HD Heads-Up: July 11 – 17

➢➢ TVNZ 2 will premiere America’s Got Talent on July 12 as the 5.25 Sunday lead-in to MasterChef Australia the same night the network serves up a double-episode of the Aussie cooking contest. AGT, which previously aired on Three, was one of the few US series to work around COVID-19 shutdowns, Deadline reports. Judge and creator Simon Cowell told the trade paper he used the lockdown to come up with three new formats. “I’ve had the time to work on them, develop them properly and the last time I did that or had the time to do it, honestly was around 2005  – which was about the time I came up with Got Talent. I’m very excited” …

➢➢ Eeee, by gum … Prime’s newest fly-on-the-wall documentary series Yorkshire Airport has been likened to a cross between Come Fly With Me and a Peter Kay-style spoof. Airing 7.30 Tuesdays from July 14, the six-part Hugh (Outnumbered) Dennis-narrated series was filmed over the summer of 2018 at Leeds Bradford Airport as it attempted to reinvent itself with a multi-million pound investment. Reported Leeds Live: “Twitter reaction has seen the show branded ‘absolute cringe‘, patronising and accused of ‘making a mockery of Yorkshire'” …

➢➢ US critics had the unkindest things to to say about the revival of Kids Say The Darndest Things (Prime, 7.30 Thursdays from July 16). Variety said it was “dispiriting to watch a show that was at some point in the distant past about celebrating the peculiar, innocent worldviews of children lean so heavily into a point-of-view that places celebrities at the centre of the universe” …

➢➢ Fans of Queen can enjoy the group’s first concert at Wembley Stadium, in 1986, on Prime Rocks: Queen – Live at Wembley (Prime, 8.30 Wednesday) …

➢➢ Returning the same week for its fifth season will be Chicago P.D. (Three, 11.10 Sunday) and a Can’t Pay? We’ll Take It Away Special (Prime, 9.45 Wednesday) while ending their runs will be Call the Cleaners, Bodyguard and MKR: The Rivals …

➢➢ There will be four network movie premieres in the week starting July 11: Rock Dog (Three, 7.00 Saturday), The Lego Batman Movie (TVNZ 2, 7.00), Jackie (Maori TV, 8.30 Sunday) and Wilson (TVNZ 1, 10.30 Sunday). Maori TV will also premiere Merata, a feature-length documentary about pioneering Maori filmmaker Merata Mita (8.30 Monday) …

➢➢ Other coming attractions in HD will include:

• Beowulf (Duke, 8.30 Saturday)
• Interstellar (TVNZ 2, 8.45 Saturday)
• The Heartbreak Kid (Three, 8.45 Saturday)
• Deception (TVNZ 2, 11.50 Saturday)
• Cold Creek Manor (TVNZ 2, 1.45am Sunday)
• Central Intelligence (Three, 8.35 Sunday)
• Burnt (TVNZ 2, 9.10 Sunday)
• The Green Hornet (Duke, 9.50 Sunday)
• Wilson (TVNZ 1, 10.30 Sunday)
• Underworld: Blood Wars (TVNZ 2, 11.55 Sunday)
• Ocean’s Eleven (Prime, 8.30 Monday)
• Aeon Flux (Duke, 8.30 Tuesday)
• Romeo Must Die (TVNZ 2, 8.00 Thursday)
• The Huntsman: Winter’s War (Three, 7.30 Friday)
• True Lies (Duke, 8.30 Friday)
• Three Wise Cousins (Maori TV, 8.30 Friday).