HD Feed: October 9

Sky Movies subscribers will be climbing the walls in anticipation of next month’s HD premiere of Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol. It will screen on November 4 while rounding out the month will be the HD debuts of Moneyball (21st) and The War Horse (25th). Also making their HD bows will be: Wrong Turn 4: Bloody Beginnings, Finding a Family (4^th); Made … The Movie (5^th); Dylan Dog: Dead of Night (6^th); Faces in the Crowd (7^th); Another Earth (10^th); The Art of Getting By, Crazy, Stupid, Love (11^th); Possessed by Evil (12^th); Jack and Jill, Secrets in the Walls (13^th); Apollo 18, Too Late to Say Goodbye (14^th); Nightmare at the End of the Hall, Foster, Dr. Jekyll and Mr Hyde (15^th); In Time (18^th); Underworld Awakening (19^th); and The Decoy Bride (28^th). Lined up for HD launches on Sky Movies Greats in November are: Robots (4^th); Speed (9^th); Keeping the Faith (10^th); Superman Returns (11^th); Heartbreakers (18^th); The Blues Brothers (23^rd); Fantastic Four (24^th); and Click (25^th).

Premiering tonight on Sky Movies is Win Win (Sky 20, 8.30). Writers Tom McCarthy and Joe Tiboni’s inspiration for this 2011 Sundance Film Festival sensation was, “It’s a long time since we’ve seen a good high school wrestling movie.” But as you’d expect from the director of The Station Agent, Win Win is so much more: a quirky, witty, empathetic take on human nature and ethical dilemmas revolving around mid-life malaise, family complications and loss of independence. It may be a tad too neatly wrapped up but the ending doesn’t compromise and the championship cast makes all the right moves. Paul Giamatti, Amy Ryan, Jeffrey Tambor, Melanie Lynskey and Bobby Cannavale, who will be seen in season three of SoHo’s Boardwalk Empire when it premieres on October 22, star.

Having tanked with The Slap in primetime, TV3 might wind up with another version of the HD flop. NBC is developing its own version of the series which TV3 will secure through its output deal with NBC-Universal. NBC picked up the drama on the eve of this week’s Mipcom TV market, where Deadline reports event TV specials, like a live broadcast of The Sound of Music and big-gun mini-series, are seen as the networks’ best defence against time-shifted viewing. The trend towards globally-financed productions also could see more FTA broadcasters nix costly output deals and cherry pick product instead. Among the “big ticket original scripted series” on show at Mipcom is Jane Campion’s Top of the Lake, which was shot in Queenstown.

Monday’s Beyond the Darklands episode about the abuse of Nia Glassie easily won the 8.30 hour against episode two of Homeland. The former averaged a season high of 9.3% – 13.8% of key demos and the latter, only 4.4% – 6.6%. Despite a bumper lead-in from My Kitchen Rules, TV2’s HD drama, Grey’s Anatomy also was down (7.7% – 9.7%), partly because of Darklands’ appeal and partly because of a later slot.  Private Practice averaged 4.8% – 6.8%, Unforgettable 3.4% – 4.6%, Californication 2.3% -3.9% and Shameless 0.8% – 1.1%. Earlier in the night, Border Patrol averaged 8.8% – 11.7% and Shortland Street, 13.9% – 18.1%.