HD Ratings: Rock Bottom Bow for Rock/Pop Duo

New TV One comedies Coverband and Short Poppies came up short in their Thursday premieres against TV2’s rock-solid line-up.

The rock band romp averaged only 1.8% – 2.6% of the major demographics and the Rhys Darby comedy, 1.3% – 1.4%.

They also earned a blistering review in today’s Dominion Post, which dubbed them “off key and irritating”.

TV critic Jane Bowron said Coverband is “no doubt supposed to be hard case and endearingly small-town Kiwi but so far does not strike a chord, only the proverbial bum note. Ditto the irritating Short Poppies.”

They capped a challenging night for TV One in the wake of George Clarke’s Amazing Spaces (2.9% – 6.0%)  and Upper Middle Bogan (3.7% – 5.2%).

Amazing Spaces was decimated by the combined heft of TV3’s The Block NZ (7.3% – 11.4%) and TV2’s winning combo of Police Ten 7 (11.3% – 14.4%) and Renters (8.6% – 10.8%).

TV2 also dominated from 8.30-10.30 with Clash of the Titans (7.2% – 10.8%) while TV3’s Motive slipped back to 2.0% – 2.7%.

The latter finished third for the hour but lead-out Botched Up Bodies (2.4% – 4.7%) largely topped TV One’s comedies on a night that saw the two networks see-saw with roughly half the viewership of TV2.

Thursday’s peak-hour HD channel ratings and shares were:

• A18-49: TV One, 4.7 rating/17.3 share; TV2, 9.1 rating/33.2 share; TV3, 4.5 rating/16.6 share
• A18-39: TV One, 4.3 rating/15.3 share; TV2, 9.9 rating/35.3 share; TV3, 4.8 rating/17.1 share
• A25-54: TV One, 5.7 rating/19.3 share; TV2, 8.8 rating/29.7 share; TV3, 5.2 rating/17.5 share
• HHS/k: TV One, 6.7 rating/19.2 share; TV2, 12.8 rating/36.7 share; TV3, 6.5 rating/18.7 share.

TV2 also largely won Wednesday night but by a much slimmer margin.

The network’s HD comedies Mike & Molly (6.3% – 7.7%) and Undateable (4.4% – 5.0%) couldn’t beat The Block NZ (7.4% – 10.7%), which also topped My Kitchen Rules NZ in the key demos (4.8% – 7.3%).

But TV2’s re-runs of The Big Bang Theory (7.1% – 10.0%) and 2 Broke Girls (5.8% – 7.4%) won the 8.30 hour opposite the finale of Benefits Street and 3rd Degree.

TV3’s series premiere of Gang Related rated only 1.9% – 3.7% of the key demos, being most popular with household shoppers with kids; in the other demos, the 9.30 hour was a closely fought contest between TV One’s The Lovers Who Killed Children and TV2’s Brooklyn Nine-Nine and Surviving Jack.

Wednesday’s peak-hour HD channel ratings and shares were:

• A18-49: TV One, 5.8 rating/22.4 share; TV2, 6.6 rating/25.4 share; TV3, 4.6 rating/17.7 share
• A18-39: TV One, 5.0 rating/20.1 share; TV2, 6.8 rating/27.3 share; TV3, 4.7 rating/19.1 share
• A25-54: TV One, 7.0 rating/23.7 share; TV2, 6.7 rating/22.6 share; TV3, 5.5 rating/18.5 share
• HHS/k: TV One, 7.7 rating/23.6 share; TV2, 8.5 rating/26.2 share; TV3, 6.4 rating/19.8 share.