HD Heads-Up: September 9-15

➢➢ The networks are spring cleaning, with new line-ups across their schedules. TVNZ 1 has the biggest refresh, partly because of Māori Language Week specials. For instance, it’s screening two new episodes of Origins over consecutive nights (8.30 Monday and Tuesday), in which Scotty Morrison retraces the footsteps of his tūpuna, and Hongi to Hāngi: Waiata Special (8.30 Wednesday), which examines the importance of music in the revitalisation of te reo Māori …

➢➢ TVNZ 1 rejuvenates the weekend with the premieres of chef’s travelogue Gino’s Italy: Like Mamma Used to Make (8.05 Saturday) and season two of George Clarke’s Remarkable Renovations (8.30 Sunday). The latter opens with a couple’s ambitions to restore a historically listed pub and butcher’s shop …

➢➢ Also new to TVNZ 1 is the UK comedy binge, Black Ops (8.35 Saturday), “a devilishly funny, utterly daft police comedy [that] pokes fun at everything” (Evening Standard). Radio Times said it “is as concerned with being a thriller as it is with making viewers smile” but “lurches from one extreme to another” while The Telegraph dubbed “the cracking crime-comedy … a cross between HBO’s Barry and the BBC’s The Outlaws“. The six half-hours will screen back-to-back …

➢➢ TVNZ 2’s overhaul include the premiere of Snack Masters UK (6.00 Saturday) and a Monday night makeover that includes the return of Fire Country (8.30) ahead of the premieres of Mega Mansion Hunters (9.30), a “megabucks property show” that’s a cross between Selling Sunset and The Apprentice, and zombie spin-off The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon (10.30), which pushes back Poker Face to 11.30 …

➢➢ Three is using the return of House Rules NZ (7.30 Sunday-Tuesday) to dovetail into its Māori Language Week programming. It includes the free-to-air premiere of the Cliff Curtis movie Muru (8.30 Sunday) and a companion documentary series about the aftermath of its inspiration, the 2007 Urewera raids (9.30 Monday and Tuesday) …

➢➢ Whakaata Māori marks Māori Language Week with a slew of specials and premieres: Being Māori (8.30 Monday) profiles academic and leader Dr. Ranginui Walker; Speak No Māori (9.30 Monday) unpacks the history of te reo Māori; and Hui Hoppers (8.00 Thursday) is a comedy about half-sisters who are the outspoken, self-appointed leaders of their marae that first streamed on TVNZ+ …

➢➢ Also new to Whakaata Māori are the documentary Ice Vikings (9.00 Tuesday), in which modern-day vikings try to stake their claim to the bountiful freshwater fish stock on one of Canada’s largest lakes; S2 of streetwear show Rags Are Riches (8.15 Thursday); and Dear Flora (9.30 Thursday), a drama series about Algonquin sibling trying to make peace with their painful childhoods, when they were taken away from their parents and sent to an Indian residential school …

➢➢ Eden airs the S2 premiere of Australian drama The Newsreader three days after its ABC launch (8.30 Wednesday). It stars Anna Torv (The Last of Us) and Sam Reid (Lambs of God) as the “Golden Couple of News” on ’80s TV who, with a new CEO at the helm, ponder the complex truth of their success. Eden also is resuming My Big Family Farm from episode six of S4 (9.30 Thursday) — the series ends after S5 because of the couple’s break-up but a spin-off is in the works — and Celebrity Googlebox from S4 (8.30 Friday) …

➢➢ Shaq (Sky Open, 9.30 Wednesday) is a four-part docuseries about basketball legend Shaquille O’Neal. The Guardian thought it “edges from fascinating to frustrating” while Rotten Tomatoes said: “Shaq the personality is bombastic and fun, so Shaq the docuseries is bombastic and fun, and it displays its myriad influences proudly. Shaq is very much a standard documentary, even if its extravagant nature seems to be in conflict with that at times” …

➢➢ Also debuting are new seasons of Bondi Rescue (Three, 7.00 Sunday), Yellowstone (Sky Open, 9.30 Tuesday), The Celebrity Chase (TVNZ 1, 7.30 Wednesday) and Neighborhood Wars (Duke, 9.30 Wednesday) while ending their runs are Crossing Swords, Taskmaster NZ, Hunted Australia, Engineering Reborn and Close Encounters Down Under …

➢➢  The live free-to-air sport feast continues with the Rugby World Cup kicking off on Sky Open (5.45am Saturday), more One Day International cricket on TVNZ 1 and Duke, and more US Tennis Open and FIBA Basketball on Duke …

➢➢ HD coming attractions for the week starting September 9 include:

• Jurassic Park (TVNZ 2, 7.00 Saturday)
• A Dog’s Way Home (Three, 7.00 Sunday)
• Tama Kaiātea (Whakaata Māori, 7.00 Saturday)
• The Mummy (Duke, 8.30 Saturday)
• Killshot (Eden, 8.35 Saturday)
• When Pomegranates Howl (Whakaata Māori, 8.40 Saturday)
• Venom (Three, 8.45 Saturday)
• Jackass Presents: Bad Grandpa 0.5 (TVNZ 2, 9.25 Saturday)
• Paranormal Activity – The Ghost Dimension (Duke, 10.50 Saturday)
• Zero Dark Thirty (TVNZ 2, 12.10am Sunday)
• Palo Alto (TVNZ 2, 2.50am Sunday)
• Harry Potter 7 and the Deathly Hallows – Part 1 (TVNZ 2, 7.00 Sunday)
• Muru (Three, 8.30 Sunday)
• Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close (Eden, 8.30 Sunday)
• Rūrangi (Whakaata Māori, 8.30 Saturday)
• Hoop Dreams (Duke, 9.20 Sunday)
• Jaws 2 (TVNZ 2, 11.40 Sunday)
• Inside Man (Duke, 8.30 Tuesday)
• The Dead Lands (Whakaata Māori, 8.30 Wednesday)
• Knives Out (Duke, 8.30 Friday)
• The Expendables (Three, 8.50 Friday)
• Spider-Man 2 (TVNZ 2, 8.55 Friday).