Canberra Times (ACT : 1926 - 1995), Saturday 30 December 1978, page 3


Australian TV shows top ratings

SYDNEY: Nine Australian tele vision shows scooped the pool in this year's national top 20.

Two of the three shows at the head of the list were Australian drama productions, drawing well over two million viewers at a

time.

The top show, watched by 2,255,000 people in five cities, was the British comedy series, 'Are You Being Served?' which is set in the clothing section of a large department

store.

Australian dramas, 'Against The Wind' and 'The Sullivans', were second and third places.

The Seven network's historical series, 'Against The Wind', starring Jon English and Warwick Sims, was watched by 2,174,000 people in four cities, and Nine network's 'The Sullivans', by an audience of 2,064,000 in five cities.

The list was compiled by McNair An derson for the Federation of Australian Commercial Television Stations, and in cluded in FACTS' annual report issued yesterday.

The report said that Australian programs

were making a real impact on national

viewers.

Commercial television was now viewed in colour by more than 9.24 million Aus

tralians.

Families viewing in colour continued to watch almost 4.5 hours a week longer than those in non-colour homes.

FACTS believed it was time for parents to shoulder their responsibilites for the tele

vision their children saw.

"For too long, television has been held up as a bogey which has supposedly warped the minds of small children with images of violence, false values and easy escapism",

FACTS said.

It urged parents publicly to take a positive role in supervising their children's viewing

habits.

"The industry goes to great pains to select suitable material for children's programs in their established time zone, but it has been urging parents for some time to accept their own responsibilities by controlling the selec tion of programs and the time their children spend in front of the television receiver", the report said.

Cases of television being used as a babysitter regardless of the time of day were too frequent.

This "laissez faire" attitude among some parents left the child open to televised material outside the safeguards of the family and children's viewing time, when both pro grams and commercials were carefully checked for suitability.

Parents and teachers had a responsibility to teach children to know, understand and cope with advertising in just the same way as they had a responsibility to guide children in knowing, understanding and coping with all other aspects of their future life.

"We live in a consumer society and young children are exposed to commercialism on all sides, by their peer groups, by displays and advertising in shops and supermarkets, by attractive packaging", FACTS said.

"In adult life they will inevitably be exposed further to all kinds of advertising pressures. Advertising is now an essential part of the marketing process of a consumer society".

Planning lacking in broadcast policy.

— Page 14.

THE TOP 20

Program

000s viewers

Cities

I Arc You Being Served?

2,255

5

2 Against The Wind

2,174

4

3 The Sullivans

2,064

5

4 Happy Days

1,796

5

5 M*A*S*H

1,792

5

6 News and Weather

1,728

5 7 The Young Doctors

1,621

5 8 Wonderful World

of Disney

1,574

5

9 Willesee at Seven

1,573

5

10 The Muppets

1,489

4

11 On the Buses

1,414

3

12 This Is Your Life

1,401

5

13 The Love Boat

1,397

4

14 Sunday Night Movies

1,358

5

15 Hawaii Five-0

1,356

5

16 Paul Hogan Show

1,306

4

17 Cop Shop

1,253

4

18 Wednesday Night Mov

ies

1,231

4

19 Restless Years

1,226

4

20 Starsky and Hutch

1,106

5

Source: McNair Anderson for FACTS Marketing.