HD Heads-Up: February 5 – 11

➢➢ TVNZ 2 will promote its pending premiere of CSI: Vegas with a “10 best cases” marathon culled from the original series that will screen over two nights: from 8.40 on February 11 and from 8.35 on February 12. CSI veteran executive producer Carol Mendelsohn curated the collection from 300 episodes spread over 14 seasons. Here’s what made the cut:

• Blood Drops (S1, E7)
• Table Stakes (S1, E15)
• The Finger (S2, E14)
• Fur and Loathing (S4, E5)
• Grave Danger Parts 1 & 2 (S5, E24 & 25)
• A Bullet Runs Through It Parts 1 & 2 (S6, E 7&8)
• Law of Gravity (S7, E15)
• Turn, Turn, Turn (S9, E16)
• Sqweegel (S11, E4)
• CSI on Fire (S13, E8) …

➢➢ Incidentally, original CSI cast member Jorja Fox is quitting the reboot ahead of S2. She tweeted: “I personally just can’t split Sara and Grissom up again. So goes Grissom … So goes Sara. Wherever they go, they belong together.” Variety reports the reference was to her co-star William Petersen only signing on for the first 10-episode season of the show, as Gil Grissom, the husband of her character, Sara Sidle …

➢➢ Among the Waiting weekend highlights on Maori TV will be Black Sea Golden Ladder: The Visual Album (7.00 Saturday), in which seven Māori directors collaborate to create a  film inspired by Troy Kingi’s 10 tracks on Black Sea Golden Ladder, and Reason to Rhyme (8.30 Sunday), a documentary series that “seeks to open and dissect the influence of black culture on Aotearoa” …

➢➢ A Hyundai Country Calendar Waitangi Special on February 7 (TVNZ 1, 7.30) will be nothing more than a compilation hour of highlights from previous seasons  …

➢➢ Carlos’ Reno Rescue (TVNZ 1, 8.00 Tuesdays from February 8) is a new renovation series in which All Black Carlos Spencer and his team use their building expertise to transform one room within the homes of deserving New Zealanders …

➢➢ Three will launch two new series the same week: Australia Behind Bars (9.00 Tuesday), which promises “unprecedented access” beyond the high walls and barbed wires of three maximum security prisons; and Sort Your Life Out UK (9.00 Wednesday), in which Stacey Solomon and her team help families declutter, upcycle and recycle their way to a new home …

➢➢ Penelope Cruz and director Pedro Almodóvar will promote their movie Parallel Mothers on the February 10 broadcast of The Graham Norton Show (Three, 9.00 Thursday), which will also guest star James McAvoy …

➢➢ The NZ movie Poppy will have its free-to-air premiere on February 7 (TVNZ 1, 8.30). It stars Libby Hunsdale as a young woman with Down syndrome who refuses to be defined by disability and takes control of her own life. Other HD coming attractions will include:

• Get Smart (TVNZ 2, 7.00 Saturday)
• The Adventures of Tintin (Three, 7.00 Saturday)
• The Dark Horse (Maori TV, 8.00 Saturday)
• Sex and the City (Three, 8.55 Saturday)
• The Boss (TVNZ 2, 9.00 Saturday)
• The Island of Dr. Moreau (Duke, 9.00 Saturday)
• The 33 (TVNZ 2, 11.00 Saturday)
• Brutal Bridesmaids (Three, 11.40 Saturday)
• The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2 (TVNZ 2, 1.40 Sunday)
• Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (TVNZ 2, 7.00 Sunday)
• Alien Resurrection (TVNZ 2, 10.40 Sunday)
• Mt Zion (Maori TV, 9.35 Sunday)
• Hitch (TVNZ 2, 9.00 Monday)
• Thor: Ragnarok (TVNZ 2, 8.40 Tuesday)
• The Hangover Part III (TVNZ 2, 8.30 Wednesday)
• Ransom (Duke, 8.30 Tuesday)
• Journey to the Center of the Earth (Three, 7.30 Friday)
• I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry (Duke, 9.30 Friday)
• Race (TVNZ 2, 2.45am Saturday).