Melbourne viewers wait for The Block's real renovation
Melbourne audiences didn’t tune in en masse to the second night of The Block, with the realty series recording a 26% decline in home town viewers.
The national audience slipped from 1.34 million to 1.11 million, a 17% drop.
But the 384,000 viewers in Melbourne ensured in remained in the top 10 most watched programs of the night, albeit well behind Australia’s Got Talent and Masterchef.
Its Sydney numbers fell 10% to 326,000 viewers.
The Block isn’t quite the fallen giant, as it remains very popular with highly prized 18- to 49-year-olds, who had the show sitting as their fourth most watched program.
In the over-55 category the show was the 20th most-watched show on the night.
The production company behind The Block paid $3.6 million for a row of four rundown single storey houses in Richmond.
It is likely that the show’s ratings will pick up once the elimination rounds are over and the couples are assigned their houses.
One of the Victorian and Edwardian terraces is double fronted, and the three other narrower terraces have planning permission to build a second floor.
Records are sketchy, but it’s believed these houses were built some time between Federation (1901) and the start of The Great War (1914). Prior to acquisition for The Block they had been sorely neglected.
“They were tenanted by squatters, vagrants and rats in no particular order,” consulting architect Julian Brenchley notes.
“These were perhaps the worst houses in the best suburb. It’s intended that the buildings will now have a dual character. Keep what’s funky about the old houses as they present to the street and add new ‘mad’, north-facing modern additions to the rear. The yin and yang thing, old and new.”
The Block executive producer Julian Cress hopes the finishes, the fixtures and the fittings will make them the best product is available at the time in Richmond “by a long way."
The most striking aspect of The Block continues to be the prominent product placement, with everything from regular trips to major sponsor Mitre 10 hardware stores to Bisley Workwear and Blundestone Boots.
During The Block 2011 Designer Series cladding, a new exterior cladding product from CSR Cemintel, will be used for the first time in Australia.
