HDTV Ratings: September 28

The fallout from the scheduling stoush over Underbelly NZ continues with last night’s HD premiere of Underbelly: Razor getting sliced up by the competition.

It’s clear the Underbelly brand has been scarred by Underbelly NZ’s failure to rate, because either it wasn’t up to scratch creatively or its last-minute rescheduling, due to broadcast industry politics, jeopardised its prospects.

Then again, it could just be Underbelly fatigue, with viewers weary of the transTasman gangster antics that have been a TV3 staple for the past three years, or this being the first year the franchise has faced TV2’s dynamite sitcom block.

Whatever the reason, the “good times” didn’t roll, with the two-hour premiere unable to average above 5% in any of the 25-54, 18-49 and householder shopper demographics, and only just topped it among 18-39 year-olds.

Its HD rival in the first hour, TV One’s Nothing Trivial, posted a 25-54 rating of 8.5% and a HHS rating of 10.1%; the second hour was wiped out by TV2’s SD premiere of Charlie’s Angels, which delivered an 18-39 rating of 9.2%, a 25-54 rating of 8.6% and a HHS rating of 10.3%.

However, Angels viewership did dip sharply over the hour, from a HHS peak of 12.6% to 7.8%, and from an 18-39 peak of 11.7% to 7.4% — suggesting viewers could be in the mood for the much darker HD shenanigans of TV3’s The Borgias when it launches next Wednesday at 9.30pm.

Meanwhile, the NZ Herald’s Greg Dixon dubbed Underbelly: Razor “Boardwalk Empire- lite” and The Dominion Post’s Jane Clifton thought it “a striking piece of telly”.