HDTV Ratings: June 2-6

Nurse Jackie may need life support shortly if next week’s double-episode rates as dismally as last night’s.

It drew nearly half as many viewers as the premiere: only 3.7% of 18-49 year-olds, and 3.6% of 25-54 year-olds and household shoppers with kids.

TV3 will be hoping this was the result of low viewing levels because of the long holiday weekend, although the rest of the night’s HD dramas – TV One’s Criminal Minds and Castle, TV2’s Desperate Housewives and Brothers & Sisters and TV3’s own CSI – held up.

Likewise, the season finale of TV3’s HD reality hit, Drug Bust.

However, the Queen’s Birthday Monday airing of Modern Family was thrashed by TV2’s Shortland Street, drawing five to six times fewer viewers in the key demographics.

Sunday’s episode also was down on the previous week, although viewing of the 7pm slot on the other networks was unusually low, too, while at 7.30pm TV2’s HD The Middle could muster barely half of its previous week’s viewership.

Ironically, after 60 Minutes won the 7.30pm hour for TV3, the rest of the night nose-dived, with CSI: Miami rating 3.6%-4.7% in the major demos.

TV3’s HD premiere of Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull on Saturday was competitive, drawing 7%-7.7% of the key demos, but lost the HHS/kids race to TV2’s Bolt and Reign of Fire, which overlapped it.

At 7pm, ITM Fishing Show continued to lose its allure while Friday’s Glee finale posted some of its highest ratings for the season, peaking with 15.6% of HHS/kids in its last quarter-hour – which was enough to out-rate TV2’s HD sitcom, Better With You.

The bumper ratings also helped to boost The Graham Norton Show’s by several points.

Thursday was an especially volatile night in the ratings, with TV2’s No Ordinary Family losing to TV3’s Bones in the major demos for the first time in weeks – despite Rescue 1 providing the former with three times as big a lead-in.