The Winners: FlashForward on Seven averaged 1.786 million from 8.30pm to 9.30pm. Highway Patrol at 8pm averaged 1.571 million and Seven News was third with 1.539 million. Border Security at 7.30pm on Seven averaged 1.480 million in 4th. Today Tonight was 5th with 1.434 million. Two and a Half Men averaged 1.312 million for the 8pm episode on Nine; 1.228 million for the 7.30pm episode. Home and Away averaged 1.227 million in 8th spot. Nine News was next with 1.188 million, the 7pm episode of Two and a Half Men averaged 1.172 million. 11th was A Current Affair on 1,.119 million. 12th was the debuting Mercy on Seven at 9.30pm with 1.070 million and the 7pm ABC News averaged 1.053 million in the final million viewer spot. Nine’s The Mentalist averaged 988,000 at 8.30pm, which was a disappointment. Top Gear averaged 883,000 at 7.30pm for SBS, Australian Story, 820,000 at 8pm for the ABC.

The Losers: The Apprentice Australia from 9.30pm to 11pm for Ten, 692,000 viewers. Ten’s Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader? at 7.30pm to 8.30pm: 606,000 — now it’s a dud. Nurse Jackie around 10.35pm on Ten, 396,000 — show the News instead.

News & CA: Seven News again won nationally and in every market but Melbourne. Today Tonight won everywhere bar Brisbane. Strangely while Nine News won Melbourne, Today Tonight won over ACA. It appears a few thousand viewers just changed channels at 6.30pm. The 7.30 Report averaged 776,000 viewers. Four Corners, 814,000, Media Watch, 782,000. Lateline averaged 249,000, Lateline Business, 135,000. Ten News averaged 841,000. Ten’s late News/Sports Tonight on later than normal, 212,000. SBS News at 6.30pm, 218,000. The 9.30pm edition, 122,000. 7am Sunrise, 371,000, 7am Today, 315,000.

The Stats: Seven won All People 6pm to Midnight with 32.7% (35.7% last week, it was Brownlow action night in Melbourne). Nine was second with 25.3% (23.5%), Ten was third with 18.2% (16.9%), the ABC was on 16.2% (16.1%) and SBS was on 7.6% (7.8%). Seven won all five metro markets and leads the week 29.8% to 24.9% for Nine.

Digitally: ABC 2 with 1.40% (ABC 1, 14.90%) tied with Nine’s Go with 1.40% (Nine’s main channel, 24.00%). Ten’s ONE was next with 1.30% (Ten’s main channel, 16.80%) and SBS TWO was on 0.30% and SBS TWO, 7.30%.

In regional areas Prime/7Qld won with 28.3%, with WIN/NBN on 26.8% (closer than in the big smoke), Southern Cross (Ten was on 18.9%, the ABC was on 16.9% and SBS averaged 9.0%.

Glenn Dyer’s comments: Seven won easily, more easily than anyone would have thought. The five top programs. Nine News and A Current Affair were 100,000 or so viewers under their normal Monday levels, that was due to low figures in Adelaide and in Brisbane for the News.

FlashForward was a bit Lost for me — I can’t see it holding 1.7 million viewers, but should last OK for the rest of the year. FlashForward hurt Nine’s The Mentalist (988,000). But Nine once again showed how out of touch it is with changing viewing habits, deciding to push ahead with a local version of Donald Trump’s The Apprentice (which never did well here) mainly because the format seems to have taken hold in Britain with Sir Alan Sugar as the Trump-like mentor.

Nine found Mark Bouris, the man who started Wizard Home Loan group and made a lot of money selling it to GE before the crunch. (GE lost a heap selling it off to the NAB). Bouris is personable, approachable and not a bad master in The Apprentice Australia.

For whatever reason the first episode of 90 minutes last night underwhelmed. I can’t put a finger on it, but it just didn’t click. With just 692,000 viewers it didn’t click with viewers, nor did it show anything that could be pitched as a positive. A flop and as bad as Australia’s Perfect Couple in rating terms. Ten’s umpteen repeat of The Simpsons at 6pm had as many viewers and that costs Ten pennies to broadcast each night in comparison to the cost of The Apprentice. Deal or No Deal on Seven and Neighbours at 6.30pm on Ten also had more viewers.

And an update to an item last Friday about Seven canning two series ideas from Granada, Seven says that was wrong. It didn’t happen. So there.

TONIGHT: The night Nine runs third with Ten receiving the first of the fresh episodes of NCIS at 8.30pm. Seven has Packed To The Rafters in the same timeslot. Nine has the movie Shrek Three in the same slot and nothing else. Seven also has Animal Rescue at 7.30pm, Ten also has The 7pm Project. Insight on SBS at 7.30pm.

Source: OzTAM, TV Networks reports