HD TV Heads-Up: October 20-26

HD in primetime is increasingly looking like chips off the same old block.

As of the week starting October 20, TV3 will run the Australian version of The Block three nights in a row (7.30 Monday-Wednesday).

With The X Factor USA already airing 7.30 Thursday-Friday, TV3’s primetime line-up will now be anchored with a reality franchise every weeknight.

TV One, meanwhile, is adding yet another re-run of an HD procedural to its peak-hour schedule.

Season-one repeats of Person of Interest will screen 8.30 Thursdays, ahead of SD re-runs of Mrs Brown’s Boys and Kath and Kim, after only coming off air a few months ago!

Wednesdays already are dominated by re-runs of Criminal Minds and Castle (the SD episodes) while the network has tried to dress up its dusty Friday night Britcoms with a cringingly unfunny Kiwi twist (Brendhan & Jason’s Brit Comedy Night).

And having at last run out My Kitchen Rules, TV2 will screen The Amazing Race Australia (again, inexplicably, in SD) 7.30 Monday-Tuesday.

But wait, there’s more (of the same) — the network will replace Anger Management with 8.30 Wednesday re-runs of The Big Bang Theory (only an hour after re-runs of The Middle).

That means TV2 will have four repeats of Big Bang peppered across the week in primetime.

I’m a big fan of Big Bang but can programmers stop using it and Criminal Minds as band-aids every time there’s a hole in the schedule?

There is one bright spot on TV One’s schedule: the return of Episodes but in a new late-night slot: 10.55 Fridays.

It resumes from episode three of season two, and although it’s not on Blu-ray, the series already can be relished on DVD for fans whose patience has long been exhausted by its inept programming.

Also of note in HD for the week starting October 20 are the return of Rove LA on Thursday (TV3, 9.35), with guests Adam Lambert and Russell Brand, and re-runs of the movies Shine a Light on Saturday (TV3, 11.35), and Get Smart (TV2, 8.30) and 27 Dresses (TV3, 8.30) on Sunday.