HD Heads-Up: November 23-29
November 16, 2013 
3 Comments
TV2 is resurrecting HD comedies Anger Management and Happy Endings as part of a new-look, late-night comedy block that includes the latest gay rom-com flop from the creators of Will & Grace.
Happy Endings will conclude its third and final season 10.30 Wednesdays from November 27, as the lead-in to new episodes of Charlie Sheen’s Anger Management.
Both comedies tanked in primetime and will form the first half of a two-hour block with Partners and the ongoing Work It.
The former’s tagline is “Four friends, three couples”, but despite boasting the pedigree of Will & Grace’s David Kohan and Max Mutchnick, it ran for only 13 weeks in the US.
Sophia Bush (One Tree Hill), Michael Urie (Ugly Betty), David Krumholtz (Numb3rs) and the Superman who never returned, Brandon Routh (Chuck), star in a series that most critics were lukewarm about at best.
Entertainment Weekly said Urie “elevates the show out of mediocrity with his comedic power” while the Los Angeles Times echoed the majority viewpoint: “It’s not a bad show, it’s just a bit too familiar.”
But the New York Times said “this celebration of friendship feels so sour and joyless” and the Wall Street Journal accused the creators of “enlarging the quantity of execrably written works” on gay-themed sitcoms.
The same night, TV2 revisits earlier episodes of Cougar Town at 9.00 and resumes overnight the lighthearted crime drama Rizzoli & Isles.
Airing the same week on TV One are the season finale of Person of Interest on Monday and the series finale of Packed to the Rafters (left) on Thursday.
Reportedly, “Channel Seven has left the door open for a Packed to the Rafters spin-off after an emotion-filled finale” but it won’t star Rebecca Gibney.
She’s already producing and starring in her next series, The Killing Field, about a detective investigating the disappearance of a young girl in small-town Australia.
Said The Guardian: “The final episode of Packed to the Rafters had fans weeping – but this was the right time for the show to bow out.”
Concurred the Sydney Morning Herald: “Rafters, in a rare, elegant decision, is being retired while it still commands one million-plus audiences, rather than suffer the fate reserved for most Australian dramas.
“That said, there is little doubt Packed to the Rafters has earned its place in the history books.”
Other programming news of note in HD for the week starting November 23:
- The network movie premieres of Youth in Revolt (TV2, 10.15 Saturday), Rabbit Hole (TV2, 12.25 Sunday), Take Me Home Tonight (TV3, 8.50 Sunday) and Faces in the Crowd (TV2, 10.45 Sunday)
- Spy vs spy: Barely 24 hours separate the re-runs of Johnny English (TV3, 7.00 Sunday) andThe Bourne Supremacy (TV3, 8.30 Monday) — the latter for the first time in HD on free-to-air
- Doctor Whos Matt Smith and David Tennant, Emma Thompson, comedian Jimmy Carr and Robbie Williams guest on The Graham Norton Show (TV3, 8.30 Friday).
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November 17, 2013 at 12:02 am
As Big Brother Australia has not been mentioned I guess it’s not in HD … also what a weird time to have it on 4.30 in the afternoon 🙂
Although BBA appears to be shot in HD, TV3 hasn’t billed it as airing in HD — and the network’s billings are 99% accurate. But will check Monday to make absolutely certain. Re time slot: TV3 desperately needs something to revitalise late afternoons post-Home and Away, and a reality series such as this, with strong social media appeal, is as good a punt as any to take. It may not be day-and-date, like The X Factor USA, but TV2’s success with screening The Voice months after the US shows some reality series can withstand the impact of spoiler alerts (this season of BBA ended November 6).
Gawd! When is TV2 going to screen The Voice USA? We are so behind. Maybe TV2 will programme The Voice against BBA or let it be a summer filler for primetime!