Escaping From Planet Earth

Ben Elton's new TV show sucked pony kidneysThe ratings for last night’s Live From Planet Earth debut on Channel 9 tell a sad tale of a program that had viewers fleeing from their sets to avoid any stray contagion that may come through the screen and infect them with whatever it was that made anybody think putting this on TV in the first place was a good idea.

Over 40% of viewers had switched off by the end of the show. Melbourne, which had the highest starting numbers over all, also had the largest evacuation with almost 45% of viewers fleeing to safety.

This graph shows all 5 major cities and the ratings for Channel 9 in the four quarter-hours from 9:30 to 10:30.
LiveFromPlanetEarthgraph
See that downward trend? That’s not a good sign for the show.

If you know anybody who enjoyed Live from Planet Earth, or if you’re one of those people, please let us know.

10 Comments

  1. Lyndal Boxcutter says:

    Love the graphing. I’m sure if 9 did it they would somehow spin it to be a win for them.

  2. Adam D(oxcutter) says:

    Somewhere in Melbourne Daryl Somers is getting excited.

  3. Since when were ratings any indication of quality?

  4. @DaveAA Who said anything about quality? If nobody watches the show, they won’t make the show. But speaking of quality: this show was the furthest thing from it that I have seen in a long time.

  5. David Boxcutter says:

    Do we have anything to compare this to? Is a drop in viewership typical for this time period? It seems like the time that many people would be getting ready for bed anyway.

  6. Yeah, my mistake. I was actually reacting to a comment from Josh on Facebook (which linked to this page): “The ratings for Live from Planet Earth tell us all we need to know about the show.” What the ratings don’t tell me is whether the show is any good or not.

    Last year three shows I was watching and enjoying were canceled due to low ratings.

  7. I managed to catch the repeat last night and it was fantastic!
    At last we have some actual watchable Australian comedy, The fact that the ratings were less than great doesn’t mean the show wasn’t great.
    I think Ben Elton and the writers did a great job, He was a good host and the writing was cutting and precise.
    That sketch with the Fat Chef was the funniest thing on Australian TV I’ve sene in ages.
    Just hope that it doesn’t get axed before it’s time.
    Really looking forward to the next ep

  8. @Daniel B: That’s some quality trolling.

  9. Daniel B says:

    I thought it was a little labored myself.
    Seriously, who involved in the production thought that this nonsense would connect with viewers? Does nine have such a contempt for its viewers that they think this drivel would rate at all? Then again two and a half men rates quite well, so i guess the viewing audience actually asked for this abortion of a comedy. And why, oh why is Ben Elton the host? I wasn’t aware that he had a following here? Are all the talented Australian comics busy? Or was Ben ‘Paycheck’ Elton the only ‘person’ would would take this gig?

  10. Adam D(oxcutter) says:

    Elton wrote the whole thing all by himself. I think it’s his pet project.

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