It was baaaackkk … My Kitchen Rules, that is, was back in the Seven line up last night. As a result ratings for Nine’s The Block (1.153 million national viewers) and Ten’s I’m A Celebrity Get Me Out Of Here (824,000 national viewers) returned to their disappointingly low levels after their holiday boosts on Sunday evening. Seven won metro and regional markets night as a result, and the major demos.

My Kitchen Rules had more than 2.3 million national and over 1.6 million metro viewers and that was the end of the night. Seven returned Revenge to its line-up last night after My Kitchen Rules and 1.072 million watched — almost 1.3 million less than watched My Kitchen Rules. That’s a real thumbs down from viewers with their remotes. Revenge looking more and more like a third tier program now, along with Downton Abbey.

The ABC’s usual Monday night line up of news and current affairs programs was again capped by an outstanding Q&A this time on domestic violence. It would have been nice to have a federal minister there to answer questions about why this government prefers to spend billions on national security (with very few Australians impacted), while cutting money paid to women’s groups, refuges (the NSW Government is adding to these cuts) and others.  The ABC easily beat Ten into third spot in Total People and the main channels in both the metros and regional markets.

But it must be said that the reluctance of Australian TV viewers to confront the realism of Nine’s series, Gallipoli is disturbing. It had a disappointing 793,000 national viewers last night. Yes, it starts at 9pm, and so it should because some of the content is a little too real for 8.30pm. But that aside, the content is top notch, and realistic about the myth in Australian history and life. It seems many Australians just can’t handle this type of serious drama these days. There’s no tits and bums as there was in Underbelly, no glamourised violence. It’s all quite a dampener for anyone wanting to stand and wave the flag and sing Waltzing Matilda, as many do without realising the poignancy of the words.

Hopefully the good news from this disappointing support of Gallipoli on Nine is that the centenary of Anzac ‘celebrations’ will come and go without the politicians and jingoistic types making all the noise and grabbing centre stage. l But I fear they will, led by our the British-born PM in Tony Abbott who will seek to exploit the losses of Australian and NZ lives for all the domestic political points he can get, with very little acknowledgement of the terrible losses British and French troops also suffered in this most disaster of a campaign. He will certainly not acknowledge the rotten leadership of the campaign by the UK government and its generals (which, when you think about contributed to the legend-making aspects of Gallipoli). Let’s hope he gives credit and more to the Turks and their passionate defence of their homeland, and their losses, as Nine’s series makes clear happened at Gallipoli. I think Tony Abbott really wants to remain PM for the 100th anniversary of the Gallipoli landings.

Network channel share:

  1. Seven (32.6%)
  2. Nine (26.2%)
  3. ABC (19.5%)
  4. ABC (16.7%)
  5. SBS (5.0%)

Network main channels:

  1. Seven (23.6%)
  2. Nine (17.5%)
  3. ABC (15.0%)
  4. Ten  (12.0%)
  5. SBS ONE (4.3%)

Top 5 digital channels: 

  1. Gem (5.2%)
  2. 7TWO (5.1%)
  3. 7mate (3.9%)
  4. GO (3.5%)
  5. Eleven (2.4%)

Top 10 national programs:

  1. My Kitchen Rules (Seven) – 2.368 million
  2. Nine News  – 1.589 million
  3. Home and Away (Seven)  – 1.454 million
  4. Seven News  – 1.325 million
  5. ABC News  – 1.283 million
  6. 7.30 (ABC)  – 1.218 million
  7. Four Corners (ABC)  – 1.189 million
  8. A Current Affair (Nine)  – 1.174 million
  9. Australian Story (ABC)  – 1.160 million
  10. The Block (Nine)  – 1.153 million

Top metro programs:

  1. My Kitchen Rules (Seven)  – 1.624 million
  2. Nine News  – 1.155 million
  3. Nine News 6.30  – 1.1388 million
  4. Seven News  – 1.001 million

Losers: The new viewers who liked The Block and I’m A Celebrity Get Me Out Of Here and boosted their numbers on Sunday night because MKR was on a night off, didn’t return to the Nine and Ten ‘reality’ programs in the same numbers last night. The Block remains very, very confusing and its hard to see it as interesting TV. I’m A Celebrity Get Me Out Of Here remains a puzzling mixture of Play School and Bear Grylls (on a down day). Revenge on Seven, is fading away as the story gets more and more implausible and more The Young And The Restless/ The Bold  And The Beautiful.Metro news and current affairs:

  1. Nine News — 1.155 million
  2. Nine News 6.30 — 1.1388 million
  3. Seven News — 1.001 million
  4. A Current Affair (Nine) – 982,000
  5. Seven News/ Today Tonight — 975,000
  6. ABC News – 865,000
  7. 7.30 (ABC) — 812,000
  8. Four Corners (ABC) — 775,000
  9. Australian Story (ABC) — 773,000
  10. Media Watch (ABC) — 736,000

Morning TV:

  1. Sunrise (Seven) – 349,000
  2. Today (Nine) – 318,000
  3. News Breakfast (ABC 102,000 + 48,000 on News 24) –150,000
  4. The Morning Show (Seven) — 140,000
  5. Mornings (Nine) — 125,000
  6. Studio 1o (Ten) — 57,000

Top pay TV channels:

  1. Fox 8  (2.3%)
  2. TVHITS , UKTV (2.2%)
  3. LifeStyle  (1.9%)
  4. Fox Sports 3 (1.8%)

Top five pay TV programs:

  1. The Walking Dead (Fx) – 85,000
  2. New Tricks (UKTV) – 74,000
  3. The Walking Dead (Fx) – 73,000
  4. Dance Moms  (LifeStyle You) – 70,000
  5. Family Guy (Fox8) – 63,000

*Data © OzTAM Pty Limited 2015. 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.