Thor and Captain America join the rush to cinemas

By all that is sacred in Asgard! It seems like the comic book hero Thor is finally heading for the big screen.
The Norse god of thunder, with his famous enchanted hammer, has missed the boom in comic book adaptations so far. But Marvel Studios has hired writers to bring both Thor and Captain America to cinemas.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, actor-director John Favreau is also developing a big-screen adaptation of Iron Man - centring on a billionaire industrialist who develops an armoured suit that lets him fly and shoot repulsor rays.
You might have thought Hollywood would be tiring of comic book and graphic novel adaptations after Batman Begins, Fantastic Four, Constantine, Sin City, Daredevil, V for Vendetta and many other examples recently.
Far from it ... heading for cinemas soon are a third X Men, a new Superman, Ghost Rider (shot in Melbourne with Nic Cage starring) and another Sin City.
Despite a muted response to the Ang Lee film starring Eric Bana, Marvel also has a sequel to Hulk in the pipeline.
Then there is Ant-Man, about a biochemist who discovers a rare group of subatomic particles that produce a size-altering formula. And Nick Fury, about a spy for Supreme Headquarters International Espionage Law-Enforcement Division or SHIELD.
David Self, who adapted Road to Perdition from a graphic novel, is doing the same thing for Captain America, who has featured on both the big and small screens previously. According to The Reporter, the character was created as a symbol of American strengths and values as a Nazi fighter during World War II. Wonder who he'll fight these days.
But the most intruguing character heading for cinemas is Thor, the blonde-haired, blue-eyed Norse god. The comic centres on a frail doctor who finds a mysterious wooden cane that turns out to be an enchanted hammer that transforms him into the mighty Thor. His hammer allows him to fly and summon wind, rain, thunder and lightning.
Of course, comic book movies can be hugely entertaining or completely dismal. The two Spider-Man movies caught the right balance of humanity and emotion. And the last Batman was an improvement on previous instalments.
The "less successful" basket includes the likes of Catwoman, the last Blade, Elektra and Man-Thing.
With all these movies in the pipeline, the question has to be asked: do we want yet more comic book adaptations? Some projects appeal but given the sameness of the stories - heroes with special powers battling evil - it feels like Hollywood is calling for a superhero way too often.
Are you still interested in comic book movies? What do you consider the best and worst comic book and graphic novel adaptations? And which of the upcoming movies appeal?

It's only words. And money.

Hey I make a living with words so I've got a vested interest here but this evening I'm interviewing Gustav Ejstes of the Swedish psych rock band Dungen, who sings in Swedish. He's been asked dozens of times why he sings in Swedish - as if there's something wrong with that - and the inevitable follow-up is "but people won't understand you!". His response is the words matter to him but they don't have to matter to anyone listening, the voice is only one part of the sound.
Now, while I can pore over a lyric sheet for hours and will happily dissect a Dylan, Paul Kelly, Morrissey, Tim Freedman, Patty Griffin or Smog line til the cows come home I reckon he's right. After all I can get plenty of satisfaction not just from his new spin on prog but various African, Arabic, French and even some poorly enunciating Australian artists. Do words have to matter?Elsewhere, I reckon artists signed to EMI or Warners - or any of their subsidiaries - will be sitting uneasily for the rest of this year and maybe next. While Warner Music, the fourth largest record company in the world, has rejected a takeover offer from EMI, the third largest, it's unlikely to be the end of it. It makes scary sense after all. And if, when, it goes ahead no one expects the rosters of the two companies to remain. Look at what happened when Universal swallowed Polygram and when Sony and BMG merged. And if you think it won't matter to us, think not just about the artists who won't have a record contract any more but the fact that the industry will be run by three behemoths with even more grunt behind their efforts to hunt down and impoverish if not incarcerate any miscreant who won't play by their rules of either distribution or downloading.And only 21 sleeps until Leo Sayer.

The ratings race: week 18

There are big viewing nights, when everyone gathers round the box, and there are small viewing nights, when most people under the age of 55 do something else.
On big nights, four or five programs can easily attract an audience above 1.5 million in the mainland capitals. On small nights, 1.3 million is a fabulous score (and the ABC gets its best audience shares of the week). As you may imagine, there are more big nights in winter than in summer.
Traditionally, Friday and Satuday have been smalls and Sunday and Monday have been bigs. Thursday used to be big (dominated by Lost) but now it looks like joining the smalls -- possibly because many Lost fans have illegally downloaded unseen episodes from American internet sources.
Seven used to win Thursdays, but last night it was number two, with 28.4 per cent of the prime time audience, while Nine won with 29.0 per cent, Ten got 24.0, the ABC got 13.7 and SBS got 4.9. If last night had been colder, more people would have stayed home and watched TV. Perhaps they were all at the opening night of Mission Impossible III.
What Australia watched on Thursday1 Seven news (7) 1.5m2 Getaway (9) 1.5m3 Lost (7) 1.5m4 Today Tonight (7) 1.4m5 Nine news (9) 1.3m6 Temptation (9) 1.2m7 Big Brother (10) 1.2m9 A Current Affair (9) 1.2m10 Medium (10) 1.2m(OzTAM preliminary figures)
Updated 10 am Thursday May 4.Channel Ten is puffing it as "the most successful new show of 2006" and for once, the publicists are right. Last night 'Thank God You're Here' held onto its audience of 1.73 million in the mainland capitals and (along with 'House') helped Ten to be the most watched channel of the night.
Working Dog, the makers of TGYH, are not only funny, they're generous -- last night they gave a boost to Australian comedy by plugging the ABC's 'Spicks and Specks' and SBS's 'RocKwiz'.
With Big Brother continuing to do better than last year, Ten managed a prime time audience share of 29.3 per cent, followed by Seven on 26.8, Nine on 26.3, the ABC on 13.7 (largely on the strength of 'Spicks and Specks', which drew a million viewers) and SBS on 3.9.
And now for something not completely different: the first person ever to appear on television, Pem Farnsworth, has just died in Utah, USA. We bet that was not announced on television. For details, click here.
And to suggest new programming ideas that will let Nine win more than one night a week, click here.
What Australia watched on Wednesday1 Thank God You're Here (10) 1.7m2 Seven news (7) 1.6m3 House (10) 1.6m4 Today Tonight (7) 1.5m5 Prison Break (7) 1.5m6 McLeod's Daughters (9) 1.4m7 Nine news (9) 1.4m8 NCIS (10) 1.3m9 A Current Affair (9) 1.3m10 Big Brother (10) 1.2m(OzTAM preliminary figures)
And to demonstrate the growing diversity of audiences, here's the most watched chart for viewers aged 16-39: 1) Thank God You're Here (10)2) Prison Break (7)3) Big Brother (10) 4) House (10) 5) NCIS (10)6) Neighbours (10)7) Spicks & Specks (ABC)8) McLeod's Daughters (9)9) ER (9)10) Home and Away (7)
Updated 10 am Wednesday May 3.Just when you thought there were no more Australians who could possibly become interested in 'Dancing With The Stars', the audience rose again last night -- to 2.30 million in the mainland capitals.
They saw the puzzling eviction of singer Toby Allen, who had earlier been favourite to win, and they'll no doubt return next week to see the final footoff between boxer Kostya Tszyu and spokesmodel Grant Denyer. And once DWTS is over, Seven will finally be able to show season two of Grey's Anatomy.
Seven won the night with 36.7 per cent of the prime time audience (and has now passed Nine in the progressive average for the week), while Nine attracted 26.0 per cent, Ten 21.3, the ABC 11.5 and SBS 4.5.
What Australia watched on Tuesday1 Dancing With The Stars (7) 2.3m2 All Saints (7) 1.6m3 Today Tonight (7) 1.6m4 Seven news (7) 1.5m5 Nine news (9) 1.4m6 Big Brother (10) 1.3m7 CSI: NY (9) 1.3m8 Temptation (9) 1.2m9 A Current Affair (9) 1.2m10 Home and Away (7) 1.2m(OzTAM preliminary figures)
And as a bonus, here's the top ten with viewers aged 16 to 39: 1) Big Brother (10)2) Dancing with the Stars (7)3) Neighbours (10)4) Rove Live (10)5) Futurama (10)6) The OC (10)7) All Saints (7)8) CSI: NY (9)9) CSI (9)10) The Simpsons (10)
Updated 10 am Tuesday May 2.There was a time when Channel Seven could feel confident that, even if it was beaten by Nine on a Sunday night, it could always recover the advantage on a Monday, because the Desperate Housewives were guaranteed to pull in more than 1.9 million viewers in the mainland capitals. Those golden days are gone.
Having caught a glimpse of 'Cold Case' during the Easter non-ratings period, 300,000 former Housewives fans became besotted with Detective Lilly Rush. On Monday night she led her network to a narrow victory. Nine's prime time audience share was 28.6 per cent, with Seven on 28.5 per cent, Ten on 22.0, the ABC on 15.9 and SBS on 5.0.
The dancing stars will give Seven a win on Tuesday night, but over the whole week, it's going to be neck and neck, as Ten's raptor turns its talons from Rex to Bronto.
What Australia watched on Monday1 Cold Case (9) 1.7m2 Today Tonight (7) 1.6m3 Desperate Housewives (7) 1.6m4 Seven news (7) 1.6m5 20 to 1 (9) 1.6m6 Nine news (9) 1.5m7 Big Brother nomination (10) 1.4m8 Big Brother (10) 1.3m9 A Current Affair (9) 1.3m10 Home and Away (7) 1.3m(OzTAM preliminary figures)
Updated 10 am Monday May 1.After being pushed into third place last week by Ten and Seven, Nine destroyed all opposition on Sunday night. Trapped Tasmanian miners brought 1.9 million in the mainland capitals to Nine's news, and most of them stayed for Backyard Blitz, 60 Minutes and CSI (interrupted by Tasmanian coverage). The younger viewers moved to Ten for two hours of Big Brother's increasingly sadistic manipulation of his inmates.
Nine won the night with 33.8 per cent of the prime time audience, followed by Seven on 25.3, Ten on 24.1, ABC on 12.8, and SBS on 4.0.
What Australia watched Sunday1 Nine Sunday news (9) 1.9m2 CSI (9) 1.7m3 60 Minutes (9) 1.6m4 Big Brother fake eviction (10) 1.6m5 CSI Miami (9) 1.5m6 Seven Sunday news (7) 1.5m7 Where Are They Now (7) 1.4m8 Backyard Blitz (9) 1.3m9 Sunday Football (9) 1.3m10 Secrets of Biggest Loser (10) 1.3m(OzTAM preliminary figures)
Updated 11 am Sunday April 30.The perennial underdog Channel Ten has achieved its best week of the year, the decade and the century.
In the first week back on "official ratings" after the Easter break, Ten blasted the older networks with every weapon at its command - a Big Brother launch with a secretly gay inmate and a mother-daughter team with matching breast enlargements; two "finals" of 'The Biggest Loser' in which a man won $200,000 for sweating off more than a third of his body weight; a new (and non-formulaic) episode of 'House'; a new episode of 'Thank God You're Here' without Fifi Box; and three hours of football on Saturday night.
Ten stole more viewers from Channel Seven than from Channel Nine (which tends to have an older audience), and it dragged back to the box people who rarely watch TV these days -- 20-something males and females.
Ten won the week with a 27.3 per cent share of the prime time audience (with Seven on 27.1, Nine on 26.9, ABC on 14.2 and SBS on 4.4). That means between 6pm and midnight on any night last week, Ten averaged 1.042 million viwers in the mainland capitals, while Seven averaged 1.033 million, Nine 1.024 million, the ABC 543,000 and SBS 169,000.
It was the first time Ten has won a ratings week since 1994, when it covered the Commonwealth games, and the first week in living memory when Nine has been at number three. But there are ironies in Ten's victory:
1. It happened thanks to Adelaide and Perth. If you look only at the east coast capitals, Nine was (marginally) the winner.
2. It happened only if you consider "prime time" to be between 6pm and midnight. If you apply Ten's usual definition of prime time -- 6pm to 10.30pm -- then Ten and Seven tied for first.
3. It happened with "all people", a mass market Ten claims it is not interested in. Ten says its target audience is viewers aged 16-39, and with that demographic, Ten often wins the week. Is Ten horrified to be suddenly so attractive to (shudder) the oldies?
The Tribal Mind column by David Dale appears every Tuesday in The Sydney Morning Herald. Go to www.smh.com.au/tribalmind for earlier columns. This ratings report is updated every day.
What Australia watched, week ending April 291 The Biggest Loser finale (10) 2.3m2 Dancing With The Stars (7) 2.2m3 Big Brother Launch (10) 1.8m4 Thank God You're Here (10) 1.7m5 The Biggest Loser Sunday (10) 1.7m6 Desperate Housewives (7) 1.6m7 Nine news Sunday (9) 1.68 House (10) 1.6m9 All Saints (7) 1.6m10 CSI (9) 1.5m11 Today Tonight (7) 1.5m12 20 to 1 (9) 1.5m13 McLeod's Daughters (9) 1.5m14 Seven news Sunday (7) 1.415 Prison Break (7) 1.4m16 Seven news weekdays (7) 1.4m17 Cold Case (9) 1.4m18 Nine news (9) 1.4m19 CSI Miami (9) 1.3m20 Big Brother 7pm (10) 1.3m21 Melbourne Comedy Festival (10) 1.3m22 The Queen by Rolf (ABC) 1.3m(OzTAM)

What should be done about the Block?

This weekend the Aboriginal Housing Company will host a festival on the Block in Redfern. Rock the Block will feature hip-hop acts Combat Wombat, the Herd's Ozi Batla and Wire MC, Jimmy Little's grandson crooner James Henry, and political rockers Andorra and the Urban Guerillas. It's a bold statement in the face of the Redfern-Waterloo Authority wanting to redevelop the area. What do you think should be done about the Block? Will you go to festival to show support?

Creatures of the light

Daytime is another country. They do things differently there. So let us make an anthropological journey to a land we might call The Sunshine State, except the name is already taken and anyway, the Daytimers shun the sun and stay inside to watch the box.
The citizens of Daytime are not like you and me. They are neglected by the gods they worship. The TV networks are preoccupied with prime time (6pm to 10.30pm -- click here for the latest prime time ratings). And when they're not obsessing about that, they fleetingly mention the feud between Bert and Andrew at 5.30, or the giggle contest between Kochie and Jessica at breakfast.
You'd think nobody watched between 9am and 4pm, but on average, nearly a million people a day in the mainland capitals tune in when the rest of us are working. Lets dispose of a few stereotypes about the Daytimers:
"They are suckers for soaps and sob stories." Days of Our Lives and The Young and The Restless attract up to 200,000 viewers each, but they don't win their timeslots. Nor does The Oprah Winfrey Show. What Daytimers love as they slice their lunch is a good movie -- or even a bad movie. That's why Channel Seven, which specialises in midday movies, has the biggest daytime audience share (31 per cent, while Nine has 27 per cent, Ten 25, ABC 15 and SBS 2.5). The most popular midday flicks on Seven this year have been Million Dollar Murder (364,000), Ghost In The Machine (363,000) and Second Nature (352,000). We'd be interested to hear what they are like.
After movies, Daytimers prefer food shows, which is why Fresh and Ready Steady Cook regularly attract more than 200,000. So, more daytime tears are shed over onions than over soaps. (Sadly, Daytimers don't seem to have an urge to laugh. This column's favourite midday program, The Ellen DeGeneres Show, attracts only 54,000.)
"Only retirees and dole bludgers watch during the day." You're less than half right. The audience analysts tell us that 20 per cent of viewers between 9 and 4 are women over 55; 15 per cent are women 25 to 39; 14 per cent are men over 55; 14 per cent are women 40 to 54; and 9 per cent are men 40 to 54 (the rest are a mix of toddlers, students, sickie takers and unemployed). So, in the jargon of the industry, day skews old and female, and the ads are pitched accordingly.
"Kerri-Anne Kennerley is Queen of the Day." Well, she easily beats the other shopping show, 9am with David and Kim (which gets 83,000 viewers to Kerri-Anne's 146,000). But she's often beaten by an icon as old as she is -- Play School, which has averaged 170,000 viewers this year. It would be more accurate to say the monarch of daytime was stern disciplinarian Judge Judy Sheindlin or bald shrink Dr Phil McGraw. Or, if your republican sentiments require Daytime to have an Australian head of state, you'd crown Melbourne chef Ian Hewitson, whose Huey's Cooking Adventures attracts more than 300,000.
And a final detail to reassure you about the good taste of the Daytimers -- regularly in their top ten, with 250,000 viewers, is Bob The Builder.
The most watched series between 9am and 4pm1 Huey's Cooking Adventures (10) 336,0002 Judge Judy (10) 322,0003 Dr Phil (9) 299,0004 My Wife and Kids (7) 251,0005 Bob The Builder pm (ABC) 247,0006 Postman Pat pm (ABC) 244,0007 The Oprah Winfrey Show (10) 239,0008 According to Jim (7) 234,0009 Ready Steady Cook (10) 233,00010 Fresh (9) 200,00011 8 Simple Rules (7) 186,00012 Days of Our Lives (9) 179,00013 The Days (7) 178,00014 The Young and the Restless (9) 177,00015 Moonlighting (7) 176,00016 The Fairies (7) 171,00017 Play School am (ABC) 170,00018 Entertainment Tonight (9) 165,00019 Play School pm (ABC) 163,00020 Mornings with Kerri-Anne (9) 146,000(OzTAM average audience so far this year in the mainland capitals)
[For purposes of comparison, the most watched program on subscription TV last week was a rugby league match between the Cowboys and the Panthers, which drew 175,000 viewers, and the most watched non-sporting program was an episode of That 70s Show with 79,000. So while Daytime may be a small country, it does have a bigger population than Paytime.]
The Tribal Mind by David Dale appears every Tuesday in The Sydney Morning Herald. Past columns can be found at www.smh.com.au/tribalmind. David Dale is the author of Who We Are -- A miscellany of the new Australia (Allen and Unwin).

Australia's all time favourite TV shows

Lists of top rating programs of the 20th and 21st centuries, prepared by David Dale for The Sydney Morning Herald and last updated May 10, 2006.
The top shows since 2001Based on OzTAM's audience estimates for the mainland capitals. Series figures are for the most watched episode of the year.
1 Tennis: Aus Open final 2005 - Hewitt v Safin (7) 4.04 million2 Rugby World Cup final 2003 (7) 4.01 million3 Commonwealth Games Opening Ceremony 2006 (9) 3.47m4 AFL Grand Final 2005 (10) 3.39m5 Australian Idol Final Verdict 2004 (10) 3.35m
6 Australian Idol final 2003 (10) 3.30 m7 The Block auction 2003 (9) 3.11 m8 September 11 reportage, September 12, 2001 (9, 7, ABC) 3.10 m9 Wimbledon day 14 2001 (9) 3.04 m10 AFL grand final 2003 (10) 2.96 m11 Big Brother winner announced 2004 (10) 2.86m12 Australian Idol Live from Opera House 2004 (10) 2.86 m13 AFL Grand Final 2004 (10) 2.80 m14 Commonwealth Games Closing Ceremony 2006 (9) 2.79m15 Big Brother finale 2001 (10) 2.78 m16 The National IQ Test 2002 (9) 2.78 m17 Tennis: Australian Open men's final 2006 (7) 2.75 m18 World Cup Soccer final 2002 (9) 2.70 m19 Australia Unites: Reach out to Asia 2005 (7,9,10) 2.67m20 Dancing With The Stars 4, finale, 2006 (7) 2.66m21 AFL grand final 2002 (10) 2.62 m22 AFL grand final 2001 (7) 2.60 m23 NRL: Grand Final 2005 (9) 2.57 m24 Seven news Sunday 2004 (7) 2.56m25 Friends season finale 2001 (9) 2.54 m26 World Swimming Championships day 8 2001 (9) 2.51 m27 Melbourne Cup Race 2005 (7) 2.51m28 Melbourne Cup race 2002 (7) 2.50 m29 Rugby World Cup Aus v. Argentina 2003 (7) 2.49 m30 Rugby World Cup opening ceremony 2003 (7) 2.49 m31 Desperate Housewives opening 2005 (7) 2.48m32 Nine Sunday news - Beaconsfield 2006 (9) 2.48m33 Melbourne Cup race 2004 (7) 2.47m34 Cricket World Cup final Aus v India 2003 (9) 2.46 m35 Tennis: Aus Open men's semi-final Hewitt v Roddick 2005 (7) 2.46 m36 Soccer: Australia beats Uruguay (SBS) 2.46m37 Rugby World Cup semi final Aus v NZ 2003 (7) 2.43 m38 Tennis: Aus Open women's round 4 Molik v Williams 2005 (7) 2.43m39 Nine News Sunday 2003 (9) 2.42 m40 Logie Awards 2001 (9) 2.41 m41 Friends opening 2002 (9) 2.41 m42 Ten news Sunday -- Bali bombings 2002 (10) 2.40 m43 World Idol performance show 2003 (10) 2.40 m44 Rugby League grand final 2003 (9) 2.35 m43 60 Minutes 2001 (9) 2.34 m44 Lost premiere 2005 (7) 2.34 m45 Dancing With The Stars 2 final 2005 (7) 2.33 m46 Backyard Blitz 2001 (9) 2.32 m47 The Biggest Loser finale 20006 (10) 2.31m48 Big Brother final eviction 2002 (10) 2.30 m49 Athens Olympics Opening Ceremony 2004 (7) 2.29 m50 The Block II auction 2004 (9) 2.28 m51 Big Brother winner 2005 (10) 2.28m52 Friends final 2004 (9) 2.27m53 Big Brother final eviction 2003 (10) 2.27 m54 Logie Awards 2004 (9) 2.27 m55 Nine News Sunday 2002 (9) 2.26 m56 Survivor II: The Australian Outback final 2001 (9) 2.25 m57 Celebrity Big Brother premiere 2002 (10) 2.25 m58 Melbourne Cup race 2003 (7) 2.24 m59 Desperate Housewives season 2 opening 2006 (7) 2.24m60 Popstars 2001 (7) 2.23 m61 Dancing With The Stars 3 finale 2005 (7) 2.22m.
Top shows so far in 2006: Games Opening (9) 3.5m; Games Closing (9) 2.8m; Australian Open tennis men's final (7) 2.8 m; Biggest Loser finale (10) 2.31; Desperate Housewives opening (7) 2.2m; Cricket 20/20 Aus v South Africa 2.2m; Dancing With The Stars opening 2.2m; Lost opening (7) 2.1m; Prison Break premiere (7) 1.9m.

The ratings race: the most watched weekday of the year

Updated 10 am Wednesday May 10.Peter Costello's budget speech on the ABC at 7.30 attracted 798,000 viewers in the mainland capitals last night -- a strangely small audience for such an important national event. Apparently a few Australians were distracted by some sort of dancing show on Channel Seven, which pulled in 2.66 million viewers. There were also newsbreaks about some sort of mining story. Click here to find out where that fits in the list of most watched programs of all time.
Australians had tuned in from early in the morning, when the release of two miners finally gave an audience to Nine's 'Today' -- 529,000, the best figure it has ever had. But against it, Seven's 'Sunrise' got 839,000, the best figure IT'S ever had. Sunrise peaked at 1.04 million at 7.30am.
At 5.30 pm, Bert Newton got his best ever figure for 'Family Feud' -- 770,000, only to find his competitor, Andrew O'Keefe, getting 1.04 million, which put 'Deal or No Deal' in the top ten for the first time. At the same time, Ten's News At Five did its best performance of the year, with 1.16 million viewers.
The viewers stayed with Seven for the rest of the night, giving it 44.9 per cent of the prime time audience, while Nine got 21.6, Ten 18.2, the ABC 11.2, and SBS 3.7. To put it another way, between 6pm and 10.30 pm on Tuesday night, a total of 5,026,600 people in the mainland capitals were watching free to air TV, divided up thus: 7 2.269m, 9 1.095m, 10 880,000, ABC 587,000 and SBS 194,000.
On the equivalent Tuesday last year, a total of 4,613,400 were watching, divided up thus: 7 1.235m, 9 1.393m; 10 1.050m; ABC 736,000 and SBS 199,000. So if you want to pull a crowd, don't even think of using Peter Costello. Try Todd Russell or Grant Denyer.
What Australia watched, Tuesday1 Dancing With The Stars final (7) 2.7m2 Seven news (7) 1.9m3 Today Tonight (7) 1.7m4 All Saints (7) 1.7m5 Nine News (9) 1.6m6 A Current Affair (9) 1.3m7 Big Brother (10) 1.3m8 Ten News At Five (10) 1.2m9 Deal or No Deal (7) 1.0m10 ABC News (ABC) 997,000(OzTAM preliminary estimates, mainland capitals)
Updated 10 am Tuesday May 8.Monday was a huge viewing night, in which 18 shows drew more than a million viewers. The pale cop beat the tarty wives again, but it was the latest on the miners that the viewers really craved, and they were more inclined to trust Nine to give it to them than Seven. Nine's news and 'A Current Affair' had a rare victory over Seven's news and 'Today Tonight' in every city but Perth. Ten's early news at 5pm got 1.1 million, as did the ABC's 7pm news (both up 200,000 on their usual performance).
Nine won the night with a prime time audience share of 29.9 per cent, followed by Seven on 26.8, Ten on 21.6, ABC on 17.3 and SBS on 4.5.
Click here for a column on what Australians watch between 9am and 4pm. Is Kerri-Anne really Queen of the Day?
What Australia watched, Monday1 Cold Case (9) 1.7m2 Seven news (7) 1.7m3 Desperate Housewives (7) 1.6m4 A Current Affair (9) 1.6m5 20 to 1 (9) 1.6m6 Nine news (9) 1.6m7 Today Tonight (7) 1.5m8 Big Brother nomination (10) 1.3m9 Temptation (9) 1.3m10 Home and Away (7) 1.3m11 Big Brother (10) 1.2m12 Ten news at five (10) 1.1m13 The Great Outdoors (7) 1.1m14 ABC news (ABC) 1.1m15 Enough Rope with Andrew Denton (ABC) 1.0m(OzTAM preliminary estimates, mainland capitals)
Updated 11.30 am Monday May 8.The expectation of the release of trapped miners, and the discovery that a journalistic icon had died on the job brought a record audience to Channel Nine's news on Sunday night -- 2.48 million viewers in the mainland capitals. Most of them stayed around for 60 Minutes, the cleavage and cosmetics parade, and four hours of nostalgia and award presentations.
Nine won the night with an amazing 45.6 per cent of the prime time audience, followed by Seven with 21.6, Ten with 19.3, the ABC with 10.2 and SBS with 3.3. And even with the Logies, the Big Brother Eviction still managed to attract 1.3 million for the chance to see the removal of Tilly and Elise.
What Australia watched, Sunday1 Nine news Sunday (9) 2.5m2 Logie arrivals (9) 2.3m3 Logie awards (9) 2.1m4 60 Minutes (9) 2.1m5 Where Are They Now (7) 1.4m6 Sunday football (9) 1.3m7 Big Brother eviction (10) 1.3m8 Seven news Sunday (7) 1.3m9 Ghost Whisperer (7) 1.1m10 Big Brother (10) 1.0m(OzTAM preliminary estimates, mainland capitals)
Updated 10 am Sunday May 7.This week, Channel Nine begins its fightback. Beaten by Seven or Ten in seven of the ten ratings weeks so far this year, and squeaking to victory last week mainly because of its Friday night football, Nine has finally decided to return fire.
On Thursday it launches two new shows to compete with Seven's fading hit 'Lost' and Ten's rising hit 'Medium' -- 'Hello Goodbye', a tearjerker reality series about Sydney airport, and the police documentary 'Missing Persons Unit'.
Nine has been surprised and delighted by the resurgence of its crime show 'Cold Case', which was thrown in as a replacement for 'Who Wants To Be A Millionaire' and managed to beat Seven's blockbuster 'Desperate Housewives' last Monday. Cold Case attracted 1.71 million viewers in the mainland capitals, to the Housewives' 1.62 million.
Seven won Tuesday night, thanks to 2.3 million viewers for 'Dancing With The Stars'. Ten won Wednesday night, thanks to 1.8 million viewers for 'Thank God You're Here', the most successful new Australian program of 2006, and to Big Brother audiences which are better than last year.
As of Friday morning, Seven was ahead for the week, but after the AFL and NRL matches on Friday night totalled 1.8 million viewers, Nine won the week with a prime time audience share of 29.4 per cent, followed by Seven on 28.1, Ten on 23.8, The ABC on 14.0 and SBS on 4.7.
Australia's most watched shows, week ending May 61 Dancing With The Stars (7) 2.30m2 Nine news Sunday (9) 1.95m3 Friday night football (9) 1.76m4 Thank God You're Here (10) 1.75m5 CSI (9) 1.72m6 Cold Case (9) 1.71m7 60 Minutes (9) 1.66m8 Desperate Housewives (7) 1.62m9 20 To 1 (9) 1.61m10 All Saints (7) 1.59m11 Big Brother Fake Eviction (10) 1.59m12 House (10) 1.54m13 Seven News (7) 1.53m14 Today Tonight (7) 1.52m15 Getaway (9) 1.48m16 Seven news Sunday (7) 1.46m17 Prison Break (7) 1.47m18 Lost 1.45m19 McLeod's Daughters (9) 1.41m20 Big Brother nomination (10) 1.39m(OzTAM mainland capitals)
The Bill on Tuesday got 820,000 across the mainland capitals and 263,000 in Melbourne, and on Saturday 858,000 and 245,000. Seven news beat Nine news in every city except Brisbane.
The Tribal Mind column by David Dale appears every Tuesday in The Sydney Morning Herald, and the ratings details are updated each weekday. Past columns can be found at www.smh.com.au/tribalmind. David Dale is the author of 'Who We Are -- A miscellany of the new Australia' (Allen and Unwin).