HDTV Heads-Up: November 24-30

From Come Dine With Me to come fly with me … 

The day after its 2013 new-season launch, TV One at last has announced an ETA for what the network thought would be one of 2012’s high flyers, Pan Am.

But the ’60s drama, which will screen 9.35pm Saturdays from November 24 (after Come Dine With Me), was airborne for only 14 weeks.

Its failure on US TV highlights the perils of trying to pick winners and losers before they have a chance to test their wings.

Nonetheless, TV One still has some faith in the series, rewarding it with a primetime slot (albeit on one of the week’s least-watched nights).

US critics thought it had potential, with most recommending it: “Big, beautiful valentine to the once-great airline” (Newsday); “watching Pan Am is like getting a free upgrade to escapist class” (TV Guide); “this is a series where surface is substance, and surfaces don’t come much dreamier than in this beautifully realised flight fantasy, from its lovely, terror-free airport to its even lovelier cast” (USA Today).

But the Hollywood trades were scathing: “Intent on making the idea of the ‘60s and stewardesses and ‘the jet age’ more glamorous than real … it has neither the exactitude of the times nor the talent of the writers to get at the issues, ala Mad Men, that illuminate the issues of the day” (The Hollywood Reporter); “a weird mix of espionage thriller, sudser and coming-of-age drama … this bird is a hollow shell whose pilot, anyway, never gets off the ground” (Variety).

Also of note in HD for the week starting November 24:

❑ The return of The Zoo on Sunday (TV One, 7.00) and the premiere of the search-and-rescue half-hour, High Country Rescue, on Monday (TV One, 8.00)

❑ A Night at the Classic will screen in HD for the first time when it returns on a new channel on Thursday (TV One, 10.05)

❑ Season finales of NZ’s Got Talent and Offspring on Sunday (TV One, 7.30/9.30), Cougar Town on Wednesday (TV2, 9.00) and Supernatural on Friday (TV2, 10.40)

❑ HD re-runs of the movies Defiance (TV One, 10.35) and Notorious (TV3, 11.30) on Saturday, and Street Kings on Wednesday (TV3, 8.30)

❑ Dont Trust the B**** In Apartment 23 star James Van Der Beek, Survivor host Jeff Probst and musician Ben Folds guest on Thursday’s Rove LA (TV3, 9.30) while Cameron Diaz, comedian Sarah Millican and Rod Stewart will be on Friday’s Graham Norton Show (TV3, 8.30).