HD Ratings: Big Bang Explosive and Harry Oscar-worthy

TV3 will be happy with the ratings for Wednesday’s series premiere of high-risk Kiwi crime drama Harry.

It averaged 4.1% – 7.1% of the major demographics and won the 9.30 hour with adults 18-49 and 25-54, no mean feat given it was “gritty, downbeat stuff” and TV One and TV2 had higher-rating leads-in.

Moreover, viewership in each of the demos that matter most to TV3 was consistent throughout the hour.

While it lost to the TVNZ opposition in the 18-39 and household shopper stakes, the Oscar Kightley-Sam Neill drama improved on lead-in 3^rd Degree, which averaged a higher-than-usual 4.5% – 6.1%.

The current affairs hour still lost the slot but rated credibly given the competition included the highest-rating episode of The Big Bang Theory in US TV history.

Chances are it was the most popular to screen here, too, as it out-rated blockbuster lead-ins Shortland Street and My Kitchen Rules in most of the key demos.

BBT averaged an out-of-this-world 18.3% – 23.6%, compared to SS’s 14.6% – 25.5% and lead-out 2 Broke Girls’ 15.2% – 20.3%.

While these numbers were huge compared to Harry’s, the detective series is poised to build on the back of this morning’s glowing reviews.

Stuff’s Chris Philpott called it “a leap forward in quality and scope for New Zealand television” while the NZ Herald’s Michele Hewitson singled out the star’s turn-against-type triumph: “You forget Kightley is a comedian. He is terrific as the hollowed-out Harry.”

She had reservations about some of the scene-setting but concluded Harry’s “certainly off to a compellingly sure-footed and hard-nosed start” — a sentiment TV3 executives no doubt share.