HD Heads-Up: July 22-28

➢➢ The same week TVNZ 2 wraps up Australian Survivor: Heroes v Villains (9.25 Friday), it unleashes another Aussie action-adventure hour — but one with a Kiwi twist: The Summit (7.30 Monday-Wednesday). Said the Sydney Morning Herald: “A kind of hybrid of Survivor and Out in the Wild, The Summit begins with 14 Australians being dropped at the base of a forbidding mountain in New Zealand’s South Island. Each is given an equal share of $1 million in cash, which they must keep in their backpacks. They have a fortnight to reach the peak but the catch is they must stick together – if anyone quits, or the group decides to leave them behind, they forfeit the money that team member is carrying. In the first episode … they’re allowed to steal each other’s cash at one of several predetermined checkpoints along the way. Naturally, all sorts of moral conundrums arise as the participants weigh up who to cut loose and who to support to the very end” …

➢➢ Also new to TVNZ 2 are the special Ed Sheeran vs Adele (TVNZ 2, 7.30 Thursday), which compares their careers, and Peacock (TVNZ 2, 12.25am Thursday), a BBC gym comedy about a personal trainer who, with his career stalling and friends settling down, wonders if he should ditch his playboy ways. The Telegraph said it “skewers the hollow masculinity behind the pecs and the posers” while The Guardian declared: “In the era of comedy post-Brent and Partridge, blithe berks who eventually win our sympathy have been everywhere, but sitcom men have had a lot of stuff to work through. Peacock puts them one step closer to moving on” …

➢➢ Also premiering off-peak is Lion: Rise and Fall of the Marsh Pride (TVNZ 1, 2.15 Sunday). “Think about lions, and you’re probably thinking about the Marsh Pride,” The Guardian said. “These cats live on the Maasai Mara game reserve in western Kenya and were turned into celebrities in the 2000s by natural history TV programmes, led by the BBC’s Big Cat Diary. Lion: The Rise and Fall of the Marsh Pride serves as a best-of summary of those films” …

➢➢ It’s another big week for live free-to-air sport in primetime, with Duke continuing its Ashes coverage and Prime broadcasting FIFA Women’s World Cup, NWC Silver Ferns and NRL games as well as Forumla One World Championship highlights (round 12, 8.00 Monday). Prime also has the FTA premiere of Dame Valerie Adams: More Than Gold (8.30 Thursday) …

➢➢ Three is replacing NCIS: Los Angeles with filler fodder, the return of Gloucester police docuseries Police After Dark (9.30 Saturday) for one week only …

➢➢ TVNZ 1 rejuvenates its weekend line-up with new seasons of Tipping Point Lucky Stars (7.00 Saturday), Build Your Dream Home (8.35 Saturday), The Bay (9.35 Saturday) and The Brokenwood Mysteries (8.30 Sunday) …

➢➢ Ending their runs are Mountain Men,NCIS,  MasterChef Australia, Helicopter ER, You’ve Been Scammed by Nigel Latta, Rainbow Warrior: Murder in the Pacific, The Walking Dead: Dead City, Channel Patrol, Bradley Walsh’s Blankety Blank, Race Across the World, Jon & Lucy’s Odd Couples, Rich House, Poor House, Gowns and Geysers and Kirstie and Phil’s Love It or List It Brilliant Builds …

➢➢ The latest Kiwi short films to screen on Whakaata Māori are Twenty-One Points (10.15 Sunday) and The World in Your Window (10.25 Sunday) …

➢➢ HD coming attractions for the week starting July 22 include:

• The Dragon Pearl (Whakaata Māori, 7.00 Saturday)
• Five Feet Apart (Eden, 8.35 Saturday)
• The Weight of Elephants (Whakaata Māori, 8.35 Saturday)
• Couples Retreat (TVNZ 2, 8.55 Saturday)
• Mary, Queen of Scots (TVNZ 1, 10.30 Saturday)
• Troy (TVNZ 2, 11.05 Saturday)
• Love Knots (TVNZ 1, 12.55am Sunday)
• Poseidon (TVNZ 2, 2am Sunday)
• How to Train Your Dragon (TVNZ 2, 5.10 Sunday)
• G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra (Three, 8.05 Sunday)
• Truth (Eden, 8.25 Sunday)
• The Last Wave (Whakaata Māori, 8.30 Sunday)
• US Marshals (TVNZ 2, 8.50 Sunday)
• Greta (TVNZ 2, 12.05am Monday)
• Exit Through the Gift Shop (Whakaata Māori, 8.30 Monday)
• Love, Lizzo (Prime, 9.00 Monday)
• Along Came a Spider (Duke, 8.30 Tuesday)
• The Salesman (Whakaata Māori, 8.30 Wednesday)
• Journey to the Centre of the Earth (Three, 7.30 Friday).