Chaser breaks 2m barrier

Whoever said all publicity is good publicity was right. The Chaser's War on Everything last night scored a whopping 2.3m viewers last night, and peaked at 2.4m.

It was the highest rated comedy ever on the ABC, surpassing Kath and Kim.

Soaring thanks to the news on their 'APEC bust', the show was also the biggest audience for the ABC all year, and the third-highest rated show on the ABC since 1991 behind Seachange and the Paralympic Opening Ceremony.

It is bound the be the top show for the week.

The ABC managed a glorious night, winning the Spicks and Specks and Summer Heights High timeslots as well. But it didn't stop Nine from winning the night, because ratings are taken from 6pm - midnight.

Finally, let's also remind the ABC that when their ratings are down they tell us they are not ratings driven, but as soon as there is a hit like this, who is the first to crow? You guessed it, the ABC.

Nevertheless, it's a great win.

Press Release:


Last Night The Chaser's War on Everything achieved a five city audience of 2.3 million with a Total People share of 42.5%. Its audience peaked at 21:06 with 2.4 million.

* The Chaser's War on Everything was the most watched comedy ever screened on ABC TV.

* This is the highest audience achieved by a comedy on ABC TV since 1991 (since intro of people-meter data). (Kath & Kim Series 2's peak audience was 2.15 million in 2003).

* It won its timeslot last night in all cities.

* 52% of The Chaser's audience last night were people 0-39.

* The program achieved a share of 49.4% among people 0-39 (one in two young people watching TV were tuned to The Chaser).

* The Chaser's War on Everything was the highest rating program last night for the 5 cities combined and in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and Adelaide.

* This is the highest rating program on ABC TV so far this year for the 5 cities combined and in each city.

* This is the third highest rating program on ABC TV since 1991 (behind Seachange Series 3 (2.4million on 10th Dec 2000); Paralympics Opening Ceremony (2.29 million on 18th October in 2000).

Courtney Gibson, Head of ABC TV Arts, Entertainment and Comedy said “This is Australians voting with their eyeballs - for homegrown, hardcore comedy and entertainment. And if you managed to miss out, fear not: Chaser and Summer Heights High are available on-demand at abc.net.au and we’ve reinforced the server to cope with the mega traffic.”

The Chaser's War on Everything, Spicks and Specks and Summer Heights High all won their time slots last night.
Spicks and Specks

+ Had its highest rating figure (5 capital cites average audience) with 1.6m (previous highest was 1.5m).

+ The program captured 32.3% of viewers aged 0-39 years.


Summer Heights High

+ With last night’s audience of 1.5 million viewers, it increased its audience by 230,000 on its premiere episode last week.

+ It captured 40.1% of viewers aged 0-39 years.

Ratings Week 37


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Airdate: Prison Break

Series 3 of Prison Break will air in Australia from Wednesday September 26 at 9:30pm.

It premieres in the US the week before, on September 18.

Seven will 'fast track' the new series hot off the satellite as other networks are now similarly addressing.

The third series kicks off with Michael in a Latin American prison, synopsis is below.

Lincoln goes to the American consulate to try to get Michael freed from Sona, the most dangerous maximum security prison in the system. Inside, Michael struggles to stay alive, running afoul of Lechero, the prison's kingpin. Meanwhile, Lincoln's search for Sara has dire repercussions.

Kindly link to this website when sourcing or posting in messageboards, thanks!
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Airdate: Commercial Breakdown

Uh oh.

I'm going to try through gritted teeth to just give you the facts here.

Nine is launching a new series called Commercial Breakdown where Dermott Brereton will give us "best and funniest commercials from around the world."

It will premiere from 7:30pm on Monday September 24.

It will be followed by Just for Laughs in which Getaway's Jason Dundas shows us "the world's favourite hidden camera series" at 8pm. UPDATE 18/9: Now hosted by David Whitehill.

Finally, later that night after RFDS premieres there is the premiere of Emergency, a "cutting edge series which gives viewers a unique behind-the-scenes look at a hospital’s busy emergency department." It was going to be Inferno but that came and went as an amendment in 24 hours.

That is all.
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Cold Feet writer pens local series for UK TV

Mike Bullen (right) writer of Cold Feet, Life Begins and Tripping Over will write and direct a new Australian-produced series for subscription channel UK TV.

It is to be produced by the same team behind the successful Supernova.

Make or Break will also be Bullen's directing debut. The comedy / drama follows a UK couple who move into Sydney's Northern beaches with a sister and Aussie partner, but the relationships soon become strained.

Many of the subscription channels are required to devote a proportion of their budget to producing new local drama /comedy /documentaries , hence the ongoing successes of Love My Way, Supernova, The King, Stupid Stupid Man, Crime Investigation Australia, He's Coming South etc.

Press Release:

UKTV have commissioned Australian producers, David Maher and David Taylor of Fox World to produce a new comedy/drama, Make or Break – Maher and Taylor previously produced the successful series Supernova for UKTV.

Written by the BAFTA award winning writer Mike Bullen (Cold Feet, Life Begins and Tripping Over), Make or Break will be his directorial debut where he will get the opportunity to take his characters from script to screen.

Make Or Break is a Cold Feet style comedy / drama which follows Neil and Kate’s move from the UK to Sydney in order to patch up the frayed edges of their relationship. They move in with Kate’s sister Beth and her Australian partner Matt on Sydney ’s northern beaches, but with problems of their own, it’s not long before the relationship between both couples becomes strained, before becoming strangely intertwined…

“Working with Mike Bullen is a real coup for us here at UKTV. To be working with someone of such high calibre is just fantastic and we’re thrilled to have him on board. We’ve worked closely to write a story that will appeal to a mass audience and Make Or Break we believe will deliver” says UKTV’s Head of Programming Brendan Dahill.

With production of the pilot commencing in early October, casting is already well underway and will be announced soon. Read more...

Airdate: RFDS: Royal Flying Doctor Service

Channel Nine's new observational doco series RFDS: Royal Flying Doctor Service will air from Monday September 24.

The show will screen at 9:30pm.

Narrated by Steve Bisley, the show will likely appeal to the big following of RPA and with the rugged and spectacular backdrop of the outback, sounds like a winner.

Interestingly, RFDS was also the name given to the revamped version of Flying Doctors in its final season. Before the Crawfords drama met its end there was a final attempt to 'modernise' the show, with more contemporary stories. It was of course a drama that sold around the world, with significant interest in European markets. It all bodes well for a successful season of the new RFDS.

Press Release:

RFDS: Royal Flying Doctor Service is a new observational documentary series that follows the daily working lives of the famous Flying Doctors personnel – the heart and soul of the Australian outback – and the patients they treat.

Narrated by actor Steve Bisley, each half-hour episode will have a flavour that’s uniquely Australian, with exclusive access to the first, largest and most comprehensive aero-medical organisation in the world, the Royal Flying Doctor Service.

More than 80 per cent of Australia is covered by the Flying Doctors and the series will be based in the iconic, rugged outback town of Broken Hill. RFDS follows the stories that begin with a call-in to the Flying Doctor base and fan out across the vast expanse of south-eastern Australia. The Flying Doctors are responsible for delivering medical services to rural and regional New South Wales, Victoria, Tasmania, south-west Queensland and northern South Australia.

The Flying Doctors also provide health clinics, bringing the expertise of medical and health specialists to patients in remote and rural areas. The clinics and the characters at these isolated communities and outposts make up a key part of the series, because they provide such an important social gathering place for people who often don’t see anyone for weeks or months at a time.

In episode one we meet Tayla, a 17-year-old schoolgirl from Broken Hill who has been having seizures for 27 hours. Flight nurse Brendon Kiley goes to Broken Hill Hospital to transport Tayla to Adelaide for urgent neurological tests. But when he arrives he finds the situation is much worse than he first thought. Tayla’s family is distressed and Brendon knows she cannot fly in this condition so he calls in Dr Peter Lyall to help with the flight to Adelaide.

Harry, 68, is caretaking on Epsilon Station with his partner when he contracts a gastro virus that make him unable to eat or drink anything for 24 hours. Pilot Magnus Badger and flight nurse Sue Hines have to cope with fading light to retrieve the severely dehydrated Harry and get him to hospital – they won’t be able to land on the closest dirt strip at night because it’s too dangerous.

Sue is under pressure to do everything to secure her patient, they are losing the light fast, and they can’t afford to be stranded on the strip overnight.

Flight nurse Martyn Martin has only been with the Flying Doctors for four weeks and Dr Kai Kursatz is on his first emergency shift when they are called out to a priority one emergency: a motor vehicle accident in Coonabarabran has left one man dead and another fighting for his life. But just as Martyn and Kai are about to take off on their life-saving flight they must stop, as the tiny hospital in Coonabarabran has no blood supplies.

As well as the extreme isolation, unpredictable working conditions and risks involved in every emergency call-out heighten the sense of urgency in these stories of struggle and survival set against the backdrop of the Australian outback, which is in the grip of a 100-year drought.

The series presents stories of amazing real-life drama and hope from the vast Australian interior, as it explores the world of the dedicated teams of RFDS pilots, flight nurses and doctors, and the people they encounter.

RFDS is produced by Granada Productions with the co-operation of patients and staff of the Royal Flying Doctor Service, South Eastern Section.

Experience the devotion, dedication and perseverance of the pilots, doctors and nurses who work for the Flying Doctors and marvel at the characters of the bush.

RFDS: Royal Flying Doctor Service premieres on Monday, September 24 at 9.30pm on Channel Nine
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