We’re only one week away from the bliss of a Married At First Site-free existence, but Nine’s trashy reality show has once again set the tone for the network, which took out the number one position on the night according to OzTAM’s overnight ratings report.
In an episode where one of the brides declared “anyone would die to date me”, while the producers acted shocked at the fall out from their encouraging of the shows participants to go on a date with someone else on the show other than their ‘spouses’, the show garnered a total TV national audience of 2,813,000 and a national average audience of 1,763,000. That was enough to set Nine up for a dominant night with four of the top five watched programmes.
Interestingly, Nine’s homegrown drama Scrublands has finished its job as a promotional vehicle for the bush-based crime drama’s second series, Scrublands: Silver, due to released as a boxset on Stan 17 April. While the show reminded nearly everyone that watched MAFS that the second series was coming, not many stuck around to relive the show’s climax. In a stark illustration of how OzTAM’s new measurement system can gild the lily, the rerun had a national reach of 1,653,000 yet a national average of a mere 460,000. Perhaps it’s a good sign everyone has already watched the season on Stan, or the more cynical among us might observe the average MAFS fan doesn’t have the mental wherewithall to follow a scripted program.
Seven’s best effort was its nightly news, which took out second spot, with a national reach of 2,059,000 and an average audience of 1,331,000. Its best non-scripted programme was the 1% Club UK, which came in an honest sixth place, with a national reach of 1,474,000 and an average audience of 830,000.
And finally, the question has to be asked: what is going on with Ten? The beleaguered network managed only four programmes in the top 30 shows with its best effort being The Dog House Australia, which managed a national reach of 744,000 and an average audience of 350,000.
