Sando 5: The one with the goblin ears sub-plot

Like we predicted, episode 5 of Sando was where the writers laid the groundwork for whatever spectacular finale’s going to happen in episode 6 of Sando, i.e. we’ll find out whether Sando gets her business back (and also her husband?). Super exciting. Meanwhile, there was a sub-plot about how Sando’s resentful daughter was born with goblin ears.

Yeah, you read that right, goblin ears. This is an actual sub-plot in a sitcom intended for adults in 2018. Like we said a few weeks ago, Arrested Development could do something this like quite well, Sando, less so.

And it seems the Australian public agrees. Let’s take a look at the ratings for Sando over the past few weeks…

Week 1 – 21st March

A decent start for Sando with TV Tonight reporting 427,000 5 City Metro and 517,000 Timeshifted. The 5 City Metro figure was also covered by Mediaweek, who pointed out that this was a significant increase on the final week of Squinters (328,000).

Week 2 – 28th March

A marked drop for episode 2: 351,000 5 City Metro (reported on TV Tonight and Mediaweek) and 378,000 Timeshifted (TV Tonight). That big drop for Timeshifted says a lot!

Week 3 – 4th April

Sando falls out of the Top 20 and therefore ratings for it do not appear on TV Tonight. Mediaweek reports:

Mad As Hell then did 472,000 followed by Sando on 283,000.

Week 4 – 11th April

Things must be really bad, now. We know the Commonwealth Games is dominating, but all Mediaweek has is:

ABC

Hard Quiz on 570,000 and then Mad As Hell on 544,000 were the channel’s best and both in the top 10.

Assuming a consistent ratings slide for Sando, that would mean it was watched by 200,000 people, if that. Ouch!

Week 5 – 18^th April

This week’s fake suburbs include:

Shaftwood

Browntown

Which seems apt given how it must have rated and what a disaster it is for the ABC’s Wednesday line-up.