The past three or four years there has been an onslaught of food- and cooking-related reality television shows flooding our screens, but the series responsible for really kicking the obsession into high gear was MasterChef. Last night the fourth season of MasterChef Australia debuted on Channel Ten with an audience of 1.36million viewers, making it the fourth most-watched program of Sunday evening, getting beaten out in its time slot by the Nine Network’s renovation series The Block. In fact, it was the series’ least-watched debut ever.
MasterChef‘s popularity peaked in 2010 as the year’s most popular program, before succumbing to perennial Logies favourite Packed To The Rafters and period melodrama Downton Abbey to take a hit in the overall ratings results of 2011.
So, after the not-entirely-convincing opening night audience figures, it will be interesting to see if season four of MasterChef falls victim to the “Big Brother Effect”.
Big Brother, the Orwellian reality show that turkey slapped its way into the public consciousness, reached its peak of popularity in the third season (2003, won by Reggie), and henceforth reported losses in the overall ratings for each consecutive season following. Maybe three series is the maximum our entertainment barometers can take before we get tired of the same formula? (Or maybe, in the case of the soon-to-return Big Brother, it’s more specifically shirtless narcissists macking on in a spa that we got tired of.)
Only time – and the ratings results – will tell whether this season of MC will continue to engage audiences or if we’ll see “The Big Brother Effect” cause a drop in interest. What do you think? Share your opinion in the poll below.
Via Mumbrella
