New to TVNZ OnDemand in August

The Lifetime channel is coming to NZ — as TVNZ’s latest branded video-on-demand channel.

“We’re excited to have Lifetime join TVNZ OnDemand’s digital channel offering,” Cate Slater, TVNZ Director of Content, says.

“Lifetime is big on entertainment and big on drama. It’s engaging, crowd-pleasing content and we know our viewers are going to love every moment of it.”

Content typically resembles the tawdry made-for-TV fare that Three used to air as midday movies. Here’s a glimpse of what you can expect from Saturday on TVNZ OnDemand.

Next month TVNZ OnDemand also will stream separately the Lifetime series Surviving Jeffrey Epstein (August 11), which features interviews with eight of his victims.

Other exclusives include:

• Putin: A Russian Spy Story (August 11): Three-part documentary series about how an unremarkable KBG recruit wormed his way into Moscow’s halls of power. Includes interviews with his inner circle, opponents and victims.
• The Koi Boys (August 2): An uncensored look inside the inner workings of the Kiwi band following their success on The Voice Australia and their return to New Zealand, where they reconnect with their whānau and tikanga Māori.
• The Royals (August 7): Four-season drama about a fictional British royal family in modern-day London, starring Elizabeth Hurley.
• Casual (August 26): Four-season Hulu comedy about a bachelor brother and his newly-divorced sister living under one roof again while raising her teenage daughter.
• Coroner (August 30): Not the British series that airs on Prime but a Canadian variation about a like-minded sleuth that the Globe and Mail dubbed “nice, fake, forgettable escapism”.

Watch also for part three of season four of Freefall on OUTtv (August 15, along with part one of Jumping the Apex), HEIHEI newcomers K-Pop Academy (August 3) and Yap Trap (August 24), and a new season of Loading Docs (August 20).

Coming to the branded VOD channels are: