HD Heads-Up: July 17

➢ Game of Thrones returns for season seven tonight (SoHo, 8.30), with a premiere that The Hollywood Reporter reckons “sets the stage for the endgame … Jon Snow and Daenerys Targaryen coming together over dragon glass, full-on war against the new Lannister-Greyjoy partnership, and a White Walker war to end all wars”. The New York Times says it “sketched out the contours of the clashes to come, suggesting some possible paths of convergence and identifying free agents who will fill in the gaps” while Variety thought it “a little sublime and a little nuts-and-bolts, which is to be expected from a show about to take on a massive storytelling challenge” …

➢ Reports Deadline Hollywood: “Tonight’s scalding Game of Thrones proved exactly why it sits among Peak TV royalty, critically and ratings-wise. Hell, it even took HBO’s website down for a bit on Sunday” …

➢ As for the next Doctor Who, Broadchurch’s Jodie Whittaker, Erica Lear, the social secretary at the Doctor Who Appreciation Society, said: “I did not expect it but I think it’s brilliant. My only wish was that we have a good actor and that is what we have … It will spark debate and split fandom; there will be lots of people not happy with the decision but it’s up to the new series to change their mind” …

➢ Lucifer fans should note that as of tonight, the series will air 9.30 Mondays. It’s switching slots with repeats of Beyond the Darklands. Lucifer would seem to be yet another gimmicky crime drama that quickly burns out its appeal in this market, just as Blindspot did when it went from 8.30 Thursdays to 9.30 Mondays to post-11.00 Fridays. Lucifer’s prospects against TVNZ 2’s Wentworth and Three’s Westside were always going to be grim, which presumably is why TVNZ 1 is filling the 8.30 hour with re-runs Darklands in the meantime …

➢ Three reports The Block NZ won its time slot in most or all of the four core comm-ercial demographics last week: Monday (25-54, 18-39, 18-49), Tuesday (25-54, 18-39, 18-49), Wednesday and Sunday (all four, including household shoppers with kids) …

➢ The DIY challenge also helped Three’s Monday night dramas to win their time slots last week in key demos: Westside dominated 25-54, 18-39 and 18-49, and Blue Bloods 25-54 and 18-49 …

➢ And last Tuesday, Three’s long-in-the-tooth procedural NCIS out-rated the movie-length season premiere of TVNZ 2’s Filthy Rich. Stuff reports TVNZ 1 won the slot but points out “the 14-season-old import out-performed Filthy, in both the five plus age demographic (preferred by TVNZ) and the 25-54 demographic (the advertiser-friendly market preferred by Three). Filthy did, however, record victory in another measure, of viewers aged 18 to 49, which TVNZ say is their target audience for the channel” …

➢ To celebrate its 250th episode, 7Days will record its first show in the city of Hamilton on August 10, with all proceeds going to a Hamilton-based charity. “This is our way of saying sorry and giving back to the people of Hamilton,” 7Days’ Jeremy Corbett, says. “And of course, we will be including a montage of some of our best Hamilton-related gags throughout the history of the show.” Tickets will go on sale tomorrow from $29.90. The show will air on August 11; the series returns on July 28 (Three, 9.00) …

➢ New episodes of Prime’s The Late Show With Jimmy Fallon at last resume from tomorrow. This week’s guests include:

• Kate McKinnon, John Cena and musical guest Mac DeMarco (10.45 tonight)
• Queen Latifah, Kyle Mooney and musical guest Portugal (11.25 tomorrow)
• Jada Pinkett Smith, Dane DeHaan and musical guest Rita Ora while Dave Davies sits in with The Roots (10.35 Wednesday)
• Harry Styles, Jenny Slate and musical guest The Who (10.30 Thursday).