HD Ratings: Dismaying End for NZ Drama

Local HD drama Nothing Trivial ended its low-rating run sharply down on last year’s season finale.

In 2012, on the back of NZ’s Got Talent’s semi-final, it won the 8.30 hour with 11.3% its target audience, adults 25-54, and 7.4% – 10.9% of the other key demographics (adults 18-39, 18-49, household shoppers with kids).

But with a much weaker lead-in, this year’s season and series finale averaged only 5.6% of adults 25-54 and 3.5% – 8.2% of the other key demos.

At least that was higher than the season premiere, which drew only 3.2% – 5.3% and even lost to Prime’s Under the Dome.

With numbers like these, it’s no wonder the network decided not to go another round, a cancellation TV critic Jane Clifton called “dismaying” in The Dominion Post.

“This has been possibly the most intensively charming series about 30-something couples since Cold Feet way back in the 1990s.

“It has been wonderfully grounded and warm-hearted, but well leavened with humour and a nicely tart undertone.”

Nothing Trivial’s woes capped a bad year for NZ drama’s fortunes, with TV3’s Harry and The Blue Rose wilting after promising starts and a revamped Go Girls going nowhere.

But its struggles allowed another local series, time slot rival 3^rd Degree, to take off (as did having The Block NZ as a lead-in for a couple of months) – although TV3’s HD newsmag’s monthly debate specials, The Vote, have never been popular.

The last-ever edition of The Vote screened on Wednesday, to some of its lowest ratings: 2.9% – 4.0%.

With a turnout this low, it’s not surprising TV3 is sticking to its traditional newsmag format for next year’s 3^rd Degree.

Meanwhile, TV One’s Life and Times of Temuera Morrison has been steadily improving, with this week’s instalment averaging 5.9% – 9.2% of the key demos, to seesaw with TV3’s Prison Families (4.9% – 6.8%), which was down on the previous week.

Nothing Trivial’s lead-out, Scandal, which next week ends its primetime run with a two-hour pseudo-season finale, averaged 0.8% – 3.1% against Tabatha Takes Over (5.2% – 10.0%) and Underbelly: Squizzy (1.9% – 3.2%).

In other HD rating news for the week:

• The Walking Dead’s mid-season finale on Tuesday averaged only 3.3% – 5.7% on the back of The Mentalist’s 5.6% – 10.4%, which may not be enough to justify its primetime return next year (although it still out-rated TV3’s Hawaii Five-O and was competitive with TV One’s Death Row Dogs)
• TV2’s SD premiere of Grown-Ups on Monday drew 2-3 times more viewers than TV3’s HD re-run of GI Joe: The Rise of Cobra
• Similarly, TV3’s HD re-run of How to Lose Friends & Alienate People on Sunday reflected its title in the ratings, drawing half as many viewers as TV2’s HD premiere of Abduction and even losing to TV One’s new drama, A Mother’s Son, which averaged 2.5% – 4.7% on the back of NZ’s Got Talent’s two-hour semi-finals (7.1% – 9.7%)
• TV2’s HD re-run of The Other End of the Line (5.8% – 8.5%) dominated Saturday’s ratings while TV One’s revival of the critically acclaimed Showtime (1.5% – 2.9%) was just as big a ratings disaster second time around
• TV3’s Graham Norton Show/Kiwi comedy combo again dominated Friday but faced stronger competition than usual from TV2’s movie, Annapolis, while re-runs of The Middle and The Big Bang Theory were competitive with The X Factor USA
• TV One’s Packed to the Rafters bowed out on Thursday with 3.3% – 8.1%, which was competitive with Embarrassing Bodies on TV2 but not the second hour of TV3’s X Factor, which averaged 7.1% – 8.6% from 7.30-9.30.