HDTV Ratings: June 14-17

Sunday’s sensational true-crime dramatisation, Siege, deservedly won its slot, averaging 8.7%-13.3% of the major demographics.

Why TV One didn’t launch its NZ Sunday Theatre season with this compelling account of gunman Jan Molenaar’s three-day siege in Napier three years ago is puzzling given it was far superior to last week’s Safe House.

Siege was from the same production company, Screentime NZ, which also was behind Underbelly NZ.

But Siege is easily its finest and most accomplished drama yet, a finely-shaded, fiercely gripping dramatisation that was superbly written, acted and edited, and which looked outstanding in HD. (In today’s Dominion Post, Jane Clifton rightly dubbed it “one of the most effective pieces of dramatised history you could hope to see”.)

TV3’s HD opposition, a repeat of Australia, fared badly, averaging only 3.3%-5.3%, finishing third after TV2’s Terminator Salvation.

TV3 did better with its premiere of Golden, which was on a par with the previous week’s Modern Family and twice as popular as the last NZ series TV3 aired 7pm Sundays, Would I Lie to You?

Golden drew 5.7%-7.9%, and was watched by more 18-39 year-olds than TV One’s premiere of Planet Dinosaur, which averaged 5.7%-11.4%.

Planet Dinosaur won its slot with 25-54 year-olds but TV2’s re-run of The Big Bang Theory dominated the other demos.

Saturday’s HD premiere of Judy Bailey’s Australia rated dreadfully off the back of a predictably low-rating Coronation Street in its first 7.30 Saturday showcasing, averaging only 1.5%-4.1%.

TV3’s Ice Road Truckers out-rated Coro St in all the key demos except HHS but lost to the first hour of TV2’s The Golden Compass.

Hyundai Country Calendar had another good week, averaging 7.4%-11.8% against ITM Fishing Show’s dismal 1.8%-2.6%.

Another disastrous misjudgement by TV One was Friday’s week-old re-run of The Queen’s Diamond Jubilee Concert.

The network missed a huge opportunity with the Diamond Jubilee, choosing to cover it neither live nor in HD.

While TV2’s The Voice Australia dominated the night in all the key demos, The Graham Norton Show averaged a solid 9.1%-11.5%.

HD comedy Hounds was up slightly on the previous week, with 3.6%-4.1%, while Glee drew barely half the viewership of The Big Bang Theory and Two and a Half Men in re-runs.

It was a similar story on Thursday, when Once Upon a Time averaged 10.2%-15.0% against The Finder’s 6.4%-7.5%.