HDTV Ratings: April 19

TV2’s week-long HD ratings tumble continued Thursday with Once Upon a Time’s fairy tale run taking a dark turn.

It slumped in all the key demographics, with household shoppers posting the steepest fall: from 15.6% the previous week to 10.6%.

And the news wasn’t much better with TV2’s target audience: the 18-39 average was down three points, to only 8.4%.

The 18-49 vote was just as alarming — 8.7% versus 11.2% the previous week — but the 25-54 slippage was less severe, from 10.9% to 9.3%.

As with many of these serialised fantasies, viewer interest appears to be wilting as the narrative meanders on.

How else do you explain The Walking Dead going belly-up on Wednesday?

Impatience seems to be setting in for TV2’s Desperate Housewives as well (albeit after seven seasons) and even Go Girls is flagging in its fourth season.

Even so, while TV3’s HD rival, The Finder, picked up some 25-54 viewers — 7.2% vs 6.8% the previous week — it wasn’t able to capitalise on Once Upon a Time disenchantment in other demos, where it averaged 5.3%-6.8%.