Despite – or perhaps because of – attracting some of the most hostile social media reaction in the history of Australian television, Ten’s “dramality” series The Shire made a reasonable ratings debut of 941,000 last night.

After OzTam’s overnight metro ratings were corrected for the late start to the show, Ten says it was number one in its timeslot in the key advertising demographics of 16-39, 18-49 and 25-54. It was also second in 16-39 across the whole night. It peaked at 1.11m

The Shire – produced by Shine – trended on Twitter across Australia. Facebook was also dominated by conversations about the show featuring the lives of a small group of Sutherland Shire residents.

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The show attracted controversy before it even went to air, with officials in Sutherland Shire opposing its production.

Speaking on Nova radio this morning, Ten’s chief programming officer David Mott said: “I think people are overthinking it. It’s a really guilty pleasure.”

Ten’s MasterChef won the night in all people on 1.355m with Seven’s Revenge second on 1.344m, followed by Nine News on 1.25m.

Nine’s struggling US version of The Voice took 592,000 and 21st across total viewers but bumped up in advertising demos, placing 11th in 16-39 and 12th in 18-49 and 25-54.

While The Shire won its timeslot battle in commercial TV, the ABC’s Australian Story rated fractionally better with 942,000.

In the battle of breakfast TV, Nine had a win with Today just beating out Seven’s Sunrise 318,000 to 316,000.

Seven won the night overall with a 22.6% channel share ahead of Nine’s 16.6%. Ten grabbed third on 16.4% ahead of the ABC on 15.1% and SBS’s 5.9%.

Monday’s Top 15 shows

1. Masterchef – Ten 1.355m

2. Revenge – Seven 1.344m

3. Nine News – Nine 1.250m

4. Seven News – Seven 1.224m

5. A Current Affair – Nine 1.062m

6. ABC News – ABC 1.043m

7. Today Tonight – Seven 1.032m

8. Home and Away – Seven 0.954m

9. Australian Story – ABC 0.942m

10. The Amazing Race – Seven 0.913m

11. The Shire – Ten 0.913m

12. 7:30 – ABC 0.852m

13. Four Corners – ABC 0.816m

14. Body of Proof – Seven 0.727m

15. Ten News – Ten 0.717m

Monday’s channel share

Seven: 22.6%

Nine: 16.6%

Ten: 16.4%

ABC1: 15.1%

SBS1: 5.9%

7TWO: 4.2%

GO!: 3.5%

Eleven: 3.0%

ABC2: 2.7%

Gem: 2.5%

One: 2.5%

7mate: 2.4%

ABC3: 1.1%

ABC News 24: 0.9%

SBS2: 0.6%