What a barren night. After two weeks of Olympics coverage on Seven (and pretty good coverage at that) I had forgotten how miserable Thursday nights have become. Foreign Correspondent on the ABC, 654,000, followed by Q+A with an average of 466,000 — it lost 188,000.
ABC viewers abandoned Win the Week on Wednesday night and repeated the dose last night when Q+A got under way. By the time it comes around it is just another circular talkfest.
Only the NRL — 578,000 nationally on Nine and 225,000 on Foxtel — provided colour and movement. It was a desert in Sydney. Lucky people in AFL states had The Front Bar at a reasonable hour. It averaged 459,000, almost as many as Q+A. The Bachelor on Ten had 512,000 after 493,000 on Wednesday night. It had no opposition last night and should have done better.
Regional top five: Seven News 6.30, 598,000; Seven News, 597,000; Home and Away, 408,000; Nine News, 400,000; 7pm ABC news and The Chase Australia 5.30pm, 378,000.
Network channel share:
- Seven (29.3%)
- Nine (28.3%)
- Ten (18.7%)
- ABC (11.7%)
- SBS (7.1%)
Network main channels:
- Nine (19.5%)
- Seven (19.4%)
- Ten, ABC (11.7%)
- SBS ONE (3.8%)
Top 5 digital channels:
- 7mate (4.4%)
- 7TWO (3.8%)
- 10 Bold (3.3%)
- Gem (2.9%)
- 10 Peach (2.7%)
Top 10 national programs:
- Seven News — 1.753 million
- Seven News 6.30 — 1.674 million
- Nine News — 1.448 million
- Nine News 6.30 — 1.356 million
- 7pm ABC News — 1.108 million
- A Current Affair (Nine) — 1.019 million
- Home and Away (Seven) — 1.013 million
- The Chase Australia 5.30pm (Seven) — 938,000
- Home and Away — late (Seven) — 931,000
- 7.30 (ABC) — 869,000
Top metro programs:
1. Seven News — 1.156 million
3. Seven News 6.30 — 1.095 million
4. Nine News —1.048 million
Losers: The Bachelor and Q+A. Weak again.
Metro news and current affairs
- Seven News — 1.156 million
- Seven News 6.30 —1.095 million
- Nine News — 1.048 million
- Nine News 6.30 — 979,000
- 7pm ABC News — 730,000
- ACA (Nine) — 713,000
- 7.30 (ABC) — 584,000
- The Project 7pm (Ten) — 468,000
- Foreign Correspondent (ABC) — 458,000
- Ten News First (ABC) — 429,000
Morning (national) TV:
- Sunrise (Seven) — 486,000/285,000
- Today (Nine) — 374,000/251,000
- News Breakfast (ABC) — 325,000/220,000
- The Morning Show (Seven) — 261,000
- Today Extra (Nine) — 237,000
- Studio 10 (Ten) — 69,000
Top five pay TV programs:
- NRL: Melbourne v Canberra (Fox League) — 225,000
- NRL: The Late Show With Matty Johns (Fox League) — 109,000
- The Bolt Report (Sky News) — 69,000
- Paul Murray Live (Sky News) — 68,000
- Credlin (Sky News) — 68,000
The problem with Q&A last night was Shouty Matt trying to mansplain and talk over every other panelist, and his constant snorts of derision particularly when Catherine King was speaking made it quite literally impossible to watch. Turned it off after about 5 minutes.
Canavan was the precise reason I chose not to tune in even for one minute. Having seen the Q&A promo with the guest lineup I reasoned that life in a pandemic is sufficiently taxing without inviting a buffoon into my living room.
Beetrooter and the coal-miner cosplayer.
Thanks national party.
Cosplay – ‘cos he can.
Canavan’s “blackface” – especially one as bad as his – would be an affront anywhere else?
His “life after politics” is pretty certain – ‘with some mining company, beyond the pits and away from where the dust settles’ : what about those of the miner’s he pretends to do so much “in their name”? When in actuality his habits are shaped, and paid for, by the needs of their employers :- his future?
Yeah – I watched Canavan on Karvelas’ afternoon show on ABC News on Weds and that was more than I needed to see of him for the rest of my life. The Front Bar is more informative anyway.
Speaking of buffoons, was Spissy sitting in the Chair?
All right “Awaiting for approval”, how abut :-
Maybe ABC viewers just have an Ita’s “bull-shyt intolerance” – and serving up a slop bucket of ‘Canard d’ Canavan’ – simply for “diversity” (when Canavan’s fossilised sponsored left-overs have been repeating for years?) and “controversy for ratings”, as the ABC sinks lower to the tabloid gutter – just proves too hard to swallow?
Sadly, ABC programming fading. Significantly, due to anointed personalities who moderate . . .
Sadly missing Cassidy, O’Brien and Jones.
Ita might know how to run a tabloid – but has no idea about the real values of a public service.
Q&A needs to go back to Monday nights. Whoever thought putting it on a night when AFL games are played obviously doesn’t understand how many people love to watch AFL. Same goes for Foreign Correspondent which is still kicking amazing goals in investigation and reporting. Another night for Q&A could be Wednesday. That is such a dud night of TV with really mediocre often cringe worthy comedy try-hards.
Q&A should continue to invite guests of all political persuasions so that their opinions, when ridiculous like Canavan’s, can be seen for what they are. The hosts just need to stop the interruptions. TJ could do this, not sure why all the other hosts can’t particularly when they often have access to a mute button.
We need Q&A to succeed? What other live forums are there that aim to discuss topical issues and include input from the public?
The ABC is a victim of its own good quality, its guts now having been ripped out by successive governments who don’t like being justly criticised. An intelligent bias against lousy governance has almost done for it. Ditto the CSIRO being punished for delivering the unpalatable truth. Also AQIS. Etcetera. There’s almost nobody left to tell us what is going on.
So don’t criticise the ABC. Blame the idiots in charge of the purse – and for whom you may have voted.