The Winners: Seven News was tops with 1.603 million. Today Tonight on 1.547 million with Anna Coren back from overseas. City Homicide was 3rd with 1.511 million and Border Security was 4th with 1.469 million. The Force at 8pm on Seven was 5th with 1.464 million. Seven’s two hours from 7.30pm to 9.30pm beat Big Brother, which says a lot about how much that once mighty program has fallen. BB‘s winner was 6th with 1.427 million (and of course won all the relevant demos for Ten) and Seven’s Criminal Minds at 9.30 pm won the slot easily with 1.331 million viewers. Nine News was 8th with 1.297 million and the Two and a Half Men repeat at 7pm averaged 1.270 million for half an hour to 7.30pm, while the 7pm BB finale program averaged 1.254 million. That was the lead-up to the winner. Home and Away averaged 1.216 million at 7pm and A Current Affair was 11th with 1.206 million. David Attenborough’s The Life of Mammals repeat at 7.30pm on Nine averaged 1.202 million and The Farmer Wants a Wife averaged 1.184 million at 8.30pm in 14th spot. Last and 15th was the 7pm ABC news with 1.180 million people. Top Gear on SBS averaged 902,000 at 7.30pm. Australian Story‘s Anna Bligh profile averaged 824,000 at 8pm. It did well in Brisbane, naturally.

The Losers: Burn Notice on Ten after BB. It returned last night for a new season and just 794,000 watched. That’s around 600,000 down on the BB average. Not a promising start. Mark Loves Sharon on Ten now at 10.25pm — and it’s dying — 438,000. Which meant people couldn’t get their usual 10.30pm late News/Sports Tonight fix at the usual time. Grrr. The F Word on Nine at 9.30pm, 713,000. Gordon Ramsay isn’t flavour of the month any more. Time to change the recipe, perhaps?

News & CA: Seven News again won nationally and in every market, as did Today Tonight. The 7.30 Report averaged 756,000, Lateline, 391,000 and Lateline Business, 205,000. Ten News 843,000, the late News/Sports Tonight, 273,000 at the later time of 10.55pm. SBS News at 6.30pm, 254,000, and 156,000 for the 9.30pm edition. 7am Sunrise, 349,000, 7am Today, 238,000. Both should rise as schools return in several states this week.

The Stats: Seven won 6pm to midnight with 30.7% (30.9%) from Nine with 24.2% (25.7%), Ten with 22.4% (18.0%), the ABC with 15.2% (15.6%) and SBS with 7.4% (9.8%). Seven won all five metro markets and leads the week 27.5% to 26.5%. In regional areas a closer win for Seven with Prime/&Qld on 29.4% with WIN/NBN on 27.5% for Nine, Southern Cross (Ten) with 21.7%, the ABC with 13.9% and SBS with 7.5%.

Glenn Dyer’s comments: So what will Ten do next week now that BB has gone? It did well in all the demos other than the older greyhairs in the Over 55s. So Ten will be pleased for the bang, muted as it was. Sunday night it’s America’s Next Top Model at 6.30pm, a second string program and at 7.30pm it’s a repeat of Thank God You’re Here. A repeat of a repeat? Desperate times mean desperate measures and with the Olympics looming, no-one wants to commit new programming (except Nine with the final series of McLeod’s Daughters tomorrow night) until late August.

Last night though saw Seven back to its 2007 performance: behind on Sunday, in front after Monday and winning by Saturday, with a comfortable margin. That’s what will happen this week as Nine’s Monday night reverted to 2007 weakness, just as Wednesday nights did for a month. The jury is out on tomorrow night given the start of the 8th and final series of McLeod’s Daughters which should do better than the stuff Nine has had on.

McLeod’s won’t get any help tomorrow night from the 70th birthday party ep of This is Your Life for Bert Newton at 7.30pm. Tonight is the bike riding on SBS, the Psychics on Seven at 7.30pm vs. and It’s a Knockout, sorry, Wipeout on Nine at 7.30pm. Then All Saints vs. a repeat episode of Two And A Half Men at 8.30pm to 9.30pm. Nine of course has the highlight of the night, Ladette to Lady at 9.30pm, just in front of Seven’s venerable Ramsay’s Boiling Point at 10pm. Ten has a fresh episode and a repeat of The Simpsons and a double repeat of NCIS. At 7pm instead of BB, Ten repeats Bondi Rescue. Desperate times and all that at the youth network.

Source: OzTAM, TV Networks reports