HDTV Heads-Up: The Pacific, Criminal Minds, Survivor

TV One at last will beef up its HD schedule this month with the launch of The Pacific and the fifth-season premiere of Criminal Minds.

The 10-part Pacific will screen 8.30pm Mondays, from April 12, while Criminal Minds will air twice-weekly: new episodes in what was the Sunday Theatre slot, from April 11, and 9.30pm re-runs on Thursdays.

The Sunday instalments will be paired with season two of Damages, which has been rescued from a tentative late-night slot, and the Thursday re-runs with The Forgotten, the latest crime drama from Jerry Bruckheimer Television (Cold Case, CSI).

It’s great to see TV One freshening up its schedule but the Criminal Minds strategy signals how desperate the network is to bolster its ratings at the expense of its flagship drama slot.

Still, The Pacific will be some compensation for Sunday Theatre going AWOL and coincides with TV3’s HD newcomer set in the South Pacific, Survivor: Heroes vs Villains.

It celebrates the franchise’s 20^th anniversary by stranding 20 of the most popular – and hated – castaways in Samoa, and screens 8.30pm Thursdays from April 8.

Meanwhile, TV3’s upcoming HD movie highlights include Night at the Museum and The Darjeeling Limited on April 10.