HD Ratings: Eggs Beaten at First Sight

TVNZ 2’s new local drama Fresh Eggs couldn’t crack Three’s Tuesday night supremacy with Married at First Sight and NCIS.

The series premiere averaged 4.4% of 25-54 year-olds and 3.6% of 18-49 year-olds, to finish ahead of TVNZ’s World’s Worst Flights but behind the overlapping MAFS and NCIS.

MAFS averaged 7.9% of 25-54s and 6.1% of 18-49s, and NCIS 4.3% of 25-54s and 3.0% of 18-49s.

NCIS proved vulnerable to Fresh Eggs in the 18-54 and 18-49 demos, with the first half-hour losing to the Kiwi drama, before dominating again against the season premiere of Heartbreak Island.

And the 25-54 race also was tight, with only one-tenth of a rating point separating Fresh Eggs and NCIS.

But in the other core commercial demos — 18-39 and household shoppers with kids — NCIS easily won outright against Fresh Eggs.

However, the good news for the drama’s debut was viewership built or was steady over the hour in all the key demos.

But the network would have been disappointed its latest bid to break the curse of Kiwi drama on TVNZ came up short following extensive promotion and favourable reviews.

“Writers Nick Ward and Kim Harrop clearly strived to avoid cliche and easy gags, and while their influences are apparent, the writing is clever and clean,” Stuff’s Steve Kilgallon said.

And the NZ Herald’s Anna Murray said if you had a black sense of humour, “this rather unique romp through rural New Zealand is definitely one for you.”

There was more bad news with the premiere of Australian Ambulance drawing less than half the viewership of MAFS, although it wasn’t helped by a sub-par lead-in from Shortland Street.

The reality newcomer averaged only 2.0% – 4.6% of the core demos against MAFS’ 5.1% – 10.8%.

SS averaged a surprisingly low 3.6% – 9.8% and couldn’t top 5.0% in the 18-54, 18-49 and 18-39 demos.

Rival The Project had a good night, beating Seven Sharp across the board after Newshub Live dominated at 6.00 (except in the HHS/k demo, where The Big Bang Theory and Neighbours were more popular).

Capping a disastrous night for TVNZ 2 was Heartbreak Island’s 0.9% – 2.3% core demo averages.

It largely finished third against TVNZ 1’s 20/20 and Three’s NCIS and Tin Star.

For the second consecutive night this week, Three easily won the biggest shares of all the core demos.