Sunday Bloody Sunday – On Our TVs

Dancing with the Stars, Idol, Doctor Who, Scorched and Midsomer Murders were among the shows fighting for our attention on the weekend. So, who won?

Editorial Review

It was an almighty post-Olympics battle on Sunday night.

While Seven rolled out its new-look Dancing with the Stars and Jamie Durie's Outdoor Room, Nine rang out the emergency services on Scorched. TEN was singing with Idol and Rove. Even the ABC was set to spoil the party with Doctor Who and Midsomer Murders. Who were the winners and losers, and where to from here?

On pure figures, Nine won the night. 60 Minutes was again the top Sunday show with 1.56m viewers against Dancing with the Stars 1.33m. Australian Idol was perfectly happy with its 1.31m too, thank you very much. Of course not all shows were head to head for their duration. Generally speaking, the longer the show the lower the audience average.

Having two reality / variety juggernauts compete worked in Nine's favour - at least initially. With the exception of SBS' Who Do You Think You Are? it was the only show in its timeslot that wasn't lightweight. Although one skews older, Dancing and Idol had to fight for a similar entertainment audience.

Earlier in the night Domestic Blitz's 1.46m viewers bettered the premiere of The Outdoor Room (1.29m) for Jamie Durie. Next Sunday Durie's show drops to 30 minutes, followed by the premiere of Ernie Dingo's Outback Wildlife Rescue.

But it didn't all go Nine's way.

Scorched attracted a lukewarm 1.12m viewers -leaving it as a very expensive exercise. All those fiery action scenes and not enough eyeballs to appreciate it. Even the ABC's Midsomer Murders finished on 1.31m, with none of the financial outlay. It will surely leave the network reluctant to invest into any future telemovies.

Doctor Who fans on the ABC stayed loyal to their hero with 1.09m, the same as it attracts week in, week out. Meanwhile, Rove didn't do too badly considering the late start because of Idol: a presentable 967,000 viewers.

Of course nothing stays the same in telly-land. CSI Miami is back next week. Idol will begin its Top 12 sing-offs from September 14. Dancing probably benefitted from a big curiosity factor with host Daniel McPherson.

Only 3 months to go ...

David Knox for Citysearch, August 2008

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