HD Heads-Up: June 29

➢ The networks will ramp up their local drama slates in the week starting July 8 with the return of Westside (Three, 8.30 Monday) and Filthy Rich (TVNZ 2, 8.30 Tuesday) while Shortland Street will start its “winter season” of hour-long Monday episodes. TVNZ 2 will relaunch Filthy Rich with a 90-minute episode and precede it on July 9 with the season two premiere of The Cul De Sac (6.00 Sundays), a kidult drama about a utopian settlement where all is not as it seems …

➢ TVNZ 2 will use the winter season of Shortland Street to launch its new 9.35 Monday drama Claws, which TVNZ OnDemand has been streaming express from the US. Variety dubbed it a “shaggy, fun drama … about manicurists dabbling in mild-to-moderate mob activity on the Gulf Coast of Florid” while the New York Times thought it a cross between a feminist buddy comedy and bloody drama — but “not quite credible as either” …

➢ TVNZ 1 will premiere All Round to Mrs Brown’s on July 14 at 8.40. Quipped The Times: “I am not allergic to Brendan O’Carroll’s Mrs Brown’s Boys, but its degradation from bawdy post-modern sitcom to bawdy post-modern variety show was a mess. It looked to me more like the format for a theatrical tour than the television.” Even so, the premiere drew a sprightly 6.9 million viewers …

➢ Returning the same week is The Mick (TVNZ 2, 8.00 Monday) while ending their runs are Extreme Rescue, Apple Tree Yard and Doctor Doctor …

➢ TVNZ 2 will launch a school holiday 7.00 Sunday movie slot with the free-to-air premiere of Tomorrowland on July 9. Other coming attractions in HD that week include:

• The Incredibles (TVNZ 2, 4.55 Saturday)
• Hotel Transylvania 2 (TVNZ 2, 7.00 Saturday)
• Alvin And The Chipmunks: Chipwrecked (Three, 700 Saturday)
• The Devil Wears Prada (Three, 8.40 Saturday)
• The Sixth Sense (TVNZ 2, 10.35 Saturday)
• Water for Elephants (Three, 10.45 Saturday)
• Dawn of the Planet of the Apes (Three, 8.30 Sunday)
• Get Smart (TVNZ 2, 9.30 Sunday)
• The Stepfather (TVNZ 2, 11.40 Sunday)
• X-Men: The Last Stand (Prime, 8.35 Monday)
• Die Another Day (Three, 7.30 Thursday)

➢ Guesting on the July 14 broadcast of The Graham Norton Show (Three, 8.00) are: Will Smith, Ryan Reynolds, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Toby Jones and Laura Mvula, who performs “Overcome” …