HD Heads-Up: February 29 – March 6

➢➢ Following its success with the Britain’s Got Talent and X Factor franchises on Saturday nights, TVNZ 1’s taking on another UK variety format — one that flopped on TVNZ 2. Ant & Dec’s Saturday Night Takeaway will air 7.00 Saturdays from February 29 ahead of a new season of Best Home Cook at 8.30. The network will be banking on the hosts’ BGT-presenting profile to win the viewers they couldn’t draw on TVNZ 2, which relegated it to off-peak …

➢➢ Also new to TVNZ 1 that week will be season two of Prodigal Son (9.00 Mondays from March 2) and the return of Britain’s Busiest Airport (9.00 Wednesdays from March 4). The latter’s resumption will follow Location Location Location, which relocates to 8.00 to allow the 7.30 return of Surveillance Oz (ironically, the same show ends its Prime run two days later) …

➢➢ Why has TVNZ 1 shifted its traditionally 8.30 junction shows to 9.00 on Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays? Presumably so it can compete better with Three, whose top-rating Married at First Sight Australia and Talking Married air from 7.30-9.00 on the same nights. Rather than risk losing viewers by starting shows like Prodigal Son and Britain’s Busiet Airport during the MAFS combo, TVNZ 1’s opted to push back their start times …

➢➢ TVNZ 2 is resuming Friday night movies from March 6 that will screen opposite Three’s. The network had focused on a light-ent line-up, spearheaded by 8 Out of 10 Cats Does Countdown, that proved so successful it would have been one of the factors influencing Three’s decision to shift The Graham Norton Show to Thursdays. Now that 8 Out of 10 Cats has moved to Wednesdays, TVNZ 2 is revamping Fridays with 7.30 movies. It looks like the Narnia and Jurassic Park franchises will go head-to-head for the first few weeks …

➢➢ The only network movie premiere for the week starting February 29 will be I Am Not A Witch (Maori TV, 8.30 Sunday). Other HD coming attractions will include:

• Nacho Libre (TVNZ 2, 7.00 Saturday)
• The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle (Maori TV, 7.00 Saturday)
• The Hangover Part II (TVNZ 2, 8.50 Saturday)
• The Da Vinci Code (Three, 8.55 Saturday)
• Chappie (TVNZ 2, 10.55 Saturday)
• The Other Side of the Door (Three, 11.45 Saturday)
• Inherent Vice (TVNZ 2, 1.15am Sunday)
• Walk of Shame (TVNZ 2, 8.30 Sunday)
• Baywatch (Three, 8.30 Sunday)
• Deliver Us From Evil (TVNZ 2, 11.25 Sunday)
• Ghost Rider – Spirit of Vengeance (Prime, 8.30 Monday)
• Where to Invade Next (Maori TV, 8.30 Monday)
• Good Morning, Vietnam (Duke, 8.30 Tuesday)
• The People vs. Larry Flynt (Duke, 10.45 Tuesday)
• The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe (TVNZ 2, 7.30 Friday)
• Jurassic Park (Three, 7.30)
• Be Kind Rewind (Duke, 8.30 Friday) …

➢➢ Love Island UK has landed a free-to-air run as a late-night strip on Prime. It will screen after Prime Sport weeknights from March 2. Also returning will be Raw Recruits (Duke, 9.30 Wednesdays from March 4) while ending their runs that week will be Shipping Wars, The Cruise and Earth’s Tropical Islands  …

➢➢ Prime will air another episode of Brian Johnson: A Life on the Road (8.30 Sunday), in which the ex-AC/DC frontman interviews Billy Joel, while Justin Timberlake, Anna Kendrick, Oti Mabuse, Alan Carr and Sam Smith will appear on the March 5 broadcast of The Graham Norton Show (Three, 8.30).