diff --git a/bin/pygrb/pycbc_pygrb_page_tables b/bin/pygrb/pycbc_pygrb_page_tables
index 87df64bc37b..1c9939195e7 100755
--- a/bin/pygrb/pycbc_pygrb_page_tables
+++ b/bin/pygrb/pycbc_pygrb_page_tables
@@ -570,9 +570,8 @@ if onsource_file:
 
     # Table data: assemble human readable message when no trigger is recovered
     if not loud_on_bestnr_trigs:
-        td = [["There are no events"] + ["-" for number in range(11)] +
-              ["-" for ifo in ifos] + ["-"]]
-        td = list(zip(*td))
+        td = [list("-" * len(format_strings))]
+        td[0][0] = "There are no events"
     td = [np.asarray(d) for d in td]
     html_table = pycbc.results.html_table(td, th,
                                           format_strings=format_strings,