HDTV Ratings: March 21

The Walking Dead is proving to be an unhappy ending to TV2’s otherwise stellar Wednesday night line-up.

Whereas most of the network’s HD comedies last night rated in the mid-teens, except for Happy Endings, which dipped below 10%, The Walking Dead averaged only 4.3%-5.9%.

Having reached the mid-season point, TV2 will be hoping viewership builds as it did in the US, where the second-season finale broke previous ratings records for the series.

In the meantime, TV3’s Sons of Anarchy won the 9.30pm hour, with ratings of 6.0%-7.6%, and was most popular with 25-54 year-olds.

But these numbers were down from the previous week while those of TV One’s HD rival, Harry’s Law, were up slightly: it averaged 4.3%-7.1%, and with household shoppers was only fractionally less popular than Anarchy.

TV3’s Almighty Johnsons also is struggling, against both The Big Bang Theory and Happy Endings on TV2 and TV One’s Winners & Losers.

Johnsons was most popular with the 25-54 audience both TV3 and TV One target, averaging 6.6% compared to Winners 9.1% and TV2’s comedies’ 12.5% (Bang peaked at 15.8%).

At 8pm, TV3’s Road Madness and SPCA Rescue were neck-and-neck in the 25-54 stake but more than six points behind TV2’s 2 Broke Girls, which drew 14.7%.

Shortland Street again was the most popular show of the night, averaging a higher 18-49, 18-39 and HHS viewership than anything else and finishing second only to Big Bang in the 25-54 demo.