Doctor Foster Ails From Outset

TVNZ 1 viewers don’t want another dose of Doctor Foster.

The season-two premiere flopped on Monday when it drew fewer 25-54 year-olds — the core commercial demographic for TVNZ 1 — than TVNZ 2’s comedies and barely more than Three’s struggling British drama, Tin Star.

It averaged 2.7% of the network’s core commercial demographic compared to Tin Star’s 2.2%, Will & Grace’s 5.2% and The Mick’s 4.3%.

Doctor Foster’s 25-54 average was down sharply on the previous week’s Criminal Minds (4.0%), which TVNZ 1 pulled after only four weeks into its new season, while Will & Grace’s was up one-tenth of a rating point and The Mick was up 1.5 points.

Tin Star also gained from TVNZ 1’s weaker competition, improving from 1.4% the previous week.

The good news for TVNZ 1, which also has put the entire series online at tvnz.co.nz, was the steadiness of Doctor Foster’s viewership, which opened with 3.1% and closed with 3.0%.

Moreover, the network recovered at 9.30, with Criminal Minds: Beyond Borders averaging 3.0% against Love Island’s 2.9% and Blue Bloods’ 1.6%.

Earlier, My Kitchen Rules NZ and Married at First Sight NZ seesawed, with the former averaging 6.5% after winning the first half-hour and the latter, 6.2% after winning the second.

The race was even tighter among household shoppers with kids, with MRK just edging ahead (9.1% vs 9.0%).

But the gap was much wider in the younger demos: MKR averaged 6.1% of 18-49 vs MAFS’ 4.8%, and 6.1% of 18-39 vs 3.9%.

TVNZ 2’s Shortland Street-led line-up won the night in all the core demos.