Last night’s episode of Nine’s Events That Changed Australia touched on an expected topic: The Birth Of The Bogan. Aussie’s loved this, with 1,469,000 of them tuning in to the program and 703,000 of them even stuck around for the duration.
The episode delved into the early 1980s of Australia where the nation is caught in a deep cultural cringe. Then came along a muscle-bound bushman, Paul Hogan, and a far-out tourism ad built around the line “throw another shrimp on the barbie”. It marked a turning point, as the nation begun embracing a more relaxed, irreverent version of itself and, in doing so, proudly claimed the bogan spirit.
Nine explored why the ad struck such a chord at the time, and how it reshaped both national self-perception and Australia’s image abroad.
Along the way, the bogan archetype has broadened. What began as a stereotype of the working-class Aussie bloke has grown to include a more diverse, multicultural identity, reflecting the country Australia has become.
However, Events That Changed Australia was not Nine’s most popular entertainment program of the evening. Tipping Point pulled in a total TV national reach of 1,561,000 and a total TV national average audience of 703,000—taking out fifth spot on OzTam’s ratings, two spots higher than Events That Changed Australia.
On Seven, its most watched entertainment program of the evening was The Chase. Similar to the numbers posted by Nine’s gameshow, The Chase raked in 1,438,000 viewers and an average audience of 736,000.
And Ten’s MasterChef Australia reached 1.1 million national total viewers.
In the episode the bottom five cooks from the Invention Test face off in a Pressure Test set by MasterChef Australia favourite Maggie Beer, tasked with mastering her signature sour cream pastry in a high-stakes pie challenge.
