What turns us on

Dancing with the Stars isn't quite as popular with viewers this season. Photo / Neil Mackenzie

Beautiful women, gangsters and the high seas are proving popular on the local telly market this year, while the sparkling sequins of the dancing stars aren't shining quite as brightly as they once did.

The past month has seen a host of new and returning local series flood our airwaves, from comedy and drama to reality adventures. We take a closer look at how the home-made capers are stacking up.

Dancing With the Stars returned this month to claim the top spot in the ratings war but numbers were significantly lower than last year's turnout, seeing a drop of 150,000 national viewers during its first week, compared to last season's premiere.

Numbers grew for the second week of the competition - climbing to 632,000 national viewers last week - but were still well below last year's comparative audience of 741,000.

Of those viewers, 270,000 stayed tuned to watch last week's premiere of Diplomatic Immunity.

Sunday nights see TV2 winning the ratings war with its Marc Ellis double-header. Who Dares Wins has held steady over the past five weeks, with ratings averaging 251,000, while Top Town started on top - with 429,000 national viewers - but has since slid down the slippery ratings slope to 367,000 viewers this week.

It's still proving more popular than WipeOut Australia - the franchise from which Top Town has drawn more than a little inspiration - on TV3, which drew 214,000 viewers last Sunday.

TV3 can't be too concerned though, as their Wednesday night and Friday night lineups dominate the ratings with the success of Underbelly and NZ's Next Top Model.

Underbelly may be an Australian series but with several Kiwi actors and characters shaping the storyline, the programme has been an instant hit with New Zealand audiences, drawing 409,000 national viewers last week - a marked improvement from the first series last year, which was cancelled due to poor ratings.

Also proving a mid-week favourite, local reality series Million Dollar Catch has seen a steady rise, growing from 181,000 viewers when it debuted last month to 227,000 last week.

New Zealand's Next Top Model also drew a healthy audience, with 269,000 viewers tuning in for last week's premiere - up nearly 30,000 from the previous week's final of America's Next Top Model.

TV2's local ladies Go Girls are also holding steady with 261,000 viewers last week. However, the series' average audience over the past four weeks (302,000) is down on the predecessor in its timeslot, McLeod's Daughters.