HDTV Heads-Up: November 12-18

TV3 will screen Ice Road Truckers in HD for the first time when season three debuts on November 12.

It will take over Hamish & Andy’s Gap Year’s 7.30pm slot the same night TV2 screens a Harry Potter HD special, 50 Greatest Harry Potter Moments (which precedes the Blu-ray 3D release of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 four days later).

Ice Road Truckers’ fifth season aired earlier this year in the US and although the series has only been released here on DVD, the first four seasons are out on Blu-ray in the US.

DVD Verdict praised season three’s “eye-achingly gorgeous vistas of Alaska”, crisp detail and brilliant colours.

“Often the cab shots are hazy and grainy, as are shots through harsh weather,” DVD Town observed. “It’s when the sun comes out or in bright interiors when you remember that this is 1080i.

“Then, colours are vivid and fully saturated, and the level of detail (and lack of grain) is appreciable.”

All of TV3’s line-up that night will be in HD, including the network premiere of the 2008 sci-fi movie, Max Payne, and delayed, same-night coverage of the Aotearoa Film And Television Awards 2011.

And on Sunday night, TV3 and TV2 will go head-to-head with the network premieres of Funny People on the former and Get Smart on the latter.

The same night TV One will re-run Jeremy Wells’ Birdland — but you’ll need to be a night owl to catch it at 12.30am.

Guest starring on November 14’s The Mentalist is Six Feet Under’s Frances Conroy, on November 16’s Harry’s Law, Barney Miller’s Max Gail, and on November 17’s Graham Norton Show, James McAvoy, Joanna Lumley and Arctic Monkeys.