HDTV Ratings: February 7

TV2’s Two and a Half Men special hammered TV3’s all-star HD line-up on Tuesday.

Au Revoir Charlie, a four-episode tribute to star Charlie Sheen on the eve of tonight’s season-nine premiere, crushed the return of The Secret Lives of Dancers, Missing Pieces and NCIS.

It wasn’t until the two-hour compilation was over that TV3 regained some ratings traction with NCIS: Los Angeles.

Charlie averaged 16.3% of TV3’s target audience, 25-54 year-olds, and 17% of TV2’s, 18-39 year-olds.

Compare that to Dancers’ 4.3%/3.4% of these respective demographics, Pieces’ 5.9%/4.2%, and NCIS’ 4.9%/3.9%.

NCIS: LA opened with only 4.9% of 25-54s but closed with 6.8%, to average 6.2% over the hour; with 18-39s, it averaged 5%.

That was because Charlie’s SD lead-out, Alan Carr: Tooth Fairy Live, dropped more than 10 points in each demo.

The night was a huge defeat for TV3 in the first week of its new season.

Moreover, the network can expect a similar outcome tonight when its HD re-run of Die Hard 4 goes head-to-head with TV2’s HD marathon: the return of The Big Bang Theory and The Walking Dead off the back of All New Two and a Half Men and the premiere of 2 Broke Girls.