KEY POINTS:
Betty's "ugly" braces catch the light as she grins proudly from the TV set. The expression on the face of the star of TV2's much-hyped Ugly Betty has probably been also fixed on the faces of the channel's programmers over the last few weeks, as the show has
pulled in a healthy chunk of viewers.
Ratings figures show prime-time audiences dropped last month.
The number of 20- to 54-year-olds watching was down 7 per cent on the same month last year.
The three big channels - TV One, TV2 and TV3 - were all affected.
TV One's 20-54 viewing figure was down 15 per cent for the month during peak time.
Prime TV and C4 had increases, but from low base figures.
About half the networks' new-season shows had started by this week.
The chief executive of media agency Total Media, Martin Gillman, said the two successful "big guns" screening were TV2's Ugly Betty and TV3's Heroes.
Ugly Betty attracted a 65 per cent share of viewers identified as household shoppers with children aged 14 and under for its first show.
Heroes, a drama about people with super powers, had about 387,000 viewers on average for its first four episodes.
Mr Gillman said TV3's new legal drama Shark had "bombed". He attributed this to its "graveyard" Friday night screening time.
He said the new show Rude Awakenings, set in Ponsonby, which started last night, might suffer the same fate.
"Ponsonby-types tend not to watch TV at 8.30pm on a Friday," said Mr Gillman. "Friday mid-to-late peak is not generally a good time to launch an important new product."
Nigel Keats, creative director for media at the Wellington advertising agency Clemenger BBDO, said the mix of new-season shows and returning series provided consistency for the networks. "You can't go and disrupt your viewers too much."
He said the late start to summer could be to blame for the drop in the number of people watching TV in peak time.
The introduction of new shows continues next week.
TV One will screen Australian soap opera Neighbours at 5.30pm from Monday as a lead in to One News, until the start of a local production, The Point, this year. Life On Mars and Without A Trace are also on the way.
The third series of Desperate Housewives - which drew almost 395,000 viewers to its re-runs last week - starts on TV2 on Monday, followed by newcomer Men In Trees, starring Anne Heche in an Alaskan town where the ratio of males to females is 10 to one.
Promotion of the Rugby World Cup dominated the start of TV3's new-season fare but viewers do not have to wait until September for all the channel's offerings.
Tomorrow Jericho, about the inhabitants of a small town in the United States who become the subjects of a catastrophe, starts, and local "eco" show WASTED! will screen from February 20.
New Season Shows
Sunday
Treasure Island, TV2
Series nine from NZ reality TV queen Julie Christie, featuring the infamous Rebecca Loos in its line-up.
Jericho TV3
The inhabitants of a small town in the United States become the subjects of a major catastrophe, with no clue as to whether they were being attacked and no contact to the outside world.
Monday
Desperate Housewives TV2
Welcome to Wisteria Lane for the third series of the top rating US drama.
Men In Trees TV2
Relationship coach Marin Frist, played by Anne Heche. Her engagement ends and she's stuck in the Alaskan town of Elmo, where the ratio of males to females is 10 to one.
Tuesday
WA$TED! TV3
"Eco crims" are transformed into clean, green converts on this new local reality show.