Legendary Australian producer John Edwards has admitted that is disappointed with the ratings for Power Games.
Edwards’ latest drama about the Packer dynasty premiered on Sunday night to 793,000 viewers across the five mainland capitals (finishing in eighth position), well short of the crucial million-viewer milestone for a show to be tagged a success. It aired at 8.30pm on Nine.
Speaking to The Sydney Morning Herald We’re still reeling from the ratings,” Edwards said. “None of us can understand what happened. We’re smacked over. We don’t get it. “We were expecting more than double that frankly. We all thought it was so much better than Howzat!”
Edwards who has lead the resurgence of Australian drama with shows like Paper Giants: The Birth of Cleo and Howzat! Kerry Packer’s War – along with Offspring, Puberty Blues, Tangle and Beaconsfield admits that he may have played a part in Power Games lack of succsess due to his ego.
Nine had decided to hold it till next year said the only argument I could make against it was the vanity argument. We had the highest rating shows last year [Howzat! and Beaconsfield], I’d like to have the highest rating show this year.
The show is one of the most interesting shows of the year however the use of the same actor (Lachy Hulme) to play Frank Packer When he had just recently played son Kerry was a little off putting despite it being an amazing performance. Also not helping was the fact the story was a little slow and started a good ten minutes late.
Nine will screen Encores of part one over the weekend before the finale airs 8:30 PM on Sunday