HD Heads-Up: April 26-May 2
April 17, 2014 
8 Comments
TV One and TV2 are giving their autumn schedules a spring clean with reality and variety series gazumping scripted comedies and dramas.
The overhaul starts in the last week of April, when the low-rating Mr Selfridge relocates to 9.30 Sunday, pushing another drama casualty, Rake, back to 10.25.
My Big Fat Gypsy Wedding Life (in SD) will replace the HD department store drama on Thursdays.
And taking over the network’s 8.30 Tuesday documentary slot is the latest series of Britain’s Got Talent (presumably in HD but still to be confirmed).
It went to air in the UK this week, where The Telegraph commented: “It might be eight years old, but this franchise has still got it”.
TV2, meanwhile, will launch the latest season of its talent franchise, The Voice Australia (7.30 Fridays), within a couple of days of its Oz broadcast (given the last season was in SD, chances are the latest will be, too).
TV2 also is clearing its HD sitcom decks for the latest top-rating series of My Kitchen Rules, which advertisers have been told will start on May 5 and screen Monday-Wednesday (auditions for the the NZ version of MKR, which will air later this year on TV One, closed at the end of last month).
Super Fun Night will end its run with a double-episode on April 28 and Mom will have a mid-season double-episode finale two days later.
It looks as if TV2 will give MKR a big launch with a one-off, hour-long Monday episode of Shortland Street and follow it with the season premiere of Grey’s Anatomy at 9.30 (the off-the-boil Kitchen Nightmares finishes on April 28).
And if the advance advertising schedules are correct, later next month TV2 will revert to Sunday night comedies ahead of Agents of SHIELD, with re-runs of The Middle preceding new seasons of The Neighbours and Mike & Molly.
Incidentally, the April 27 episode of SHIELD screened as a mid-season cliffhanger in the US but the series will continue here without a break.
Also ending their runs are Offspring, on April 27, which hopefully TV One will replace with the long-overdue Broadchurch (which will air in HD), and Hostages on April 30, which the network appears to be succeeding with another HD drama gathering dust in its vault, Nashville.
In other HD programming news of note for the week starting April 26:
- Having their network movie premieres are Contagion (TV2, 9.05 Saturday), The Apparition (TV2, 10.30 Sunday) and Joyful Noise (TV2, 9.10 Friday)
- The only HD movie re-run is The Smurfs (TV2, 6.25 Sunday)
- TV3 pre-empts its 8.30 Monday movie for the HD special, 2014 Old Mout Cider Comedy Gala, and airs Chopper’s Sh*t List in HD on Friday at 9.30
- Tabatha Takes Over takes over 20/20’s Thursday slot (TV2, 9.30)
- Barney Miller’s Ron Glass guest stars in Thursday’s CSI (TV3, 8.30)
- A one-off Saturday screening of CSI is being double-billed as a crossover episode from the previous season with CSI: NY on Saturday (TV3, 8.30)
- Russell Crowe, Cameron Diaz, Richard Ayoade and Kylie Minogue guest on Friday’s The Graham Norton Show (TV3, 8.30).
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April 17, 2014 at 9:56 am
Will TV3 have X Factor this year? X Factor is the best of the talent shows, in my opinion 🙂
No, it won’t Trevor. Fox cancelled it after the third season’s low ratings.
What about TV3 bringing us The X Factor UK since TV One has managed to bring BGT to NZ screens for the first time even though I thought their were major rights issues that needed to be cleared for it to be brought here. Finally, Nashville will air in NZ but I think it needs a stronger lead in than House Husbands can provide and I don’t want it to go the way of another ABC import Scandal by failing to capture an audience. Maybe Broadchurch can anchor the Wednesday 8.30 slot and A Place to Call Home can stay on Sunday nights. Also, with MKR launching soon, it appears that TV3 will bring House Rules in as well to compete aggressively with MKR.
I’m looking forward to Nashville but am surprised, after high-profile flops like Hostages, Scandal and The Following, that TV One would give it a primetime slot. Credit to the network for persevering with quality drama but I don’t see Nashville having much cachet north of Gore. I think 8.30 Wednesday would be a great slot for Broadchurch, and provide a real point of different to TV2’s sitcoms and 3rd Degree. But the competition is so tough on TV2 I’m not convinced TV One would risk a drama of this calibre in such a vulnerable slot. I’d test S2 of A Place to Call Home there, given it already has an audience from last year’s Sunday run, and put Broadchurch at 8.30 Sunday. Sure, it’s a competitive drama slot but The Blacklist has never fulfilled its potential and there’s a real gap there for viewers who want something more substantial than slick, lightweight US drama or middle-of-the-road Aussie drama.
X Factor UK sounds great Leo but more likely we will get the Aussie version — that’s, of course, if we get any version at all this year … still think TV3 should have had X Factor NZ this year 🙂
TV3 has X Factor AU in the July-Sept rate card for 7.30 Thursdays and Fridays
Fridays are always movie night. What’s going on and where will they go now?
Friday movies will continue on TV2, after The Voice.