HD Heads-Up: October 19

Will Victoria reign? … Moore trumps Trump … Just the (food) facts, ma’am …

TVNZ 1’s October 30 launch of costume drama hit Victoria will crown a weekend of HD premieres on the network. It will air 8.30 Sundays, off the back of new episodes of Our Big Blue Backyard, while leading into 1 News from that night will be the wildlife series Fierce. New on Saturdays will be the return of Posh Pawn and the premiere of Around The World With Manu Feildel, which has been dubbed the “ultimate foodie safari” because it follows My Kitchen Rules’ Manu Feildel on a gastronomic world tour that would whet the appetite of Jules Verne …

Victoria dramatises the early years of Queen Victoria’s marriage to Prince Albert and has been a worldwide jewel in the crown for ITV Studios Global Entertainment. A second series has been commissioned after sterling reviews and ratings, and the first has sold to more than 150 countries. ITV reports the series was its top-rated drama of the year so far, averaging 7.7 million viewers and a 29.7% share of viewing based on consolidated overnights …

Fierce follows the adventures of BAFTA-winning TV naturalist Steve Backshall in Indonesia where he confronts venomous creatures. The Mirror called it a “thrilling six-part nature series … [that] would make one heck of a B-movie” …

TVNZ 1 will premiere Michael Moore in TrumpLand a week ahead of the US presidential election. It will screen 9.30 on November 1 following today’s premiere in New York City. According to Deadline Hollywood, “the movie is based on a one-man play that Moore was trying to mount recently at Newark’s Midland Theatre in Ohio. However, Moore claims that the theater’s management prevented him from taking the stage as they deemed him too controversial” …

“To his credit, it’s not a harangue,” Variety says, “but Moore buries his analysis of Trump in a political love letter to Hillary” …

TVNZ 1 will lift the lid on Food Detectives (November 1, 8.30) the same week TVNZ 2 serves up Cupcake Wars (October 29, 5.00). The former is a BBC2 series that promises to “dish up the plain facts” about our food; in the latter, four of America’s top cupcake bakers face off in three elimination challenges …

As expected, TVNZ 2 is shunting The Exorcist from 9.30 Sundays to 11.30, starting October 30. This week’s ep is being pre-empted by the Labour Weekend movie Jack Reacher but can be streamed from 7pm Saturday on TVNZ OnDemand. Taking over the 9.30 Sunday slot from October 30 will be new episodes of The Day I Almost Died …

Soon to end their runs are Blood & Oil (October 29), The Story of China (October 30), 2 Broke Girls (November 2, although chances are season six will begin the following week) and Sleepy Hollow (November 4) while screening 8.30 Sundays from October 30 will be season three of Prime’s The Brokenwood Mysteries …

Only a handful of movies will screen free-to-air in HD in the week starting October 29: Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (TVNZ 2, 7.00 Saturday), Training Day (TVNZ 2, 9.55 Saturday), Poison Ivy (TVNZ 2, 12.05am Monday) and Lethal Weapon 2 (Prime, 8.35 Thursday) …

Monday’s 60 Minutes (Prime, 8.30) will visit a Californian jail where an inmate’s started a controversial campaign to allow prisoners on death row to donate their organs, explore how the melting of the Arctic is creating international competition for new trade routes and vast mineral reserves, and interview Breaking Bad’s Bryan Cranston …

Appearing this week on Prime’s The Tonight Show With Jimmy Fallon are: David Spade, the kids from Stranger Things and Tove Lo (10.30 tonight); Margot Robbie, US Vice President Joe Biden and Metallica (12.05am Friday); Ben Affleck, Sarah Paulson and Green Day (11.25 Friday); and Jerry Seinfeld, Seth Rogen and Jason Derulo (10.35 Monday) ...