New to TVNZ OnDemand in July

The first scripted series for adults to debut on the new US streaming service HBO Max will stream here on TVNZ OnDemand.

Love Life (July 23) stars Anna Kendrick as a woman progressing from from her first love to lasting love (watch the trailer here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uZp_g271jpo).

“When it comes to playing a character who ages nearly a decade over the run of the show, Kendrick manages to convince — aided both by the show’s careful eye for what New York City at the turn of the 2010s looked like as opposed to what it looked like in, say, January 2020 and by Kendrick’s own gifts for manifesting youthful insecurity and a growing sense of worth,” Variety said.

“In all, Love Life is amply watchable, if telling a story that seems not to be demanding its own telling.”

Also new this month on TVNZ OnDemand will be full seasons of Transplant (July 1) and Guilt (July 9).

The former is a Canadian drama about a Syrian doctor who  flees his war-torn homeland to start over in the biggest emergency department of the best hospital in Toronto.

“It’s not entirely original, but certainly superior to the usual and disarmingly different,” The Globe and Mail said.

Guilt follows two disparate Scottish brothers (Mark Bonnar, Jamie Sives) who try to cover up their accidentally running over and killing an old man on a darkened street.

The Guardian thought the Jed (Line of Duty) Mercurio thriller “a darkly delicious tale of a botched hit-and-run” while The Telegraph hailed it as “at long last, a drama that stays good to the end episode”.

Also exclusive from month will be season four of American Housewife (July 1) and the 2016 comedy series Wasted (July 29).

“This sitcom about a group of four useless friends living in a small town comes with one killer ingredient – Sharpe star Sean Bean, who appears throughout (as himself) to play spirit guide to young fantasy fanatic Morpheus (Danny Kirrane),” Radio Times said.

“Pitched somewhere between his medieval roles in Game of Thrones and Lord of the Rings as well as including parts of his own personality, the role essentially allows Bean to just flounce around in a fur cloak giving gruff advice and he’s clearly having a whale of a time throughout.”

Also due next month:

Local Digital Content 

• From The Vault: Best Of The 80s (July 1) 

Branded VOD Channels (all content available from July 1, apart from HEIHEI)

Walter Presents

• Pakt S1-2 
• A Deadly Union S1 

Pulse 

• Cave Of Forgotten Dreams 
• It’s So Easy And Other Lies 
• You’ve Been Trumped 
• Inna De Yard 

Filmstream

• 11 Minutes 
• Chinese Puzzle 

iWonder 

• To Catch a Serial Killer 
• Wallis Simpson: The Secret Letters 
• Guru: Bhagwan, His Secretary and His Bodyguard 
•  Life in a Day 

HEIHEI 

• The Exceptional Squad S1 (full season from July 3)
• Young Riders S2 (full season from July 3) 

Meanwhile, TVNZ Sales reports unprecedented TVNZ OnDemand streaming during lockdown, “reinforcing that the breadth and depth of our content had something for everyone”.

Key milestones include:

• April 20: TVNZ OnDemand’s highest-reaching day ever! Reaching 270,000 New Zealanders (All People) and 220,000 (AP 18-54) in one day.
• April 15: The biggest streaming day ever, with 1,179,000 streams for AP and 944,500 AP 18-54.
• In April, 900,000 New Zealanders watched TVNZ OnDemand content (+54% YOY) and generated more than 30 million streams, up 87% YOY.
• Over 115,000 new accounts were created in April, the highest monthly number in five years.
• Between April 12-18, daytime viewing numbers were at an all-time high, doubling the usual number of streams for this time.

The streaming service says it has retained audiences post-lockdown. Last week it reached more than 440,000 New Zealanders and generated an impressive 4.5 million streams.