HD Heads-Up: August 17

➢ TVNZ 2 will air Australian Survivor 7.30 Tuesday-Thursday from August 29 for its premiere week. It began July 30 on Ten in Australia where, unlike last season, it will culminate in a live finale and reunion show. “We looked at what we did last year, and it was pretty good, but we were looking at ways to increase the production values, and really lift the finale for this year,” Ten’s Head of Entertainment and Factual Programs Stephen Tate says. But at the weekend, Nine’s The Block pulled twice the viewership …

➢ “Extreme television has been with us for decades as one of the most disturbing genres … but there have been few shows as entertaining and illuminating as [Todd] Sampson’s Body Hack,” The Australian said of TVNZ 1’s new series, which will air 9.30 Tuesdays from August 29. The Sydney Morning Herald likened the advertising guru’s experiences over six months of filming to “a boys’ own adventure” …

➢ The last Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon will air on August 31 (Prime, 10.30). It’s being replaced by The Late Show With Stephen Colbert, which will open with a best-of compilation on September 1 …

➢ TVNZ 1 will premiere a two-part miniseries about the rise and fall of Bernie Madoff, the man behind the $65 billion Ponzi scheme, on August 26 at 10.45. Reviews of Madoff, which stars Richard Dreyfuss and Blythe Danner, ranged from “a glossy summary of events that leaps from point to point with all the drama of a Wikipedia page” (Entertainment Weekly) to “solidly sordid entertainment” (Wall Street Journal) …

➢ Coronation Street fans can enjoy an extra half-hour on August 31: TVNZ 1 will screen a 90-minute edition from 9.00, following Prince Harry in Africa and its lead-in, the network’s first leaders debate (with will start at 7.00, pre-empting Seven Sharp) …

➢ TVNZ 1 will screen late-night highlights of the Winter Games from August 27 …

➢ Prime’s Chicago Justice will be demoted to 9.30 Fridays from September 1, where it will be double-billed with Bones …

➢ TVNZ 2 will premiere the latest seasons of Gotham and Arrow on an overnight Sun-day double-bill from August 27: double-episodes of the former will screen from 12.15am and single episodes of the latter from 1.45am …

➢ Also returning to TVNZ 2 that week are Life in Pieces (8.00 Mondays, from episode 11 of season one), Brooklyn Nine Nine (season four, 11.35 Wednesdays) and Obsessive Compulsive Cleaners (11.30 Thursdays) …

➢ HD coming attractions for the week starting August 26 include:

• Mulan (TVNZ 2, 5.25 Saturday)
• Mr Popper’s Penguins (Three, 7.00 Saturday)
• Bride Wars (Three, 8.50 Saturday)
• One For the Money (TVNZ 2,  10.00 Saturday)
• ‘Til Lies Do Us Part (Three, 10.30 Sunday)
• A Little Princess (TVNZ 2, 5.10 Sunday)
• The Italian Job (TVNZ 2, 8.30 Sunday)
• Taken (Three, 8.30 Sunday)
• The Watch (Three, 8.30 Thursday).