HD Heads-Up: May 4 – 10

April 25, 2019 0 Comments

➢➢ Prime will spruce up primetime in the week starting May 5 with a slew of premieres, including a spectacular wildlife series, the return of Top Gear and two new comedies. Mountains – Life Above the Clouds (7.30 Sundays), is a three-part BBC series that uses breathtaking photography to explore the Rockies, the Andes and the Himalayas. “From the murderous wildlife to a daredevil skier and a man who leaps into the abyss, this series brings the drama of the landscape to life on a grand scale,” said The Guardian, praising the series for “trying quite hard to be a bit different. Not just the usual: the changing seasons, the hunt for food and a shag etc. Give them a bit of horror, why not” …

➢➢ The last episodes of Top Gear with Matt LeBlanc at the wheel will air in a new slot: 8.30 Wednesdays. It went to air on BBC2 in February, when The Telegraph argued “the BBC has finally got the formula right – but is it too late? … This was Top Gear on autopilot and Top Gear on autopilot is exactly what many viewers will have wished for. No longer encumbered by the need to impress anyone, the departing LeBlanc was a sitcom icon reborn” …

➢➢ Prime will also refresh Tuesdays with the sitcom double-bill of The Neighborhood (9.50) and Happy Together (10.20). The former revolves around a friendly family guy from the Midwest who shifts his brood to a Los Angeles neighbourhood that’s less than welcoming — a bit like the reviews that averaged 47/100 on Metacritic. Variety held out some hope: “If executed properly, The Neighborhood could hold up a powerful cultural mirror in the vein of [Richard] Pryor and Norman Lear. But it’s not quite there yet” …

➢➢ Fish-out-of-water stablemate Happy Together stars Damon Wayans Jr. and Amber Stevens West as a happily married couple who begin to reconnect with their younger, cooler selves when a young pop star (Felix Mallard) moves into their suburban home. The Hannah Montana-ish comedy earned early middling reviews and was axed after 13 eps (whereas The Neighborhood was renewed) …

➢➢ Other newcomers to Prime will include The 100 Day Bach (6.00 Saturdays), in which designer Hamish Dodd and his partner Anita try to build a bach from scratch in Lake Taupo in three months, and the two-part Prime Rocks doco, Blood & Thunder: The Sound of the Alberts (8.35 Tuesday), which explores how the life-long bond between the music company Alberts and the Youngs, an immigrant family from Glasgow, pioneered Australian rock’n’roll …

➢➢ Said the Sydney Morning Herald of Blood & Thunder: “There is certainly plenty of terrific archival footage and perhaps not a truly rigorous intellectual standard but this also exposes an important and largely untold story in Australia’s cultural history with verve and insight” …

➢➢ From May 8 TVNZ OnDemand will stream Educators, an unscripted comedy set behind-the-scenes of a Kiwi secondary school. Devised by Jesse Griffin, Jonny Brugh and Jackie van Beek, it stars Brugh (What We Do in the Shadows), Cohen Holloway (Fresh Eggs), Kura Forrester (The Adventures of Suzy Boon), Rick Donald (800 Words) and Tom Sainsbury (Wellington Paranormal) …

➢➢ Also new to the platform, from May 7, will be season 15 of The Bachelorette, while graduating from OnDemand to on air is Fighting Season (TVNZ 1, 10.25 Saturdays), a “well meaning but imperfect” drama in which a group of soldiers (including Kiwi Jay Ryan) return to Australia after the death of their leader in Afghanistan …

➢➢ Ending their runs that week will be Fresh Eggs, with a belated double-episode (TVNZ 2, 8.35 Sunday), and ITM Hook Me Up! (Prime, 7.30 Tuesday) …

➢➢ Appearing on the May 10 broadcast of The Graham Norton Show (Three, 8.00) will be: Chris Hemsworth, Paul Rudd, Julianne Moore, Emilia Clarke, Kit Harington and Tom Walker …

➢➢ Coming attractions in HD for the week starting May 4 will include: