The year's best and worst of Australian TV

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AUSTRALIAN viewing tastes turned wholesome in 2009 as an amateur cooking contest burst onto the TV landscape.

MasterChef Australia went into the record books as the most watched program in years.

Aussie viewers showed their love of local productions, with millions watching Packed To The Rafters and crime drama Underbelly.
A panel show Q&A got people talking, while pop culture program Talkin' Bout Your Generation also won over viewers.

What were the TV hits and misses of 2009 for you? Tell us in the comments box below.

Some shows hit the mark, but many more didn't despite high hopes.
Among them were news program This Afternoon, pop culture show The Spearmen Experiment, renovation program HomeMADE and reality series Australia's Perfect Couple.

It wasn't just Australian shows that bombed in 2009.

US reality program Dance Your Ass Off was moved after just one episode.
Then there were shows that polarised people and created talk: the return of iconic variety show Hey Hey It's Saturday, Australian Idol and The 7PM Project.

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BEST:
MASTERCHEF AUSTRALIA, Network Ten
The most-talked about and most-watched show of the year.
When the amateur cooking contest launched in April as a replacement for Big Brother, it had a solid, but not spectacular audience. About 1.4 million Australians tuned in.

Based on an English format, with wannabe cooks trying their hand at complex recipes, the show soon became a must watch.

It appealed to audiences of all ages from children to grandmothers and proved to be a wholesome show that families could watch together.
It became the subject of choice everywhere from offices to homes to parties, as people argued over their favourite contestants and their culinary creations.

The judges, food critic Matt Preston and chefs George Calombaris and Gary Mehigan, became instant celebrities, as did the contestants.

The finale between Julie Goodwin and Poh Ling Yeow was the most-watched non-sporting TV event since 2001, with an impressive 3.7 million tuning in to watch Goodwin crowned the winner.
Buoyed by its success, Network Ten launched a celebrity version later in the year.

It was not as successful as the original, but still strong audiences tuned in to watch Olympic swimmer Eamon Sullivan win the series.

Whether MasterChef can repeat its success in 2010 is yet to be seen, but Ten is banking on it, moving it from 7pm to the more popular timeslot of 7.30pm and even adding a junior version into the mix.

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UNDERBELLY: A TALE OF TWO CITIES, Nine Network

The gangland crime drama was one of the most-anticipated shows of the years, following the hugely successful first series in 2008.

The second series, a prequel to the first, followed the booming marijuana and heroin trades in Sydney, Melbourne and Griffith from 1976 to 1987.
The story revolved around the notorious New Zealand drug trafficker Terry 'Mr Asia' Clark, played by Matthew Newton, and Australian drug boss Robert Trimbole, played by Roy Billing.

Former Home and Away star Kate Ritchie made a return to television playing Les Kane's wife Judi Kane.

With no lack of *** and violence it didn't disappoint.
When it launched in February, the show broke records with a national audience of 2.584 million tuning in.

Underbelly finished the year winning three AFI Awards including best TV screenplay, best lead actor, thanks to Billing, while Damian de Montemas won best supporting actor for his role as crooked lawyer Brian Alexander.
It also won best TV screenplay.

A third series will debut next year focusing on Kings Cross in the 1980s and 1990s, and centred on nightclub baron John Ibrahim.

It'll star Dieter Brummer, Natalie Bassingthwaighte, Firass Dirani and Sigrid Thornton.

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PACKED TO THE RAFTERS, Seven Network

Australia's love affair with the hit drama following the 'Rafters' family continued for the second season in 2009.

The show, based around a married couple Julie and Dave Rafter, played by Rebecca Gibney and Erik Thomson, and their three adult children, Ben (Hugh Sheridan), Nathan (Angus McLaren) and Rachel (Jessica Marais), pulled in up to two million viewers each week.

The program made headlines for a series of raunchy storylines. Some viewers complained about an affair between married character Nathan and his boss, as well as a masturbation scene.

Other storylines featured Julie Rafter pregnant and giving birth to a baby girl, Dave Rafter finding his birth mother, and the developing relationship between Rachel Rafter and electrician Jake Barton, played by James Stewart.

In May, the show dominated the Logie Awards, scoring six gongs, including the coveted Gold for Gibney.

In early November, Packed To The Rafters received its best audience ever with the wedding of Ben Rafter and Melissa Bannon, played by Zoe Ventura.
More than 2.07 million Australians tuned in.

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TALKIN' 'BOUT YOUR GENERATION, Network Ten

The game show hosted by Shaun Micallef struck a chord with Australians.
It pitted three different generations against each other to test pop culture knowledge.

Featuring Amanda Keller, Charlie Pickering, and Josh Thomas, it proved to be light, funny and entertaining.

The show regularly scored more than 1.5 million viewers.
It'll return in 2010.

Q&A
The insightful panel show hosted by respected journalist Tony Jones became one of the most talked about ABC programs.

Consisting of a panel of four, including politicians, personalities and leading thinkers, it discussed a range of issues via questions from the studio audience and from email.

Memorable moments included prominent atheist and author Christopher Hitchens and Jesuit intellectual and social activist Father Frank Brennan discussing whether God exists, and Germaine Greer talking about racism in the context of the controversial Hey Hey It's Saturday 'blackface' skit.
Q&A became one of the most talked about subjects on social networking site Twitter.

As the show was progressing many viewers took to the site to give their opinions, frequently sending it to the top of the trending topics (the most talked about subjects).