HDTV Ratings: March 31-April 3

Where's The Incredible Homer when TV3 needs him?

The irony of TV3’s decision to pull the plug on The Good Wife is its ratings stabilised on Sunday and the gap between it and TV One’s Offspring and TV2’s movie was much narrower.

But the problem for the network was Sunday as a night overall was under-performing, from Modern Family through to Grand Designs and House, the last two being series that last year rated higher on other nights.

Part of the problem is TV3 is missing the anchor that re-runs of The Simpsons at 7pm followed by new HD episodes at 7.30pm last year provided.

Switching it to Four to try to boost sampling of the relaunched sister channel may have been hasty given much of The Simpsons’ appeal still lies with the audience that discovered it 20 years ago – and which is now pivotal to TV3’s new focus on 25-54 year-olds.

TV3’s new Friday comedy, Come Fly With Me, improved over Super City in its 10pm slot, drawing 6% of 18-49 year-olds, 5.1% of 25-54 year-olds and 7.3% of household shoppers with kids.

On Thursday, TV2’s No Ordinary Family barely pipped TV3’s Bones in the 25-54 and HHS/kids demographics while the latter was marginally more popular with the 18-49 camp.

Thursday’s season finale of An Idiot Abroad notched up some of the show’s best ratings while Saturday’s only HD drawcard, TV One’s Hyundai Country Calendar, is pulling two to three times as many viewers as its SD competition.

As The Dominion Post’s Linda Burgess observed of Saturday’s rural delivery: “Country Calendar celebrates the well-meaning, the old-fashioned and the sentimental, and does it with strangely affecting honesty.”