New Season: TV2 Benches Wednesday Comedies

TV2 is ditching two of its struggling Wednesday comedies and doubling up episodes of Two and a Half Men and Mom.

Gone from the schedule after next week will be Marry Me and Benched.

TV2 is quitting the newcomers after its once-strong, two-hour midweek block collapsed without the heft of The Big Bang Theory and 2 Broke Girls as its cornerstone.

This dynamic duo is now shoring up Sunday nights opposite The X Factor NZ and Our First Home.

TV2 also is taking pre-emptive action ahead of TV3 launching twice-weekly broadcasts of The Bachelor NZ, one edition of which will air 7.30 Wednesdays.

It’s the latest tweak to a new-season schedule that’s seen TV2 dump its Australian version of The Bachelor to Saturday afternoons and reschedule another Wednesday dud, Agent Carter, to late-night.

Last night’s replacement for Agent Carter, the one-off Alan Carr: Spexy Beast, scarcely improved on its predecessor, averaging only 2.9% – 5.6% of the commercial demographics and rating above 3.0% only with household shoppers with kids.

Just how unappealing TV2’s new-look laughs line-up is to its target audience was reflected in it losing to TV3’s reality half-hours and Gallipoli in the 18-39 demo.

But the comedies won outright with HHS/k and dominated in the 18-49 demo.

Nigel Latta’s On Thin Ice (2.7% – 5.5%) was tops with 25-54 year-olds but lost to Gallipoli (3.1% – 3.9%) in the 18-39 and HHS/k demos.

With a weaker lead-in, TV1’s Alex Polizzi’s Secret Italy (1.8% – 3.7%) took a hit after last week premiering off the back of the ‘quake doco, The Day That Changed My Life.

The HD channels’ peak-hour ratings and shares were: