Two million watch Kath and Kim return

Seven Network foxy morons Kath and Kim returned after a week off to an audience of more than two million viewers on Sunday night.

The mother-daughter pairing from the fictional suburb of Fountain Lakes spent a week on the bench last week and effectively handed an uncontested Sunday win to Nine's rugby league grand final coverage.

Not even that free kick could win the week for Nine, making it the first grand final week loss for the channel since the match was moved to prime time in 2001.

Despite the grand final's week-high audience of 2.4 million viewers, Seven finished well ahead On Sunday night, Seven started the week on the front foot with a two point win in the five metropolitan markets ahead of Nine, which managed just two programs in the night's top 10

The Singing Bee debuted with its US host Joey Fatone to an audience of 1.2 million viewers at 6.30pm and was narrowly defeated by Australia's Best Backyards on Seven.

The new program proved to be harmless and cheerful family entertainment but Nine's new Dirty Jobs wasn't to the dinner-time audience's taste, watched by less than one million viewers and beaten by even the ABC news.

Seven dominated prime time, with the top four programs, and most of the day courtesy of impressive ratings for the Bathurst 1000 leg of the V8 touring car championship, which averaged between 1.3 and 1.4 million viewers across the race and post-race celebrations.

On the ABC, picturesque outback drama Rain Shadow seduced a strong audience of 1.11 million viewers to its first episode, winning the timeslot ahead of Rove on Ten and Nine's Will Smith movie Hitch.

Australian Idol recovered from its thrashing from the rugby league last week to attract an audience of 1.3 million viewers for its British-themed night.

©AAP 2007