HD Heads-Up: September 12 – 18

➢➢ A raft of Kiwi premieres dominate network schedules in mid-September, including a series that explores the evolution of Māori, Nigel Latta’s latest, and the return of three homegrown staples. Coinciding with Maori Language Week will be the debut of Origins (TVNZ 1, 8.25 Tuesdays from September 15). The three-part series follows the 7.30 return of Paramedics and combines science, traditional knowledge and Scotty Morrison’s own family history to reveal from where Maori originated and how they reached these shores …

➢➢ Maori TV will launch Rediscovering Aotearoa across two nights (9.30 Wednesday, 7.40 Thursday) and triple-bill the second episode with newcomers Ngā Whetū O Matariki 2020 (8.00 Thursday), which recognises Māori achievement for the 2020 Matariki Awards, and  Life of Kai (8.30 Thursdays), which profiles Rewi Spraggon, a chef, carver, musician, artist and hāngi master …

➢➢ Kids: An Instruction Manual With Nigel Latta (TVNZ 1, 8.00 Mondays from September 14) puts six families into a hi-tech observation house, custom rigged with cameras to film them 24/7, and contrasts the different parenting techniques with Latta’s “three simple golden rules” for a happier, calmer family life …

➢➢ Three will use the season premiere of Grand Designs NZ (7.30 Monday) to optimise viewership of the NZ movie Toke (8.30 Monday), which is billed as a madcap action caper about three small-town underachievers who become marijuana kingpins. The next night Three will double-bill Bondi Rescue as the 7.30 springboard for new seasons of Mean Mums (8.30 Tuesdays) and Golden Boy (9.00 Tuesdays) …

➢➢ Also new to TVNZ 1 will be The Secrets She Keeps (9.30 Fridays from September 18), a six-part Australian psychological thriller starring Laura Carmichael (Downton Abbey) and Jessica De Gouw (Arrow) as two women from vastly different backgrounds: one’s a mummy blogger, the other’s a shop worker who’s one of her biggest fans, and both are due to give birth around the same time. The Guardian thought it “a guilty, predictable pleasure” …

➢➢ TVNZ is resurrecting two popular comedy series in new slots: The Simpsons (7.00 Sundays from September 13) and Young Sheldon (8.40 Tuesdays from September 15). The former will resume from episode 18 of season 31, two weeks ahead of S32 starting in the US; the latter belatedly returns for its third season as the new lead-in to Mom …

➢➢ Prime also has two returning series — Artefact (7.30 Tuesdays from September 15) and Border Security (8.00 Fridays from September 18) — while Duke will premiere South Seas Spearo (8.30 Wednesdays from September 16), which follows a group of Kiwis on their extreme spear-fishing expeditions …

➢➢ Ending their runs will be Cannonball, The Split, Cruising With Jane McDonald, Storage Wars, The Salisbury Poisonings, Monkeys: An Amazing Animal Family, Ambulance Australia, Drug Wars – Cocaine, Living With Tourette’s, Honey Wars, Bull and Last Dad Standing …

➢➢ Another Year (Maori TV, 8.30 Sunday) will be the only network movie premiere in the week starting September 12. Other HD coming attractions will include:

• Aliens in the Attic (TVNZ 2, 7.00 Saturday)
• Bridesmaids (Three, 8.30 Saturday)
• The Campaign (TVNZ 2, 8.35 Saturday)
• Into the Storm (TVNZ 2, 10.30 Saturday)
• The Founder (Three, 11.00 Saturday)
• Matchstick Men (TVNZ 2, 12.05am Sunday)
• Pitch Perfect 3 (Three, 7.00 Sunday)
• Bridget Jones’s Baby (Three, 8.55 Sunday)
• Kingsman: The Golden Circle (TVNZ 2, 9.00 Sunday)
• Hostel (Duke, 10.05 Sunday)
• Intruders (TVNZ 2, 11.35 Sunday)
• Poi E (Maori TV, 8.30 Monday)
• Force of Execution (Prime, 10.05 Monday)
• Elektra (Duke, 8.30 Sunday)
• Man of Steel (TVNZ 2, 7.30 Friday)
• Transformers: The Last Knight (Three, 7.30 Friday)
• Vampires Suck (Duke, 8.30 Friday).