Malcolm Turnbull did not do himself any favours by his performance on Kitchen Cabinet last night — not relaxed (and suffering from a horrendous head cold or flu). But he seemed to bristle and not understand that the program was about a chat and not proselytising. At the next election Masterchef (if it is still going), should have a crack at the PM and opposition leader for an episode — decide the poll over a hot stove or oven, see if one can win “immunity” with a fab meal, or a taste/pressure test, or better still, a mystery box that their handlers do not see?

Rake, ah, Rake. In the pointers to next week’s episode and the closing minutes of last night’s episode, we got more interesting ideas than we have seen in eight weeks of campaigning. Cleaver is thinking of trying for the Senate, and he is being seduced into it by that wicked rival for Wendy’s body, Blackie. And don’t tell me this is fiction. If I had suggested that we could see the sorts of stories and headlines we have seen from London in the past seven days, you’d claim that was just ‘friction’as well. But as we know it has been very real, including last night’s amazing events which saw newspaper websites change their front pages and stories repeatedly in a space of a few hours (a bit like last Friday and the coverage of the Brexit vote).

Sunrise (320,000) scored a narrow metro breakfast win over Today (313,000) yesterday.

On Tuesday morning I suggested that Nine’s program, The Briefcase would be shifted to a later timeslot after its ratings collapsed in week two from week one. It averaged 733,000 metro viewers last Monday week, but that slumped to 491,000 metro viewers on Monday night, which is not good enough. It is being pushed to 9.40pm on Mondays (up against Q&A on the ABC, which dominates that timeslot). Replacing The Briefcase is the clip show 20 to 1 which has been switched from Tuesdays at 7.30pm to Mondays at the same time. The Briefcase joins Reno Rumble on the duds list of 2016, along with Kiss Bang Love from Seven.

Viewing Note: And for everyone in the regions not watching the Seven Network tonight, don’t go and get all testy and send in emails complaining about how you can’t watch what on Nine or Ten. Remember they have swapped and Nine is now Ten and Ten is now Nine, well in most markets. In Tasmania and some small areas of the mainland, things may be clarified today. So Today was on Ten (Southern Cross, now Nine’s new dance partner in the regions) this morning, and Studio Ten on Nine (WIN, which is Ten’s new partner). And tonight the NRL will be on Southern Cross (the old Ten) and whatever Ten has will be on WIN (the old Nine). Masterchef shifts, as does The Voice, Nine News, The Project and everything else. The change seems to have disrupted the combined national figures last night for some programs.

Network channel share:

  1. Seven (30.3%)
  2. Ten (23.4%)
  3. Nine (22.9%)
  4. ABC (17.2%)
  5. SBS (6.1%)

Network main channels:

  1. Ten (18.3%)
  2. Seven (17.7%)
  3. Nine (16.0%)
  4. Ten (11.2%)
  5. SBS ONE (6.1%)

Top 5 digital channels:

  1. 7TWO (5.8%)
  2. 7mate (3.8%)
  3. ABC 2 (3.7%)
  4. ONE (3.1%)
  5. 7flix (3.0%)

Top 10 national programs: *

  1. Seven News — 1.672 million
  2. Seven News/Today Tonight — 1.455 million
  3. The Chase Australia 5.30pm (Seven) — 1.246 million
  4. ABC News — 1.117 million
  5. Home and Away (Seven) — 1.115 million
  6. Masterchef Australia (Ten) — 1.087 million
  7. Nine News — 1.019 million
  8. Nine News 6.30 — 922,000
  9. Masterchef Masterclass (Nine) — 869,000
  10. Rake (ABC) — 855,000

*Some of the figures for Nine and Ten programs incomplete, eg Masterchef, Nine News, thanks to the looming changeover of regional affiliates?

Top metro programs:

  1. Seven News — 1.060 million
  2. Nine News — 1.019 million
  3. Masterchef Australia (Ten) — 1.002 million

Metro news and current affairs:

  1. Seven News — 1.060 million
  2. Nine News — 1.022 million
  3. Seven News/ Today Tonight — 983,000
  4. Nine News (6.30pm) — 922,000
  5. ABC News – 770,000
  6. A Current Affair (Nine) – 740,000
  7. The Project 7pm (Ten) — 603,000
  8. 7.30 (ABC) — 556,000
  9. Ten Eyewitness News — 533,000
  10. The Project 6.30pm (Ten) — 436,000

Morning TV:

  1. Sunrise (Seven) – 320,000
  2. Today (Nine) – 313,000
  3. The Morning Show (Seven) — 193,000
  4. News Breakfast (ABC, 106,000 + 43,000 on News 24) — 149,000
  5. Today Extra (Nine) — 147,000
  6. Studio 10 (Ten) — 90,000

Top five pay TV channels:

  1. Fox Footy  (3.1%)
  2. Fox Sports 1 (2.8%)
  3. Fox8 (2.4%)
  4. TVHITS  (2.1%)
  5. UKTV, Sky News, Fox Sports 4 (1.9%)

Top five pay TV programs:

  1. NRL: Easts v Canterbury (Fox Sports 1) — 205,000
  2. AFL: West Coast v Essendon (Fox Footy) — 184,000
  3. AFL: Thursday Night Footy on (Fox Footy) —114,000
  4. NRL Thursday (Fox Sports 1) — 108,000
  5. NRL Thursday (Fox Sports 1) — 101,000

*Data © OzTAM Pty Limited 2016. 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.) and network reports.