KEY POINTS:
If you changed the channel you would have missed them - a large number of prime time shows were axed by free-to-air networks this year.
Low ratings forced TV2, TV3 and Prime to dump such highly-touted shows as Gossip Girl, Beverly Hills 90210 and Underbelly, mirroring a trend across the Tasman.
TV3 programming director Kelly Martin said Australian networks tended to be more "brutal" about pulling shows but it was becoming more common in New Zealand.
This year the network canned Sex and the City-inspired Lipstick Jungle, Australian crime saga Underbelly, police procedural Women's Murder Club and military drama The Unit, and bumped teen soap Beverly Hills 90210 to C4.
Martin said the cancellations often depended on what happened to the shows in the US or UK, where many were axed after just one season.
The US writers' strike, which caused many series to be shorter than expected, was also a factor.
Martin said that "Lipstick Jungle wasn't working over here and Underbelly didn't have a lot of success either, despite being a hit in Australia.
"The next season has a more Kiwi storyline though so we are bringing it back.
"Women's Murder Club aired for six weeks then we pulled it."
On TV2, highly-anticipated teen drama Gossip Girl was shifted from a prime time slot to 10.35pm on Fridays, and comedy drama Eli Stone, which received fewer than 162,000 viewers - compared to the 358,000 for TV3's NCIS in the same slot - was also canned.
Kath Klouwens from TV2 said dysfunctional drama Big Shots and Cashmere Mafia - devised by Sex and the City creator Darren Star - were casualties of the writers' strike. Gossip Girl was moved to a later slot more appropriate for its key, younger demographic.
"Eli Stone has been postponed in the States at the end of the second series with the possibility that it could return in the future," she said.
"TV2 played a few episodes this year but decided to hold the series for next year so it can be played in a different time slot."
Prime Television saw fewer shows bomb but channel manager Karen Bieleski said advertising agency drama Madmen and mystery comedy Psych both failed to rate as highly as expected.
"We didn't pull Madmen but we moved it around a lot to find a better timeslot.
"We did the same with Psych because it didn't rate very highly but it didn't work for us either."
Because the network has a much smaller audience than TVNZ channels or TV3 it shies away from pulling shows after a few episodes.
"We don't want to alienate our viewers."
