The Sun-Herald

WHO WE ARE: The uncredible land of Oz

To discuss the nation's tastes in games, and why Grand Theft Auto is good for kids,. go to The Tribal Mind.

A column about Australia by David Dale, published in The Sun-Herald 7/12/2008
The film Australia should be a huge hit, if the passion provoked by the very idea of it translates into bums on seats. When this column raised a few questions about its historical and cultural details last week, we got 152 responses, which fell into three broad categories:

1 Readers who attacked the media's carping negativity and argued that we should all support the film because it is Australian;
2 Readers determined never to see the film because they were infuriated by the publicity hype and/or the presence of Nicole Kidman;
3 Readers who had actually seen the film (including several in America). Most of this group said they enjoyed it, and were eager to recommend it, with reservations. The greatest rage against the film came from people who were guessing at what is in it.

But will Oz earn back its costs, alleged to be close to $200 million? Here is some context to help you analyse the media's obsessive coverage of that question (which seemingly derives from a combination of the cultural cringe and the tall poppy syndrome) ...

The most successful Australian film in history was Crocodile Dundee, which made $48 million in 1986 (when the average ticket price was $6). To match the Croc's success in a year when the average ticket price is $11, Oz needs to make $88 million. In its first week, Oz made $9 million, and on the principle that most blockbusters end up totalling three times the first week's takings, Oz seems likely to leave cinemas with close to the $29 million earned by Moulin Rouge, Baz Luhrmann's last film. That would be a handsome result, though behind this year's favourites, The Dark Knight ($46 million) and Mamma Mia ($32 million). In America, Oz made $US23 million in its first week, and should end up with $US70 million. It's likely to do well elsewhere in the world (except Japan). So, contrary to what you've read, there's a chance its investors will make their money back.

Reader Mervyn Allbright thinks Oz does not deserve to succeed: "Why do we think we have to make Hollywood-style 'block-busters' full of inaccuracies, populist tripe, historical lies, foolishly one-dimensional characters, and cringing and condescending portrayals of indigenous people? It just makes Australia look like a nation of dunces."

Jacky agrees: "Luhrmann has truly shamed a lot of Australians by making a film that, not only further stereotype our nation but also confuses foreigners. If you want a true genuine Aussie film, The Castle and Rabbit Proof Fence are films to be proud of."

But America-based reader Iola is a fan: "Since time began, authors and playwrights have taken factual events and messed with them! That's what makes it a great story. We love to put reality aside for a little while and go and soak up all that lovely fiction. Even when the topics are based on fact, we want them to be larger than life, epic. A lot of us LOVED the movie, even us expats who know in our hearts that Baz took a couple of liberties! "

And reader Tony McGrath defends its accuracy, at least on the proposition that the Aboriginal mission 80 km north of Darwin gave the first warning about the Japanese attack in 1942: "The priest on Bathurst Island who radioed to the mainland was Father John McGrath, who spent many years with the Tiwi people of the island. The authorities ignored the warning. Father John died at the Sacred Heart Kensington monastery, Sydney, in 1982, at 89 years old, and at the request of the Tiwi his body was returned to the island and buried in great honour. Father John was born at Parkes, NSW, the 11th of 14 children, of which my grandfather, Stephen, was the eldest."

You can read all the responses, and add your own (especially if you've seen it), by going to last week's column.

David Dale is the author of The Little Book of Australia -- A snapshot of who we are (Allen and Unwin). For daily updates on Australian attitudes, bookmark blogs.sunherald.com.au/whoweare.

• by David Dale in whoweare-index at 12:42 AM
• Comments (7)

WHO WE ARE: Does accuracy matter?

To examine the nation's tastes in television this year, go to The Tribal Mind.
For the latest on Australian atttitudes, bookmark http://blogs.sunherald.com.au/whoweare.

A column about Australia by David Dale, published in The Sun-Herald, 30/11/2008
You'll feel like walking out of the cinema several times during the first 40 minutes of Australia, but try to stick it out. At first you suspect Baz Luhrmann and Nicole Kidman are having a huge lend of us, but as it proceeds, Australia becomes less like a parody. There are plenty of moments when you cringe in embarrassment at the clunky script, the hammy acting and the cheesy effects, but they are eventually outnumbered by moments that are quite engaging.

At the session I attended last week (Bondi Junction Greater Union cinema, 10 am Wednesday), the audience burst into applause as the closing credits started to roll. Many had tears in their eyes as they shuffled out. Perhaps Australians will abandon their natural scepticism just this once.

In its own land, the reviews of Australia have been mostly polite, but in America, they have been damning. On Slate magazine's website (click here), Tanner Colby called it "the turkey of the year", and remarked: "There's no dingo eating anyone's baby in this, but there should have been. That's the only national cliche missing." His colleague Dana Stevens complained that she had hoped to leave the film knowing something more about Australia (the country), but she actually felt she knew less.

That's where this column comes in, because our weekly subject matter is national identity. Since the film seems to be aimed at eight year olds, it should at least be informative. But we wouldn't want them to grow up with a deluded view of the nation's history and iconography. These questions occurred to me as I watched:

1. Was there ever a beer called Kangaroo Bitter or a rum called Poor Fella?
2. Did drovers and cattle barons habitually wear revolvers in holsters on their hips?
3. Would an Aboriginal kid in 1940 have said "That strange woman, she fire-um that Fletcher" or is that more like a line spoken by an Indian in a Hollywood western from the 1950s? (And if an Aboriginal dialect did involve the addition of "um" to verbs, should it not have been "sack-um" rather than "fire-um"?)
4. Would a man working as an accountant in the outback in 1940 know the song Over The Rainbow, when The Wizard of Oz only opened in America in September, 1939? Would he have explained his ability to play it by declaring "I've got the latest 100 songs of the hit parade here".
5. Were half-caste children exiled to a place called Mission Island off Darwin, and was Mission Island the first place to come under Japanese attack in 1942?

At this point, the only question to which I can confidently answer yes is Number 5. Bathurst Island, 80 kilometres north of Darwin, was the site of a Catholic mission to which Aboriginal children were sent, and on February 19, 1942, its priest radioed to the mainland: "An unusually large air formation bearing down on us from the northwest". The mission was strafed by the passing planes on their way to bomb Darwin.

If Luhrmann has got that right, maybe the other oddities are equally accurate. With your help, we'll pursue them in next week's column. Go to Comments to give us your thoughts on the accuracy of 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 01:25 AM
• Comments (165)

The Silly Season update: Up to week 50

The caravan has moved on. This fortnight of the blog is no longer current. For the latest media discussion, go here.
To discuss all the stuff Australians have bought to entertain themselves, go to The Tribal Mind.

What Australia watched, week ending December 13
Description Total Sydney Melbourne Brisbane Adelaide Perth
1 SEVEN NEWS Seven 1,310,000 330,000 364,000 271,000 145,000 199,000
2 SEVEN NEWS - SUN Seven 1,282,000 317,000 321,000 311,000 125,000 209,000
3 TODAY TONIGHT Seven 1,219,000 304,000 320,000 255,000 148,000 193,000
4 HOT PROPERTY Seven 1,208,000 324,000 341,000 272,000 102,000 170,000
5 ENOUGH ROPE WITH ANDREW DENTON ABC1 1,194,000 371,000 363,000 206,000 119,000 136,000
6 SEVEN NEWS - SAT Seven 1,190,000 289,000 377,000 252,000 112,000 159,000
7 NCIS RPT Ten 1,185,000 283,000 371,000 203,000 142,000 186,000
8 NINE NEWS SUNDAY Nine 1,164,000 312,000 396,000 238,000 120,000 99,000
9 THE HOWARD YEARS ABC1 1,160,000 406,000 326,000 191,000 111,000 126,000
10 OUTBACK WILDLIFE RESCUE Seven 1,159,000 348,000 281,000 264,000 120,000 147,000
11 M-MADAGASCAR Seven 1,143,000 308,000 359,000 225,000 127,000 123,000
12 BETTER HOMES AND GARDENS SUMMER Seven 1,132,000 331,000 314,000 199,000 135,000 154,000
13 THE RICH LIST - MON Seven 1,094,000 307,000 313,000 219,000 118,000 137,000
14 BONES - MON (R) Seven 1,055,000 313,000 314,000 195,000 118,000 115,000

15 TWO AND A HALF MEN -RPT Nine 1,046,000 318,000 332,000 197,000 87,000 113,000
16 SUDDEN IMPACT Nine 1,043,000 243,000 321,000 211,000 135,000 133,000
17 AIR CRASH INVESTIGATIONS Seven 1,039,000 308,000 300,000 187,000 103,000 140,000
18 NINE NEWS Nine 1,032,000 282,000 333,000 220,000 107,000 89,000
19 ABC NEWS ABC1 1,030,000 331,000 288,000 169,000 109,000 133,000
20 NEVER BEEN KISSED Ten 1,027,000 305,000 347,000 156,000 101,000 117,000
21 POLICE TEN 7 Nine 1,018,000 250,000 297,000 214,000 122,000 134,000
22 CHRISTMAS WITH THE AUSTRALIAN WOMEN'S WEEKLY Nine 1,016,000 249,000 348,000 201,000 96,000 122,000
23 NINE NEWS SATURDAY Nine 994,000 243,000 356,000 196,000 118,000 81,000
24 A CURRENT AFFAIR Nine 987,000 286,000 307,000 207,000 101,000 86,000
25 TOP GEAR SBS 977,000 296,000 271,000 179,000 120,000 112,000
29 10 TO ONE Nine 923,000 255,000 269,000 191,000 98,000 111,000
30 M-THE SANTA CLAUSE Seven 921,000 280,000 313,000 151,000 95,000 82,000
32 COLD CASE -RPT Nine 917,000 243,000 295,000 186,000 88,000 105,000
33 MOUNTAIN WITH GRIFF RHYS JONES ABC1 905,000 257,000 284,000 154,000 99,000 111,000
34 MY FAMILY CHRISTMAS SPECIAL 2007 ABC1 895,000 284,000 228,000 164,000 90,000 129,000
35 TEMPTATION Nine 888,000 256,000 262,000 188,000 94,000 87,000
40 7.30 REPORT ABC1 868,000 289,000 234,000 150,000 91,000 104,000
41 THE BIG BANG THEORY Nine 864,000 257,000 268,000 147,000 75,000 118,000
42 EMERGENCY Nine 862,000 219,000 240,000 215,000 79,000 109,000
43 THE WAITING ROOM Nine 854,000 213,000 242,000 206,000 81,000 112,000
48 HEIST -RPT Nine 813,000 220,000 268,000 139,000 91,000 95,000
49 SEVEN WONDERS OF THE INDUSTRIAL WORLD Seven 811,000 240,000 262,000 227,000 83,000
50 THE BILL ABC1 809,000 243,000 255,000 121,000 79,000 112,000
52 THE MUSEUM ABC1 806,000 236,000 252,000 121,000 92,000 105,000
53 THE SIMPSONS FRI EP 2 Ten 804,000 226,000 268,000 142,000 73,000 95,000
54 THE SIMPSONS TUES Ten 802,000 146,000 306,000 164,000 86,000 100,000
55 FACE PAINTING WITH BILL LEAK ABC1 788,000 252,000 215,000 136,000 87,000 99,000
56 WALLACE AND GROMIT: A CLOSE SHAVE ABC1 776,000 248,000 215,000 143,000 87,000 83,000
58 ELI STONE Seven 767,000 245,000 236,000 149,000 62,000 75,000
59 NEW ADVENTURES OF OLD CHRISTINE Nine 754,000 226,000 200,000 163,000 71,000 94,000
60 ELI STONE - THU Seven 753,000 194,000 250,000 148,000 80,000 81,000
62 LAS VEGAS Seven 749,000 209,000 230,000 153,000 68,000 89,000
63 A GOOD MURDER ABC1 748,000 218,000 201,000 118,000 96,000 115,000
64 E.R. Nine 748,000 243,000 224,000 132,000 63,000 86,000
69 UGLY BETTY - THU Seven 740,000 203,000 210,000 168,000 77,000 82,000
71 UGLY BETTY - TUE Seven 733,000 214,000 214,000 152,000 51,000 100,000
72 THE UNIT - WED Seven 725,000 213,000 208,000 128,000 91,000 85,000
73 THE AMAZING RACE 13 Seven 723,000 181,000 285,000 93,000 83,000 81,000
75 THE CLOSER Nine 699,000 199,000 220,000 113,000 76,000 91,000
79 HOLBY BLUE Seven 662,000 166,000 199,000 110,000 82,000 104,000
80 FRIENDS - DAILY RPT Ten 657,000 186,000 220,000 110,000 75,000 67,000
81 NEIGHBOURS Ten 655,000 183,000 220,000 134,000 47,000 72,000
88 WIFE SWAP USA Nine 629,000 211,000 215,000 84,000 64,000 54,000
90 IN PLAIN SIGHT Ten 608,000 132,000 212,000 100,000 85,000 78,000
94 MCLEOD'S DAUGHTERS Nine 585,000 159,000 198,000 111,000 76,000 42,000
97 FRINGE Nine 571,000 136,000 155,000 120,000 79,000 81,000
102 ARMY WIVES Ten 559,000 188,000 162,000 77,000 51,000 81,000
105 SCRUBS Seven 552,000 181,000 161,000 72,000 62,000 75,000
109 THE BOLD AND THE BEAUTIFUL Ten 523,000 147,000 159,000 98,000 58,000 61,000
110 THE LAST SAMURAI -RPT Nine 506,000 210,000 222,000 74,000
118 HEROES - THU Seven 425,000 104,000 190,000 59,000 34,000 38,000
(OzTAM mainland capitals)

This was Pay TV's report of its performance last week, based on OzTAM's sample of 1,000 subscribing homes: "In week 50, America's Next Top Model, drew a near record audience of 169,000 people on FOX8 while the second season of Gossip Girl premiered on FOX8 with 123,000 viewers. New Tricks on UKTV had its biggest viewership of the year with 98,000 people, the Robin William's movie Jumanji on TV1 had 95,000 viewers and the Edinburgh Military Tattoo 2007 on Ovation was watched by 71,000 people. In sport, Live: Cricket: Ford Ranger Cup was seen by 88,000 and Live: Football: A-League C'Coast v Syd had 86,000 viewers. STV was the number one source of TV across Australia last week when subscription channels accounted for 26.1% of metropolitan viewing between 6am and midnight (up from 25.6% last week), 23.6% of regional viewing (up from 21.8%) and 63.6% of all viewing in subscription TV homes (up from 61.3%)."

What Australia watched, Wednesday
Description Total Sydney Melbourne Brisbane Adelaide Perth
1 SEVEN NEWS Seven 1,363,000 333,000 369,000 295,000 152,000 215,000
2 TODAY TONIGHT Seven 1,204,000 302,000 327,000 228,000 140,000 207,000
3 AIR CRASH INVESTIGATIONS Seven 1,039,000 308,000 300,000 187,000 103,000 140,000
4 ABC NEWS ABC1 1,034,000 331,000 280,000 182,000 103,000 139,000
5 CSI: MIAMI -RPT Nine 973,000 254,000 300,000 177,000 114,000 128,000
6 NINE NEWS Nine 941,000 230,000 318,000 208,000 97,000 88,000
7 A CURRENT AFFAIR Nine 927,000 263,000 273,000 205,000 90,000 96,000
8 10 TO ONE Nine 918,000 253,000 268,000 190,000 97,000 110,000
9 HOW I MET YOUR MOTHER (R) Seven 910,000 215,000 271,000 196,000 90,000 137,000
10 MY FAMILY CHRISTMAS SPECIAL ABC1 897,000 285,000 227,000 165,000 90,000 130,000
14 WALLACE AND GROMIT: A CLOSE SHAVE ABC1 775,000 247,000 215,000 143,000 87,000 83,000
15 HOUSE RPT Ten 773,000 226,000 253,000 126,000 76,000 91,000
16 NEW ADVENTURES OF OLD CHRISTINE Nine 762,000 228,000 203,000 165,000 71,000 95,000
17 E.R. Nine 754,000 243,000 226,000 132,000 65,000 88,000
24 GRUMPY OLD WOMEN RPT ABC1 648,000 191,000 199,000 109,000 76,000 72,000
29 NIGELLA EXPRESS ABC1 440,000 134,000 128,000 66,000 51,000 62,000
32 THE LONG WAY DOWN SBS 414,000 120,000 124,000 85,000 35,000 50,000
34 PRISON BREAK Seven 383,000 133,000 118,000 65,000 42,000 26,000
35 FOOD SAFARI SBS 379,000 123,000 140,000 59,000 27,000 30,000
36 GOSSIP GIRL Nine 370,000 110,000 144,000 44,000 42,000 30,000

What Australia watched, Tuesday
Description Total Sydney Melbourne Brisbane Adelaide Perth
1 SEVEN NEWS Seven 1,234,000 295,000 345,000 247,000 130,000 217,000
2 TODAY TONIGHT Seven 1,199,000 261,000 341,000 261,000 119,000 217,000
3 NCIS RPT Ten 1,185,000 283,000 371,000 203,000 142,000 186,000
4 NINE NEWS Nine 1,088,000 295,000 353,000 249,000 107,000 85,000
5 A CURRENT AFFAIR Nine 1,069,000 309,000 348,000 221,000 98,000 93,000
6 SUDDEN IMPACT Nine 1,046,000 243,000 322,000 213,000 135,000 134,000
7 POLICE TEN 7 Nine 1,017,000 250,000 297,000 213,000 122,000 134,000
10 MR. & MRS. SMITH -RPT Nine 954,000 291,000 289,000 162,000 93,000 119,000
37 PRISON BREAK - TUE Seven 289,000 91,000 96,000 33,000 40,000 30,000
70 OUT OF THE BLUE - DAILY Ten 178,000 39,000 63,000 30,000 34,000 12,000
75 DIRTY SEXY MONEY - TUE Seven 157,000 52,000 59,000 18,000 18,000 10,000

What Australia watched, Monday
1 SEVEN NEWS Seven 1,450,000 385,000 385,000 299,000 169,000 212,000
2 TODAY TONIGHT Seven 1,368,000 367,000 331,000 306,000 180,000 184,000
3 ENOUGH ROPE WITH ANDREW DENTON ABC1 1,188,000 369,000 362,000 205,000 118,000 135,000
4 THE HOWARD YEARS ABC1 1,163,000 406,000 327,000 193,000 111,000 127,000
5 ABC NEWS ABC1 1,136,000 363,000 312,000 203,000 120,000 139,000
6 NINE NEWS Nine 1,110,000 326,000 336,000 223,000 128,000 98,000
7 A CURRENT AFFAIR Nine 1,109,000 341,000 341,000 212,000 118,000 97,000
8 THE RICH LIST - MON Seven 1,094,000 307,000 313,000 219,000 118,000 137,000
9 BONES - MON (R) Seven 1,055,000 313,000 314,000 195,000 118,000 115,000
13 TOP GEAR SBS 977,000 296,000 271,000 179,000 120,000 112,000
15 CSI -RPT Nine 879,000 234,000 251,000 179,000 95,000 120,000
23 FRINGE Nine 573,000 136,000 156,000 121,000 79,000 81,000
25 ARMY WIVES Ten 557,000 187,000 162,000 77,000 51,000 81,000
26 SCRUBS Seven 552,000 181,000 161,000 72,000 62,000 75,000
27 THE BOLD AND THE BEAUTIFUL Ten 525,000 155,000 177,000 91,000 45,000 56,000
29 SWIFT AND SHIFT COURIERS SBS 457,000 149,000 106,000 98,000 41,000 62,000
30 THE EX-LIST Ten 414,000 104,000 145,000 59,000 46,000 61,000
31 SURVIVOR: MICRONESIA Nine 405,000 101,000 162,000 50,000 52,000 40,000
41 OUT OF THE BLUE Ten 271,000 65,000 99,000 34,000 40,000 34,000
50 KATH & KIM THE AMERICAN SERIES - MON Seven 254,000 86,000 85,000 25,000 20,000 38,000

The silly season, updated 10 am Monday December 8
If you suspected Australians were abandoning mainstream TV in the silly season, you were right. This report comes from the Pay TV people: "In week 49, STV was the number one source of TV across Australia, when subscription channels accounted for 25.6% of metropolitan viewing between 6am and midnight (up from 23.1% last week), 21.8% of regional viewing (up from 19.9%) and 61.3% of all viewing in subscription TV homes (up from 57.5%).

"America's Next Top Model on FOX8 drew 160,000 people and Project Runway on Arena was watched by 121,000 viewers. The premiere of Gus Worland's An Aussie Goes Calypso on FOX8 was seen by 108,000 while Keeping Up Appearances had its biggest audience of the year on UKTV, with 104,000 people. In sport, Live: Football: A-League Perth v Melb was seen by 87,000 subscribers on FOX Sports."

What Australia watched, Sunday
Description Total Sydney Melbourne Brisbane Adelaide Perth
1 SEVEN NEWS - SUN Seven 1,282,000 317,000 321,000 311,000 125,000 209,000
2 HOT PROPERTY Seven 1,208,000 324,000 341,000 272,000 102,000 170,000
3 NINE NEWS SUNDAY Nine 1,163,000 312,000 396,000 238,000 119,000 98,000
4 OUTBACK WILDLIFE RESCUE Seven 1,159,000 348,000 281,000 264,000 120,000 146,000
5 TWO AND A HALF MEN -RPT Nine 1,076,000 304,000 369,000 185,000 84,000 133,000
6 NEVER BEEN KISSED Ten 1,040,000 308,000 352,000 159,000 102,000 119,000
7 CHRISTMAS WITH THE AUSTRALIAN WOMEN'S WEEKLY Nine 1,019,000 249,000 350,000 202,000 96,000 122,000
8 ABC NEWS-SU ABC1 920,000 286,000 250,000 168,000 90,000 126,000
9 THE BIG BANG THEORY Nine 912,000 264,000 287,000 140,000 81,000 140,000
10 THE MEGAFALLS OF IGUACU ABC1 887,000 301,000 204,000 151,000 101,000 131,000
11 YOU ARE WHAT YOU EAT Nine 830,000 222,000 274,000 129,000 83,000 122,000
14 SEVEN WONDERS OF THE INDUSTRIAL WORLD Seven 811,000 240,000 262,000 227,000 83,000
30 JUDGEMENT DAY: INTELLIGENT DESIGN ON TRIAL SBS 314,000 99,000 74,000 71,000 31,000 40,000
(OzTAM preliminary estimates, mainland capitals)

What Australia watched, week ending December 6
Description Total Sydney Melbourne Brisbane Adelaide Perth
1 NINE NEWS SUNDAY Nine 1,376,000 435,000 499,000 213,000 138,000 91,000
2 SEVEN NEWS Seven 1,309,000 340,000 371,000 259,000 149,000 190,000
3 NCIS EP 1 RPT Ten 1,298,000 361,000 407,000 211,000 141,000 178,000
4 SEVEN NEWS - SUN Seven 1,234,000 291,000 319,000 300,000 119,000 205,000
5 NCIS EP 2 RPT Ten 1,206,000 350,000 363,000 182,000 135,000 176,000
6 TODAY TONIGHT Seven 1,201,000 296,000 330,000 242,000 144,000 190,000
7 SEVEN NEWS - SAT Seven 1,158,000 372,000 265,000 260,000 89,000 173,000
8 TWO AND A HALF MEN -RPT Nine 1,151,000 343,000 380,000 211,000 89,000 128,000
9 SEVEN WONDERS OF THE INDUSTRIAL WORLD Seven 1,127,000 300,000 340,000 233,000 92,000 163,000
10 THE HOWARD YEARS ABC1 1,079,000 402,000 297,000 158,000 113,000 109,000
11 THE RICH LIST - MON Seven 1,075,000 260,000 312,000 214,000 136,000 153,000
12 HOT PROPERTY Seven 1,039,000 295,000 293,000 217,000 79,000 155,000
13 CSI -RPT Nine 1,025,000 287,000 302,000 205,000 97,000 134,000
14 COLD CASE Nine 1,018,000 266,000 326,000 200,000 115,000 112,000
15 NINE NEWS SATURDAY Nine 1,017,000 257,000 359,000 214,000 104,000 84,000
16 ENOUGH ROPE WITH ANDREW DENTON ABC1 1,015,000 295,000 319,000 155,000 121,000 126,000
17 ABC NEWS ABC1 1,009,000 293,000 289,000 182,000 117,000 129,000
18 BETTER HOMES AND GARDENS SUMMER Seven 1,006,000 276,000 314,000 177,000 87,000 152,000
19 THE BIG BANG THEORY Nine 1,000,000 318,000 312,000 179,000 76,000 115,000
20 NINE NEWS Nine 991,000 250,000 311,000 218,000 112,000 101,000
21 WALLACE AND GROMIT: A MATTER OF LOAF AND DEATH ABC1 983,000 291,000 269,000 144,000 149,000 131,000
22 AIR CRASH INVESTIGATIONS Seven 978,000 278,000 249,000 228,000 100,000 123,000
23 CSI: MIAMI -RPT Nine 976,000 292,000 278,000 168,000 112,000 127,000
24 A CURRENT AFFAIR Nine 963,000 237,000 302,000 225,000 106,000 92,000
25 THE MUSEUM ABC1 954,000 268,000 291,000 154,000 115,000 126,000
26 MISS CONGENIALITY -RPT Nine 953,000 294,000 323,000 144,000 92,000 101,000
27 THE CHOPPING BLOCK Nine 953,000 315,000 278,000 137,000 104,000 119,000
28 20 TO 1 -RPT Nine 946,000 328,000 433,000 93,000 93,000
29 BONES - MON (R) Seven 939,000 256,000 303,000 147,000 114,000 119,000
30 7.30 REPORT ABC1 932,000 283,000 255,000 172,000 102,000 120,000
31 ELI STONE Seven 926,000 273,000 279,000 187,000 80,000 107,000
32 BRITNEY: FOR THE RECORD Ten 922,000 275,000 284,000 166,000 89,000 108,000
33 THE WAITING ROOM Nine 916,000 271,000 243,000 191,000 101,000 111,000
34 TOP GEAR SBS 915,000 234,000 287,000 169,000 108,000 117,000
35 AUSTRALIA'S FUNNIEST HOME VIDEO SHOW SUMMER SERIES -RPT Nine 915,000 222,000 283,000 189,000 102,000 120,000
36 10 TO ONE Nine 911,000 219,000 303,000 163,000 111,000 115,000
37 ABC NEWS-SU ABC1 901,000 234,000 292,000 153,000 98,000 125,000
38 TEMPTATION Nine 894,000 247,000 275,000 177,000 100,000 96,000
39 MOUNTAIN WITH GRIFF RHYS JONES ABC1 892,000 258,000 258,000 147,000 113,000 116,000
40 HOLBY BLUE Seven 886,000 226,000 269,000 168,000 101,000 123,000
(OzTAM mainland capitals)

What Australia watched, Saturday
Description STN Network Sydney Melbourne Brisbane Adelaide Perth
1 SEVEN NEWS - SAT Seven 1,158,000 372,000 265,000 260,000 89,000 173,000
2 NINE NEWS SATURDAY Nine 1,017,000 257,000 359,000 214,000 104,000 84,000
3 AUSTRALIA'S FUNNIEST HOME VIDEO SHOW SUMMER SERIES -RPT Nine 915,000 222,000 283,000 189,000 102,000 120,000
4 MOUNTAIN WITH GRIFF RHYS JONES ABC1 892,000 258,000 258,000 147,000 113,000 116,000
5 ABC NEWS UP-DATE ABC1 865,000 249,000 265,000 123,000 85,000 143,000
6 ABC NEWS-SAT ABC1 838,000 243,000 274,000 144,000 97,000 80,000
7 THE BILL ABC1 771,000 220,000 233,000 114,000 81,000 123,000
8 TEN NEWS AT FIVE SAT Ten 693,000 195,000 211,000 137,000 54,000 96,000
9 WIFE SWAP USA Nine 681,000 177,000 252,000 96,000 69,000 86,000
10 BACK TO THE FUTURE RPT Ten 622,000 150,000 201,000 111,000 75,000 85,000
11 MCLEOD'S DAUGHTERS Nine 575,000 136,000 200,000 104,000 78,000 58,000
13 M-THE LORD OF THE RINGS: THE RETURN OF THE KING Seven 517,000 169,000 160,000 128,000 59,000 Not shown
17 AFI AWARDS Nine 478,000 133,000 185,000 78,000 53,000 29,000
20 AUSTRALIA'S OWN CAR - 60 YEARS OF HOLDEN Nine 360,000 85,000 155,000 49,000 36,000 34,000
24 THE WEDGE Ten 300,000 62,000 120,000 51,000 24,000 42,000
25 MYTHBUSTERS: JAMES BOND SPECIAL SBS 279,000 70,000 96,000 55,000 37,000 21,000

What Australia watched, Friday
Description Total Sydney Melbourne Brisbane Adelaide Perth
1 SEVEN NEWS Seven 1,164,000 327,000 334,000 215,000 109,000 180,000
2 TODAY TONIGHT Seven 1,032,000 276,000 258,000 205,000 110,000 183,000
3 BETTER HOMES AND GARDENS SUMMER Seven 1,006,000 276,000 314,000 177,000 87,000 152,000
4 MISS CONGENIALITY -RPT Nine 953,000 294,000 323,000 144,000 92,000 101,000
5 NINE NEWS Nine 864,000 198,000 274,000 204,000 102,000 87,000
6 ABC NEWS ABC1 812,000 223,000 206,000 160,000 113,000 109,000
7 TEMPTATION Nine 805,000 237,000 251,000 147,000 84,000 86,000
8 A CURRENT AFFAIR Nine 790,000 160,000 250,000 218,000 90,000 73,000
16 M-24: REDEMPTION Seven 645,000 181,000 209,000 107,000 72,000 75,000
23 THE BOLD AND THE BEAUTIFUL Ten 423,000 129,000 138,000 75,000 36,000 46,000
28 CANAL ROAD Nine 288,000 93,000 86,000 36,000 41,000 32,000

What Australia watched, Thursday
Description Total Sydney Melbourne Brisbane Adelaide Perth
1 SEVEN NEWS Seven 1,258,000 263,000 377,000 296,000 154,000 170,000
2 TODAY TONIGHT Seven 1,157,000 234,000 366,000 254,000 133,000 170,000
3 COLD CASE Nine 1,021,000 267,000 326,000 200,000 115,000 113,000
4 NINE NEWS Nine 976,000 250,000 287,000 232,000 116,000 92,000
5 A CURRENT AFFAIR Nine 928,000 237,000 277,000 227,000 98,000 89,000
6 ABC NEWS ABC1 914,000 274,000 235,000 174,000 124,000 106,000
7 THE WAITING ROOM Nine 907,000 268,000 238,000 190,000 101,000 111,000
8 TEMPTATION Nine 894,000 252,000 259,000 193,000 103,000 86,000
9 EMERGENCY Nine 851,000 214,000 233,000 193,000 109,000 102,000
10 LAW AND ORDER: SVU RPT Ten 829,000 245,000 260,000 128,000 102,000 93,000
11 HOW I MET YOUR MOTHER (R) Seven 809,000 176,000 275,000 159,000 85,000 115,000
12 7.30 REPORT ABC1 788,000 244,000 198,000 150,000 87,000 109,000
13 DON'T FORGET THE LYRICS THURS Ten 779,000 152,000 284,000 157,000 91,000 96,000
14 ELI STONE Seven 772,000 238,000 244,000 123,000 75,000 91,000
15 THE CLOSER Nine 762,000 203,000 274,000 107,000 85,000 93,000
16 THE AMAZING RACE 13 Seven 757,000 219,000 286,000 71,000 98,000 84,000
19 UGLY BETTY - THU Seven 721,000 220,000 235,000 117,000 86,000 63,000
24 NEIGHBOURS Ten 587,000 169,000 193,000 113,000 55,000 57,000
25 THE BOLD AND THE BEAUTIFUL Ten 520,000 131,000 193,000 87,000 57,000 52,000
27 REX IN ROME SBS 429,000 135,000 124,000 65,000 57,000 48,000
28 HEROES - THU Seven 418,000 113,000 152,000 56,000 48,000 49,000
30 OUT OF THE BLUE - DAILY Ten 351,000 84,000 125,000 44,000 56,000 41,000
110 RUGBY SPRING TOUR 2008 Ten 73,000 34,000 12,000 20,000 2,000 5,000
What Australia watched, Wednesday
Description Total Sydney Melbourne Brisbane Adelaide Perth
1 SEVEN NEWS Seven 1,371,000 379,000 381,000 242,000 160,000 209,000
2 TODAY TONIGHT Seven 1,223,000 335,000 330,000 221,000 148,000 189,000
3 ABC NEWS ABC1 1,048,000 299,000 315,000 186,000 111,000 138,000
4 A CURRENT AFFAIR Nine 1,033,000 278,000 331,000 216,000 112,000 96,000
5 WALLACE AND GROMIT: A MATTER OF LOAF AND DEATH ABC1 996,000 293,000 272,000 147,000 151,000 133,000
6 AIR CRASH INVESTIGATIONS Seven 978,000 278,000 249,000 228,000 100,000 123,000
7 CSI: MIAMI -RPT Nine 972,000 290,000 277,000 167,000 112,000 126,000
8 NINE NEWS Nine 970,000 243,000 305,000 213,000 104,000 105,000
9 HOW I MET YOUR MOTHER (R) Seven 912,000 280,000 272,000 169,000 86,000 106,000
11 TEMPTATION Nine 910,000 257,000 279,000 176,000 99,000 100,000
15 LAS VEGAS Seven 798,000 241,000 231,000 166,000 74,000 87,000
19 THE UNIT - WED Seven 725,000 204,000 216,000 142,000 94,000 69,000
23 E.R. Nine 663,000 221,000 216,000 83,000 62,000 81,000
28 THE BOLD AND THE BEAUTIFUL Ten 521,000 167,000 163,000 88,000 46,000 57,000
30 NIGELLA EXPRESS ABC1 404,000 104,000 125,000 51,000 51,000 74,000
34 THE LONG WAY DOWN SBS 349,000 94,000 106,000 72,000 34,000 43,000
35 OUT OF THE BLUE - DAILY Ten 347,000 114,000 121,000 28,000 45,000 39,000
36 FOOD SAFARI SBS 345,000 95,000 131,000 61,000 29,000 29,000
42 GOSSIP GIRL Nine 290,000 90,000 114,000 30,000 29,000 28,000

What Australia watched, Tuesday
Description Total Sydney Melbourne Brisbane Adelaide Perth
1 SEVEN NEWS Seven 1,328,000 361,000 378,000 238,000 161,000 189,000
2 NCIS EP 1 RPT Ten 1,296,000 361,000 407,000 211,000 141,000 177,000
3 TODAY TONIGHT Seven 1,264,000 347,000 364,000 216,000 165,000 171,000
4 NCIS EP 2 RPT Ten 1,213,000 351,000 365,000 184,000 136,000 177,000
5 7.30 REPORT ABC1 1,198,000 334,000 366,000 233,000 125,000 140,000
6 ABC NEWS ABC1 1,122,000 333,000 357,000 182,000 122,000 128,000
7 NINE NEWS Nine 1,006,000 240,000 344,000 212,000 101,000 109,000
8 A CURRENT AFFAIR Nine 982,000 247,000 283,000 229,000 111,000 113,000
9 THE MUSEUM ABC1 969,000 272,000 297,000 156,000 117,000 128,000
10 THE CHOPPING BLOCK Nine 952,000 315,000 277,000 137,000 103,000 120,000
11 ELI STONE Seven 926,000 273,000 279,000 187,000 80,000 107,000
12 BRITNEY: FOR THE RECORD Ten 920,000 274,000 284,000 165,000 89,000 108,000
14 TEMPTATION Nine 898,000 245,000 246,000 196,000 114,000 98,000
15 HOW I MET YOUR MOTHER (R) Seven 896,000 252,000 269,000 171,000 89,000 115,000
16 UGLY BETTY - TUE Seven 820,000 212,000 266,000 174,000 71,000 97,000
17 FRIENDS - DAILY RPT Ten 810,000 215,000 278,000 133,000 75,000 109,000
19 NEIGHBOURS Ten 726,000 208,000 259,000 125,000 58,000 77,000
21 THE BOLD AND THE BEAUTIFUL Ten 552,000 168,000 193,000 68,000 54,000 69,000
22 DIRTY SEXY MONEY - TUE Seven 504,000 143,000 182,000 80,000 49,000 50,000
25 HUSTLE ABC1 457,000 112,000 157,000 73,000 64,000 51,000
26 OUT OF THE BLUE - DAILY Ten 443,000 140,000 152,000 44,000 54,000 53,000
27 SURVIVOR: MICRONESIA Nine 437,000 135,000 149,000 61,000 49,000 44,000
32 PRISON BREAK - TUE Seven 352,000 95,000 111,000 62,000 42,000 42,000
The box office (for a change), updated 10am Tuesday
All that pessimistic media coverage about the success of Austraya seems unjustified. We now have the first weekend figures. In this country, between Thursday and Sunday night, Oz sold $6.37 million worth of tickets.

The usual assumption is that a blockbuster's final total will be about four times its first weekend takings, which means Oz could end up with about $25 million -- not in Titanic territory, but one of the top five films of the year. Its local total is now $7.78 million. (Quantum of Solace now totals $18.77 million after two weeks).

In America, Oz made $US20 mil over its first five days, which is solid but not spectacular. It might end up totalling $US70m. With other worldwide sales, it might cover its $150 m budget.

To see how this compares with previous records, go to The films Australia loved. If you've seen Oz and want to discuss its accuracy, go to Who We Are.

What Australia watched, Monday
Description Total Sydney Melbourne Brisbane Adelaide Perth
1 SEVEN NEWS Seven 1,424,000 370,000 385,000 302,000 163,000 204,000
2 TODAY TONIGHT Seven 1,328,000 289,000 331,000 312,000 161,000 234,000
3 TWO AND A HALF MEN -RPT Nine 1,176,000 334,000 391,000 230,000 92,000 130,000
4 ABC NEWS ABC1 1,150,000 334,000 330,000 207,000 115,000 163,000
5 NINE NEWS Nine 1,130,000 316,000 347,000 225,000 132,000 109,000
6 THE RICH LIST - MON Seven 1,075,000 260,000 312,000 214,000 136,000 153,000
7 A CURRENT AFFAIR Nine 1,074,000 263,000 368,000 239,000 116,000 88,000
8 THE HOWARD YEARS ABC1 1,074,000 403,000 293,000 158,000 112,000 109,000
9 ENOUGH ROPE WITH ANDREW DENTON ABC1 1,025,000 296,000 323,000 156,000 123,000 127,000
10 CSI -RPT Nine 1,025,000 287,000 303,000 204,000 97,000 134,000
11 HOW I MET YOUR MOTHER (R) Seven 977,000 265,000 258,000 208,000 116,000 130,000
12 TEMPTATION Nine 972,000 244,000 343,000 177,000 99,000 109,000
13 THE BIG BANG THEORY Nine 970,000 271,000 309,000 197,000 71,000 122,000
16 TOP GEAR SBS 915,000 234,000 287,000 169,000 108,000 117,000
18 FACE PAINTING WITH BILL LEAK ABC1 802,000 230,000 232,000 156,000 84,000 99,000
19 FRINGE Nine 733,000 202,000 237,000 117,000 76,000 102,000
20 ARMY WIVES Ten 716,000 197,000 277,000 95,000 56,000 91,000
21 NEIGHBOURS Ten 700,000 210,000 262,000 113,000 44,000 71,000
23 FRIENDS - DAILY RPT Ten 668,000 151,000 253,000 109,000 60,000 96,000
24 THE BOLD AND THE BEAUTIFUL Ten 592,000 162,000 213,000 96,000 54,000 67,000
25 HOW TO LOOK GOOD NAKED Ten 563,000 135,000 211,000 81,000 52,000 84,000
26 SCRUBS Seven 525,000 170,000 152,000 76,000 54,000 72,000
27 THE EX-LIST Ten 519,000 151,000 203,000 58,000 46,000 60,000
29 SECOND TEST - AUSTRALIA V NEW ZEALAND Nine 439,000 127,000 167,000 75,000 37,000 34,000
30 SWIFT AND SHIFT COURIERS SBS 430,000 127,000 123,000 77,000 50,000 53,000
33 SURVIVOR: MICRONESIA Nine 372,000 96,000 154,000 41,000 39,000 41,000
36 HOME IMPROVEMENT-DAY Seven 291,000 101,000 64,000 57,000 34,000 34,000
39 OUT OF THE BLUE - DAILY Ten 280,000 80,000 114,000 24,000 28,000 33,000
57 KATH & KIM THE AMERICAN SERIES - MON Seven 218,000 45,000 92,000 28,000 22,000 30,000
(OzTAM preliminary estimates, mainland capitals)

What Australia watched, Sunday November 30
Description Total Sydney Melbourne Brisbane Adelaide Perth
1 NINE NEWS SUNDAY Nine 1,376,000 436,000 501,000 213,000 135,000 91,000
2 SEVEN NEWS - SUN Seven 1,225,000 285,000 316,000 300,000 119,000 205,000
3 SEVEN WONDERS OF THE INDUSTRIAL WORLD Seven 1,128,000 299,000 342,000 233,000 92,000 163,000
4 TWO AND A HALF MEN -RPT Nine 1,117,000 351,000 369,000 185,000 87,000 124,000
5 THE BIG BANG THEORY Nine 1,046,000 363,000 320,000 170,000 81,000 111,000
6 HOT PROPERTY Seven 997,000 278,000 268,000 217,000 79,000 155,000
7 20 TO 1 -RPT Nine 951,000 328,000 434,000 96,000 93,000
8 THE OUTDOOR ROOM WITH JAMIE DURIE Seven 912,000 232,000 247,000 193,000 85,000 156,000
9 ABC NEWS-SU ABC1 901,000 234,000 292,000 153,000 98,000 125,000
10 HOLBY BLUE Seven 899,000 235,000 273,000 168,000 101,000 123,000
11 DON'T FORGET THE LYRICS Ten 830,000 194,000 297,000 164,000 83,000 92,000
12 SCHOOL OF ROCK RPT Ten 820,000 281,000 264,000 106,000 77,000 93,000
13 SECOND TEST - AUSTRALIA V NEW ZEALAND Nine 819,000 264,000 241,000 145,000 93,000 76,000
14 A GOOD MURDER ABC1 791,000 188,000 243,000 129,000 93,000 138,000
15 THE ORANGUTAN KING ABC1 755,000 189,000 202,000 162,000 91,000 111,000
18 A BEAUTIFUL MIND -RPT Nine 710,000 213,000 239,000 105,000 80,000 73,000
20 M-TOUCH OF FROST Seven 645,000 151,000 226,000 89,000 107,000 71,000
26 THE ROMAN EMPIRE RPT SBS 427,000 148,000 121,000 68,000 32,000 59,000
27 49 UP SBS 379,000 136,000 102,000 50,000 27,000 64,000
28 CALIFORNICATION Ten 364,000 99,000 144,000 50,000 38,000 33,000
29 JUDGMENT DAY: INTELLIGENT DESIGN ON TRIAL SBS 347,000 124,000 86,000 65,000 28,000 44,000
(OzTAM preliminary estimates, 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 02:05 AM
• Comments (155)

The Tribal Mind: All along the watchtower

To learn how to catch the zeitgeist, go to The sweetest thing.

by David Dale
WARNING: this column is about to be definitive, absolutist and conclusive. We have come into possession of some audience research, derived from the OzTAM people meter boxes in 3,035 urban households, that will allow us to dispose, once and for all (or at least, until this time next year), of the four great myths of television:

Myth One: Australians are watching less TV than they did in the first half of this decade.

Fact: In weeks 1 to 46 of this year, viewers in the mainland capitals spent an average of 22 hours and 11 minutes a week gazing at the box. In 2004 (chosen as the point of comparison because it was also an Olympic year), viewers averaged 22 hours and two minutes a week. So we're actually watching more this year. (Qualification: The rise is entirely due to the growth in pay TV. The average audience for free to air TV is down five per cent on 2004, while the average audience for Pay is up 71 per cent.)

Myth Two: Young people hardly connect with telly these days, because they're off playing video games, instant messaging, watching DVDs, fiddling with MyFaceTube and illegally downloading stuff from the net.

Fact: Viewers under 16 spend 14 hours and 33 minutes a week at the box, which is down 10 per cent on 2004, while viewers aged 16 to 39 spend 17 hours and 40 minutes a week -- down seven per cent. So they are watching less, but they're not out of the game entirely. The apparent growth in overall viewing is due to people over 40, who spend 29 hours a week at the box -- up 6 per cent on 2004. You might say we're a nation of geriatric couch potatoes.

Myth Three: Channel Nine is enjoying a recovery, and is on its way back to the top next year.

Fact: In 2004, Nine's average prime time audience was 1.105 million in the mainland capitals. This year it is 929,000 -- down 16 per cent, while Seven's prime time audience (1.028m) is up 11 per cent. Mind you, Seven's growth is entirely based on those geriatrics we mentioned earlier (it's up 27 per cent with over 40s).

With viewers 16-39, Seven is down 9 per cent (while Nine is down 22 per cent). Ten is totally in the poo -- down 17 per cent overall and 19 per cent with its target 16-39s.

Myth Four: Suffering a cultural cringe, Australians prefer US dramas to local creations.

Fact: The most watched scripted programs this year were: 1 Racked to the Rafters; 2 Underbelly; 3 City Homicide; 4 Two and a Half Men; 5 CSI. The top scripted programs in 2004 were: 1 CSI; 2 Kath and Kim; 3 CSI Miami; 4 Friends; 5 Law and Order: SVU.

So apart from the ageing of viewers, the other trend of 2008 is the rise of nationalism. Go the cultural strut.

Here are the tables, for weeks 1 to 46 of the year, based on OzTAM data for the mainland capitals:

Average number watching over 24 hours
.. Age .. 2002 .. 2004 .. 2006 .. 2008 .. Change since 04
FREE TO AIR TV
00-99 1.598m 1.545m 1.522m 1.460m -5%
00-15 0.261m 0.228m 0.191m 0.180m -21%
16-39 0.515m 0.466m 0.452m 0.401m -14%
40-99 0.822m 0.851m 0.879m 0.879m +3%
PAY TV
00-99 0.239m 0.246m 0.362m 0.420m +71%
00-15 0.052m 0.039m 0.062m 0.066m +67%
16-39 0.082m 0.083m 0.114m 0.119m +44%
40-99 0.105m 0.124m 0.186m 0.235m +89%
TOTAL TV
00-99 1.837m 1.792m 1.884m 1.881m +5%
00-15 0.313m 0.267m 0.253m 0.245m -8%
16-39 0.597m 0.549m 0.566m 0.521m -5%
40-99 0.927m 0.976m 1.065m 1.115m +14%

Most watched series, 2008
1 (7) PACKED TO THE RAFTERS 1.942m
2 (7) FIND MY FAMILY 1,797
3 (9) UNDERBELLY 1,707
4 (7) THE ZOO 1,683
5 (7) CITY HOMICIDE 1,622
6 (7) BORDER SECURITY 1,610
7 (7) THE FORCE 1,597
8 (7) BORDER SECURITY (Rpt) 1,579
9 (7) RSPCA ANIMAL RESCUE 1,576
10 (7) SEVEN NEWS - SUN 1,560
11 (7) AUSTRALIA'S GOT TALENT 1,523
12 (9) DOMESTIC BLITZ 1,510
13 (9) 60 MINUTES 1,506
14 (9) TWO AND A HALF MEN -WED EP2 1,504
15 (10) SO YOU THINK YOU CAN DANCE AUSTRALIA 1,491

Most watched series, 2004
1 (10) AUSTRALIAN IDOL 2.095m
2 (9) CSI 1,868
3 (7) DANCING WITH THE STARS 1,867
4 (ABC) KATH AND KIM SERIES 3 1,829
5 (10) AUSTRALIAN IDOL - THE LIVE VERDICT 1,762
6 (9) NINE NEWS SUNDAY 1,740
7 (9) CSI: MIAMI 1,676
8 (9) FRIENDS 1,653
9 (10) LAW AND ORDER: SVU 1,625
10 (9) COLD CASE 1,618
11 (10) LAW & ORDER: CRIMINAL INTENT 1,586
12 (9) CSI -RPT 1,582
13 (ABC) SEVEN WONDERS OF THE INDUSTRIAL WORLD 1,533
14 (9) 60 MINUTES 1,532
15 (10) BIG BROTHER LIVE EVICTION 1,525

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 04:51 PM
• Comments (3)

WHO WE ARE: It's moments like these ...

To discuss the accuracy of Austraya, go to Who We Are.
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, 23/11/2008
You should by now have received your early Chrissie pressie from the Royal Australian Mint -- a fat envelope that looks like junk mail and contains a brochure advertising a whole lot of souvenir coins you can buy.

It's wonderful that this "prescribed agency of the Treasury" is helping out the government at a financially stressed time by spamming the nation with the opportunity to spend $115 for a set of six one dollar coins depicting the Parkes Telescope, but they need to reconsider their subject matter. They want us to join in celebrating some of the most boring events in Australian history.

Get real, you silly minties. Do you seriously expect anybody to spend $130 on two $5 coins depicting the Airbus A380? Or $12.95 on a one dollar coin honouring the centenary of the quarantine service? Or $235 on a $10 gold coin commemorating The Year of the Ox? They're almost as lame as last year's coin (pictured) commemorating the APEC meeting (which might have sold a few more copies if it had depicted the Chaser boys).

There's still time to create souvenirs that Australians really will want to display on their mantelpieces next year. It turns out that a lot of historical tipping points happened in years ending in 9. These are just a few examples of moments the Mint could immortalise in gold, silver and bronze:

The 40th anniversary of Australia's first on-stage mass nude scene. In 1969, during the first Sydney performance of the musical Hair, the cast appeared naked at the end of the first act. Police were stationed in the front row to ensure the audience didn't riot and the cast didn't move. This symbol of the death of puritanism and the opening of the Australian mind would need to be depicted on a 50 cent coin rather than a $2 coin, since some 15 people were involved, but it would sell like hot buns.

The 30 th anniversary of the first VCR going on sale. The ability to play rented movies and to record TV shows for later viewing gave Australians control of their home entertainment and broke our dependence on the commercial networks. The image of a black box would be a bit boring, so perhaps it would be better to depict a scene from Crocodile Dundee, one of the first flicks available on video.

The 20th anniversary of the last Imperial honour being awarded by the British monarch to an Australian. The coin could depict a sword on a shoulder, with a diagonal slash across the image. For balance, the other side of the coin could commemorate the tenth anniversary of the referendum in which we voted against a republic.

The 80th anniversary of the Speedo cossie. MacRae Knitting Mills in Sydney introduced the sleek swimwear in 1929, and went on to become the supplier for all 52 swimming nations at the Munich and Montreal Olympics. A $2 coin for budgie smugglers!

The 60th anniversary of the election of Australia's first Liberal government. Lets be imaginative. Robert Menzies has been honoured enough. We should cheer up the Liberal leaders who didn't quite make it -- Billy Snedden, Andrew Peacock, Alexander Downer, John Hewson and Brendan Nelson -- with their own beautifully boxed set of five cent pieces in shiny bronze. I was going to include Peter Costello, but there's a good chance he'll be on his own Prime Ministerial coin one day.

To add your suggestions on events or people we should commemorate in coinage, go to 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 whoweare-index at 08:39 PM
• Comments (8)

The Tribal Mind: The sweetest thing

To bust the four great myths of television, go to The Tribal Mind.
For regular updates on Australian attitudes, bookmark http://blogs.sunherald.com.au/whoweare.

by David Dale
Once in a while-- every four years seems to be the average -- a production team manages to catch the zeitgeist. In the chilly hours and minutes of uncertainty, someone generates a concept that sums up the times we live in, and out comes a movie or TV show that doesn't just entertain us - it reflects us. Australians watch in their millions because they recognise what they are, or what they would like to be.

The latest zeitgeist-catcher is Packed to the Rafters, which is attracting 2 million viewers a week in the mainland capitals. At a time when national tastes are fragmenting into ever narrower niches, PTTR is a favourite of every demographic measured by OzTAM - male and female, rich and poor, old and young. It has the nation in the warm hold of its loving mind, and vice versa.

Lets look at some zeitgeist catchers of the past ten years, all of which managed the magic two million ...

Friends. Its rise through the late 90s coincided with a belated realisation by Australians that we were not a nation of bronzed bush battlers but a nation of urban coffee drinkers. With the breakdown in traditional marriage structures, mates were the new family. We saw ourselves in six sexy New Yorkers who solved each other's problems over lattes.

SeaChange. As the millennium turned, a generation slightly older than the single coffee addicts fantasised about escaping from urban life to a village with all the conveniences of the city, but none of the hassles.

Kath and Kim. Of course we weren't really Manhattanites, we were the most suburbanised nation on earth, and we masochistically embraced a satire on our Hills Hoist lifestyle.

Desperate Housewives. Identifying with the suburban village again, we aspired to the glamour of Wisteria Lane. In the first season, the Despos were watched by one in 13 Americans and one in seven Australians. Quite by accident, the dramedy caught our zeitgeist more than it caught theirs.

Packed to the Rafters. Family is the new mateship. The flipside of Friends was constructed by demographic analysis. Channel Seven's head of drama, John Holmes, has been reported as saying that the show's creator, Bevan Lee, "looked at the world we all live in, with high mortgages and the price of property, and saw that in tough times kids are staying at home. There is tremendous opportunity for identification with the show."

So have the programmers finally found the magic formula: Check the Bureau of Statistics website and create characters and situations that match the sociological shifts?

Maybe it's not that easy. Channel Ten's latest attempt at zeitgeist-catching was Friday Night Download, developed on the premise that if young people are giving up television to surf the net, you can get them back by making a program out of the most outrageous material in the webiverse. Ratings were so low Ten had to cancel the show after two episodes. There's still hope for creativity.

Tell us how to catch the zeitgeist at Comments

David Dale is the author of The Little Book of Australia -- A snapshot of who we are (Allen and Unwin). For daily updates on Australian attitudes, bookmark blogs.sunherald.com.au/whoweare.

• by David Dale in The Tribal Mind at 12:15 PM
• Comments (10)

The Tribal Mind: Will we sink or soar?

To discuss the accuracy of Austraya, go to Who We Are.
For regular updates on Australian attitudes, bookmark http://blogs.sunherald.com.au/whoweare.

by David Dale
What a magnificent ambiguity: "Australia will be the Titanic of 2008". That is the prediction of Foxie, one of 151 readers who responded to this column's call for box office forecasts about the film that opens on November 26. We are left to wonder if Titanic means the ship that sank with 1500 lives lost in 1912, or the film that sold $58 million worth of tickets here and $US601 million worth there in 1997.

If Foxie is using a maritime metaphor, what might the iceberg be? Our tall poppy syndrome, our cultural cringe, our determination to avoid manipulation by publicists, our skepticism about the former screen queen, Nicole Kidman? If she means Australia will be highest grossing film of all time, she clearly believes Baz Luhrmann has managed to catch the zeitgeist.

When we started this contest, we promised to give two sets of prizes: short term, for the readers who offered the most plausible rationales for their predictions of success or failure, and long term, for the reader who comes closest to nominating the film's total takings in Australia and America. To read all the predictions and rationalisations, go to In advance of Australia.

Here are our first winners:

Emma wrote: "I think the film will resonate with cinema-goers in light of the global financial crisis. The film communicates basic themes that are relevant -- in times of hardship, it is your loved ones that matter the most. This is a universal theme, and thus will bring in more than pessimists expect.

"Australia has all the makings of an epic - and will attract criticism that accompanies films that take on an epic scope. Baz has approached the narrative in a smart way - telling a big story through a narrow perspective ... The production values are clearly very high and the story looks evocative. In terms of casting, Nicole has the ability to pull off elegance very well. Hugh Jackman looks the convincing picture, and hopefully these two will bring a screen chemistry to the film."

Cap'n Pugwas wrote: "It is somehow fitting that the film Australia already represents a perfect summation of precisely everything gone wrong with Australian films in the last decade and the narrow patronising cultural banality so prevalent during the Howard years.

"Australia is a suspiciously over-marketed (much of it already during production), romanticised hyperbole set in war time (feeding directly on recent populist Anzac patrotism), which seems aimed squarely at the dumbed-down audience of sappy musicals and stage productions performed in casinos. Add the ingredients of the over-rated and precious public image of 'Our Nic' and Lurmann's own stupendously silly record with the vacuous Moulin Rouge , not forgetting the title which is in itself is both hideously cynical (foreign audiences) and pompous."

The most pessimistic reader prediction was $A8m and $US20m. The most optimistic was $A73.5m and $US265m. We'll be able to reward that winner in January if Australia is a flop, and sometime later, if it's a hit. Go here to read all the entries.

David Dale is the author of The Little Book of Australia -- A snapshot of who we are (Allen and Unwin). For daily updates on Australian attitudes, bookmark blogs.sunherald.com.au/whoweare.

• by David Dale in The Tribal Mind at 04:06 PM
• Comments (15)

WHO WE ARE: Meat in the middle, noxious at both ends

To learn how to catch the zeitgeist, go to The sweetest thing.
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, 16/11/2008
The good news is that our bilbies are finally breeding. The bad news is that there are only a few hundred of them left on this continent, as opposed to 29 million cows.

To save the bilbies, bettongs, woylies, potoroos, leristas, phascogales and other diminutive creatures that abounded on this continent before the arrival of the cow, we might have to give up our addiction to milk and beef. Here's my modest proposal: lets send this country's cattle back to where they came from.

Rangers in Queensland's Curranawinya National Park announced recently that the local bilby population had started to recover, thanks to the building of a 21 km long electrified fence that protected them from human-introduced predators.

But in the same week, the Bureau of Statistics revealed that during this decade, the number of indigenous bird and mammal species assessed as "extinct, endangered or vulnerable" rose from 153 to 174. The Bureau said half of these once prolific species were vulnerable, one third were endangered and 18 per cent were presumed extinct.

What's causing this? "Land clearing is a key threat to biodiversity," says the bureau. "It destroys and degrades the habitat on which native species rely. Clearing also allows weeds and invasive animals to spread, contributes to greenhouse gas emissions and can lead to soil degradation, such as erosion and salinity, which in turn can affect water quality ... Of the land cleared in 2005, almost half was ... forest cleared for the first time."

Why are we clearing all this forest? To create pasture for cows, mainly. And in return, the cows are killing us. The UN Food and Agricultural Organisation has determined that cattle are responsible for 18 per cent of the greenhouse gases that cause global warming.

Britain's The Independent summarized the UN findings: "Burning fuel to produce fertiliser to grow feed, to produce meat and to transport it -- and clearing vegetation for grazing -- produces 9 per cent of all emissions of carbon dioxide, the most common greenhouse gas. And their wind and manure emit more than one third of emissions of another, methane, which warms the world 20 times faster than carbon dioxide.

"Livestock also produce more than 100 other polluting gases, including more than two-thirds of the world's emissions of ammonia, one of the main causes of acid rain ... Cattle ranching is the major driver of deforestation worldwide, and overgrazing is turning a fifth of all pastures and ranges into desert. Cows also soak up vast amounts of water: it takes 990 litres of water to produce one litre of milk."

The solution is clear. Lets get rid of these four-footed farting burpers. The most humane approach is to put them on boats back to their homeland. The biohistorians tell us that all of today's cattle are descendants of an animal called the auroch, first domesticated 10,000 years ago in northern India. And isn't that the perfect place to send them? The Indians love cows and would appreciate the boost to their economy.

It's a win-win all around - for the humans, for the cattle and for the biilbies. To find out what we will eat instead, go to But what if the beetroots are the aliens.

To discuss this crusade, go to 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 whoweare-index at 02:44 PM
• Comments (53)

The Who We Are update: Week 48

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 the success story of the ABC, SBS and Pay, go to The Tribal Mind.

The ratings race, updated 10am Sunday
On Friday and Saturday, Channels Seven, Nine and Ten attempted to capitalise on what they imagined would be a booming interest in Australiana and Hugh Jackman. See the charts below for how Mick Dundee, Van Helsing and Wolverine pulled in the punters.

Seven won the last week of the "official" ratings year with 29.9 per cent of the prime time audience, while Nine got 26.5, Ten 20.2, ABC 17.7 and SBS 5.7.

Of course, the people meter boxes will keep sending their data to OzTAM's computer over the silly season, so this column will continue to provide regular discussion on how Australians are entertaining themselves. For a roundup of the year, go to Telly 2008.

What Australia watched, Saturday
Description Total Sydney Melbourne Brisbane Adelaide Perth
1 NINE NEWS SATURDAY Nine 1,184,000 351,000 394,000 232,000 142,000 64,000
2 SEVEN NEWS - SAT Seven 1,158,000 293,000 299,000 274,000 105,000 185,000
3 AUSTRALIA'S FUNNIEST HOME VIDEO SHOW Nine 1,011,000 275,000 342,000 197,000 95,000 102,000
4 ABC NEWS-SAT ABC1 963,000 278,000 272,000 180,000 100,000 134,000
5 MOUNTAIN WITH GRIFF RHYS JONES ABC1 942,000 227,000 273,000 168,000 119,000 156,000
7 THE BILL ABC1 832,000 210,000 250,000 125,000 105,000 142,000
8 POLAR EXPRESS -RPT Nine 801,000 254,000 262,000 122,000 85,000 77,000
9 M-CAMP ROCK Seven 709,000 208,000 170,000 182,000 59,000 90,000
11 SECOND TEST - AUSTRALIA V NEW ZEALAND Nine 695,000 231,000 194,000 114,000 89,000 67,000
12 GARFIELD 2 Ten 613,000 172,000 179,000 133,000 61,000 69,000
14 JURASSIC PARK RPT Ten 569,000 152,000 228,000 87,000 50,000 52,000
15 M-X-MEN 2 Seven 539,000 154,000 157,000 120,000 42,000 66,000
30 STAR WARS: THE CLONE WARS Ten 234,000 71,000 80,000 35,000 25,000 23,000

What Australia watched, Friday
Description Total Sydney Melbourne Brisbane Adelaide Perth
1 BETTER HOMES AND GARDENS Seven 1,353,000 397,000 392,000 262,000 124,000 178,000
2 SEVEN NEWS Seven 1,327,000 310,000 377,000 277,000 153,000 210,000
3 TODAY TONIGHT Seven 1,241,000 268,000 366,000 280,000 139,000 187,000
4 HOME AND AWAY Seven 1,163,000 322,000 322,000 237,000 119,000 162,000
5 NINE NEWS Nine 1,104,000 304,000 399,000 200,000 114,000 86,000
6 ABC NEWS ABC1 1,007,000 289,000 300,000 170,000 110,000 138,000
7 A CURRENT AFFAIR Nine 944,000 230,000 336,000 183,000 102,000 93,000
8 CROCODILE DUNDEE -RPT Nine 938,000 307,000 271,000 168,000 83,000 109,000
9 TWO AND A HALF MEN -RPT Nine 884,000 225,000 271,000 195,000 83,000 109,000
10 THE STEPFATHER ABC1 856,000 235,000 268,000 137,000 110,000 106,000
11 CROCODILE DUNDEE II -RPT Nine 825,000 274,000 273,000 100,000 101,000 78,000
13 M-DIE ANOTHER DAY Seven 765,000 212,000 207,000 141,000 95,000 109,000
18 VAN HELSING RPT Ten 604,000 162,000 187,000 112,000 61,000 81,000
19 THE SIMPSONS Ten 505,000 162,000 202,000 Not shown 53,000 88,000
20 THE BOLD AND THE BEAUTIFUL Ten 458,000 133,000 133,000 84,000 47,000 62,000
21 SECOND TEST - AUSTRALIA V NEW ZEALAND Nine 458,000 128,000 145,000 89,000 65,000 32,000
22 ICE ROAD TRUCKERS FRI Ten 412,000 Not shown 151,000 81,000 85,000 94,000
23 THE THICK OF IT ABC1 400,000 107,000 141,000 71,000 48,000 34,000
25 WILL & GRACE Ten 381,000 115,000 125,000 53,000 34,000 53,000

The ratings race, updated 10 am Friday
Look at the bottom of today's chart to see how the once mighty are fallen. Hundreds of thousands of Australians have dropped off shows that once commanded more than a million viewers. Talk about Life After People (a show on Seven last night) -- that's a description of broadcast television at the moment.

Over to movie matters: On its first day in 636 Australian cinemas Australia sold $1.4 million worth of tickets. This compares with $2.03 million earned by Quantum of Solace on its first day in 467 cinemas. QoS went on to earn $14 million in its first eight days, which suggests a final total of at least $30m. Oz's figure will be disappointing for the distributors, and suggests it may end up totalling about $25 million. Go here to see how readers of this column predicted its success. And to judge for yourself if Nicole Kidman has shamed the nation, see the whole Letterman interview here.

What Australia watched, Thursday
Description Total Sydney Melbourne Brisbane Adelaide Perth
1 SEVEN NEWS Seven 1,407,000 304,000 390,000 304,000 164,000 245,000
2 TODAY TONIGHT Seven 1,306,000 255,000 359,000 288,000 165,000 238,000
3 HOME AND AWAY Seven 1,237,000 329,000 316,000 295,000 140,000 157,000
4 LIFE AFTER PEOPLE Seven 1,134,000 294,000 329,000 250,000 119,000 143,000
5 NINE NEWS Nine 1,121,000 264,000 396,000 247,000 129,000 86,000
6 CRIME INVESTIGATION AUSTRALIA Nine 1,113,000 341,000 285,000 234,000 92,000 161,000
7 ABC NEWS ABC1 1,098,000 302,000 346,000 180,000 131,000 138,000
8 A CURRENT AFFAIR Nine 1,004,000 258,000 347,000 218,000 106,000 75,000
9 GETAWAY Nine 993,000 280,000 291,000 207,000 102,000 114,000
10 LAW & ORDER: CRIMINAL INTENT Ten 992,000 268,000 350,000 157,000 106,000 112,000
13 THE AMAZING RACE 13 Seven 893,000 239,000 317,000 141,000 101,000 94,000
16 BONES Seven 801,000 213,000 258,000 127,000 99,000 103,000
18 20 UNDER 25: YOUNG, RICH AND FAMOUS Ten 696,000 155,000 231,000 139,000 73,000 98,000
22 THE SIMPSONS Ten 535,000 136,000 188,000 92,000 43,000 76,000
23 THE BOLD AND THE BEAUTIFUL Ten 469,000 134,000 148,000 88,000 41,000 57,000
24 WILL & GRACE Ten 468,000 110,000 146,000 92,000 41,000 79,000
31 HEROES - THU Seven 367,000 126,000 112,000 60,000 42,000 27,000
33 THE STRIP Nine 345,000 104,000 120,000 47,000 32,000 42,000
34 INSPECTOR REX RPT SBS 342,000 103,000 93,000 66,000 45,000 34,000
37 OUT OF THE BLUE - DAILY Ten 307,000 102,000 92,000 35,000 37,000 41,000

The ratings race, updated 10 am Thursday
Finally the viewers are discovering the new series of House -- just as the cranky doctor is about to vanish for the silly season. Last night, without competition from Spicks and Specks, he gained 200,000 viewers on his previous showing, and that had a flow-on effect for the pleasantly quirky cop show Life.

What Australia watched, Wednesday
Description Total Sydney Melbourne Brisbane Adelaide Perth
1 SEVEN NEWS Seven 1,395,000 366,000 330,000 333,000 149,000 217,000
2 CRIMINAL MINDS Seven 1,379,000 353,000 386,000 293,000 158,000 189,000
3 TODAY TONIGHT Seven 1,273,000 323,000 298,000 277,000 152,000 222,000
4 TWO AND A HALF MEN -WED Nine 1,246,000 348,000 416,000 257,000 105,000 120,000
5 HOME AND AWAY Seven 1,240,000 365,000 325,000 252,000 145,000 152,000
6 AIR CRASH INVESTIGATIONS Seven 1,140,000 302,000 294,000 232,000 119,000 193,000
7 NINE NEWS Nine 1,130,000 296,000 375,000 262,000 117,000 81,000
8 TWO AND A HALF MEN -RPT Nine 1,088,000 304,000 339,000 226,000 108,000 112,000
9 ABC NEWS ABC1 1,082,000 357,000 293,000 206,000 100,000 126,000
10 A CURRENT AFFAIR Nine 1,058,000 297,000 329,000 236,000 108,000 88,000
11 HOUSE Ten 1,020,000 283,000 332,000 157,000 103,000 146,000
12 THE NEW INVENTORS ABC1 1,009,000 322,000 305,000 178,000 95,000 108,000
13 THE BIG BANG THEORY Nine 1,008,000 273,000 361,000 201,000 78,000 95,000
14 LIFE Ten 889,000 213,000 308,000 151,000 93,000 124,000
21 ALL NEW FUTURAMA WED EP 2 Ten 684,000 144,000 220,000 116,000 96,000 107,000
22 ALL NEW FUTURAMA WED EP 1 Ten 650,000 135,000 206,000 127,000 75,000 107,000
28 SUMMER HEIGHTS HIGH RPT ABC1 479,000 151,000 141,000 88,000 42,000 57,000
30 PRISON BREAK Seven 446,000 136,000 146,000 86,000 49,000 29,000
81 LATE SHOW WITH DAVID LETTERMAN Ten 153,000 49,000 53,000 14,000 18,000 19,000
85 NEWSTOPIA SBS 142,000 39,000 50,000 21,000 15,000 17,000 The ratings race, updated 10 am Wednesday
At this midpoint in the final week of the "official" ratings year, Channel Seven has 30.7 per cent of a shrinking prime time audience, with Nine on 25.9, Ten on 21.0, ABC on 16.6 and SBS on 5.8.

What Australia watched, Tuesday
Description Total Sydney Melbourne Brisbane Adelaide Perth
1 PACKED TO THE RAFTERS Seven 1,824,000 545,000 593,000 313,000 167,000 206,000
2 SEVEN NEWS Seven 1,523,000 382,000 430,000 319,000 179,000 213,000
3 FIND MY FAMILY Seven 1,519,000 419,000 408,000 336,000 159,000 198,000
4 TODAY TONIGHT Seven 1,391,000 352,000 376,000 285,000 158,000 219,000
5 NCIS Ten 1,350,000 346,000 352,000 281,000 168,000 202,000
6 ALL SAINTS Seven 1,307,000 404,000 403,000 197,000 150,000 153,000
7 HOME AND AWAY Seven 1,221,000 371,000 324,000 246,000 127,000 154,000
8 TWO AND A HALF MEN -RPT Nine 1,194,000 312,000 369,000 248,000 126,000 139,000
9 NINE NEWS Nine 1,059,000 275,000 314,000 256,000 126,000 88,000
10 ABC NEWS ABC1 1,055,000 295,000 310,000 192,000 112,000 146,000
11 A CURRENT AFFAIR Nine 1,023,000 263,000 316,000 238,000 119,000 87,000
12 THE CHOPPING BLOCK Nine 913,000 261,000 266,000 166,000 92,000 128,000
13 TWO AND A HALF MEN -EP2 Nine 910,000 299,000 269,000 166,000 76,000 99,000
16 THE SIMPSONS TUES EP 2 Ten 883,000 205,000 322,000 133,000 89,000 134,000
17 TWO AND A HALF MEN -EP1 Nine 881,000 285,000 270,000 141,000 85,000 100,000
18 RUSH Ten 846,000 166,000 328,000 137,000 107,000 107,000
20 THE SIMPSONS TUES EP 1 Ten 812,000 210,000 295,000 120,000 70,000 116,000
24 THE SIMPSONS Ten 581,000 174,000 195,000 89,000 56,000 66,000 30 SURVIVOR: MICRONESIA Nine 428,000 121,000 160,000 74,000 39,000 33,000
35 OUT OF THE BLUE - DAILY Ten 366,000 85,000 151,000 46,000 56,000 29,000

The ratings race, updated 10 am Tuesday
One week Top Gear gets around 600,000 viewers. The next week it gets a million. What might explain this change? One week John Howard's memoirs get 1.2 million viewers. The next week they get one million. What might explain this change?

One week The Rich List gets 900,000 viewers. The next it gets 1.2 million. What might explain this change? One week 90210 gets 700,000, so Ten takes it off, provoking an outcry, so Ten puts it back on at a more congenial time and it gets 400,000. What might explain this change?

Audience analysis is endlessly fascinating. Give it a go, down at Comments.

What Australia watched, Monday
Description Total Sydney Melbourne Brisbane Adelaide Perth
1 TODAY TONIGHT Seven 1,590,000 372,000 442,000 328,000 196,000 252,000
2 SEVEN NEWS Seven 1,513,000 383,000 407,000 322,000 169,000 233,000
3 HOME AND AWAY Seven 1,306,000 372,000 320,000 283,000 149,000 182,000
4 WEDDINGS WHERE ARE THEY NOW? Nine 1,242,000 350,000 372,000 249,000 107,000 165,000
5 THE RICH LIST - MON Seven 1,210,000 312,000 377,000 225,000 123,000 173,000
6 TWO AND A HALF MEN -RPT Nine 1,207,000 301,000 382,000 272,000 109,000 142,000
7 CSI (Rpt) Nine 1,157,000 325,000 336,000 224,000 93,000 179,000
8 NINE NEWS Nine 1,135,000 318,000 357,000 237,000 131,000 93,000
9 CITY HOMICIDE (Rpt) Seven 1,089,000 298,000 360,000 169,000 116,000 146,000
10 THE HOWARD YEARS ABC1 1,080,000 397,000 328,000 142,000 109,000 105,000
11 TOP GEAR SBS 1,067,000 322,000 313,000 178,000 117,000 136,000
12 ENOUGH ROPE WITH ANDREW DENTON ABC1 1,066,000 322,000 361,000 158,000 114,000 111,000
13 ABC NEWS ABC1 1,052,000 308,000 324,000 176,000 104,000 139,000
14 A CURRENT AFFAIR Nine 1,026,000 280,000 304,000 223,000 121,000 98,000
15 BONES - MON Seven 941,000 284,000 278,000 139,000 106,000 134,000
16 7.30 REPORT ABC1 899,000 289,000 228,000 184,000 90,000 108,000
17 FACE PAINTING WITH BILL LEAK ABC1 885,000 264,000 239,000 190,000 100,000 93,000
18 2008 GOOD NEWS WEEK AWARDS Ten 877,000 263,000 276,000 139,000 88,000 111,000
20 COLD CASE Nine 842,000 251,000 276,000 131,000 77,000 107,000
26 THE BOLD AND THE BEAUTIFUL Ten 481,000 156,000 116,000 107,000 42,000 60,000
27 OUT OF THE BLUE - DAILY Ten 477,000 123,000 166,000 67,000 63,000 57,000
28 OUT OF THE QUESTION - MON Seven 461,000 139,000 140,000 75,000 47,000 60,000
30 SWIFT AND SHIFT COURIERS SBS 430,000 112,000 132,000 84,000 37,000 66,000
33 90210 Ten 408,000 116,000 127,000 60,000 47,000 59,000
57 LOUIS THEROUX Seven 210,000 68,000 63,000 32,000 26,000 21,000

The ratings race, updted 11 am Monday
It should have been Ten's One Night Of The Year, with the finale of Australian Idol stretching over most of prime time. Symbolic of how Australian viewing has changed (grown old, to be precise), Ten had three variants on Idol in the top ten for Sunday night and still came third in audience share -- 24.1 per cent, to Nine's 26.7 per cent and Seven's 27.5, with the ABC managing a healthy 16.4 per cent.

If Ten can't come second with Idol's biggest episode, there is no hope. The Idol finale won't even be in the top ten for the year. Go here to see how viewing patterns have changed since 2004.

What Australia watched, Sunday
Description Total Sydney Melbourne Brisbane Adelaide Perth
1 AUSTRALIAN IDOL - THE WINNER ANNOUNCED Ten 1,566,000 454,000 514,000 241,000 182,000 175,000
2 SEVEN NEWS - SUN Seven 1,543,000 314,000 516,000 351,000 147,000 215,000
3 AUSTRALIAN IDOL - THE FINAL VERDICT Ten 1,489,000 477,000 453,000 228,000 168,000 163,000
4 60 MINUTES Nine 1,411,000 378,000 400,000 288,000 140,000 205,000
5 KATH & KIM Seven 1,327,000 289,000 490,000 248,000 123,000 177,000
6 AUSTRALIAN IDOL - LIVE FROM THE OPERA HOUSE Ten 1,301,000 417,000 408,000 193,000 144,000 138,000
7 CSI: MIAMI Nine 1,162,000 324,000 347,000 191,000 137,000 164,000
8 NINE NEWS SUNDAY Nine 1,159,000 311,000 398,000 209,000 144,000 97,000
9 20 TO 1 -RPT Nine 1,147,000 295,000 398,000 204,000 133,000 116,000
10 M-OVER THE HEDGE Seven 1,102,000 263,000 376,000 201,000 125,000 138,000
11 ABC NEWS-SUN ABC1 1,079,000 286,000 339,000 189,000 113,000 152,000
12 CSI: MIAMI -RPT Nine 942,000 250,000 307,000 152,000 106,000 126,000
13 M-NATIONAL TREASURE Seven 942,000 348,000 276,000 127,000 98,000 94,000
18 THE EINSTEIN FACTOR ABC1 757,000 202,000 248,000 123,000 88,000 97,000
19 M-LITTLE FISH ABC1 725,000 196,000 219,000 143,000 76,000 91,000
24 CALIFORNICATION Ten 447,000 100,000 152,000 82,000 63,000 50,000
25 FIRST TEST - AUSTRALIA V NEW ZEALAND Nine 409,000 132,000 131,000 66,000 41,000 40,000
31 WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE? SBS 293,000 55,000 134,000 59,000 26,000 20,000
39 THE DAILY SHOW WITH JON STEWART Ten 233,000 37,000 75,000 56,000 30,000 35,000

The ratings race, updated 6pm Sunday
In the second last week of the "official" ratings year, Channel Nine staged a recovery. Thanks largely to biffo, home renovations and Harry Potter, it averaged 28.4 per cent of the prime time audience, to Seven's 28.0 per cent, Ten's 20.1, ABC's 17.1 and SBS's 5.9.

On Pay TV, the most watched shows were America's Next Top Model (221,000 on Fox 8), The Simpsons (207,000 on Fox 8), and Futurama (152,000 on Fox 8).

Channels Ten, Nine and Seven have announced their programming for the silly season, and readers of this blog will welcome the return of ER, McLeod's Daughters, Fringe, The Closer, Ugly Betty, Las Vegas, Dirty Sexy Money, US Kath and Kim, 24 (a movie), and Gossip Girl.

Below is the complete December schedule, thanks to alert reader cpandilo. Give us your reaction. Will this year's non-ratings period be a time of guilty pleasures or a time of tedium?

Here's Seven's summer schedule:

SUNDAYS:
6:30 The Outdoor Room
7:00 Hot Property
7:30 Seven Wonders of the Industrial World (rpt)
8:30 Holby Blue
9:40 A Touch of Frost (rpt)
MONDAYS:
7:30 The Rich List
8:30 Bones (rpt)
9:30 Bones (rpt)
10:30 Scrubs
11:00 Kath & Kim US
11:30 Last Comic Standing
TUESDAYS:
7:30 Ugly Betty
8:30 Eli Stone
9:30 Dirty Sexy Money
10:30 Prison Break
11:30 Man's Work
WEDNESDAYS:
7:30 Air Crash Investigations
8:30 Las Vegas
9:30 The Unit
10:30 Prison Break
11:30 Disorderly Conduct Caught on Tape
THURSDAYS:
7:30 Ugly Betty
8:30 Eli Stone
9:30 The Amazing Race
10:30 Heroes
11:30 Man's Work
FRIDAYS:
7:30 Better Homes & Gardens - Summer Series
8:30 Cirque du Soleil
9:30 Friday Night Movie (on Dec 5 it will be '24: Redemption'
11:25 Disorderly Conduct Caught on Tape
SATURDAYS:
6:30 Brittania High
7:30 Dance Machine
8:30 Saturday Night Movie (on Dec 6 it'll be The Lord Of The Rings: The Return Of The King (rpt))

Also, Seven will be showing HOW I MET YOUR MOTHER repeats at 7pm weeknights.

Here's Nine's summer schedule:

SUNDAYS:
7.30 Two and a Half Men (rpt)
8.00 The Big Bang Theory
8.30 Sunday Night Movie
MONDAYS:
7.30 Two and a Half Men (rpt)
8.00 The Big Bang Theory
8.30 CSI: Crime Scene Investigation (rpt)
9.30 Fringe
10.30 Survivor
TUESDAYS:
7.30 Program TBA
8.30 Tuesday Night Movie
10.30 Survivor
WEDNESDAYS:
7.30 10 to 01
8.00 Program TBA
8.30 CSI: Miami (rpt)
9.30 ER
10.30 Gossip Girl
THURSDAYS:
7.30 Emergency
8.00 The Waiting Room
8.30 Cold Case (rpt)
9.30 The Closer
10.30 Program TBA
FRIDAYS:
7.30 Australian Geographic - The Best Of Australia
8.30 Friday Night Movie
10.30 Monster House
11.30 Friday Late Movie
SATURDAYS:
6.30 Funniest Video's - Summer Series
7.30 Wife Swap USA
8.30 McLeod's Daughters
9.30 Program TBA.

TEMPTATION will be back on 7pm weeknights while in daytime, THE VIEW & ELLEN will switch times with ELLEN DEGENERES on from 12pm (after THE NANNY). THE HILLS will air on Saturday afternoons at 12.30.

Here's Ten's summer schedule:

SUNDAYS:
6.30 America's Next Top Model
7.30 Thank God You're Here (rpt)
8.30 Sunday Night Movie
10.45 Sunday Late Movie
MONDAYS:
7.30 90210
8.30 Army Wives
9.30 Swingtown
TUESDAYS:
7.30 Will & Grace
8.00 Rules of Engagement (rpt)
8.30 NCIS (rpt)
9.30 Burn Notice
WEDNESDAYS:
7.30 Don't Forget The Lyrics
8.30 SVU (rpt)
9.30 Rush
THURSDAYS:
7.30 How To Look Good Naked
8.30 Criminal Intent (rpt)
9.30 Law & Order (rpt)

FRIDAYS:
7.30 Ice Road Truckers (rpt)
8.30 Friday Night Movie
10.30 Orange Roughies
11.30 Ten's Late News
12.00 Sports Tonight

SATURDAYS:
6.30 MacGyver (rpt)
7.30 Saturday Night Movie
10.00 The Wedge
10.30 Orange Roughies
11.30 Saturday Late Movie

THE BOLD & THE BEAUTIFUL switches to 6pm weeknights and OUT OF THE BLUE continues at 10.30 Mondays to Thursdays.

What Australia watched, week ending November 22
Description Total Sydney Melbourne Brisbane Adelaide Perth
1 PACKED TO THE RAFTERS Seven 2,013,000 579,000 717,000 303,000 177,000 237,000
2 FIND MY FAMILY Seven 1,878,000 502,000 598,000 364,000 172,000 241,000
3 THE ZOO - TUE Seven 1,707,000 454,000 489,000 362,000 183,000 219,000
4 60 MINUTES Nine 1,543,000 441,000 485,000 286,000 130,000 201,000
5 SEVEN NEWS Seven 1,494,000 347,000 437,000 312,000 174,000 224,000
6 ALL SAINTS Seven 1,404,000 459,000 461,000 170,000 147,000 167,000
7 SEVEN NEWS - SUN Seven 1,361,000 281,000 394,000 309,000 163,000 215,000
8 TODAY TONIGHT Seven 1,352,000 290,000 401,000 276,000 168,000 218,000
9 DOMESTIC BLITZ Nine 1,326,000 370,000 422,000 266,000 115,000 153,000
10 SEVEN NEWS - SAT Seven 1,323,000 298,000 427,000 252,000 145,000 201,000
11 NCIS Ten 1,321,000 320,000 349,000 280,000 147,000 225,000
12 BETTER HOMES AND GARDENS Seven 1,309,000 408,000 363,000 243,000 147,000 148,000
13 NINE NEWS SATURDAY Nine 1,304,000 347,000 475,000 277,000 132,000 74,000
14 THIS IS YOUR LIFE Nine 1,289,000 392,000 422,000 185,000 128,000 161,000
15 AUSTRALIAN IDOL Ten 1,270,000 384,000 409,000 187,000 147,000 142,000
16 HOME AND AWAY Seven 1,259,000 349,000 366,000 244,000 139,000 160,000
17 RUGBY LEAGUE WORLD CUP -FINAL Nine 1,240,000 497,000 290,000 387,000 32,000 33,000
18 SPICKS AND SPECKS ABC1 1,226,000 370,000 351,000 224,000 130,000 150,000
19 RPA Nine 1,202,000 339,000 389,000 163,000 148,000 163,000
20 CRIMINAL MINDS Seven 1,200,000 293,000 388,000 232,000 137,000 151,000
21 NINE NEWS Nine 1,194,000 305,000 390,000 273,000 132,000 93,000
22 THE HOWARD YEARS ABC1 1,189,000 404,000 349,000 176,000 124,000 136,000
23 CITY HOMICIDE (R) Seven 1,189,000 326,000 439,000 160,000 132,000 133,000
24 TWO AND A HALF MEN -WED Nine 1,184,000 336,000 361,000 239,000 122,000 127,000
25 HARRY POTTER AND THE GOBLET OF FIRE -RPT Nine 1,172,000 319,000 444,000 191,000 97,000 121,000
26 TWO AND A HALF MEN -RPT Nine 1,169,000 318,000 387,000 228,000 119,000 117,000
27 A CURRENT AFFAIR Nine 1,161,000 327,000 370,000 255,000 116,000 92,000
28 NINE NEWS SUNDAY Nine 1,160,000 275,000 428,000 230,000 126,000 101,000
29 MAKE ME A SUPERMODEL Seven 1,158,000 316,000 356,000 237,000 99,000 150,000
30 HAMISH & ANDY RE-GIFTED Ten 1,141,000 279,000 410,000 210,000 101,000 141,000
31 20 TO 1 -RPT Nine 1,133,000 316,000 352,000 209,000 112,000 143,000
32 CSI: CRIME SCENE INVESTIGATION -RPT Nine 1,118,000 264,000 351,000 222,000 125,000 155,000
33 AUSTRALIAN IDOL - THE LIVE VERDICT Ten 1,078,000 332,000 331,000 194,000 110,000 111,000
34 ABC NEWS-EV ABC1 1,068,000 303,000 323,000 204,000 106,000 133,000
35 ROVE Ten 1,068,000 275,000 405,000 158,000 117,000 113,000
36 AIR CRASH INVESTIGATIONS Seven 1,062,000 273,000 286,000 229,000 128,000 147,000
37 ABC NEWS-SA ABC1 1,053,000 281,000 391,000 143,000 108,000 132,000
38 GETAWAY Nine 1,049,000 288,000 376,000 180,000 80,000 126,000
39 LAW & ORDER: CRIMINAL INTENT Ten 1,036,000 302,000 299,000 212,000 109,000 113,000
40 THE RICH LIST - MON Seven 1,016,000 248,000 336,000 190,000 115,000 127,000
41 ENOUGH ROPE WITH ANDREW DENTON-LE ABC1 1,014,000 291,000 365,000 131,000 96,000 131,000
42 GOOD NEWS WEEK Ten 1,008,000 301,000 303,000 177,000 89,000 137,000
43 KATH & KIM (R) Seven 1,005,000 259,000 327,000 173,000 93,000 153,000
44 AUSTRALIA'S FUNNIEST HOME VIDEO SHOW Nine 995,000 325,000 344,000 123,000 102,000 102,000
45 BONES Seven 985,000 245,000 353,000 177,000 104,000 106,000
46 THE BIG BANG THEORY Nine 983,000 307,000 290,000 193,000 94,000 99,000
(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 01:09 AM
• Comments (87)

WHO WE ARE: How to treat complainers

To discuss the accuracy of Austraya, go to Who We Are.
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, 9/11/2008
Never complain in a restaurant if you intend to continue eating there. Does that principle go too far? There was heated debate among readers last week when this column, provoked by a certain chocolate gelato incident, suggested a set of principles for avoiding unsatisfactory experiences when eating out. Our list started with "Never eat in a restaurant that revolves or floats."

Among the 100 readers who responded, these inspirations emerged ...

Never eat in a restaurant where the waitress is picking her nose while waiting for you to order, OR the waiter lets out a massive sneeze just before he serves your food OR they wash your chopsticks with boiling green tea before they hand them over .... these experiences were in China, Thailand and Malaysia. (Maz)

Never order "brushetta", "Ceasar salad" or anything dressed with a "vinegarette". If a restaurant can't even spell a dish correctly, what are the odds they can cook it correctly? (Snob)

Never eat in a restaurant in Canberra. (Accidie)

Never eat (a second time) in a restaurant ... with paper napkins;
that makes you "hold onto your knives and forks" for the second course; that asks you after 5 seconds of delivering your meal "how were the first few bites?" and then keep asking how your meal was; that continually tops up your almost full wine glass; that delivers the courses on top of one another then can't deliver the bill. (Nigel)
... that takes guests to their table and allows them to remove their own coats and put them on the back of their chairs; that tells seated guests that they need to move to a different table; provides menus on thin pieces of white A4 paper; whose waiter disappears frequently and stinks of cigarette smoke. (Susan Baxter)

But Phil, who has experience on both sides of the kitchen door, disputed the frequently expressed notion that you should never complain. It's all in the way you do it, he said: "If you are calm, smile, and use a polite and friendly tone of voice to helpfully point out the problems, you will most likely receive some if not all your meal for free. If you are loud, insulting, arrogant and demeaning to staff, you could be the recipient of some nasty surprises in your food.

"The point of food sabotage, as I have witnessed many times unfortunately in my long career, is to taint the complainer's food in a disgusting and unhygeinic but ultimately unidentifiable way.

"Adding saliva and other bodily fluids to sauces is one popular method, and 'seasoning' meat or chicken by rubbing over the sweaty genitals and backsides of several cooks in a row is another old favourite. The point is to hide the foreign taste behind a wall of seasoning and stronger flavours, and then to peer out the service window and watch the oblivious diner shovel mouthfuls of tainted food into his or her face without realising what they are eating."

After that revelation, we're tempted to go along with Alan's solution: "Never eat in a restaurant."

To read all the responses, and join the discussion, go to Finally finding fine food.

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 10:56 AM
• Comments (4)

WHO WE ARE: Finally finding fine food

A column about Australia by David Dale, published in The Sun-Herald, 2/11/2008
"Never eat in a restaurant that smells of truffle oil" is the latest addition to a set of eating-out guidelines that started 20 years ago with "Never eat in a restaurant that revolves or floats". After certain news reports last week, perhaps I should add "Never eat chocolate gelato (or, for that matter, lemon gelato) in a restaurant where you have previously complained about the kitchen".

But that wouldn't quite fit with the purpose of the list. The original idea was to guide travellers in search of a decent meal in an unfamiliar town or suburb. There are certain impressions you can form -- long before you've had a chance to complain about anything -- that will save you from finding yourself in the kind of place where the gelato might contain an unpleasant surprise.

With the help of readers, I've been updating the list every couple of years, and the time has come again to seek your input. How the restaurant rules have changed over two decades offers a fascinating insight into the evolution of Australia's eating habits.

This was the first list:
1. Never eat in a restaurant that revolves or floats.
2. Never eat in a restaurant that is more than 20 metres above the ground.
3. Never eat in your hotel dining room.
4. Never eat in a restaurant that is recommended in any free publication you find in your hotel room -- even if the recommendation appears on a different page from the advertisement.
5. A restaurant with a pepper grinder on every table is likely to be good (as opposed to a restaurant where the waiters thrust a metre long pepper grinder in your ear).
6. A restaurant with an accordionist is likely to be bad.
7. There is no such thing as a bad Thai restaurant.
8. There is no such thing as a good Mexican restaurant in Australia.
9. Restaurants offering "cordon blue", "surf 'n' turf", "thousand island dressing", "Vienna schnitzel" and "avocado seafood" are unlikely to be state of the art.
10. The longer the menu, the poorer the food -- except in Chinese restaurants.

In the list's second incarnation, I added these ingredients ...
11. A menu that uses more than 20 words to describe each dish signifies a kitchen lacking in confidence.
12. A restaurant where the waiters introduce themselves ("Hi, my name is Jason and I'll be your server tonight") is unlikely to offer value for money. Ditto a restaurant where the waiter compliments you on your choice of dish.
13. A restaurant in which one wall is covered with signed black and white photographs of celebrities is unlikely to be state of the art, even if the celebrities include Daryl Somers and Kyle Sandilands.
14. Restaurants advertising karaoke are unlikely to be gastronomic temples, but this will become less important as you become less sober.
15. Restaurants that display their menus outside are likely to be more interesting than those that don't (and also make the application of these theories much easier).

Since I first made the list, I've eaten in good Australo-Mexican restaurants and encountered one bad Thai place (raw onion in everything). I've found great restaurants in hotels and on top of skyscrapers. The coolest places of the Noughties serve surf 'n' turf, in the form of pork belly with scallops or prawns. And I'd love to find a schnitzel, even if it came with an accordionist.

What bugs me now is the lazy chef's habit of splashing truffle oil over everything. Australia grows its own truffles these days, and in the winter, it can be pleasant to have a black fungus grated over a bowl of pasta. But "truffle oil" is fake - the flavour comes from a chemical added to the olive oil, which coats your palate and makes the rest of the meal taste as if you are eating in a petrol station.

So when you're standing hungrily outside an unfamiliar eatery, check the menu and put your nose inside. That will give you fair warning, long before the manager arrives with the complimentary gelato.

To add your restaurant rules, go to 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 whoweare-index at 07:39 PM
• Comments (107)

The Tribal Mind: In advance of Australia

To discuss how to catch the zeitgeist, go to The Tribal Mind

by David Dale
HOW WELL do you understand the mood of your nation? And how well do you understand the way the rest of the world regards us? Here's your chance to prove your perceptiveness by making two simple predictions: the amount that will be earned by the movie Australia at the Australian box office, and the amount it will earn at the US box office.

We're told this is the most important thing to happen to Australian cinema since Crocodile Dundee, which made $48 million here and $US175 million there. To match those earnings, Australia will need to sell 5 million tickets here and 25 million tickets there. Is that likely? How many Australian pensioners will spend $15 of their Rudd Christmas bonus on nationalistic cinemagoing? How many JoeThePlumbers will spend $US8 of their Obama tax savings to put another shrimp on our barbie?

The film opens on November 26. Before making your judgement, you should click here to watch the first trailer and here to watch the American trailer (which New York magazine says is designed to reassure people Hugh Jackman is not gay). Based on those glimpses, and your sense of the appeal of Nicole Kidman, Hugh Jackman, and Baz Luhrman, you can go down to Comments and register your predictions and your reasons for making them.

In due season, we will declare two winners: the reader who gave the most plausible rationale for the predictions (to be announced here on November 17) and the reader whose predictions were closest to reality (announced after Australia has ended its run in both countries). The prizes will be handsome.

These are the factors you'll need to take into account:

The Kidman curse. It's been argued that Nicole Kidman's career has jumped the shark -- that a series of flops have made her less attractive to moviegoers, perhaps even as much of a deterrent as the concept of an Australian-made movie.

The GFC. It could go either way. The global financial crisis might cause Australians to retreat into their cocoons, staying home to stare at the giant TV screens they bought on credit back in the good times. Or we (and the Americans) might rush to the multiplex in search of escapist melodrama about the days when enemies were identifiable and defeatable.

The big push. Fox will release Australia on more than 500 screens, which is a record. In July, The Dark Knight opened on 470 screens and ended up making $45.5 million (go to The Films Australia Loved for more background). There are publicity tie-ins with almost everybody -- but Australians hate being oversold, so excessive publicity may work against it. But it's not as if there will be much competition. The new James Bond movie, A Quantum of Solace, opens the week before, and the teenage vampire flick Twilight opens on December 11. The new Harry Potter has been held over till May. So Australia could have a dream run right through the Christmas holidays.

That's all you need to know before casting your vote. You have three weeks to analyse two tribes.

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 10:22 AM
• Comments (166)

The Tribal Mind: The doomsday scenario

Entries have now closed in our contest to predict the box office for Australia. You can read about the first winners here.

by David Dale
Australians are so damn cynical, particularly about their own creative endeavours. When this column asked readers two weeks ago to demonstrate their understanding of the national mood by predicting the success of the much publicised movie Australia, we got 105 responses. Most were pessimistic (go here to read them).

Few shared the enthusiasm of America's showbiz bible, Entertainment Weekly, which last week listed Australia among the movies it was most looking forward to over the Christmas holidays. EW wrote:

"Seven years after Baz Luhrmann's frenzied/inspired mash-up of genres (cinematic and musical) in Moulin Rouge, his luscious bohemian take on the Orpheus myth, the Australian auteur hopes to make film history again. A blend of Gone With the Wind, From Here to Eternity, and Lonesome Dove, Luhrmann's new epic Australia, set against the backdrop of World War II, stars his muse Nicole Kidman as an urban sophisticate who journeys to the Outback and falls for rough-hewn cattle herder Hugh Jackman."

But reader Les takes a different view: "I think it will fall well short of expectations simply because we are in a negative social mood. When the mood is negative we go and see dark films like The Dark Knight *. In optimistic times we go and see Crocodile Dundee **. If they wanted Australia to be successful they would have made the character of Hugh Jackman a serial killer with Nicole Kidman fighting for her life."

Ren Hoek agrees: "Seems to me that 'Australia' is a pretentious title, as if the movie wants to somehow sum up the historical and cultural experiences of this entire country. Do filmmakers do that with other countries? It's almost an insult. I predict that the movie will be flat and forgettable and will barely cover its budget worldwide. And nearly three hours? Sounds like Baz forgot to edit this movie. I'm tired of this kind of over-long self indulgence - I'll take a tight ninety minutes any day."

Daniel is even tougher: "Coming from an already overrated director, it has all the cliches of Australian films: overblown soundtrack, exaggerated accents from wooden actors, mystical blackfellas (the deus ex machina of bad Ozzie films), heroes and villains writ loud and large, and lame cinematography replete with slow motion footage of dust storms and horsies jumping logs. This is the type of cinema that Australia revelled in 25 years ago, but today it'll come across as patronising, overwrought slush of the type Australian directors should have left at Snowy River. "

But Claire thinks differently: "Although people may not flock to see it on the first weekend, I think Australia will hold out for a longer time and end up making a fair amount. I'd say A$50 mil here, but perhaps only US$125 mil ... It has the intrigue factor going for it. After all, when times get tough, the tough buy popcorn and try to forget reality."

And Tony Hollingsworth describes himself as "an unashamed Baz Luhrmann fan": "I think it can tick all the boxes, as the cast is top-notch, the trailers show impressive production values, and there's an X-Factor there with that young indigenous Australian. I think the film will respectfully show Australia's indigenous culture combined with our beautiful landscapes, creating a 'must-see-on-the-big screen' buzz".

* The Dark Knight has been the most successful movie so far this year, making $45.5 million here and $US528 million over there. That's the score to beat.
** Crocodile Dundee is the most successful Australian movie in history, making $48m here and $US175m there.

For more box office records, go to The films Australia loved.

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 07:25 PM
• Comments (10)