HDTV Ratings: 28 Weeks Later, The Mentalist, NZ’s Next Top Model, This Is Not My Life

TV3’s HD horror movie, 28 Weeks Later, last night got a bloody nose from TV2’s HD hit, The Mentalist.

The first hour of the superior zombie sequel drew only 6.7% of TV3’s target audience, 18-49 year-olds, compared to The Mentalist’s 16.2%, and over the two hours averaged 6.5%.

It was the network’s lowest-rating Monday movie in more than a month, with only Tropic Thunder rating lower (albeit against not only The Mentalist but also TV One’s top-rating Richard Hammond’s Invisible Worlds).

Meanwhile, This is Not My Life ended its HD run on Thursday with its audience having more than halved since the premiere.

The first episode drew 10.9% of TV One’s target audience, 25-54 year-olds, whereas the season finale could muster only 4.9% — and that was against relatively weak opposition (TV2’s The Vampire Diaries, TV3’s Project Runway).

For most of its run the conspiracy thriller did rate above 7% but began its decline a month ago, culminating in the finale drawing its smallest viewership yet.

Perhaps most viewers felt the same as Dominion Post critic Jane Bowron, who observed in her morning-after review: “After the first stunning episode the show was a chore to watch.

“It became the programme to be virtuously recorded and set aside for viewing with a mental note to self: ‘Must keep abreast of, but don’t really want to.'”

On the day of the finale, the NZ Herald ran a more sympathetic piece holding out forlorn hope for Life’s future: “Despite strong ratings and international interest in the show, writer Rachel Lang says it may not be renewed for a second season.”

However, interest is building again in TV3’s HD contest, NZ’s Next Top Model, as it counts down to its season finale on October 29.

Friday’s episode drew one of the season’s highs — 11.3% of 18-49 year-olds — which was well up on the previous week’s 7.5%.