The Sun-Herald

The Who We Are update: Week 40

This week of the blog is now a heritage item. For the latest discussion, go to http://blogs.sunherald.com.au/whoweare.
To discuss if there is too much Australian content on television, go to The Tribal Mind
To discuss what movies our kids should study in English lessons, go to Who We Are

What Australia watched, Saturday
Description Total Sydney Melbourne Brisbane Adelaide Perth
1 SEVEN NEWS - SAT Seven 1,263,000 326,000 347,000 257,000 122,000 210,000
2 NINE NEWS SATURDAY Nine 1,084,000 272,000 350,000 234,000 129,000 99,000
3 AUSTRALIA'S FUNNIEST HOME VIDEO SHOW Nine 1,036,000 260,000 281,000 226,000 114,000 155,000
4 ABC NEWS-SAT ABC1 995,000 287,000 291,000 201,000 103,000 113,000
7 THE BILL ABC1 796,000 252,000 236,000 116,000 87,000 106,000
8 MEN IN BLACK II RPT Ten 795,000 178,000 308,000 143,000 84,000 82,000
9 STICK IT Nine 794,000 227,000 225,000 160,000 68,000 114,000
11 GARDENING AUSTRALIA ABC1 710,000 199,000 213,000 151,000 72,000 75,000
13 M-THE SHAGGY DOG Seven 577,000 167,000 191,000 154,000 66,000
14 M-DODGEBALL: A TRUE UNDERDOG STORY Seven 574,000 147,000 212,000 149,000 66,000
15 BLACK HAWK DOWN RPT Ten 554,000 108,000 218,000 86,000 58,000 84,000
21 MYTHBUSTERS: MACGYVER SPECIAL SBS 377,000 89,000 126,000 75,000 47,000 40,000
22 IRON CHEF RPT SBS 307,000 66,000 142,000 47,000 25,000 27,000
35 ROCKWIZ SBS 209,000 63,000 72,000 42,000 22,000 11,000

The ratings race, updated 10 am Saturday
At this point in the week, Seven is averaging 30.6 per cent of the prime time audience, with Nine on 26.2, the ABC and Ten neck and neck on 19.0 and SBS on 5.3.

What Australia watched, Friday
Description Total Sydney Melbourne Brisbane Adelaide Perth
1 BETTER HOMES AND GARDENS Seven 1,373,000 428,000 400,000 240,000 141,000 164,000
2 SEVEN NEWS Seven 1,334,000 312,000 412,000 272,000 141,000 197,000
3 TODAY TONIGHT Seven 1,179,000 283,000 377,000 224,000 119,000 176,000
4 NINE NEWS Nine 1,127,000 284,000 358,000 275,000 110,000 100,000
5 HOME AND AWAY Seven 1,097,000 327,000 350,000 199,000 109,000 112,000
6 TWO AND A HALF MEN -RPT Nine 1,091,000 296,000 368,000 225,000 97,000 104,000
7 TAGGART ABC1 1,060,000 284,000 330,000 185,000 114,000 147,000
8 A CURRENT AFFAIR Nine 992,000 218,000 370,000 221,000 103,000 80,000
12 M-WAR OF THE WORLDS Seven 807,000 227,000 276,000 139,000 83,000 81,000
17 NEIGHBOURS Ten 645,000 211,000 176,000 133,000 53,000 71,000
18 AMERICA'S NEXT TOP MODEL FRI Ten 572,000 149,000 195,000 105,000 70,000 54,000
19 SNAKES ON A PLANE Nine 545,000 157,000 174,000 82,000 62,000 71,000
31 MIAMI VICE Ten 335,000 79,000 100,000 69,000 38,000 49,000
33 ADVENTURES OF BOTTLE TOP BILL AND HIS BEST FRIEND-AM ABC1 323,000 102,000 120,000 31,000 26,000 44,000

What Australia watched, Thursday
Description Total Sydney Melbourne Brisbane Adelaide Perth
1 SEVEN NEWS Seven 1,440,000 344,000 429,000 314,000 146,000 208,000
2 TODAY TONIGHT Seven 1,280,000 316,000 374,000 247,000 143,000 200,000
3 HOME AND AWAY Seven 1,155,000 323,000 362,000 208,000 116,000 146,000
4 NINE NEWS Nine 1,092,000 310,000 357,000 254,000 100,000 72,000
5 GETAWAY Nine 1,070,000 294,000 353,000 228,000 85,000 111,000
6 TWO AND A HALF MEN -RPT Nine 1,061,000 286,000 337,000 214,000 110,000 114,000
7 GHOST WHISPERER Seven 1,049,000 304,000 331,000 183,000 90,000 141,000
8 ABC NEWS ABC1 1,041,000 295,000 323,000 221,000 75,000 127,000
9 A CURRENT AFFAIR Nine 1,040,000 299,000 342,000 225,000 104,000 71,000
10 GHOST WHISPERER - LATE Seven 971,000 270,000 318,000 149,000 94,000 140,000
11 7.30 REPORT ABC1 949,000 286,000 275,000 192,000 76,000 121,000
12 LIFE AT 3 ABC1 946,000 320,000 274,000 166,000 81,000 105,000
13 MAKE ME A SUPERMODEL Seven 928,000 257,000 292,000 168,000 89,000 122,000
14 LAW & ORDER: CRIMINAL INTENT Ten 921,000 251,000 290,000 188,000 89,000 103,000
15 THE STRIP Nine 883,000 260,000 228,000 202,000 95,000 98,000
16 ARE YOU SMARTER THAN A 5TH GRADER? Ten 871,000 211,000 316,000 165,000 74,000 106,000
22 Q & A-LE ABC1 625,000 229,000 184,000 98,000 48,000 65,000
25 FAMILY GUY Seven 482,000 127,000 174,000 75,000 54,000 52,000
31 AMERICAN DAD Seven 386,000 97,000 153,000 60,000 37,000 39,000

The ratings race, updated 10 am Thursday
What is going on? Why would a show that drew 1.3 million viewers six months ago now get only 802,000? If any reader of this blog used to be a viewer of House, please go to Comments and tell us why you stopped and what you are doing instead. You don't seem to be watching Spicks and Specks in any greater numbers, and you're certainly not watching The Hollowmen. Nor are you watching Nine's new sci fi thriller Fringe. So where the hell are you? Please explain before Ten exiles the grumpy doctor and his team to Yasminland.

Seven is averaging 30.9 per cent of the prime time audience, with Nine on 25.7, Ten on 19.6, ABC on 18.5 and SBS on 5.3. The question now is not who will win the year, but whether Nine can improve on its (record low) share of 2007.

What Australia watched, Wednesday
Description Total Sydney Melbourne Brisbane Adelaide Perth
1 TWO AND A HALF MEN -WED EP2 Nine 1,651,000 474,000 547,000 300,000 150,000 180,000
2 TWO AND A HALF MEN -WED Nine 1,512,000 426,000 492,000 279,000 150,000 165,000
3 SEVEN NEWS Seven 1,497,000 388,000 420,000 300,000 156,000 233,000
4 MEDICAL EMERGENCY Seven 1,338,000 369,000 387,000 260,000 143,000 179,000
5 TODAY TONIGHT Seven 1,317,000 317,000 397,000 268,000 130,000 205,000
6 CRIMINAL MINDS Seven 1,312,000 334,000 413,000 232,000 147,000 185,000
7 CRASH INVESTIGATION UNIT Seven 1,257,000 357,000 374,000 236,000 124,000 167,000
8 TWO AND A HALF MEN -RPT Nine 1,234,000 325,000 381,000 263,000 136,000 128,000
9 HOME AND AWAY Seven 1,212,000 373,000 357,000 208,000 120,000 155,000
10 SPICKS AND SPECKS ABC1 1,165,000 367,000 348,000 194,000 111,000 144,000
11 NINE NEWS Nine 1,148,000 296,000 390,000 245,000 118,000 98,000
12 A CURRENT AFFAIR Nine 1,104,000 310,000 329,000 247,000 118,000 101,000
15 FRINGE Nine 901,000 260,000 275,000 187,000 86,000 93,000
16 THE HOLLOWMEN ABC1 877,000 261,000 281,000 138,000 86,000 111,000
19 HOUSE Ten 802,000 228,000 263,000 127,000 87,000 96,000
23 LIFE Ten 682,000 145,000 231,000 145,000 79,000 82,000
24 KENNY'S WORLD Ten 664,000 190,000 181,000 108,000 90,000 95,000
25 BONDI RESCUE: BALI Ten 632,000 197,000 157,000 127,000 62,000 88,000
27 VERY SMALL BUSINESS ABC1 608,000 186,000 204,000 88,000 56,000 74,000
28 FRIENDS - DAILY Ten 598,000 170,000 171,000 105,000 70,000 82,000
29 KITCHEN NIGHTMARES U.S.A. Nine 593,000 162,000 206,000 85,000 82,000 58,000
42 ALAN SUGAR: THE APPRENTICE Seven 319,000 86,000 95,000 50,000 49,000 39,000
89 NEWSTOPIA SBS 142,000 41,000 41,000 41,000 7,000 13,000

What Australia watched, Tuesday
Description Total Sydney Melbourne Brisbane Adelaide Perth
1 PACKED TO THE RAFTERS Seven 1,836,000 581,000 595,000 284,000 152,000 223,000
2 FIND MY FAMILY Seven 1,701,000 500,000 525,000 327,000 143,000 206,000
3 RSPCA ANIMAL RESCUE Seven 1,617,000 430,000 459,000 340,000 149,000 239,000
4 SEVEN NEWS Seven 1,507,000 399,000 396,000 318,000 158,000 236,000
5 NCIS Ten 1,320,000 347,000 361,000 283,000 152,000 176,000
6 TODAY TONIGHT Seven 1,302,000 355,000 343,000 233,000 143,000 228,000
7 ALL SAINTS Seven 1,285,000 410,000 419,000 150,000 133,000 173,000
8 HOME AND AWAY Seven 1,267,000 391,000 328,000 242,000 129,000 176,000
9 TWO AND A HALF MEN -RPT Nine 1,252,000 330,000 383,000 258,000 128,000 153,000
10 A CURRENT AFFAIR Nine 1,205,000 308,000 354,000 281,000 129,000 133,000
11 ABC NEWS ABC1 1,170,000 334,000 347,000 232,000 96,000 161,000
12 NINE NEWS Nine 1,128,000 298,000 341,000 270,000 114,000 105,000
13 WIPEOUT Nine 1,092,000 276,000 349,000 184,000 125,000 158,000
16 20 TO 1 Nine 944,000 318,000 273,000 162,000 89,000 102,000
19 RUSH Ten 871,000 209,000 307,000 165,000 98,000 93,000
20 TWO IN THE TOP END ABC1 861,000 272,000 253,000 167,000 76,000 94,000
30 SURVIVOR: MICRONESIA - FANS VS FAVOURITES Nine 463,000 146,000 167,000 50,000 51,000 49,000
35 MAKE ME A SUPERMODEL: OFF THE RUNWAY Seven 419,000 127,000 124,000 59,000 53,000 56,000
63 BANANAS IN PYJAMAS-AM ABC1 217,000 54,000 76,000 30,000 16,000 41,000
69 GIRLS OF THE PLAYBOY MANSION Nine 204,000 68,000 63,000 31,000 28,000 14,000
(OzTAM preliminary estimates, mainland capitals)

What Australia watched, Monday
Description Total Sydney Melbourne Brisbane Adelaide Perth
1 CITY HOMICIDE Seven 1,670,000 447,000 521,000 303,000 177,000 222,000
2 THE FORCE Seven 1,627,000 467,000 447,000 308,000 154,000 251,000
3 SEVEN NEWS Seven 1,581,000 434,000 450,000 321,000 156,000 221,000
4 BORDER SECURITY Seven 1,481,000 419,000 407,000 295,000 146,000 214,000
5 TODAY TONIGHT Seven 1,443,000 398,000 389,000 264,000 167,000 224,000
6 HOME AND AWAY Seven 1,257,000 373,000 361,000 222,000 132,000 170,000
7 TWO AND A HALF MEN -MON Nine 1,198,000 336,000 402,000 212,000 116,000 132,000
8 TWO AND A HALF MEN -RPT Nine 1,193,000 313,000 376,000 258,000 122,000 124,000
9 ABC NEWS ABC1 1,173,000 325,000 345,000 223,000 109,000 171,000
10 BONES - MON Seven 1,159,000 300,000 348,000 217,000 140,000 154,000
11 NINE NEWS Nine 1,144,000 322,000 319,000 273,000 123,000 107,000
12 A CURRENT AFFAIR Nine 1,140,000 306,000 324,000 272,000 129,000 109,000
13 TOP GEAR AUSTRALIA SBS 933,000 270,000 321,000 160,000 88,000 94,000 (see below for last week's British score)
14 AUSTRALIAN STORY ABC1 902,000 260,000 284,000 184,000 72,000 102,000
15 AUSTRALIAN IDOL - THE LIVE VERDICT Ten 893,000 269,000 236,000 166,000 128,000 93,000
16 TIL DEATH Nine 888,000 243,000 314,000 169,000 71,000 91,000
19 ENOUGH ROPE WITH ANDREW DENTON-LE ABC1 820,000 262,000 262,000 119,000 74,000 102,000
24 THE TRIANGLE Nine 709,000 217,000 236,000 132,000 67,000 57,000
25 90210 Ten 616,000 203,000 161,000 120,000 69,000 62,000
32 BURN NOTICE MON Ten 438,000 123,000 132,000 79,000 60,000 44,000
33 OUT OF THE QUESTION - MON Seven 437,000 108,000 144,000 69,000 59,000 56,000
34 SOUTH PARK SBS 430,000 101,000 131,000 90,000 55,000 54,000
46 BOSTON LEGAL Seven 310,000 61,000 117,000 53,000 43,000 36,000
53 THE MIGHTY BOOSH SBS 254,000 59,000 60,000 55,000 40,000 40,000

The ratings race, updated 10am Monday
It's that time of year when sport splits the nation. The AFL Grand Final drew 2.49 million viewers in the mainland capitals on Saturday (way below the 3.15 million it managed in 2006). Meanwhile only 898,000 watched the NRL preliminary final. The AFL total included included 331,000 Sydneysiders, while the biffo could manage only 24,000 southerners (to see how this year's results fit with the most watched shows of the 21st century, go to The culture).

That result clinched the week for Channel Seven, which averaged 29.9 per cent of the prime time audience, while Nine got 27.1, Ten 20.0, ABC 17.8, and SBS 5.2. Apart from the footy, the most watched shows included Packed To The Rafters (7), Find My Family (7), Border Security (7) and Wednesday's new episodes of Nine's latest Bandaid Two and A Half Men (9). You can see the full Top 40 chart below.

The mystery of the week was why the new season opener of House drew only 914,000, after the previous season had averaged 1.3 million. One theory is that the show which preceded it, Kenny's World, is actively driving viewers away from Channel Ten. Kenny's audience has trickled down from a million to 754,000 in three weeks. Ten's only consolation last week was 1.3 million for Australian Idol, which beat Seven's former champion Dancing With The Stars.

The ABC scored with Spicks and Specks, Midsomer Murders and Doctor Who (all 1.2m) while SBS was pleased with 939,000 for Top Gear and 442,000 for South Park. Pay TV scored with Futurama (Fox 8) 191,000 Camp Rock (Disney Channel) 190,000 and Family Guy (Fox 8) 183,000.

Over the ratings year so far, excluding the Olympics, Seven has an audience share of 28.0 per cent, while Nine has 27.5. That looks bad for Nine but last year was worse -- its audience is up 1 per cent while Seven's is down 3.2 (and the ABC's is up 6.6).

On Sunday the main channels were nearly neck and neck -- Nine with 25.3 per cent thanks to 60 Minutes and CSI Miami, Seven with 24.6 thanks to a resurgent Dancing With The Stars, Ten with 23.4 thanks to Australian Idol, and ABC with 22.3 thanks to the "death" of Donna Noble (nicely positioned for a Rose-style revisit in two years). That left SBS with a mere 4.4.

What Australia watched, Sunday
Description Total Sydney Melbourne Brisbane Adelaide Perth
1 SEVEN NEWS - SUN Seven 1,448,000 396,000 420,000 316,000 134,000 181,000
2 60 MINUTES Nine 1,343,000 363,000 408,000 285,000 134,000 152,000
3 DANCING WITH THE STARS 8 Seven 1,213,000 361,000 412,000 203,000 99,000 138,000
4 DOCTOR WHO ABC1 1,207,000 391,000 334,000 229,000 127,000 125,000
5 AUSTRALIAN IDOL Ten 1,202,000 389,000 332,000 233,000 134,000 115,000
6 MIDSOMER MURDERS ABC1 1,184,000 385,000 360,000 187,000 121,000 131,000
7 NINE NEWS SUNDAY Nine 1,181,000 305,000 384,000 248,000 151,000 94,000
8 ABC NEWS-SUN ABC1 1,181,000 321,000 373,000 231,000 111,000 145,000
9 ABC NEWS UPDATE ABC1 1,154,000 383,000 330,000 184,000 122,000 136,000
10 CSI: MIAMI Nine 1,053,000 297,000 312,000 214,000 114,000 117,000
11 THE OUTDOOR ROOM WITH JAMIE DURIE Seven 1,047,000 321,000 305,000 203,000 96,000 121,000
13 BATTLEFRONTS Nine 963,000 261,000 302,000 209,000 111,000 79,000
14 OUTBACK WILDLIFE RESCUE Seven 961,000 274,000 306,000 173,000 92,000 115,000
15 ROVE Ten 892,000 223,000 323,000 146,000 102,000 98,000
19 PRIVATE PRACTICE Seven 685,000 198,000 229,000 118,000 66,000 74,000
21 DEXTER Ten 611,000 146,000 213,000 89,000 89,000 74,000
27 JAMES MAY'S 20TH CENTURY SBS 356,000 103,000 98,000 80,000 47,000 27,000
37 WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE? SBS 257,000 66,000 89,000 47,000 38,000 17,000
42 DOCTOR WHO: CONFIDENTIAL CUTDOWN ABC1 223,000 87,000 50,000 32,000 24,000 31,000
(OzTAM preliminary estimates, mainland capitals)

What Australia watched, week ending September 27
Description Total Sydney Melbourne Brisbane Adelaide Perth
1 SEVEN'S AFL: GRAND FINAL Seven 2,490,000 331,000 1,295,000 231,000 304,000 329,000
2 SEVEN'S AFL: GRAND FINAL: PRESENTATIONS Seven 2,467,000 347,000 1,246,000 241,000 322,000 310,000
3 SEVEN'S AFL: GRAND FINAL: POST-MATCH Seven 2,008,000 281,000 1,059,000 196,000 241,000 230,000
4 SEVEN NEWS - SAT Seven 2,006,000 376,000 914,000 255,000 215,000 246,000
5 PACKED TO THE RAFTERS Seven 1,943,000 577,000 580,000 383,000 168,000 235,000
6 FIND MY FAMILY Seven 1,738,000 471,000 488,000 337,000 192,000 250,000
7 BORDER SECURITY Seven 1,717,000 551,000 478,000 308,000 170,000 210,000
8 RSPCA ANIMAL RESCUE Seven 1,707,000 480,000 474,000 318,000 171,000 264,000
9 SEVEN'S AFL: GRAND FINAL PRE-MATCH ENTERTAINMENT Seven 1,640,000 153,000 953,000 137,000 199,000 198,000
10 THE FORCE Seven 1,594,000 476,000 426,000 297,000 165,000 231,000
11 TWO AND A HALF MEN -WED EP2 Nine 1,543,000 489,000 500,000 254,000 144,000 156,000
12 CITY HOMICIDE Seven 1,486,000 512,000 343,000 286,000 173,000 172,000
13 SEVEN NEWS Seven 1,483,000 410,000 386,000 294,000 164,000 230,000
14 TWO AND A HALF MEN -WED Nine 1,451,000 395,000 495,000 268,000 154,000 139,000
15 SEVEN NEWS - SUN Seven 1,439,000 318,000 382,000 346,000 154,000 238,000
16 MEDICAL EMERGENCY Seven 1,398,000 368,000 390,000 278,000 147,000 214,000
17 TODAY TONIGHT Seven 1,374,000 364,000 383,000 255,000 160,000 212,000
18 AUSTRALIAN IDOL Ten 1,340,000 454,000 393,000 228,000 135,000 130,000
19 CRIMINAL MINDS Seven 1,321,000 374,000 380,000 251,000 135,000 181,000
20 NINE NEWS SUNDAY Nine 1,303,000 389,000 413,000 236,000 155,000 110,000
21 CRASH INVESTIGATION UNIT Seven 1,297,000 359,000 334,000 263,000 141,000 200,000
22 BETTER HOMES AND GARDENS Seven 1,294,000 339,000 390,000 252,000 131,000 182,000
23 60 MINUTES Nine 1,266,000 351,000 372,000 247,000 119,000 177,000
24 SPICKS AND SPECKS ABC1 1,248,000 424,000 368,000 201,000 101,000 154,000
25 HOME AND AWAY Seven 1,232,000 354,000 359,000 220,000 133,000 167,000
26 WIPEOUT Nine 1,231,000 353,000 422,000 199,000 129,000 128,000
27 MIDSOMER MURDERS ABC1 1,218,000 354,000 355,000 193,000 139,000 177,000
28 GETAWAY Nine 1,216,000 329,000 404,000 227,000 111,000 146,000
29 RUGBY LEAGUE FINAL SERIES PF1 Nine 1,214,000 597,000 273,000 327,000 8,000 9,000
30 ALL SAINTS Seven 1,213,000 361,000 402,000 162,000 132,000 157,000
31 TWO AND A HALF MEN -RPT Nine 1,211,000 342,000 371,000 235,000 130,000 132,000
32 NINE NEWS Nine 1,202,000 320,000 373,000 267,000 135,000 108,000
33 M-CARS Seven 1,195,000 278,000 459,000 192,000 132,000 134,000
34 BATTLEFRONTS Nine 1,174,000 346,000 313,000 230,000 148,000 137,000
35 ABC NEWS-SU ABC1 1,159,000 327,000 360,000 203,000 125,000 145,000
36 DOCTOR WHO ABC1 1,156,000 371,000 280,000 212,000 124,000 169,000
37 SEVEN NEWS SPECIAL: YOUR MONEY - SURVIVING THE CRASH Seven 1,148,000 265,000 358,000 254,000 107,000 163,000
38 AUSTRALIAN IDOL - THE LIVE VERDICT Ten 1,140,000 338,000 394,000 173,000 132,000 102,000
39 THE FOOTY SHOW Nine 1,129,000 214,000 599,000 101,000 123,000 91,000
40 A CURRENT AFFAIR Nine 1,125,000 299,000 362,000 250,000 117,000 98,000
(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 whoweare-index at 10:44 AM
• Comments (94)

The Tribal Mind: Clever or just a passing phrase?

To discuss what Australia history our kids should learn, go to Who We Are

by David Dale
HOW you doin? Note the italics in the middle. Those three words provoked a small punchup between this column and some of its readers. The argument was over whether it's a classic example of clever screenwriting, worthy of celebration at this year's Emmy Awards ceremony, or merely a catchphrase hallowed by repetition.

The fight started when I asked readers to nominate memorable dialogue from Australian television (here), then lamented that most of the suggestions ("What's that, Skip?"; "Leave the money on the fridge"; "Puck you, Miss"; "Look at moiye"; "She goes, she goes"; "Game on, moll") were more in the nature of catchphrases than clever writing (here).

Some readers wrote to complain that when I introduced the topic, I had given "How you doin?" as an example of the kind of writing that is being celebrated at the Emmys. They objected that this pickup line used by Joey Tribbiani in Friends was just a catchphrase.

For me, the line, accompanied by a leer, encapsulates Joey's character - his lustfulness, his stupidity, his vanity, and his attitude to women. It turned into a catchphrase precisely because brevity is the soul of wit.

Other readers took up the challenge and sent these examples from 52 years of Australian TV writing:

"Are you trying to feel me up?" "No, I just mistook your boob for an M and M." (The Secret Life of Us)

"There's an ancient current affairs recipe my grandmother gave me: take any story, add sex and stir." (Frontline)

"Get your head out of your date, Bill. Where are my hookers?" (Stingers)

"You're my second best friend. You can't be my best friend. Brian's my best friend!" (The Mavis Bramston Show)

Kim: "I've got the concept for the new kitchen. We've decided we want solid monogamy!" Kath: "Oh no, monogamy's so old fashioned. You just need a veneer of monogamy. That's all people care about". (Kath and Kim)

"This beer is gonna taste so good I'll probably have another." (Police Rescue)

"You don't know whether you're Siddartha or Martha." (Love My Way)

"Dick Smith is currently fighting a court battle with Arnott's. They've accused him of ripping off their Tim Tam range of biscuits with his own TempTins. This is not the first time Dick's done this to Arnott's. If I could draw your attention to Exhibit B: Arnott's very popular Scotch Fingers. This is Dick Smith's slightly less popular Scotch Thumbs. Not quite as long and not so many.
"Here's another one. Arnott's Gaiety biscuits. Here's Dick Smith's: Homosexuality biscuits. It's your choice and a perfectly valid one. And I used to love these as a kid -- Arnott's Iced Vovos. Here's Dick's: Miced Volvos. That one doesn't even make any sense." (Micallef)

Have a look at the Emmys today and be inspired or appalled. Then go to Comments to send us more examples of Australian creativity.

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 at 06:01 AM
• Comments (3)

WHO WE ARE: Big Ideas beat big battles

To discuss the smartest lines ever written for Australian television, go to The Tribal Mind
For regular updates on Australian attitudes, bookmark http://blogs.sunherald.com.au/whoweare.

A column about Australia by David Dale, published in The Sun-Herald, 21/9/2008
What is the core knowledge every Australian child needs before starting adulthood? That question is worrying a new body called the National Curriculum Board, which met in Sydney last week to start building a syllabus for history, English, science and maths that will apply across all schools from 2010. We can leave the experts alone with the last two. But we can and should offer them help in deciding what is our essential history.

Traditionally history lessons convinced kids Australia is one of the most boring places on the planet. While Europe offered wars, murders, revolution and romance, Australia was all about wheat, sheep and explorers interminably crossing deserts. I've only just discovered that in reality, Australia in the 19th century was a fascinating place, where visionary people were passionately debating ideas with powerful resonance today.

In the 1830s, 160 years before Paul Keating, a teacher named Robert Lyon gave speeches urging the settlers to sign a treaty with the Aborigines: "They did not go to the British Isles to make war upon you; but ye came from the British Isles to make war upon them.

"They have all along shown themselves ready to be reconciled, desirous to live in peace and amity with you and even willing to be taught your manners, laws and polity ... Ye destroy the natural productions of the soil on which they live, ye devour their fish and their game, and ye drive them from the abodes of their ancestors." He warned that if the relationship was not resolved, "your own children, for whose sakes ye have invaded the country, will join with the disinherited offspring of those ye have slain to pour a flood of curses upon your memory."

In 1849 - 150 years before Malcolm Turnbull was pushing a republic -- we came close to an American-style revolution against Britain over the use of convicts as slaves for rich landowners. A lawyer named Robert Lowe gathered 5000 people at Circular Quay to block the landing of a convict ship and said: "I view this attempt to inflict the worst and most degrading slavery on the colony only as a sequence of that oppressive tyranny which has confiscated the lands of the colony for the benefit of a class.

"As in America, oppression was the parent of independence, so it will be in this colony. And so, sure as the seed will grow into the plant, and the plant to the tree, in all times, and in all nations, so will injustice and tyranny ripen into rebellion, and rebellion into independence." (Two years later Britain stopped sending convicts to the east coast).

And in 1889, 80 years before Germaine Greer, Louisa Lawson was examining the legal rights of women: "Here in New South Wales, every man may vote, let his character be bad, his judgement purchasable and his intellect of the weakest, but an honourable and thoughtful and good woman may be laughed at by such men ... In divorce, men are protected from infidelity: not women. Wives may still be forced to live in the same house with a husband whom they hate and fear."

At the time, those ideas were radical -- not just for Australia but for the world. But we didn't think enough of ourselves to include people like Lyon, Lowe and Lawson in the conventional history syllabus. They deserve to be remembered more than the likes of Blaxland, Leichhardt and Burke. Now is our chance.

Go to Comments to tell us what else should be in the core curriculum. Next week's column will look at what should be in a national English syllabus.

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 whoweare-index at 10:22 PM
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The Who We Are update: Week 41

This week of the blog is no longer current. For the latest discusion of media in Aiustralia, go to http://blogs.sunherald.com.au/whoweare.
To discuss how to make Australians eat kangaroo, go to Who We Are.
To celebrate the birthday of Daffy Duck, go to The Tribal Mind.

What Australia watched, Saturday
Description Total Sydney Melbourne Brisbane Adelaide Perth
1 SEVEN NEWS - SAT Seven 1,275,000 340,000 327,000 309,000 109,000 190,000
2 NINE NEWS SATURDAY Nine 1,025,000 261,000 304,000 264,000 104,000 92,000
3 ABC NEWS-SAT ABC1 950,000 247,000 284,000 198,000 89,000 131,000
4 M-HOLES Seven 935,000 264,000 203,000 232,000 95,000 141,000
5 THE BILL ABC1 932,000 310,000 259,000 166,000 93,000 103,000
6 AUSTRALIA'S FUNNIEST HOME VIDEO SHOW Nine 914,000 231,000 224,000 230,000 80,000 149,000
9 SEVEN'S V8 SUPERCARS ROUND 10: BATHURST D2 - TOP 10 SHOOTOUT Seven 749,000 237,000 213,000 170,000 81,000 48,000
10 SEVEN'S V8 SUPERCARS ROUND 10: BATHURST D2 - AFTERNOON Seven 746,000 231,000 209,000 171,000 88,000 48,000
12 GARDENING AUSTRALIA ABC1 634,000 142,000 193,000 148,000 59,000 92,000
13 M-ALIEN VS. PREDATOR Seven 615,000 170,000 176,000 128,000 67,000 75,000
18 OLIVER TWIST Nine 542,000 141,000 170,000 108,000 54,000 70,000
19 SEVEN'S V8 SUPERCARS ROUND 10: BATHURST D2 - EARLY Seven 497,000 164,000 111,000 125,000 58,000 38,000
24 MYTHBUSTERS RPT SBS 307,000 83,000 76,000 68,000 36,000 44,000
27 NO WAY, GET F*#KED, F*#K OFF SBS 276,000 72,000 91,000 48,000 37,000 29,000
30 IRON CHEF RPT SBS 263,000 75,000 91,000 43,000 24,000 31,000
31 ROCKWIZ SBS 245,000 60,000 57,000 51,000 39,000 39,000

At this point in the week, Channel Seven has 31.2 per cent of the prime time audience and Nine has 26.4 per cent, with Ten on 19.6, ABC on 17.9 and SBS on 4.9.

What Australia watched, Friday
Description Total Sydney Melbourne Brisbane Adelaide Perth
1 BETTER HOMES AND GARDENS Seven 1,447,000 424,000 422,000 264,000 147,000 190,000
2 SEVEN NEWS Seven 1,260,000 284,000 328,000 278,000 153,000 217,000
3 TODAY TONIGHT Seven 1,256,000 309,000 356,000 252,000 136,000 202,000
4 HOME AND AWAY Seven 1,083,000 300,000 299,000 215,000 125,000 144,000
5 M-EIGHT BELOW Seven 1,014,000 276,000 352,000 176,000 101,000 109,000
6 TWO AND A HALF MEN -RPT Nine 990,000 246,000 301,000 227,000 87,000 129,000
7 NINE NEWS Nine 987,000 238,000 331,000 229,000 96,000 94,000
8 TAGGART ABC1 951,000 272,000 298,000 150,000 110,000 121,000
9 ABC NEWS ABC1 924,000 271,000 277,000 152,000 87,000 137,000
10 A CURRENT AFFAIR Nine 846,000 212,000 259,000 200,000 83,000 91,000
13 THE BOURNE SUPREMACY RPT Ten 709,000 224,000 232,000 116,000 70,000 68,000
14 HOLE IN THE WALL -FRI Nine 673,000 192,000 188,000 117,000 79,000 97,000
16 WIPEOUT -FRI Nine 662,000 192,000 182,000 114,000 89,000 86,000
17 AMERICA'S NEXT TOP MODEL FRI Ten 659,000 190,000 196,000 119,000 58,000 97,000

What Australia watched, Thursday
Description Total Sydney Melbourne Brisbane Adelaide Perth
1 SEVEN NEWS Seven 1,293,000 265,000 371,000 298,000 143,000 215,000
2 TODAY TONIGHT Seven 1,209,000 276,000 339,000 252,000 139,000 203,000
3 HOME AND AWAY Seven 1,137,000 297,000 367,000 220,000 109,000 144,000
4 LAW & ORDER: CRIMINAL INTENT Ten 1,022,000 270,000 320,000 187,000 119,000 127,000
5 NINE NEWS Nine 1,016,000 237,000 336,000 255,000 94,000 94,000
6 GETAWAY Nine 996,000 286,000 277,000 202,000 107,000 124,000
7 TWO AND A HALF MEN -RPT Nine 996,000 224,000 300,000 240,000 91,000 141,000
8 RPA Nine 964,000 272,000 277,000 159,000 133,000 124,000
9 THE STRIP Nine 957,000 282,000 245,000 207,000 102,000 121,000
10 A CURRENT AFFAIR Nine 957,000 222,000 324,000 226,000 93,000 93,000
11 ABC NEWS ABC1 935,000 235,000 267,000 209,000 82,000 142,000
12 MAKE ME A SUPERMODEL Seven 931,000 242,000 288,000 196,000 96,000 109,000
16 HEROES - THU Seven 878,000 199,000 317,000 165,000 94,000 103,000
17 ARE YOU SMARTER THAN A 5TH GRADER? Ten 809,000 196,000 252,000 146,000 81,000 134,000
19 HEROES - EP 2 Seven 785,000 185,000 285,000 146,000 87,000 82,000
30 PRISON BREAK - THU Seven 387,000 113,000 141,000 60,000 49,000 24,000
32 INSPECTOR REX RPT SBS 336,000 77,000 116,000 71,000 29,000 43,000

The ratings race, updated 10 am Thursday
It's symbolic of the collapse of Channel Nine's fortunes that it can't even win a week that starts with the NRL grand final. It's symbolic of the collapse of Channel Ten's fortunes that even a former winner such as Jamie Oliver doesn't work any better than Kenny as a lead-in to House, which would now seem to be in terminal condition.

What Australia watched, Wednesday
Description Total Sydney Melbourne Brisbane Adelaide Perth
1 TWO AND A HALF MEN -WED EP2 Nine 1,449,000 431,000 418,000 304,000 141,000 155,000
2 TWO AND A HALF MEN -WED Nine 1,385,000 396,000 447,000 250,000 140,000 152,000
3 CRIMINAL MINDS Seven 1,366,000 305,000 437,000 278,000 159,000 188,000
4 SPICKS AND SPECKS ABC1 1,341,000 411,000 425,000 208,000 124,000 174,000
5 SEVEN NEWS Seven 1,336,000 294,000 371,000 285,000 149,000 237,000
6 MEDICAL EMERGENCY Seven 1,301,000 344,000 375,000 248,000 146,000 188,000
7 CRIMINAL MINDS (R) Seven 1,224,000 297,000 401,000 210,000 150,000 165,000
8 TODAY TONIGHT Seven 1,199,000 258,000 355,000 242,000 124,000 219,000
9 TWO AND A HALF MEN -RPT Nine 1,198,000 347,000 388,000 220,000 127,000 115,000
10 CRASH INVESTIGATION UNIT Seven 1,162,000 330,000 304,000 235,000 115,000 178,000
16 THE HOLLOWMEN ABC1 931,000 269,000 311,000 140,000 92,000 119,000
17 THE NEW INVENTORS ABC1 885,000 281,000 247,000 154,000 94,000 109,000
18 HOUSE Ten 858,000 288,000 235,000 140,000 74,000 121,000
19 FRINGE Nine 771,000 237,000 210,000 177,000 66,000 80,000
20 JAMIE'S MINISTRY OF FOOD Ten 764,000 199,000 242,000 157,000 64,000 103,000
22 LIFE Ten 699,000 199,000 212,000 126,000 64,000 98,000
27 VERY SMALL BUSINESS ABC1 602,000 152,000 216,000 106,000 54,000 75,000
28 THE MENTALIST -ENCORE Nine 530,000 175,000 185,000 55,000 55,000 60,000
33 AT THE MOVIES ABC1 385,000 111,000 143,000 68,000 30,000 32,000

What Australia watched, Tuesday
Description Total Sydney Melbourne Brisbane Adelaide Perth
1 PACKED TO THE RAFTERS Seven 1,979,000 622,000 629,000 343,000 183,000 203,000
2 FIND MY FAMILY Seven 1,798,000 486,000 544,000 351,000 173,000 244,000
3 RSPCA ANIMAL RESCUE Seven 1,509,000 393,000 462,000 289,000 158,000 205,000
4 SEVEN NEWS Seven 1,426,000 348,000 419,000 270,000 155,000 233,000
5 ALL SAINTS Seven 1,377,000 436,000 459,000 165,000 155,000 162,000
6 TODAY TONIGHT Seven 1,360,000 330,000 408,000 231,000 158,000 233,000
7 NCIS Ten 1,296,000 326,000 387,000 252,000 163,000 169,000
8 HOME AND AWAY Seven 1,217,000 373,000 354,000 208,000 129,000 153,000
9 TWO AND A HALF MEN -RPT Nine 1,154,000 259,000 412,000 234,000 128,000 121,000
10 NINE NEWS Nine 1,141,000 291,000 376,000 251,000 110,000 114,000
20 RUSH Ten 833,000 170,000 290,000 166,000 125,000 82,000
21 THE ALL NEW SIMPSONS Ten 823,000 156,000 282,000 170,000 106,000 109,000
32 SURVIVOR: MICRONESIA - FANS VS FAVOURITES Nine 467,000 149,000 178,000 55,000 52,000 33,000
62 30 ROCK Seven 215,000 70,000 53,000 33,000 30,000 29,000

The ratings race, updated 11am Tuesday
The Australian version of Top Gear lost 300,000 viewers between its first and second showings, but we might attribute this to the holiday factor. Sydney and Adelaide had Monday off, and some households with peoplemeters may well have been away (driving through the desert?).

Mind you, City Homicide, Border Security and Two and a Half Men were unaffected by The Holiday Factor. SBS will be biting its nails till next Monday.

What Australia watched, Monday
Description Total Sydney Melbourne Brisbane Adelaide Perth
1 CITY HOMICIDE Seven 1,701,000 471,000 553,000 320,000 169,000 187,000
2 THE FORCE Seven 1,681,000 450,000 517,000 310,000 155,000 249,000
3 BORDER SECURITY Seven 1,592,000 469,000 460,000 310,000 148,000 206,000
4 SEVEN NEWS Seven 1,403,000 315,000 412,000 301,000 172,000 202,000
5 HOME AND AWAY Seven 1,313,000 365,000 395,000 264,000 131,000 157,000
6 TWO AND A HALF MEN -MON Nine 1,301,000 331,000 434,000 282,000 128,000 126,000
7 TODAY TONIGHT Seven 1,299,000 293,000 399,000 257,000 134,000 215,000
8 TWO AND A HALF MEN -RPT Nine 1,213,000 315,000 379,000 288,000 121,000 110,000
9 NINE NEWS Nine 1,194,000 326,000 381,000 266,000 134,000 87,000
10 ABC NEWS ABC1 1,153,000 275,000 349,000 237,000 113,000 178,000
11 A CURRENT AFFAIR Nine 1,132,000 263,000 393,000 262,000 116,000 98,000
12 BONES - MON Seven 1,016,000 277,000 319,000 178,000 134,000 108,000
13 AUSTRALIAN IDOL - THE LIVE VERDICT Ten 964,000 283,000 294,000 179,000 111,000 96,000
14 TIL DEATH Nine 957,000 265,000 305,000 193,000 83,000 112,000
15 AUSTRALIAN STORY ABC1 916,000 267,000 247,000 197,000 95,000 110,000
16 FOUR CORNERS ABC1 893,000 283,000 237,000 176,000 76,000 122,000
17 16 BLOCKS Nine 866,000 256,000 242,000 184,000 87,000 96,000
20 TEN NEWS AT FIVE Ten 807,000 218,000 227,000 148,000 90,000 125,000
21 ENOUGH ROPE WITH ANDREW DENTON ABC1 799,000 253,000 270,000 114,000 64,000 98,000
22 SUPERNATURAL EP 1 Ten 777,000 206,000 231,000 139,000 108,000 94,000
23 MEDIA WATCH ABC1 750,000 252,000 205,000 126,000 64,000 103,000
24 SUPERNATURAL EP 2 Ten 708,000 200,000 192,000 123,000 96,000 97,000
26 TOP GEAR AUSTRALIA SBS 674,000 189,000 216,000 130,000 88,000 51,000
31 OUT OF THE QUESTION - MON Seven 468,000 108,000 184,000 83,000 62,000 31,000
35 BOGAN PRIDE SBS 376,000 84,000 147,000 53,000 53,000 39,000
37 SOUTH PARK SBS 367,000 90,000 153,000 38,000 47,000 38,000
39 BOSTON LEGAL Seven 361,000 74,000 143,000 62,000 56,000 26,000

The ratings race, updated 6pm Sunday
It was a humiliating week for Channels Nine and Ten. The only programs Nine could get into the top ten were two episodes of the American sitcom Two and a Half Men, while Ten discovered that it had become the fourth most watched network, dropping behind the ABC.

With Nine now showing five and a half hours of Two and a Half Men, Charlie Sheen has become the Gordon Ramsay of the second half-year. Nine's hot new cop show, The Strip, has lost 400,000 viewers since its debut, and is seriously at risk of getting dumped to 10.30pm so that Charlie can move into its Thursday slot.

Ten must have agreed with this column's assessment last week that Kenny's World was having a trickle down effect on the new season of House, because Kenny is moving to Tuesdays. Ten is also dumping Bondi Rescue: Bali and leading into House with a new Jamie Oliver series. Last week Kenny, which started with a million viewers, drew only 664,000, while House (on 1.3 million six months ago) drew 802,000. Ten's most watched show was NCIS, with 1.3 million.

The ABC soared with Doctor Who, Midsomer Murders and Spicks and Specks, all on 1.2m. The Australian version of Top Gear was a winner for SBS with 940,000 -- much the same as the audience for the British edition. With no NRL or AFL to tempt subscribers, Pay TV was grateful for the availability of Futurama (181,000 for Fox 8), The Simpsons (178,000 for Fox 8), The Man With The Golden Gun (176,000 for Fox Classics) and Kyle XY (159,000 for Fox 8).

Channel Seven grabbed 29.9 per cent of the prime time audience, while Nine got 26.1, the ABC got 19.4, Ten got 19.1 and SBS got 5.5. Ten's share is down 3.3 per cent on last year, while the ABC's is up 6.8 per cent.

What Australia watched, Sunday
Description Total Sydney Melbourne Brisbane Adelaide Perth
1 RUGBY LEAGUE GRAND FINAL Nine 2,074,000 942,000 492,000 503,000 57,000 81,000
2 THE MENTALIST Nine 1,334,000 407,000 386,000 285,000 98,000 159,000
3 60 MINUTES Nine 1,330,000 427,000 361,000 271,000 105,000 167,000
4 RUGBY LEAGUE GRAND FINAL PRESENTATION Nine 1,315,000 895,000 420,000
5 SEVEN NEWS - SUN Seven 1,315,000 261,000 417,000 281,000 146,000 209,000
6 NINE NEWS SUNDAY Nine 1,220,000 291,000 376,000 337,000 107,000 108,000
7 AUSTRALIAN IDOL Ten 1,213,000 337,000 424,000 212,000 114,000 126,000
8 MIDSOMER MURDERS ABC1 1,137,000 288,000 388,000 163,000 147,000 151,000
9 RUGBY LEAGUE GRAND FINAL ENTERTAINMENT Nine 1,121,000 505,000 253,000 277,000 36,000 50,000
10 ABC NEWS-SU ABC1 1,000,000 211,000 373,000 179,000 98,000 140,000
11 ABC NEWS UP-DATE ABC1 980,000 247,000 319,000 168,000 130,000 116,000
12 CSI: MIAMI Nine 978,000 303,000 300,000 186,000 97,000 92,000
13 M-PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN: DEAD MAN'S CHEST Seven 896,000 279,000 275,000 131,000 97,000 114,000
14 M-THE PACIFIER Seven 884,000 240,000 302,000 234,000 108,000
15 THE LOST WORLD OF TIBET ABC1 809,000 225,000 245,000 138,000 91,000 110,000
16 ROVE Ten 794,000 174,000 310,000 145,000 82,000 83,000
21 CALIFORNICATION Ten 501,000 127,000 184,000 70,000 64,000 56,000
22 RUGBY LEAGUE GRAND FINAL 1ST DIVISION Nine 419,000 241,000 178,000
27 WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE? SBS 318,000 90,000 97,000 62,000 25,000 44,000

What Australia watched, week ending October 4
Description Total Sydney Melbourne Brisbane Adelaide Perth
1 PACKED TO THE RAFTERS Seven 1,825,000 580,000 596,000 276,000 153,000 221,000
2 FIND MY FAMILY Seven 1,715,000 501,000 526,000 333,000 143,000 212,000
3 CITY HOMICIDE Seven 1,666,000 447,000 519,000 302,000 177,000 222,000
4 TWO AND A HALF MEN -WED EP2 Nine 1,657,000 475,000 550,000 302,000 150,000 180,000
5 THE FORCE Seven 1,639,000 467,000 457,000 310,000 156,000 250,000
6 RSPCA ANIMAL RESCUE Seven 1,618,000 430,000 460,000 340,000 150,000 239,000
7 TWO AND A HALF MEN -WED Nine 1,513,000 427,000 494,000 275,000 150,000 167,000
8 BORDER SECURITY Seven 1,481,000 419,000 409,000 295,000 146,000 212,000
9 SEVEN NEWS Seven 1,472,000 375,000 421,000 305,000 151,000 219,000
10 SEVEN NEWS - SUN Seven 1,448,000 396,000 420,000 316,000 134,000 181,000
11 BETTER HOMES AND GARDENS Seven 1,373,000 428,000 400,000 240,000 141,000 164,000
12 MEDICAL EMERGENCY Seven 1,338,000 369,000 387,000 260,000 143,000 179,000
13 60 MINUTES Nine 1,335,000 362,000 407,000 281,000 134,000 152,000
14 NCIS Ten 1,325,000 348,000 362,000 284,000 153,000 177,000
15 CRIMINAL MINDS Seven 1,312,000 335,000 413,000 232,000 147,000 185,000
16 TODAY TONIGHT Seven 1,304,000 334,000 376,000 247,000 140,000 207,000
17 ALL SAINTS Seven 1,287,000 409,000 418,000 152,000 133,000 175,000
18 SEVEN NEWS - SAT Seven 1,263,000 326,000 347,000 257,000 122,000 210,000
19 CRASH INVESTIGATION UNIT Seven 1,257,000 357,000 374,000 236,000 124,000 167,000
20 DANCING WITH THE STARS 8 Seven 1,213,000 361,000 412,000 203,000 99,000 138,000
21 DOCTOR WHO ABC1 1,207,000 391,000 334,000 229,000 127,000 125,000
22 AUSTRALIAN IDOL Ten 1,202,000 387,000 334,000 233,000 133,000 115,000
23 HOME AND AWAY Seven 1,196,000 357,000 352,000 216,000 121,000 151,000
24 MIDSOMER MURDERS ABC1 1,190,000 386,000 362,000 188,000 122,000 132,000
25 TWO AND A HALF MEN -MON Nine 1,184,000 333,000 400,000 210,000 111,000 131,000
26 ABC NEWS-SU ABC1 1,181,000 321,000 373,000 231,000 111,000 145,000
27 NINE NEWS SUNDAY Nine 1,180,000 305,000 383,000 249,000 151,000 94,000
28 SPICKS AND SPECKS ABC1 1,176,000 369,000 352,000 197,000 111,000 146,000
29 TWO AND A HALF MEN -RPT Nine 1,175,000 313,000 372,000 245,000 120,000 126,000
30 BONES - MON Seven 1,148,000 300,000 339,000 215,000 140,000 154,000
31 NINE NEWS Nine 1,130,000 302,000 353,000 264,000 114,000 97,000
32 A CURRENT AFFAIR Nine 1,099,000 289,000 344,000 249,000 117,000 100,000
33 WIPEOUT Nine 1,090,000 276,000 349,000 183,000 123,000 157,000
34 NINE NEWS SATURDAY Nine 1,084,000 272,000 350,000 234,000 129,000 99,000
35 ABC NEWS ABC1 1,078,000 304,000 326,000 208,000 90,000 149,000
36 GETAWAY Nine 1,068,000 293,000 352,000 227,000 85,000 110,000
37 TAGGART ABC1 1,060,000 284,000 330,000 185,000 114,000 147,000
38 CSI: MIAMI Nine 1,054,000 296,000 311,000 216,000 114,000 117,000
39 THE OUTDOOR ROOM WITH JAMIE DURIE Seven 1,047,000 321,000 305,000 203,000 96,000 121,000
40 GHOST WHISPERER Seven 1,046,000 304,000 330,000 180,000 90,000 142,000
(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 whoweare-index at 06:07 PM
• Comments (90)

The Who We Are update: Week 42

This week of the blog is now a heritage item -- worth studying but no longer current. For today's media trends, bookmark http://blogs.sunherald.com.au/whoweare.
To discuss reducing misery on this planet by eating more vegans, go to Who We Are.
To learn why TV tastes don't run in trends, go to The Tribal Mind.

The ratings race, updated 10 am Sunday
As you know, movies no longer attract big numbers on free to air television. People who didn't see a film at the cinema have had a couple of years to see it on DVD or on Pay TV before it reaches the commercial networks. But on Friday night a giant exception manifested itself: a kidflick in the Mary Poppins vein called Nanny McPhee. Anybody care to explain why the Nanny got more than a million viewers, beat the pants off Alexander and Munich, and boosted Channel Ten's morale in an otherwise sluggish week?

The week ended with Seven averaging 30.1 per cent of the prime time audience, with Nine on 25.3, Ten on 20.5, ABC on 18.8 and SBS on 5.3. Seven won every night but Monday.

What Australia watched, Saturday
Description Total Sydney Melbourne Brisbane Adelaide Perth
1 SEVEN NEWS - SAT Seven 1,137,000 305,000 325,000 223,000 89,000 194,000
2 ABC NEWS-SAT ABC1 964,000 302,000 280,000 168,000 89,000 125,000
3 THE BILL ABC1 942,000 280,000 307,000 153,000 94,000 108,000
4 NINE NEWS SATURDAY Nine 941,000 261,000 295,000 209,000 101,000 75,000
5 AUSTRALIA'S FUNNIEST HOME VIDEO SHOW Nine 875,000 264,000 207,000 189,000 93,000 123,000
6 ABC NEWS UP-DATE ABC1 828,000 262,000 255,000 138,000 76,000 98,000
7 ROUGH DIAMOND ABC1 820,000 257,000 257,000 124,000 78,000 104,000
8 M-SHARK TALE Seven 740,000 228,000 233,000 112,000 60,000 107,000
9 GARDENING AUSTRALIA-EV ABC1 660,000 183,000 221,000 120,000 62,000 73,000
10 JUMANJI RPT Ten 627,000 146,000 193,000 132,000 58,000 98,000
11 MONSTER HOUSE Nine 620,000 181,000 167,000 102,000 74,000 97,000
15 M-PRETTY WOMAN Seven 422,000 259,000 68,000 96,000
16 DUKES OF HAZZARD -RPT Nine 406,000 117,000 115,000 64,000 59,000 51,000
17 KING KONG RPT Ten 405,000 107,000 140,000 58,000 46,000 55,000
24 NINE'S HORSE RACING Nine 313,000 74,000 142,000 45,000 34,000 18,000
34 ROCKWIZ SBS 197,000 67,000 62,000 27,000 21,000 20,000

What Australia watched, Friday
Description Total Sydney Melbourne Brisbane Adelaide Perth
1 BETTER HOMES AND GARDENS Seven 1,524,000 488,000 460,000 273,000 127,000 176,000
2 SEVEN NEWS Seven 1,273,000 330,000 340,000 269,000 152,000 182,000
3 TODAY TONIGHT Seven 1,164,000 294,000 300,000 247,000 137,000 185,000
4 HOME AND AWAY Seven 1,118,000 341,000 305,000 218,000 112,000 141,000
5 NANNY MCPHEE Ten 1,044,000 295,000 322,000 181,000 105,000 141,000
6 TWO AND A HALF MEN -RPT Nine 964,000 276,000 255,000 216,000 99,000 118,000
7 TAGGART ABC1 958,000 269,000 315,000 145,000 96,000 133,000
19 FRIDAY NIGHT DOWNLOAD Ten 564,000 131,000 138,000 121,000 72,000 101,000
20 MUNICH Seven 541,000 158,000 164,000 97,000 48,000 73,000
24 ALEXANDER Nine 440,000 168,000 138,000 80,000 54,000 Not shown
35 ADVENTURES OF BOTTLE TOP BILL AND HIS BEST FRIEND-AM ABC1 268,000 83,000 94,000 35,000 18,000 38,000
40 GRIZZLY TALES FOR GRUESOME KIDS-PM ABC1 254,000 64,000 81,000 57,000 24,000 29,000

The ratings race, updated 10 am Friday
The Strip seems to be making a comeback, unlike Heroes and Prison Break. Has it improved or is there less competition?

What Australia watched, Thursday
Description Total Sydney Melbourne Brisbane Adelaide Perth
1 SEVEN NEWS Seven 1,356,000 334,000 342,000 304,000 154,000 222,000
2 TODAY TONIGHT Seven 1,246,000 271,000 349,000 266,000 154,000 205,000
3 TWO AND A HALF MEN -RPT Nine 1,202,000 334,000 350,000 244,000 130,000 145,000
4 HOME AND AWAY Seven 1,189,000 312,000 349,000 244,000 116,000 168,000
5 NATIONAL NINE NEWS Nine 1,090,000 261,000 348,000 281,000 104,000 96,000
6 LAW & ORDER: CRIMINAL INTENT Ten 1,060,000 298,000 313,000 160,000 109,000 181,000
7 A CURRENT AFFAIR Nine 1,058,000 292,000 342,000 227,000 96,000 100,000
8 GETAWAY Nine 1,053,000 356,000 305,000 171,000 92,000 129,000
9 THE STRIP Nine 1,041,000 292,000 293,000 224,000 102,000 130,000
10 MAKE ME A SUPERMODEL Seven 1,038,000 266,000 282,000 236,000 105,000 149,000
11 LAW AND ORDER: SVU RPT Ten 1,029,000 269,000 333,000 173,000 105,000 149,000
12 THE AMAZING RACE 13 Seven 1,021,000 257,000 391,000 151,000 107,000 115,000
13 ABC NEWS ABC1 1,014,000 293,000 282,000 216,000 91,000 132,000
14 RPA Nine 1,008,000 267,000 324,000 143,000 129,000 145,000
17 ARE YOU SMARTER THAN A 5TH GRADER? Ten 788,000 172,000 251,000 135,000 83,000 146,000
20 HEROES - THU Seven 706,000 193,000 240,000 118,000 82,000 73,000
30 PRISON BREAK - THU Seven 401,000 120,000 148,000 58,000 48,000 27,000
33 INSPECTOR REX RPT SBS 356,000 110,000 103,000 65,000 41,000 37,000
75 ZOMBIE HOTEL-AM ABC1 158,000 45,000 19,000 67,000 12,000 15,000

What Australia watched, Wednesday
Description Total Sydney Melbourne Brisbane Adelaide Perth
1 SEVEN NEWS Seven 1,507,000 363,000 434,000 336,000 159,000 215,000
2 CRIMINAL MINDS Seven 1,472,000 370,000 467,000 263,000 171,000 201,000
3 TODAY TONIGHT Seven 1,457,000 354,000 437,000 302,000 152,000 212,000
4 TWO AND A HALF MEN -WED EP2 Nine 1,414,000 386,000 479,000 254,000 141,000 153,000
5 TWO AND A HALF MEN -WED Nine 1,406,000 373,000 487,000 244,000 130,000 172,000
6 MEDICAL EMERGENCY Seven 1,318,000 358,000 363,000 268,000 142,000 187,000
7 SPICKS AND SPECKS ABC1 1,237,000 416,000 367,000 210,000 126,000 117,000
8 CRASH INVESTIGATION UNIT Seven 1,223,000 362,000 302,000 258,000 129,000 172,000
9 TWO AND A HALF MEN -RPT Nine 1,200,000 301,000 403,000 229,000 128,000 139,000
10 HOME AND AWAY Seven 1,190,000 369,000 328,000 229,000 122,000 143,000
11 ABC NEWS ABC1 1,100,000 294,000 354,000 192,000 98,000 161,000
12 NINE NEWS Nine 1,068,000 253,000 341,000 269,000 115,000 90,000
13 CRIMINAL MINDS (R) Seven 964,000 260,000 325,000 149,000 122,000 108,000
14 A CURRENT AFFAIR Nine 962,000 241,000 335,000 226,000 87,000 74,000
15 HOUSE Ten 885,000 232,000 269,000 146,000 98,000 139,000
20 STUPID STUPID MAN (SERIES 2) ABC1 769,000 279,000 205,000 121,000 79,000 85,000
23 JAMIE'S MINISTRY OF FOOD Ten 700,000 182,000 198,000 129,000 69,000 122,000
24 FRINGE Nine 671,000 183,000 209,000 151,000 65,000 63,000
29 SUMMER HEIGHTS HIGH RPT ABC1 509,000 174,000 140,000 84,000 46,000 65,000
43 ADVENTURES OF BOTTLE TOP BILL AND HIS BEST FRIEND ABC1 303,000 75,000 123,000 44,000 22,000 39,000

The ratings race, updated 10 am Wednesday
Nine still can't do any damage to Seven on Tuesdays, and has started suffering damage from a resurgent Ten. Last night Nine's local Ramsay clone, The Chopping Block, was beaten by Kenny's World, and new episodes of its strongest series, Two and a Half Men, were beaten by NCIS.

What Australia watched, Tuesday
Description Total Sydney Melbourne Brisbane Adelaide Perth
1 PACKED TO THE RAFTERS Seven 1,886,000 559,000 631,000 318,000 174,000 206,000
2 FIND MY FAMILY Seven 1,822,000 476,000 593,000 361,000 186,000 205,000
3 RSPCA ANIMAL RESCUE Seven 1,607,000 457,000 457,000 320,000 177,000 197,000
4 SEVEN NEWS Seven 1,471,000 367,000 408,000 315,000 174,000 206,000
5 NCIS Ten 1,336,000 334,000 377,000 282,000 155,000 188,000
6 TODAY TONIGHT Seven 1,316,000 340,000 362,000 239,000 168,000 207,000
7 TWO AND A HALF MEN -RPT Nine 1,269,000 346,000 384,000 255,000 135,000 149,000
8 HOME AND AWAY Seven 1,242,000 386,000 337,000 229,000 145,000 145,000
9 ALL SAINTS Seven 1,202,000 368,000 409,000 154,000 146,000 125,000
10 NINE NEWS Nine 1,181,000 337,000 373,000 243,000 130,000 98,000
11 ABC NEWS ABC1 1,137,000 351,000 326,000 211,000 103,000 146,000
12 A CURRENT AFFAIR Nine 1,120,000 322,000 354,000 224,000 122,000 98,000
13 TWO AND A HALF MEN -EP1 Nine 1,033,000 311,000 321,000 173,000 107,000 121,000
14 TWO AND A HALF MEN -EP2 Nine 1,023,000 303,000 323,000 171,000 114,000 113,000
15 20 TO 1 Nine 992,000 310,000 268,000 177,000 112,000 124,000
17 RUSH Ten 927,000 191,000 336,000 194,000 108,000 99,000
18 KENNY'S WORLD TUES Ten 890,000 213,000 314,000 147,000 94,000 123,000
20 THE CHOPPING BLOCK Nine 879,000 249,000 286,000 149,000 95,000 101,000
22 TWO IN THE TOP END ABC1 836,000 281,000 233,000 148,000 91,000 83,000
32 SURVIVOR: MICRONESIA - FANS VS FAVOURITES Nine 415,000 131,000 138,000 53,000 53,000 40,000
44 ERKY PERKY ABC1 292,000 50,000 99,000 61,000 28,000 54,000

The ratings race, updated 10 am Tuesday
Channel Nine brought out its biggest gun to attack Seven's biggest drama, but CSI only managed to cut City Homicide's audience by 200,000. SBS will be in panic mode about the ever-decreasing numbers for Top Gear Australia. What went wrong there, do you think?

What Australia watched, Monday
Description Total Sydney Melbourne Brisbane Adelaide Perth
1 THE FORCE Seven 1,549,000 394,000 481,000 281,000 168,000 224,000
2 BORDER SECURITY Seven 1,519,000 387,000 458,000 306,000 167,000 202,000
3 SEVEN NEWS Seven 1,447,000 369,000 390,000 299,000 161,000 230,000
4 CITY HOMICIDE Seven 1,429,000 378,000 470,000 251,000 174,000 155,000
5 CSI Nine 1,349,000 388,000 434,000 244,000 117,000 166,000
6 TODAY TONIGHT Seven 1,325,000 323,000 356,000 259,000 148,000 239,000
7 TWO AND A HALF MEN -MON Nine 1,229,000 358,000 416,000 217,000 95,000 143,000
8 HOME AND AWAY Seven 1,221,000 313,000 360,000 229,000 149,000 170,000
9 TWO AND A HALF MEN -RPT Nine 1,212,000 358,000 358,000 237,000 111,000 148,000
10 ABC NEWS ABC1 1,137,000 340,000 337,000 222,000 92,000 147,000
11 NINE NEWS Nine 1,110,000 299,000 326,000 242,000 140,000 102,000
12 A CURRENT AFFAIR Nine 1,039,000 261,000 320,000 219,000 127,000 112,000
13 ENOUGH ROPE WITH ANDREW DENTON ABC1 979,000 271,000 335,000 166,000 97,000 110,000
14 BONES - MON Seven 959,000 306,000 280,000 167,000 96,000 111,000
15 TIL DEATH Nine 937,000 268,000 306,000 182,000 68,000 113,000
16 FOUR CORNERS ABC1 910,000 263,000 282,000 174,000 69,000 124,000
17 AUSTRALIAN STORY ABC1 909,000 204,000 358,000 163,000 81,000 103,000
20 COLD CASE Nine 837,000 235,000 310,000 134,000 74,000 84,000
21 NEIGHBOURS Ten 811,000 246,000 241,000 178,000 61,000 85,000
22 AUSTRALIAN IDOL - THE LIVE VERDICT Ten 783,000 262,000 214,000 129,000 93,000 84,000
25 GOOD NEWS WEEK Ten 756,000 216,000 225,000 140,000 84,000 91,000
26 TOP GEAR AUSTRALIA SBS 668,000 211,000 180,000 124,000 69,000 84,000
27 SUPERNATURAL Ten 659,000 196,000 181,000 129,000 79,000 74,000
28 FRIENDS - DAILY RPT Ten 597,000 181,000 165,000 122,000 49,000 81,000
30 THE SIMPSONS Ten 559,000 157,000 176,000 108,000 38,000 81,000
33 OUT OF THE QUESTION - MON Seven 434,000 148,000 120,000 72,000 44,000 51,000
67 BOGAN PRIDE SBS 209,000 83,000 50,000 32,000 26,000 19,000
(OzTAM preliminary estimates, mainland capitals)

The ratings race, updated 10am Monday
A week that started wonderfully for Channel Nine, with 2.05 million viewers for the rugby league grand final, ended up like most of the others -- with a smashing win for Channel Seven. Seven had the next five most watched shows (Packed to the Rafters, Find My Family, City Homicide, The Force and Border Security) and averaged 30.7 per cent of the prime time audience for the week.

Nine averaged 25.9 per cent. Its only other good news was 1.3 million for its new US drama The Mentalist, most of whom stayed around for the second episode last night.

The disappearance of Doctor Who has done no harm to the ABC, which averaged 18.7 per cent of the prime time audience, thanks to Spicks and Specks (1.3m) Midsomer Murders (1.1m) and the news (1million). Channel Ten averaged 19.5 per cent, thanks to NCIS (1.3m) and Australian Idol (1.2), but did itself no good by replacing Kenny's World with Jamie's Ministry of Food , which drew only 764,000. After it, House managed only 858,000. See the Top 40 chart below.

SBS (5.2 per cent) must have been disappointed with the second week of Top Gear Australia, which drew only 669,000, but would have regarded 376,000 as healthy for the new comedy Bogan Pride.

On Pay TV, the most watched shows included the India vs Australia Cricket Test (297,000 for Session 3 and 276,000 for Session 2, on Fox Sports 2); America's Next Top Model (186,000 for Fox 8), and The Simpsons (164,000 for Fox 8).

The American Kath and Kim did best with women aged 18-49, and worst with viewers over 55 (just like the original). Go to Comments to tell us what you made of it.

What Australia watched, Sunday
Description Total Sydney Melbourne Brisbane Adelaide Perth
1 SEVEN NEWS - SUN Seven 1,624,000 384,000 488,000 389,000 163,000 199,000
2 SEVEN NEWS SPECIAL Seven 1,488,000 366,000 426,000 331,000 152,000 213,000
3 60 MINUTES Nine 1,357,000 383,000 388,000 294,000 138,000 154,000
4 THE MENTALIST Nine 1,258,000 365,000 341,000 257,000 118,000 178,000
5 V8 SUPERCARS RND 10: BATHURST D3 THE RACE Seven 1,240,000 380,000 379,000 246,000 142,000 93,000
6 KATH & KIM THE AMERICAN SERIES Seven 1,238,000 327,000 423,000 217,000 114,000 157,000
7 MIDSOMER MURDERS ABC1 1,209,000 382,000 377,000 161,000 143,000 145,000
8 AUSTRALIAN IDOL Ten 1,194,000 336,000 360,000 248,000 121,000 130,000
9 DANCING WITH THE STARS 8 Seven 1,167,000 355,000 362,000 180,000 105,000 165,000
10 V8 SUPERCARS RND 10: D3 POST RACE Seven 1,139,000 338,000 385,000 232,000 112,000 72,000
11 NINE NEWS SUNDAY Nine 1,138,000 318,000 364,000 215,000 130,000 112,000
12 CSI: MIAMI Nine 1,066,000 296,000 339,000 186,000 103,000 142,000
13 ROVE Ten 1,010,000 259,000 324,000 194,000 100,000 133,000
17 BATTLEFRONTS Nine 857,000 230,000 232,000 196,000 94,000 106,000
27 CALIFORNICATION Ten 546,000 127,000 190,000 90,000 67,000 72,000
29 FIRST AUSTRALIANS SBS 392,000 137,000 122,000 54,000 33,000 47,000
30 WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE? SBS 381,000 105,000 126,000 67,000 40,000 43,000
(OzTAM preliminary estimates, mainland capitals)

What Australia watched, week ending October 11
Description Total Sydney Melbourne Brisbane Adelaide Perth
1 RUGBY LEAGUE GRAND FINAL Nine 2,051,000 924,000 487,000 501,000 59,000 80,000
2 PACKED TO THE RAFTERS Seven 1,978,000 622,000 627,000 343,000 183,000 203,000
3 FIND MY FAMILY Seven 1,797,000 486,000 543,000 351,000 173,000 244,000
4 CITY HOMICIDE Seven 1,701,000 471,000 553,000 320,000 169,000 187,000
5 THE FORCE Seven 1,681,000 450,000 517,000 310,000 155,000 249,000
6 BORDER SECURITY Seven 1,592,000 469,000 460,000 310,000 148,000 206,000
7 RSPCA ANIMAL RESCUE Seven 1,507,000 393,000 461,000 289,000 158,000 205,000
8 TWO AND A HALF MEN -WED EP2 Nine 1,471,000 438,000 428,000 306,000 140,000 160,000
9 BETTER HOMES AND GARDENS Seven 1,447,000 424,000 422,000 264,000 147,000 190,000
10 TWO AND A HALF MEN -WED Nine 1,383,000 394,000 446,000 249,000 141,000 152,000
11 ALL SAINTS Seven 1,378,000 436,000 463,000 163,000 153,000 162,000
12 CRIMINAL MINDS Seven 1,368,000 305,000 439,000 278,000 159,000 188,000
13 SEVEN NEWS Seven 1,344,000 301,000 381,000 286,000 154,000 221,000
14 SPICKS AND SPECKS ABC1 1,339,000 408,000 425,000 207,000 125,000 173,000
15 THE MENTALIST Nine 1,330,000 404,000 386,000 284,000 97,000 159,000
16 60 MINUTES Nine 1,326,000 420,000 363,000 270,000 106,000 167,000
17 SEVEN NEWS - SUN Seven 1,315,000 261,000 417,000 281,000 146,000 209,000
18 TWO AND A HALF MEN -MON Nine 1,311,000 332,000 439,000 285,000 128,000 128,000
19 RUGBY LEAGUE GRAND FINAL PRESENTATION Nine 1,310,000 902,000 408,000
20 NCIS Ten 1,306,000 328,000 389,000 254,000 164,000 170,000
21 MEDICAL EMERGENCY Seven 1,304,000 344,000 379,000 247,000 145,000 188,000
22 SEVEN NEWS - SAT Seven 1,275,000 340,000 327,000 309,000 109,000 190,000
23 TODAY TONIGHT Seven 1,263,000 293,000 371,000 247,000 138,000 214,000
24 CRIMINAL MINDS (R) Seven 1,219,000 297,000 395,000 210,000 151,000 165,000
25 AUSTRALIAN IDOL Ten 1,215,000 338,000 425,000 212,000 114,000 126,000
26 CRASH INVESTIGATION UNIT Seven 1,163,000 330,000 305,000 235,000 115,000 178,000
27 HOME AND AWAY Seven 1,162,000 325,000 345,000 219,000 121,000 152,000
28 MIDSOMER MURDERS ABC1 1,137,000 288,000 388,000 163,000 147,000 151,000
29 TWO AND A HALF MEN -RPT Nine 1,117,000 279,000 358,000 242,000 112,000 124,000
30 RUGBY LEAGUE GRAND FINAL ENTERTAINMENT Nine 1,107,000 494,000 253,000 274,000 36,000 49,000
31 NINE NEWS Nine 1,074,000 267,000 359,000 247,000 108,000 93,000
32 ABC NEWS ABC1 1,038,000 278,000 305,000 204,000 94,000 157,000
33 NINE NEWS SATURDAY Nine 1,025,000 261,000 304,000 264,000 104,000 92,000
34 LAW & ORDER: CRIMINAL INTENT Ten 1,023,000 270,000 320,000 187,000 119,000 127,000
35 20 TO 1 Nine 1,020,000 314,000 323,000 178,000 103,000 102,000
36 BONES - MON Seven 1,016,000 277,000 319,000 178,000 134,000 108,000
37 M-EIGHT BELOW Seven 1,014,000 276,000 352,000 176,000 101,000 109,000
38 A CURRENT AFFAIR Nine 1,003,000 245,000 337,000 228,000 101,000 92,000
39 ABC NEWS-SU ABC1 1,000,000 211,000 373,000 179,000 98,000 140,000
40 GETAWAY Nine 997,000 286,000 277,000 202,000 107,000 124,000
41 AUSTRALIAN IDOL - THE LIVE VERDICT Ten 971,000 285,000 297,000 180,000 113,000 97,000
(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 07:07 AM
• Comments (80)

The Tribal Mind: The write stuff?

To discuss why Australians watched the 40 most popular programs of 2008, go to Who We Are.

by David Dale.
YOU be the judge. Are these the best lines ever written for Australian television ...
"What's that, Skip?''
"So she goes, she goes, she goes ...."
"I'm gonna jump through your speakers and rip yer bloody arms off."
"I prefer to remain ambiguous." "Have you gone completely beresque?" "Of course, I'm not one to cast nasturtiums but..." "What are you incinerating?"
"The Kingswood? The Kingswood! You're not taking the Kingswood!" "Leave the money on the fridge"
"Puck You Miss." "That's so Random."
"Look at moiyee." "It's nice, it's unusual, it's different." "I like what I see -- Oh Kel, what do you call that?'' "Ooh, something smells nice and it's not that tuna mornay!"
"That woman is the biggest gossip this side of the Western Plains!"
"I said Love, I said Pet, I said Pet, I said Love ..." "I sit here working my fingers to the bone from 2 till 4, two days a week!"
"Howzit! Dr Rudy yah ..."
"How embarrassment."
"Hold my hand, Miss Pat."
"Are you thinking what I'm thinking, B1?"
"Wake up, Jeff!"
"Good evening Australia, I'm Kerri-Anne Kennel; it's great to be watching me."
"Tense? Tense? I'm as tense as a row of camps.''
"It is my right to have sex whenever and with whomever I want." "Yes, it's a right, not an obligation."
"What you're telling me is, the 100-metre track is .... about 100 metres?"
"Maybe it's one of those cheap funerals where you dump the coffin beside the road somewhere and then go home and ring up the council."

These were nominated by readers when this column asked for classic lines from Australian television series. I was looking for material to match the American TV dialogue being collected for this year's Emmy Awards ceremony, which will honour the work of screenwriters.

I don't want to seem ungrateful, but my feeling is that, with the exception of the final three (from Marshall Law, The Games, and Mother and Son), most of the lines submitted so far are more in the nature of catchphrases than clever writing. They have nostalgia on their side, but not a lot of wit.

Australian screenwriters must have been more creative than that in the past 52 years. I'm sure there are more diamonds to be mined from the memories of this column's TV-addicted readers, so I'm keeping auditions open for another week. If you'd like to offer examples, go to Comments.

Correction: Several readers noted an attribution error when I quoted some of American dialogue to be honoured at the Emmys. The line "I may be dead but I'm still pretty -- which is more than I can say for you" was of course spoken by Buffy, not Cordelia. Now over to you to better it.

To discuss why Australians watched the 40 most popular programs of 2008, go to Who We Are

The lines above came from Sonny, Skippy The Bush Kangaroo; Kylie Mole, The Comedy Company; Aunty Jack; Dorrie, Number 96; Kingswood Country; Jonah, Jam'ie, in Summer Heights High; Kath and Kim; Sgt Tom Croydon in Blue Heelers; Lyn, Big Girl's Blouse; Life Support; Effie, Acropolis Now; Mr Squiggle; Bananas in Pyjamas; The Wiggles; Fast Forward; The Norman Gunston Show; John Clarke, The Games; Ros and Verity, Marshall Law; Robert, Mother and Son.

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 at 02:57 PM
• Comments (22)

The Who We Are update: Week 38

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.
To nominate the cleverest lines ever written for Australian television, go to The Tribal Mind.
To discuss why Australians watched the 40 most popular programs of 2008, go to Who We Are.

What Australia watched, Saturday
Description Total Sydney Melbourne Brisbane Adelaide Perth
1 SEVEN NEWS - SAT Seven 1,284,000 329,000 376,000 283,000 135,000 161,000
2 AUSTRALIA'S FUNNIEST HOME VIDEO SHOW Nine 1,144,000 343,000 321,000 257,000 104,000 120,000
3 TEN'S AFL FINALS 2008: 2ND PRELIM. FINAL HAWTHORN V ST KILDA Ten 1,134,000 54,000 687,000 55,000 162,000 176,000
4 RUGBY LEAGUE FINAL SERIES SF2 Nine 1,043,000 529,000 47,000 438,000 13,000 16,000
5 NINE NEWS SATURDAY Nine 1,005,000 270,000 311,000 249,000 98,000 75,000
6 ABC NEWS-SAT ABC1 889,000 275,000 229,000 202,000 63,000 121,000
7 THE BILL ABC1 724,000 227,000 190,000 111,000 74,000 122,000
22 MYTHBUSTERS SBS 368,000 112,000 77,000 68,000 64,000 47,000
30 IRON CHEF RPT SBS 262,000 79,000 85,000 37,000 35,000 26,000
41 ROCKWIZ SBS 186,000 52,000 51,000 41,000 23,000 19,000

The ratings race, updated 11 am Saturday
Nine won Sunday and Thursday, but Seven won Friday, thanks to AFL's greater appeal than NRL. At this point in the week, the prime time audience shares stand at: Seven 30.1 per cent; Nine 26.6, Ten 19.8, ABC 18.4 and SBS 5.1. And look -- there's Spicks and Specks on the chart again, having been shown on Wednesday and repeated on Thursday on ABC2, with another episode on ABC1 on Friday. Is the ABC in danger of doing a Ramsay on its biggest asset?

What Australia watched, Friday
Description Total Sydney Melbourne Brisbane Adelaide Perth
1 SEVEN NEWS Seven 1,411,000 364,000 377,000 279,000 168,000 224,000
2 SEVEN'S AFL: PRELIM FINAL 1: GEELONG VS WESTERN BULLDOG Seven 1,181,000 85,000 681,000 86,000 166,000 163,000
3 TWO AND A HALF MEN -RPT Nine 1,098,000 338,000 304,000 228,000 124,000 104,000
4 NINE NEWS Nine 1,097,000 293,000 331,000 256,000 120,000 96,000
5 A CURRENT AFFAIR Nine 1,051,000 267,000 341,000 211,000 123,000 109,000
6 BETTER HOMES AND GARDENS Seven 1,030,000 345,000 431,000 253,000
7 TODAY TONIGHT Seven 1,021,000 270,000 343,000 261,000 147,000
8 ABC NEWS ABC1 988,000 282,000 280,000 207,000 81,000 138,000
9 WIRE IN THE BLOOD ABC1 926,000 287,000 244,000 160,000 102,000 134,000
10 RUGBY LEAGUE FINAL SERIES SF1 Nine 923,000 508,000 38,000 354,000 12,000 11,000

22 TAKEN OUT Ten 465,000 127,000 158,000 93,000 48,000 39,000
29 FRINGE (ENCORE) -RPT Nine 337,000 218,000 118,000
73 TITO'S GHOSTS SBS 159,000 65,000 31,000 31,000 15,000 17,000
93 SPICKS AND SPECKS RPT ABC1 111,000 43,000 24,000 25,000 6,000 13,000

What Australia watched, Thursday
Description Total Sydney Melbourne Brisbane Adelaide Perth
1 SEVEN NEWS Seven 1,425,000 348,000 367,000 320,000 151,000 237,000
2 TODAY TONIGHT Seven 1,303,000 302,000 358,000 266,000 163,000 214,000
3 HOME AND AWAY Seven 1,219,000 353,000 357,000 238,000 116,000 155,000
4 TWO AND A HALF MEN -RPT Nine 1,151,000 310,000 396,000 206,000 132,000 107,000
5 ABC NEWS ABC1 1,149,000 340,000 325,000 223,000 87,000 174,000
6 NINE NEWS Nine 1,149,000 304,000 372,000 266,000 124,000 83,000
7 ARE YOU SMARTER THAN A 5TH GRADER? Ten 1,111,000 326,000 316,000 205,000 118,000 145,000
8 A CURRENT AFFAIR Nine 1,086,000 295,000 369,000 237,000 113,000 72,000
9 LAW & ORDER: CRIMINAL INTENT Ten 1,048,000 307,000 345,000 163,000 123,000 110,000
10 GETAWAY Nine 1,045,000 309,000 356,000 198,000 93,000 88,000
11 THE STRIP Nine 1,038,000 269,000 328,000 235,000 103,000 103,000
13 GHOST WHISPERER Seven 975,000 324,000 284,000 178,000 84,000 104,000
14 MAKE ME A SUPERMODEL Seven 940,000 263,000 273,000 196,000 78,000 130,000
25 TAKEN OUT Ten 567,000 162,000 200,000 97,000 45,000 63,000
36 INSPECTOR REX RPT SBS 331,000 105,000 75,000 72,000 50,000 30,000
113 SPICKS AND SPECKS ABC2 66,000 19,000 18,000 13,000 4,000 11,000

The ratings race, updated 10 am Thursday
One of the strange things about Fringe, Channel Nine's new X-Files type series "fast-tracked" from the USA, is that it stars an Australian named Anna Torv. Rupert Murdoch's ex-wife was an Australian named Anna Torv. Coincidence? Well, the Fringe star is actually the niece of Murdoch's ex (and the daughter of former Sydney disc jockey Hans Torv).

In any case, Fringe was number four most watched program last night with viewers aged 16 to 39 (after Two and a Half Men, So You Think You Can Dance and Kenny's World) so that was good news for Nine. But people in that age group don't watch a lot of television any more, and Nine will need something with older appeal if it's going to save itself this year.

With all viewers, Fringe was number 19 on the night, which is not an auspicious start. We don't want to suggest Rupert Murdoch can or should influence the ratings, but ...

What Australia watched, Wednesday
Description Total Sydney Melbourne Brisbane Adelaide Perth
1 SEVEN NEWS Seven 1,443,000 357,000 362,000 334,000 168,000 223,000
2 MEDICAL EMERGENCY Seven 1,426,000 409,000 349,000 338,000 142,000 189,000
3 TWO AND A HALF MEN -WED Nine 1,375,000 394,000 432,000 272,000 131,000 147,000
4 CRASH INVESTIGATION UNIT Seven 1,287,000 393,000 331,000 270,000 134,000 159,000
5 TODAY TONIGHT Seven 1,286,000 344,000 327,000 272,000 154,000 189,000
6 CRIMINAL MINDS Seven 1,258,000 321,000 377,000 250,000 160,000 150,000
7 SPICKS AND SPECKS ABC1 1,256,000 414,000 355,000 229,000 110,000 149,000
8 HOME AND AWAY Seven 1,187,000 364,000 324,000 246,000 117,000 136,000
9 NINE NEWS Nine 1,178,000 313,000 368,000 289,000 127,000 82,000
10 TWO AND A HALF MEN -RPT Nine 1,122,000 323,000 322,000 242,000 113,000 122,000
11 ABC NEWS ABC1 1,115,000 314,000 344,000 201,000 103,000 153,000
12 A CURRENT AFFAIR Nine 1,101,000 291,000 346,000 259,000 116,000 89,000
13 HOLE IN THE WALL Nine 1,040,000 313,000 357,000 157,000 102,000 112,000
14 KENNY'S WORLD Ten 1,000,000 284,000 324,000 177,000 90,000 125,000
15 CRIMINAL MINDS (R) Seven 973,000 248,000 283,000 172,000 134,000 136,000
17 SO YOU THINK YOU CAN DANCE Ten 968,000 315,000 323,000 147,000 73,000 110,000
19 FRINGE Nine 935,000 267,000 308,000 176,000 97,000 87,000
20 THE HOLLOWMEN (SERIES 2) ABC1 931,000 316,000 283,000 149,000 78,000 106,000
24 VERY SMALL BUSINESS ABC1 743,000 228,000 267,000 105,000 59,000 84,000
25 BONDI RESCUE: BALI Ten 737,000 187,000 231,000 147,000 57,000 115,000
26 FRIENDS - DAILY Ten 717,000 177,000 240,000 149,000 60,000 91,000
27 KITCHEN NIGHTMARES U.S.A. Nine 567,000 171,000 178,000 95,000 57,000 66,000
28 TAKEN OUT Ten 545,000 170,000 190,000 72,000 48,000 65,000
34 PARALYMPIC GAMES BEIJING 2008 CLOSING CEREMONY ABC1 369,000 109,000 134,000 54,000 39,000 33,000

The ratings race, updated 10 am Wednesday
It's a bit unusual for a new series to be going into flashbacks after only four episodes. The conventional wisdom holds that at this point in a story, viewers prefer to know what happens next rather than what happened before. This may explain the slight dip in audience for Packed To The Rafters last night. Or it could simply be that Nine was showing episode three of Underbelly in Melbourne. Rush is giving Ten gold for a 9.30pm slot, and Billie Piper's overbite is giving Nine a mouthful at 10.30.

What Australia watched, Tuesday
Description Total Sydney Melbourne Brisbane Adelaide Perth
1 PACKED TO THE RAFTERS Seven 1,895,000 615,000 589,000 328,000 153,000 210,000
2 FIND MY FAMILY Seven 1,815,000 482,000 558,000 401,000 156,000 218,000
3 RSPCA ANIMAL RESCUE Seven 1,813,000 501,000 522,000 389,000 168,000 233,000
4 SEVEN NEWS Seven 1,582,000 452,000 445,000 325,000 165,000 194,000
5 TODAY TONIGHT Seven 1,441,000 406,000 412,000 248,000 185,000 191,000
6 HOME AND AWAY Seven 1,376,000 425,000 400,000 258,000 130,000 164,000
7 NCIS Ten 1,266,000 342,000 363,000 226,000 163,000 172,000
8 ABC NEWS ABC1 1,246,000 362,000 371,000 253,000 115,000 145,000
9 TWO AND A HALF MEN -RPT Nine 1,221,000 330,000 404,000 216,000 166,000 104,000
10 NINE NEWS Nine 1,219,000 337,000 374,000 266,000 139,000 104,000
11 ALL SAINTS Seven 1,212,000 431,000 356,000 164,000 129,000 132,000
12 WIPEOUT Nine 1,170,000 326,000 404,000 171,000 141,000 128,000
13 A CURRENT AFFAIR Nine 1,131,000 307,000 401,000 217,000 114,000 91,000
16 RUSH Ten 1,014,000 234,000 352,000 164,000 141,000 124,000
19 TWO IN THE TOP END ABC1 887,000 324,000 210,000 158,000 96,000 99,000
25 FRIENDS Ten 694,000 169,000 208,000 126,000 77,000 114,000
29 SECRET DIARY OF A CALL GIRL Nine 509,000 116,000 200,000 90,000 70,000 33,000
30 TAKEN OUT Ten 507,000 151,000 180,000 58,000 52,000 67,000
35 UNDERBELLY Nine 429,000 Already shown 429,000 Already shown Already shown Already shown
40 PARALYMPIC GAMES BEIJING 2008 HIGHLIGHTS DAY 10 ABC1 331,000 98,000 86,000 71,000 37,000 39,000.
To see Tina Fey as Sarah Palin, go here and scroll down a few clicks.

What Australia watched, Monday
Description Total Sydney Melbourne Brisbane Adelaide Perth
1 CITY HOMICIDE Seven 1,854,000 511,000 615,000 314,000 201,000 213,000
2 BORDER SECURITY Seven 1,813,000 546,000 504,000 357,000 176,000 231,000
3 THE FORCE Seven 1,730,000 520,000 496,000 313,000 169,000 232,000
4 SEVEN NEWS Seven 1,568,000 418,000 404,000 313,000 202,000 231,000
5 TODAY TONIGHT Seven 1,366,000 378,000 325,000 258,000 182,000 223,000
6 A CURRENT AFFAIR Nine 1,329,000 341,000 437,000 302,000 153,000 97,000
7 BONES Seven 1,317,000 337,000 413,000 230,000 158,000 179,000
8 HOME AND AWAY Seven 1,294,000 411,000 320,000 261,000 142,000 159,000
9 NINE NEWS Nine 1,267,000 321,000 383,000 310,000 147,000 107,000
12 AUSTRALIAN IDOL - THE LIVE VERDICT Ten 1,009,000 339,000 280,000 192,000 99,000 99,000
16 TOP GEAR (SERIES 2) SBS 909,000 262,000 308,000 143,000 101,000 94,000
21 90210 Ten 816,000 285,000 228,000 147,000 67,000 89,000
24 FRIENDS Ten 741,000 167,000 253,000 137,000 84,000 100,000
26 BOSTON LEGAL Seven 648,000 158,000 225,000 102,000 86,000 77,000
27 TAKEN OUT Ten 590,000 161,000 206,000 92,000 72,000 58,000
28 BURN NOTICE MON Ten 539,000 166,000 138,000 101,000 66,000 68,000
40 PARALYMPIC GAMES BEIJING 2008 HIGHLIGHTS DAY 9 ABC1 347,000 90,000 96,000 61,000 44,000 56,000
50 30 ROCK Seven 292,000 62,000 107,000 52,000 32,000 39,000

The ratings race, updated 10 am Monday
Channel Nine learned two small things and one big thing last week. The smalls: Gordon Ramsay was a flash in the pan (the audience for his latest Kitchen Nightmares was down half a million on his pre-Olympic figures, apparently because Nine had overstuffed the viewers, and in the process, stuffed itself); and the success of Seven's City Homicide cannot be generalised into a fad for Australian cop shows (Nine's The Strip was down 200,000 from its debut).

The big: Nine will not be making a comeback this year, because Seven will have the largest audience share when the ratings race ends in November. Nine's audience may be up a bit, but it will not be The One.

The prime time shares last week were Seven 29.9 per cent, Nine 25.4, Ten 20.6 per cent, ABC 18.9, and SBS 5.3. Seven's top performers were Packed To The Rafters and Find My Family. Nine's only show in the top ten was Two and a Half Men (see the Top 50 chart below).

Ten had high hopes for the "re-imagining'' of the 80s teen favourite 90210 but managed only 837,000 (because there was not enough Shannen Doherty) but felt flushed with success when Kenny's World pulled 1.1 million. Taken Out is averaging 632,000 a night, which is apparently not bad enough to cause Ten to send it to Yasminland.

The ABC was going gangbusters with Spicks and Specks, Midsomer Murders, and the Four Corners September 11 conspiracy theory special. SBS scored with Top Gear (887,000) and Mythbusters (422,000), while Pay TV's top performers were NRL: Storm vs Rabbitohs (Fox Sports 2) 227,000; Project Runway Australia (Arena) 223,000; The Simpsons (Fox 8) 210,000 and Family Guy (Fox 8) 201,000.

Nine reasserted itself on Sunday, getting 29.8 per cent of the prime time audience to Seven's 22.5, with the help of 60 Minutes, a new gardening show and Underbelly's first (legal) showing in Melbourne.

Help wanted: Did any reader see the program listed in the ratings chart as "Fringe Sneak Peek"? It was not advertised. Can you tell us when it was shown, how long it was, and did it make you want to see the official first episode of Fringe on Wednesday?

What Australia watched, Sunday
Description Total Sydney Melbourne Brisbane Adelaide Perth
1 60 MINUTES Nine 1,713,000 508,000 475,000 333,000 192,000 205,000
2 NINE NEWS SUNDAY Nine 1,638,000 576,000 422,000 336,000 177,000 126,000
3 SEVEN NEWS - SUN Seven 1,490,000 359,000 462,000 283,000 161,000 225,000
4 FRINGE SNEAK PEEK Nine 1,416,000 400,000 511,000 208,000 157,000 139,000
5 BATTLEFRONTS Nine 1,286,000 385,000 372,000 265,000 148,000 116,000
6 MIDSOMER MURDERS ABC1 1,233,000 394,000 324,000 209,000 140,000 166,000
7 AUSTRALIAN IDOL Ten 1,224,000 381,000 348,000 246,000 139,000 111,000
8 THE OUTDOOR ROOM WITH JAMIE DURIE Seven 1,187,000 314,000 346,000 216,000 135,000 176,000
9 DOCTOR WHO ABC1 1,169,000 380,000 306,000 227,000 110,000 146,000
10 DANCING WITH THE STARS 8 Seven 1,167,000 355,000 397,000 172,000 90,000 153,000
13 OUTBACK WILDLIFE RESCUE Seven 1,057,000 235,000 349,000 201,000 121,000 150,000
17 RUGBY LEAGUE FINAL SERIES QF4 Nine 826,000 389,000 152,000 269,000 10,000 5,000
18 ROVE Ten 825,000 236,000 278,000 136,000 101,000 76,000
19 CSI: MIAMI Nine 776,000 317,000 185,000 142,000 132,000
20 PRIVATE PRACTICE Seven 722,000 237,000 241,000 118,000 58,000 68,000
23 UNDERBELLY -EP2 Nine 594,000 Already shown 594,000 Already shown Already shown
24 UNDERBELLY -EP1 Nine 575,000 Already shown 575,000 Already shown Already shown
26 DEXTER Ten 516,000 152,000 174,000 50,000 80,000 59,000
27 PARALYMPIC GAMES BEIJING 2008 HIGHLIGHTS DAY 8 ABC1 448,000 128,000 129,000 76,000 57,000 59,000
33 JAMES MAY'S 20TH CENTURY SBS 374,000 128,000 89,000 55,000 49,000 53,000
35 WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE? SBS 354,000 118,000 96,000 51,000 54,000 34,000
(OzTAM preliminary estimates, mainland capitals)

What Australia watched, week ending September 13
Description Total Sydney Melbourne Brisbane Adelaide Perth
1 PACKED TO THE RAFTERS Network 7 1,960,000 578,000 669,000 355,000 160,000 198,000
2 FIND MY FAMILY Network 7 1,919,000 549,000 591,000 381,000 180,000 217,000
3 CITY HOMICIDE Network 7 1,787,000 519,000 583,000 293,000 187,000 204,000
4 SEVEN NEWS - SUN Network 7 1,774,000 355,000 650,000 366,000 172,000 231,000
5 RSPCA ANIMAL RESCUE Network 7 1,748,000 473,000 496,000 363,000 177,000 240,000
6 THE FORCE Network 7 1,660,000 445,000 473,000 315,000 170,000 257,000
7 BORDER SECURITY Network 7 1,648,000 499,000 450,000 308,000 153,000 239,000
8 SEVEN NEWS Network 7 1,515,000 403,000 402,000 301,000 161,000 247,000
9 CRIMINAL MINDS Network 7 1,478,000 407,000 433,000 284,000 177,000 178,000
10 TWO AND A HALF MEN -WED Network 9 1,410,000 397,000 433,000 267,000 169,000 144,000
11 TODAY TONIGHT Network 7 1,383,000 368,000 375,000 256,000 157,000 227,000
12 SPICKS AND SPECKS Network ABC1 1,364,000 447,000 385,000 229,000 130,000 173,000
13 THE OUTDOOR ROOM WITH JAMIE DURIE Network 7 1,356,000 341,000 436,000 262,000 122,000 195,000
14 MEDICAL EMERGENCY Network 7 1,353,000 385,000 365,000 303,000 133,000 167,000
15 DOMESTIC BLITZ Network 9 1,352,000 394,000 390,000 283,000 159,000 126,000
16 60 MINUTES Network 9 1,350,000 397,000 379,000 274,000 143,000 157,000
17 DANCING WITH THE STARS 8 Network 7 1,334,000 445,000 431,000 212,000 93,000 152,000
18 CRASH INVESTIGATION UNIT Network 7 1,320,000 396,000 329,000 291,000 123,000 181,000
19 ALL SAINTS Network 7 1,293,000 445,000 422,000 150,000 144,000 133,000
20 HOME AND AWAY Network 7 1,282,000 379,000 348,000 247,000 136,000 172,000
21 NINE NEWS SUNDAY Network 9 1,272,000 416,000 365,000 244,000 148,000 99,000
22 MIDSOMER MURDERS Network ABC1 1,271,000 407,000 353,000 196,000 157,000 158,000
23 TWO AND A HALF MEN -RPT Network 9 1,270,000 342,000 384,000 271,000 139,000 134,000
24 SEVEN NEWS - SAT Network 7 1,268,000 353,000 321,000 268,000 128,000 198,000
25 WIPEOUT Network 9 1,262,000 357,000 436,000 179,000 143,000 146,000
26 THE STRIP Network 9 1,247,000 319,000 386,000 284,000 118,000 140,000
27 NINE NEWS SATURDAY Network 9 1,214,000 384,000 368,000 261,000 123,000 80,000
28 AUSTRALIAN IDOL - WILDCARD Network TEN 1,191,000 354,000 375,000 246,000 94,000 122,000
29 NCIS Network TEN 1,188,000 331,000 334,000 238,000 139,000 147,000
30 NINE NEWS Network 9 1,181,000 323,000 382,000 258,000 126,000 93,000
31 A CURRENT AFFAIR Network 9 1,177,000 334,000 376,000 251,000 122,000 95,000
32 BETTER HOMES AND GARDENS Network 7 1,173,000 295,000 399,000 235,000 123,000 121,000
33 GETAWAY Network 9 1,159,000 277,000 396,000 237,000 122,000 128,000
34 BONES - MON Network 7 1,149,000 349,000 316,000 224,000 137,000 122,000
35 KENNY'S WORLD Network TEN 1,129,000 309,000 400,000 195,000 108,000 118,000
36 FOUR CORNERS Network ABC1 1,124,000 356,000 293,000 205,000 104,000 166,000
37 HOLE IN THE WALL Network 9 1,121,000 317,000 329,000 206,000 134,000 135,000
38 ABC NEWS Network ABC1 1,119,000 353,000 319,000 193,000 108,000 145,000
39 SEVEN'S AFL: SEMI-FINAL 2: WESTERN BULLDOGS VS SYDNEY Network 7 1,117,000 179,000 556,000 73,000 133,000 176,000
40 CRIMINAL MINDS (R) Network 7 1,109,000 282,000 352,000 202,000 143,000 129,000
41 AUSTRALIAN IDOL - THE LIVE VERDICT Network TEN 1,099,000 320,000 347,000 216,000 110,000 107,000
42 DOCTOR WHO Network ABC1 1,095,000 350,000 303,000 207,000 109,000 126,000
43 OUTBACK WILDLIFE RESCUE Network 7 1,094,000 292,000 361,000 197,000 94,000 150,000
44 TEN'S AFL FINALS 2008: 1ST SEMI FINAL ST KILDA V COLLINGWOOD Network TEN 1,087,000 81,000 669,000 52,000 140,000 145,000
45 ABC NEWS-SUN Network ABC1 1,062,000 339,000 297,000 203,000 93,000 131,000
46 ARE YOU SMARTER THAN A 5TH GRADER? Network TEN 1,053,000 308,000 288,000 225,000 97,000 136,000
47 MAKE ME A SUPERMODEL Network 7 1,052,000 321,000 332,000 182,000 79,000 139,000
48 THE HOLLOWMEN Network ABC1 1,044,000 351,000 315,000 156,000 81,000 141,000
49 THANK GOD YOU'RE HERE RPT Network TEN 1,032,000 293,000 340,000 185,000 101,000 112,000
50 CSI: MIAMI -EP1 Network 9 1,028,000 262,000 327,000 196,000 118,000 125,000
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 whoweare-index at 10:23 AM
• Comments (137)

WHO WE ARE: Can they fix it? Yes they can

To nominate the cleverest lines ever written for Australian television, go to The Tribal Mind.

A column about Australia by David Dale, published in The Sun-Herald 14/9/2008
This country is passing through a period of intense nationalism. We feel pretty good about ourselves, but not so good about the rest of the world, and that is reflected in our choice of entertainment. In the medium we consume the most, local creations dominate. And our preferred content reveals much about our hopes, fears and attitudes.

I've just come into possession of a chart, based on data from the ratings measurement agency OzTAM, which shows the 40 TV series that attracted the biggest audiences this year. It's apparent that we want to hear familiar accents and see familiar places on the screens that glow for three hours a night in two rooms of our home (70 per cent of Australian households have more than one TV set). Of the top 40 shows, 29 are Australian. An equivalent chart three years ago would have been half American. And we're giving unprecedented support to the national broadcaster. Four of this year's Top 40 are on the ABC (Doc Martin, Midsomer Murders, Spicks and Specks and The Gruen Transfer).

But it's the kind of material we're choosing that gives the greatest insight into the national mindset. If there's a common theme across this year's favourite entertainments, it is Reassurance. We embrace shows which convince us that, in less than an hour ...

1) families can be reunited,
2) crimes can be solved,
3) smugglers can be unmasked,
4) animals can be saved,
5) hard work can be rewarded,
6) chefs can be retrained,
7) homes can be renovated,
8) marriages can be arranged,
9) ills can be cured,
and 10) drowning people can be rescued.

In other words, the 40 most popular programs this year have included ...

1) Packed To The Rafters and Find My Family;
2) City Homicide, The Force, CSI, NCIS, Sea Patrol, Midsomer Murders, Underbelly, Crash Investigation Unit and Criminal Minds;
3) Border Security;
4) RSPCA Animal Rescue;
5) Australia's Got Talent, So You Think You Can Dance and Australian Idol;
6) Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares;
7) Domestic Blitz and Better Homes and Gardens;
8) The Farmer Wants A Wife;
9) RPA and House;
and 10) Bondi Rescue and Surf Patrol.

All those shows had more than 1.2 million viewers in the mainland capitals.
The top three shows in the chart (Packed To The Rafters, Find My Family, and City Homicide) had more than 1.6 million viewers. Why the current craving for reassurance? Why are we such a nervous nation? Could it be because the world outside looks dangerous and confusing, so we choose entertainment that promises there will always be an answer?

But I'd like your help in explaining a few shows that don't fit neatly within the 10 point theory I've outlined. The top 40 also includes The Gruen Transfer, David Attenborough's Life in Cold Blood, The One - Australia's Greatest Psychic, Desperate Housewives, Two and a Half Men, Wipeout, Hole in the Wall, Gladiators and Today Tonight.

What do they reveal about Australians? The quest for knowledge suggested by Life In Cold Blood is contradicted by the sheer silliness of Hole In The Wall. The healthy skepticism suggested by The Gruen Transfer contradicts the gullibility suggested by our interest in Today Tonight and The One - Australia's Greatest Psychic. We're a complex mob.

You can share your theories at Comments

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.
Photos, from top: Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares, The Strip, Domestic Blitz, Packed to the Rafters

The 40 Most Watched Series of 2008:
1. Packed to the Rafters (7) 1.9 million
2. Find My Family (7) 1.8
3. Underbelly (9) 1.7m
4. City Homicide (7) 1.6m
5. Border Security (7) 1.6m
6. 60 Minutes (9) 1.5m
7. RSPCA Animal Rescue (7) 1.5m
8. The Force (7) 1.5m
9. Australia's Got Talent (7) 1.5m
10. Domestic Blitz (9) 1.5m
11. So You Think You Can Dance (10) 1.5m
12. The One - Australia's Greatest Psychic (7) 1.4m
13. CSI (9) 1.4m
14. NCIS (10) 1.4m
15. The Farmer Wants A Wife (9) 1.4m
16. Today Tonight (7) 1.40m
17. Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares (9) 1.4m
18. RPA (9) 1.4m
19. Bondi Rescue (10) 1.4m
20. Sea Patrol (9) 1.4m
21. Better Homes and Gardens (7) 1.4m
22. Surf Patrol (7) 1.4m
23. SCU: Serious Crash Unit (7) 1.4m
24. Gladiators (7) 1.3m
25. Two and a Half Men (9) 1.3m
26. Doc Martin (ABC) 1.3m
27. Midsomer Murders (ABC) 1.3m
28. Criminal Minds (7) 1.3m
29. Battle of the Choirs (7) 1.30m
30. Crash Investigation Unit (7) 1.3m
31. It Takes Two (7) 1.3m
32. David Attenborough Life In Cold Blood (9) 1.3m
33. Desperate Housewives (7) 1.3m
34. House (10) 1.3m
35. The Gruen Transfer (ABC) 1.3m
36. Spicks and Specks (ABC) 1.3m
37. Australian Idol (7) 1.2m
38. All Saints (7) 1.2m
39. Wipeout (9) 1.2m
40. Hole in the Wall (9) 1.1m
(OzTAM mainland capitals, to 27/9/2008)

Photos: Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares; Domestic Blitz; Packed To The Rafters; Today Tonight

• by David Dale in whoweare-index at 05:39 AM
• Comments (14)

The Who We Are update: Week 39

This week of the blog is now a heritage item. For the latest discussion, go to http://blogs.sunherald.com.au/whoweare.
To discuss what movies our kids should study in English lessons, go to
Who We Are
To discuss the smartest lines ever written for Australian television, go to The Tribal Mind

What Australia watched, Saturday (preliminary figures)
Description Total Sydney Melbourne Brisbane Adelaide Perth
1 SEVEN'S AFL: GRAND FINAL: PRESENTATIONS Seven 2,583,000 382,000 1,284,000 256,000 335,000 327,000
2 SEVEN'S AFL: GRAND FINAL Seven 2,460,000 320,000 1,289,000 226,000 300,000 326,000
11 M-KNIGHT RIDER Seven 902,000 198,000 318,000 172,000 104,000 110,000
12 RUGBY LEAGUE FINAL SERIES PF2 Nine 898,000 536,000 24,000 297,000 12,000 29,000

What Australia watched, Friday
Description Total Sydney Melbourne Brisbane Adelaide Perth
1 BETTER HOMES AND GARDENS Seven 1,294,000 339,000 390,000 252,000 131,000 182,000
2 SEVEN NEWS Seven 1,271,000 339,000 332,000 234,000 131,000 235,000
3 RUGBY LEAGUE FINAL SERIES PF1 Nine 1,215,000 597,000 273,000 327,000 8,000 9,000
4 TODAY TONIGHT Seven 1,189,000 310,000 306,000 248,000 136,000 189,000
5 NINE NEWS Nine 1,131,000 294,000 368,000 262,000 112,000 95,000
6 HOME AND AWAY Seven 1,119,000 293,000 362,000 203,000 113,000 148,000
7 ABC NEWS ABC1 1,048,000 287,000 349,000 166,000 91,000 156,000
8 TWO AND A HALF MEN -RPT Nine 1,043,000 249,000 303,000 231,000 122,000 137,000
9 A CURRENT AFFAIR Nine 948,000 216,000 312,000 231,000 105,000 84,000
10 M-MEET THE FOCKERS Seven 909,000 276,000 270,000 179,000 79,000 106,000
14 WIRE IN THE BLOOD ABC1 585,000 208,000 157,000 99,000 121,000
19 TAKEN OUT Ten 499,000 147,000 151,000 84,000 56,000 61,000
26 30 ROCK Seven 352,000 119,000 100,000 53,000 39,000 42,000
53 STUART SUTCLIFFE: THE LOST BEATLE SBS 205,000 37,000 90,000 33,000 19,000 25,000
65 VFL FOOTBALL 2008 ABC1 166,000 Not shown 166,000 Not shown Not shown

The ratings race, updated 10 am Friday
Would any reader care to bet on when Nine will axe its new cop show The Strip from its current prime time slot? It's more likely a matter of hours than days. What went wrong there, do you think?

The prime time audience shares for the week so far stand at: Seven 29.1 per cent, Nine 26.5, Ten 21.8, ABC 17.4 and SBS 5.2.

What Australia watched, Thursday
Description Total Sydney Melbourne Brisbane Adelaide Perth
1 SEVEN NEWS Seven 1,441,000 400,000 368,000 308,000 156,000 209,000
2 TODAY TONIGHT Seven 1,286,000 316,000 351,000 256,000 158,000 205,000
3 TWO AND A HALF MEN -RPT Nine 1,238,000 380,000 372,000 223,000 125,000 138,000
4 GETAWAY Nine 1,218,000 329,000 408,000 226,000 110,000 146,000
5 A CURRENT AFFAIR Nine 1,178,000 349,000 370,000 238,000 111,000 110,000
6 HOME AND AWAY Seven 1,147,000 313,000 329,000 205,000 136,000 164,000
7 THE FOOTY SHOW Nine 1,138,000 201,000 614,000 98,000 129,000 96,000
8 NINE NEWS Nine 1,135,000 329,000 327,000 231,000 133,000 114,000
9 ABC NEWS ABC1 1,058,000 324,000 288,000 213,000 76,000 158,000
10 ARE YOU SMARTER THAN A 5TH GRADER? Ten 953,000 242,000 269,000 205,000 94,000 143,000
11 THE REAL RAIN MAN ABC1 939,000 323,000 195,000 189,000 98,000 134,000
12 MAKE ME A SUPERMODEL Seven 927,000 278,000 230,000 166,000 119,000 135,000
13 GHOST WHISPERER Seven 910,000 287,000 229,000 188,000 91,000 115,000
14 LAW & ORDER: CRIMINAL INTENT Ten 906,000 276,000 254,000 151,000 119,000 106,000
21 THE STRIP Nine 732,000 286,000 209,000 111,000 126,000
25 FRIENDS - DAILY Ten 543,000 155,000 134,000 108,000 61,000 86,000
26 TAKEN OUT Ten 533,000 146,000 175,000 102,000 41,000 69,000
29 FAMILY GUY Seven 443,000 125,000 134,000 87,000 53,000 44,000
33 AMERICAN DAD Seven 359,000 104,000 137,000 47,000 41,000 29,000
34 INSPECTOR REX RPT SBS 356,000 118,000 90,000 64,000 48,000 36,000
57 LATE SHOW WITH DAVID LETTERMAN Ten 202,000 65,000 65,000 32,000 22,000 19,000

The ratings race, updated 10 am Thursday
Only the readers of this column can solve the mystery: why did House do so badly last night? A show that was averaging 1.3 million before it ended with a cliffhanger earlier this year could only manage 914,000 for its fast-tracked return.

The viewers were certainly not distracted by Fringe, which dropped on last week's poor performance, and would seem now to be doomed to Nine's late night oblivion basket. Was there something special happening on Criminal Minds? Is everybody so pissed off with Kenny that they refuse to even switch on Ten? Or has Dr House just gone too far in his bitterness?

What Australia watched, Wednesday
Description Total Sydney Melbourne Brisbane Adelaide Perth
1 SEVEN NEWS Seven 1,590,000 430,000 403,000 350,000 166,000 242,000
2 TWO AND A HALF MEN -WED EP2 Nine 1,548,000 489,000 504,000 254,000 144,000 157,000
3 TWO AND A HALF MEN -WED Nine 1,449,000 395,000 495,000 268,000 153,000 138,000
4 TODAY TONIGHT Seven 1,431,000 398,000 389,000 264,000 163,000 218,000
5 MEDICAL EMERGENCY Seven 1,398,000 368,000 390,000 278,000 147,000 214,000
6 CRIMINAL MINDS Seven 1,320,000 374,000 380,000 251,000 135,000 180,000
7 CRASH INVESTIGATION UNIT Seven 1,297,000 359,000 334,000 263,000 141,000 200,000
8 TWO AND A HALF MEN -RPT Nine 1,257,000 350,000 405,000 244,000 137,000 119,000
9 HOME AND AWAY Seven 1,241,000 350,000 369,000 213,000 125,000 184,000
10 SPICKS AND SPECKS ABC1 1,227,000 417,000 362,000 196,000 99,000 152,000
14 HOUSE Ten 914,000 304,000 261,000 106,000 106,000 136,000
15 THE HOLLOWMEN ABC1 906,000 291,000 285,000 146,000 64,000 120,000
16 FRINGE Nine 899,000 243,000 283,000 196,000 93,000 83,000
21 KENNY'S WORLD Ten 754,000 220,000 203,000 107,000 117,000 107,000
22 LIFE Ten 740,000 154,000 263,000 101,000 105,000 117,000
23 KITCHEN NIGHTMARES U.S.A. Nine 712,000 203,000 240,000 100,000 98,000 72,000
25 BONDI RESCUE: BALI Ten 675,000 218,000 157,000 93,000 93,000 113,000
26 VERY SMALL BUSINESS ABC1 653,000 221,000 190,000 97,000 53,000 93,000

What Australia watched, Tuesday
Description Total Sydney Melbourne Brisbane Adelaide Perth
1 PACKED TO THE RAFTERS Seven 1,945,000 577,000 580,000 384,000 168,000 236,000
2 FIND MY FAMILY Seven 1,735,000 471,000 488,000 335,000 192,000 249,000
3 RSPCA ANIMAL RESCUE Seven 1,705,000 480,000 474,000 317,000 171,000 264,000
4 SEVEN NEWS Seven 1,545,000 439,000 409,000 280,000 191,000 226,000
5 TODAY TONIGHT Seven 1,470,000 396,000 434,000 235,000 176,000 228,000
6 HOME AND AWAY Seven 1,337,000 393,000 363,000 239,000 155,000 187,000
7 TWO AND A HALF MEN -RPT Nine 1,264,000 338,000 419,000 240,000 128,000 138,000
8 WIPEOUT Nine 1,230,000 352,000 420,000 200,000 130,000 128,000
9 ALL SAINTS Seven 1,220,000 361,000 402,000 168,000 132,000 158,000
10 NINE NEWS Nine 1,200,000 295,000 392,000 273,000 131,000 109,000
15 TWO IN THE TOP END ABC1 953,000 338,000 270,000 152,000 90,000 102,000
16 NCIS RPT Ten 943,000 254,000 265,000 171,000 119,000 134,000
17 7.30 REPORT ABC1 921,000 312,000 258,000 153,000 85,000 113,000
18 RUSH Ten 883,000 225,000 284,000 163,000 115,000 96,000
24 20 TO 1 Nine 678,000 289,000 191,000 106,000 91,000
27 SECRET DIARY OF A CALL GIRL Nine 576,000 173,000 192,000 91,000 67,000 53,000
34 UNDERBELLY Nine 417,000 417,000
38 MAKE ME A SUPERMODEL: OFF THE RUNWAY Seven 376,000 117,000 127,000 50,000 44,000 37,000
68 EMBEDDED WITH SHEIK HILALY SBS 226,000 91,000 51,000 55,000 9,000 21,000

The ratings race, updated 11am Tuesday
A combination of Melbourne footballers' self-congratulations (the Brownnose medal) and a resurgent Australian Idol put Channel Ten in the rare position of being number two station on Monday. Ten's success over the past two nights (and its likely success tomorrow with House) has spoiled Nine's chance of winning the week, despite Seven's poor performance on Sunday.

And even fewer people saw 30 Rock win multiple Emmys than saw 30 Rock's Monday night episode. To bring you up to date, Tina Fey gave three modest speeches. For the the best comedy writing award, she said her colleague Jack Burditt should have won for penning the line ''Never go with a hippie to a second location.'' For her Best Lead Actress in a Comedy, she said she gets through scenes as Liz Lemon by imagining how Julia Louis-Dreyfus would play them.

And she confessed to being worried about being asked to portray Sarah Palin again: "I might not be able to remember how to do it -- I'm not really an impressionist". For more details, go to Entertainment Weekly's site

What Australia watched, Monday
Description Total Sydney Melbourne Brisbane Adelaide Perth
1 BORDER SECURITY Seven 1,713,000 550,000 478,000 308,000 170,000 206,000
2 THE FORCE Seven 1,574,000 476,000 415,000 297,000 160,000 226,000
3 SEVEN NEWS Seven 1,567,000 441,000 417,000 296,000 174,000 239,000
4 CITY HOMICIDE Seven 1,506,000 510,000 353,000 287,000 177,000 180,000
5 TODAY TONIGHT Seven 1,493,000 401,000 437,000 271,000 165,000 219,000
6 NINE NEWS Nine 1,388,000 379,000 440,000 294,000 152,000 124,000
7 HOME AND AWAY Seven 1,300,000 416,000 374,000 236,000 132,000 142,000
8 A CURRENT AFFAIR Nine 1,283,000 331,000 450,000 264,000 135,000 103,000
9 TWO AND A HALF MEN -RPT Nine 1,239,000 391,000 351,000 236,000 133,000 127,000
10 AUSTRALIAN IDOL - LIVE VERDICT Ten 1,139,000 336,000 396,000 172,000 132,000 103,000
11 BONES - MON Seven 1,095,000 335,000 259,000 234,000 131,000 137,000
12 2008 BROWNLOW MEDAL Ten 1,084,000 8,000 783,000 3,000 152,000 138,000
13 ABC NEWS ABC1 1,081,000 335,000 283,000 224,000 87,000 152,000
14 LIFE OF MAMMALS WITH DAVID ATTENBOROUGH Nine 969,000 248,000 276,000 191,000 111,000 143,000
15 TOP GEAR (SERIES 2) SBS 939,000 255,000 359,000 133,000 111,000 82,000
21 AUSTRALIAN STORY ABC1 717,000 268,000 168,000 152,000 49,000 80,000
32 SOUTH PARK SBS 442,000 111,000 169,000 54,000 50,000 57,000
59 30 ROCK Seven 254,000 70,000 88,000 51,000 26,000 19,000
64 THE 60TH ANNUAL EMMY AWARDS Ten 236,000 136,000 19,000 65,000 5,000 11,000

The ratings race, updated 10am Monday
The two new Aussie cop shows -- Channel Nine's The Strip and Channel Ten's Rush -- each attracted a million viewers in the mainland capitals last week, but one is considered an impending flop and the other a modest success. That's because Nine's program is showing at 8.30pm and Ten's at 9.30 pm, when most Australians are preparing for bed. If The Strip keeps losing viewers at its current rate, Nine will do a Canal Road on it (dump it to late night), although at this stage in the year, there's not much to replace it with. It's not as if Gordon Ramsay works as a programming bandaid any more.

Also last week, Nine's new sci fi thriller Fringe drew 934,000 viewers while Ten's teen soap 90210 drew 741,000, but again, Ten was happier. At least 90210 is reaching its target 16 to 39 audience (ranking 15 for the week with an age group that rarely watches TV, compared with 89 with all viewers, which lets Ten promote it as a cult favourite of the Clearasil crowd). Things can only get worse for Fringe, because this Wednesday it comes up against against the new season of House, which will further boost Ten's morale.

SBS did best with Top Gear (909,000) and South Park (412,000) while on Pay TV, the hotties included the finale of Project Runway Australia on Arena (229,000) and The Simpsons on Fox 8 (194,000).

Seven won the week with 28.8 per cent of the prime time audience, while Nine got 27.2, Ten 20.5, ABC 18.4 and SBS 5.2.

But Seven's lucky streak vanished on Sunday, when Dancing With The Stars was beaten by Australian Idol, Doctor Who and a 60 Minutes episode about ballroom dancers. The prime time audience shares were Nine 25.6 per cent, Ten 24.7, Seven 22.9, ABC 21.4 and SBS 5.4.

What Australia watched, Sunday
Description Total Sydney Melbourne Brisbane Adelaide Perth
1 SEVEN NEWS - SUN Seven 1,422,000 315,000 377,000 339,000 154,000 238,000
2 AUSTRALIAN IDOL Ten 1,342,000 455,000 392,000 229,000 135,000 131,000
3 NINE NEWS SUNDAY Nine 1,302,000 389,000 414,000 236,000 153,000 110,000
4 60 MINUTES Nine 1,268,000 351,000 371,000 248,000 120,000 177,000
5 MIDSOMER MURDERS ABC1 1,212,000 351,000 354,000 193,000 138,000 176,000
6 ABC NEWS UP-DATE ABC1 1,194,000 375,000 314,000 189,000 142,000 175,000
7 BATTLEFRONTS Nine 1,174,000 346,000 313,000 229,000 149,000 137,000
8 SEVEN NEWS SPECIAL: YOUR MONEY - HOW TO SURVIVE THE CRISIS Seven 1,173,000 272,000 365,000 261,000 108,000 167,000
9 ABC NEWS-SUN ABC1 1,159,000 327,000 360,000 203,000 125,000 145,000
10 DOCTOR WHO ABC1 1,152,000 369,000 279,000 211,000 123,000 169,000
11 DANCING WITH THE STARS Seven 1,113,000 334,000 344,000 168,000 99,000 168,000
12 THANK GOD YOU'RE HERE RPT Ten 1,084,000 323,000 313,000 175,000 122,000 151,000
13 DOCTOR WHO: CONFIDENTIAL CUTDOWN-EV ABC1 1,015,000 300,000 260,000 184,000 112,000 160,000
14 THE OUTDOOR ROOM WITH JAMIE DURIE Seven 920,000 217,000 268,000 191,000 96,000 148,000
15 ROVE Ten 918,000 264,000 349,000 117,000 95,000 94,000
20 PRIVATE PRACTICE Seven 671,000 234,000 189,000 106,000 69,000 74,000
22 CRIME INVESTIGATION AUSTRALIA Nine 547,000 203,000 164,000 102,000 77,000
25 UNDERBELLY Nine 439,000 439,000
29 WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE? SBS 338,000 78,000 127,000 58,000 43,000 32,000
30 JAMES MAY'S 20TH CENTURY SBS 336,000 107,000 93,000 59,000 47,000 30,000
(OzTAM preliminary estimates, mainland capitals)

What Australia watched, week ending September 20
Description Total Sydney Melbourne Brisbane Adelaide Perth
1 PACKED TO THE RAFTERS Network 7 1,895,000 615,000 589,000 328,000 153,000 210,000
2 CITY HOMICIDE Network 7 1,857,000 511,000 617,000 314,000 202,000 213,000
3 FIND MY FAMILY Network 7 1,815,000 482,000 558,000 401,000 156,000 218,000
4 BORDER SECURITY Network 7 1,814,000 546,000 507,000 356,000 176,000 229,000
5 RSPCA ANIMAL RESCUE Network 7 1,813,000 501,000 522,000 389,000 168,000 233,000
6 THE FORCE Network 7 1,733,000 520,000 499,000 313,000 169,000 232,000
7 60 MINUTES Network 9 1,686,000 495,000 483,000 320,000 188,000 199,000
8 NINE NEWS SUNDAY Network 9 1,637,000 576,000 422,000 336,000 177,000 126,000
9 SEVEN NEWS - SUN Network 7 1,490,000 359,000 462,000 283,000 161,000 225,000
10 SEVEN NEWS Network 7 1,485,000 388,000 391,000 314,000 171,000 222,000
11 MEDICAL EMERGENCY Network 7 1,426,000 409,000 349,000 338,000 142,000 189,000
12 TWO AND A HALF MEN -WED Network 9 1,376,000 394,000 432,000 271,000 132,000 147,000
13 TODAY TONIGHT Network 7 1,325,000 341,000 353,000 261,000 167,000 204,000
14 BONES - MON Network 7 1,298,000 333,000 404,000 228,000 155,000 178,000
15 CRASH INVESTIGATION UNIT Network 7 1,287,000 393,000 331,000 270,000 134,000 159,000
16 BATTLEFRONTS Network 9 1,286,000 385,000 372,000 265,000 148,000 117,000
17 SEVEN NEWS - SAT Network 7 1,284,000 329,000 376,000 283,000 135,000 161,000
18 NCIS Network TEN 1,280,000 346,000 367,000 229,000 165,000 173,000
19 CRIMINAL MINDS Network 7 1,258,000 321,000 377,000 250,000 160,000 150,000
20 SPICKS AND SPECKS Network ABC1 1,252,000 413,000 354,000 228,000 109,000 148,000
21 HOME AND AWAY Network 7 1,247,000 367,000 352,000 250,000 124,000 154,000
22 MIDSOMER MURDERS Network ABC1 1,233,000 394,000 324,000 209,000 140,000 166,000
23 BETTER HOMES AND GARDENS Network 7 1,232,000 345,000 431,000 253,000 96,000 106,000
24 AUSTRALIAN IDOL Network TEN 1,224,000 380,000 348,000 246,000 139,000 111,000
25 ALL SAINTS Network 7 1,212,000 431,000 356,000 164,000 129,000 132,000
26 THE OUTDOOR ROOM WITH JAMIE DURIE Network 7 1,187,000 314,000 346,000 216,000 135,000 175,000
27 NINE NEWS Network 9 1,186,000 314,000 365,000 278,000 133,000 95,000
28 SEVEN'S AFL: PRELIMINARY FINAL 1: GEELONG VS WESTERN BULLDOG Network 7 1,181,000 85,000 681,000 86,000 166,000 163,000
29 WIPEOUT Network 9 1,174,000 328,000 404,000 172,000 141,000 129,000
30 TWO AND A HALF MEN -RPT Network 9 1,173,000 326,000 376,000 227,000 136,000 109,000
31 DANCING WITH THE STARS 8 Network 7 1,169,000 357,000 397,000 173,000 91,000 152,000
32 DOCTOR WHO Network ABC1 1,169,000 380,000 306,000 227,000 110,000 146,000
33 AUSTRALIA'S FUNNIEST HOME VIDEO SHOW Network 9 1,144,000 343,000 321,000 257,000 104,000 120,000
34 A CURRENT AFFAIR Network 9 1,142,000 301,000 380,000 245,000 124,000 92,000
35 ARE YOU SMARTER THAN A 5TH GRADER? Network TEN 1,137,000 334,000 326,000 209,000 121,000 147,000
36 THANK GOD YOU'RE HERE RPT Network TEN 1,136,000 312,000 374,000 198,000 128,000 123,000
37 TEN'S AFL FINALS 2008: 2ND PRELIM. FINAL HAWTHORN V ST KILDA Network TEN 1,134,000 54,000 687,000 55,000 162,000 176,000
38 ABC NEWS Network ABC1 1,133,000 330,000 334,000 217,000 100,000 151,000
39 ABC NEWS-SUN Network ABC1 1,113,000 345,000 297,000 206,000 105,000 161,000
40 OUTBACK WILDLIFE RESCUE Network 7 1,057,000 235,000 349,000 201,000 121,000 150,000
41 TWO AND A HALF MEN -EP1 Network 9 1,046,000 281,000 394,000 175,000 102,000 94,000
42 RUGBY LEAGUE FINAL SERIES SF2 Network 9 1,043,000 529,000 47,000 438,000 13,000 16,000
43 GETAWAY Network 9 1,043,000 308,000 356,000 198,000 93,000 88,000
44 THE STRIP Network 9 1,039,000 270,000 328,000 236,000 103,000 103,000
45 HOLE IN THE WALL Network 9 1,038,000 313,000 356,000 157,000 101,000 112,000
46 KENNY'S WORLD Network TEN 1,035,000 300,000 338,000 180,000 94,000 123,000
47 AUSTRALIAN IDOL - THE LIVE VERDICT Network TEN 1,027,000 348,000 286,000 195,000 98,000 100,000
48 TWO AND A HALF MEN -EP2 Network 9 1,022,000 276,000 356,000 200,000 101,000 88,000
49 LAW & ORDER: CRIMINAL INTENT Network TEN 1,013,000 297,000 335,000 155,000 120,000 106,000
50 NINE NEWS SATURDAY Network 9 1,005,000 270,000 311,000 249,000 98,000 75,000
51 RUSH Network TEN 1,002,000 230,000 349,000 161,000 140,000 122,000

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 whoweare-index at 05:13 AM
• Comments (126)

The Tribal Mind: Hens just want to have fun

To discuss the best lines ever written for Australian television, go to The dialogue.

by David Dale
A movie currently playing around Australia is being advertised with this quote: "Bonneville has the unmistakable feel of a tearjerker. It has been a long while since an older female demographic had a film to make them laugh and cry in the manner of Steel Magnolias or Fried Green Tomatoes."

Would that make you want to go and see Bonneville? It doesn't work for me, but then, I am not the target audience. The ad is aimed at the hot new niche in moviegoing: mature women. This is the year of the Henflick.

Yes, I realise that a few weeks ago, this column declared it to be The Year of the Brainy Blockbuster. That was because of the extraordinary performance of The Dark Knight, which has so far sold four million tickets in Australia and replaced Harry Potter and The Philosopher's Stone as No. 7 biggest moneymaker of all time.

But if you look at this year's box office chart, you see an even more unusual phenomenon: 1 The Dark Knight $44 million; 2 Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull $29.5m; 3 Mamma Mia! $29.5m; 4 Sex and The City $27m; 5 Kung Fu Panda $26m.

Until this year, the top 50 moneymakers of all time included only two chickflicks: My Big Fat Greek Wedding, which earned $28 million in 2002 and Moulin Rouge, which earned $28 million in 2001 (unless you count Titanic, which made $58 million by combining elements of the chick flick, the action thriller and the epic fantasy).

The advent of Mamma Mia! and Sex and the City has doubled the chick flick quota in the list, which includes 25 epic fantasies (such as the Lord of the Rings trilogy, the Pirates of the Caribbean trilogy, and the Harry Potter quintet), 14 family comedies (such as Shrek 2, Crocodile Dundee, Babe and Finding Nemo) and, as of this month, four chickflicks (for details on the all-time moneymakers, go to The films Australia loved).

You can see where there's room for growth, at relatively low cost. Filmmakers are rushing to fill the gap, except that their present targets are not the teenage girls who went to see Titanic four times each, but women over 30 -- the tearjerkees nominated by the advertisers of Bonneville.

Not all the new henflicks thrive -- Baby Mama, about a 37 year old woman who craves a child, has made only $1.8m in 2 weeks, as fans of Tina Fey discover she's not nearly as funny as in her TV series 30 Rock. Bonneville made only $81,000 in its first week, which won't even cover the cost of the newspaper ads. The mature chicks may not like being analysed, compartmentalised and patronised.

The next big push for their attention will be Australia, which is Baz Luhrman's attempt to hit the Titanic trifecta. But at the risk of making a fool of myself with another prediction, I reckon the year end box office chart will show Mamma Mia! (soon to be re-released in a "singalong" version) ahead of Australia. Unlike Luhrman, it does not take itself too seriously.

Give us your prediction at Comments

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 at 11:13 AM
• Comments (13)

WHO WE ARE: Greeks bearing gifts

To discuss the best lines ever written for Australian television, go to The Tribal Mind.

A column about Australia by David Dale, published in The Sun-Herald 7/9/2008
Picture the author of this column hitting his forehead and saying "D'Oh". Or, to put it another way: "How could we have forgotten the way the Greeks changed Australia?"

Last week I described Australia as Italy's most successful colony since the Roman Empire (national dish: spag bol, national drink: cappuccino, national attitude: Mediterranean), and pointed out that travel by Australians to Italy had trebled in the past ten years -- presumably because our Anglos keep setting off in search of the secret of human happiness, which Italians seem to possess.

Jim Barlas responded: "Greeks also have the same attitude (Mediterranean mellow) and have made a few contributions to supplying our national foods -- like Greek Salad, Greek style yoghurt, yeeros, pita bread and tzatziki dip. There's a few Federal and State politicians too (John Hatzistergos, Michael Costa, Petro Georgiou, Sophie Mirabella nee Panopoulos). Okay, maybe the Greeks haven't been as successful with influencing our national drinks, because ouzo hasn't taken over from beer yet, and the best influences on fashion and cosmetics I can think of are Alex Perry and Napoleon Perdis -- not nearly as big, on the world scale as the Italians. And Yiassou hasn't replaced G'Day yet. Nevertheless, there must be more people travelling to the Greek islands in recent times."

In fact, the Bureau of Statistics tells us 47,900 Australians visited Greece in the past 12 months, compared with 172,500 who went to Italy. So it's not yet a boom destination (although the movie Mamma Mia! is bound to boost tourism to the islands).

But then again, when they're planning a long stay, more Australians choose Greece than Italy. Among the Australians living abroad for more than a year, 33 per cent are in Britain, 22 per cent in the USA, 14 per cent in New Zealand, 7 per cent in Greece and 6 per cent in Italy.

Back home, 365,000 people in the 2006 census described themselves as of Greek background, and 252,000 said they speak Greek at home. They've been crucial in our transformation from one of the dullest places on the planet to one of the most interesting. I'm indebted to the scholar and cook Tessa Mallos for explaining the Greek role in these cultural tipping points ...

Australia's first chain of fish and chip shops. In 1879, Athanasios Comino, familiar with seafood from his childhood in the Greek islands, set up a shop in Oxford Street, Sydney, to sell fried fish and chips. It was so successful he urged his relatives in Kythera to join him, and by the early 1900s there was a chain of Comino's fish outlets across Sydney. By the 1950s, the Greek chippos were perfectly positioned to spread another culinary icon, the Chiko roll, across the land after it was invented by the honorary Greek Frank McEnroe.

The first milk bar. In 1932, inspired by American soda fountains and drugstores, Mick Adams started making milk shakes at his Black and White cafe in Martin Place, Sydney. Mick's real name was Joachim Tavlaidis. Within ten years there were 4,000 milk bars in Australia, whizzing up milk, icecream, flavouring and malt in tall tin mugs.

The Sydney Fish Market The Greeks have long been pretty good at catching fish and very good at selling them. Greek family companies got together to start most of the seafood markets in Australia's city centres. Last Sunday saw the death of Denis Poulos, founding director (in 1994) of the Sydney Fish Market.

The first country cafe selling baklava. From the 1920s Greek families spread through the country towns of this nation, opening eateries with names like Olympic, Paragon, and Acropolis. They deliberately didn't serve Greek food - unless you count "Mixed Grill" - because we weren't ready for it. But in the 1930s, Zacharia Simos took a chance and brought a pastrycook from Athens to his Paragon tea rooms in Katoomba. In addition to scones and meat pies, they started offering the nut and honey pastries baklava and kataifi.

The Paragon flourishes today as a monument to Australia's Greek heritage.

Go to Comments to tell us what else the Greeks have contributed to Australia

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 whoweare-index at 03:48 PM
• Comments (22)

The Who We Are update: Week 37

This week of the blog is now a heritage item. To join the latest discussion on Australian popular culture, bookmark http://blogs.sunherald.com.au/whoweare.
To discuss why Australians watched the 40 most popular programs of 2008, go to Who We Are
To nominate the cleverest lines ever written for Australian television, go to The Tribal Mind.

What Australia watched, Saturday
Description Total Sydney Melbourne Brisbane Adelaide Perth
1 SEVEN NEWS - SAT Network 7 1,268,000 353,000 321,000 268,000 128,000 198,000
2 NINE NEWS SATURDAY Network 9 1,214,000 384,000 368,000 261,000 123,000 80,000
3 TEN'S AFL FINALS 2008: 1ST SEMI FINAL ST KILDA V COLLINGWOOD Network TEN 1,087,000 81,000 669,000 52,000 140,000 145,000
4 THE BILL Network ABC1 852,000 298,000 215,000 150,000 75,000 114,000
5 ABC NEWS-SAT Network ABC1 781,000 251,000 253,000 130,000 64,000 84,000
6 AUSTRALIA'S FUNNIEST HOME VIDEO SHOW Network 9 770,000 154,000 320,000 89,000 86,000 122,000
9 RUGBY LEAGUE FINAL SERIES QF2 Network 9 626,000 361,000 13,000 233,000 8,000 11,000
14 RUGBY LEAGUE FINAL SERIES QF3 Network 9 538,000 361,000 Not shown 168,000 Not shown 9,000
16 SEVEN'S R.U: BLEDISLOE CUP: AUS V N Z Network 7 496,000 226,000 40,000 195,000 14,000 21,000
18 MYTHBUSTERS Network SBS 422,000 136,000 123,000 47,000 58,000 58,000
19 MATILDA RPT Network TEN 399,000 249,000 Not shown 150,000 Not shown Not shown
23 PARALYMPIC GAMES BEIJING 2008 HIGHLIGHTS DAY 7 Network ABC1 331,000 109,000 97,000 55,000 32,000 39,000
33 IRON CHEF RPT Network SBS 259,000 82,000 87,000 33,000 32,000 25,000
39 ROCKWIZ Network SBS 218,000 78,000 50,000 40,000 28,000 21,000
Continued here

What Australia watched, Friday
Description Total Sydney Melbourne Brisbane Adelaide Perth
1 SEVEN NEWS Network 7 1,420,000 375,000 358,000 293,000 142,000 253,000
2 A CURRENT AFFAIR Network 9 1,139,000 297,000 329,000 248,000 124,000 140,000
3 TWO AND A HALF MEN -RPT Network 9 1,123,000 294,000 321,000 265,000 112,000 130,000
4 NINE NEWS Network 9 1,117,000 298,000 334,000 260,000 134,000 91,000
5 SEVEN'S AFL: SEMI-FINAL 2: WESTERN BULLDOGS VS SYDNEY Network 7 1,117,000 179,000 556,000 73,000 133,000 176,000
6 TODAY TONIGHT Network 7 1,055,000 331,000 338,000 259,000 128,000
7 WIRE IN THE BLOOD Network ABC1 983,000 322,000 250,000 170,000 120,000 121,000
10 RUGBY LEAGUE FINAL SERIES QF1 Network 9 831,000 426,000 16,000 364,000 15,000 10,000
18 TAKEN OUT Network TEN 581,000 160,000 195,000 90,000 54,000 82,000
34 PARALYMPIC GAMES BEIJING 2008 HIGHLIGHTS DAY 6 Network ABC1 334,000 80,000 87,000 68,000 43,000 57,000
49 INSIDE THE MIND OF ADOLF HITLER RPT Network SBS 235,000 93,000 61,000 33,000 19,000 29,000
68 FAST ED'S FAST FOOD Network 7 175,000 45,000 47,000 40,000 12,000 31,000
73 DAYS OF OUR LIVES Network 9 160,000 67,000 43,000 32,000 10,000 7,000
74 THE OPRAH WINFREY SHOW Network TEN 159,000 49,000 47,000 30,000 12,000 20,000
75 DR PHIL Network TEN 158,000 36,000 52,000 26,000 17,000 27,000
76 MASTERCHEF GOES LARGE Network 7 153,000 51,000 37,000 26,000 14,000 25,000
85 THE ELLEN DEGENERES SHOW Network 9 125,000 65,000 20,000 22,000 7,000 10,000
98 THE VIEW Network 9 90,000 33,000 40,000 17,000

The ratings race, updated 10 am Friday
Nine finally won a night, but not very strongly (as The Strip starts to slip). At this point in the week, Seven is averaging 30.9 per cent of the prime time audience, while Nine is on 24.9, Ten is on 20.2, ABC is on 18.9 and SBS is on 5.1. Seven should win the week massively and the year comfortably. You'll find, below, more details than usual about afternoon programs, because of reader requests.

What Australia watched, Thursday
Description Total Sydney Melbourne Brisbane Adelaide Perth
1 SEVEN NEWS Seven 1,431,000 365,000 406,000 291,000 154,000 214,000
2 TODAY TONIGHT Seven 1,322,000 335,000 361,000 253,000 160,000 213,000
3 THE STRIP Nine 1,248,000 319,000 385,000 285,000 119,000 141,000
4 HOME AND AWAY Seven 1,234,000 356,000 332,000 247,000 138,000 162,000
5 TWO AND A HALF MEN -RPT Nine 1,209,000 337,000 355,000 253,000 135,000 130,000
6 GETAWAY Nine 1,162,000 279,000 396,000 236,000 123,000 128,000
7 A CURRENT AFFAIR Nine 1,071,000 297,000 365,000 220,000 111,000 78,000
8 NINE NEWS Nine 1,070,000 318,000 334,000 215,000 118,000 84,000
9 ABC NEWS ABC1 1,067,000 339,000 297,000 181,000 106,000 144,000
10 ARE YOU SMARTER THAN A 5TH GRADER? Ten 1,057,000 309,000 288,000 225,000 97,000 137,000
11 MAKE ME A SUPERMODEL Seven 1,052,000 321,000 332,000 182,000 79,000 139,000
12 LAW & ORDER: CRIMINAL INTENT Ten 999,000 281,000 309,000 174,000 126,000 110,000
13 GHOST WHISPERER Seven 921,000 315,000 269,000 175,000 68,000 95,000
16 THE FOOTY SHOW Nine 873,000 204,000 368,000 125,000 107,000 70,000
25 TAKEN OUT Ten 609,000 181,000 208,000 86,000 60,000 73,000
33 INSPECTOR REX RPT SBS 375,000 113,000 107,000 75,000 38,000 40,000
55 PIE IN THE SKY-PM ABC1 229,000 74,000 49,000 57,000 32,000 17,000
68 FAST ED'S FAST FOOD Seven 190,000 62,000 45,000 30,000 25,000 28,000
69 THE OPRAH WINFREY SHOW Ten 186,000 28,000 70,000 37,000 14,000 37,000
85 MASTERCHEF GOES LARGE Seven 154,000 49,000 32,000 32,000 15,000 26,000
98 THE ELLEN DEGENERES SHOW Nine 125,000 26,000 38,000 40,000 9,000 13,000
99 SEACHANGE-PM ABC1 121,000 46,000 22,000 31,000 12,000 9,000
101 THE VIEW Nine 107,000 22,000 51,000 35,000
(OzTAM preliminary estimates, mainland capitals)

What Australia watched, Wednesday
Description Total Sydney Melbourne Brisbane Adelaide Perth
1 SEVEN NEWS Seven 1,538,000 416,000 395,000 295,000 167,000 265,000
2 CRIMINAL MINDS Seven 1,478,000 407,000 433,000 284,000 177,000 178,000
3 TODAY TONIGHT Seven 1,422,000 392,000 401,000 248,000 161,000 220,000
4 TWO AND A HALF MEN -WED Nine 1,405,000 395,000 430,000 269,000 166,000 145,000
5 SPICKS AND SPECKS ABC1 1,355,000 444,000 383,000 228,000 129,000 171,000
6 MEDICAL EMERGENCY Seven 1,353,000 385,000 365,000 303,000 133,000 167,000
7 CRASH INVESTIGATION UNIT Seven 1,320,000 396,000 329,000 291,000 123,000 181,000
8 TWO AND A HALF MEN -RPT Nine 1,308,000 353,000 378,000 293,000 149,000 134,000
9 HOME AND AWAY Seven 1,254,000 398,000 313,000 234,000 122,000 187,000
10 ABC NEWS ABC1 1,221,000 386,000 377,000 192,000 111,000 156,000
11 HOLE IN THE WALL Nine 1,145,000 321,000 338,000 212,000 140,000 135,000
12 NINE NEWS Nine 1,141,000 301,000 347,000 280,000 111,000 103,000
13 A CURRENT AFFAIR Nine 1,138,000 338,000 325,000 272,000 110,000 93,000
14 KENNY'S WORLD Ten 1,128,000 308,000 399,000 195,000 107,000 118,000
16 THE HOLLOWMEN ABC1 1,053,000 353,000 316,000 159,000 82,000 143,000
20 BONDI RESCUE: BALI Ten 815,000 222,000 236,000 171,000 64,000 122,000
22 SO YOU THINK YOU CAN DANCE Ten 808,000 257,000 245,000 145,000 75,000 86,000
24 VERY SMALL BUSINESS ABC1 758,000 267,000 240,000 97,000 68,000 86,000
28 TAKEN OUT Ten 650,000 170,000 172,000 140,000 71,000 96,000
32 AT THE MOVIES ABC1 449,000 172,000 126,000 61,000 45,000 45,000
34 PARALYMPIC GAMES BEIJING 2008 HIGHLIGHTS DAY 4 ABC1 418,000 117,000 122,000 83,000 41,000 55,000
35 ALAN SUGAR: THE APPRENTICE Seven 385,000 131,000 116,000 55,000 46,000 37,000
72 THE OPRAH WINFREY SHOW Ten 200,000 51,000 40,000 45,000 20,000 44,000
78 LATE SHOW WITH DAVID LETTERMAN Ten 175,000 70,000 49,000 24,000 15,000 17,000
81 DR PHIL Ten 166,000 35,000 26,000 47,000 21,000 38,000
83 FRESH COOKING WITH THE AUSTRALIAN WOMEN'S WEEKLY Nine 159,000 49,000 43,000 44,000 7,000 16,000
84 PLAY SCHOOL-PM ABC1 153,000 51,000 61,000 22,000 10,000 9,000
93 THE ELLEN DEGENERES SHOW Nine 130,000 51,000 33,000 25,000 9,000 12,000
94 SEACHANGE-PM ABC1 126,000 42,000 34,000 21,000 15,000 13,000
96 MORNINGS WITH KERRI-ANNE Nine 120,000 45,000 30,000 24,000 6,000 16,000
105 THE VIEW Nine 97,000 42,000 30,000 24,000

What Australia watched, Tuesday
Description Total Sydney Melbourne Brisbane Adelaide Perth
1 PACKED TO THE RAFTERS Seven 1,960,000 578,000 669,000 355,000 160,000 198,000
2 FIND MY FAMILY Seven 1,919,000 549,000 591,000 381,000 180,000 217,000
3 RSPCA ANIMAL RESCUE Seven 1,748,000 473,000 496,000 363,000 177,000 240,000
4 SEVEN NEWS Seven 1,598,000 423,000 449,000 301,000 173,000 251,000
5 TODAY TONIGHT Seven 1,448,000 376,000 405,000 254,000 176,000 237,000
6 HOME AND AWAY Seven 1,392,000 413,000 398,000 267,000 144,000 169,000
7 TWO AND A HALF MEN -RPT Nine 1,303,000 309,000 440,000 267,000 144,000 143,000
8 ALL SAINTS Seven 1,293,000 445,000 422,000 150,000 144,000 133,000
9 NINE NEWS Nine 1,283,000 331,000 459,000 262,000 129,000 102,000
10 WIPEOUT Nine 1,267,000 357,000 439,000 181,000 143,000 147,000
11 A CURRENT AFFAIR Nine 1,200,000 333,000 427,000 241,000 115,000 83,000
12 NCIS Ten 1,188,000 331,000 334,000 238,000 139,000 147,000
19 RUSH Ten 912,000 231,000 303,000 160,000 110,000 108,000
26 TAKEN OUT Ten 668,000 159,000 225,000 119,000 77,000 89,000
27 ROLLER DERBY DOLLS ABC1 628,000 195,000 182,000 90,000 70,000 91,000
28 SECRET DIARY OF A CALL GIRL Nine 571,000 173,000 216,000 83,000 54,000 45,000
37 PARALYMPIC GAMES BEIJING 2008 HIGHLIGHTS DAY 3 ABC1 401,000 116,000 132,000 81,000 35,000 37,000
41 US OPEN TENNIS CHAMPIONSHIPS 2008 Nine 310,000 122,000 81,000 63,000 24,000 20,000
56 ALL SAINTS-DAY Seven 266,000 69,000 78,000 52,000 29,000 38,000
64 THE OPRAH WINFREY SHOW Ten 227,000 67,000 72,000 43,000 26,000 19,000
82 DR PHIL Ten 170,000 42,000 46,000 28,000 25,000 29,000
101 SEACHANGE-PM ABC1 119,000 36,000 19,000 35,000 11,000 17,000
103 DAYS OF OUR LIVES Nine 117,000 38,000 35,000 25,000 9,000 9,000
109 THE ELLEN DEGENERES SHOW Nine 103,000 23,000 34,000 19,000 15,000 12,000

The ratings race, updated 10 am Tuesday
Don't pity Channel Ten for the poor performance of its hot new version of 90210. Episode one of the "re-imagined" cult hit of the 1980s was Monday's most watched show with viewers aged 16-39, and episode two was their Number 4 most watched (after Aus Idol and Two and a Half Men). So Ten is reaching its traditonal target and advertisers have a new place to sell Clearasil.

Seven continues to control the older viewers, who clearly became oversaturated with Gordon Ramsay in the first half of the year and are not about to be dragged away from City Homicide for his latest adventures.

What Australia watched, Monday
Description Total Sydney Melbourne Brisbane Adelaide Perth
1 CITY HOMICIDE Seven 1,789,000 520,000 584,000 293,000 188,000 204,000
2 THE FORCE - BEHIND THE LINE Seven 1,656,000 444,000 469,000 315,000 170,000 257,000
3 BORDER SECURITY - AUSTRALIA'S FRONT LINE Seven 1,648,000 499,000 450,000 308,000 153,000 239,000
4 SEVEN NEWS Seven 1,582,000 436,000 401,000 326,000 169,000 251,000
5 TODAY TONIGHT Seven 1,425,000 398,000 368,000 264,000 157,000 238,000
6 TWO AND A HALF MEN -RPT Nine 1,379,000 409,000 418,000 276,000 151,000 126,000
7 HOME AND AWAY Seven 1,352,000 400,000 366,000 265,000 139,000 181,000
8 A CURRENT AFFAIR Nine 1,321,000 400,000 432,000 271,000 140,000 79,000
9 NATIONAL NINE NEWS Nine 1,287,000 365,000 433,000 267,000 136,000 86,000
10 ABC NEWS ABC1 1,173,000 331,000 349,000 208,000 115,000 172,000
11 BONES - MON Seven 1,150,000 350,000 319,000 222,000 137,000 122,000
12 FOUR CORNERS ABC1 1,126,000 356,000 293,000 206,000 104,000 167,000
13 AUSTRALIAN IDOL - THE LIVE VERDICT Ten 1,100,000 320,000 347,000 216,000 110,000 107,000
18 TOP GEAR (SERIES 2) SBS 865,000 244,000 295,000 138,000 94,000 94,000
20 FUNKY MONKEYS-LIFE OF MAMMALS WITH DAVID ATTENBOROUGH Nine 837,000 303,000 314,000 Not shown 103,000 117,000
21 90210 EP 1 Ten 837,000 269,000 232,000 161,000 100,000 75,000
25 KITCHEN NIGHTMARES U.S.A. Nine 732,000 219,000 229,000 121,000 80,000 83,000
28 90210 EP 2 Ten 666,000 220,000 187,000 113,000 80,000 67,000
29 TAKEN OUT Ten 656,000 154,000 255,000 106,000 61,000 82,000
30 BOSTON LEGAL Seven 557,000 198,000 165,000 84,000 70,000 40,000
35 PARALYMPIC GAMES BEIJING 2008 HIGHLIGHTS DAY 2 ABC1 385,000 105,000 119,000 67,000 37,000 56,000
46 30 ROCK Seven 287,000 104,000 94,000 35,000 30,000 24,000
71 DR PHIL Ten 207,000 54,000 57,000 42,000 21,000 34,000
72 THE OPRAH WINFREY SHOW Ten 204,000 53,000 55,000 43,000 20,000 33,000
97 SEACHANGE ABC1 124,000 27,000 35,000 25,000 22,000 16,000
103 THE VIEW Nine 115,000 43,000 50,000 22,000 Not shown Not shown
109 THE ELLEN DEGENERES SHOW Nine 102,000 35,000 46,000 20,000 Not shown Not shown

The ratings race, updated 10 am Monday
There's an expression used by Australian television programmers -- "to do a Yasmin". It's a similar concept to America's "jump the shark", and refers to a show called Yasmin's Getting Married, which started in August 2006 with 778,000 viewers in the mainland capitals and was cancelled four episodes later when it had sunk to 510,000.

Last Monday, Channel Ten launched a daily program called Taken Out, which is also about relationships, and drew 851,000 viewers. By Friday TO had sunk to 672,000 viewers. Did somebody say they'd seen Yasmin's ghost in Ten's corridors? Will the new description for a rapidly failing show be "It was Taken Out and ..."?

Yasmin also made a fleeting visit to the ABC on Wednesday, when its new comedy Very Small Business did exactly what its title said -- 708,000 viewers in the 9.30 timeslot that previously enjoyed 1.1 million for the opening episodes of The Hollowmen (now drawing 919,000 at 9pm).

And Channel Seven's programmers heard the rustle of her gown when they learned that Make Me A Supermodel, which had opened with 1.1 million viewers before the Olympics, had sunk to 928,000 last Thursday. But they weren't too worried -- Seven had nine of the ten most watched shows (see full chart here) and won the week.

For the ratings year so far, excluding the Olympic period, Seven has 27.9 per cent of the prime time audience to Nine's 27.6 (Ten 21.5, ABC 17.3, SBS 5.7). But Nine is leading with viewers aged 18-49.

The ABC's best performers were Midsomer Murders and Spicks and Specks, both on 1.3m. SBS drew 907,000 to Top Gear and 381,000 to Mythbusters. Pay TV's most watched shows included NRL: Eels v Warriors which brought 291,000 to Fox Sports 2 and and Project Runway Australia, which brought 241,000 to Arena.

Here's an idea: why doesn't Foxtel show the complete series of Yasmin's Getting Married? Even at her worst, Yasmin did twice as well as Foxtel's top performer. It's not as if Channel Ten has any further use for her, except as an ominous metaphor.

What Australia watched, Sunday
Description Total Sydney Melbourne Brisbane Adelaide Perth
1 SEVEN NEWS - SUN Seven 1,774,000 355,000 650,000 366,000 172,000 231,000
2 THE OUTDOOR ROOM WITH JAMIE DURIE Seven 1,356,000 341,000 436,000 262,000 122,000 195,000
3 60 MINUTES Nine 1,349,000 394,000 378,000 273,000 147,000 157,000
4 DOMESTIC BLITZ Nine 1,349,000 394,000 389,000 282,000 158,000 126,000
5 DANCING WITH THE STARS Seven 1,334,000 442,000 433,000 212,000 93,000 153,000
6 MIDSOMER MURDERS ABC1 1,271,000 407,000 353,000 196,000 157,000 158,000
7 NATIONAL NINE NEWS SUNDAY Nine 1,269,000 416,000 365,000 243,000 146,000 99,000
8 AUSTRALIAN IDOL - WILDCARD Ten 1,193,000 354,000 376,000 246,000 94,000 122,000
9 DOCTOR WHO ABC1 1,095,000 350,000 303,000 207,000 109,000 126,000
10 OUTBACK WILDLIFE RESCUE Seven 1,094,000 292,000 361,000 197,000 94,000 150,000
11 ABC NEWS-SUN ABC1 1,062,000 339,000 297,000 203,000 93,000 131,000
12 THANK GOD YOU'RE HERE RPT Ten 1,032,000 293,000 340,000 185,000 101,000 112,000
13 CSI: MIAMI -EP1 Nine 1,028,000 261,000 327,000 195,000 119,000 126,000
14 SEVEN'S AFL: QUALIFYING FINAL 1: GEELONG VS ST KILDA Seven 960,000 80,000 569,000 79,000 117,000 114,000
16 DOCTOR WHO: CONFIDENTIAL CUTDOWN-EV ABC1 853,000 276,000 233,000 138,000 89,000 118,000
17 ROVE Ten 845,000 209,000 301,000 146,000 81,000 108,000
24 DEXTER Ten 515,000 120,000 181,000 49,000 88,000 76,000
26 PARALYMPIC GAMES BEIJING 2008 HIGHLIGHTS DAY 1 ABC1 445,000 140,000 111,000 96,000 51,000 48,000
28 NINE'S SUNDAY FOOTBALL Nine 403,000 214,000 189,000
29 WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE? SBS 380,000 129,000 91,000 75,000 54,000 31,000
31 JAMES MAY'S 20TH CENTURY SBS 333,000 98,000 108,000 62,000 36,000 28,000
(OzTAM preliminary estimates, mainland capitals)

What Australia watched, week ending September 6
Description Total Sydney Melbourne Brisbane Adelaide Perth
1 PACKED TO THE RAFTERS Network 7 2,044,000 681,000 634,000 340,000 166,000 224,000
2 BORDER SECURITY Network 7 1,724,000 528,000 462,000 314,000 182,000 238,000
3 RSPCA ANIMAL RESCUE Network 7 1,709,000 479,000 460,000 365,000 167,000 237,000
4 CITY HOMICIDE Network 7 1,683,000 493,000 518,000 285,000 175,000 212,000
5 FIND MY FAMILY Network 7 1,640,000 485,000 475,000 329,000 143,000 207,000
6 SEVEN NEWS Network 7 1,573,000 424,000 419,000 338,000 165,000 227,000
7 60 MINUTES Network 9 1,563,000 427,000 490,000 324,000 170,000 152,000
8 THE FORCE Network 7 1,542,000 430,000 442,000 280,000 157,000 232,000
9 SEVEN NEWS - SUN Network 7 1,538,000 394,000 410,000 337,000 155,000 242,000
10 CRIMINAL MINDS Network 7 1,536,000 432,000 450,000 282,000 183,000 189,000
11 NINE NEWS SUNDAY Network 9 1,506,000 402,000 470,000 321,000 194,000 119,000
12 DOMESTIC BLITZ Network 9 1,466,000 463,000 387,000 306,000 156,000 154,000
13 THE STRIP Network 9 1,446,000 416,000 419,000 317,000 148,000 146,000
14 TODAY TONIGHT Network 7 1,434,000 385,000 384,000 293,000 153,000 219,000
15 SEVEN NEWS - SAT Network 7 1,401,000 430,000 383,000 298,000 118,000 171,000
16 MEDICAL EMERGENCY Network 7 1,357,000 398,000 403,000 259,000 145,000 153,000
17 TWO AND A HALF MEN -WED Network 9 1,348,000 371,000 425,000 275,000 132,000 145,000
18 DANCING WITH THE STARS 8 Network 7 1,331,000 457,000 387,000 185,000 116,000 186,000
19 HOME AND AWAY Network 7 1,329,000 411,000 343,000 244,000 154,000 178,000
20 MIDSOMER MURDERS Network ABC1 1,319,000 378,000 398,000 210,000 173,000 160,000
21 CRASH INVESTIGATION UNIT Network 7 1,317,000 421,000 348,000 231,000 139,000 179,000
22 AUSTRALIAN IDOL - TOP 100 Network TEN 1,310,000 401,000 384,000 233,000 140,000 152,000
23 SPICKS AND SPECKS Network ABC1 1,309,000 412,000 388,000 221,000 138,000 150,000
24 BETTER HOMES AND GARDENS Network 7 1,307,000 417,000 424,000 256,000 96,000 114,000
25 ALL SAINTS Network 7 1,291,000 485,000 372,000 177,000 136,000 122,000
26 NCIS Network TEN 1,290,000 358,000 339,000 237,000 179,000 176,000
27 THE OUTDOOR ROOM WITH JAMIE DURIE Network 7 1,284,000 361,000 380,000 231,000 116,000 196,000
28 AUSTRALIAN IDOL - SEMI FINAL 2 Network TEN 1,257,000 366,000 403,000 228,000 140,000 119,000
29 AUSTRALIAN IDOL - SEMI FINAL 3 Network TEN 1,231,000 373,000 355,000 217,000 143,000 142,000
30 GETAWAY Network 9 1,217,000 339,000 376,000 241,000 139,000 122,000
31 TWO AND A HALF MEN -RPT Network 9 1,217,000 330,000 366,000 263,000 138,000 120,000
32 AUSTRALIAN IDOL - SEMI FINAL 1 Network TEN 1,193,000 370,000 372,000 199,000 119,000 134,000
33 CRIMINAL MINDS (R) Network 7 1,172,000 298,000 378,000 221,000 140,000 135,000
34 NINE NEWS Network 9 1,171,000 309,000 367,000 274,000 136,000 85,000
35 BONES - MON Network 7 1,164,000 340,000 310,000 206,000 146,000 162,000
36 AUSTRALIAN IDOL - SEMI FINAL 4 Network TEN 1,150,000 338,000 334,000 228,000 102,000 148,000
37 RUSH Network TEN 1,145,000 287,000 381,000 193,000 152,000 131,000
38 AUSTRALIA'S FUNNIEST HOME VIDEO SHOW Network 9 1,143,000 271,000 406,000 225,000 105,000 136,000
39 HOLE IN THE WALL Network 9 1,142,000 343,000 350,000 183,000 119,000 147,000
40 WIPEOUT Network 9 1,139,000 343,000 324,000 161,000 143,000 167,000
(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

• by David Dale in whoweare-index at 09:22 AM
• Comments (100)

WHO WE ARE: What's your favourite country?

To nominate the best lines ever written for Australian television, go to The Tribal Mind

A column about Australia by David Dale
Because we find our own land boring, Australians are among the world's greatest international travellers. We don't mind spending the odd weekend up or down the coast, but when we get a couple of weeks of spare time, we gotta get outa this place.

In the 12 months to June, Australians made 5.7 million journeys overseas, compared with 5.1 million journeys a year ago and 3 million ten years ago. The Bureau of Statistics tells us that the median age of travelling Australians in the last financial year was 42 and the median length of time away was 15 days.

So we're going abroad more and we're going to different places. Based on the section that asks "country where you spent the most time" on those cards you fill in when you re-enter Australia, the Bureau discovered that the land we escape to most is New Zealand (even if we end up finding they're not that different from us -- go here to learn why they might as well become two states of Australia).

The Kiwis were also our favourite hosts ten years ago. But Indonesia has dropped dramatically in our affections -- from 10.7 per cent of Australians' journeys in 1998 to 5.8 per cent now. Funny how a couple of bombs can put you off a place.

Britain has also declined -- from 10.8 per cent of Australians' journeys ten years ago to 7.5 now, and so has the USA - from 11.4 to 8.6. Fear of delays through excessive security?

Meanwhile we've fallen in love with Thailand -- up from 3.4 per cent of our journeys ten years ago to 7.1 now; and China -- up from 2.7 to 5.0 (and this was before the Olympics). The top ten is completed by Singapore, Fiji, Hong Kong and Malaysia (all unchanged at around 3.5 per cent of our journeys).

But reading the Bureau's report, I was puzzled by the absence of Italy. It has been, after all, the most influential country on Australia's current lifestyle, supplying our national foods (spag bol and pizza), drinks (cappuccino and latte), fashion (Armani and Scali), farewell (Ciao), and attitude (Mediterranean mellow) -- not to mention the State politicians (please).

Don't Australians make pilgrimages to The Source? Aren't Australians part of the horde of Anglos who swarm the hills of Tuscany and the bridges of Venice every summer in search of the secret of human happiness?

When you dig into the tables supplied with the Bureau's report, the figures tell the hidden story: In the year to June 1998, 61,000 Australian travellers said the land where they spent the most time was Italy. In the year to June 2008, 172,500 nominated Italy. Those figures don't include the Australians who popped over to the Mediterranean as part of a trip to Britain.

So travel to Italy has almost trebled in a period when travel to Indonesia has halved and travel to Thailand has doubled. Italy may not get the same numbers as Thailand (403,000 of us went there last financial year), but it has the growth. The boom is on.

This is as it should be. Australia is, after all, Italy's most successful colony since the Roman Empire.

Go to Comments to tell us your favourite country in the world, and why you like to visit it.

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 whoweare-index at 04:25 AM
• Comments (10)