''The Nation'' was an Australian satirical sketch comedy and discussion series covering the week's events across political and social spectrums, premiering on Tuesday 5 June 2007 at on the Nine Network. It was hosted by

Mick Molloy Michael Molloy (born 11 July 1966) is an Australian comedian, writer, producer, actor and television and radio presenter who has been active in radio, television, stand-up and film. He currently hosts '' The Front Bar'' on the Seven Network. ...

with a supportive cast of

Akmal Saleh Akmal Saleh ( ar, أكمل صالح Coptic: AKMAΛ CAΛΕϨ) (born 21 July 1964) is an Egyptian-Australian comedian and actor. He was born in Egypt and arrived in Sydney with his family in 1975 at the age of 11. He has been performing comedy si ...

, Jackie O,

Tiffany Cherry Tiffany Cherry (born 4 August 1971) is an Australian sports broadcaster, best known as the Australian Football League (AFL's) first female boundary rider on the original Fox Footy. She was the co-host of the Foxtel 2010 Winter Olympic Games in ...

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Paul Calleja Paul may refer to: *Paul (given name), a given name (includes a list of people with that name) *Paul (surname), a list of people People Christianity * Paul the Apostle (AD c.5–c.64/65), also known as Saul of Tarsus or Saint Paul, early Chri ...

Nikki Osborne Nikki Osborne (born 19 July 1981) is an Australian comedian, actress, television presenter and former model. Osborne is best known as a former host of the now-defunct late night interactive quiz series, ''Quizmania'' ( Nine Network, 2006–2007 ...

and Pete Smith as the announcer for the show. The show was taped at the

GTV-9 GTV is a commercial television station in Melbourne, Australia, owned by the Nine Network. The station is currently based at studios at 717 Bourke Street, Docklands. History GTV-9 was amongst the first television stations to begin regular t ...

Melbourne studios in front of a studio audience. The first guests on the show were

Peter Garrett Peter Robert Garrett (born 16 April 1953) is an Australian musician, environmentalist, activist and former politician. In 1973, Garrett became the lead singer of the Australian rock band Midnight Oil. As a performer he is known for his signa ...

, Stephen Curry and

Lisa McCune Lisa McCune (born 19 February 1971) is an Australian actress, known for her role in TV series ''Blue Heelers'' as Senior Constable Maggie Doyle, and in '' Sea Patrol'' as Lieutenant Kate McGregor RAN. She has won four Gold Logie Awards. McCun ...

. The final episode was broadcast on Wednesday 29 August 2007.

Ratings

''The Nations initial episode was the Nine Network's top rating program within the 16- to 39-year-old demographic in Melbourne, Sydney and the east coast. However, the program was third nationally, beaten by Channel Seven's ''

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'' (974,000) and Channel Ten's ''

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'' (910,000). After the first episode, ratings began to decline with the ratings for the second episode dropping just over one fifth of the audience. Over the course of the series, changes to the format were made. Veteran announcer Pete Smith and

WSFM 101.7 101.7 WSFM (call sign: 2UUS) is a radio station broadcasting in Sydney, Australia. Its main content is commercial music, in particular classic hits from 1960 to about 2000, but with a stronger focus from 1970 to 1995. The station is part of t ...

compere

Amanda Keller Amanda Rose Keller (born 25 February 1962) is an Australian television and radio presenter, comedian, writer, actress, journalist and media personality, best known as the hostess of the popular Australian lifestyle program ''The Living Room''. ...

were additions to the cast. On 4 July 2007, the Nine Network confirmed that ''The Nation'' would move from its primetime Tuesday timeslot to a new time of 10:30pm on Wednesday nights, in direct competition with ''Ten Late News'' and Channel Seven's ''

The Unit ''The Unit'' is an American action-drama television series created by David Mamet that aired on CBS from March 7, 2006, to May 10, 2009 with the total of four seasons and 69 episodes. The series focuses on a top-secret military unit modeled ...

''. The ratings for episodes were as follows:
* Episode 1: 772,000 * Episode 2: 610,000 * Episode 3: 626,000 * Episode 4: 575,000 * Episode 5: 548,000, * Episode 6: 418,000 * Episode 7: 363,000. * Episode 8: 398,000 * Episode 9: 387,000 * Episode 10: 406,000. * Episode 11: 413,000.

Criticism

The '' Herald Sun'' reported that ''The Nation'' had received a mixed reaction on the initial episode, with dozens of viewers complaining to the Nine Network about bad-taste jokes made on-air.

References

External links

Official website
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Nation, The Australian political comedy television series Nine Network original programming 2007 Australian television series debuts 2007 Australian television series endings 2000s Australian comedy television series