HDTV Ratings: June 20-21

The TV insider comedy, Episodes, may not be around for many more episodes after Thursday’s debut bombed on TV One.

It averaged only 1.7%-4.0% of the major demographics, and while it was most popular with TV One’s target audience, 25-54 year-olds, it still drew only half the viewership of its dire lead-in, Mrs Brown’s Boys.

The return of Bones on TV3 didn’t  bolster its 8.30 viewership, with the premiere averaging 6.5%-7.4% — roughly the same as the series finale of The Finder the previous week.

TV2’s Once Upon a Time won the hour with household shoppers but tops in every other key demo was the return of Big Fat Gypsy Wedding on TV One.

TV2’s Fringe continues to rate solidly at 10.30, averaging 3.9%-5.4% to win the hour.

Meanwhile, the return of True Blood on Prime was a non-event, averaging only 0.9%-1.7% — while it was up on the previous week’s season finale of Outnumbered (0.6%-1.3%), the ratings don’t justify True Blood screening on Prime in SD months ahead of its HD run on SoHo.

Wednesday’s Bikie Wars eased off the throttle, with ratings slipping back to averages of 5.6%-7.2% against TV2’s The Big Bang Theory (14.6%-17.4%) and Happy Endings (7.5%-14.2%).

The GC ended on a season high, averaging 9.6%-12.4% against 2 Broke Girls’ 11.9%-15.1%.

Road Cops was more competitive with Fair Go but Two and a Half Men left it in the dust with twice as many viewers.

At 9.30, HD crime show rivals Castle and Breakout Kings both lost to Hell’s Kitchen in all the key demos except 25-54, 7.4% of which tuned into Castle and 4.8% into Breakout Kings (the latter was most popular with 18-49 year-olds: 5.0%).