TV Ratings June 29: The Front Bar topples AFL Footy Show…just

Mediaweek editor James Manning looks at last night’s TV ratings

• The Front Bar topples The AFL Footy Show…but only just
• Final night of Filthy Rich And Homeless pushes SBS share higher
• The Checkout season five finale, no more eps until 2018

See full ratings figures on the Mediaweek Morning Report here.

Seven

Home and Away ended the week on 675,000 after dipping to 656,000 on Wednesday.

Viewers in NRL markets then saw World’s Most Luxurious Cruise Ship.

Melbourne viewers got The Front Bar at 8.30pm, pitching the show head-to-head with Nine’s AFL Footy Show. The Seven production is simple and cost-effective for the channel and a real counter point to Nine’s Footy Show. The show had plenty of celebrity fire power plus Fitzy behind the bar. Chris Judd was a guest as was Working Dog’s Santo Cilauro who was helping celebrate 25 years since he and Mick Molloy appeared on The Late Show in Santo The Magnificent sketches.

The Front Bar managed a Melbourne audience of 169,000 and it narrowly outrated The AFL Footy Show. The Front Bar performed well in the first 30 minutes. However, it was overtaken after 9pm by The Footy Show. Seven has tried a handful of primetime AFL programs over the years – it might have found a keeper for the earlier timeslot.

Nine

Thursday on A Current Affair featured an update on the charges laid against Cardinal George Pell and later in the show the program spoke with Noah Cyrus ahead of her appearance on The Voice. The episode did 775,000 after 884,000 on Wednesday night.

RBT screened at 7.30pm in southern markets to 270,000.

Northern markets then saw the Eels v Bulldogs NRL with 374,000 watching – 243,000 in Sydney and 131,000 in Brisbane.

The AFL Footy Show started with a Sam Newman apology and then a crack at Patrick Dangerfield after his comments about Newman and the program being irrelevant recently. Fighting with one of the most popular AFL footballers might not be a good strategy, but Newman often gets away with his comments as they are laced with a fair bit of comedy.

Highlights on the show included Damian Barrett talking with former players Barry Hall and Brent Staker over an incident in the past. Co-host Hutchy had a New York getaway between last week’s Wednesday episode and last night’s episode. The program did 164,000 in Melbourne and was beaten by The Front Bar, which had never been seen as a threat previously. Things could be different now.

TEN

The Project 7pm featured an interview with Niall Horan and also a marriage proposal in the audience. The crowd was 538,000 after 612,000 on Wednesday.

MasterChef featured an elimination challenge between the bottom four from the midweek team challenge. Sam Goodwin was the contestant eliminated and he also misses out on the trip to Japan starting on air on Sunday. The Thursday audience was a bumper 900,000 after 791,000 last week

Law & Order: SVU followed with two repeats with audiences of 377,000 and then 303,000.

ABC

As we get to the halfway mark of the year it is farewell to The Checkout. The audience of 558,000 saw the final episode of season five and a good story on the dodgy loyalty programs used to suck in consumers. The program will be back with more in 2018.

Janet King then did 477,000 after 463,000 last week.

Cleverman series two then returned with a fairly modest 151,000.

SBS

A strong night of programming returned a share of 7.0%. That is the best Thursday this year and it was also the equal third-best share on any night this year, trailing only the Eurovision Saturday and Sunday in May.

Michael Portillo visited Swindon during Great British Railway Journeys with 317,000 watching.

Rachel Khoo’s Kitchen Notebook Melbourne then did 194,000.

The final episode of Filthy Rich and Homeless did 343,000 after a Tuesday launch on 354,000 and a Wednesday episode on 335,000.

A Filthy Rich And Homeless Live event then followed with issues raised in the program debated. The special had a TV audience of 352,000.

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