HD Heads-Up: July 1-7
June 22, 2023 
5 Comments
➢➢ TVNZ 1 smartens up Monday nights with two local newcomers: a promising stablemate for warhorse Fair Go and a wildlife series with odd-couple hosts. You’ve Been Scammed by Nigel Latta (8.00) explores the art of the con through psychology, mentalism and a dash of magic. Promises the blurb: “This optimistic and empowering series features Nigel’s exploration of real-world scams and the psychology behind them [and] will inspire audiences to create genuine behavioural changes which can protect themselves from the ever increasing and ever sophisticated scam-demic facing the country” …
➢➢ Endangered Species Aotearoa with WWF (8.30) teams comedian Pax Assadi and conservationist Nicola Tokitek on an “epic” trek across NZ and the Pacific to reveal the habitats of wildlife species facing extinction …
➢➢ Live free-to-air sports coverage for the first week of July includes continuing Ashes action on Duke and three hours of Wimbledon 9.55 nightly on Prime from Monday. Long gone, it seems, are days of overnight coverage and packaged daily highlights. To catch the rest of the tournament, you’ll need to subscribe to Sky or its sports app …
➢➢ Prime also kicks off the “revealing” and “inspiring” sports docuseries Angel City (8.35 Wednesday), about the founding of LA’s professional women’s soccer team Angel City Football Club by Natalie Portman, Kara Nortman and Julie Uhrma …
➢➢ New to Whakaata Māori are the short film Tree (10.25 Sunday) and the documentary Loot (7.30 Monday), which documents how criminal syndicates, gangs and terrorists control the trade in stolen antiquities and art …
➢➢ With the end in sight, TVNZ 2 is adding a second weekly episode of Australian Survivor: Heroes v Villains (8.40 Thursday) …
➢➢ Returning for new seasons are Dog Squad Puppy School (TVNZ 1, 8.15 Saturday), The UnXplained with William Shatner (Duke, 8.30 Wednesday) and Paranormal: Caught On Camera (TVNZ 2, 9.45 Thursday) …
➢➢ Ending their runs are Superman & Lois, Succession, The Footballer, His Wife and the Crash and The Dog House …
➢➢ HD coming attractions for the first week in July include:
- Maid in Manhattan (TVNZ 2, 7.00 Saturday)
- The Mermaid Princess (Whakaata Māori, 7.00 Saturday)
- Street Dance 2 (Whakaata Māori, 8.20 Saturday)
- Monster-in-Law (TVNZ 2, 9.00 Saturday)
- Class Action Park (Prime, 9.00 Saturday)
- Along Came Polly (TVNZ 2, 11.00 Saturday)
- Trumbo (TVNZ 2, 12.45am Sunday)
- Toys of Terror (TVNZ 2, 2.50am Sunday)
- Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa (TVNZ 2, 4.15 Sunday)
- Justice League (TVNZ 2, 8.30 Sunday)
- Vacation (Three, 8.30 Sunday)
- God of the Piano (Whakaata Māori, 8.30 Sunday)
- Last Night in Soho (TVNZ 2, 11.40 Sunday)
- Fiona Clarke Unafraid (Whakaata Māori, 8.30 Monday)
- The Untouchables (Duke, 8.30 Tuesday)
- Selma (Whakaata Māori, 8.30 Wednesday)
- Rush Hour 3 (Three, 7.30 Friday).
Warning: preg_replace(): Unknown modifier '/' in /home/customer/www/screenscribe.net/public_html/wp-content/themes/headlines/includes/theme-comments.php on line 66
June 22, 2023 at 8:17 pm
Just seen the recent news that Nickelodeon is going free to air in Australia from August and exiting the pay TV market. Is this channel likely to wind up on free to air in NZ, Philip, or is it locked in on Sky? I’m only speculating as Bravo just recently made it onto free to air across the Tasman. Could TVNZ be readying channel 7 on Freeview for a joint venture considering they have a CBS output deal or could Sky’s Prime TV gain an additional channel to showcase its vast library of children’s programming?
Hey, Leo, love how you’ve joined the dots but … Although it’s branded Paramount Australia and NZ, the markets aren’t the same and there seems to be no plans here for a FTA Nickelodeon, with Sky confirming it will continue to be a pay-TV service here.
I guess there goes that theory. Thanks for clearing up my speculation, Philip, and getting comment from Sky. One can only continue to dream of Freeview gaining a kids channel.
As a parent of two young kids, I know how poor the choice is on free to air TV, so any move to increase kids programming on Freeview would be very well received in my household.
It would be great if there was more kids content on Freeview let alone its own dedicated channel. With the demise of FOUR kids and Prime reducing it’s Kids output in favor of infomercials, the only other commitment to children’s programming apart from TVNZ 2 is the Duke Jr holiday programming slate which I believe should be made permanent and year round. We’ve definitely missed the boat in having a public broadcaster wanting to launch a children’s channel, let’s hope with the advent of FAST channels that kids do get a dedicated service.