HDTV Ratings: October 19

TV One’s new HD legal drama, Harry’s Law, took a hit last night amid ratings so woeful that TV2 is axing Charlie’s Angels after only four weeks.

The news wasn’t any better for TV3, with its HD duo, Underbelly: Razor and The Borgias, dipping to new lows.

The latter drew only 3.5% of the network’s target audience, 25-54 year-olds, which was less than half of the 7.1% who tuned into Harry’s Law (left).

While that’s still a great 9.30pm result for TV One, the Kathy Bates vehicle was down sharply on last week’s premiere.

Moreover, its viewership slumped during the hour, from 9.8% when it started to 6.2% by the time the final credits rolled.

Even so, Harry’s Law was still more popular than its lead-in, Nothing Trivial successor Winners and Losers, which could muster a 25-54 rating of only 6.3% — although that was higher than Underbelly: Razor’s 4%.

While TV One and TV3’s dramas languished, TV2’s sitcoms remained popular, which is why it’s opting to pull next week’s episode of Charlie’s Angels for the British stand-up comedy special, Alan Carr: Tooth Fairy LIVE.

Charlie’s Angels also has just been cancelled in the US, so with the show no longer having a future, TV2 would have nothing to gain but more sub-par ratings by persevering with it.

Meanwhile, MasterChef Australia’s third night in primetime was the lowest-rating yet — 6.4% of 25-54s — while the programme it displaced from 7.30pm Tuesday and Thursday, Coronation Street, slipped to only 3.7% of 25-54s opposite Home & Away’s 8.7%.