The Nine Network’s Today show
has gone to the Howard Government in an effort to rebuild its appeal
with viewers, or that’s how it seems after a bit of viewing this week.
John Howard on Monday, prancing Peter Costello, complete with smirk,
Tuesday and Phillip Ruddock, the Attorney general yesterday morning.

All
heavy hitters and given the events in the NSW Liberal party, good
interviews to have when a local story was breaking. Not to mention the
slowly growing tax and leadership debate. But Today will need more than that. The newsy approach has been the mantra since the change of leadership in June.

But so far there’s been no breakthrough in the battle to regain ground on Seven’s Sunrise.
Normal host Tracy Grimshaw is on holidays and Leila McKinnon has been
standing in next to Karl Stefanovic. On Monday and Tuesday Sunrise had
a huge margin over Today: On Monday the audience difference was:
Sunrise 350,000 (6 am to 9 am), Today, 187,000. Tuesday: Sunrise
363,000, Today, 211,000.

So far in 2005 Sunrise‘s audience is up
26% at 307,200 in the 6am – 9am timeslot while Today is down 14% at
an average 199,500. Since mid June there’s been little sign of any
improvement for Nine. Fixing Today is one of Sam Chisholm’s
priorities: hunting down these pollies is a good start, but there’s a
long way ahead. New blood in the hosts’ chairs will be needed.

Last night’s TV ratings

The Winners

Nine by the narrowest of margins, 0.1% in a week of narrow wins. Seven did well, winning from 6pm to 8.30pm before Blue Heelers (1.199 million) sagged against a repeat of CSI Miami (1.168 million) and Forensic Investigators (1.024 million) lost against Without a Trace (1.286 million). Seven’s Beyond Tomorrow (1.405 million) beat Nine’s McLeod’s Daughters (1.376 million). Home and Away on Seven was the second most watched program with 1.497 million, well ahead of Temptation on Nine with 1.307 million. The New Inventors on the ABC at 8pm and Spicks and Specks
at 8.30pm did very well with more than a million viewers each. The ABC
had a million or more viewers from 7pm to 9pm, a very solid performance
that put them well in front of Ten in those timeslots.
The Losers

Ten, again, despite having the most watched program in House (1.497 million). It and Ten News at 5pm (1.002 million) were the network’s best performing shows. Rock School, Neighbours and Oliver’s Twist in repeat were all just under a million. A repeat of Numb3rs in again was watched by 475,000.Ten’s repeated repeats of Everybody Loves Raymond continue to lose viewers, it was down to 689,000 last night.
News & CA

 Seven’s Today Tonight bounced back against Nine’s A Current Affair,
winning the night nationally in Sydney, Adelaide and Perth, That
reversed the losses of Monday and Tuesday night. Seven News won
nationally, Sydney, Adelaide, Brisbane and Perth. ABC News and the 7.30 Report both topped a million viewers in a strong night.
The Stats

 Nine, 29.0% to 28.9%. Sooo close! Ten was way back on 20.5%. The
ABC on 16.7% on one of its stronger nights of the week and SBS was on
4.9%. Nine won Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and Perth. But it was a huge
win in Perth to Seven, 31.4% to 21.9% for Ten (Nine was third on
21.4%), got Seven so close nationally.
Glenn Dyer’s comments

 Another very competitive night with 18 programs attracting a
million or more viewers. But for Seven, it should have been a better
night than Monday or Tuesday with House and Rock School, but it wasn’t to be. They will do well in the 18 to 39 age group, but even there it should have been better. Tonight no Lost makes for a nervy night for Seven. Las Vegas, which perked up towards the end of its run on Sunday evening and Thursdays (at 7.30pm), has been entrusted with filling the Lost gap. It’s up against Body Work and I Can Change Your Life on Nine: they wouldn’t be there except Nine is desperate. Law and Order SVU on Ten at 8.30pm and Trial by Jury at 9.30pm might do well, but they’ve been under-performers while on the ABC there’s an interesting “reality” program called Spitfire Ace. That 8.30pm battle could be a real dog fight (sorry!)