HDTV Heads-Up: July 16-22

There will be no mid-winter blues for Freeview|HD fans, with the top free-to-air networks using the week of July 16-22 to premiere a slew of 1080i heavyweights.

As forecast on ScreenScribe.tv, US talent quest hit The Voice is coming to TV2, where it will air 7.30pm Saturdays from July 16.

Two days later, the network will air another movie-length edition of Shortland Street that will wrap up key long-running storylines, including the TK-Sarah-Roimata love triangle.

Producer Steven Zanoski promises a greater mix of stories than in last year’s 90-minute episode. “We’ve got romance, suspense, action and a bit of medical action thrown in for good measure.”

It will climax the ‘winter season’ of hour-long Monday episodes while providing a bumper lead-in for the season finale of Desperate Housewives at 8.30pm.

The latter’s being double-billed with the season premiere of the crime-solving coroner drama, Body of Proof, starring ex-Desperate Housewife Dana Delany.

TV3 will try to dent Wistera Lane’s swansong with the free-to-air HD premiere of Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen and will screen another HD movie premiere on Thursday night, I Love You Man.

Even TV One will have something new in HD: the 8.30pm Wednesday series premiere of Nothing Trivial, the latest comic drama from the writers of Outrageous Fortune and Go Girls.

It stars Shane Cortese, Tandi Wright, Nicole Whippy, Blair Strang and Debbie Newbie-Ward as five very different friends in romantic turmoil who gather to take part in their local pub quiz.

It’s also a big week  for season finales. Exiting in addition to Desperate Housewives will be Cougar Town, Hawaii Five-0 and Pretty Little Liars.

Notable guest stars that week include:

• Grey’s Anatomy’s Scott Foley (Cougar Town);
• Private Practice’s Gaby Hoffman (Sleepless in Seattle);
• Hawaii Five-0’s Rick Springfield;
• The Good Wife’s Gary Cole (Entourage, Chuck); and,
• The Graham Norton Show’s Kim Cattrall (Sex & the City).

Also watch for Kiwi Daniel Gillies (Into the West, Spider-Man 2) to reprise his role as Elijah on The Vampire Diaries.