So The Block was on Nine last night, and Doctor Doctor, but who cares how they rated and that Nine won the night? The Seraglio beckoned again for Sophie. I think Ten should appoint Sophie Dowager Bachelorette in residence for 2018 and she can also be the matron in charge/Den Mother/Agony Aunt for next year’s herd of Bachelors. The Bachelorette this year is fun, almost a pantomime, compared to the po-faced seriousness of last year, the year before that and The Bachelor. The choice of convertible last night was an American TV production company’s idea of an automotive wet dream. She would look a lot cooler in a snappy Merc or Bimmer open top, especially with the Audrey Hepburn/Grace Kelly scarf look.

The Bachelorette though couldn’t save Ten’s Wrong Girl — the Bachette had 1.04 million national viewers and The Wrong Girl, just 476,000. That’s another big thumbs down from the core audience. Seven’s Criminal Minds, its most popular US drama managed only 645,000 at 8.30pm last night. The second repeat ep at 9.30 pm averaged 526,000 — dying.  The Block grabbed more than 1.9 million national viewers and Doctor Doctor, 1.20 million — both new highs for a Wednesday night.

Cannonball is down in the advanced schedules to be shown tonight at 7.30pm, but won’t — Seven has yanked it and is running 90 minutes of Home and Away. Perhaps Seven does have standards after all and Cannonball was so bad that it has been fired and will probably end up on 7TWO or 7Mate on a Saturday or Sunday afternoon. It lasted one night, from memory. In regional markets The Block was tops with 572,000 viewers, followed by Seven News with 542,000, then Seven News/Today Tonight with 455,000, Home and Away was fourth with 447,000 and Doctor Doctor was fifth with 416,000.

Network channel share:

  1. Nine (32.7%)
  2. Seven (24.4%)
  3. Ten (19.5%)
  4. ABC (16.7%)
  5. SBS (6.7%)

Network main channels:

  1. Nine (24.7%)
  2. Seven (15.5%)
  3. Ten (13.1%)
  4. ABC (11.9%)
  5. SBS ONE (4.8%)

Top 5 digital channels: 

  1. GO (4.0%)
  2. 7TWO (3.5%)
  3. ONE (3.9%)
  4. 7mate (3.1%)
  5. ABC 2 (2.6%)

Top 10 national programs:

  1. The Block (Nine) — 1.924 million
  2. Seven News  — 1.413 million
  3. Seven News/Today Tonight — 1.324 million
  4. Nine/NBN News 6.30 — 1.222 million
  5. Nine/NBN News — 1.210 million
  6. Doctor Doctor (Nine) —1.206 million
  7. A Current Affair (Nine) — 1.174 million
  8. Gruen (ABC) — 1.152 million
  9. Home and Away (Seven) — 1.096 million
  10. 7pm ABC News — 1.045 million

Top metro programs:

    1. The Block (Nine) — 1.352 million

Losers: Seven and the ABC.

Metro news and current affairs:

  1. Nine News — 937,000
  2. Nine News (6.30pm) — 901,000
  3. Seven News — 870,000
  4. Seven News/Today Tonight — 868,000
  5. A Current Affair (Nine) — 831,000
  6. 7pm ABC News —716,000
  7. 7.30 (ABC) — 573,000
  8. The Project 7pm (Ten) — 541,000
  9. Ten Eyewitness News — 401,000
  10. The Project 6.30pm (Ten) — 332,000

Morning (National) TV:

  1. Sunrise (Seven) – 467,000
  2. Today (Nine) – 405,000
  3. News Breakfast (ABC, 175,000 + 84,000 on News 24) — 269,000
  4. The Morning Show (Seven) — 209,000
  5. Today Extra (Nine) — 165,000
  6. Studio 10 (Ten) — 108,000

Top five pay TV channels:

  1. Fox 8  (%)
  2. LifeStyle  (%)
  3. TVHITS  (%)
  4. UKTV, Fox Classics (%)

Top five pay TV programs:

  1. Gogglebox Australia (LifeStyle) — 151,000
  2. Love It Or List It Australia (LifeStyle) — 138,000
  3. Escape To The Chateau (LifeStyle) — 66,000
  4. Paul Murray Live (Sky News) — 49,000
  5. Mrs Brown’s Boys (UKTV) — 49,000