HD Heads-Up: September 26-October 2

➢➢ Fans of The White Lotus should tune into Wild Cherry (TVNZ 1, 10.25 Sunday). Set in a well-heeled community, it revolves around two powerful women whose teenage daughters are accused by their school of filming a provocative video that they deny. It was created by Sweetpea star Nicôle Lecky, who appears alongside Carmen Ejogo (Alex Cross) and Eve Best (Nurse Jackie). This “scandalous social-media whodunit” already streams on TVNZ+ and seems more suited to a linear run on TVNZ 2 than TVNZ 1 given one UK critic said it “ticks all the boxes of a textbook teen drama with a frank approach to technology”. Quipped The Guardian: “This fun, trashy thriller seems to have spent most of its budget on clothes … Put your brain aside, and enjoy.” The Telegraph dubbed it “a Netflix-ised BBC One thriller [that]  tackles uncomfortable truths about parenting and teenage girls … This is a soapy affair with a Big Little Lies gloss, among an uber-wealthy Surrey set” …

➢➢ “Hardcore carnivore” Jess Pryles grills his way across Texas in Feast By Fire (Duke, 7.00 Saturday). Per AI: “The show has been praised for balancing high-end culinary critique with technical tutorials that home cooks can follow” …

➢➢ Maiki Sherman and Julian Wilcox moderate Whakatau 2026: Te Tai Tonga Māori Electorate Debate (Whakaata Māori, 7.00 Tuesday) …

➢➢ Back for its 34th season, just a week after its BBC broadcast, is The Graham Norton Show (TVNZ 2, 7.30 Friday), with guests Tom Cruise, Florence Pugh, Lolly Adefope and John Bishop …

➢➢ Also returning are:

• Eat Well for Less NZ (TVNZ 1, 7.30 Monday)
• Rich House, Poor House (TVNZ 1, 8.30 Monday)
• First Responders (Three, 7.30 Tuesday)
• The Inspired Unemployed: The List (Three, 7.30 Thursday)
• Inspired Unemployed (Impractical) Jokers (Three, 11.30 Thursday) …

➢➢ Ending their runs are:

• Teacup 
• Fishing and Adventure
• Croc Watch and Hippo Watch
• World’s Most Scenic River Journeys
• LEGO Masters Australia: Brickactukar
• The Heat …

➢➢ Live/delayed sport includes:

• NPC Rugby: Northland v Counties Manukau (TVNZ 1, 2.00 Saturday)
• NPC Rugby: North Harbour v Otago (TVNZ 1, 7.00 Saturday)
• Yachting: Louis Vuitton 38th America’s Cup  (TVNZ 1, midnight Saturday/1am Monday)
• Rugby: England v Black Ferns (Three, 9.25am Sunday)
• NPC Rugby: Wellington v Waikato (TVNZ 1, 2.00 Sunday)
• NFL (Duke, 6am Monday) …

➢➢ HD coming attractions include the network movie premiere of Guy Ritchie’s The Covenant (TVNZ 2, 10.00 Saturday) and:

• Sherlock Gnomes (Sky Open, 5.40 Saturday)
• Men in Black 3 (TVNZ 2, 7.00 Saturday)
• Aliens in the Attic (Three, 7.00 Saturday)
• Miss Congeniality (Sky Open, 7.30 Saturday)
• Flying the Nest (Whakaata Māori, 7.30 Saturday)
• The Big Short (Three, 8.50 Saturday)
• The Matrix (Whakaata Māori, 9.00 Saturday)
• The Magnificent Seven (Sky Open, 9.45 Saturday)
• Despicable Me 3 (TVNZ 2, 3.15 Sunday)
• Banel & Adama (Whakaata Māori, 8.45 Sunday)
• Mr and Mrs Smith (Three, 9.00 Sunday)
• Saw 2 (TVNZ 2, 12.45am Monday)
• The Fall & Rise of New York (Whakaata Māori, 8.30 Monday)
• National Security (Duke, 9.35 Monday)
• S.W.A.T. (Duke, 8.30 Tuesday)
• Family Business (Sky Open, 7.30 Friday)
• Wonderstruck (Whakaata Māori, 7.45 Friday)
• Room (Whakaata Māori, 9.55 Friday).