 THE BIGGEST LOSER (AUS) Ten 1,027,000 264,000 323,000 203,000 111,000 127,000
12 A CURRENT AFFAIR Nine 986,000 256,000 306,000 222,000 107,000 95,000
13 MEDIUM Ten 897,000 290,000 214,000 149,000 116,000 128,000
17 SAVING KIDS WITH DAMIEN LEITH Ten 797,000 242,000 235,000 142,000 93,000 84,000
20 FAMILY GUY Seven 711,000 185,000 218,000 154,000 82,000 72,000
21 LIFE ON MARS ABC 711,000 204,000 228,000 112,000 79,000 87,000
22 LOST Seven 691,000 200,000 210,000 111,000 84,000 85,000
25 OUT OF THE QUESTION Seven 671,000 211,000 198,000 132,000 56,000 75,000
32 AMERICAN DAD Seven 449,000 133,000 130,000 61,000 60,000 64,000
33 SOUL DEEP: THE STORY OF BLACK POPULAR MUSIC ABC 428,000 118,000 141,000 82,000 50,000 36,000
(OzTAM preliminary estimates, mainland capitals)

Australians don't like TV shows based on humiliation. Time and again they've proved that, and time and again the networks keep bowling it back up to them.

On Tuesday night, Channel Nine, having learned nothing from The Fear Factor, tried out a show called The Moment of Truth, in which contestants must answer embarrassing questions about themselves. Despite massive publicity, it attracted 844,000 viewers in the mainland capitals. It did best with people aged 16-39, so a few more weeks will pass before Nine hears Yasmin calling.

Nine won Sunday and Thursday and Seven won Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday.

What Australia watched, Wednesday
Description Total Sydney Melbourne Brisbane Adelaide Perth
1 SEVEN NEWS Seven 1,485,000 377,000 412,000 317,000 173,000 205,000
2 RSPCA ANIMAL RESCUE Seven 1,418,000 353,000 381,000 316,000 135,000 232,000
3 TODAY TONIGHT Seven 1,336,000 328,000 382,000 281,000 147,000 198,000
4 UNDERBELLY Nine 1,233,000 522,000 325,000 174,000 213,000
5 HOME AND AWAY Seven 1,224,000 319,000 298,000 262,000 153,000 193,000
6 THE REAL SEACHANGE Seven 1,173,000 317,000 276,000 255,000 107,000 217,000
7 ABC NEWS ABC 1,152,000 303,000 384,000 213,000 116,000 136,000
8 THE CHOPPING BLOCK Nine 1,062,000 301,000 332,000 192,000 133,000 104,000
9 HOUSE RPT Ten 1,060,000 330,000 307,000 188,000 119,000 115,000
10 A CURRENT AFFAIR Nine 1,058,000 262,000 326,000 249,000 129,000 92,000
11 NATIONAL NINE NEWS Nine 1,034,000 258,000 305,000 227,000 151,000 93,000
12 THE BIGGEST LOSER (AUS) Ten 1,020,000 249,000 331,000 223,000 109,000 108,000
13 LEWIS Seven 1,010,000 281,000 308,000 173,000 116,000 133,000
14 SPICKS AND SPECKS ABC 950,000 238,000 316,000 175,000 107,000 114,000
15 BACK TO YOU Ten 944,000 263,000 312,000 179,000 91,000 99,000
16 NUMB3RS Ten 930,000 237,000 284,000 170,000 135,000 104,000
17 THE NEW INVENTORS ABC 883,000 259,000 259,000 184,000 92,000 90,000
18 CASHMERE MAFIA Nine 851,000 271,000 272,000 126,000 72,000 110,000
26 STUPID STUPID MAN-EV ABC 572,000 120,000 211,000 104,000 73,000 63,000
65 NEWSTOPIA SBS 201,000 63,000 53,000 43,000 20,000 22,000

What Australia watched, Tuesday
Description Total Sydney Melbourne Brisbane Adelaide Perth
1 SEVEN NEWS Seven 1,405,000 383,000 360,000 299,000 167,000 195,000
2 TODAY TONIGHT Seven 1,327,000 352,000 364,000 277,000 160,000 173,000
3 BONDI RESCUE Ten 1,315,000 326,000 431,000 262,000 136,000 161,000
4 IT TAKES TWO Seven 1,284,000 374,000 367,000 246,000 131,000 165,000
5 HOME AND AWAY Seven 1,253,000 357,000 311,000 271,000 148,000 166,000
6 ALL SAINTS Seven 1,174,000 334,000 380,000 175,000 131,000 153,000
7 KITCHEN NIGHTMARES U.S.A. Nine 1,163,000 323,000 411,000 192,000 117,000 120,000
8 NINE NEWS Nine 1,160,000 289,000 376,000 261,000 152,000 81,000
9 A CURRENT AFFAIR Nine 1,143,000 283,000 366,000 279,000 139,000 75,000
10 THE BIGGEST LOSER (AUS) Ten 1,109,000 255,000 365,000 220,000 125,000 144,000
11 ABC NEWS ABC 1,079,000 285,000 342,000 230,000 103,000 119,000
12 WOMEN'S MURDER CLUB Ten 1,032,000 237,000 294,000 241,000 126,000 134,000
16 THE MOMENT OF TRUTH Nine 844,000 233,000 266,000 171,000 81,000 93,000
19 STUFF ABC 741,000 208,000 232,000 131,000 84,000 86,000
23 TERMINATOR: THE SARAH CONNOR CHRONICLES Nine 661,000 167,000 234,000 107,000 83,000 70,000
(OzTAM preliminary estimates, mainland capitals)

What Australia watched, Monday
Description Total Sydney Melbourne Brisbane Adelaide Perth
1 BORDER SECURITY (R) Seven 1,606,000 454,000 454,000 339,000 163,000 196,000
2 CSI Nine 1,540,000 380,000 466,000 318,000 178,000 198,000
3 THE FORCE Seven 1,534,000 415,000 423,000 302,000 172,000 222,000
4 SEVEN NEWS Seven 1,509,000 363,000 420,000 353,000 161,000 211,000
5 TODAY TONIGHT Seven 1,475,000 394,000 385,000 312,000 165,000 220,000
6 HOME AND AWAY Seven 1,415,000 389,000 336,000 340,000 153,000 198,000
7 NINE NEWS Nine 1,345,000 345,000 475,000 281,000 146,000 99,000
8 SO YOU THINK YOU CAN DANCE AUSTRALIA - RESULTS Ten 1,335,000 358,000 428,000 266,000 143,000 141,000
9 A CURRENT AFFAIR Nine 1,264,000 329,000 438,000 272,000 118,000 107,000
10 DESPERATE HOUSEWIVES Seven 1,246,000 357,000 402,000 185,000 121,000 181,000
11 CSI: NY Nine 1,235,000 303,000 372,000 237,000 176,000 146,000
12 ABC NEWS ABC 1,163,000 326,000 369,000 241,000 101,000 126,000
13 THE BIGGEST LOSER (AUS) - ELIMINATION Ten 1,086,000 267,000 407,000 177,000 117,000 118,000
14 A YEAR WITH THE ROYAL FAMILY Nine 1,069,000 299,000 330,000 229,000 96,000 116,000
18 DIRTY SEXY MONEY Seven 874,000 236,000 314,000 131,000 81,000 111,000
22 SUPERNATURAL Ten 770,000 188,000 244,000 155,000 91,000 92,000
23 AUSTRALIAN STORY ABC 761,000 269,000 194,000 145,000 65,000 89,000
31 MYTHBUSTERS SBS 511,000 109,000 159,000 125,000 63,000 55,000

What Australia watched, Sunday
Description Total Sydney Melbourne Brisbane Adelaide Perth
1 SYTYCDA Ten 1,483,000 455,000 396,000 331,000 134,000 167,000
2 SEVEN NEWS - SUN Seven 1,375,000 359,000 324,000 343,000 154,000 195,000
3 60 MINUTES Nine 1,244,000 314,000 364,000 261,000 133,000 171,000
4 GREY'S ANATOMY Seven 1,155,000 386,000 288,000 212,000 105,000 163,000
5 THE BIGGEST LOSER (AUS) - WEIGH-IN Ten 1,139,000 299,000 324,000 264,000 121,000 133,000
6 THE WEDDING CRASHERS Nine 1,109,000 285,000 325,000 196,000 113,000 190,000 7 THE ZOO Seven 1,104,000 345,000 199,000 286,000 116,000 158,000
8 NINE NEWS SUNDAY Nine 1,085,000 270,000 346,000 245,000 147,000 78,000
9 BROTHERS & SISTERS Seven 1,006,000 354,000 298,000 159,000 88,000 106,000
11 BUSH DOCTORS Seven 929,000 267,000 173,000 240,000 99,000 149,000
12 KATH & KIM Seven 926,000 245,000 235,000 212,000 81,000 153,000
13 SAMANTHA WHO? Seven 879,000 263,000 198,000 207,000 78,000 134,000
14 THIS IS YOUR LIFE Nine 877,000 213,000 265,000 193,000 106,000 101,000
16 ROBIN HOOD ABC 724,000 220,000 213,000 131,000 76,000 85,000
18 THE EINSTEIN FACTOR ABC 605,000 156,000 202,000 119,000 80,000 48,000
19 JEKYLL ABC 575,000 165,000 173,000 94,000 63,000 80,000
31 WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE? SBS 368,000 122,000 103,000 73,000 34,000 36,000
(OzTAM preliminary estimates, mainland capitals)

Channel Nine was thanking its god for the Indians last week. Their two cricket finals against the Australians each drew 1.7 million viewers in the mainland capitals, which meant Nine ended the week with 29.1 per cent of the prime time audience, well ahead of Seven's 27.3 per cent and Ten's 22.4. It's unlikely Nine will see another week like that this year, unless it can persuade the Indians to return.

What Australia watched, week ending March 8
RNK Description STN Network Sydney Melbourne Brisbane Adelaide Perth
1 ONE DAY CRICKET - AUS V INDIA - 2ND FINAL SESSION 2 Network 9 1,643,000 484,000 553,000 308,000 167,000 132,000
2 BORDER SECURITY (R) Network 7 1,636,000 427,000 476,000 338,000 178,000 217,000
3 ONE DAY CRICKET - AUSTRALIA V INDIA - 1ST FINAL SESSION 2 Network 9 1,635,000 425,000 575,000 315,000 179,000 141,000
4 SO YOU THINK YOU CAN DANCE AUSTRALIA Network TEN 1,543,000 474,000 514,000 250,000 151,000 154,000
5 RSPCA ANIMAL RESCUE Network 7 1,528,000 373,000 480,000 318,000 146,000 211,000
6 THE FORCE Network 7 1,524,000 373,000 430,000 328,000 159,000 233,000
7 NINE NEWS SUNDAY Network 9 1,495,000 435,000 529,000 240,000 175,000 117,000
8 SEVEN NEWS - SUN Network 7 1,466,000 401,000 388,000 383,000 139,000 154,000
9 RPA Network 9 1,444,000 439,000 432,000 246,000 151,000 177,000
10 SO YOU THINK YOU CAN DANCE AUSTRALIA - RESULTS Network TEN 1,397,000 395,000 476,000 215,000 155,000 156,000
11 SEVEN NEWS Network 7 1,377,000 372,000 360,000 291,000 149,000 205,000
12 CSI Network 9 1,366,000 343,000 426,000 256,000 161,000 179,000
13 DESPERATE HOUSEWIVES Network 7 1,302,000 375,000 432,000 198,000 125,000 172,000
14 TODAY TONIGHT Network 7 1,292,000 349,000 345,000 258,000 144,000 197,000
15 ONE DAY CRICKET - AUS V INDIA - 1ST FINAL SESSION 1 Network 9 1,271,000 381,000 413,000 239,000 127,000 112,000
16 THE ZOO Network 7 1,257,000 399,000 296,000 279,000 141,000 142,000
17 BETTER HOMES AND GARDENS Network 7 1,249,000 410,000 307,000 254,000 133,000 144,000
18 GREY'S ANATOMY Network 7 1,248,000 376,000 371,000 226,000 127,000 149,000
19 BONDI RESCUE Network TEN 1,232,000 349,000 393,000 200,000 135,000 155,000
20 DOC MARTIN: ON THE EDGE Network ABC 1,231,000 372,000 351,000 239,000 117,000 152,000
21 UNDERBELLY Network 9 1,226,000 562,000 Not shown 313,000 146,000 206,000
22 NINE NEWS Network 9 1,220,000 318,000 417,000 243,000 144,000 98,000
23 HOME AND AWAY Network 7 1,207,000 354,000 284,000 255,000 137,000 177,000
24 THE REAL SEACHANGE Network 7 1,189,000 288,000 377,000 228,000 111,000 184,000
25 HOUSE Network TEN 1,127,000 313,000 338,000 206,000 122,000 149,000
26 LAW AND ORDER: SVU Network TEN 1,126,000 326,000 300,000 211,000 123,000 166,000
27 IT TAKES TWO Network 7 1,118,000 331,000 316,000 191,000 116,000 164,000
28 BUSH DOCTORS Network 7 1,108,000 323,000 259,000 268,000 124,000 134,000
29 THE BIGGEST LOSER (AUS) - ELIMINATION Network TEN 1,100,000 287,000 370,000 193,000 132,000 118,000
30 CSI: NY Network 9 1,083,000 248,000 328,000 201,000 138,000 167,000
31 GOOD NEWS WEEK Network TEN 1,076,000 318,000 339,000 177,000 134,000 107,000
32 A CURRENT AFFAIR Network 9 1,076,000 292,000 355,000 230,000 118,000 81,000
33 ABC NEWS-SAT Network ABC 1,067,000 300,000 346,000 194,000 96,000 131,000
34 DALZIEL AND PASCOE Network ABC 1,062,000 291,000 322,000 161,000 126,000 163,000
35 THE BIGGEST LOSER (AUS) Network TEN 1,057,000 292,000 347,000 163,000 117,000 139,000
36 THE BIGGEST LOSER (AUS) - THE WEIGH-IN Network TEN 1,054,000 282,000 355,000 192,000 136,000 89,000
37 THE AMAZING RACE Network 7 1,053,000 274,000 340,000 187,000 127,000 125,000
38 GETAWAY Network 9 1,052,000 289,000 317,000 219,000 92,000 135,000
39 SEVEN NEWS - SAT Network 7 1,030,000 281,000 242,000 218,000 125,000 164,000
40 SAMANTHA WHO? Network 7 1,028,000 268,000 289,000 207,000 124,000 140,000
41 NINE NEWS SATURDAY Network 9 1,027,000 295,000 319,000 191,000 139,000 82,000
42 ABC NEWS Network ABC 1,025,000 288,000 315,000 206,000 99,000 117,000
43 BROTHERS & SISTERS Network 7 1,023,000 323,000 338,000 131,000 116,000 115,000
44 ALL SAINTS Network 7 1,021,000 304,000 296,000 174,000 111,000 136,000
45 SPICKS AND SPECKS Network ABC 1,018,000 284,000 371,000 158,000 106,000 99,000
46 THE VICAR OF DIBLEY Network 7 1,014,000 237,000 287,000 212,000 101,000 177,000
47 THE CHOPPING BLOCK Network 9 999,000 291,000 330,000 166,000 107,000 105,000
48 KATH & KIM (R) Network 7 981,000 248,000 286,000 206,000 116,000 126,000
49 WOMEN'S MURDER CLUB Network TEN 976,000 236,000 300,000 190,000 127,000 123,000
50 A YEAR WITH THE ROYAL FAMILY Network 9 974,000 285,000 293,000 183,000 96,000 116,000
51 BACK TO YOU Network TEN 961,000 268,000 274,000 201,000 103,000 114,000
52 DIRTY SEXY MONEY Network 7 959,000 276,000 363,000 108,000 90,000 121,000
53 COLLECTORS (SHORTS) Network ABC 957,000 268,000 289,000 177,000 94,000 130,000
54 LEWIS Network 7 957,000 241,000 274,000 166,000 124,000 151,000
55 MEDIUM Network TEN 936,000 280,000 250,000 177,000 103,000 127,000
(OzTAM)
David Dale is the author of Who We Are -- A snapshot of Australia today (Allen and Unwin). To discuss Australian attitudes, go to http://blogs.sunherald.com.au/whoweare.

• by David Dale at 05:55 AM
• Comments (100)

The Tribal Mind: How not to sell a magazine

For daily updates on Australian attitudes, bookmark http://blogs.sunherald.com.au/whoweare.
To learn why State governments should be abolished, go to The next big thing.

by David Dale
When The Bulletin died last month (read about it here), commentators lamented that there is no longer an audience for serious political analysis in Australia. They suggested the venerable news mag might have survived if it had devoted its covers to Angelina Jolie, Nicole Kidman, Paris Hilton and Britney Spears, because readers these days are only interested in shallow titillation. But the latest sales figures suggest this conventional wisdom is wrong. Celebrity wouldn't have saved The Bulletin. Australia is losing its taste for gossip.

The stats released on Friday by the Audit Bureau of Circulations show that over the past 12 months, the biggest losers were the scandal weeklies. Famous is down 6 per cent; NW is down 10 per cent; Who Weekly is down 9 per cent and Woman's Day is down 8 per cent. The monthlies which combine celeb-worship with relationship advice are also in free fall: New Woman down 26 per cent, Dolly and Cosmopolitan down 14 per cent; and Cleo down 11 per cent.

So if readers don't want news and don't want gossip and don't want orgasms, what do they want? You may draw some conclusions from the mags that scored the biggest boosts in the past 12 months: Australian Property Investor up 39 per cent; OK! up 25 per cent; DMag up 24; Recipes+ up 18; Donna Hay up 14; Zoo Weekly up 10; Men's Health up 10 (while Woman's Health was launched with sales of 75,000 a month). Apparently we like money, glamour, games, cooking, large breasts and fitness.

But lets not leap on the rise of Zoo Weekly (whose pinup girl is the surgically augmented Big Brother Contestant Krystal Forscutt) as evidence of a trend towards macho voyeurism. In the year that Zoo gained 12,000 buyers (to reach 122,000), FHM dropped 24 per cent, Ralph dropped 9 per cent and People dropped 6 per cent.
The Audit Bureau reports that the category it calls "Men's Interest" lost 49,000 buyers over the year, while "Mass Weeklies" lost 70,000 and "Business Magazines" lost 54,000.

The categories that did best were Health (61,000 new buyers) Motoring/bikes (42,000 new buyers), and Food/entertaining (41,000 new buyers).

So if you're thinking of entering the magazine business, you probably should call it something like Gourmet Revhead or Top Grub or Fit 'n' Foodie. The cover should show a muscular woman leaning against a bike and eating a rocket and parmesan salad. Just make sure she looks nothing like Britney Spears.

If you've got a better idea for a hit mag, tell us below ...

Australia's top selling magazines: 1 Women's Weekly 570,000 a month (down 6 per cent in 12 months)
2 Woman's Day 466,000 a week (down 8 per cent)
3 New Idea 388,000 a week (down 2)
4 Readers Digest 352,000 a month (down 2)
5 Better Homes and Gardens 350,000 a month (up 5)
6 That's Life 321,000 a week (down 1)
7 Super Food Ideas 301,000 a month (down 6)
8 Take 5 251,000 a week (down 2)
9 TV Week 240,000 a week (down 12)
10 Cosmopolitan 175,000 a month (down 14).

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 01:44 AM
• Comments (25)

WHO WE ARE: The next big thing is a Statectomy

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

A column about Australia, by David Dale, published in The Sun-Herald 17/2/2008
A smart shrink once wrote that to be happy, a human being needs three things: something to do, someone to love and something to look forward to. This column can't help with the first two, but I've been pondering lately the question of the next big social transformation this country needs, once we've sorted out the republic. The answer is: abolish the States.

Fixing the republic is almost too easy. We need only change the title of our head of state from governor-general to administrator. We've become constipated by the word "president", which sounds scary because it seems to set up an alternative power base to the prime minister. An administrator, chosen by the government (as now) but no longer in need of rubber stamping from a monarch in another country, would merely open official functions and be available to act as referee if there's an insoluble dispute.

When that's done, we can move to a less symbolic but more important advance -- simplifying the political structure. There's no better time to start because we have unprecedented cooperation between Canberra and the States, and unprecedented public support for the central government (a Morgan poll taken just before last week's apology shows that if an election were held now, Labor would get 62 per cent of the two party preferred vote -- a swing to it of nine points since its victory in November). Do the State leaders have the courage to put themselves out of a job?

Australia must be the most over-governed nation on the planet. We elect 226 politicians to Canberra (76 senators, 150 members of the House of Representatives). We elect 585 politicians to upper and lower houses in our state and territory parliaments.

And we elect 6300 alderfolk to 677 local councils. That's a total of 7,120 elected officials, or one politician for every 3,000 people. Along with them come thousands of public servants, all busily contradicting, confusing and duplicating the work of their counterparts in the other tiers of government.

As Australia's most interesting prime minister, Gough Whitlam, observed: "There are few functions which the State parliaments now perform which would not be better performed by the Australian parliament or by regional councils. The States are too large to deal with local matters and too small and weak to deal with national issues." At the other end of the spectrum, John Howard saw no value in "state parochialism" and remarked that if Australia's system of government had been established at the start of the 21st century, it is unlikely a federal structure would have been the outcome.

Like our monarchy, the States are a hangover from an age when this continent contained colonies with boundaries drawn up by English bureaucrats who didn't understand the geography. Lets eliminate them, and at the same time amalgamate the 677 councils into 100 regional governments, each representing about 200,000 citizens.

The central government would deal with defence, law enforcement, health, education, and environmental and economic management. The regional bodies, with 20 elected officials each, would be responsible for garbage collection, road maintenance, building regulations, licensing of pubs and casinos, fire protection and community activities.

You can already envisage one useful side-effect of abolishing the States and amalgamating the councils -- the liberation of a great deal of magnificent real estate (houses of parliament, ministerial offices, treasury buildings, town halls).

But lets not be greedy. Instead of selling them off, we should preserve them (as theatres, hospitals, museums, prisons, libraries and colleges). Then our grandchildren will see that the visionaries of 2010 knew how to respect the past as well as when to move into the future. That's something to look forward to.

What do you think? Should we abolish the states and when?

To learn what magazines Australians like best, go to The Tribal Mind
David Dale is the author of Who We Are -- A snapshot of Australia today (Allen and Unwin). To join a daily discussion of Australian attitudes, go to http://blogs.sunherald.com.au/whoweare.

• by David Dale in Who We Are at 04:18 PM
• Comments (63)

The Who We Are update: Week 9 of the ratings race

This week of the blog is now a heritage item -- worth studying but no longer current. For the latest discussion, go to http://blogs.sunherald.com.au/whoweare.

Saturday night is another country ... They do things differently there. Like watch on Channel Seven repeats of The Vicar of Dibley that were shown previously on the ABC. And watch on the ABC repeats of Doc Martin that were shown previously on the ABC. And watch on Channel Seven The Inspector Lynley Mysteries that should have been shown on the ABC.

What Australia watched, Saturday March 2
Description Total Sydney Melbourne Brisbane Adelaide Perth
1 DOC MARTIN RPT ABC 1,239,000 336,000 413,000 244,000 124,000 121,000
2 THE VICAR OF DIBLEY Seven 1,235,000 327,000 358,000 244,000 120,000 187,000
3 SEVEN NEWS - SAT Seven 1,139,000 322,000 266,000 253,000 111,000 187,000
4 ABC NEWS-SAT ABC 1,097,000 292,000 399,000 198,000 99,000 110,000
5 NINE NEWS SAT Nine 1,009,000 264,000 346,000 205,000 137,000 57,000
6 COLLECTORS (SHORTS) ABC 926,000 260,000 303,000 163,000 101,000 100,000
7 AUSTRALIA'S FUNNIEST HOME VIDEO SHOW Nine 913,000 205,000 301,000 181,000 134,000 93,000
8 M-ICE PRINCESS Seven 901,000 239,000 243,000 177,000 91,000 152,000
9 THE INSPECTOR LYNLEY MYSTERIES Seven 799,000 222,000 223,000 155,000 81,000 119,000

10 ABC NEWS UP-DATE ABC 797,000 227,000 259,000 140,000 81,000 90,000
11 SPIDERMAN -RPT Nine 756,000 183,000 228,000 157,000 96,000 93,000
12 THE BILL ABC 747,000 215,000 231,000 145,000 70,000 85,000
15 TOP GEAR (SERIES 1) SBS 574,000 169,000 183,000 104,000 81,000 37,000
21 2008 NAB CUP - SF ADELAIDE V HAWTHORN Ten 374,000 24,000 171,000 10,000 131,000 39,000
22 TALK TO THE ANIMALS Nine 350,000 73,000 117,000 70,000 33,000 57,000
23 FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS Ten 343,000 67,000 138,000 63,000 37,000 38,000

The ratings race, updated 4pm Saturday March 1
After Friday's night's cricket-led recovery for Nine, Seven is averaging 28.0 per cent of the prime time audience, Nine is averaging 28.2 per cent, Ten is on 22.1, ABC is on 15.8 and SBS is on 5.9. The week will be determined by whether the kind of Australians who stay home on Saturday night prefer Spider-Man or The Vicar of Dibley.

What Australia watched, Friday
Description Total Sydney Melbourne Brisbane Adelaide Perth
1 TODAY TONIGHT Seven 1,313,000 398,000 335,000 259,000 114,000 207,000
2 SEVEN NEWS Seven 1,309,000 386,000 318,000 285,000 131,000 189,000
3 ONE DAY CRICKET - AUS V SRI LANKA - GAME 12 SESSION 2 Nine 1,248,000 332,000 439,000 220,000 141,000 117,000
4 BETTER HOMES AND GARDENS Seven 1,198,000 343,000 352,000 233,000 140,000 129,000
5 NINE NEWS Nine 1,141,000 275,000 373,000 230,000 150,000 112,000
6 DALZIEL AND PASCOE ABC 1,101,000 335,000 326,000 181,000 130,000 130,000
7 HOME AND AWAY Seven 1,090,000 333,000 244,000 246,000 112,000 155,000
8 ABC NEWS ABC 880,000 262,000 256,000 172,000 81,000 110,000
9 KID NATION Ten 799,000 222,000 257,000 144,000 73,000 103,000
10 THE BIGGEST LOSER (AUS) Ten 797,000 223,000 249,000 142,000 81,000 101,000
15 ABOUT A BOY RPT Ten 669,000 179,000 189,000 100,000 75,000 125,000
16 NEIGHBOURS Ten 643,000 168,000 166,000 102,000 103,000 103,000
17 STATELINE ABC 623,000 197,000 144,000 127,000 72,000 84,000
18 ONE DAY CRICKET - AUSTRALIA V SRI LANKA - GAME 12 SESSION 1 Nine 582,000 154,000 203,000 107,000 62,000 55,000
21 FRIENDS Ten 528,000 148,000 145,000 74,000 77,000 84,000
23 MY BIG BREASTS AND ME SBS 441,000 143,000 122,000 63,000 66,000 46,000
24 2008 NAB CUP: ESSENDON V ST KILDA Seven 440,000 25,000 273,000 13,000 67,000 62,000

That reminds us to launch this year's Bogie nominations. Tell us, below, the most annoying programs and people on television over the past 12 months in all categories you care to suggest (a candidate for Most Underrated, Shaun Micallef's Newstopia, resumes at 10pm tonight on SBS). Please try to offer different nominations from last year's winners - there's only so much Eddie and Gretel can take.

The ratings race, updated 10 am Friday
The only comfort for Lost fans, as they lie awake in fear of Channel Seven cancelling their show because it falls so far behind Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares USA, is that the two shows preceding it -- Out of The Question and Family Guy -- get even smaller audiences. So Seven may choose to fix the 8.30 Thursday slot before tackling the 9.30 slot.

What Australia watched, Thursday
Description Total Sydney Melbourne Brisbane Adelaide Perth
1 RPA Nine 1,459,000 416,000 445,000 250,000 179,000 170,000
2 SEVEN NEWS Seven 1,372,000 393,000 376,000 266,000 126,000 211,000
3 TODAY TONIGHT Seven 1,258,000 364,000 331,000 252,000 124,000 187,000
4 HOME AND AWAY Seven 1,202,000 397,000 329,000 235,000 110,000 131,000
5 LAW AND ORDER: SVU Ten 1,201,000 353,000 348,000 243,000 124,000 133,000
6 NINE NEWS Nine 1,161,000 333,000 363,000 265,000 113,000 87,000
7 THE BIGGEST LOSER (AUS) Ten 1,133,000 327,000 364,000 201,000 111,000 130,000
8 GETAWAY Nine 1,114,000 354,000 318,000 245,000 96,000 101,000
9 A CURRENT AFFAIR Nine 1,105,000 362,000 329,000 227,000 107,000 80,000
10 ABC NEWS ABC 1,042,000 324,000 295,000 194,000 117,000 112,000
11 THE AMAZING RACE Seven 1,031,000 293,000 330,000 180,000 101,000 127,000
12 MEDIUM Ten 937,000 277,000 241,000 178,000 112,000 128,000
13 KITCHEN NIGHTMARES U.S.A. Nine 923,000 376,000 200,000 163,000 184,000
17 7.30 REPORT ABC 793,000 273,000 200,000 145,000 94,000 81,000
18 LIFE ON MARS ABC 784,000 243,000 245,000 128,000 66,000 102,000
19 LOST Seven 780,000 209,000 268,000 129,000 81,000 93,000
20 SAVING KIDS WITH DAMIEN LEITH Ten 762,000 216,000 218,000 135,000 98,000 95,000
23 FAMILY GUY Seven 723,000 165,000 235,000 136,000 79,000 107,000
24 OUT OF THE QUESTION Seven 710,000 208,000 218,000 110,000 66,000 107,000
(OzTAM preliminary estimates, mainland capitals)

What Australia watched, Wednesday
Description Total Sydney Melbourne Brisbane Adelaide Perth
1 RSPCA ANIMAL RESCUE Seven 1,605,000 452,000 497,000 291,000 131,000 233,000
2 SEVEN NEWS Seven 1,440,000 407,000 393,000 277,000 168,000 196,000
3 TODAY TONIGHT Seven 1,350,000 383,000 390,000 244,000 147,000 186,000
4 THE REAL SEACHANGE Seven 1,296,000 322,000 429,000 228,000 121,000 195,000
5 HOME AND AWAY Seven 1,276,000 410,000 313,000 255,000 130,000 168,000
6 HOUSE Ten 1,262,000 317,000 463,000 188,000 140,000 154,000
7 UNDERBELLY Nine 1,250,000 604,000 not shown 306,000 167,000 174,000
8 NINE NEWS Nine 1,148,000 311,000 341,000 226,000 155,000 114,000
9 ABC NEWS ABC 1,120,000 304,000 341,000 252,000 105,000 118,000
10 A CURRENT AFFAIR Nine 1,066,000 300,000 319,000 220,000 135,000 90,000
11 BACK TO YOU Ten 1,047,000 294,000 348,000 189,000 109,000 107,000
12 SPICKS AND SPECKS ABC 998,000 245,000 362,000 171,000 113,000 106,000
13 LEWIS Seven 956,000 258,000 286,000 154,000 113,000 146,000
14 THE BIGGEST LOSER (AUS) Ten 949,000 225,000 356,000 149,000 102,000 117,000
15 THE CHOPPING BLOCK Nine 943,000 293,000 274,000 156,000 131,000 89,000
16 CASHMERE MAFIA Nine 930,000 296,000 295,000 118,000 117,000 105,000
18 NUMB3RS Ten 848,000 205,000 269,000 147,000 113,000 113,000
22 RULES OF ENGAGEMENT Ten 802,000 220,000 269,000 140,000 84,000 89,000
27 STUPID STUPID MAN ABC 615,000 152,000 211,000 111,000 75,000 67,000
33 THAT MITCHELL AND WEBB LOOK ABC 435,000 121,000 123,000 76,000 60,000 56,000
64 NEWSTOPIA SBS 212,000 78,000 74,000 29,000 18,000 13,000

The ratings race, updated 1pm Tuesday
Australians had little interest in the Academy Awards once Our Cate failed to win. Monday's three and a half hour show averaged 934,000, while Desperate Housewives rose on last week to 1.34m. Maybe viewers were put off by the opening red carpet scenes, with Richard Wilkins asking lame questions and promoting product. Next year, Nine might consider going straight to the ceremony and save the money on Dickie's fare to LA. We'd all be in bed earlier, at least.

What Australia watched, Tuesday
Description Total Sydney Melbourne Brisbane Adelaide Perth
1 SEVEN NEWS Seven 1,446,000 390,000 378,000 289,000 163,000 226,000
2 IT TAKES TWO Seven 1,340,000 404,000 430,000 201,000 132,000 174,000
3 TODAY TONIGHT Seven 1,308,000 351,000 352,000 247,000 165,000 193,000
4 HOME AND AWAY Seven 1,254,000 377,000 321,000 244,000 142,000 169,000
5 ALL SAINTS Seven 1,215,000 406,000 356,000 165,000 122,000 166,000
6 ABC NEWS ABC 1,158,000 354,000 382,000 200,000 101,000 121,000
7 A CURRENT AFFAIR Nine 1,119,000 294,000 351,000 280,000 107,000 88,000
8 NINE NEWS Nine 1,109,000 267,000 353,000 259,000 142,000 87,000
9 THE BIGGEST LOSER (AUS) Ten 1,040,000 266,000 359,000 200,000 121,000 94,000
10 BONDI RESCUE Ten 1,020,000 314,000 329,000 178,000 97,000 103,000
11 20 TO 1 Nine 947,000 239,000 304,000 211,000 108,000 86,000
12 WOMEN'S MURDER CLUB Ten 899,000 221,000 283,000 175,000 117,000 102,000
14 TERMINATOR: THE SARAH CONNOR CHRONICLES Nine 848,000 231,000 272,000 177,000 90,000 78,000
18 BRAT CAMP ABC 777,000 211,000 260,000 122,000 82,000 103,000
19 BURN NOTICE Ten 750,000 177,000 229,000 150,000 102,000 93,000
20 CHOPPER RESCUE ABC 716,000 207,000 227,000 111,000 88,000 84,000
21 NEIGHBOURS Ten 683,000 165,000 248,000 110,000 90,000 70,000
22 LIFE BEGINS Seven 637,000 206,000 194,000 78,000 78,000 80,000
25 CSI: MIAMI Nine 537,000 199,000 145,000 90,000 103,000
28 THE ALLAN BORDER MEDAL Nine 439,000 125,000 155,000 57,000 54,000 48,000
33 ONE DAY CRICKET - INDIA V SRI LANKA - GAME 11 SESSION 2 Nine 393,000 117,000 142,000 62,000 40,000 32,000

What Australia watched, Monday
Description Total Sydney Melbourne Brisbane Adelaide Perth
1 SEVEN NEWS Seven 1,603,000 423,000 459,000 345,000 168,000 208,000
2 THE FORCE Seven 1,541,000 383,000 449,000 289,000 177,000 242,000
3 BORDER SECURITY Seven 1,540,000 396,000 425,000 306,000 177,000 237,000
4 TODAY TONIGHT Seven 1,476,000 367,000 395,000 332,000 160,000 222,000
5 SYTCDA - RESULTS Ten 1,457,000 431,000 502,000 245,000 140,000 139,000
6 HOME AND AWAY Seven 1,392,000 371,000 370,000 304,000 148,000 198,000
7 DESPERATE HOUSEWIVES Seven 1,340,000 383,000 439,000 211,000 149,000 158,000
8 A CURRENT AFFAIR Nine 1,227,000 307,000 399,000 261,000 139,000 120,000
9 ABC NEWS ABC 1,174,000 333,000 367,000 219,000 125,000 129,000
10 NINE NEWS Nine 1,115,000 301,000 337,000 264,000 149,000 64,000
11 THE BIGGEST LOSER (AUS) - ELIMINATION Ten 1,059,000 271,000 392,000 164,000 116,000 116,000
12 GOOD NEWS WEEK Ten 1,038,000 304,000 277,000 177,000 143,000 138,000
13 A YEAR WITH THE ROYAL FAMILY Nine 968,000 299,000 270,000 210,000 94,000 94,000
14 80TH ANNUAL ACADEMY AWARDS Nine 934,000 336,000 292,000 147,000 76,000 83,000
17 DIRTY SEXY MONEY Seven 843,000 225,000 317,000 114,000 97,000 90,000
21 AUSTRALIAN STORY ABC 760,000 242,000 228,000 142,000 92,000 57,000
22 FOUR CORNERS ABC 745,000 186,000 242,000 140,000 83,000 94,000
23 SUPERNATURAL Ten 698,000 164,000 214,000 130,000 89,000 102,000
24 MEDIA WATCH ABC 667,000 169,000 216,000 127,000 69,000 86,000
25 FRIENDS Ten 667,000 164,000 205,000 117,000 83,000 97,000
26 THE MAFIA ABC 626,000 149,000 220,000 99,000 80,000 77,000
28 MYTHBUSTERS SBS 520,000 128,000 179,000 95,000 64,000 54,000
32 SUNRISE Seven 422,000 127,000 83,000 121,000 40,000 51,000
33 BOSTON LEGAL (R) Seven 421,000 97,000 167,000 60,000 59,000 38,000
(OZTAM preliminary estimates, mainland capitals)

The box office
Last weekend, Australia's favourite flick was Jumpers, which dropped 49 per cent from its first weekend but has so far earned $6.07 million. Next came the Nicholson/Freeman geriatrathon Bucket List, which made $1.6m, and the Stallone geriatrathon Rambo, which made $1.2m.

Of the Oscar contenders, Juno has totalled $9.8m in 6 weeks, There will be Blood $1.3m in 3 weeks, Sweeney Todd $4.9m in 5 weeks, The Diving Bell and the Butterfly $419,000 in two weeks, No Country for old Men $4.9m in 9 weeks and Atonement $10.3m in 9 weeks.

The new Nicole Kidman film Margot At The Wedding made just $57,308 on 23 screens.

The ratings race, updated 10 am Monday Feb 25
Australians haven't exactly greeted the official ratings season with open arms, causing us to wonder if they've found better things to do than watch TV. Apart from Underbelly and So You Think You Can Dance, the only programs that could be described as "hits'' (as in, attracting more than 1.3 million in the mainland capitals) are fly-on-the-wall family fare such as RSPCA Animal Rescue, The Force, Border Security, RPA and Bondi Rescue. Pure dagsville.

The ABC averaged a healthy 16.8 per cent of the prime time audience, thanks to the 1.2 million who hoped to see John Howard savaged by his former colleagues on Four Corners. SBS managed 6 per cent, thanks to a double dose of Top Gear (815,000 on Monday and 570,000 on Saturday). But Seven emerged the winner, with 28 per cent to Nine's 26.8 and Ten's 22.3.

Now that Nine has done the first axing of the year -- Monster House -- Seven's executioner may be coming for Glenn Robbins on Thursday's Out of the Question. Nine won Sunday, thanks to the cricket. For everything else, audience sizes were down again.
What Australia watched, Sunday
Description Total Sydney Melbourne Brisbane Adelaide Perth
1 SO YOU THINK YOU CAN DANCE AUSTRALIA Ten 1,508,000 435,000 490,000 279,000 158,000 147,000
2 SEVEN NEWS - SUN Seven 1,496,000 364,000 368,000 345,000 162,000 257,000
3 NINE NEWS SUN Nine 1,463,000 500,000 466,000 254,000 138,000 106,000
4 ONE DAY SERIES - AUS V INDIA Nine 1,302,000 392,000 390,000 256,000 125,000 139,000
5 THE ZOO Seven 1,297,000 362,000 310,000 273,000 131,000 220,000
6 BUSH DOCTORS Seven 1,165,000 273,000 313,000 253,000 132,000 195,000
7 GREY'S ANATOMY Seven 1,098,000 291,000 323,000 195,000 124,000 165,000
8 THE BIGGEST LOSER (AUS) - THE WEIGH-IN Ten 1,095,000 255,000 404,000 182,000 132,000 122,000
9 MISS MARPLE: AT BERTRAM'S HOTEL ABC 1,081,000 295,000 342,000 174,000 133,000 136,000
10 KATH & KIM (R) Seven 1,069,000 217,000 342,000 214,000 118,000 177,000
11 SAMANTHA WHO? Seven 1,007,000 230,000 314,000 193,000 103,000 167,000
12 BROTHERS & SISTERS Seven 994,000 299,000 307,000 157,000 106,000 125,000
16 ROBIN HOOD ABC 619,000 181,000 154,000 134,000 76,000 74,000
19 WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE? SBS 517,000 136,000 168,000 103,000 52,000 57,000
21 THE EINSTEIN FACTOR ABC 516,000 104,000 171,000 102,000 77,000 62,000
22 COLLATERAL RPT Ten 515,000 139,000 147,000 107,000 74,000 48,000
29 KOCHIE'S BUSINESS BUILDERS Seven 293,000 50,000 119,000 60,000 39,000 26,000
31 SCRUBS (R) Seven 263,000 48,000 89,000 58,000 33,000 36,000

What pay TV subscribers watched, week ending February 23
1 AMERICA'S NEXT TOP MODEL FOX8 173,000
2 LIVE: CRICKET: ODI TRI SERIES Fox Sports 3 171,000
3 THE SIMPSONS FOX8 159,000
4 LIVE: FOOTBALL: A-LEAGUE PF NEWC V QLD Fox Sports 2 151,000
5 FAMILY GUY FOX8 146,000
6 LOCATION, LOCATION, LOCATION Lifestyle 144,000
7 FUTURAMA FOX8 133,000

What Australia watched, week ending February 23
Description Total Sydney Melbourne Brisbane Adelaide Perth
1 NINE NEWS SUNDAY Nine 1,606,000 488,000 505,000 264,000 218,000 132,000
2 RSPCA ANIMAL RESCUE Seven 1,594,000 430,000 463,000 297,000 157,000 247,000
3 ONE DAY CRICKET - AUS V INDIA - GAME 7 SESSION 2 Nine 1,526,000 421,000 500,000 289,000 169,000 146,000
4 SO YOU THINK YOU CAN DANCE AUSTRALIA Ten 1,523,000 445,000 487,000 310,000 130,000 150,000
5 CSI Nine 1,449,000 377,000 422,000 286,000 178,000 185,000
6 THE FORCE Seven 1,441,000 338,000 392,000 310,000 151,000 250,000
7 SEVEN NEWS - SUN Seven 1,403,000 375,000 378,000 322,000 145,000 183,0008 SO YOU THINK YOU CAN DANCE AUSTRALIA - RESULTS Ten 1,400,000 448,000 407,000 269,000 136,000 139,000
9 BORDER SECURITY Seven 1,392,000 381,000 352,000 297,000 143,000 219,000
10 SEVEN NEWS Seven 1,388,000 392,000 366,000 267,000 155,000 208,000
11 RPA Nine 1,348,000 325,000 430,000 268,000 168,000 158,000
12 BONDI RESCUE Ten 1,345,000 355,000 470,000 204,000 164,000 152,000
13 TODAY TONIGHT Seven 1,324,000 371,000 356,000 250,000 153,000 195,000
14 UNDERBELLY Nine 1,300,000 586,000 310,000 186,000 218,000
15 IT TAKES TWO Seven 1,293,000 395,000 367,000 209,000 127,000 195,000
16 HOME AND AWAY Seven 1,291,000 382,000 316,000 268,000 135,000 191,000
17 THE REAL SEACHANGE Seven 1,266,000 295,000 392,000 229,000 138,000 212,000
18 THE ZOO Seven 1,247,000 379,000 295,000 279,000 130,000 164,000
19 BETTER HOMES AND GARDENS Seven 1,245,000 413,000 336,000 241,000 112,000 143,000
20 DESPERATE HOUSEWIVES Seven 1,237,000 373,000 414,000 185,000 119,000 146,000
21 GREY'S ANATOMY Seven 1,221,000 381,000 369,000 197,000 123,000 151,000
22 HOUSE Ten 1,201,000 311,000 396,000 202,000 142,000 151,000
23 DOC MARTIN RPT ABC 1,188,000 329,000 342,000 250,000 133,000 135,000
24 NINE NEWS Nine 1,169,000 306,000 367,000 243,000 145,000 109,000
25 ONE DAY CRICKET - AUS V INDIA - GAME 7 SESSION 1 Nine 1,169,000 323,000 351,000 216,000 147,000 132,000
26 FOUR CORNERS ABC 1,163,000 375,000 369,000 204,000 89,000 126,000
27 KITCHEN NIGHTMARES U.S.A. Nine 1,161,000 325,000 369,000 171,000 145,000 151,000
28 ALL SAINTS Seven 1,152,000 361,000 345,000 158,000 136,000 151,000
29 LAW AND ORDER: SVU Ten 1,139,000 332,000 283,000 229,000 148,000 147,000
30 SEVEN NEWS - SAT Seven 1,118,000 314,000 280,000 224,000 130,000 169,000
31 THE BIGGEST LOSER (AUS) - THE WEIGH-IN Ten 1,097,000 289,000 391,000 199,000 117,000 102,000
32 ABC NEWS-SAT ABC 1,094,000 304,000 323,000 232,000 116,000 119,000
33 SAMANTHA WHO? Seven 1,092,000 282,000 306,000 227,000 120,000 156,000
34 A CURRENT AFFAIR Nine 1,085,000 288,000 348,000 233,000 109,000 107,000
35 DALZIEL AND PASCOE ABC 1,082,000 312,000 283,000 203,000 134,000 151,000
36 CSI: NY Nine 1,063,000 278,000 331,000 180,000 142,000 132,000
37 CASHMERE MAFIA Nine 1,062,000 357,000 311,000 164,000 120,000 110,000
38 A YEAR WITH THE ROYAL FAMILY Nine 1,059,000 333,000 310,000 185,000 116,000 115,000
39 AGATHA CHRISTIE'S MISS MARPLE: ORDEAL BY INNOCENCE ABC 1,049,000 310,000 294,000 184,000 130,000 131,000
40 BROTHERS & SISTERS Seven 1,047,000 355,000 333,000 151,000 116,000 93,000
(OzTAM mainland capitals)
David Dale is the author of Who We Are -- A snapshot of Australia today (Allen and Unwin). To discuss Australian attitudes, go to http://blogs.sunherald.com.au/whoweare.

• by David Dale in The Tribal Mind, in whoweare-index at 12:21 AM
• Comments (102)

WHO WE ARE: What every applicant needs to know

For a daily update on social trends, bookmark http://blogs.sunherald.com.au/whoweare
To learn why State governments should be abolished, go to The next big thing.

A column about Australia, by David Dale, published in The Sun-Herald, 10/2/2008
Do you have the knowledge necessary to flourish at work and play in Australia -- not the history stuff you learnt at school and instantly forgot, but an understanding of what Australians are like in the 21st century? Are you brave enough to test yourself?

I'll give you a set of answers, and you suggest the questions that gave rise to them. If you read this column last week, you'll be ahead of the game. Don't look to the end yet ...

The Answers
1 To squash; to remove; go into a rage; an isolated inland area; frequent intercourse (as in bangs like ...); stomach upset.
2. 1.7 % of the population; 26 %; 2.5 %; 54 %; 0.5 %; 85%.
3 The Sound of Music; Crocodile Dundee; Star Wars; E.T.; Titanic.
4 Dancing With The Stars; Kath and Kim; Friends; Border Security; Desperate Housewives.
5 106 times a year.
6 Are you awake, love?
7. 90,000 a year.
8. $644; $3,000; mother father, 1.75 children.
9. AFL, rugby league, tennis, cricket, horse racing, swimming, rugby union, soccer.
10 Heart disease; cancer; strokes; accidents; diabetes.
11 74% of adults.
12 The belief, now declining, that Australia can never do anything as well as the British or the Americans; the belief, now growing, that we have nothing to learn from the rest of the world.
13 Thongs, spaghetti bolognese (pad thai a close second), cappuccino, tomato sauce (soy sauce a close second), G'day.
14 $US3.7 million to Nicole Kidman for a four minute Chanel No 5 commercial.
15 San Remo pasta; Ingham's frozen chicken.
16 Frank McEnroe; Cyril Callister; Norman Lindsay; Max Schubert; Edwin Street.
17 Taken by a dingo at Ayer's rock; lost swimming off a beach near Melbourne; arrested arriving in Bali with marijuana in her boogie board bag.
18. Anzac Day (landing of Australian troops in Turkey in 1915); the English monarch's birthday; the Melbourne Cup horse race; Armistice Day in 1918 and the dismissal of PM Gough Whitlam by the Governor-General in 1975.
19. Boundless plains.
20. The Nobel Prize.

The Questions
1.Define "put the kibosh on"; "give the flick to"; "chuck a wobbly"; "back of woopwoop"; "like a dunny door"; "tummy wog".
2. What is Australia's proportion of Muslims; Catholics; Aboriginal people; obese or overweight people; homeless; people living within 50 km of the sea?
3 What five movies were seen by the most Australians?
4 What five TV series were seen by the most Australians?
5 How often does the average adult have sex?
6 What's an Australian man's idea of foreplay?
7 How many abortions are performed in Australia's hospitals and clinics?
8 What is average weekly household income; average credit card debt; the average family?
9 Rank the major sports in order of attendance and viewing.
10 Rank the main causes of death in order of frequency.
11 What proportion agree that "Immigrants make Australia open to new ideas and cultures"?
12. What's the difference between the cultural cringe and the cultural strut?
13 What is the national footwear; dish; drink; condiment; greeting?
14 What was the world record fee per minute ever paid to an actor?
15 What are the only Australian-owned products among the top 40 sellers in our supermarkets?
16 Who invented the Chiko Roll; Vegemite; the Magic Pudding; Grange Hermitage; the Paddle Pop?
17 What happened to Azaria Chamberlain; Harold Holt; Schappelle Corby?
18 What do we remember on April 25; June 13; first Tuesday in November; November 11?
19 What do we share with those who've come from across the seas?
20 What do Peter Doherty; Patrick White; Barry Marshall; and Howard Florey have in common.

What other questions reveal essential knowledge for living in Australia?

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 Who we are.

• by David Dale in The Tribal Mind, in Who We Are at 06:39 AM
• Comments (2)

The Who We Are update: Week 10

For regular updates on Australian attitudes, bookmark http://blogs.sunherald.com.au/whoweare.
To learn why there are four sexes in Australia, go to The Tribal Mind.
To discuss whether Nicole Kidman has jumped the shark again, go to Nut guards
The ratings race, updated 10 am Saturday
Two big doses of cricket gave Nine an unassailable lead this week. After a Wednesday won by Seven, thanks to a Wiggle and an actor formerly known as The Other John Howard (hereinafter known as The Only John Howard), and a Thursday won by Nine, thanks to RPA, and a Friday won by Seven, thanks to Better Homes and Gardens, the average audience shares in prime time stand at: Nine 30.9 per cent, Seven 27.5, Ten 22.5, ABC 14.3 and SBS 4.8.

What Australia watched, Friday
Description Total Sydney Melbourne Brisbane Adelaide Perth
1 BETTER HOMES AND GARDENS Seven 1,249,000 410,000 307,000 254,000 133,000 144,000
2 SEVEN NEWS Seven 1,235,000 415,000 266,000 234,000 134,000 185,000
3 NINE NEWS Nine 1,102,000 297,000 337,000 229,000 155,000 85,000
4 A CURRENT AFFAIR Nine 1,080,000 316,000 339,000 212,000 137,000 76,000
5 DALZIEL AND PASCOE ABC 1,062,000 291,000 322,000 161,000 126,000 163,000
6 HOME AND AWAY Seven 1,031,000 346,000 204,000 219,000 119,000 144,000
7 TODAY TONIGHT Seven 1,022,000 310,000 241,000 194,000 119,000 159,000
Continued here plus your chance to nominate the Bogie awards and to see the full week's top 40.

8 ABC NEWS ABC 981,000 286,000 303,000 195,000 90,000 107,000
9 THE BIGGEST LOSER (AUS) Ten 942,000 274,000 280,000 179,000 108,000 100,000
10 THE SIMPSONS FRI EP 2 Ten 919,000 220,000 320,000 155,000 109,000 115,000
11 M-THE DAY AFTER TOMORROW Seven 889,000 258,000 258,000 174,000 104,000 95,000
12 THE SIMPSONS FRI EP 1 Ten 858,000 203,000 269,000 145,000 115,000 126,000
13 TWO AND A HALF MEN Nine 852,000 256,000 257,000 175,000 90,000 74,000
14 TEN NEWS AT FIVE Ten 803,000 240,000 205,000 121,000 115,000 121,000
15 COLLECTORS ABC 800,000 253,000 205,000 142,000 112,000 88,000
16 BURKE'S BACKYARD AUTUMN SPECIAL Nine 779,000 242,000 209,000 168,000 71,000 91,000
17 LOVE ACTUALLY RPT Ten 726,000 171,000 211,000 142,000 91,000 111,000
18 STATELINE ABC 688,000 227,000 185,000 117,000 83,000 76,000
19 NEIGHBOURS Ten 673,000 204,000 178,000 121,000 78,000 93,000

What Australia watched, Thursday
Description Total Sydney Melbourne Brisbane Adelaide Perth
1 RPA Nine 1,437,000 435,000 430,000 246,000 149,000 176,000
2 SEVEN NEWS Seven 1,362,000 387,000 347,000 292,000 140,000 195,000
3 TODAY TONIGHT Seven 1,250,000 366,000 331,000 244,000 126,000 183,000
4 HOME AND AWAY Seven 1,213,000 379,000 304,000 247,000 122,000 160,000
5 LAW AND ORDER: SVU Ten 1,117,000 322,000 295,000 211,000 123,000 166,000
6 ABC NEWS ABC 1,060,000 301,000 337,000 192,000 104,000 126,000
7 THE AMAZING RACE Seven 1,053,000 274,000 340,000 187,000 127,000 125,000
8 GETAWAY Nine 1,047,000 287,000 318,000 218,000 92,000 133,000
9 NINE NEWS Nine 1,032,000 246,000 341,000 226,000 128,000 91,000
10 A CURRENT AFFAIR Nine 993,000 250,000 330,000 220,000 110,000 82,000
11 THE BIGGEST LOSER (AUS) Ten 984,000 286,000 319,000 143,000 102,000 135,000
12 MEDIUM Ten 920,000 276,000 246,000 173,000 102,000 124,000
18 SAVING KIDS WITH DAMIEN LEITH Ten 802,000 245,000 222,000 137,000 83,000 116,000
19 LIFE ON MARS ABC 777,000 218,000 276,000 118,000 85,000 81,000
20 LOST Seven 770,000 212,000 252,000 126,000 104,000 76,000
21 FAMILY GUY Seven 763,000 226,000 256,000 109,000 92,000 80,000
22 OUT OF THE QUESTION Seven 756,000 245,000 208,000 124,000 85,000 94,000
29 AMERICAN DAD Seven 496,000 115,000 175,000 73,000 81,000 51,000

What Australia watched, Wednesday
Description Total Sydney Melbourne Brisbane Adelaide Perth
1 RSPCA ANIMAL RESCUE Seven 1,528,000 373,000 480,000 318,000 146,000 211,000
2 SEVEN NEWS Seven 1,382,000 369,000 354,000 288,000 157,000 214,000
3 TODAY TONIGHT Seven 1,266,000 327,000 351,000 250,000 144,000 194,000
4 UNDERBELLY Nine 1,224,000 559,000 Not shown 312,000 148,000 206,000
5 NINE NEWS Nine 1,221,000 304,000 451,000 257,000 120,000 90,000
6 HOME AND AWAY Seven 1,203,000 328,000 301,000 255,000 141,000 178,000
7 THE REAL SEACHANGE Seven 1,189,000 288,000 377,000 228,000 111,000 184,000
8 HOUSE Ten 1,125,000 313,000 336,000 206,000 122,000 148,000
9 A CURRENT AFFAIR Nine 1,098,000 296,000 373,000 240,000 113,000 76,000
10 ABC NEWS ABC 1,090,000 323,000 333,000 228,000 97,000 108,000
11 THE BIGGEST LOSER (AUS) Ten 1,055,000 291,000 376,000 153,000 104,000 131,000
12 SPICKS AND SPECKS ABC 1,018,000 284,000 371,000 158,000 106,000 99,000
13 THE CHOPPING BLOCK Nine 979,000 284,000 327,000 162,000 102,000 104,000
14 BACK TO YOU Ten 959,000 268,000 273,000 200,000 103,000 114,000
17 CASHMERE MAFIA Nine 903,000 274,000 295,000 139,000 92,000 102,000
18 NUMB3RS Ten 866,000 234,000 244,000 166,000 105,000 117,000
20 RULES OF ENGAGEMENT Ten 816,000 234,000 227,000 149,000 92,000 114,000
26 STUPID STUPID MAN ABC 606,000 149,000 227,000 95,000 63,000 72,000
30 THAT MITCHELL AND WEBB LOOK ABC 509,000 140,000 174,000 71,000 64,000 61,000
37 AT THE MOVIES ABC 379,000 112,000 137,000 57,000 34,000 39,000
40 FOOD SAFARI RPT SBS 336,000 112,000 113,000 55,000 33,000 23,000
(OzTAM preliminary estimates, mainland capitals)

What Australia watched, Tuesday
Description Total Sydney Melbourne Brisbane Adelaide Perth
1 ONE DAY CRICKET - AUSTRALIA V INDIA - 2ND FINAL SESSION 2 Nine 1,685,000 506,000 569,000 305,000 165,000 140,000
2 NINE NEWS Nine 1,452,000 433,000 525,000 205,000 166,000 123,000
3 TODAY TONIGHT Seven 1,441,000 384,000 378,000 298,000 163,000 218,000
4 SEVEN NEWS Seven 1,428,000 328,000 390,000 337,000 161,000 211,000
5 A CURRENT AFFAIR Nine 1,237,000 381,000 501,000 264,000 90,000
6 BONDI RESCUE Ten 1,232,000 349,000 393,000 200,000 135,000 155,000
7 HOME AND AWAY Seven 1,227,000 339,000 286,000 253,000 139,000 210,000
8 THE BIGGEST LOSER (AUS) Ten 1,176,000 305,000 387,000 178,000 140,000 165,000
9 IT TAKES TWO Seven 1,116,000 331,000 315,000 190,000 116,000 165,000
10 ALL SAINTS Seven 1,039,000 308,000 302,000 178,000 112,000 138,000
11 WOMEN'S MURDER CLUB Ten 975,000 236,000 300,000 190,000 127,000 123,000
12 ABC NEWS ABC 953,000 250,000 302,000 182,000 97,000 122,000
13 BURN NOTICE Ten 802,000 166,000 243,000 170,000 105,000 118,000
14 ONE DAY CRICKET - AUSTRALIA V INDIA - 2ND FINAL SESSION 1 Nine 786,000 226,000 280,000 133,000 87,000 60,000
15 LETHAL WEAPON 4 -RPT Nine 770,000 208,000 237,000 167,000 100,000 59,000
16 NEIGHBOURS Ten 749,000 196,000 218,000 114,000 101,000 121,000
19 BRAT CAMP ABC 656,000 196,000 207,000 106,000 52,000 94,000
22 FRIENDS Ten 537,000 135,000 152,000 85,000 85,000 80,000
23 LIFE BEGINS Seven 533,000 157,000 175,000 76,000 62,000 64,000
(OzTAM preliminary estimates, mainland capitals)

The ratings race, updated 6pm Tuesday March 4
Here's what Australia watched on Monday, which was won by Channel Seven, although Nne remains ahead for the week ...
Description Total Sydney Melbourne Brisbane Adelaide Perth
1 BORDER SECURITY Seven 1,636,000 427,000 476,000 338,000 178,000 217,000
2 THE FORCE Seven 1,524,000 373,000 430,000 328,000 159,000 233,000
3 SEVEN NEWS Seven 1,480,000 362,000 441,000 302,000 153,000 221,000
4 TODAY TONIGHT Seven 1,463,000 353,000 414,000 297,000 167,000 232,000
5 SYTYCDA - RESULTS Ten 1,395,000 395,000 475,000 215,000 156,000 156,000
6 HOME AND AWAY Seven 1,367,000 377,000 327,000 300,000 167,000 197,000
7 CSI Nine 1,350,000 343,000 422,000 253,000 159,000 174,000
8 DESPERATE HOUSEWIVES Seven 1,302,000 375,000 432,000 198,000 125,000 172,000
9 NINE NEWS Nine 1,291,000 318,000 430,000 297,000 147,000 99,000
10 A CURRENT AFFAIR Nine 1,158,000 309,000 383,000 253,000 124,000 89,000
11 CSI: NY Nine 1,111,000 256,000 336,000 208,000 141,000 171,000
12 THE BIGGEST LOSER (AUS) - ELIMINATION Ten 1,100,000 287,000 370,000 193,000 132,000 118,000
13 GOOD NEWS WEEK Ten 1,075,000 320,000 345,000 171,000 133,000 106,000
14 ABC NEWS ABC 1,041,000 280,000 299,000 234,000 108,000 120,000
15 DIRTY SEXY MONEY Seven 959,000 276,000 363,000 108,000 90,000 121,000
16 A YEAR WITH THE ROYAL FAMILY Nine 954,000 280,000 288,000 179,000 92,000 114,000
17 TWO AND A HALF MEN Nine 944,000 211,000 351,000 195,000 87,000 100,000
18 FOUR CORNERS ABC 910,000 286,000 209,000 238,000 70,000 107,000
21 SUPERNATURAL Ten 763,000 185,000 214,000 172,000 110,000 82,000
22 NEIGHBOURS Ten 756,000 166,000 260,000 144,000 94,000 92,000
23 AUSTRALIAN STORY ABC 738,000 223,000 201,000 158,000 72,000 85,000
27 FRIENDS Ten 594,000 146,000 201,000 99,000 61,000 88,000
28 THE MAFIA ABC 553,000 153,000 198,000 83,000 51,000 68,000
30 MYTHBUSTERS SBS 518,000 123,000 163,000 100,000 74,000 58,000
32 BOSTON LEGAL (R) Seven 477,000 140,000 170,000 70,000 50,000 47,000
39 SOUTH PARK SBS 359,000 106,000 140,000 40,000 27,000 46,000
43 UNDERBELLY-ENCORE Nine 310,000 112,000 70,000 57,000 71,000
47 30 ROCK Seven 251,000 60,000 79,000 57,000 22,000 33,000
(OzTAM preliminary estimates, mainland capitals)

The ratings race, updated 10 am Monday March 3
Just when it looked as if the Sri Lankan cricket team had saved Channel Nine from humiliation last week, The Vicar of Dibley waddled to the rescue of Channel Seven. Nine had a disaster with the Oscars, as the million who turned in at 8.30pm on Monday switched rapidly to Desperate Housewives when they saw Richard Wilkins attempting to interview stars on the red carpet.

By Friday, Nine's only national hit show was RPA, with 1.4 million viewers in the mainland capitals (while Underbelly continued to slay them in Sydney). But the Friday night cricket pulled 1.3 million, raising Nine's hopes of winning the week, until Saturday's repeat of The Vicar (who died as an ABC virgin and was reincarnated as a commercial strumpet) pulled 1.2m and left Seven averaging 28.1 per cent of the prime-time audience, while Nine had 27.9 per cent; Ten 21.0; ABC 16.6 (thanks to Doc Martin and Dalziel and Pascoe) , and SBS 6.4 (thanks to Top Gear Series 1 and Mythbusters).

What Australia watched, Sunday
Description Total Sydney Melbourne Brisbane Adelaide Perth
1 ONE DAY CRICKET - AUSTRALIA V INDIA - 1ST FINAL SESSION 2 Nine 1,660,000 431,000 588,000 318,000 181,000 141,000
2 SO YOU THINK YOU CAN DANCE AUSTRALIA Ten 1,556,000 477,000 520,000 252,000 152,000 155,000
3 NINE NEWS SUNDAY Nine 1,495,000 435,000 530,000 240,000 174,000 117,000
4 SEVEN NEWS - SUN Seven 1,456,000 399,000 384,000 382,000 138,000 153,000
5 THE ZOO Seven 1,275,000 398,000 308,000 285,000 141,000 143,000
6 ONE DAY CRICKET - AUSTRALIA V INDIA - 1ST FINAL SESSION 1 Nine 1,271,000 381,000 413,000 239,000 127,000 112,000
7 GREY'S ANATOMY Seven 1,196,000 352,000 353,000 219,000 125,000 147,000
8 BUSH DOCTORS Seven 1,145,000 341,000 264,000 275,000 127,000 138,000
9 BROTHERS & SISTERS Seven 1,094,000 342,000 358,000 150,000 120,000 123,000
10 THE BIGGEST LOSER (AUS) - THE WEIGH-IN Ten 1,054,000 282,000 355,000 192,000 136,000 89,000
11 SAMANTHA WHO? Seven 997,000 248,000 287,000 211,000 120,000 130,000
12 KATH & KIM (R) Seven 969,000 255,000 267,000 206,000 115,000 126,000
13 TERMINATOR 3 -RPT Nine 848,000 197,000 237,000 186,000 104,000 123,000
14 ABC NEWS-SUN ABC 761,000 230,000 224,000 141,000 75,000 92,000
15 JEKYLL ABC 644,000 170,000 189,000 110,000 86,000 88,000
16 ROBIN HOOD ABC 637,000 227,000 156,000 109,000 69,000 77,000
25 WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE? SBS 417,000 128,000 119,000 77,000 47,000 46,000

We hereby launch this year's Bogie nominations. You can see last year's winners here. Tell us, below, the most annoying programs and people on television over the past 12 months in all categories you care to suggest. Please try to offer different nominations from last year's winners - there's only so much Eddie and Gretel can take.

What Australia watched, week ending March 1, 2008
Description Total Sydney Melbourne Brisbane Adelaide Perth
1 RSPCA ANIMAL RESCUE Seven 1,605,000 452,000 497,000 291,000 131,000 233,000
2 ONE DAY CRICKET - AUSTRALIA V INDIA - GAME 10 SESSION 2 Nine 1,543,000 456,000 480,000 289,000 158,000 161,000
3 THE FORCE Seven 1,541,000 383,000 449,000 289,000 177,000 242,000
4 BORDER SECURITY - AUSTRALIA'S FRONT LINE Seven 1,540,000 396,000 425,000 306,000 177,000 237,000
5 SEVEN NEWS - SUN Seven 1,511,000 372,000 373,000 347,000 162,000 257,000
6 SO YOU THINK YOU CAN DANCE AUSTRALIA Ten 1,509,000 435,000 490,000 279,000 158,000 147,000
7 NINE NEWS SUNDAY Nine 1,466,000 501,000 468,000 252,000 139,000 106,000
8 SO YOU THINK YOU CAN DANCE AUSTRALIA - RESULTS Ten 1,463,000 434,000 503,000 246,000 141,000 139,000
9 RPA Nine 1,459,000 415,000 443,000 250,000 181,000 171,000
10 SEVEN NEWS Seven 1,434,000 400,000 385,000 292,000 151,000 206,000
11 IT TAKES TWO Seven 1,354,000 409,000 433,000 203,000 133,000 177,000
12 TODAY TONIGHT Seven 1,342,000 372,000 361,000 267,000 142,000 199,000
13 DESPERATE HOUSEWIVES Seven 1,340,000 383,000 439,000 211,000 149,000 158,000
14 KITCHEN NIGHTMARES U.S.A. Nine 1,300,000 378,000 375,000 200,000 162,000 185,000
15 THE REAL SEACHANGE Seven 1,296,000 322,000 429,000 228,000 121,000 195,000
16 HOUSE Ten 1,262,000 317,000 463,000 188,000 140,000 154,000
17 THE ZOO Seven 1,260,000 345,000 303,000 264,000 130,000 218,000
18 UNDERBELLY Nine 1,249,000 602,000 Not shown 306,000 167,000 174,000
19 ONE DAY CRICKET - AUSTRALIA V SRI LANKA - GAME 12 SESSION 2 Nine 1,248,000 332,000 439,000 220,000 141,000 117,000
20 HOME AND AWAY Seven 1,241,000 377,000 315,000 257,000 128,000 164,000
21 DOC MARTIN RPT ABC 1,239,000 336,000 413,000 244,000 124,000 121,000
22 THE VICAR OF DIBLEY Seven 1,235,000 327,000 358,000 244,000 120,000 187,000
23 LAW AND ORDER: SVU Ten 1,201,000 353,000 348,000 243,000 124,000 133,000
24 BETTER HOMES AND GARDENS Seven 1,198,000 343,000 352,000 233,000 140,000 129,000
25 BUSH DOCTORS Seven 1,153,000 269,000 311,000 251,000 130,000 192,000
26 ALL SAINTS Seven 1,152,000 387,000 337,000 154,000 117,000 157,000
27 NATIONAL NINE NEWS Nine 1,146,000 297,000 354,000 249,000 143,000 102,000
28 SEVEN NEWS - SAT Seven 1,139,000 322,000 266,000 253,000 111,000 187,000
29 ONE DAY CRICKET - AUSTRALIA V INDIA - GAME 10 SESSION 1 Nine 1,136,000 344,000 328,000 233,000 103,000 128,000
30 GETAWAY Nine 1,115,000 353,000 318,000 246,000 97,000 101,000
31 GREY'S ANATOMY Seven 1,103,000 297,000 323,000 195,000 125,000 163,000
32 DALZIEL AND PASCOE ABC 1,101,000 335,000 326,000 181,000 130,000 130,000
33 A CURRENT AFFAIR Nine 1,098,000 293,000 343,000 246,000 124,000 91,000
34 ABC NEWS-SAT ABC 1,097,000 292,000 399,000 198,000 99,000 110,000
35 THE BIGGEST LOSER (AUS) - THE WEIGH-IN Ten 1,095,000 255,000 404,000 182,000 132,000 122,000
36 AGATHA CHRISTIE'S MISS MARPLE: AT BERTRAM'S HOTEL ABC 1,077,000 294,000 341,000 174,000 133,000 136,000
37 ABC NEWS-EV ABC 1,075,000 316,000 328,000 207,000 106,000 118,000
38 KATH & KIM (R) Seven 1,070,000 214,000 349,000 210,000 118,000 179,000
39 THE BIGGEST LOSER (AUS) - ELIMINATION Ten 1,060,000 271,000 393,000 164,000 116,000 116,000
40 BACK TO YOU Ten 1,047,000 294,000 348,000 189,000 109,000 107,000
41 GOOD NEWS WEEK Ten 1,034,000 303,000 274,000 176,000 143,000 138,000
42 THE AMAZING RACE Seven 1,031,000 293,000 330,000 180,000 101,000 127,000
43 BONDI RESCUE Ten 1,020,000 314,000 329,000 178,000 97,000 103,000
44 SAMANTHA WHO? Seven 1,016,000 243,000 311,000 193,000 102,000 167,000
45 THE BIGGEST LOSER (AUS) Ten 1,011,000 271,000 341,000 182,000 107,000 111,000
47 SPICKS AND SPECKS ABC 987,000 243,000 358,000 168,000 113,000 105,000
48 BROTHERS & SISTERS Seven 973,000 295,000 301,000 152,000 105,000 119,000
49 20 TO 1 Nine 967,000 244,000 310,000 214,000 112,000 88,000
52 CASHMERE MAFIA Nine 946,000 306,000 298,000 120,000 118,000 105,000
53 THE CHOPPING BLOCK Nine 940,000 289,000 274,000 155,000 131,000 90,000
58 WOMEN'S MURDER CLUB Ten 899,000 221,000 283,000 175,000 117,000 102,000
60 80TH ANNUAL ACADEMY AWARDS Nine 862,000 315,000 269,000 132,000 71,000 76,000
64 DIRTY SEXY MONEY Seven 843,000 225,000 317,000 114,000 97,000 90,000
65 TERMINATOR: THE SARAH CONNOR CHRONICLES Nine 834,000 228,000 269,000 172,000 87,000 78,000
69 RULES OF ENGAGEMENT Ten 802,000 220,000 269,000 140,000 84,000 89,000
73 LIFE ON MARS-EV ABC 785,000 242,000 246,000 128,000 66,000 102,000
75 LOST Seven 777,000 209,000 266,000 128,000 81,000 93,000
78 SAVING KIDS WITH DAMIEN LEITH Ten 762,000 216,000 218,000 135,000 98,000 95,000
81 AUSTRALIAN STORY ABC 755,000 240,000 225,000 141,000 92,000 57,000
85 FAMILY GUY Seven 726,000 166,000 236,000 137,000 80,000 108,000
88 OUT OF THE QUESTION Seven 711,000 208,000 219,000 110,000 67,000 107,000
89 SUPERNATURAL Ten 707,000 165,000 217,000 131,000 90,000 104,000
91 ABOUT A BOY RPT Ten 669,000 179,000 189,000 100,000 75,000 125,000
99 ROBIN HOOD ABC 619,000 181,000 154,000 134,000 76,000 74,000
100 STUPID STUPID MAN ABC 592,000 145,000 201,000 109,000 72,000 65,000
101 FRIENDS Ten 585,000 160,000 187,000 94,000 69,000 75,000
103 TOP GEAR (SERIES 1) SBS 574,000 169,000 183,000 104,000 81,000 37,000
107 MY FAMILY ABC 562,000 141,000 173,000 98,000 74,000 76,000
110 MYTHBUSTERS SBS 520,000 128,000 179,000 95,000 64,000 54,000
111 WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE? SBS 517,000 136,000 168,000 103,000 52,000 57,000
(OzTAM mainland capitals)
David Dale is the author of Who We Are -- A snapshot of Australia today (Allen and Unwin). To discuss Australian attitudes, go to http://blogs.sunherald.com.au/whoweare.

• by David Dale at 07:02 AM
• Comments (67)

The Tribal Mind: Details that distinguish us from U.S.

For daily updates on Australian attitudes, bookmark http://blogs.sunherald.com.au/whoweare.
To learn why State governments should be abolished, go to The next big thing.
by David Dale
How are the mighty fallen. Last week I picked up, in the bargain bin of my local DVD store, a brand new copy of Titanic for $9.99 (in the same bin, a brand new copy of Jaws was going for $14.99).

Ten years ago Titanic was king of the world -- the highest grossing movie of all time in every country where it was shown (world earnings $A2.3 billion, ten times its budget). This was either inspiring evidence that human beings are united in their archetypal affection for tales of love and courage, or depressing evidence that Hollywood values had culturally colonised the planet.

Has the ensuing decade changed anything? Consider these lists:

The most successful movies of all time in Australia: 1 Titanic; 2 Shrek 2; 3 Return of the King; 4 Crocodile Dundee; 5 Fellowship of the Ring; 6 Two Towers; 7 Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone; 8 SW1: The Phantom Menace; 9 Pirates of the Caribbean 2; 10 Finding Nemo; 11 Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets; 12 Babe. (For more detail, go to The films we loved)

The most successful movies of all time in America: 1 Titanic; 2 Star Wars 4: A New Hope (the original); 3 Shrek 2; 4 E. T.; 5 SW1: The Phantom Menace; 6 Pirate of the Caribbean 2; 7 Spider-Man; 8 SW3: Revenge of the Sith; 9 Return of the King; 10 Spider-Man 2; 11 Passion of the Christ; 12 Jurassic Park.

The most successful movies of all time in the world (excluding America): 1 Titanic; 2 Return of The King; 3 Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone; 4 Pirates of the Caribbean 3; 5 Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix; 6 Pirates of the Caribbean 2; 7 Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets; 8 Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire; 9 The Two Towers; 10 Jurassic Park; 11 Spider-Man 3; 12 Fellowship of the Ring.

A few conclusions we might draw from this:

 We should stop beating up on ourselves about the cultural cringe. Two of our 12 all time moneymakers are Australian-made. We value our own stories, or at least we did, back when cinema was a more dominant medium. (To learn how Australian movies perform these days, go to The cinema struggle.)

 We have not been entirely Coca-Colonised. In our movie choices we are more like the rest of the world than we are like America. The Americans insist on hearing their own accent-- only three of their 12 favourites are pronounced differently (two in British accents and one in Aramaic and Latin, when religious fundamentalism overruled xenophobia). Eight of our favourites are non-American and nine of the world's favourites are non-American.

 There's a strong case after all for making part two of The Golden Compass. Its budget was $A220 million. In America it was a flop, making just $90 million (most of its accents are British and it was publicised as anti-religious). In the rest of the world it was a hit, making $320m (of which $15m came from Australia). It has not finished its run yet but already it's the number 75 biggest moneymaker of all time outside America, ahead of Passion of the Christ (which is number 90).

The Golden Compass ended with a cliffhanger. The plotlines begun there can't be resolved without American money. Can Hollywood rise above xenophobia and fundamentalism and lift the world off the edge?

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.

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

• by David Dale in The Tribal Mind at 05:28 PM
• Comments (31)

WHO WE ARE: How to be suitable

To learn how Australians are different from Americans, go to The Tribal Mind
To join our daily forum about television, bookmark http://blogs.sunherald.com.au/whoweare
To learn how Australians talk, go to Head like a chewed Mintie.

A column about Australia by David Dale, published in The Sun-Herald, 3/2/2008
Most people who live in this country can go for years without talking about Don Bradman, Walter Lindrum or Hubert Opperman. But if a new citizen doesn't know which of them was a cricketer and which was a pool shark, he or she is likely to become a social leper and an unemployable burden on the economy.

That apparently, is the view of Kevin Rudd, who last week put the kibosh on a plan by his immigration minister, Chris Evans, to give the flick to the Bradman question which may appear in the values test taken by applicants for Australian citizenship. Senator Evans thinks "sporting trivia" is not "critical knowledge" for functioning effectively in this society. His boss thinks it is.

Last year this column spent some time ridiculing the values test and the study booklet which accompanies it, and I was delighted last week at the possibility that the new government might modernise it. I hope the PM does not feel the need to intervene to protect every last vestige of Howard memorabilia.

But it's time I stopped ridiculing and started helping. I hereby submit a set of questions designed to test if you have the essential data for survival in Australia. If you don't get at least 15 of these right, you might as well go back to where you came from ...
1. Define these expressions: "put the kibosh on"; "give the flick to"; "chuck a wobbly"; "back of woopwoop"; "like a dunny door"; "tummy wog".

2. What percentage of Australia's residents are: Muslims; Catholics; of Aboriginal background; obese or overweight; homeless; living within 50 km of the sea.

3. What are the five movies seen by the greatest number of Australians alive today?

4. What are the five TV series seen by the greatest number of Australians alive today?

5. How many times a year does the average Australian say he or she has intercourse?

6. What's an Australian man's idea of foreplay?

7. How many abortions are performed each year in Australia's hospitals and clinics?

8. How much does the average Australian family have as spending money each week, after tax? How much does the average family owe on credit cards? What is the average Australian family, anyway?

9. Rank these sports in order of popularity, as measured by attendances at games and audiences on TV: soccer, tennis, rugby union, AFL, racing, rugby league, swimming.

10. Rank these causes of death in order of frequency: Diabetes; heart disease; strokes; cancer; accidents.

11. What percentage of adults say they agree with the statement "Immigrants make Australia open to new ideas and cultures"?

12. Explain the difference between the cultural cringe and the cultural strut.

13. What is the national footwear, dish, drink, condiment, and greeting?

14. What was the highest fee per minute ever paid to an actor (world record held by an Australian)?

15. Of the 40 top selling products in Australian supermarkets, which two are made in Australia by an Australian owned company?

16. Name the inventer of: The Chiko Roll; Vegemite; the Magic Pudding; Grange Hermitage; the Paddle Pop.

17. What happened to: Azaria Chamberlain; Harold Holt; Schappelle Corby?

18. What do we commemorate on April 25; June 13; first Tuesday in November; November 11?

19. What do we have to share with those who've come from across the seas?

20. What do these men have in common: Peter Doherty; Patrick White; Barry Marshall; Howard Florey?

We'll attempt explanations in The answers. But feel free to give them a try here, and to suggest other revealing questions.

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 Who we are.

• by David Dale in The Tribal Mind, in Who We Are at 04:16 PM
• Comments (51)

The Who We Are update: Week 8

This blog is now a heritage item - worth studying but no longer current. For the latest media analysis, go here.
To nominate the national vegetable (and we don't mean Morris Iemma), go to Mash media.
For the latest on Australian attitudes, bookmark http://blogs.sunherald.com.au/whoweare.

The ratings race, updated 10am Sunday February 24
Despite Nine's cricket, Seven Nine won Friday night. And because of The Vicar of Dibley and Monsters Inc, Seven won Saturday night, ending the week with an average of 28.0 per cent of the prime time audience, with Nine on 26.8, Ten on 22.3, ABC on 16.8 and SBS on 6.0.

What Australia watched, Saturday
Description Total Sydney Melbourne Brisbane Adelaide Perth
1 DOC MARTIN RPT ABC 1,188,000 329,000 342,000 250,000 133,000 135,000
2 SEVEN NEWS - SAT Seven 1,118,000 314,000 280,000 224,000 130,000 169,000
3 ABC NEWS-SAT ABC 1,094,000 304,000 323,000 232,000 116,000 119,000
4 THE VICAR OF DIBLEY Seven 974,000 205,000 312,000 190,000 123,000 144,000
5 NINE NEWS SATURDAY Nine 952,000 212,000 326,000 198,000 135,000 81,000
6 M-MONSTERS INC. Seven 909,000 232,000 284,000 146,000 118,000 129,000
7 AUSTRALIA'S FUNNIEST HOME VIDEO SHOW Nine 856,000 186,000 273,000 204,000 96,000 97,000
Continued here

11 THE BILL ABC 731,000 213,000 230,000 134,000 74,000 80,000
15 THE INSPECTOR LYNLEY MYSTERIES Seven 648,000 155,000 183,000 115,000 86,000 109,000
16 TOP GEAR (SERIES 1) SBS 570,000 182,000 160,000 126,000 59,000 43,000
19 2008 NAB CUP - HAWTHORN V CARLTON Ten 473,000 32,000 234,000 30,000 88,000 89,000

What Australia watched, Friday
Description Total Sydney Melbourne Brisbane Adelaide Perth
1 TODAY TONIGHT Seven 1,303,000 376,000 373,000 234,000 147,000 172,000
2 NINE NEWS Nine 1,277,000 345,000 407,000 263,000 139,000 124,000
3 BETTER HOMES AND GARDENS Seven 1,245,000 413,000 336,000 241,000 112,000 143,000
4 SEVEN NEWS Seven 1,237,000 368,000 329,000 218,000 130,000 191,000
5 HOME AND AWAY Seven 1,141,000 356,000 295,000 234,000 112,000 144,000
6 DALZIEL AND PASCOE ABC 1,082,000 312,000 283,000 203,000 134,000 151,000
7 ONE DAY CRICKET - AUSTRALIA V SRI LANKA - GAME 9 SESSION 2 Nine 1,038,000 297,000 332,000 192,000 111,000 106,000
8 BRIDGET JONES: THE EDGE OF REASON RPT Ten 816,000 222,000 257,000 110,000 114,000 113,000
9 ABC NEWS ABC 809,000 251,000 232,000 151,000 81,000 94,000
10 THE BIGGEST LOSER (AUS) Ten 781,000 213,000 255,000 139,000 101,000 73,000
11 A CURRENT AFFAIR Nine 739,000 244,000 335,000 56,000 104,000
12 KID NATION Ten 731,000 156,000 290,000 131,000 76,000 79,000
13 ONE DAY CRICKET - AUSTRALIA V SRI LANKA - GAME 9 SESSION 1 Nine 680,000 193,000 241,000 108,000 82,000 56,000
18 STATELINE ABC 603,000 179,000 152,000 130,000 83,000 59,000
25 2008 NAB CUP: ESSENDON V WESTERN BULLDOGS Seven 409,000 27,000 248,000 13,000 66,000 55,000
29 CAN WE HELP? ABC 345,000 88,000 115,000 62,000 43,000 38,000
(OzTAM preliminary estimates, mainland capitals)

What Australia watched, Thursday
Description Total Sydney Melbourne Brisbane Adelaide Perth
1 RPA Nine 1,343,000 324,000 429,000 268,000 167,000 156,000
2 SEVEN NEWS Seven 1,341,000 420,000 339,000 229,000 150,000 204,000
3 HOME AND AWAY Seven 1,320,000 416,000 310,000 265,000 137,000 191,000
4 TODAY TONIGHT Seven 1,267,000 395,000 318,000 216,000 150,000 188,000
5 KITCHEN NIGHTMARES USA Nine 1,195,000 326,000 400,000 173,000 146,000 151,000
6 LAW AND ORDER: SVU Ten 1,139,000 332,000 283,000 229,000 148,000 147,000
7 A CURRENT AFFAIR Nine 1,086,000 300,000 328,000 238,000 110,000 110,000
8 NINE NEWS Nine 1,050,000 293,000 302,000 222,000 134,000 99,000
9 ABC NEWS ABC 1,028,000 306,000 306,000 214,000 86,000 116,000 10 THE AMAZING RACE Seven 1,024,000 292,000 305,000 179,000 101,000 147,000
11 GETAWAY Nine 1,018,000 275,000 324,000 199,000 96,000 124,000
12 THE BIGGEST LOSER (AUS) Ten 1,016,000 250,000 328,000 183,000 130,000 125,000
13 MEDIUM Ten 975,000 310,000 234,000 181,000 121,000 129,000
14 TWO AND A HALF MEN Nine 892,000 270,000 253,000 180,000 84,000 105,000
15 LOST Seven 867,000 246,000 308,000 118,000 103,000 93,000
16 FAMILY GUY Seven 836,000 208,000 278,000 151,000 90,000 108,000
17 AMAZING MEDICAL STORIES Nine 800,000 232,000 264,000 119,000 109,000 75,000
21 OUT OF THE QUESTION Seven 761,000 216,000 235,000 130,000 69,000 111,000
22 LIFE ON MARS ABC 757,000 242,000 240,000 113,000 72,000 89,000
23 SAVING KIDS WITH DAMIEN LEITH Ten 753,000 221,000 187,000 145,000 106,000 94,000
29 AMERICAN DAD Seven 467,000 131,000 158,000 67,000 48,000 63,000
30 SOUL DEEP: THE STORY OF BLACK POPULAR MUSIC ABC 454,000 123,000 145,000 81,000 47,000 59,000
34 INSPECTOR REX RPT SBS 434,000 173,000 105,000 83,000 44,000 29,000

The ratings race, updated 10am Thursday February 21
Channel Nine has canned the local comedy show Monster House after two episodes. On its second outing it dropped 100,000 viewers to reach a miserable 632,000.

What Australia watched, Wednesday
Description Total Sydney Melbourne Brisbane Adelaide Perth
1 RSPCA ANIMAL RESCUE Seven 1,594,000 430,000 463,000 297,000 157,000 247,000
2 SEVEN NEWS Seven 1,393,000 364,000 378,000 273,000 158,000 219,000
3 HOME AND AWAY Seven 1,273,000 368,000 292,000 274,000 141,000 198,000
4 UNDERBELLY Nine 1,273,000 575,000 -- 303,000 181,000 213,000
5 THE REAL SEACHANGE Seven 1,266,000 295,000 392,000 229,000 138,000 212,000
6 TODAY TONIGHT Seven 1,224,000 338,000 317,000 231,000 139,000 199,000
7 HOUSE Ten 1,201,000 311,000 396,000 202,000 142,000 151,000
8 NINE NEWS Nine 1,159,000 282,000 382,000 234,000 137,000 123,000
9 CASHMERE MAFIA Nine 1,137,000 383,000 318,000 182,000 130,000 123,000
10 A CURRENT AFFAIR Nine 1,087,000 260,000 355,000 231,000 124,000 117,000
11 ABC NEWS ABC 1,081,000 322,000 339,000 194,000 95,000 131,000
12 SPICKS AND SPECKS ABC 1,032,000 293,000 345,000 178,000 105,000 110,000
13 BACK TO YOU Ten 993,000 255,000 303,000 184,000 122,000 129,000
14 LEWIS Seven 950,000 255,000 277,000 155,000 112,000 150,000
15 THE BIGGEST LOSER (AUS) Ten 927,000 204,000 354,000 145,000 119,000 105,000
16 THE CHOPPING BLOCK Nine 918,000 250,000 261,000 188,000 101,000 117,000
17 NUMB3RS Ten 905,000 242,000 295,000 147,000 121,000 99,000
18 TWO AND A HALF MEN Nine 888,000 222,000 305,000 168,000 93,000 101,000
19 RULES OF ENGAGEMENT Ten 865,000 199,000 294,000 152,000 105,000 114,000
20 THE NEW INVENTORS ABC 847,000 261,000 261,000 164,000 84,000 77,000
25 STUPID STUPID MAN ABC 687,000 176,000 254,000 126,000 69,000 62,000
40 AT THE MOVIES ABC 355,000 117,000 122,000 47,000 42,000 27,000
41 FOOD SAFARI SBS 338,000 79,000 125,000 56,000 37,000 40,000

What Australia watched, Tuesday
Description Total Sydney Melbourne Brisbane Adelaide Perth
1 SEVEN NEWS Seven 1,390,000 394,000 337,000 278,000 162,000 220,000
2 TODAY TONIGHT Seven 1,355,000 390,000 369,000 233,000 166,000 196,000
3 BONDI RESCUE Ten 1,345,000 355,000 470,000 204,000 164,000 152,000
4 IT TAKES TWO Seven 1,292,000 394,000 366,000 209,000 126,000 196,000
5 HOME AND AWAY Seven 1,256,000 335,000 334,000 238,000 143,000 206,000
6 ABC NEWS ABC 1,180,000 295,000 378,000 233,000 116,000 158,000
7 ALL SAINTS Seven 1,164,000 365,000 349,000 160,000 137,000 153,000
8 NINE NEWS Nine 1,152,000 302,000 377,000 237,000 142,000 95,000
9 A CURRENT AFFAIR Nine 1,114,000 317,000 347,000 230,000 121,000 99,000
10 THE BIGGEST LOSER (AUS) Ten 1,104,000 263,000 366,000 200,000 152,000 124,000
11 WOMEN'S MURDER CLUB Ten 1,037,000 276,000 309,000 174,000 143,000 135,000
12 TERMINATOR: THE SARAH CONNOR CHRONICLES Nine 1,009,000 300,000 319,000 186,000 106,000 98,000 16 BRAT CAMP ABC 833,000 210,000 272,000 154,000 103,000 94,000
17 CHOPPER RESCUE ABC 809,000 208,000 225,000 172,000 106,000 97,000
18 BURN NOTICE Ten 797,000 190,000 260,000 139,000 108,000 100,000
21 FRIENDS Ten 659,000 161,000 237,000 96,000 87,000 78,000
22 CSI: MIAMI Nine 635,000 244,000 182,000 104,000 105,000
24 MONSTER HOUSE Nine 632,000 149,000 201,000 145,000 66,000 71,000
(OzTAM preliminary estimates, mainland capitals)

The Tuesday update
Last night's postmortem on John Howard brought Four Corners its biggest audience in years -- nearly 1.2 million in the mainland capitals. The ABC seemed to be stealing those viewers from Nine's CSI (since both the Despos and Dirty Sexy Money, pictured, barely slipped on last week), and that helped Seven to win Monday night.

But Seven was unable to overcome Nine's big Sunday advantage, so at this point in the week, Nine is ahead with 27.7 per cent of the prime time audience, while Seven is on 26.6, Ten on 23.6, ABC on 15.1 and SBS on 6.9. If this is not to become the pattern for future weeks, Seven needs to do something about its Thursday disaster. Lets hope that won't mean losing Lost.

The cinema box office, weekend to Feb 18
1 JUMPER sold $3,408,959 worth of tickets (total $3,462,102)
2 DEFINITELY, MAYBE $1,430,071 ($1,468,549)
3 FOOL`S GOLD $1,025,954 ($3,541,085)
4 JUNO $631,638 ($9,112,416)
5 DAN IN REAL LIFE $627,875 ($627,875)
6 27 DRESSES $418,385 ($14,733,347)
7 THERE WILL BE BLOOD $385,757 ($880,254)
8 SWEENEY TODD 310,878 ($4,725,625)
9 AMERICAN GANGSTER $303,467 ($11,191,183)
10 3:10 TO YUMA $239,840 ($2,293,266)
(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)

What Australia watched, Monday
Description Total Sydney Melbourne Brisbane Adelaide Perth
1 SEVEN NEWS Seven 1,578,000 413,000 446,000 339,000 173,000 207,000
2 TODAY TONIGHT Seven 1,473,000 357,000 404,000 335,000 161,000 216,000
3 HOME AND AWAY Seven 1,468,000 430,000 348,000 328,000 143,000 218,000
4 CSI Nine 1,445,000 376,000 422,000 285,000 178,000 184,000
5 THE FORCE Seven 1,441,000 338,000 392,000 310,000 151,000 250,000
6 BORDER SECURITY Seven 1,392,000 381,000 352,000 297,000 143,000 219,000
7 SYTYCDA - RESULTS Ten 1,345,000 422,000 400,000 258,000 131,000 135,000
8 DESPERATE HOUSEWIVES Seven 1,237,000 373,000 414,000 185,000 119,000 146,000
9 NINE NEWS Nine 1,196,000 308,000 367,000 254,000 165,000 101,000
10 A CURRENT AFFAIR Nine 1,195,000 324,000 381,000 242,000 141,000 107,000
11 FOUR CORNERS ABC 1,156,000 374,000 366,000 203,000 89,000 125,000
12 GOOD NEWS WEEK Ten 1,123,000 362,000 306,000 199,000 116,000 140,000
13 ABC NEWS ABC 1,104,000 311,000 337,000 209,000 101,000 145,000
14 CSI: NY Nine 1,074,000 281,000 333,000 182,000 143,000 135,000
15 A YEAR WITH THE ROYAL FAMILY Nine 1,055,000 333,000 310,000 185,000 115,000 113,000
16 DIRTY SEXY MONEY Seven 1,024,000 283,000 400,000 116,000 110,000 115,000
17 THE BIGGEST LOSER (AUS) - ELIMINATION Ten 976,000 242,000 324,000 181,000 101,000 128,000
20 MEDIA WATCH ABC 861,000 312,000 269,000 125,000 74,000 81,000
21 TOP GEAR SBS 801,000 257,000 253,000 142,000 86,000 64,000
22 AUSTRALIAN STORY ABC 769,000 251,000 225,000 135,000 57,000 101,000
(OzTAM preliminary estimates, mainland capitals)
To learn which magazines Australians like best, go to The Tribal Mind

The Monday report
Channel Seven's hopes of winning the first week of "official" ratings, boosted when a judge ruled that Victoria could not see Nine's Underbelly, were dashed when NIne's cricket captured viewers over 50 and Ten's dancing captured viewers under 30 -- a pattern which recurred last night.

Seven's tentpole programs -- Border Security, Desperate Housewives, It Takes Two and Grey's Anatomy -- were well down on last year.

As you'll see in the Top 80 chart below, the hits of the week were Ten's So You Think You Can Dance Australia , the Frasier-like sitcom Back To You and the crime procedural Women's Murder Club ; Nine's CSI, RPA , and Underbelly; Top Gear on SBS and the Apology to the Stolen Generations (total 1.2 million across all channels plus uncountable numbers in schools and public spaces at 9am on Wednesday).

The flop was Nine's local comedy Monster House (793,000). The maybes were Seven's The Zoo and Dirty Sexy Money ; and Nine's The Chopping Block and Terminator.

Nine won the week by averaging 28.7 per cent of the prime time audience, while Seven was on 27.2, Ten on 22.5, ABC on 16.4 and SBS on 5.3. Then Nine easily won Sunday, with Ten bumping Seven out of second place.

What Australia watched, Sunday
Description Total Sydney Melbourne Brisbane Adelaide Perth
1 NINE NEWS SUNDAY Nine 1,599,000 486,000 502,000 263,000 217,000 132,000
2 SO YOU THINK YOU CAN DANCE AUSTRALIA Ten 1,529,000 447,000 489,000 311,000 130,000 151,000
3 SEVEN NEWS - SUN Seven 1,389,000 371,000 372,000 320,000 144,000 182,000
4 ONE DAY CRICKET - AUS V INDIA - GAME 7 SESSION 2 Nine 1,369,000 423,000 506,000 293,000 148,000
5 THE ZOO Seven 1,273,000 382,000 306,000 286,000 133,000 165,000
6 GREY'S ANATOMY Seven 1,214,000 375,000 365,000 198,000 121,000 155,000
7 ONE DAY CRICKET - AUS V INDIA - SESSION 1 Nine 1,153,000 323,000 351,000 216,000 132,000 132,000
8 THE BIGGEST LOSER WEIGH-IN Ten 1,100,000 289,000 391,000 199,000 117,000 102,000
9 BROTHERS & SISTERS Seven 1,083,000 362,000 340,000 159,000 120,000 101,000
10 SAMANTHA WHO? Seven 1,074,000 268,000 294,000 235,000 120,000 157,000
11 BUSH DOCTORS Seven 1,065,000 299,000 253,000 247,000 117,000 150,000
12 AGATHA CHRISTIE'S MISS MARPLE: ORDEAL BY INNOCENCE ABC 1,051,000 310,000 295,000 184,000 130,000 131,000
16 ROBIN HOOD ABC 705,000 251,000 180,000 111,000 90,000 74,000
19 WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE? SBS 571,000 186,000 191,000 77,000 57,000 61,000
(OzTAM preliminary estimates, mainland capitals)
What Pay TV subscribers watched, week ending February 16
1 7 AMERICA'S NEXT TOP MODEL FOX8 177,000
2 LIVE: RUGBY UNION: S14 W'TAHS V HURR Fox Sports 2 176,000
3 FAMILY GUY FOX8 174,000
4 FUTURAMA FOX8 166,000
5 THE SIMPSONS FOX8 157,000
6 LIVE: FOOTBALL: A-LEAGUE SEMI FINAL C'COAST V NEWC Fox Sports 1 150,000
7 RAMBO III TV1 138,000
8 LIVE: RUGBY UNION: S14 REDS V H'LANDERS Fox Sports 2 135,000
9 GOSSIP GIRL FOX8 129,000

What Australia watched, week ending February 16
Description Total Sydney Melbourne Brisbane Adelaide Perth
1 SO YOU THINK YOU CAN DANCE AUSTRALIA - TOP 100 PART 1 Ten 1,601,000 532,000 463,000 296,000 134,000 176,000
2 SEVEN NEWS - SUN Seven 1,499,000 410,000 402,000 327,000 140,000 221,000
3 ONE DAY CRICKET - AUSTRALIA V INDIA - GAME 4 SESSION 2 Nine 1,472,000 420,000 494,000 277,000 150,000 131,000
4 SO YOU THINK YOU CAN DANCE AUSTRALIA - TOP 100 PART 2 Ten 1,469,000 442,000 437,000 287,000 132,000 172,000
5 CSI Nine 1,466,000 414,000 401,000 318,000 185,000 148,000
6 NINE NEWS SUNDAY Nine 1,448,000 470,000 488,000 213,000 175,000 103,000
7 ONE DAY CRICKET - AUSTRALIA V SRI LANKA - GAME 6 SESSION 2 Nine 1,389,000 380,000 443,000 258,000 152,000 156,000
8 SEVEN NEWS Seven 1,371,000 395,000 347,000 275,000 153,000 200,000
9 BACK TO YOU Ten 1,358,000 379,000 418,000 271,000 145,000 146,000
10 BORDER SECURITY - AUSTRALIA'S FRONT LINE Seven 1,351,000 344,000 369,000 314,000 150,000 174,000
11 THE FORCE - BEHIND THE LINE Seven 1,343,000 364,000 362,000 288,000 140,000 189,000
12 UNDERBELLY Nine 1,321,000 615,000 291,000 190,000 225,000
13 RPA Nine 1,320,000 343,000 401,000 261,000 148,000 167,000
14 IT TAKES TWO Seven 1,300,000 406,000 377,000 234,000 130,000 154,000
15 THE ZOO Seven 1,297,000 366,000 375,000 244,000 131,000 181,000
16 GREY'S ANATOMY Seven 1,277,000 395,000 361,000 213,000 135,000 173,000
17 TODAY TONIGHT Seven 1,276,000 369,000 334,000 252,000 146,000 175,000
18 NINE NEWS Nine 1,274,000 341,000 410,000 266,000 150,000 108,000
19 DESPERATE HOUSEWIVES Seven 1,271,000 358,000 480,000 193,000 109,000 131,000
20 BETTER HOMES AND GARDENS Seven 1,251,000 401,000 365,000 211,000 141,000 132,000
21 HOME AND AWAY Seven 1,237,000 371,000 305,000 260,000 137,000 163,000
22 WOMEN'S MURDER CLUB Ten 1,225,000 319,000 393,000 218,000 132,000 163,000
23 RSPCA ANIMAL RESCUE Seven 1,216,000 319,000 359,000 223,000 136,000 179,000
24 SEVEN NEWS - SAT Seven 1,196,000 347,000 263,000 301,000 119,000 167,000
25 A CURRENT AFFAIR Nine 1,188,000 312,000 393,000 268,000 120,000 96,000
26 DOC MARTIN RPT ABC 1,179,000 329,000 327,000 241,000 125,000 158,000
27 LAW AND ORDER: SVU Ten 1,179,000 348,000 304,000 250,000 124,000 153,000
28 DIRTY SEXY MONEY Seven 1,157,000 324,000 442,000 146,000 120,000 125,000
29 ALL SAINTS Seven 1,155,000 365,000 354,000 164,000 141,000 131,000
30 THE BIGGEST LOSER (AUS) - THE WEIGH-IN Ten 1,151,000 314,000 388,000 203,000 119,000 127,000
31 BONDI RESCUE Ten 1,150,000 294,000 361,000 200,000 124,000 170,000
32 BUSH DOCTORS Seven 1,147,000 317,000 335,000 237,000 111,000 147,000
33 HOUSE Ten 1,130,000 311,000 450,000 235,000 133,000
34 ABC NEWS ABC 1,120,000 315,000 351,000 224,000 107,000 123,000
35 ONE DAY CRICKET - AUSTRALIA V INDIA - GAME 4 SESSION 1 Nine 1,107,000 331,000 337,000 200,000 112,000 127,000
36 SAMANTHA WHO? Seven 1,105,000 262,000 341,000 207,000 129,000 166,000
37 RULES OF ENGAGEMENT Ten 1,103,000 311,000 353,000 230,000 96,000 113,000
38 SPICKS AND SPECKS ABC 1,093,000 337,000 386,000 171,000 95,000 105,000
39 ABC NEWS-SAT ABC 1,086,000 316,000 276,000 245,000 112,000 137,000
40 KATH & KIM (R) Seven 1,085,000 253,000 349,000 216,000 115,000 154,000
41 TERMINATOR: THE SARAH CONNOR CHRONICLES Nine 1,080,000 290,000 360,000 204,000 113,000 114,000
42 A YEAR WITH THE ROYAL FAMILY Nine 1,075,000 303,000 351,000 207,000 94,000 119,000
43 THE CHOPPING BLOCK Nine 1,070,000 338,000 285,000 189,000 112,000 146,000
44 KITCHEN NIGHTMARES U.S.A. Nine 1,070,000 295,000 372,000 157,000 133,000 112,000
45 AGATHA CHRISTIE'S MISS MARPLE: TOWARDS ZERO ABC 1,068,000 322,000 300,000 182,000 133,000 131,000
46 THE VICAR OF DIBLEY Seven 1,065,000 235,000 295,000 214,000 122,000 198,000
47 GETAWAY Nine 1,055,000 301,000 311,000 220,000 108,000 114,000
48 NINE NEWS SATURDAY Nine 1,048,000 260,000 314,000 262,000 117,000 95,000
49 10 TO 1 Nine 1,045,000 386,000 421,000 106,000 131,000
50 THE REAL SEACHANGE Seven 1,044,000 270,000 316,000 203,000 113,000 142,000
51 MEDIUM Ten 1,027,000 310,000 269,000 189,000 119,000 141,000
52 BROTHERS & SISTERS Seven 1,025,000 349,000 293,000 172,000 105,000 107,000
53 CSI: NY Nine 997,000 285,000 287,000 200,000 119,000 105,000
54 DALZIEL AND PASCOE ABC 978,000 316,000 260,000 153,000 129,000 121,000
55 GOOD NEWS WEEK Ten 973,000 293,000 322,000 129,000 111,000 118,000
56 CHARLIE AND THE CHOCOLATE FACTORY Nine 970,000 237,000 280,000 240,000 110,000 104,000
57 M-FINDING NEMO Seven 955,000 255,000 302,000 158,000 100,000 139,000
58 THE BIGGEST LOSER (AUS) - ELIMINATION Ten 947,000 221,000 339,000 188,000 97,000 102,000
59 LEWIS Seven 941,000 251,000 297,000 155,000 101,000 137,000
60 THE BIGGEST LOSER (AUS) Ten 914,000 216,000 292,000 189,000 99,000 118,000
61 ABC NEWS-SUN ABC 897,000 269,000 242,000 192,000 94,000 100,000
62 AUSTRALIA'S FUNNIEST HOME VIDEO SHOW Nine 896,000 224,000 246,000 232,000 95,000 99,000
63 COLLECTORS (SHORTS) ABC 893,000 252,000 256,000 172,000 99,000 114,000
64 CSI: MIAMI Nine 890,000 227,000 293,000 156,000 107,000 107,000
65 THE NEW INVENTORS ABC 888,000 295,000 261,000 147,000 84,000 102,000
66 THE AMAZING RACE Seven 886,000 210,000 276,000 179,000 105,000 115,000
67 TWO AND A HALF MEN Nine 878,000 235,000 278,000 185,000 84,000 96,000
68 AMAZING MEDICAL STORIES Nine 875,000 249,000 294,000 124,000 127,000 80,000
69 ONE DAY CRICKET - AUSTRALIA V SRI LANKA - GAME 6 SESSION 1 Nine 867,000 213,000 315,000 169,000 107,000 63,000
70 LITTLE BRITAIN ABROAD ABC 862,000 255,000 301,000 137,000 82,000 86,000
71 LOST Seven 853,000 250,000 302,000 121,000 85,000 95,000
72 7.30 REPORT ABC 853,000 267,000 250,000 150,000 84,000 101,000
73 THE 40 YEAR OLD VIRGIN Ten 851,000 259,000 240,000 131,000 110,000 111,000
74 CATALYST ABC 828,000 238,000 243,000 182,000 73,000 92,000
75 BURN NOTICE Ten 819,000 204,000 263,000 139,000 110,000 103,000
76 OUT OF THE QUESTION Seven 814,000 245,000 278,000 129,000 63,000 99,000
77 THE BILL-SAT ABC 809,000 236,000 237,000 132,000 100,000 104,000
78 FAMILY GUY Seven 797,000 235,000 259,000 120,000 89,000 95,000
79 SAVING KIDS WITH DAMIEN LEITH Ten 795,000 245,000 212,000 153,000 92,000 94,000
80 MONSTER HOUSE Nine 791,000 173,000 257,000 181,000 95,000 86,000
81 TEN NEWS AT FIVE Ten 779,000 186,000 220,000 152,000 96,000 126,000
82 CHOPPER RESCUE ABC 765,000 180,000 242,000 137,000 93,000 112,000
83 TOP GEAR SBS 761,000 212,000 231,000 163,000 97,000 58,000
(OzTAM mainland capitals)

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 at 06:45 AM
• Comments (96)

The Ratings Race: Week 7

This week of the blog is now history. To discuss the latest on Australian media, go to http://blogs.sunherald.com.au/whoweare.
To learn why State governments should be abolished, go to The next big thing.
To learn which magazines Australians like best, go to The Tribal Mind

David Dale's daily media report, updated 10 am Saturday
You may care to picture the shark in this picture as Channel Nine, which presumably makes the blue fish Channel Seven and the orange fish Channel Ten. Seven tried to pull itself out of a hole on Saturday by showing one of Australia's all time favourite movies, Finding Nemo, but that failed to stop Nine winning the first week of ratings -- thanks to Ten's skill in pulling younger viewers from Seven to watch dancing and Nine's ability to pull older viewers to watch cricket.

Shark topped the week with a prime time average of 28.7 per cent of the audience, while blue was on 27.2, orange on 22.5, ABC on 16.4 and SBS on 5.3. You'd have to think SBS made a mistake in moving Mythbusters to Saturdays, where it is drawing 400,000 fewer viewers than its Monday appearances last year.

What Australia watched, Saturday
Description Total Sydney Melbourne Brisbane Adelaide Perth
1 SEVEN NEWS - SAT Seven 1,196,000 347,000 263,000 301,000 119,000 167,000
2 DOC MARTIN RPT ABC 1,179,000 329,000 327,000 241,000 125,000 158,000
3 ABC NEWS-SAT ABC 1,086,000 316,000 276,000 245,000 112,000 137,000
4 THE VICAR OF DIBLEY Seven 1,065,000 235,000 295,000 214,000 122,000 198,000
5 NINE NEWS SAT Nine 1,048,000 260,000 314,000 262,000 117,000 95,000
6 M - CHARLIE AND THE CHOCOLATE FACTORY Nine 970,000 237,000 280,000 240,000 110,000 104,000
7 M-FINDING NEMO Seven 955,000 255,000 302,000 158,000 100,000 139,000
8 AUSTRALIA'S FUNNIEST HOME VIDEO SHOW Nine 896,000 224,000 246,000 232,000 95,000 99,000
11 The BILL ABC 809,000 236,000 237,000 132,000 100,000 104,000
15 2008 NAB CUP - BRISBANE V ESSENDON Ten 543,000 10,000 287,000 87,000 87,000 72,000
16 2008 NAB CUP - PT ADELAIDE V CARLTON Ten 513,000 43,000 226,000 50,000 132,000 62,000
24 MYTHBUSTERS SBS 304,000 93,000 78,000 64,000 39,000 30,000
(OzTAM preliminary estimates, mainland capitals)

What Australia watched, Friday
Description Total Sydney Melbourne Brisbane Adelaide Perth
1 NINE NEWS Nine 1,567,000 453,000 538,000 307,000 163,000 107,000
2 ONE DAY CRICKET - AUSTRALIA V SRI LANKA - GAME 6 SESSION 2 Nine 1,389,000 380,000 443,000 258,000 152,000 156,000
3 A CURRENT AFFAIR Nine 1,364,000 421,000 497,000 290,000 157,000 Not shown in Perth
4 SEVEN NEWS Seven 1,310,000 371,000 316,000 248,000 155,000 219,000
5 BETTER HOMES AND GARDENS Seven 1,251,000 401,000 365,000 211,000 141,000 132,000
6 HOME AND AWAY Seven 1,183,000 401,000 277,000 222,000 122,000 162,000
7 TODAY TONIGHT Seven 1,157,000 337,000 311,000 213,000 130,000 166,000
8 DALZIEL AND PASCOE ABC 978,000 316,000 260,000 153,000 129,000 121,000
12 PRIDE & PREJUDICE Ten 746,000 163,000 271,000 83,000 109,000 120,000
14 KID NATION Ten 689,000 161,000 214,000 139,000 57,000 119,000
15 THE BIGGEST LOSER (AUS) Ten 685,000 157,000 217,000 140,000 77,000 93,000
17 STATELINE ABC 616,000 164,000 180,000 124,000 90,000 58,000
25 2008 NAB CUP Seven 399,000 25,000 222,000 17,000 51,000 84,000
(OzTAM preliminary estimates, mainland capitals)

When the judge ruled that Melbourne could not see Underbelly, she raised Channel Seven's hopes of winning the week. Those hopes were dashed by the weakness of Seven's Thursday lineup, which let Nine grab 30.1 per cent of the prime time audience (to Seven's 24.7). Friday's cricket helped Nine pull further ahead.

Glenn Robbins started strongly two weeks ago, but his Out of the Question has lost 300,000 viewers and is proving a poor lead-in to Family Guy which is, in turn, delivering few viewers to Lost. What should Seven start showing at 8.30 on Thursdays to defeat Nine's RPA and Ten's SVU and turn future weeks around?

What Australia watched, Thursday
Description Total Sydney Melbourne Brisbane Adelaide Perth
1 RPA Nine 1,318,000 343,000 401,000 261,000 146,000 166,000
2 SEVEN NEWS Seven 1,253,000 365,000 289,000 280,000 133,000 187,000
3 LAW AND ORDER: SVU Ten 1,179,000 348,000 304,000 250,000 124,000 153,000
4 TODAY TONIGHT Seven 1,155,000 326,000 291,000 246,000 142,000 149,000
5 ABC NEWS ABC 1,150,000 358,000 336,000 228,000 110,000 118,000
6 NINE NEWS Nine 1,120,000 296,000 338,000 251,000 130,000 105,000
7 HOME AND AWAY Seven 1,115,000 339,000 258,000 249,000 144,000 124,000
8 A CURRENT AFFAIR Nine 1,080,000 284,000 328,000 259,000 100,000 109,000
9 KITCHEN NIGHTMARES U.S.A. Nine 1,073,000 295,000 372,000 159,000 134,000 113,000
10 GETAWAY Nine 1,051,000 301,000 311,000 220,000 106,000 113,000
11 MEDIUM Ten 1,027,000 310,000 269,000 189,000 119,000 141,000
12 THE BIGGEST LOSER (AUS) Ten 926,000 213,000 289,000 215,000 98,000 111,000
13 THE AMAZING RACE Seven 886,000 210,000 276,000 179,000 105,000 116,000
14 AMAZING MEDICAL STORIES Nine 877,000 249,000 294,000 124,000 129,000 81,000
15 LOST Seven 869,000 254,000 309,000 123,000 87,000 95,000
19 OUT OF THE QUESTION Seven 812,000 244,000 277,000 129,000 62,000 99,000
20 SAVING KIDS WITH DAMIEN LEITH Ten 795,000 245,000 212,000 153,000 92,000 94,000
21 FAMILY GUY Seven 781,000 232,000 251,000 116,000 86,000 95,000
24 LIFE ON MARS ABC 690,000 213,000 220,000 102,000 69,000 86,000
25 NEIGHBOURS Ten 667,000 136,000 224,000 132,000 68,000 106,000
27 FRIENDS Ten 555,000 125,000 215,000 73,000 67,000 75,000
29 GRAND DESIGNS ABC 460,000 143,000 125,000 73,000 52,000 67,000
30 SOUL DEEP: THE STORY OF BLACK POPULAR MUSIC ABC 460,000 138,000 168,000 63,000 48,000 42,000
32 AMERICAN DAD Seven 456,000 120,000 141,000 64,000 59,000 72,000
33 INSPECTOR REX RPT SBS 436,000 127,000 128,000 89,000 57,000 35,000
(OzTAM preliminary estimates, mainland capitals)
David Dale's daily media report, updated 10 am Thursday February 14
Impossible to tell at this point how many Australians watched the apology yesterday, because OzTAM does not have people meters in schools and some stations did not list the apology as a separate program (I've included figures in the chart below for Seven's and Ten's morning shows, which presumably contained the apology).

Despite the absence of a Melbourne audience for Underbelly (or possibly because Melbourne really likes The Shawshank Redemption), Channel Nine won Wednesday with 30.1 per cent of the prime time audience in the mainland capitals. Nine will be particularly pleased at how the audience stayed on for the second part of Underbelly after 9.30, and at how The Chopping Block has grown to an audience which matches the fan base of Gordon Ramsay. Ten will be pleased at the success of its new sitcom, Back To You, and at how House held its own against the mobsters.

Halfway through the first week of official ratings, Seven is averaging 28.0 per cent, Nine is on 27.2, Ten is on 24.1, ABC is on 15.2 (thanks to Spicks and Specks, mainly) and SBS is on 5.4. And whoopee - Life on Mars and Lost are on tonight.
What Australia watched, Wednesday
Description Total Sydney Melbourne Brisbane Adelaide Perth
1 SEVEN NEWS Seven 1,436,000 445,000 388,000 258,000 146,000 200,000
2 BACK TO YOU Ten 1,344,000 372,000 418,000 264,000 144,000 146,000
3 UNDERBELLY-SERIES PREMIERE Nine 1,326,000 630,000 -- 290,000 182,000 224,000
4 UNDERBELLY Nine 1,324,000 605,000 -- 295,000 197,000 226,000
5 NINE NEWS Nine 1,302,000 317,000 428,000 288,000 144,000 125,000
6 TODAY TONIGHT Seven 1,290,000 405,000 332,000 222,000 133,000 199,000
7 ABC NEWS ABC 1,281,000 385,000 413,000 237,000 113,000 134,000
8 HOUSE Ten 1,257,000 310,000 447,000 234,000 133,000 133,000
9 RSPCA ANIMAL RESCUE Seven 1,216,000 319,000 359,000 223,000 136,000 179,000
10 HOME AND AWAY Seven 1,202,000 371,000 301,000 222,000 137,000 171,000
11 A CURRENT AFFAIR Nine 1,196,000 323,000 384,000 268,000 131,000 90,000
12 RULES OF ENGAGEMENT Ten 1,126,000 318,000 358,000 236,000 100,000 115,000
13 SPICKS AND SPECKS ABC 1,083,000 334,000 382,000 169,000 94,000 104,000
14 THE REAL SEACHANGE Seven 1,044,000 270,000 316,000 203,000 113,000 142,000
15 THE CHOPPING BLOCK Nine 1,040,000 323,000 283,000 185,000 107,000 141,000
16 THE BIGGEST LOSER (AUS) Ten 1,001,000 267,000 330,000 182,000 94,000 128,000
22 LITTLE BRITAIN ABROAD ABC 862,000 255,000 301,000 137,000 82,000 86,000
25 NUMB3RS Ten 716,000 167,000 263,000 119,000 79,000 89,000
30 TERMINATOR: THE SARAH CONNOR CHRONICLES-ENCORE Nine 521,000 195,000 92,000 69,000 77,000 88,000
39 APOLOGY TO THE STOLEN GENERATIONS-AM ABC 393,000 139,000 161,000 28,000 30,000 35,000
46 TODAY-P.M APOLOGY Nine 297,000 88,000 85,000 77,000 26,000 20,000
54 SHAWSHANK REDEMPTION Nine 271,000 (Melbourne only)
62 THE MORNING SHOW Seven 223,000 69,000 58,000 54,000 20,000 22,000
109 9AM WITH DAVID & KIM Ten 91,000 22,000 26,000 18,000 7,000 18,000
138 THE NATIONAL APOLOGY SBS 33,000 23,000 4,000 1,000 1,000 5,000
(OzTAM preliminary estimates, mainland capitals)
Although numbers for It Takes Two were down on last year, Channel Seven swept Tuesday night, with 32 per cent of the prime time audience, and at this point in the first week of official ratings, Seven is averaging 28.7 per cent, Nine is on 26.3, Ten is on 24.6, ABC is on 14.7 and SBS is on 5.6.

With no help from its new local comedy, Monster House, little help from the Terminator (will John ever resolve the sexual tension with the teenbot?), and with Underbelly gutted by the absence of a Melbourne audience on Wednesday, it's not looking good for Nine. Ten, meanwhile, seems to have a new crime hit with Women's Murder Club.

What Australia watched, Tuesday
Description Total Sydney Melbourne Brisbane Adelaide Perth
1 SEVEN NEWS Seven 1,393,000 395,000 349,000 305,000 163,000 182,000
2 TODAY TONIGHT Seven 1,343,000 385,000 335,000 295,000 157,000 171,000
3 IT TAKES TWO Seven 1,293,000 404,000 373,000 234,000 129,000 153,000
4 HOME AND AWAY Seven 1,244,000 357,000 300,000 293,000 126,000 167,000
5 NINE NEWS Nine 1,223,000 334,000 348,000 291,000 156,000 94,000
6 WOMEN'S MURDER CLUB Ten 1,222,000 318,000 392,000 217,000 132,000 163,000
7 ALL SAINTS Seven 1,189,000 373,000 365,000 174,000 142,000 136,000
8 ABC NEWS ABC 1,183,000 287,000 394,000 241,000 110,000 150,000
9 BONDI RESCUE Ten 1,152,000 295,000 362,000 200,000 125,000 170,000
10 A CURRENT AFFAIR Nine 1,078,000 261,000 350,000 262,000 127,000 77,000
11 TERMINATOR: THE SARAH CONNOR CHRONICLES Nine 1,061,000 285,000 354,000 201,000 111,000 111,000
12 THE BIGGEST LOSER (AUS) Ten 975,000 222,000 315,000 193,000 113,000 131,000
14 CSI: MIAMI Nine 910,000 232,000 299,000 161,000 109,000 110,000
18 MONSTER HOUSE Nine 793,000 174,000 256,000 182,000 95,000 86,000
23 LIFE BEGINS Seven 590,000 169,000 196,000 81,000 75,000 68,000
24 FRIENDS Ten 585,000 121,000 193,000 114,000 70,000 86,000
31 ONE DAY CRICKET - INDIA V SRI LANKA - GAME 5 SESSION 2 Nine 430,000 124,000 123,000 100,000 55,000 28,000
33 SUNRISE Seven 375,000 112,000 65,000 106,000 35,000 57,000
44 TODAY Nine 277,000 77,000 82,000 58,000 24,000 35,000
46 EXTRAORDINARY PEOPLE RPT SBS 267,000 71,000 67,000 48,000 41,000 40,000
David Dale's daily media report, updated 10 am Tuesday February 12
Are the viewers of Australia insane? Why would they watch a formulaic, shark-jumped episode of CSI in preference to the hilarious opening of the new season of the despos? The reader who comes up with the most plausible and interesting explanation (without insulting national pride) will win a modest prize from this column.

Despite lower than expected numbers for Border Security, Desperate Housewives, and Dirty Sexy Money (what did you think of that?), Seven won Monday, with 29.9 per cent of the prime time audience. Nine got 25.9, Ten got 24.0 (SYTYCDA is The phenomenon of 2008), ABC got a pathetic 12.9 and SBS got a healthy 7.4, thanks to Top Gear. Nine and Seven are neck and neck for the week.
What Australia watched, Monday
Description Total Sydney Melbourne Brisbane Adelaide Perth
1 SYTC DANCE AUSTRALIA - TOP 100 PART 2 Network TEN 1,467,798 441,439 436,205 286,838 131,871 171,446
2 CSI Network 9 1,462,413 414,203 400,763 317,077 183,101 147,268
3 SEVEN NEWS Network 7 1,462,278 400,938 393,879 284,737 168,502 214,222
4 HOME AND AWAY Network 7 1,437,932 388,298 389,219 314,030 157,950 188,436
5 TODAY TONIGHT Network 7 1,420,906 391,989 397,110 278,643 165,169 187,994
6 BORDER SECURITY Network 7 1,351,089 344,279 369,081 313,938 149,965 173,826
7 THE FORCE Network 7 1,342,725 364,430 361,867 287,648 140,177 188,603
8 NINE NEWS Network 9 1,270,989 305,644 396,828 312,691 148,776 107,049
9 DESPERATE HOUSEWIVES Network 7 1,270,713 357,916 480,359 193,097 108,596 130,746
10 A CURRENT AFFAIR Network 9 1,187,480 282,295 416,693 273,438 104,402 110,652
11 DIRTY SEXY MONEY Network 7 1,157,480 324,119 442,087 145,904 120,418 124,952
12 ABC NEWS Network ABC 1,115,236 313,742 346,151 223,696 117,797 113,851
13 A YEAR WITH THE ROYAL FAMILY Network 9 1,067,494 300,877 350,736 207,044 91,144 117,694
14 CSI: NY Network 9 1,017,776 288,104 290,472 206,459 124,229 108,512
15 GOOD NEWS WEEK Network TEN 990,234 298,444 326,737 133,394 112,236 119,422
16 THE BIGGEST LOSER (AUS) - ELIMINATION Network TEN 947,959 220,868 339,728 188,310 96,879 102,173
19 NEIGHBOURS Network TEN 791,412 174,375 265,618 175,146 88,907 87,367
21 TOP GEAR Network SBS 749,002 208,310 227,501 160,046 95,866 57,279
23 FRIENDS Network TEN 632,845 117,546 248,266 118,181 71,876 76,976
25 APOLLO 11: THE UNTOLD STORY Network ABC 591,071 186,221 180,271 101,949 61,475 61,155
26 GUNS FOR HIRE: AFGHANISTAN Network ABC 579,244 171,640 141,805 135,003 64,827 65,969
27 SUPERNATURAL Network TEN 569,953 152,473 188,979 91,314 72,063 65,124
28 AUSTRALIAN STORY Network ABC 520,572 143,839 152,347 98,247 57,444 68,695
32 BOSTON LEGAL (R) Network 7 453,081 137,577 160,951 58,266 55,558 40,728
33 NIP/TUCK Network 9 423,425 114,727 150,544 59,043 52,521 46,590
(OzTAM preliminary estimates, mainland capitals)

The US writers' strike is over. The strikers have voted to accept the tentative deal worked out between their leaders and the big producers. Click here to read the draft agreement on payment for writers' work when their programs or movies are sold online.

Thanks to the San Jose Mercury News, here's the situation with new episodes of series that will be showing in Australia in the first half of this year:
"Boston Legal": will produce four to seven more episodes before the end of May.
"Brothers & Sisters": Returns late April with four or five new hours.
"Desperate Housewives": Back in April (in the US) with four to six episodes (in addition to the 11 Seven already has).
"Grey's Anatomy": Four or five new episodes in April and May.
"Lost": will produce five more episodes by May (in addition to the eight Seven already has).
"Ugly Betty": Four or five new episodes by May.
"Cane": Has aired its last episode.
"Cold Case": Four to six new episodes by June.
"Criminal Minds": Four to seven new episodes by May.
"CSI", CSI:Miami, CSI:NY: Four to seven new episodes by May.
"How I Met Your Mother": Returns in March with five to seven episodes.
"Mooonlight: may be back in September.
"NCIS": three or four new episodes in May.
"Without A Trace": Back in April with four to seven new episodes.
"Gossip Girl": eight new episodes by June.
"House": Four to six new episodes by May.
"30 Rock": Returning in March 10 new episodes.
"Bionic Woman": Gone.
"Heroes": Nothing new till October.
"Journeyman": Gone.
"My Name Is Earl": Six to eight new episodes by May.
"The Office": Eight episodes by May.
"Battlestar Galactica" (Sci Fi): Returns April (in the US) with the first 11 episodes of its final season. Second half will air in 2009.
"Entourage" (HBO): Back in October.
"Mad Men" (AMC): Will return mid-year as scheduled.
"Monk" (USA): Back as scheduled in mid-year.

The box office, weekend to February 10
1 FOOL`S GOLD, despite savage criticism, sold $1,949,609 worth of tickets in its first weekend.
2 JUNO made $964,162 (total $8,172,728)
3 27 DRESSES $662,309 ($14,082,191)
4 SWEENEY TODD $583,595 ($4,227,233)
5 AMERICAN GANGSTER $564,026 ($10,658,750)
6 3:10 TO YUMA $549,512 ($1,858,713)
7 THE MIST $486,585 ($486,585)
8 CHARLIE WILSON`S WAR $390,323 ($2,643,185)
9 THE JANE AUSTEN BOOK CLUB $338,002 ($1,123,611)
10 THERE WILL BE BLOOD $311,237 ($311,237)
(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)

It seems that Australians prefer cricket and dancing to medical soap opera. Grey's Anatomy got off to a slow start last night, as the under 30s stuck with So You Think You Can Dance Australia (hereinafter referred to in this column as SYTYCDA); the over 30 males stuck with Australia vs India; and the over 50s stuck with Agatha Christie.

Result of these demographic splits: Nine won the first day of the "official" ratings season with 28.2 per cent of the prime time audience, while Ten got 26.7 per cent, Seven got 24.8, ABC got 15.3 and SBS got 4.9. Seven expects to get back on top tonight with Border Security and Desperate Housewives.

To see how the soccer and American Idol went on Pay TV last week, go below. While you're there, tell us what you made of the new season of Grey's Anatomy. Has it taken that short step from amusing to annoying?

What Australia watched, Sunday
Description Total Sydney Melbourne Brisbane Adelaide Perth
1 SO YOU THINK YOU CAN DANCE AUSTRALIA - TOP 100 PART 1 Ten 1,600,000 531,000 463,000 296,000 134,000 176,000
2 ONE DAY CRICKET - AUSTRALIA V INDIA - GAME 4 SESSION 2 Nine 1,511,000 431,000 507,000 286,000 155,000 133,000
3 SEVEN NEWS - SUN Seven 1,489,000 404,000 396,000 327,000 140,000 221,000
4 NINE NEWS SUNDAY Nine 1,443,000 465,000 487,000 214,000 174,000 103,000
5 THE ZOO Seven 1,320,000 374,000 381,000 249,000 131,000 184,000
6 GREY'S ANATOMY Seven 1,247,000 371,000 356,000 209,000 136,000 175,000
7 BUSH DOCTORS Seven 1,159,000 322,000 339,000 237,000 113,000 148,000
8 THE BIGGEST LOSER (AUS) - THE WEIGH-IN Ten 1,151,000 314,000 388,000 203,000 119,000 127,000
9 ONE DAY CRICKET - AUSTRALIA V INDIA - GAME 4 SESSION 1 Nine 1,120,000 338,000 346,000 197,000 112,000 127,000
10 SAMANTHA WHO? Seven 1,101,000 256,000 349,000 210,000 127,000 159,000
11 BROTHERS & SISTERS Seven 1,075,000 366,000 304,000 182,000 107,000 116,000
12 KATH & KIM (R) Seven 1,072,000 256,000 336,000 218,000 110,000 153,000
13 AGATHA CHRISTIE'S MISS MARPLE: TOWARDS ZERO ABC 1,068,000 322,000 300,000 182,000 133,000 131,000
17 ROBIN HOOD ABC 688,000 199,000 199,000 128,000 82,000 80,000
23 WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE? SBS 529,000 139,000 174,000 65,000 55,000 96,000
(OzTAM preliminary estimates, mainland capitals)

HOW CAN Channel Nine be so cruel? On Wednesday Nine is putting its most interesting new property -- the crime series Underbelly -- up against the new season of House, when Ten has only four fresh episodes of the grumpy doctor to show.

Couldn't Nine have waited four weeks, and thus allowed intelligent viewers to enjoy both? Of course not. Nine can't afford any moment of weakness this year. It emerges from the silly season deeply damaged. Last week The Chopping Block, a blend of Gordon Ramsay and My Restaurant Rules, attracted only 718,000 viewers on its first showing -- 300,000 less than the usual fan base for Ramsay, suggesting foodies prefer aggression to cooking tips (or just can't stand Catriona Rowntree).

Seven didn't do much better -- Thursday's launch of the reinvigorated Lost drew only 912,000 and The Kylie Show on Tuesday drew 920,000. (For details, go to last week's episode of The Ratings Race).

It was Ten's week. So You Think You Can Dance Australia started on Sunday with 1.8 million, and was still managing 1.6 million on Wednesday, so Ten averaged a stunning 24.6 per cent of the prime time audience for the week (Seven got 27.6 per cent, Nine 25.1, ABC 16.7 and SBS 6.1 per cent).

If Ten's luck holds, Dr House will beat the pants off those Melbourne criminals on Wednesday.

What Pay TV subscribers watched, week ending February 9, 2008
1 LIVE: FOOTBALL: WORLD CUP QUALIFIER AUST V QATAR Fox Sports 3 345,000
2 THE SIMPSONS FOX8 282,000
3 AMERICA'S NEXT TOP MODEL 210,000
4 FAMILY GUY FOX8 170,000
5 GOSSIP GIRL FOX8 159,000
6 FUTURAMA FOX8 156,000
7 AN AUSSIE GOES BOLLY FOX8 152,000
8 LOCATION, LOCATION, LOCATION Lifestyle 149,000
9 AMERICAN IDOL FOX8 145,000
10 LIVE: FOOTBALL: A-LEAGUE SEMI FINAL Fox Sports 1 136,000
(OzTAM)

For background on popular culture, go to
The films Australia loved.
The TV shows Australia loved.
The music Australia loved.
The DVDs Australia loved.

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 10:21 AM
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