Steve Peacocke and Dan Ewing bulk up TV Ratings for Home and Away

[TelephotoMarigold]

Reported in the Sydney Confidential.

THEY muscled their way into the squeaky clean surrounds of Summer Bay, all tattoo collars and criminal pasts.

Modelled on the infamous surf gangs of Maroubra, the Braxton brothers or `River boys' as they were introduced to Home and Away's young viewers were tall, dark and dangerous.

Fast forward four seasons and the Brax effect has seen the Channel 7 series' ratings skyrocket, the audience broaden beyond its screaming schoolgirl fan base and is about to make a global star of lead actor and Logie winner,Steve Peacocke.

Home and Away actor Steve Peacocke Hollywood-bound

Home and Away actress Ada Nicodemou opens restaurant with husband

The down-to-earth Dubbo-raised actor is currently shooting his international film debut in Budapest, starring opposite Dwayne `The Rock' Johnson in Brett Ratner's latest blockbuster Hercules.

But it's his role as Daryl `Brax' Braxton which has catapulted the former labourer to stardom and cemented his place as a favourite with the show's most ardent followers.

His co-star, Dan Ewing, who plays Brax's brother Heath, says the River boys storyline tapped into the fact that edgy surf culture went well beyond just the Bra boys and was ``up and down the coast (of Australia).

Alongside Lincoln Younes (Casey Braxton), the trio are, of course, pin-ups with the schoolgirl set but their larrikin characters have also made them popular with male viewers, young and old.

Peacocke's country boy charm carries through on screen, Ewing says of his absent friend.

"The girls love him and the blokes want to have a beer with him.''

On the mend after emergency appendicitis surgery last week, Ewing said Peacocke was the first to email from his film set in Hungary.

"He was trying to make me laugh so hard my stitches split.''

Series producer Lucy Addario said Peacocke was key to the show's solid ratings, which average over 1.5 million nationally each weeknight, with another gang of brothers recently written into the soap after the success with the River boys.

"He's a very talented young man and definitely has that X factor. As Brax, he's a favourite with young girls and the young mums, but it's his character's focus on family, even when they're on the wrong side of crime that reassures the audience," Ms Addario said.

###

Link below:

http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/entertainment/television/steve-peacocke-and-dan-ewing-bulk-up-tv-ratings-for-home-and-away/story-fni0cc2c-1226714225607?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+dailytelegraphconfidentialnewsndm+%28Daily+Telegraph+%7C+Confidential+News%29

[b2sb09]

Fast forward four seasons and the Brax effect has seen ratings skyrocket? Since when? Ratings went up a little after their arrival, yet by the end of their first year, had dropped again and now going by the official ratings sites, there are less watching these days than before Brax and his rabble turned up and where once Home and Away used to average over a million every Monday and Tuesday evening, now it only cracks a million occassionally.

Larrikin characters? How about violent thugs and criminal drug dealers who deliberately hurt people, hardly larrikin, especially Brax, a man who bullies and assaults his own family.

Must be Channel 7 writers who wrote that entire article; far from reality and all about crediting Brax and co for being Home and Away while other characters are merely supporting of the real stars . And isn't it only the third season, though it does feel like forever with the way Channel 7 and the show continually shove these 3 characters down our throats, because apparently everyone loves them so much they can't miss an episode - just ignore the fact that they seem to have lost more viewers than gained in the last couple of years and now even gets beaten by the news on ABC on a more regular bases - that never used to happen at all and funnily enough, can't imagine it's the young and adoring fans turning into the news.

[lozlovesh&a]

I agree.... this article is a bunch of BS.

They really need a dictionary and look up what the meaning of Larrikin is..... it does not mean criminal thugs who belong in jail.

oh and fast forward four seasons?????????????????????????? more like three seasons. People just a little research is all it takes, it's not that hard.

This is driving me INSANE.

[jodlebirger]

I have copied something i wrote in the spoiler section about the article, under the Braxton tread, because I think it belongs to this discussion:

It is completely nonsense.

I have followed the shows ratings in Australia (just for fun) for more than 5 years now on the tvtonight.com.au site. And it didn´t rate worse in 2008-2010, yes sometimes it ranked about 10th for the evening, and sometimes it ranked higher. the show had some higher rankings in 2011, but it was the same with 2008 and 2009 (also after Sallys departure). It had a little dip in 2010 after the popular characters left, but the reason was they did not work on making good younger characters to replace them... That year was all about going back to the roots promotion, and also making the departing characters and actors to look bad...

What they have done better than in the previous years, is to create a buzz around one type of characters. In 2008-2010 and also earlier we had different type of popular characters which attracted different types of fans. For example in 2008 we had three very popular couples, Martha&Jack, Aden&Belle and Tony and RAchel... these three couples had different groups of fans.... And you can in one way say that the Braxtons are more popular when a bigger group has followed them, because they don´t work enough with the other characters to make them popular.
But I do think that it is better to have different groups or individual popular characters on the show than one group that is very homogeneus.

And even if there are more buzz around the Braxtons doesn´t mean that they are more popular than Shane&Angel, Martha&Jack, Marilyn&Fischer, Aden&Belle, The Sutherlands and others... it is the amount of viewers that count isn´t it?
Even if the media and channel seven are creating a huge buzz doesn*t mean that the show is more popular... They are just working very hard to make us believe so... and then wishing to get more fans because of it.
Just look how they promote the new characters now, comparing to earlier times. The Braxtons got 6 months with promoting before they got on... and the new boys seem to get web eps i Australia... Earlier on the characters was slowly introduced, and then they explored them in depth... much more quality... to get them popular. Now it is all about promoting down under... and maybe in the UK.. And that has made the show cold and stale.

But in comparision, the Norwegian soap never get a promotion like that, We do have small promotion trailers before the season starts, and that*s it. It is still about the storylines and letting the audience to know the characters in depth... Maybe channel seven should do less promotion and focus more on the storylines...

And for Norwegian ratings... they are never released.. But I do think that H&A still has their firm little fanbase here, some has stopped watching and some has start to watch in the later years. But I think that the total sum of fans is stabile here, just as it seem to me that they have been in Australia for the last 5 years.

[Pierced Musie]

It sounds more like a fluff piece of writing to highlight Steve Peacocke and the fact that he is going to be in a big movie but is coming back to the show.

Yet this new movie is in the same vein as 300, Clash of the Titans, Wrath of the TItans, Immortals, etc... but the only one not completely panned by the people was 300. So is this really going to be a big movie?

[~Lynd~]

Maybe this would have been accurate two or three years ago but I think their shine has long worn off.Ratings aren't what they used to be and seem to be fairly stable but not earth shatteringly wonderful.This sounds like Seven promotion.

[sindikatas]

Now there's now doubt of what Lucy Addario thinks about particular characters. Even if Braxtons attracted new viewers, many of them are shallow teenage girls who will switch off then the Braxtons leave. And what about the long terms viewers like beau_t, alexx, andrew, telephotomarigold and many others who switched off first time in the show's history? How are they going to get them back?

[Ukfan2013]

It sounds more like a fluff piece of writing to highlight Steve Peacocke and the fact that he is going to be in a big movie but is coming back to the show.

Yet this new movie is in the same vein as 300, Clash of the Titans, Wrath of the TItans, Immortals, etc... but the only one not completely panned by the people was 300. So is this really going to be a big movie?

Yep agree. It is pretty much Steve Peacocke promotion, like you said just a reminder that he is still on home and away.

No idea about the movie. Is his part big?

Saying that though, people are angry, it's just an article

[jodlebirger]

I have done a quick research of ratings in week 36 in three different years: 2009, 2010 and 2013. Source is the tvtonight.com.au site.

2009

Monday 1 241 000 (rank 5)

Tuesday 1 263 000 ( rank 7)

Wednesday 1 203 000 (rank 7)

Thursday 1 125 000 (rank 6)

2010

Monday 1 013 000 (rank 10)

Tuesday 1 106 000 (rank 10)

Wednesday 1 035 000 (rank 13)

Thursday 998 000 (rank 9)

2013

Monday 992 000 ( rank 7)

Tuesday 952 000 (rank 9)

Wednesday 943 000 (rank 6)

Thursday 901 000 (rank 7)

The number speaks for themselves. The show isn't more popular down under than it used to be... The ranking is a bit lower in 2010 but it confirms what we already know... that the show dipped a tiny bit when the popular characters departed and the producers were more concerned about making the newer actors/characters and the longstay ones look like saints comparing to the departing ones... Without caring about creating good new characters to replace the departing ones.

The show does not rate better or is not ranked better either, than it was earlier on...

So promote a show and characters like more popular than earlier is completely wrong and unethical.

It is not only about this article which is Mr. Peacocke promotion.. I have seen it said by the producers on the official site before, and in earlier articles.

[Pierced Musie]

I have no idea if it is a major character or not. But I will be going to see it at the cinema once it comes out because it has Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson as the lead, and even after all these years (his WWE years, when it was known as WWF) I still am a big fan.

Looking at the cast list though it is like 'Steve who?' !

I guess they want to make a big deal because it is a big budget film but after it is done Steve will be heading back to little ol' H&A, which is a unique thing. Usually H&A stars leave the show and it is like Russian roulette with their career. I'm think at the moment Steve Peacocke is playing it safe and it wouldn't surprise me if he doesn't leave within a few months, when he contract ends. In all of his interviews he mentions how hard it has been to get an acting gig so he knows that 1 big budget film is not the gateway to a full blown career in the movies.

I just wish those behind the scenes of H&A & 7 realise how stupid they are being by focusing on one lot of people. And the worst thing about this article is that it makes both of them look bad, yet both Ewing & Peacocke always come across quite humble and thankful that they were both given a chance on H&A.