HD Heads-Up: December 21

➢ None of the HD networks will see the year out in style, relying mostly on re-runs of  movies and music specials (such as Prime’s double-billing of Michael Jackson’s Journey From Motown to Off the Wall and Crowded House: Live From the Sydney Opera House). One point of difference is all of TVNZ’s linear and streaming channels will simulcast the New Year’s Eve fireworks from Auckland’s Sky Tower from 11.55 …

➢ New Year’s Day’s line-up isn’t much brighter, save for TVNZ 1’s 2017 Royal Variety Performance (which ITV aired this week) and Three fast-tracking Graham Norton’s New Year’s Eve Special (guests will include  Hugh Jackman, Zac Efron, Zendaya, Gary Oldman, Suranne Jones and Leading Ladies) …

➢ Among the series premieres for the week starting December 23 are BBC Earth’s Expedition Wolf (Three, 4.55 Saturday), The Great Australian Bake Off (Prime, 7.30 Tuesday) and Guiltology (Prime, 9.35 Tuesday) while ending their runs are The X Factor, Nightwatch, Bondi Rescue and Fear the Walking Dead …

➢ Guiltology bills itself as a high-end six-part documentary series comparable to The Jinx and Making a Murderer. It features some of the forensic investigators who helped to break cases like the Green River killer. Executive producer Ben Goold says each episode has a “unique visual stamp” and while some of the cases might be familiar, the scientific revelations provide a new angle …

➢ Premiering online at TVNZ.co.nz are Locked in Boy and Ratburger (from January 4) and the latest season of The Bachelor (from January 2). Locked in Boy is a documentary about a 10-year-old who for the first eight years of his life couldn’t speak or communicate; Ratburger stars David Williams in an adaptation of his children’s book that will screen in the UK on Christmas Eve …

➢  TVNZ 2 has made a late scheduling change for December 28 to accommodate the premiere of Quizmas, in which Jeremy Wells asks pub quiz-style questions of  Madeleine Sami, Melanie Bracewell, Leigh Hart, Jason Hoyte, Matt Heath and Daniel Faitaua. The series will air on Duke but is getting a blockbuster launch on TVNZ 2 following the network premiere of Star Wars: The Force Awakens. Quizmas won’t pre-empt anything at 10.00 but will push back the rest of the night’s start times by 70 minutes …

➢ Coming attractions in HD for the week starting December 30 include:

• Ace Ventura: Pet Detective (TVNZ 2, 7.00 Saturday)
• Ace Ventura 2: When Nature Calls (TVNZ 2, 8.30 Saturday)
• Judge Dredd (TVNZ 2, 10.10 Saturday)
• Agent Cody Banks ((Three, 7.00 Saturday)
• Romancing the Stone (Three, 8.55 Saturday)
• Bandits (Three, 11.00 Saturday)
• Man of Steel (TVNZ 2, 7.00 Sunday)
• Pacific Rim (TVNZ 2, 9.30 Sunday)
• Poseidon (TVNZ 2,12.05am Monday)
• Die Hard 2 (Three, 8.30 Sunday)
• The Tuxedo (Three, 8.25 Thursday)
• The Rocky Horror Picture Show (Three, 10.45 Sunday)
• The Last Samurai (TVNZ 1, 8.40 Sunday)
• Risky Business (TVNZ 1, 11.20 Sunday)
• Dirty Dancing (TVNZ 2, 7.30 Monday)
• Zoolander (TVNZ 2, 9.25 Monday)
• National Treasure (TVNZ 2, 7.30 Tuesday)
• Saving Private Ryan (Three, 8.30 Wednesday)
• The Brave One (Prime, 8.30 Wednesday)
• Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (TVNZ 2, 7.30 Friday)
• Jurassic Park III (Three, 7.30 Friday).