Glenn Dyer reports:

The Winners Seven, thanks to solid figures for Home and Away, Beyond
Tomorrow, Today Tonight and Seven news, the old standbys on a Wednesday night.
Nine was close up in second thanks to good figures for McLeod’s Daughters and
the News and A Current Affair, while Ten was best served by House which topped
the list of most watched programs with 1.643 million people. Beyond Tomorrow with
1.466 million slipped past McLeod’s (1.409 million) but Home and Away maintained
its strong lead over Nine’s Temptation (1.586 million against 1.234 million). The
ABC had a solid night with Spicks and Specks its most popular program averaging
1.056 million between 8.30pm and 9pm, just ahead of The New Inventors, 8pm to
8.30pm with 1.045 million.
The Losers

CSI Miami, after an intense on air promotional campaign,
Nine would have been expecting more than the 1.192 million to have watched the
90 minute ep (8.30pm to 10pm). The repeat of Without a Trace which followed
fell to only 909,000. Seven would have sighed at the 1.126 million that watched
Blue Heelers at 8.30pm. But that would have been sort of expected. Ten won the
16 to 39 age group, so goes away happy but Australian Princess continues to
weaken, down to 903,000. It’s crass and has no redeeming features. Merrick and Rosso’s The B Team (644,000)
lost more viewers and is now down 25% on the opening three weeks ago while the
second episode of the Ronnie Johns Half Hour lost 20% of its opening audience
and averaged just 411,000 at 10.05pm.
News & CA Seven News and Today Tonight won nationally. Seven News won
Sydney, Adelaide and Perth, while TT beat ACA in Brisbane and Adelaide and had a
massive win in Perth which offset ACA‘s wins in Sydney and Melbourne. The ABC’s
7pm news was watched by 995,000 people and the 7.30 Report by 840,000, that’s
up from Tuesday but still under the 900,000-plus it gets most
nights.
The Stats Seven’s win was narrower than on Tuesday night. It won
with a 29.2% share to 28.6% for Nine, 20.8% for Ten, 16.2% for the ABC and 5.1%
for SBS. Seven won Sydney and Melbourne, lost Brisbane and Adelaide to Nine but
won Perth.
Glenn Dyer’s
comments		 The battle between Ten’s
House, Nine’s 90 minute long CSI Miami and Seven’s creaking Blue Heelers, didn’t
eventuate. House was the clear winner. What was interesting was the way viewers
failed to respond to Nine’s strong promotion of CSI Miami. It was well beaten by
House and just nipped in ahead of Blue Heelers. The repeat of Without a Trace was
also swamped by Seven’s Forensic Investigators. The
shine is going off the CSI franchise much in the way Ten’s Law and Order
franchise has lost its appeal. That doesn’t make for a confident 2006. Tonight
it will be Ten’s The Surgeon up against Nine’s great RPA. Weak Las Vegas and
Alias will probably cost Seven the
night.