Dire ratings for Delta Goodrem’s Olivia Newton-John miniseries to kill off the Aussie TV biopic
THE Aussie TV biopic appears dead after dire ratings for the second part of Olivia Newton-John: Hopelessly Devoted to You, starring Delta Goodrem last night.
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THE Aussie TV biopic is on the ropes after a dismal ratings performance from the second part of Olivia Newton-John: Hopelessly Devoted to You last night.
Part two of Seven’s miniseries, which starred Delta Goodrem as Newton-John, averaged a dire 488,000 viewers across the five capital cities.
The result was a big drop from the 735,000 viewers that watched last Sunday night’s first part and even that was considered a big disappointment.
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Goodrem received mixed reviews for her performance as Newton-John. Morgan Griffin was widely praised for her portrayal of young Olivia.
The poor ratings for Olivia Newton-John: Hopelessly Devoted to You caps a run of Aussie TV biopics that have underperformed.
In February, the first part of Underbelly Files: Chopper, with Aaron Jeffery as crime figure Mark “Chopper” Read, averaged a respectable 903,000 viewers but part two slumped to 696,000.
The ABC’s Easybeats miniseries Friday on My Mind averaged a lowly 468,000 when it premiered last November.
Seven’s Hoges: The Paul Hogan Story, with Josh Lawson, which screened at the start of 2017 was another ratings let-down with 837,000 viewers for part one and 839,000 for part two.
Ten’s Brock miniseries, with Matthew Le Nevez playing motor racing legend Peter Brock scored 964,000 viewers for its first part and a mere 694,000 for its second part.
“The genre isn’t dead but it is an endangered species in the short term,” media analyst Steve Allen said.
“The past two or three have not fired and that is mostly related to viewers’ interest, or lack of interest in the person (Newton-John, Read, Hogan, Brock, Easybeats), the portrayal and the casting.
“All of those they (TV networks) got wrong from the public’s point of view. I think with Olivia, it is just another place and time so it is a generational thing (younger viewers not interested) as well.”
The recent results are a huge drop from the ratings achieved by INXS: Never Tear Us Apart in February 2014.
The first part of Seven’s miniseries with Luke Arnold as Michael Hutchence averaged 1.974 million viewers. Part two averaged 1.767 million.
Samuel Johnson’s Molly (1.79 and 1.53 million) and Peter Allen: Not the Boy Next Door, with Joel Jackson (1.33 and 1.21 million).
Last night’s shock ratings for Olivia Newton-John: Hopelessly Devoted to You came despite a good lead-in figure from House Rules (798,000).
Some experts believe that Seven made a programming mistake pitting its miniseries against The Voice which features Goodrem as a mentor.
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