There was a disruption to the Channel Ten narrative last night.

After 2011 was unkind to the network, Sunday night was to be their coming out party. A sign to the world that they were no longer the awkward pimply teen that we’ve known in recent times. With their ‘Super Sundays line-up of the revamped Young Talent Time, New Girl, Modern Family, and Homeland, everything looked promising. And then there was Tomic.

Ratings for the Tennis have been pretty impressive over the past week as Tomic became a household name. And with teenager Bernard Tomic making it through to play Roger Federer last night at the Australian Open, it was almost enough for people to look past the fact there was a sportsman named Bernard and that Channel Ten had a new line-up.

A massive audience for the tennis would mean that Ten’s coming out would not happen with the intended splash, creating some momentum problems for them in coming weeks. Also problematic would be a low viewer turnout for Homeland – a show that demands you watch from the first episode. ‘Encore’ screenings were an inevitability regardless, but with a ratings defeat imminent last night, it was looking dire.

Ratings this morning paint an entirely different picture than the expected. Yes, viewers flocked to watch Bernie at the Aus Open (Over 1.6 million nationally), but Ten did astoundingly well.

18:30 Young Talent Time – 1,050,000 nationally
19:30 Modern Family – 1,127,000 nationally
20:00 New Girl – 1,275,000 nationally
20:30 Homeland – 1,223,000 nationally

Proof positive that Australians love Zooey Deschanel. The ratings last night represent the best share that Ten have had in 6 months (19.4%) and you’d have to imagine that some drinks are going to be had at Ten today.

Of course, this isn’t stopping Ten from going ahead with the encore screenings. Ten have just announced the following line-up change for this Tuesday night.

6:00 pm THE PROJECT
7:00 pm THE BIGGEST LOSER
8:00 pm YOUNG TALENT TIME (encore)
9:00 pm NEW GIRL (encore)
9:30 PM HOMELAND (encore)

Sorry NCIS fans, but your double-episode repeats are being replaced this week.