If the biopic’s death throes were signalled by the disasters that were The House of Bond on Nine and the Paul Hogan story on Seven, then last night’s reception for Seven’s Blue Murder: Killer Cop should provide convincing evidence of the genre’s demise. Now to shut the corpse in a lead-lined vault somewhere with silver nails, attach a sprig of rosemary and some water from Lourdes and hide it deep, deep in the earth. Viewers may have loved the INXS story, Molly Meldrum and Peter Allen, but that seems to have been the limit of the forbearance. It is a message to Nine as embarks in disinterring Underbelly from a lead-lined vault and trying to attach some ratings Packer Whackers to get a program up.

The Block (1.787 million national viewers) crushed Blue Murder (1.093 million nationally, which is not enough for the expense involved in making what is a fine program. No problems about the content) and Hell’s Kitchen (1.189 million nationally, which is barely OK for the expense involved) — the cooking show hosted by Marco Pierre White, a grumpy British chef who apparently taught Gordon Ramsay to speak. 

Australian Survivor (785,000 nationally) remains on life support as it clings to a small audience on Ten. Ten’s main channel was in fact pushed to fourth by an average night on the ABC (and Ten’s main channel averaged 5.7% on Saturday night, close to an all-time low). Are the network’s woes returning now that its in the hands of the corporate undertakers?

In the regions, Nine dominated — Seven News was tops with 646,000, then came The Block with 576,000, Nine News 6.30pm with 474,000, Nine News with 454,000, while Blue Murder was fifth with 376,000.

Network channel share:

  1. Nine (32.6%)
  2. Seven (32.5%)
  3. Ten (17.8%)
  4. ABC (15.6%)
  5. SBS (6.5%)

Network main channels:

  1. Nine (23.3%)
  2. Seven (22.1%)
  3. ABC (10.6%)
  4. Ten (9.6%)
  5. SBS ONE (4.7%)

Top 5 digital channels: 

  1. 7mate (4.3%)
  2. GO (4.2%)
  3. 7TWO (3.0%)
  4. ABC 2 (2.6%)
  5. Gem (2.4%)

Top 10 national programs:

  1. Seven News  — 1.999 million
  2. The Block  (Nine) — 1.787 million
  3. Nine/NBN News — 1.632 million
  4. 60 Minutes (Nine) —1.142million
  5. ABC News — 1.134 million
  6. Hell’s Kitchen (Seven) — 1.189 million
  7. Blue Murder: Killer Cop (Seven) — 1.093 million
  8. Grand Designs NZ (ABC) — 811,000
  9. AFL — various games (Seven) — 797,000
  10. Australian Survivor (Ten) — 785,000

Top metro programs:

  1. Seven News — 1.353 million
  2. The Block (Nine) — 1.212 million
  3. Nine News — 1.164 million

Losers: Seven; Blue Murder and Hell’s Kitchen — thumbs down.

Metro news and current affairs:

  1. Seven News — 1.353 million
  2. Nine News — 1.169 million
  3. 60 Minutes (Nine) — 793,000
  4. ABC News – 223,000
  5. Ten News — 292,000
  6. SBS World News — 164,000

Morning (National) TV:

  1. Insiders (ABC, 417,000, 145,000 on ABC News) — 562,000
  2. Weekend Sunrise (Seven) — 492,000
  3. Landline (ABC) — 467,000
  4. Weekend Today (Nine) — 291,000
  5. Sports Sunday (Nine) — 158,000
  6. Offsiders (ABC)  — 158,000

Top five pay TV channels:

  1. Fox Footy (6.0%)
  2. Fox League (4.4%)
  3. Fox Sports 503 (2.7%)
  4. TVHITS  (2.3%)
  5. Nick Jr, Fox8  (1.7%)

Top five pay TV programs:

  1. NRL: Penrith v Wests (Fox League ) — 252,000
  2. AFL: Adelaide v Port Adelaide (Fox Footy) —225,000
  3. AFL: St Kilda v West Coast (Fox Footy) — 219,000
  4. NRL: Many v Easts (Fox League) — 202,000
  5. AFL: Richmond v Hawthorn Simpsons (Fox Sports 503) — 170,000

*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.