Bert Newton’s death on Saturday night saw a fast and well-handled reaction from Nine with a 100-minute special last night — 1.08 million national viewers (749,000 in the metros and 333,000 regional). It was a reminder of the paucity of talent on Australian TV these days and the complete drought when it comes to program ideas apart from so-called reality efforts, which are in all respects contrived bits of TV ballet.

Exhibit one last night was The Block — almost ended — with 1.52 million viewers nationally. Compared with the spontaneity seen in the Bert Newton special, modern TV is structured, format-driven and boring. There are a couple of people around today who could go down Newton’s route if given the programs by the networks, but they are all cowardly and made so by the ratbags on social media. Newton was entertaining and that is sadly lacking on the whole these days.

Newton’s career will be in contrast to the nonsense Seven starts tonight — a VIP series of Big Brother. A better option will be Parental Guidance on Nine or Have You Been Paying Attention? on Ten (ignoring the celebrity version of MasterChef Australia).

Regional top five: Seven News, 440,000; The Block, 433,000; 7pm ABC News, 367,000; Nine News, 336,000; Bert Newton Special, 333,000. 

Network channel share:

  1. Nine (41.9%)
  2. Seven (21.6%)
  3. Ten (15.9%)
  4. ABC (14.9%)
  5. SBS (5.9%)

Network main channels:

  1. Nine (32.3%)
  2. Seven (14.1%)
  3. ABC (11.2%)
  4. Ten (10.4%)
  5. SBS ONE (2.9%)

Top 5 digital channels: 

  1. 7mate (3.8%)
  2. GO (3.2%)
  3. 10 Bold,7TWO (2.5%) 
  4. Gem (2.2%)

Top 10 national programs:

  1. The Block (Nine) — 1.519 million
  2. Seven News  — 1.270 million
  3. Nine News — 1.160 million
  4. Bert Newton Special (Nine) — 1.082 million
  5. 7pm ABC News — 974,000
  6. Restoration Australia (ABC) — 773,000
  7. Insiders (ABC TV, ABC News) — 613,000
  8. Celebrity Masterchef (Ten) — 585,000
  9. Seven News Spotlight — 560,000
  10. Fires (ABC) — 502,000

Top metro programs: The Block (Nine) — 1.084 million

Losers: None

Metro news and current affairs:

  1. Seven News — 830,000
  2. Nine News — 824,000
  3. 7pm ABC News — 607,000
  4. 60 Minutes (Nine) — n/a
  5. Seven News Spotlight — 436,000
  6. The Sunday Project 7pm (Ten) — 305,000
  7. Nine Late News — n/a
  8. Ten News First — 238,000
  9. The Sunday Project 6.30pm (Ten) — 217,000
  10. SBS World News — 134,000

Morning (national) TV:

  1. Insiders (ABC, ABC News) — 613,000
  2. Weekend Sunrise (Seven) — 395,000
  3. Landline (ABC) — 353,000
  4. Weekend Today (Nine) — 312,000
  5. Offsiders — 194,000
  6. Sports Sunday (Nine) — 149,000

Top 5 pay TV programs: 

  1. Supercars Round 22 (Fox Sports 506) — 125,000
  2. Supercars Round Podium Sydney (Fox Sports 506) — 104000
  3. Supercars Sydney Supernight (Fox Sports 506) — 101,000
  4. Supercars The Grid Sydney (Fox Sports 506) — 97,000
  5. Supercars Round Post Race Show, Supercars (Fox Sports 506) — 90,000