Saturday 29 September 2012

America's Top Rating Drama "Person of Interest" Is Back



Updated; 03 October 2012



Australian TV network; Channel 9 is fast-tracking Season 2 of Person of Interest. We are currently seeing the last few episodes of Season 1 in Sydney and Brisbane. The Season finale will screen this Monday; 1 Oct 2012, while viewers in other states and affiliated networks will most likely get a double episode to catch up. This idiotic mess was created so the Nine Network would not miss out on ratings due to coverage in Melbourne, Adelaide and Perth of the AFL Brownlow Medal. It seems a little stupid; given XFactor has been kicking butt in the ratings for the last few weeks.







When Channel 9 fast-tracked Person of Interest Season 1 last year, ratings were very good considering the 9.30 timeslot on a Sunday night. Even the repeated episodes that were shown in the summer did well. In early 2012 Person of Interest was slotted into Monday nights after Alcatraz (which has since been axed in the US) and sometimes did not start until as late as 10.30pm. However it still rated extremely well, with episodes sometimes reaching 1 million viewers, and repeats gaining several hundred thousand viewers. The network held onto three episodes from Season 1 as a lead in to Season 2 and this has not worked. When a show disappears on Free to Air (FTA) Television many fans assume the show has been axed. 








However Person of Interest has just premiered Season 2 in the US and will be shown here soon. No airdate for Season 2 has been advertised by Channel 9 at the time of writing, but it is assumed that it will be aired on Monday, October 8 which is about 3 days after episode 2 of Season 2 airs in the US.  Person of Interest was the most watched drama series in the US last year. The pilot episode recorded between 7 and 15 million viewers. Last Thursday's Season 2 premiere opened to lower numbers however that is expected to grow as it was up against Grey's Anatomy which ended on a big cliff-hanger last season. While it's US network CBS won the night; Person of Interest was a little disappointing in the advertising demographic numbers.









While it is common knowledge that what rates in the US does not necessarily do well here; Alcatraz did rate well here, however the numbers were obviously not enough for Fox to renew it in the US. In the case of Person of Interest, it has done very well here, in the US and to countries it has been syndicated to overseas. So the hope is that the Nine network schedule it in a decent timeslot so it has a chance to rate as well as it did last season.







Given that the Nine network are promoting the heck out of the fact that it was the most watched drama on US TV last year, it would seem that their intentions are clear. However, TV networks in Australia notoriously introduce new shows all the time, only for them to disappear weeks later; anyone remember the new and improved Dallas series. Fans who were into that will probably never see the episodes that were bought. What a waste. 









This will not happen to Person of Interest; this I am confident of and I'm not saying this because it's one of my favourite shows. Channel Nine made a serious mistake holding over those last three episodes and my hope is they don't do it again. 



Update 3 Oct 2012; Person of Interest Season 2 will premiere on 08 October 2012 at 9.30 pm on the Nine network. Information courtesy of local TVGuide in TVWeek, 6 Oct 2012.





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Copyright © 2012 Janelle Coulton

2 comments:

  1. "Last Thursday's Season 2 premiere opened to lower numbers however.."

    Janelle: The POI S2 premier opened to 14.27 million viewers...on par with last years 14.3 *average* per episode!
    From ZapTV Neilsen ratings:
    PERSON OF INTEREST was first in households (8.8/14) and viewers (14.27m) and was second in both adults 25-54 (3.9/09) and adults 18-49 (2.9/08). Compared to the series premiere last year, PERSON OF INTEREST was up +6% in households (from 8.3/13) and added +940,000 viewers (from 13.33m, +7%).
    Don't worry...as long as this show sticks to it's premise, it's in for the long haul!

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  2. Thank you so much for your input and the ratings information. Sometimes these figures can get a little confusing. However I've always been led to believe that the demo figures are the most important. I have no worries about it not doing well in the US as the premise for this show is very sound and there is material there that could be used over 5 seasons or more. It is being fast-tracked to Australia again, which is great.

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