The Glenn Dyer breakdown: Shaun Micallef did well last night on Micallef Wednesday. Mad as Hell returned at ABC1 at 8pm and was entertaining (625,000 metro and 895,000 national viewers) and he and Kat Stewart debuted in Mr and Mrs Murder on Ten at 8.30pm (782,000 metro and 1.04 million national viewers) and didn’t disgrace themselves. It helped offset the impact of Ten’s ratings black holes at 7.30 and 9.30pm (AKA Glee and The Good Wife).

My Kitchen Rules won the night with more than 1.7 million metro and more than 2.5 million national viewers. That helped Seven score a smaller-than-expected win on the night. Seven’s debut Last Resort (after My Kitchen Rules) averaged just over 1.1 million metro viewers (1.76 million nationally).

Nine’s The Block All Stars ( 1.041 million metro and 1.55 million nationally) did OK, as did the movie The Blind Side (841,000 metro and 1.2 million national viewers). The Blind Side ran from 8.30 to well past 11pm, and it kept Nine in the hunt because Seven’s audiences fell away towards the end of Last Resort and into Highway Patrol and a police chases video program. But MKR did the job last night, and that’s all that counts.

But surprisingly, Seven lost Melbourne to Nine as weakness at 6pm to 7pm hit home, again and Last Resort did worst of all there of the five metro markets. The Blind Side was stronger for longer in Melbourne, helping to Nine win the night in that market. But MKR ruled nationally and Last Resort was solid elsewhere, as well as in regional markets, which Seven again won.

Nine News and A Current Affair beat Seven News and Today Tonight because of the big wins in Sydney and Melbourne (and Brisbane last night), which offset Seven’s margins in Adelaide and especially Perth. But for a second night, both A Current Affair and Today Tonight failed to make the million-viewer mark in metro markets. In the morning Nine’s Sunrise had its third win in a row this week in the metros. And in mornings, Sunrise with 584,000 reversed the metro loss to Today, which averaged 544,000.

Tonight: Another MKR tonight on Seven will dominate, and then Bones, The Block All Stars, The Mentalist and then CSI on Nine. Ten hasn’t much at all. Avoid American Idol — millions of American fans are doing just that and Fox has seen its audiences slide by 18% or so as a result. The ABC has Catalyst on the Road at 8pm. SBS has the new Food Safari at 7.30pm.

The top 10 national programs (metro & regional combined): MKR is down more than 400,000 from its national peak this week.

  1. My Kitchen Rules (Seven) — 2.560 million.
  2. Last Resort (Seven) — 1.765 million.
  3. Seven News — 1.671 million.
  4. Nine News — 1.644 million.
  5. The Block All Stars (Nine) — 1.556 million.
  6. Home and Away (Seven) — 1.345 million.
  7. ABC1 News — 1.325 million.
  8. Movie: The Blind Side (Nine) — 1.202 million.
  9. A Current Affair (Nine) — 1.172 million.
  10. Today Tonight (Seven) — 1.168 million.

The metro winners:

  1. My Kitchen Rules (Seven, 7.30pm) — 1.755 million.
  2. Nine News (6pm) — 1.151 million.
  3. Last Resort (Seven, 8.40pm) — 1.131 million.
  4.  Seven News (6pm) — 1.101 million.
  5. The Block All Stars (Nine, 7pm) — 1.041 million.

The Losers: Good choice last night, so no real losers, except The Good Wife on Ten at 9.30pm, 380,000 metro and 514,000 national viewers. Time for the pastures or Eleven, I think. Glee, 269,000 at 7.30pm in metro markets and just 371,000 nationally. Time it was put out of its misery. Even repeats of The Simpsons can do better (sorry, they are being shown at 6pm!).Metro news and current affairs: The Business was pre-empted on news by the federal community cabinet meeting.

  1. Nine News (6pm) — 1.151 million.
  2. Seven News (6pm) — 1.101 million.
  3. A Current Affair (Nine, 6.30pm) — 962,000.
  4. Today Tonight (Seven, 6.30pm) — 951,000.
  5. ABC1 News (7pm) — 938,000.
  6. 7.30 (ABC1) — 720,000.
  7. Ten News (5pm) — 661,000.
  8. The Project (6.30pm) — 432,000.
  9. Lateline (ABC1, 10.30pm) — 191,000.
  10. Ten Late News (10.30pm) — 162,000.
  11. SBS News (SBS ONE, 6.30pm) — 127,000.
  12. The Business (ABC1, 11.05pm, repeat) — 107,000.
  13. World News Late (SBS, 10.30pm) — 60,000.
  14. The Drum (News 24, 10pm, repeat) — 37,000.

In the morning:

  1. Today (Nine, 7am) — 381,000.
  2. Sunrise (Seven, 7am) — 368,000.
  3. The Morning Show (Seven, 9am) — 164,000.
  4. Mornings (Nine, 9am) — 142,000.
  5. News Breakfast (ABC1, 7am) — 45,000 + 35,000 on News 24

Metro free to air: Seven (three channels ) won with a share of 33.3%, from Nine (three) on 30.5%, the ABC (four) was on 16.6%, Ten (three) was on 15.6% and SBS (three) ended on 3.9%.

Metro digital: In digital, 7TWO won with a share of 3.9% from Eleven and 7mate with 3.4%, Gem and GO were on 3.2%, ABC 2 was on 2.6%, ONE ended with 1.6%, ABC 3 and News 24 were on 0.9% each, SBS TWO was on 0.5% and NITV was on 0.1%. The 11 digital channels’ free-to-air share last night was 23.5%. Thus far 7TWO leads the week with 3.7%, from 7mate on 3.6% and GO on 3.1%.

Metro including pay TV: Seven (three channels ) won with a share of 29.8%, from Nine (three) on 25.5%, the ABC (four) was on 13.9%, Ten (three) was on 13.1% and SBS (three) ended on 3.3%. The 16 free-to-air channels’ share of viewing last night was 85.9%. The five main channels share was 66.3% and the 11 digital channels share was 19.6%, which was a bit low. Pay TV’s share was 14.1% for the 200 plus channels on Foxtel.

The top five pay TV channels were:

  1. Fox 8 — 3.2%
  2. LifeStyle — 3.1%.
  3.  TV 1 — 2.3%.
  4. UKTV — 1.8%.
  5. A&E — 1.7%.

The four most-watched programs on pay TV were:

  1. Selling Houses Australia (LifeStyle) — 151,000.
  2. The Simpsons (Fox 8) — 104,000.
  3. Location, Location, Location Australia (LifeStyle) — 88,000.
  4. Family Guy (Fox 8) — 79,000.

Regional: Prime/7Qld (three channel ) won with a share of 36.3%, from WIN/NBN (three) on 33.2%, the ABC (four) was on 14.6%, SC Ten (three) was on 12.5% and SBS (three) ended on 3.6%. Prime/7Qld won the main channels with 27.3%, from WIN/NBN on 24.4%, ABC1 was on 10.5% and SC Ten was on 8.2%. The digitals were won by 7TWO with 4.7% from Gem on 4.6% and 7mate and GO with 4.2% each. The 11 digital channels had an free-to-air share last night of 26.5%. Prime/7Qld leads the week with 35.4% from WIN/NBN on 28.7%, the ABC is on 16.6% and SC Ten is on 14.9%.

The five most-watched programs in regional markets were:

  1. My Kitchen Rules — 804,000.
  2. Last Resort — 637,000.
  3. Seven News — 561,000.
  4. The Block All Stars — 515,000.
  5. Nine News — 473,000.

Major metro markets: Nine won Melbourne (overall and the main channels). Seven won the rest. The ABC and ABC1 were third everywhere. Nine was second where Seven won. Meanwhile 7TWO won the digitals in Perth, Adelaide and Sydney. GO won Brisbane, 7mate won Melbourne. Seven leads the week everywhere with Nine second and the ABC third in Sydney, Melbourne and Perth. Ten is third in Adelaide and Brisbane.

(All shares on the basis of combined overnight 6pm to midnight All People)

Source: Oztam, TV Networks data