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Top 10 on the Box: What We Watched in 2008

The numbers have been crunched and so here are the top 10 shows , dramas, comedy series and light entertainment programs that we watched in 2008. Did you tune in?

Packed to the Rafters proved to be a TV hit in 2008

Editorial Review

On TV in 2008 we loved sport, Packed to the Rafters, factual shows, Two and a Half Men, Andrew Denton, Top Gear and So You Think You Can Dance. Here's a look at how some of our favourite shows performed in 2008 ratings surveys. (A word of note: the lists comprising Series are based on average audiences of episodes that aired - some just a handful).

Top Shows
1. Seven's Beijing Olympics: Opening Ceremony (Seven, 2.82m)
2. Seven's AFL: Grand Final - Geelong Vs Hawthorn (Seven, 2.49m)
3. Seven's AFL: Grand Final: Presentations (Seven 2.47m)
4. 2008 Melbourne Cup - The Race (Seven 2.27m)
5. Seven's Beijing Olympics: D1 Primetime (Seven 2.22m)
6. State of Origin NSW V Qld 3rd - Match (Nine 2.15m)
7. State of Origin NSW V Qld 1st - Match (Nine 2.09m)
8. State of Origin Qld V NSW 2nd - Match (Nine 2.08m)
9. Rugby League Grand Final (Nine 2.05m)
10. Seven's AFL: Grand Final: Post-Match (Seven 2.01m)

Sport takes a clean sweep of the year's biggest audiences. Olympics, AFL, The Melbourne Cup (not even in primetime), and Rugby League dominate the year. Packed to the Rafters' season average lands in at twelfth position as the biggest non-sporting crowd. Aside from the Olympics, Australian content dominated our screens with the biggest audience for an overseas show - a repeat of Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares at 1.63 million.

Top Series
1. Packed to the Rafters (Seven 1,937,841)
2. Find My Family (Seven 1,803,223)
3. Underbelly (Nine 1,706,831)
4. The Zoo - Series 2 (Seven 1,688,134)
5. City Homicide (Seven 1,621,122)
6. Border Security - Series 2 (Seven 1,609,917)
7. The Force - Behind the Line (Seven 1,597,773)
8. Border Security - Series 1 (Seven 1,579,681)
9. Seven News - Sunday (Seven 1,578,016)
10. RSPCA Animal Rescue (Seven 1,576,104)

Packed to the Rafters finishes the year as the most popular series of the year. It has clearly won a legion of fans with its feel-good, next-door family. A Victorian ban on Underbelly denied it the opportunity to compete on a level playing field. City Homicide also enjoyed a strong second season, while factual kept us glued to the screen - including one series which was an entire repeat. The most popular overseas series was Two and a Half Men with 1,503,496 million.

Top 10 Australian Drama Series
1. Packed to the Rafters (Seven 1.938)
2. Underbelly (Nine 1.707)
3. City Homicide (Seven 1.621)
4. Sea Patrol II (Nine 1.374)
5. All Saints (Seven 1.246
6. Home and Away (Seven 1.237)
7. Bed of Roses (ABC 0.971)
8. McLeod's Daughters ( Nine 0.931)
9. Rush (TEN 0.929)
10. East of Everything (ABC 0.789)

All four of Seven's dramas made the top 10. Good to see Rush make the cut, too. Others to miss out included Neighbours, Canal Road, The Strip, East West 101, Telemovies don't make the series list but Scorched took 1.12m and Valentine's Day on the ABC won 1.03m. The most popular international drama this year was CSI with 1.38m. Next were NCIS, Doc Martin, Criminal Minds and Desperate Housewives.

Top 10 Comedy Series
1. Two and a Half Men - 8:00pm Wednesday (Nine 1.504)
2. Two and a Half Men - 7:30pm Wednesday (Nine 1.379)
3. Two and a Half Men - 7:30pm Monday (Nine 1.287)
4. My Name Is Earl - Thursday (Seven 1.173)
5. Two and a Half Men - Monday-Friday (Nine 1.142)
6. How I Met Your Mother (Seven 1.125)
7. My Name Is Earl - Sunday (Seven 1.071)
8. Kath and Kim - Repeat Episodes (Seven 1.053)
9. The Vicar of Dibley (Seven 1.050)
10. The Simpsons - New Episodes (Ten 0.997)

Yes it was an unfunny year alright. The sole Aussie comedy to rank were repeats of those Foxy Ladies. Back in 2007 we were laughing over Chris Lilley, The Chaser, Thank God You're Here and new Kath & Kim. Can we please raise the bar in 2009?

Top 10 Light Entertainment Series
1. Australia's Got Talent (Seven 1.523)
2. So You Think You Can Dance (TEN 1.491)
3. Gladiators (Seven 1.348)
4. Battle of the Choirs (Seven 1.300)
5. It Takes Two (Seven 1.295)
6. Dancing with the Stars (Seven 1.282)
7. Australian Idol (TEN 1.217)
8. Celebrity Singing Bee (Nine 1.213)
9. Spicks and Specks (ABC 1.199)
10. 20 to 1 (Nine 1.170)

Good to see So You Think You Can Dance landing so high in this list (which is half Reality, half Light Entertainment, really). Seven's Dancing with the Stars clearly took a hit by moving to Sunday nights. Rove averaged 916,353 and Big Brother 909,810.

Seven of the ABC's top shows this year were Australian made: Enough Rope with Andrew Denton, The Gruen Transfer, Spicks and Specks, ABC News (Mon-Fri), Australian Story, ABC News (Sun) and Australia: Land of Parrots.

SBS' best remains Top Gear with 889,666.

David Knox for Citysearch, December 2008

View Citysearch's TV guide.