2005 was the year for local TV programmes

Norm Hewitt's appearances on 'Dancing with the Stars' proved popular with the viewing audience.

When it comes to bums on sofas, local programmes have the pull of gravity, according to the top 20 most watched programmes of 2005.

The David Lange Tribute was the top one-off programme in AGB Nielsen Media Research ratings and Dancing with the Stars was the top series.

Of all the top 10 series, seven were locally made and were factually based, including One News, Animal House, Mucking In and Border Patrol.

All Blacks vs Lions test matches took three of the top watched one-off programmes, and New Zealand-made programmes made up five others, including the Lange tribute after David Lange's death in August, Test the Nation, an IQ show hosted by Simon Dallow, the Fair Go Ad Awards, the NZ Idol final, and One News' election night coverage.

Screen Producers and Directors Association chief executive Penelope Borland said it was an unprecedented showing by local shows.

"This is quite a turnaround from five years ago, and the networks need to be a bit more adventurous in their programming as well. New Zealand producers won't buy the argument that it's only big overseas shows that will rate - and this proves it."

She hoped the attitude would encourage more investment in and better scheduling of local dramas and comedies which were not represented in the list.

Dancing with the Stars viewership peaked on its final night with 980,000 viewers, and the show had an average audience of 740,684. The second most-watched series was Off the Rails, which followed Marcus Lush's journey along the nation's railway tracks.

Perennially popular Fair Go was the third series, watched by an average of 702,894. Its ad awards was watched by nearly 710,500.

There were only two international dramas in the list - and the American housewives of Wisteria Lane came in at 5th place, narrowly pipping Animal House and the British housewives of Coronation Street.

Desperate Housewives' average viewership was nearly 650,000, just 34,000 more than the long-standing Coronation Street.

The strong showing of local shows, in particular factual shows such as Off the Rails, Border Patrol, Animal House and Mucking In, has elicited signs from the networks that there will be more of the same in 2006.

TVNZ programming head Annemarie Duff said local shows had done well in a year of very strong international drama. The fact that Lost did not make the list showed how strong local shows had been.

"But this says that if we play [good local shows], New Zealanders are enthusiastic to watch. The challenge is that local programmes are very expensive to make and if they get big ratings, it helps us reinvest in more local programming."

TV3 head of programming Beverly McGarvey said the performance of TV3's local content, including Outrageous Fortune, Downsize Me and Bro' Town, encouraged TV3 to invest in them again.

"Local shows are probably our big success story for the year which is important because they are such a huge investment. It means we can build other local programmes now we are sure of getting it right."


What we watched

Top 10 series
* Dancing with the Stars: 741,000
* Off the Rails: 733,000
* Fair Go: 703,000
* One News: 669,000
* Desperate Housewives: 650,000
* Animal House: 624,000
* Coronation Street: 616,000
* Mucking In: 608,000
* Border Patrol: 593,000
* Little Angels: 590,000

Top 10 one-offs
* David Lange tribute on Close Up: 782,000
* Test the Nation: 729,000
* Fair Go Ad Awards: 710,000
* Lions vs All Blacks 1st test (Sky): 680,000
* The Wave that Shook the World: 676,000
* NZ Idol Final: 673,000
* Lions vs All Blacks 2nd test (Sky): 661,000
* Expose: Kidnapping of Elizabeth Smart: 593,000
* One News Special: Decision 05: 590,000
* Lions vs All Blacks 3rd test (TV3 delayed): 582,000

Source: AGB Nielsen Media Research