New show, same story for Holmes

Paul Holmes

He is the king of the radiowaves, but a new show has done nothing for Paul Holmes' TV career.

Just 38,000 people, or an inauspicious 2.6 per cent of viewers tuned in for the debut of Prime's revamped Holmes evening chat show on April 5.

This was despite an impressive opening night guest list of Telecom chief executive Theresa Gattung, actress Lucy Lawless (Xena: Warrior Princess) and singer Judy Collins.

The ratings show Holmes' latest incarnation, featuring interviews with prominent New Zealanders and visiting overseas celebrities, has again failed to register with the public.

Holmes was philosophical. "We are rebuilding a channel from a very low base," he said, referring to Sky Television's recent takeover of Prime.

"I'm very pleased with reaction to both episodes. The first thing that has been gratifying is that nobody is saying no to coming on, and that's the most marvellous thing."

In the same 7.30pm timeslot, TV One's Fair Go, TV2's Two And A Half Men and TV3's Everybody Hates Chris positively clobbered Holmes, with Fair Go the best performer with a 43.4 per cent of the total audience.

Holmes' programme was not even the best-rated show on Prime that night.

That honour went to the new-look Prime News at 5.30pm, now produced from Auckland rather than Sydney.

The half-hour bulletin attracted around 84,000 viewers and almost 10 per cent of the audience over 5 years old.

Holmes did experience a marginal 0.3 per cent increase in viewers for his second show which featured Dancing with the Stars couple Shane Cortese and Nerida Lister.

Holmes said he was very pleased with a ratings increase in its second week "because I don't think we applied the same level of publicity that we did to the first".

The disappointing numbers are part of a now-familiar pattern for Holmes, the former titan of New Zealand television.

Viewers failed to follow him after his surprise move from TVNZ to Prime in late 2004. The free-to-air network is believed to have offered him $3 million over three years to jump ship.

Karen Bieleski, channel manager for Prime, told the Herald on Sunday that she was happy with the show's performance so far.

Holmes was also quietly optimistic. "It [the show] has given me my confidence back, actually. It's a pleasure to do."