Thankfully the ABC saved the day last night, wiping Ten off the dance floor as the Chaser team returned with Media Circus and a whack or 30 at the media. Shaun Micallef’s Mad As Hell continued to serve up its own whacks as a lead in to The Chasers. And Home Delivery returned after The Chaser to make for a pretty good hour and a half of TV. Certainly the ABC easily whacked Big Brother, which had to battle it out with Wonderland on Ten.

Seven won all people in the metros, Nine won the demos. But in regional markets, Seven won all very easily. The ABC was a very clear third, while Ten was a distant fourth and looking a bit tired in both metro and regional markets.

Mad As Hell at 8pm had 1.047 million national viewers (which made it Number 10 nationally), 729,000 metro/ 318,000 regional viewers. Media Circus added to those figures at 8.30 with 1.103 million national (Number 7 nationally),816,000 metro and 336,000 regional viewers. At 9pm Julia Zemiro’s second series of Home Delivery had a solid 886,000 national viewers. That saw Big Brother fade to 790,000 national/ 560,000 metro/ 230,000 regional viewers, beaten by the ABC and Seven’s Criminal Minds with 1.191 million national viewers.

Seven had a shortage of programming last night – that’s why they extended Home and Away out to an hour. It was the most watched non-news program on the night and finished second nationally with 1.404 million viewers, so the extension paid off.

Seven does that again tonight to lead into Beauty and The Geek Australia. Yes the wild and whacky nerds and their American bewdies are back in Oz where they meat some Aussie bewdies. Oh the tension, the heartache. It was all love and roses, and then blown apart, in a fashion made popular by the two timing Bachelor on Ten! Do the American bewdies (the sheilas from Las Vegas, that is) have 457 visas? Family Feud confirmed it’ a show stuck irresolutely in the 1970s with the stupid questions about Women and Men’s work. Host Grant Denyer is well suited to 1978. All he needs is a a wide lapel or two on his suit coat, six inch pointed shirt collars, platform shoes and a teased ringlet or two.

Network channel share:

  1. Seven (31.9%)
  2. Nine (27.0%)
  3. ABC (19.2%)
  4. Ten (17.0%)
  5. SBS (4.9%)

Network main channels:

  1. Seven (20.7%)
  2. Nine (19.6%)
  3. ABC 1  (14.4%)
  4. Ten (10.7%)
  5. SBS ONE (3.6%)

Top digital channels: 

  1. 7TWO (7.1%)
  2. GO (5.5%)
  3. 7mate (4.1%)
  4. Eleven (3.4%)
  5. ABC 2, ONE (2.9%)

Top 10 national programs:

  1. Nine News – 1.460 million
  2. Home and Away (Seven) — 1.404 million
  3. The Force (Seven) – 1.296 million
  4. David Attenborough’s Life (Nine) — 1.246 million
  5. Seven News — 1.234 million
  6. Criminal Minds — 1.191 million
  7. The Chaser’s Media Circus (ABC 1) — 1.183 million
  8. ABC News — 1.173 million
  9. A Current Affair (Nine) — 1.084 million
  10. Shaun Micallef’s Mad As Hell (ABC1) — 1.047 million

Top metro programs: Not one with a million or more metro viewers for a second night in a row.

Losers: Not as bad as it looks – the ABC saved the day. Big Brother tanked.Metro news and current affairs:

  1. Nine News – 988,000
  2. Seven News — 984,000
  3. Nine News 6.30 — 947,000
  4. Seven News/Today Tonight — 947,000
  5. A Current Affair (Nine) – 921,000
  6. ABC News  – 772,000
  7. 7.30 (ABC) — 684,000
  8. Ten Eyewitness News — 577,000
  9. The Project 7pm (Ten) — 552,000
  10. The Project 6.30pm (Ten) — 440,000

Morning TV:

  1. Sunrise (Seven) – 390,000
  2. Today (Nine) – 320,000
  3. The Morning Show (Seven) — 169,000
  4. Mornings (Nine) — 137,000
  5. News Breakfast (ABC 1,  90,000 + 43,000 on News 24) — 133,000
  6. Studio 1o (Ten) — 46,000

Top five pay TV channels:

  1. LifeStyle  (2.6%)
  2. Fox 8  (2.3%)
  3. TVHITS!  (2.2%)
  4. Discovery (2.0%)
  5. UKTV (1.7%)

Top five pay TV programs:

  1. Deadliest Catch (Discovery) – 73,000
  2. Paddock To Plate (LifeStyle) – 67,000
  3. Sons of Anarchy (showtime) — 55,000
  4. Selling Houses Australia Extreme (LifeStyle) – 54,000
  5. Coronation Street (UKTV) – 53,000

*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.) and network reports.