The Winners: Packed To The Rafters returned to Seven and averaged 1.917 million viewers for two hours from 8.30pm. MasterChef Australia was second at 7.30pm for Ten and half an hour for 1.837 million viewers. Modern Family was third with 1.601 million people at 8pm for Ten and Seven News was 4th with 1.579 million. Today Tonight was 5th with 1.513 million, Nine News was next with 1.377 million and A Current Affair was 7th with 1.336 million. Seven’s silly Minute To Win It at 7.30pm to 8.30pm averaged 1.277 million and the NCIS repeat on Ten at 8.30 pm averaged 1.205 million. Home and Away averaged 1.100 million for Seven at 7pm, the 7pm ABC News averaged 1.092 million and The 7pm repeat of Two and a Half Men averaged 1.073 million.

The Losers: Under Surveillance is just Australian Drug Lords recut. It averaged 844,000 at 8pm last night for Nine and was rightfully beaten by Foreign Correspondent on the ABC with 866,000. Nine spent much of the time from 7.30pm to 10pm in 4th spot as even the ABC out-rated it.

News & CA: Seven News again won nationally and in every market but Today Tonight again lost Melbourne to ACA. The 7.30 Report averaged 921,000, not bad up again MasterChef. Lateline averaged 197,000, Lateline Business, 141,000. Ten News averaged 926,000, the late News/Sports Tonight, 444,000. SBS News at 6.30pm averaged 210,000, the late edition, 112,000. 7am Sunrise, 364,000, 7am Today, 293,000.

The Stats:

FTA: Seven won everywhere and had a national share of 34.6%, with Ten second on 23.6%, Nine on 21.4%, the ABC on 15.5% and SBS, 4.9%. Seven now leads the week with 28.6%, from Nine with 26.9% and Ten on 23.3%. Seven won all the demos as well as All People.

Main Channel: Seven won here and everywhere as well. It finished with a share of 32.3%, with Ten next on 23.1%, Nine in 19.8%, ABC 1, 13.5% and SBS ONE, 4.2%. Seven leads the week with a share of 26.2%, from Nine with 23.7% and Ten on 21.8%.

Digital: 7TWO won with a share of 2.3%, from GO on 1.7%, ABC 2 on 1.4%, SBS TWO with 0.7%, ABC 3 on 0.6% and ONE with 0.5%. That was a total share of 7.2% for the six FTA digital channels. GO leads the week with 3.2%, from 7TWO with 2.4%.

Pay TV: Seven won with 29.5% of the audience, from Ten with 20.1%, Nine, 18.3%, the ABC 13.2%, Pay TV, 12.2% and SBS, 4.1%. That’s a total share of 87.8% for the 11 FTA channels. The 100 plus channels on Pay TV shared the 12.2% reported.

Regional: a win for Prime/7Qld with 35.5%, from SC Ten on 23.5%, WIN/NBN with 23.4%, the ABC 13.6% and SBS, 4.0%. Prime/7Qld won the main channels with a share of 33.8%, from SC Ten with 22.9% and WIN/NBN with 21.5%. GO won the digitals with 1.9%, from 7TWO with 1.8% and ABC 2 with 1.2%. WIN/NBN lead the week with a share of 29.9%, from 7TWO on 28.4%.

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

Glenn Dyer’s comments: Packed To the Rafters returned strongly last night for two hours for Seven and again confirmed that it is head and shoulders above the likes of Underbelly. Better written, more defined characters, superior storylines. It is what good, contemporary Australian drama is and what Underbelly 1 was.

MasterChef was solid, but the result was just a little whiffy, plate 11 of the risotto should have got up. Still it was only a celebrity chef challenge.

Foreign Correspondent was a BBC buy in on the BP oil spill, and a good one to use because it explained the whole, horrid mess.

Nine may as well move Top Gear to 7.30 pm or to Monday nights. Rescue Special Ops will need all the help it can get soon.

What was interesting last night was that the audience for Seven’s Minute To Win It actually rose on last week to over 1.2 million. But Packed To the Rafters didn’t start until well after 8.30pm, so Minute To Win It would have been boosted by viewers tuning in around 8.30pm for Packed To the Rafters. In the last 15 minutes of Minute To Win It in Sydney, the audience jumped 130,000 as viewers tuned in for Packed To the Rafters. There was a similar sized rise in Minute To Win It‘s audience in Melbourne.

Minute To Win It looks like the sort of program Seven could strip at 5.30pm to replace the aging Deal or No Deal.

TONIGHT: Spicks and Specks on the ABC at 8.30pm followed by The Gruen Transfer. Seven has Highway Patrol returning, and then another episode in a program called Police Under Fire, which looks at the Walsh Street killing of two officers in Melbourne. Ten has MasterChef. SBS has a little bit of World Cup, but no games, the quarter finals start Friday night, our time. Nine has Wimbledon and Hey Hey it’s Saturday.

Source: OzTAM, TV Networks reports