HD Heads-Up: October 26
October 26, 2016 
10 Comments
If it ain’t broke … Grey’s holds sway … Prime bears Witness … Stein dines …
TVNZ 2 is replacing 2 Broke Girls with not the latest season, as you might expect, but new episodes of Mom. Season four is being “expressed” from the US and will air 9.00 Wednesdays from November 9. Given the season goes to air in the US this week, “express” scarcely seems an apt description but at least it’s being fast-tracked. However, I would have thought the network would have been sticking with 2 Broke Girls when it’s one of its most popular comedies and the latest season has just started on CBS …
That’s the strategy it’s adopted for The Real O’Neals, which goes directly into season two after the first ends on November 1. Season two will begin the following week in the same 8.00 Tuesday slot, where it’s rated well for a freshman comedy …
Grey’s Anatomy will end its 12th season on November 8. Don’t expect TVNZ 2 to launch the next season the following week — its strategy of streaming the show months ahead of its broadcast hasn’t stopped the veteran hospital soap from being competitive in primetime. While the show’s latest US ratings aren’t as strong as previous seasons but it’s still a long way off being on life support, which is remarkable for a series in its 13th year …
Next month Prime will premiere its first run of Silent Witness in HD. The veteran whodunit will air 9.35 Saturdays from November 5, with the first episode of season 18 revolving around DCI Jane De Freitas’s personal fallout with boss and partner chief superintendent Robert Drake while investigating how three people were shot dead in a petrol station. It went to air in Britain in January 2015 …
Prime will offer fresher HD fare the same weekend with the premiere of Rick Stein’s Taste of Shanghai (7.30 Sundays). “The Chinese are fanatical about their food and that’s what I really like about them,” Stein told Radio Times. “Food is first.” But as the Daily Express observed: “His film tantalised with do-able delights such as red braised pork (Chairman Mao’s favourite) but was sketchy on how to actually do them” …
The only network movie premiere in HD for the week starting November 5 is The Drop (TV3, 10.15 Sunday). Other coming attractions in HD that week include: Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (TVNZ 2, 7.00 Saturday), The Campaign (TVNZ 2, 9.35 Saturday), The Double (TVNZ 2, 11.30 Saturday), Battle of the Year (TVNZ 2, 1.35am Sunday), The Rite (TVNZ 2, 12.15am Monday) and Lethal Weapon 3 (Prime, 8.35 Thursday) …
Monday’s 60 Minutes (Prime, 8.30) goes behind the scenes of the Malaysian Airlines MH17 investigation to see who was behind the missile attack on the passenger plane in Ukraine in 2014 that killed almost 300 people; visits the vital swing state of Ohio where voters are divided straight down the middle; and interviews Olivia Newton-John about the ups and downs of life as Australia’s highest-selling singer of all time …
Appearing on Prime’s The Tonight Show With Jimmy Fallon are: Ethan Hawke and Phil Collins (10.40 Wednesday); Justin Timberlake, Tracey Ullman and Stanaj (10.50 Thursday); Martin Short, Steve Martin, Ruth Negga and Common (11.30 Friday); and Anna Kendrick, John Lithgow and Iliza Shlesinger (12.05am Tuesday) …
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October 26, 2016 at 7:55 pm
Phil, any idea how First Dates has been rating? It seems to be all anyone is talking about on Tuesdays at the office! Must admit, I didn’t think it was my cup of tea as I don’t like The Bachelor etc but this has been highly entertaining!
I don’t have this week’s ratings, which I expect would be the show’s best yet, but last week’s averaged 6.2% of TVNZ 2’s target audience, 18-49 year-olds, and 6.4% of the demo the other networks most covet, 25-54. That made it TVNZ 2’s most popular show of the night after Shortland Street (18-49, 9.4%/25-54, 9.7%) in these key demos and it also won the 8.30 hour with 18-39s and household shoppers with kids.
Thanks!
I guess there is still no news about the new Twin Peaks in New Zealand? I’m about to start reading The Secret History of Twin Peaks, YIPPEE 🙂
I would think it would be a Sky acquisition for SoHo, given it’s a Showtime Networks series (Ray Donovan, Billions, Penny Dreadful) and will screen on Sky Atlantic in the UK. It also would have aired on Foxtel’s Showtime channel across the Tasman had streaming service Stan not done a deal with Showtime Networks.
Thanks Philip, it will be interesting to see who and when it gets announced and you are probably right about SoHo although I would love to see TV3 screen it 🙂
Hope that it comes onto SoHo. No adverts.
Quite agree, Mark. I used to think being able to FF through ads was good enough but the luxury of watching top drama without interruption takes me back to the days of B&W TV, when at least three days of the week were ad-free. I still think Sky’s got a cheek charging $10 a month for SoHo on top of a $10 HD Ticket (which isn’t value for money unless you pay extra for Movies and Sports packages) but no other channel comes close to it.
I definitely agree, Phil. Fortunately we don’t have to pay for our HD ticket, which we got virtually the same day as the HD ticket was released. When Sky set this up we also got multiroom and we don’t have to pay the HD ticket whilst we still have multiroom.
Yay, I see on Netflix there are now three seasons of Hemlock Grove, I quite like that one 🙂