Nine’s new medical myth buster. Last
year it was Little Oberon, this year it’s What’s Good
For You. It
seems Sigrid Thornton has a once year fling with the Nine Network.
Little
Oberon wasn’t the world beating Aussie tele-drama that
its producers had hoped for but now Thornton is slated to host a “medical myths
investigated” show from
the stable of myth-busting production house, Beyond
International. It
already has a hit with Mythbusters,
on the Discovery Channel and SBS and What’s Good
For You looks
like another example of slicing and dicing the urban myth industry,
which has already been done to death on Mythbusters and Ten’s
UK clone, Brainiac. The ABC
also has a small weekly half hour program called Second Opinion that looks at
all forms of medicine, especially the coyly-named complementary
area. Nine
has already bombed with the in-house Mythbusters/Brainiac rip off Clever, which lasted a handful of episodes,
despite a sterling hosting job by Georgie Parker. Of more
interest is whether Thornton’s new program will look at the
vitamin industry and exposes any of the many myths in that area. She has been a
spokesperson for the Nature’s Own range of products, especially its glucosamine sulphate. Let’s hope What’s Good For You is fearless in reporting
on whether glucosamine sulphate is “good
for you”. The
list of sponsors and advertisers on the program will be interesting, especially
any product placement. One to
keep an eye on. – Glenn Dyer

Last night’s TV
ratings

The Winners Thump! It was back to Earth in a big way last night for
Ten, as Nine showed its usual Sunday evening superiority. Driven by the
football, Nine News was the most watched program. The News averaged 1.948 million viewers, then came
CSI with 1.736 million, 60 Minutes with 1.637 million, the Big Brother Surprise
Eviction with 1.589 million, then CSI Miami with 1.488 million,
Seven News with 1.465 million, Seven’s Where Are They Now at 6.30 pm with 1.380
million, then its rival, Backyard Blitz with 1.339 million, Nine’s Sunday
Football (4 pm) with 1.311 million and Secrets of The Biggest Loser (Ten) with
1.30 million. 11th was Big Brother Sunday (6.30 pm) with 1.240 million, Seven’s
Ghost Whisperer with 1.129 million, then the ABC news at 7 pm (1.024 million),
Seven’s movie, Whale Rider with 1.018 million and the early Sunday afternoon
football with 877,000 in 15th place.
The Losers None really, a night for watching TV it seems,
with competition in the evening for eyeballs, but not as even as Wednesday
nights. Nine dominates though.
News & CA Nine News won clearly thanks to the AFL and NRL
lead-ins. But in Brisbane Seven beat Nine, the NRL game between Parramatta and
Manly was too Sydney, and in Perth Seven won from Nine which was boosted by the
AFL coverage. Ten News at Five, 607,000 (half hour program), Sports Tonight
628,000 at 5.30 pm. The ABC news averaged 1.024 million last night. In the
Sunday morning chat battle, victory again to Seven’s Weekend Sunrise with Andrew
O’Keefe not affecting numbers. An average 357,000 people watched from 8 am to
9.30 pm. Seven’s Sportsworld averaged,000 from 9.30 pm to 11 am, beating Nine’s
Sunday which averaged 269,000. Landline on the ABC at midday averaged 250,000.
ABC Insiders 145,000 at 9 am, Business Sunday, Nine, 8 am, 132,000, Inside
Business, the ABC, 10 am, 83,000, Offsiders, ABC, 10.30 am, 80,000 and Meet The
Press, Ten, 8 am, 55,000. Seven’s small business show, My Business averaged
193,000 at 11 am and was easily more popular than Nine’s Business Success at
7.30 am with 95,000.
The Stats Nine with 33.8%(26.5%) from Seven with 25.3% (21.0%),
Ten with 24.1% (34.1), the ABC with 12.8% (14.4%) and SBS with 4.0% (3.9%). Nine
won all five metro markets, but in Sydney Ten was second ahead of Seven, in
Melbourne Seven was second, and in Brisbane, Ten was second in Adelaide and in
Perth Seven was a close second behind Nine.
Glenn Dyer’s comments

A sort of return to normal transmission. Nine won
as expected thanks to the football boosting the news and it flowed through to
the rest of the evening. The battle at 6.30pm remains tight with Seven’s Where
Are They Now pipping Backyard Blitz ahead of Big Bother. Ten was the 16 to 39’s
thanks to the two Big Brother shows and the secrets version of The Biggest
Loser. Ten’s Law and Order Criminal Intent faded to 793,000 after Big Brother
finished around 9.30 pm. Tonight, it’s Monday and Desperate Housewives. After a
low 1.5 million plus audience last week, will Desperate Housewives lift back to its 1.9
to 2 million usual range? Seven’s night depends on it and possibly its week.