HD Heads-Up: July 14

Supersized Family Feud … Mesmerised more hypnotic than Family Guy? … Clever ruse for Cleverman … Spy resurfaces in 1080i … Kiwis get Voice …

The latest spin-off from TV3’s weekday game show, Family Feud, will premiere on July 28 at 7.30. All Star Family Feud will pit 7 Days’ Jeremy Corbett, Paul Ego, Urzila Carlson and Tom Furniss against Jono and Ben’s Jono Pryor, Ben Boyce, Guy Williams and Laura Daniel. It follows the success of Celebrity Family Feud and reflects the crossover synergies of building up a light ent stable as formidable as TV3’s …

The return of Jono and Ben and 7 Days on July 29 may have prompted TV2 to revise its Friday line-up. The same night it will drop the low-rating Family Guy back to a single 10pm episode and debut at 9.30, opposite 7 Days, Mesmerised, in which Peter Powers “unleashes his army of hypnotised subjects”. He told the Sydney Morning Herald he’s not worried that they might feel humiliated: “They know it’s a comedy“…

But no one was laughing at Channel 7 after the first-night ratings, which led to the series being pulled after only one episode. Commented website TV Tonight when it ranked Mesmerised among 2015’s biggest disappointments: “Idiotic. You really have to wonder how so many people can collectively sign off on such rubbish”  …

A Weta Workshop series soon to debut on Duke can be viewed first on TVNZ OnDemand from July 27.  Set in a dystopian near future, Cleverman weaves Aboriginal Dreamtime mythology into a post-apocalyptic world where an ancient mythological species must live among humans and battle for survival in a world that wants to silence, exploit and destroy them …

TV2 will reinstate 7pm Sunday editions of The Voice Australia from July 24, in a week when Kiwis will take centerstage: singer Kate Van Elswijk on Sunday and trio The Koi Boys on Friday. But there’s no still sign yet of classic Simpsons expanding into a weeknight slot — TV2 has elected to continue with re-runs of The Middle at 6pm …

The BBC’s Tiger – Spy in the Jungle will air here in HD for the first time from July 23 (TV3, 5.00 Saturdays). It uses everything from “trunk-cam” and “tusk-cam” – camouflaged  cameras carried by elephants – to capture groundbreaking footage of tigers in the dense forests of India. TVNZ originally aired the 2008 entry in the critter-cam franchise in SD but the three-part series should really earn its stripes in 1080i …

Comings and goings: Border Patrol returns July 25 (TV One, 7.30) with a focus on Immigration New Zealand staff as well as NZ Customs and Ministry for Primary Industries … Renters resumes the same night (TV2, 8.00) … TV One will screen the season five finale of Offspring on July 28 ahead of season six’s premiere the following week … Ending their runs in the week starting July 23 are Roots, Mastermind and The Blacklist …

TV2 will screen the network movie premiere of Transcendence on July 24. Other coming attractions in HD that week include: Chicken Little (TV2, 5.20 Saturday), The Smurfs 2 (TV2, 7.00 Saturday), Rio 2 (TV3, 7.00 Saturday), In Her Shoes (TV3, 9.00 Saturday), Anna Karenina (TV3, 10.35 Sunday), Dream House (TV2, 12.40am Sunday) and Tower Heist (TV3, 8.30 Monday) …