HD Feed: September 24

When will Sky TV pay the Emmy Awards the HD respect it does the Academy Awards? The irony of the satcaster dumping TV’s answer to the Oscars on its SD entertainment channel, Vibe, is many of the nominees that stand to win big are being showcased in HD on SoHo. Vibe largely is a re-run platform for female-skewing network shows yet this year for the first time the US networks have been shut out of the best drama race (Mad Men, Game of Thrones, Breaking Bad, Homeland, Downton Abbey). True, Thrones is the only HBO drama in contention but overall the SoHo model has, for its 12th straight year, dominated the Emmy nominations, with 81 nods (down from 104 last year). And another cable network, Showtime (Homeland, Californication), garnered the next highest number of nominations (21). It’s great that Sky screens the Emmys live (from midday), and as highlights on both Vibe (from 7.30) and Prime (from 9.35). But given cable-TV’s ascendancy, and on the eve of SoHo’s first anniversary, now would have been the perfect time for Sky to have awarded the Emmys HD kudos on its premium drama channel as it does the Oscars on its premium movies channel.

The Hollywood Reporter has just published an “Emmy Awards Cheat Sheet” in which it picks the likely winners and longshots. For instance, Modern Family is expected to win best comedy series once more but faces competition from three HBO series, with Girls tipped to prove the biggest upset if it wins. Similarly, if Mad Men wins, it will be the first show in history to win five consecutive best series awards. Meanwhile, Deadline reports the Modern Family cast is expected to poke fun at its pay rows in a video spoof that could be as Emmy-winning as the series.

The quote of the week comes from Breaking Bad star Bryan Cranston on the prospect of Mad Men yet again winning the best drama writing category. At a Writers Guild pre-Emmy bash, the perennial best actor-in-a-drama winner quipped the Best Drama Series Writing category, in which Mad Men has three of the five nominations, should be re-named “just give Mad Men the fucking award Award”. Meanwhile, here’s a backstage rundown of what you can expect to see on today’s show: nominees will be introduced via video interviews, political jokes are out and social media will shine bright.

Sunday’s HD premiere of Cop Out on TV2 crushed TV3’s HD re-run of There’s Something About Mary. The former averaged 7.0% – 9.3% of key demos and the latter a woeful 2.8% – 3.3%. TV One had another sensational Sunday, with NZ’s Got Talent averaging 13.3% – 19.0% (down on previous weeks but still exceptional), Nothing Trivial 6.9% – 10.9% and Offspring 4.6% – 8.3%. Meanwhile, TV3’s Friday edition of The X Factor USA averaged 8.2% – 14.3%, which, for a Friday night, rivals NZGT’s Sunday ratings and challenged the supremacy of TV2 comedies Two and a Half Men and The Big Bang Theory. TV2’s season finale of The Voice Australia averaged 6.9% – 11.6% and Saturday’s MasterChef Australia finale spiced up TV One’s Saturday ratings, averaging 4.6% – 8.5% to largely win the slot while its CSI HD rivals on TV3 were off the boil. The premiere of Annabel Langden The Free Range Cook: Simple Pleasures  (4.8% – 9.5%) won its slot opposite TV3’s ITM Fishing Show (2.8% – 4.1%).