HD Heads-Up: March 2 – 8

➢➢ This Is Us is going the way of Blackish: to a weekend afternoon slot. After trying to make the first two seasons rate in prime-time, TVNZ 2 is consigning season three to 1.45pm Sundays from March 3. (It joins other first-run newcomers Living Biblically and Splitting Up Together, which air 1.55pm and 2.20pm Saturdays on TVNZ 2 and from March 2 will be preceded by Aussie reality show Instant Hotel.) Even if This Is Us had built decent viewership here, TVNZ 2 would struggle to maintain a primetime slot given how much of its schedule has been hijacked by reality/factual entertainment …

➢➢ Season eight of Call the Midwife will debut March 8 in TVNZ 1’s 8.30 Friday drama slot. It went to air last month on BBC1, when the Independent praised the “forensic attention to historical detail” but argued: “Would that the dialogue and characters enjoyed the same loving attention as the preggers ladies or the props. They are invariably crudely drawn, even given Britain’s class-ridden state” …

➢➢ But the Telegraph countered: “It might come cosily dressed in a cardigan and pinafore, but this drama isn’t afraid to tackle tough topics. If Call the Midwife’s Christmas episodes have become formulaic, with their Nativity plays and snowfall, this was a return to form: an absorbingly paced, perfectly judged slice of Sunday-night pleasure” …

➢➢ The Telegraph dubbed Joanna Lumley’s Silk Road Adventure (Prime, 8.30 Sundays from March 3) “a whistle-stop trip with a charming, upbeat guide”.  Also new to Prime that week will be the free-to-air premiere of CB Strike (8.30 Tuesdays), ITM Hook Me Up (7.30 Wednesdays) and MasterChef USA (7.30 Thursdays) while ending their runs will be A Place in the Sun: Winter Sun and Midsomer Murders …

➢➢ Appearing on the March 8 broadcast of The Graham Norton Show (Three, 8.00) will be Felicity Jones, Armie Hammer, Stephen Merchant, Rob Beckett, Calvin Harris and Rag‘n’Bone Man …

➢➢ The free-to-air premieres of TVNZ 2’s Logan and Three’s King Arthur: Legend of the Sword will go head-to-head at 8.30 on March 3. Three also will premiere Sleepless (8.30 Thursday). The week’s other HD coming attractions will include:

• Jack the Giant Slayer (TVNZ 2, 7.00 Saturday)
• Keeping Mum (TVNZ 1, 8.35 Saturday)
• The Terminal (Three, 8.55 Saturday)
• Jumper (TVNZ 2, 9.10 Saturday)
• Flatliners (Duke, 9.30 Saturday)
• Woman in Gold (TVNZ 1, 10.40 Saturday)
• Inception (TVNZ 2, 10.55 Saturday)
• Promised Land (Three, 11.20 Saturday)
• Ex Machina (Maori TV, 8.30 Sunday)
• Zombeavers (10.40 Sunday)
• Legend (Prime, 9.30 Monday)
• Desperado (Duke, 8.30 Tuesday)
• Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (TVNZ 2, 8.00 Friday)
• Liar Liar (Maori TV, 8.30 Friday)
• Last Action Hero (Duke, 9.00 Friday)