http://www.livenews.com.au/Articles/2008/1...ps_The_Simpsons

Simpsons fans will be yelling ‘D’oh’ at the news the legendary satirical cartoon will be bumped from its prime time slot as part of Channel Ten’s evening line up, edged out by daytime soap The Bold and the Beautiful.

Starting next month the antics of the yellow citizens of Springfield, which have been a staple for Ten for longer than anyone can remember, will be no longer be aired at 6pm.

Instead The Bold and the Beautiful will hit the big time by airing in prime time even though Australia is the only country outside the Middle East to ever feature it in such a prestigious slot.

The soap currently airs at 4.30pm and is one of nation’s most watched non-peak shows regularly pulling in 500,000 viewers a day.

The Bold and the Beautiful is the most-watched soap in the world with an estimated audience of 26.2 million viewers in more than 110 countries worldwide.

I am shocked. They've been looking for something to replace The Simpsons reruns in that slot for the past year and so far nothing has worked. They tried Friends and that failed. They tried a dating show and that failed spectacularly. Could B&B be the show that will finally out-rate 10-year-old Simpsons episodes?

I have to hand it to Ten - they couldn't have moved B&B to primetime at a better time. On December 1 and 2, the episodes with Pam, Donna and the bear will air - if that doesn't get the ratings, nothing will.

I wonder if they'll still have to edit episodes for censorship?

This is the first week of the summer 'non ratings' period in Australia,so Ten are doing some experimenting with B&B.

The show is up against the 2 big network newscasts,so will offer an alternative,but I wonder if the audience at 4.30-students,at home women/men will transfer to 6.

Hate to sound sexist -but will husbands be happy to watch,after work, this show that their wives and children have been watching all these years?rather than Simpsons or news?

This is the first week of the summer 'non ratings' period in Australia,so Ten are doing some experimenting with B&B.

The show is up against the 2 big network newscasts,so will offer an alternative,but I wonder if the audience at 4.30-students,at home women/men will transfer to 6.

Hate to sound sexist -but will husbands be happy to watch,after work, this show that their wives and children have been watching all these years?rather than Simpsons or news?

Well it's a controversial move and it certainly won't be a good lead in for Neighbours. Two very very different soaps. It gets about 500,000 at 16:30 which trounces the competition but it's pulling in the housewives and teens getting in from school. 18:00 is going to be a time when individuals will have to be viewing it more openly and they might not want people to know their guilty pleasure. It would really have to get up to 700,000 in that slot to stop it being an embarrassment.

And yes they'll still have to do their half hearted butchering of episodes. Everything between 15:30 and 19:00 is 'G' rated in Australia meaning very low impact. I think occasionally B&B might be able to get away with more because it's so unreal and cartoony when it does high drama/violence but swearing, rape, abortion, violence etc is a no go.

6pm is hardly primetime. But good for them anyway. too bad the show sucks right now.

So how are the ratings?

MarkH mentioned they have been great - any figures?

My Aussie friend has started wtaching and he says the ratings are somethign like up 40% and it's a success. he said the channel; showing it has been looking for counterprogramming to the news on other stations at 6 for ages and may have found it (they air news at 5)

I wish they'd move it to 7pm rather than 6. Then they wouldn't have to edit the episodes. This week's episodes with Pam and Donna were HORRIBLY butchered (evidently we're not allowed to see a gun at 6pm ). The scene where Brooke slapped Katie was also cut.