HD Feed: September 19

The latest PS3 upgrade will be not only smaller and lighter than its predecessors but also cheaper. This afternoon Sony Computer Entertainment announced the new-look PS3 would go on sale here later this month. The 500GB hard drive console will sell for $520 from September 27 and the $400 12GB flash memory console will be released on October 18. The new consoles come in white or charcoal black and will have a sliding disc cover that reduces their size by more than half compared to the original PS3 model. The 12GB console also can connect to a 250GB hard drive.

TV3 at last could have landed an HD comedy to team with Modern Family. The New Normal, which the network will acquire through its 20^th Century Fox TV deal, is viewed as one of the 2012/13 US TV season’s most anticipated series: “funny, semi-realistic and like Modern Family meets Glee.” About a single mother who becomes a surrogate for two gay dads, it’s earned mixed reviews, ranging from a “witty-but-poignant look at what it means to be a modern family” to “where Modern Family is sweet and funny, The New Normal is cheap and hectoring”. If the show can improve on its “so-so” season premiere ratings, and maintain its social media kudos, it could be the perfect match for Modern Family.

The Crowd Goes Wild is going wild over Valerie Adams’ Olympic gold medal ceremony. Tonight’s edition is being extended to an hour to cover the event live on Auckland’s waterfront. Of course, if you watch it live, you’ll have to endure seeing it SD on Prime from 6.30, so probably better to wait for its delayed HD coverage an hour later on Sky Sport 2. (Prime is pre-empting Hot Property for the 6.30 broadcast and delaying The Late Show With David Letterman until 11.45 for the 10.45 repeat.)

The final episode of TV3’s Tricky Business to air 8.30 Tuesday averaged an unbusinesslike 2.4% – 3.2% of the key demographics. Still, at 9.30, where it will air next week, it can’t do much worse than SVU, which last night averaged a DOA 1.1% – 2.1%. Not surprisingly, the police procedural has yet to be rescheduled. TV2’s HD crime dramas, The Mentalist (8.2% – 13.4%) and Body of Proof (6.5% – 9.0%), faced stiffer competition from TV One’s SD docos: Bears: Spy in the Woods (8.8% – 9.9%) and One Born Every Minute (6.6% – 8.5%). Shortland Street was easily the most popular show of the night, averaging 16.6% – 20.3%.