HD Heads-Up: October 21-27

➢➢ TVNZ 1 is using Labour Weekend to launch a slew of newcomers culminating in the return of Grand Designs New Zealand (7.30 Tuesday). The season premiere, about the building of a “legacy family home” in Abel Tasman, is being double-billed with a Moving Houses Special (8.30), which goes on the road to relocate a Hawke’s Bay classroom to an East Cape marae …

➢➢ Other long weekend highlights on the channel include the premiere of The Killing Kind (9.35 Saturday), a pulpy TVNZ+ thriller about a lawyer rebuilding her life when tragedy strikes, Becoming Elizabeth (10.35 Saturday), a lightweight period drama about the power struggle in the aftermath of Henry VII’s death, and Warnie (8.30 Sunday), a pilloried two-part dramatisation of cricketer Shane Warne’s life that will conclude on Monday …

➢➢ “With subpar acting and weird commentary from Warnie beyond the grave, this very bad production feels like it has been hurried out,” said The Guardian while the Daily Mail reported viewers thought it “putrid” and “trashy” …

➢➢ Elton John v George Michael (TVNZ 1, 7.30 Monday) contrasts the careers of the Brit popsters ahead of Elton John collaborator Bernie Taupin appearing on Thursday’s The Graham Norton Show (Three, 7.30), along with Catherine Tate, Ashley Walters, Bill Bailey and French singer-songwriter Christine and the Queens …

➢➢ Zara McDermott: Disordered Eating (Three, 9.35 Monday) explores the reasons behind the explosion in eating disorder cases and if social media influencers like her might be part of the problem …

➢➢ Also new to TVNZ 1 are the latest seasons of RFDS: Royal Flying Doctor Service (8.45 Thursday) and Good With Wood (8.25 Friday) …

➢➢ TVNZ 2’s newest reality import is Police Rescue (8.30 Monday), which follows rescue and bomb disposal teams. The same night the network adds the well-reviewed (on both sides of the Atlantic) Frasier reboot (10.30), which opens with a double-episode, and on Wednesday, Love Island USA (10.30) …

➢➢ Shepherdess (Sky Open, 7.30 Sunday) is a new reality half-hour set in the Tokanui community that’s being double-billed with a same week repeat of Raised by Refugees …

➢➢ HBO Max comedy Expecting Amy, a 2020 backstage look at Amy Schumer learning she’s pregnant on the eve of a 42-city tour, wins a free-to-air run (Sky Open, 8.30 Tuesday). “Much like Schumer herself, Expecting Amy is an open book, capturing the joys and horrors of pregnancy with unflinching honesty and humour,” was the Rotten Tomatoes consensus …

➢➢ Sky Open also gives Friday nights a facelift with the S2 premiere of We’re Here (8.30) and new slots for Barry (S3, 10.00) and Quantum Leap (10.35) …

➢➢ Anyone’s Game (Whakaata Māori, 8.30 Friday) is a seven-part Canadian series about a small-town high school basketball prep school that’s “voraciously competitive and hugely successful” …

➢➢ Ending their runs are The Voice US, Island Medics, Skin A&E, Celebrity Treasure Island, Hightown, Down for Love, Farmer Wants a Wife and I Kissed a Boy …

➢➢ TVNZ 2’s quest for a 6pm Simpsons successor continues. The Goldbergs shifts back to 5.00 from October 23 and Friends takes over the 6pm slot (except on Mondays, when a 5.30 double-ep screens) …

➢➢ HD coming attractions include several for Labour Monday:

• Mamma Mia: Here We Go Again! (TVNZ 2, 7.00 Saturday)
• Little Vampire (Whakaata Māori, 7.00 Saturday)
• Juliet, Naked (Eden, 8.20 Saturday)
• 10 Cloverfield Lane (Three, 8.30 Saturday)
• Submarine (Whakaata Māori, 8.40 Saturday)
• Safe House (TVNZ 2, 9.05 Saturday)
• The Butterfly Effect 2 (Duke, 9.40 Saturday)
• The Break-Up (TVNZ 2, 11.15 Saturday)
• Saw 3 (Duke, 11.30 Saturday)
• Loving (TVNZ 2, 1.10am Sunday)
• Toys of Terror (TVNZ 2, 3.10am Sunday)
• The Secret Life of Pets (TVNZ 2, 4.50 Sunday)
• Love Actually (TVNZ 2, 7.30 Sunday)
• I, Tonya (Eden, 8.30 Sunday)
• Hive (Whakaata Māori, 8.30 Sunday)
• Dirty Dancing (TVNZ 2, 10.55 Sunday)
• The Old Man & The Gun (TVNZ 1, 12.15am Monday)
• Halloween (TVNZ 2, 12.45am Monday)
• City of Ember (TVNZ 2, 1.30am Monday)
• Honey Girls (TVNZ 2, 12.20 Monday)
• Gasland (Whakaata Māori, 8.30 Monday)
• Clear and Present Danger (Duke, 8.30 Tuesday)
• Once Upon a Time in Anatolia (Whakaata Māori, 8.30 Wednesday)
• What to Expect When You’re Expecting (Three, 8.30 Friday)
• The Mummy (TVNZ 2, 8.35 Friday)
• Zoolander 2 (Duke, 10.35 Friday).