HD Heads-Up: March 9 – 15

➢➢ TVNZ 1 will strip the explosive Michael Jackson documentary, Leaving Neverland, across two nights. The two-part revelation of sexual allegations against the “King of Pop” will screen 8.30 on March 10 and 11, a week after its HBO premiere and four days after its Channel 4 broadcast. “Leaving Neverland is no thriller, but it’s undeniably a kind of true-life horror movie,” Variety said. “You walk out of it shaken, but on some level liberated by its dark exposé” …

➢➢ Today the trade paper reported Jackson’s estate “scrambles to control fallout from bombshell documentary”, with family members denying the allegations, while Deadline said Oprah Winfrey will interview Jackson accusers Wade Robson and James Safechuck for a special to air on HBO after its presentation of Leaving Neverland …

➢➢ Maori TV will premiere its own pop icon doco the same night Leaving Neverland concludes. The Guardian hailed Janis: Little Girl Blue as an “eye-opening account of Joplin’s brief, fierce life” while the New York Times said the “enthralling film tells a story somewhat similar to Amy” …

➢➢ Prime is dusting off MH370: Inside the Situation Room (March 10, 10.30), a Channel 5 documentary about the search for the Malaysia Airlines flight that first aired in the UK nearly a year ago. It features exclusive access to the key people who, five years ago, were at the forefront of the crisis  …

➢➢ Prime still hasn’t given up on the primetime potential of ’90s sitcoms 3rd Rock From the Sun and Married … With Children. They will resurface on an 8.30 Saturday double-bill from March 9, as the lead-out for the 7.30 return of Scorpion. The same night Prime will premiere 100 Day Renovation (6.00), in which the series’ producers take us inside the tightly-budgeted renovation of their 1930s Hibiscus Coast home …

➢➢ TVNZ 1’s The Secret Life of Girls (March 9, 7.00) marks the anniversary of Women’s Suffrage by secretly following the play, conversations and challenges of five- and six-year-old girls at a NZ school …

➢➢ Also new that week will be The Crossing (TVNZ 1, 11.00), a tepidly reviewed 2018 sci-fi drama about refugees from 150 years in the future, while ending their runs will be The Cruise and Michael McIntyre’s Big Show …

➢➢ The March 15 broadcast of The Graham Norton Show (Three, 8.00) will be a compilation of highlights from the latest season, featuring Chris Pratt, Dame Judi Dench, Sir Ian McKellen, Sir Michael Caine, Michael B. Jordan, Rami Malek and Lady Gaga …

➢➢ Two network movie premieres will face off on March 10: The Shallows (TVNZ 2, 8.30) and The Danish Girl (Maori TV, 8.35). Other HD coming attractions for that week include:

• Top Gun (TVNZ 2, 7.00 Saturday)
• Demolition (Three, 8.55 Saturday)
• Jerry Maguire (TVNZ 2, 9.05 Saturday)
• Total Recall (Duke, 9.25 Saturday)
• Force of Destiny (TVNZ 1, 10.25 Saturday)
• Deadly Detention (Three, 11.00 Saturday)
• Assassins (TVNZ 2, 11.50 Saturday)
• Central Intelligence (Three, 8.30 Sunday)
• Viral (TVNZ 2, 11.10 Sunday)
• Battle: Los Angeles (Prime, 9.30 Monday)
• Black Mass (Duke, 9.30 Tuesday)
• Next (Three, 8.30 Thursday)
• Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (TVNZ 2, 8.00 Friday)
• So I Married an Axe Murderer (Duke, 8.30 Friday)
• Scott Pilgrim vs The World (Maori TV, 8.30 Friday).