HDTV Ratings: July 16

Monday’s series finale of Desperate Housewives comfortably won its two-hour slot, averaging 11.1% – 14.3% of key demographics.

It was twice as popular with household shoppers as TV One’s HD double-bill of Unforgettable and Missing and TV3’s Fantastic Four re-run.

Viewership held up across the two hours in all demos except TV2’s target audience, 18-39 year-olds, where it slipped from 14.6% at the start to 9.9% towards the end.

In its second outing, Unforgettable averaged only 4.3% – 7.5%, winning the hour only — and narrowly — with TV One’s 25-54 demo.

Lead-out Missing averaged 3.2% – 6.2%, which was a stronger performance given it aired an hour later.

Earlier, the final “winter season” episode of Shortland Street averaged 18.9% – 22.9%, laying waste in its second half to Last Man Standing (3.2% – 3.6%) — although this was an improvement on previous weeks.

Modern Family wasn’t rewarded for one of its funniest episodes of the season, averaging only 5.0% – 6.8% opposite TVNZ’s reality bilge.