HD Heads-Up: January 25

➢ David Bowie: The Last Five Years will launch another season of Prime Rocks on February 5 (Prime, 8.30). “Instead of the usual procession of famous talking heads that appear in most music docs, the portrait quizzes his close collaborators on these last two albums – producer Tony Visconti, graphic designer Jonathan Barnbrook, composer Maria Schneider and the Donny McCaslin-fronted jazz outfit that played on Blackstar,” said Rolling Stone, which described the documentary are “stellar” …

➢ Variety reports The Last Five Years was “an extraordinarily difficult film to make. Despite Bowie’s fame and heavily documented life, the last dozen or so years are a media black hole.” But intense research and skillful editing and storytelling delivers “one of the most rewarding music documentaries in recent memory, combining archival and previously unaired footage of Bowie with new interviews” …

➢ The reality TV onslaught continues in the week starting February 3, with Hell’s Kitchen Australia on (TVNZ 1 (7.30 Saturday and Friday), Married at First Sight Australia on Three (7.30 Monday-Thursday), and, for the first time in off-peak, new episodes of The Block Australia (3.00 weekdays from February 6). Given how poorly re-runs of Modern  Family are rating at 5.30 for Three, you would have thought season 13 of The Block would have made a better hour-long lead-in to Newshub Live …

➢ Also returning for new seasons in new slots are Karena & Kasey’s Kitchen Diplomacy (TVNZ 1, 7.30 Thursday), Topp Country (TVNZ 1, 8.00 Thursday) and Doc Martin (TVNZ 1, 8.40 Friday) while Three will team the season premiere of 7 Days (9.00 Friday) with Subject: Dad, in which The Project’s Josh Thomson reads out emails from his father, 75-year-old Pareora farmer David, to comedian friends. And Fair Go‘s back with the first of two 40th anniversary specials (TVNZ 1, 7.30 Monday) on a double bill with Border Security …

➢ Ending their runs that week are House Rules, Guiltology, Innocent, Purina Pound Pups To Dog Stars, Gate To The Globe, Amazing Hotels: Life Beyond The Lobby, One Born Every Minute, Silent Witness, Man With a Plan and the Louis Theroux season with Dark States – Murder In Milwaukee …

➢ Duke’s newest comedy, Ghosted, about a pair of paranormal investigators, will premiere 8.30 on February 5. “All the sci-fi intrigue and alien high jinks will give [Adam Scott and Craig Robinson] plenty of material. But it’s really only window dressing for their comedy, which in the weeks to come could be out of this world,” predicted the Wall Street Journal while Variety thought  it had “a nice, escapist little atmosphere with elements of horror; it’s hard to tell if that will be enough to sustain it. But fans of both comedians–and fans of spoofs–will likely find enough to keep them amused” …

➢ Free-to-air sports fans can look forward to bumper live coverage on Prime from February 3, with the HSBC World Rugby Sevens (6.00 Saturday and Sunday) and the start of the Olympic Winter Games on Friday, which will air from 9.30 to 4am nightly. There also will be The 55th Halberg Awards on Thursday at 11.50 …

➢ Guesting on the February 9 broadcast of The Graham Norton Show (Three, 8.00) are Tom Cruise, Henry Cavill, Rebecca Ferguson, Simon Pegg and Paloma Faith while appearing on Prime’s The Late Show With Stephen Colbert are: Willem Dafoe, RuPaul Charles and Roy Wood Jr. (10.50 tonight) and Gwyneth Paltrow, Ben McKenzie and a musical performance by 30 Seconds to Mars (10.30 tomorrow)…