After a relatively slow start in terms of viewership, SABC3's recently-ended primetime drama
The Lab found redemption in the form of more than a million viewers for the penultimate episode on 19 September.
The Lab - made by Curious Pictures - was given a mere 13 episodes to make its presence felt and to convince SABC3 to give it a second season.
Courtesy of the 1,042,100 viewers on average who watched the 12th episode, its case has probably been considerably strengthened.
For the first time in 12 episodes The Lab made it to SABC3's Top 10 most-watched shows in
Week 39 (18 - 24 September), only a few thousand viewers behind
3Talk.
Not bad going for a show about BEE and Boardrooms...
The Lab faced tough competition in its Tuesday 20h30 timeslot from comedy
City Ses'la on SABC1, the Sotho/Tswana/Sepedi News on SABC2, reality show
Let's Fix It on e.tv and even from
CSI: Crime Scene Investigation on M-Net, all of which air at the same time.
TVSA has compiled the Top 10 Shows per channel viewing figures for Week 39, as well as the Top 5 shows in a number of genres across all channels, using the TAMS Ratings provided by SAARF (The South African Advertising Research Council).
For the full listings, go here:
Week 39: 18 - 24 September
Other Interesting Notes
SABC1
The channel's newest drama,
Tshisa, premiered in Week 39 on Thursday, 21 September at 21h00 and instantly moved into third spot for dramas behind
Zone 14 and
Tsha Tsha, attracting almost 3-million viewers.
More importantly it had a 43 percent audience share in the 21h00 timeslot, which was higher even than the audience share achieved by the show before it, reality topdog
Zola 7 (40 percent).
Tshisa's timeslot competitors were Our Nation in Colour on SABC2,
Bones and
The Jamie Foxx Show on SABC3, the movie
Coyote Ugly on e.tv and a combination of
Desperate Housewives and CSI on M-Net.
Another drama to premiere in Week 39 on SABC1 was the rebroadcast of Season 3 of
Gaz'lam, which scored a 34 percent audience share and 2,798,200 viewers for its first episode on Wednesday 20 September, at 20h30.
Not bad going for a repeat...
SABC2
The Season 2 finale of
Strictly Come Dancing managed 1,910,500 viewers, the most viewers the show had during its eight-episode run.
It's a pretty impressive viewership considering it was up against the third- and fourth-most-watched movies in Week 39 which both aired at the same time: What's The Worst That Could Happen? (SABC1) and Cats & Dogs (e.tv).
It was second only to Zola 7 in the Top 5 most-watched reality shows that week.
SABC3
The third season of newspaper drama
Hard Copy premiered on Wednesday 20 September at 20h30, at exactly the same time as SABC1's Gaz'lam repeat.
It managed a mildly disappointing 887,700 viewers, which is perhaps understandable considering the strength of the opposition which includes the Sotho/Tswana/Sepedi News, Gaz'lam and e.tv's wrestling powerhouse,
WWE Smackdown! - the most popular weekly show on the channel.
It has had two seasons to establish itself, however, and with its improved 20h30 timeslot (it was previously on at 21h00), its undeniable allround quality and a more accessible reinvention of its subject matter it can consider itself unlucky not have bagged at least a million viewers.
It's early days yet, however. We'll keep an eye on it.
e.tv
e.tv is undoubtedly the place to be if you're a movie buff - it continues to dominate the movies genre with four of the top five most-watched movies in Week 39.
Bad Boys 2 pulled over 3-million viewers in the Sunday 20h00 timeslot, repeating the success of Bad Boys in the same timeslot the week before.
Bad Boys 2 achieved a massive 51 percent audience share, meaning more than half of all viewers watching TV at 20h00 on Sunday 24 September were glued to the channel.
SABC1 also carried a movie at that time - Con Express, which only managed 1.1-million viewers.
M-Net
Shows on M-Net rarely make it into the Top 10 viewership lists overall, for obvious reasons. We thought it a worthwhile exercise therefore to get you up to speed on all primetime shows that don't make it into the Top lists (excluding movies).
The usual suspects in M-Net's own Top 10 most-watched shows include
Survivor South Africa: Panama,
Egoli,
Carte Blanche,
Grey's Anatomy, CSI: Crime Scene Investigation,
Laugh Out Loud and Desperate Housewives. You can see the viewing figures for those in the table above.
Shows that don't make it onto that list in Week 39 include the following (number of viewers in brackets, from most viewers to least):
Scrubs (328,100)
Binnelanders (308,800)
Still Standing (308,800)
CSI: NY (289,500)
Veronica Mars (289,500)
Malcolm in the Middle (270,200)
Modern Men (270,200)
Without A Trace (250,900)
Eve (231,600)
Joey (231,600)
Less Than Perfect (231,600)
My Name is Earl (231,600)
Reba (231,600)
Two and a Half Men (212,300)
The War At Home (212,300)
24 (193,000)
Invasion (154,400)
Entertainment NOW! (115,800)
--------------------------------------------------------------
To find out how TVSA calculates the viewership figures, go here:
The Primetime TV Viewing Figures Explained
For previous weeks, go here:
Primetime TV Viewing Figures
For the full Week 39 listings, go here:
Week 39: 18 - 24 September