KEY POINTS:
Paul Holmes' new show Whatever Happened To ... ? is holding its ground in the ratings, with each of the first four shows pulling in more than 400,000 viewers.
The first episode, which screened on TV One on September 11, was watched by 487,100 viewers aged 5-plus, episode two dipped slightly to 413,100, then figures picked up for episode three with 418,000 people tuning in. Episode four was up again with 423,500 people watching.
The show, as expected, is more popular with older people, pulling in more viewers in the 25-54 demographic than the 18-49 group.
The show, in which Holmes interviews people who were present during key moments from the past, received $1.2 million in Government money.
New Zealand Broadcasting School head Paul Norris said the first episode probably attracted the viewers it did because of novelty value.
"But if anything, it's actually built from episodes two through to four [for all viewers aged 5-plus], so I think that's actually quite good. I wouldn't be upset about that if I were the producer at TVNZ.
"If there had been a slide week to week, then that's pretty obvious viewers are tuning out, but here if anything they are coming back."
He said shows such as Whatever Happened To ... ? had a certain appeal and value.
"They are actually exploring elements of our nation's history and it's really good sometimes to be reminded of some of the key elements that we may have forgotten about. There's always an appeal about well-produced nostalgia programmes, and this one probably falls into that category."
