The perils of live TV. It Takes Two, airing live last night, finished earlier than expected, forcing the Channel 7 desk to scramble for some quick filler (well at least, we make this assumption because the program ended ahead of its scheduled time and an unlisted program went to air). Someone bunged in a tape of Medical Emergency, no doubt thinking it relatively innocuous. It was an interesting choice. In the episode, a car accident victim with pelvic issues is treated by trauma chief Dr Thomas Kossman at the Alfred Hospital. The same Kossman who has been suspended from the Alfred and is being investigated for allegedly carrying out unnecessary operations. Amongst other things, an expert panel “found he did not have the required expertise to practise or teach spinal and pelvic surgery — something he was routinely doing at The Alfred,” writes Julie-Anne Davies in The Australian. — Jane Nethercote

Pulitzer winners, other than Bob. Bob Dylan’s hogging the limelight for his Pulitzer price winning pop, so to follow are some other recipients of the 2008 Pulitzer prize that may have missed out on a headline: in journalism, The Washington Post scooped the pool, with Pulitzers for Public Service, Breaking News Reporting, National Reporting, International Reporting, Feature writing and commentary. In Fiction — The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Diaz and drama — August: Osage County by Tracy Letts. Poetry — Time and Materials by Robert Hass and Failure by Philip Schultz. General nonfiction: The Years of Extermination by Saul Friedlander and music: The Little Match Girl Passion by David Lang (G. Schirmer) — Sophie Black

Will nobody think of the torch? Kevan Gosper is pretty sure who the real victim is in all this Olympics squabbling: the torch. The pro-Tibet protesters are just “professional spoilers … filled with resentment and hate”, according to the IOC board member. “They just take their hate out on whatever the issues are at the time, and that hate against the host country is being taken out on our torch.” Gosper went on another rant to ABC 774 Melbourne this morning, calling the protesters “hateful opportunists”. Of course, it must just be the “hate” part of it that Gosper takes issue with — he’s shown in the past that he has nothing against being a “loving opportunist”, using his position as VP of the IOC to give his daughter a spot as Olympic torch bearer in 2000, even if it meant displacing another Australian girl (parallels with China and Tibet anyone?). This time, we’re assuming he won’t let her go anywhere near it. — Jane Nethercote

Nine turns off the Power of 10. Nine has killed off its second new show of the year with the Power of 10 lasting two weeks, following the cancellation of Monster House. The Power of 10 was axed yesterday after attracting just 521,000 viewers on Monday night, Monster House was killed off after attracting similar audiences in its second outing at 7.30pm on Tuesdays. Both programs were made in Melbourne and both were the responsibility of Hiliary Innes, the head of Light Entertainment. The Power of 10 was based on a US game show which lasted one episode in prime time in January on CBS and aired during the American summer season last year. The Australian version was never going to work because it looked too much like Who Wants To Be A Millionaire and 1 vs. 100 and host Steve Jacobs was inadequate for the task. — Glenn Dyer

Book blogs that won’t bore your pants off. Let’s be real here, guys: It’s hard for a book blog not to be boring. A blog about the book industry at least still has the potential to get people fired, even if its visual interest is sometimes limited by how often it becomes necessary to illustrate a post with clip art of a pile of paperbacks. But how interesting can reading about reading ever be, even to people who are total nerds about things like book trailers and the ethics of book reviewing? — Galleycat, MediaBistro

Last night’s TV ratings
The Winners: Ten’s Bondi Rescue was tops with 1.603 million with Seven News next with 1.498 million and Today Tonight 3rd with 1.419 million. NCIS was next for Ten at 8.30pm, just in front of Gordon Ramsay’s Kitchen Nightmares with 1.380 million. Ten’s The Biggest Loser finished with 1.329 million from 7pm to 8pm for 6th spot and Seven’s It Takes Two averaged 1.265 million from 7.30pm to 9pm. Home And Away averaged 1.224 million at 7pm and the 7pm ABC News averaged 1.176 million for 9th spot, and more viewers than Nine News which averaged 1.093 million an hour earlier. All Saints was 11th for Seven at 9.30pm with 1.078 million (sticking Medical Emergency in as a filler at 9 pm didn’t work, it averaged 854,000). A Current Affair was the last program with a million or more viewers with 1.055 million. Women’s Murder Club averaged 873,000 for Ten at 9.30pm, Ladette to Lady on Nine at 9.30 pm, 894,000.

The Losers: Moment of Truth, 702,000: 4th for the hour and beaten by the combined average audience of The 7.30 Report (960,000 at 7.30 to 8pm and Stress Buster from 8pm to 8.30 (606,000).

News & CA: Seven News and Today Tonight won nationally and in every market. The 7pm ABC news beat Nine News in both Sydney and Melbourne in the most watched list. Nine News and ACA both well under 300,000 viewers in Sydney (270,000 and 267,000). Ten News at Five, 839,000: The Late News/Sports Tonight, 409,000. The 7.30 Report, 960,000; Lateline, 154,000, Lateline Business, 93,000. World News Australia on SBS, 205,000 at 6.30pm and 184,000 at 9.30pm. Insight, 333,000. 7am Sunrise on Seven, 411,000, 7am Today on Nine, 272,000.

The Stats: Seven won 6pm to midnight with 29.5% (27.9%), Ten with 26.7% (27.7%), Nine with 23.9% (25.5%), the ABC with 13.4% (14.2%) and SBS with 6.5% (4.7%). Seven won all five metro markets and leads the week 29.0% to 25.2% for Nine and 24.1% for Ten. In regional areas a bigger win for Prime/7Qld with 33.5%, from Southern Cross (Ten) with 25.7% (WIN/NBN with 22.5%, the ABC with 11.3% and SBS with 6.9%. In the 6pm to 10.30pm battle Fusion Strategy says Seven won with 24.08% (30.78%, Dancing With The Stars last year); Ten was second with 23.26 (21.30%), Nine was third with 20.64% (18.24%), Pay TV was on 14.24% (14.21%); the ABC was on 12.01% (11.08%), and SBS was on 4.98% (4.40%).

Glenn Dyer’s comments: Third for Nine for the second week of the second ratings survey. Not good enough. 7.30pm remains a problem. Moment of Truth is average TV. Tonight it’s Underbelly vs. the rest, along with another James Bond movie on Seven, a House repeat on Ten (new ones in a couple of weeks) and Spicks and Specks on the ABC at 8.30pm. RSPCA Animal Rescue and The Real Seachange at 7.30pm and 8pm will be up against what could be the most obnoxious program this year (locally, anyway) which is My Kid’s A Star, the program where Nine gagged the kids and parents before it goes to air because of complaints. A sense of foreboding hangs over my TV set as a result. It sound like a nasty, manipulative attempt to get people to watch – the worst type of reality TV and this one is completely concocted. Nine has a movie, a repeat called Ocean’s 12. Why didn’t it start Canal Road there at 9.30pm tonight instead of next Wednesday. Canal Road sounds like Underbelly lite, without the shootings and thuggery.

Source: OzTAM, TV Networks, Fusion Strategy reports