Can Glee Put the Hur-Rah Back Into Radiradi?

TV3 will be banking on the return of its HD hit, Glee (8.30pm Friday), to put its new Kiwi sketch comedy, Radiradirah (9.30pm Friday), back on the ratings radar.

After making a spectacular HD debut two weeks ago, Radiradirah’s second episode tanked, drawing only half the audience of its premiere and denting viewership of its 10pm comedy stablemate, 7 Days.

There were mitigating circumstances: the pull of rugby league on Sky, a much weaker lead-in (an Oprah Winfrey Show about Glee) and TV2 launching a movie slot with The Ex, which viewers opted to stay with rather than desert midway for Radiradirah.

And then, of course, there were the reviews in the NZ Herald and Nelson Mail …

Having Glee as its lead-in certainly will help Radiradirah’s prospects if the nine-episode conclusion to season one can muster the momentum here that it has in the US, where Fox TV, in a rare move, has renewed the musical high school comedy for not only a second season but also a third.

In other HDTV ratings news, the series finale of TV2’s Lost notched up some of the show’s highest ratings this season while on Sunday nights, TV3’s battered HD sitcom combo of The Simpsons and Modern Family is closing the gap with TV2’s The Big Bang Theory and The Middle.