Fanning gets the Nightline gig

A
fortnight ago I remarked on how Ellen Fanning was the “everywhere” girl for Nine,
popping up all over the place, including on Nightline, which she started hosting
while regular presenter, Helen Kapalos was on
holidays.

Well,
Fanning has got the gig full time, Kapalos goes back
to the newsroom and fill-in gigs. That
could mean Nine is going to devote a bit more attention to
Nightline and hopefully the Network will give it a better and more regular
position. But I fear not. It was all over the place when Hugh Rimington was host and when Jim Waley was as well.

They
were higher profile presenters than Ms Fanning is at the moment and even they
couldn’t get Nine management to give Nightline a
regular timeslot. Ms
Fanning will also have to brush up on her newsreading
skills. She’s not quite there at the moment, but her interviewing skills are
first rate and that’s where the program can head. She’s a much more switched on
and aware journo than Rimington or Waley were. She’s
just a better questioner, more informed and with a sharper
edge.

Will Levy green light Denton again?

With
Sandra Levy moving to the Nine Network, the TV production industry will be
looking for some certainty and consistency from the Network on commissioning new
programs. Levy will no doubt be driving an urgent fix of product and ideas for
2006.

One of
the things she will have on her desk is the pilot (which was made several months
ago and commissioned in the dying days of the Gyngell
regime) of a “true stories” style program from Andrew Denton’s production company, Zapruder’s Other Films. It was
around Nine as an idea when Seven was preparing its
pilots of True Stories which got an average 1.4 million viewers in an 8pm timeslot, while Nine has fiddled.

It was Levy who commissioned Enough Rope for the ABC more than three years ago, so
Denton would no
doubt be hoping for an early answer.

The pilot was submitted sometime in late May and has sat there, with
some reaction and request for more information, but basically Nine has
been in such ferment,that there’s been no way of making a decision.
Andrew Denton was very public in his praise for Sandra Levy yesterday,
describing her as a big loss to the national broadcaster and having
“demonstrably” done a good job.

Last night’s TV ratings

The Winners Seven just, despite a good night for Ten and a better night
for Nine. House on Ten was again the
most watched program with a solid 1.63 million viewers. Home and Away on Seven
(1.438 million) resumed its lead over Temptation (1.328
million). Blue Heelers (1.20 million) won the 8.30pm battle against a
repeat of CSI Miami (1.015 million) but Without a Trace (1.040 million) beat
Seven’s Forensic Investigators with 930,000. The ABC’s Spicks and Specks (8.30pm) eased under the million mark for the first time in three weeks (981,000),
but it was still a good outing, while New Inventors also fell below the million
mark to 906,000.
The Losers

No-one really. McLeod’s Daughters was strong for Nine
with 1.34 million people. The Kumars at Number 42 returned for another series
on the ABC with 715,000 at 9pm but was beaten by the Glass House which follows
with 764,000. The Kumars as a concept might be wearing a bit thin. But a fairly
solid night overall.
News & CA Seven News again won nationally and in Sydney, Adelaide and
Perth. It lost in Melbourne and Brisbane. But ACA’s resurgence against Today Tonight ended with the Seven program a clear winner nationally and in
Sydney, Adelaide and Perth. The losses in Sydney and Melbourne were not enough to
make up the difference as happened on Monday and Tuesday nights of this week.
The ABC News did well with 1.19 million people but the 7.30 Report was a touch
weaker than Monday and Tuesday night with the audience down to 838,000, which
affected the New Inventors.
The Stats Seven on 27.9%, just ahead of Nine with 27.2% and Ten on
24.2% – its highest share of the week so far. The ABC was up to 15.6% and SBS
was on 5.2%. Seven had a good win in Sydney, a narrow one in Melbourne, lost in
Brisbane and Adelaide to Nine, but had a big win in Perth where Ten was second
and Nine third.
Glenn Dyer’s
comments		 It was a night when all the favourite
programs worked well for the networks, even the ABC. Wednesday is one of its
better nights of the week, and it was, thanks to the strong kick at 7pm from
the ABC News, which usually sets it up for the night. Tonight it’s the
Footy Shows up against the Fifth Ashes Test on SBS. Without Lost on
Seven to dominate the evening, the final test of this great series will drain
viewers from the other networks for the rest of the week. Ten and the ABC have been hurt on previous
Thursday nights by the cricket, but tonight all the networks will lose viewers.