Here Come The Habibs has racked up over one million viewers in its first episode, pipped at the post only by My Kitchen Rules.
The show kicked off with the Habibs hitting the big time and swanning straight into their new Vaucluse mansion, met with snooty disdain from their uptight, white neighbours.
And while there were references to Cronulla Riots and terrorism (read: the missile-looking weapon the family arrives with, which turns out to be a lamp shade), the reactions have certainly turned around from the initial outcries.
Here Come The Habibs pulled an impressive 1,249,000 viewers in the city metro regions of Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide and Perth, according to OzTAM. In the 16-29 demographic, the show remained in second place with 314,000 viewers in the city metro market.
Melbourne and Sydney proved the biggest fans tuning in to watch The Habibs stir up the suburbs of Vaucluse, with ratings hovering around the 400,000 mark.
Nine co-head of drama Andy Ryan told B&T he was confident that the overnight numbers would be just the beginning, saying he “had a sense of the show being big online” based on the enormous marketing strategy that targeted social media and online viewing.
“We expect to see a big audience on time shift and online through 9Now.”
But it was Seven’s My Kitchen Rules that took the cake, with 1,882,000 viewers in the five metro cities. Seven had another win in the ratings last night with Wanted airing to 1,184,000 viewers, taking out the third spot on the podium.
Ratings for the widely marketed I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out Of Here for Tuesday night pulled an audience of 766,000 for the city metro regions, according to OzTAM.
This was despite “celeb” Shane Warne throwing some serious shade at fellow cricket star Steve Waugh in a bitch session with fellow D-listers celebrities.
Nine’s new sitcom, the first on commercial free-to-air telly in 15 years, had received mixed reviews in the lead up to its premiere episode, with Ryan saying they were “taken aback at how judgemental the Twitterati were”.
Social media, while still divided, certainly didn’t seem as nasty as some of the previous opinions voiced ahead of the show’s debut.
You see, our Lebo culture involves having a good old laugh at ourselves! #9TheHabibs
— Infinity (@bechanna01) February 9, 2016
Just quit Here Come The Habibs. There’s 20 minutes of my life I’ll never get back. Not funny.
— Mike Carlton (@MikeCarlton01) February 9, 2016
Im dying, its so accurate #9thehabibs — Maymuna (@hellomaay) February 9, 2016
I’m giving Here come the Habibs a fair go, only 15 minutes in and reckon the first joke is just around the corner — John Rothfield (@Docturf) February 9, 2016
Here come the Habibs, great watch.
Well done by @Channel9 breaking out of the politically correct shell we live in. Keen for it next week— Reiley Guest (@Guestatron) February 9, 2016
How many references to ‘terrorists’ (even in jest) were needed 2 kick start the first episode of Here Come the Habibs? #9TheHabibs @Channel9
— Hanan Dover (@HananDover1) February 9, 2016
Can’t tell whether ‘Here Come The Habibs’ is funny commentary or crass jeering. — Lois Mitchell (@velljob) February 9, 2016
Even Junkee Media managed to track down a Lebanese news show vid that asked locals what they thought of the show:
A Lebanese news show took #HereComeTheHabibs to locals and nope, they’re not keen on it | https://t.co/vtF5vCgc0Y pic.twitter.com/4nbPyzFNg5
— Junkee (@junkeedotcom) February 9, 2016
But while one Twitter commenter suggested we wait until next week to see how many people will stay engaged for a second round, Ryan says it will be worth the risk.
“There’s no point launching a vanilla show,” he said. “The show is called ‘Here Come The Habibs’ not ‘Here Come The Smiths’.”
