The Checkout (1.287 million national/ 882,000 metro/ 405,000 regional) ended last night on ABC1 (sadness), and anyone with a home and contents insurance policy issued by IAG had better check the fine print on coverage for leaking taps and pipes. It will be an eye opener. Probably it was also an eye opener for IAG management last night. The policy is worthless for coverage of leaking pipes.

Nine won Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane. Seven won Adelaide and Perth and the regional markets.

House Rules (8 pm start) made a million metro viewers and lined up national like this (1.584 million national/ 1.007 million metro/ 577,000 regional viewers).  The Block (7pm start) had 1.619 million national/ 1.087 million metro/ 532,000 regional viewers and the silly (no, fatuous) “Unlocked” segment had 1.121 million/ 807,000 metro/ 314,000 regional viewers. Combining the two segments of The Block, its average was 1.370 million/ 947,000 metro/ 423,000 regional viewers. That was more than 200,000 less than House Rules nationally!

By that more accurate measure, House Rules beat The Block last night nationally, in metro markets and especially in regional markets where The Block is on the nose (as it is in Perth and Adelaide). Even though House Rules is a dull program, the product placement is less obvious than the turgid, boring commercial material we see nightly on The Block and absurd segments like the “Unlocked” rubbish. For the half hour that House Rules went head-to-head from 8pm to 8.30 with The Block, the Seven program won.

Idolatory: Blood on the floor at Fox and its fading ratings beauty, American Idol. Two judges, Mariah Carey and Nicki Minaj (who spent the entire season arguing) have left the Idol judging panel this morning in a blaze of tweets. They are the second and third judges to jump/get pushed — a week ago fellow judge Randy Jackson jumped (he’s been there a decade). Will Keith Urban follow the trio out the door, and return to The Voice in Australia next year if he does? But the blood isn’t just on camera, Interestingly, the man responsible for making Idol a hit (and programs such as Modern Family), Fox unscripted guru Mike Darnell, is leaving the Murdoch empire. His departure was announced last Friday. Darnell’s official title was Fox president of alternative programming.  The departures are all sweetness and life, but big changes are happening at the biggest franchise on American TV, and Fox seems determined to give Idol a clean out for another season in 2014.

Network channel share:

  1. Nine (31.0%)
  2. Seven (27.3%)
  3. Ten (18.3%)
  4. ABC (17.2%)
  5. SBS (6.1%)

Network main channels:

  1. Nine (23.2%)
  2. Seven (21.3%)
  3. Ten (13.3%)
  4. ABC1 (12.2%)
  5. SBS ONE (5.2%)

Top five digital channels: 

  1. GO (5.3%)
  2. 7TWO (3.4%)
  3. Eleven (3.0%)
  4. ABC2 (2.9%)
  5. 7mate (2.6%)

Top 10 national programs:

  1. Nine News  – 1.836 million
  2. Seven News — 1.742 million
  3. The Block  (Nine) — 1.619 million
  4. House Rules (Seven) – 1.584 million
  5. Mrs Brown’s Boys (Seven) — 1.561 million
  6. Home and Away (Seven) — 1.427 million
  7. ABC1 News — 1.381 million
  8. The Checkout (ABC1) –– 1.287 million
  9. The Footy Show (Nine) — 1.239 million
  10. Today Tonight (Seven) — 1.232 million

Top metro programs:

  1. Nine News — 1.242 million
  2. Seven News — 1.137 million
  3. The Block (Nine) — 1.087 million
  4. House Rules (Seven) — 1.007 million

Losers: Viewers who watched The Block and House Rules and didn’t watch The Checkout on ABC1. You would have learned something useful, unlike the tosh you were watching on Nine and Seven The Block Unlocked. what a load of TV rubbish. Put it in a skip and haul it away.Metro news and current affairs:

  1. Nine News — 1.242 million
  2. Seven News — 1.137 million
  3. Today Tonight (Seven) — 980,000
  4. A Current Affair (Nine) – 970,000
  5. ABC1 News  – 903,000
  6. 7.30 (ABC1) — 734,000
  7. Ten News — 715,000
  8. The Project (Ten) — 564,000
  9. Ten Late News — 236,000
  10. SBS ONE News — 195,000

Metro morning TV:

  1. Today (Nine) – 356,000
  2. Sunrise (Seven) – 333,000
  3. News Breakfast (ABC1) – 62,000 + 30,000 on News 24

Top five pay TV channels:

  1. LifeStyle – 2.6%
  2. Fox 8 – 2.5%
  3. TV1 – 2.4%
  4. Fox Sports 3 – 1.9%
  5. UKTV, Fox Classics – 1.7%

Top five pay TV programs:

  1. AFL: 360 (Fox 8) – 120,000
  2. The Simpsons (Fox 8) – 68,000
  3. Futurama (Fox 8) – 66,000
  4. The Simpsons (Fox 8) – 63,000
  5. Family Guy (Fox 8) – 60,000

Tonight/Weekend: A lot of sport, but the Swans v Essendon game tomorrow afternoon on  Seven/ 7mate and Foxtel stands out, along with the Collingwood v Brisbane game tonight on the same channels.

*Data © OzTAM Pty Limited 2013. The data may not be reproduced, published or communicated (electronically or in hard copy) in whole or in part, without the prior written consent of OzTAM. (All shares on the basis of combined overnight 6pm to midnight all people.) Plus network reports.