Downton Abbey opens big for Seven
British period drama Downton Abbey proved to be a smash hit for Seven, rating 1.807m viewers – one of the highest series debuts on any network this year.
The show – set in a fictional stately home early in the 20th century – easily beat Ten’s Masterchef (1.511m) and Seven’s other big show of the night Dancing With The Stars (1.429m) according to preliminary overnight metro ratings from OzTam.
Despite the show being a big hit for ITV in the UK, airing the show in prime time was still something of a risk for Seven.
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A good show, but 7 put in way too many ads. I stopped watching half-way through.
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Agree with Kylie. Thought the show was great but will happily shelve it till xmas and ask someone to get me the dvd.
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Well Seven will be happy. The nappy-wearing senior audience would be happy. Those under 70 would have been watching something else, obviously.
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I thought it was just me but Ihad to switch off too. The ads were really too much.
I will like others, wait for the DVD
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Number of Ads are disgusting,I will buy the dvd set when avail,much like i did with sons of anarchy.
looks like a new Upstairs Downstairs
A welcome relief from reality tv
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I don’t think that will continue because the first show (I’ve seen the first four already) ran over the hour and they clearly filled the additional 20mins+ with adverts but the others run the usual 45mins without ads so we should see the ‘normal’ amount of adverts run through.
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The Ads ruined it….. what a shame …… but the production was amazing … they should though have started with more of a bang! 1.5 hrs of introducing the characters will lose many viewers…but I’ll give it one more go. Mr. Bates seems an interesting character. The rest were a little one dimensional…..Big audience 1.8M. It’ll need to be very good to get anywhere near that again.. 7/10.
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What a load of BS from the others – it was obviously a smash hit. I didn’t think there were too many ads. What industry are we in again?????
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I love this show. Best thing on television!
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I watched the first two episodes on dvd last night to avoid all the ads and LOVED it, the period drama is not to everyone’s taste, but if you like them and the ads do put you off, get it on dvd you won’t be disappointed
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If the advertisements are too much for you record it and flick past them. You’re getting it for nothing you ungrateful fools. No wonder the advertising business is turning to crap!
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Anyone got the 25-54 number?
Great result, interesting to see if it has a Midsomer Murders type demo profile though.
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Hi Chris,
It did 772,000 in 25-54s – second to Masterchef which did 865,000. Same order in 16-39 and 18-49.
Cheers,
Tim – Mumbrella
@ Cyril Washbrook
Did you enjoy the show Cyril?
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Dear Mark and Groucho, did you watch? It’s not the ads people are complaining about, it’s the way Seven hacked in with so many breaks after a leisurely opening.
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Mark, the industry we’re in is the persuasion business. Not the “shout at them until their ears bleed” business. That’s not persuasive, that’s invasive. We (Ch 7 in this case) should know better.
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I really like the ads
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Ads? Downton Abbey is now on You Tube.
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@# Notmyrealname – you’ve hit the nail on the head.
I hope this show works – it’s a hell of a lot better than ANYTHING else we currently have on mainstream terrestrial TV.
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Good production, completely ruined by a surfeit of ads, ruined ruined ruined. Do something Channel 7.
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These terrestrial channels are getting too fat!
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You can get the DVD cheaply already on Amazon UK! Bought it months ago! Currently only 8.99pounds ($13.85AUD)!!!
Great series… couldn’t watch it with ads though. Can’t wait til second installement….!
Seven was very clever in its promo of it… for those who did finish wtaching first episode it gets even better!!
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Yet further reason for the TV channels to schmooze us viewers – ‘cos otherwise we’ll look for the content elsewhere..
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too english for me . i could never understand this sort of english me lords attitude
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@wilfred..and yet your name is Wilfred…
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I didn’t think that it was as good as ‘Upstairs, Downstairs’ but I really enjoyed it and the ads didn’t worry me much. I’ll get the DVD as well!
It is like a nasty version of ‘Upstairs, Downstairs’. The only ones who were likeable were the owner, one daughter, and the
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Oops! lame man and one maid.
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Having watched the whole series it gets even better. Strange though is Ch7’s ad campaign for the show which plays a Kei$ha song that has nothing to do with the show and obviously well out of sync with the period. They also showed clips from the second episode where the semi-naked body of the Turkish diplomat is removed secretly after he has ravished (ie raped) Lady Mary. Ch7 obviously desperate to sex it up and appeal to under 25s (as if). Problem for them is it’s just all too subtle for their main audience and should really be on ABC. Then again I just torrented it and watched it over Xmas when nothing else was on.
Spolier: they all die horribly in a zeppelin crash!
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LOL:) Glad I wasn’t the only one to see the irony in “Wilfred’s” comment! I found it refreshing to get some REAL tv instead of all the American junk bombarding our TV’s every day. Well done 7! I’ll be tuning in each week despite your wicked attempts to bore me to death with mind numbing adverts!
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