HD Heads-Up: October 26-November 1

➢➢ Leading a lacklustre week of free-to-air premieres are TVNZ 1’s Gino’s Italy: Secrets of the South (8.05 Saturday), magic special Dynamo is Dead (8.30 Sunday) and Trump’s Heist: The President Who Wouldn’t Lose (8.25 Monday).  The Italian chef’s latest series has him exploring the well-kept food secrets of Italy’s deep South in Puglia and Basilicata; Trump’s Heist purports to reveal the “inside story” of how “Trump and his loyalists set out to engineer victory” after the 2020 election results; and Dynamo uses a buried-alive stunt to reveal his struggles with mental health. “This programme was frightening for showing the spiralling madness when a president systematically abuses his power to seemingly mount a coup, and how close things came to anarchy,” The Times said of Trump’s Heist. “The Maga-minded might say [it’s] somewhat biased. But there was balance” …

➢➢ Three and Sky Open retrieve acclaimed obscurities from the vault for late-night premieres: the former has 2016-18 time-travelling romp Timeless (10.10 Sunday) and the latter, small-town indigenous rights comedy Rutherford Falls (12.10am, November 2) …

➢➢ Starting new seasons are SAS Australia S4 (Three, 10.15 Saturday) and Taken S2 (Sky Open, 10.30 Monday) while ending their runs are:

• George Clarke’s Amazing Spaces Special
• Long Slow Exhale
• Outrageous Homes with Laurence Llewelyn Bowen
• Adventure Gold Diggers 
• Wild Cards
• Platform 7 …

➢➢ Live/delayed free-to-air sport includes:

• NPC Final (Sky Open, 8.30 Saturday)
• Japan v All Blacks (Sky Open, 10.30 Saturday)
• English Premier League: Goal Rush (Sky Open, 10am Sunday)
• UFC 308 Prelims (Sky Open, 1.00 Sunday)
• Rugby League: Pacific Championships Women’s: Kiwi Ferns v Jillaroos (Sky Open, 3.00 Sunday)
• Hungry Jack’s NBL25 Season (Duke, 4.30 Sunday)
• Rugby League: Pacific Championships Men’s: Kiwi Ferns v Jillaroos (Sky Open, 5.30 Sunday)
• A-League Men’s Auckland FC v Sydney FC (Sky Open, 8.30 Sunday)
• Constellation Cup: Australia v NZ (Sky Open, 10.30 Sunday)
• NFL: Round 8 (Duke, 6am Monday)
• Constellation Cup: Australia v NZ (Sky Open, 11.10 Wednesday) …

➢➢ HD coming attractions include:

• Richard the Stork (Whakaata Māori, 7.00 Saturday)
• Bloodshot (Three, 8.00 Saturday)
• The Meg (TVNZ 2, 8.30 Saturday)
• Black Bear (Whakaata Māori, 8.30 Saturday)
• Stealth (TVNZ 2, 10.45 Saturday)
• St. Vincent (TVNZ 2, 1.05am Sunday)
• Goosebumps (TVNZ 2, 3.35 Sunday)
• J. Edgar (Eden, 8.30 Sunday)
• Ghost in the Shell (TVNZ 2, 8.40 Sunday)
• The Worst Person in the World (Whakaata Māori, 8.40 Sunday)
• Halloween Ends (TVNZ 2, 8.30 10.35 Sunday)
• Good Burger (Duke, 8.30 Monday)
• The Painter and the Thief (Whakaata Māori, 8.30 Monday)
• Traffic (Duke, 8.30 Tuesday)
• The Last Wave (Whakaata Māori, 8.30 Wednesday)
• The Mummy (Sky Open, 9.35 Friday).