New to View: April 12 – 18

A weekly guide to what’s new of note on air and online

SUNDAY

India’s Wild Eden | TVNZ 1, 7.50

“Time spent absorbed in an Attenborough documentary is never wasted … Here his comfortingly familiar narrative is complemented by well-chosen pieces of Indian music that enhances the breathtaking footage of a cast of Jungle Book characters, as well as some of the smaller creatures of this incredible wilderness.” — Sydney Morning Herald.

MONDAY

Run | Neon (SoHo2 from 8.30 Thursday)

Ruby Richardson (Merritt Wever) leaves her dull life to travel across America with her old college boyfriend Billy (Domhnall Gleeson) to fulfil a pact they made 17 years earlier. “The new HBO comedy, from Fleabag producers Vicky Jones and Phoebe Waller-Bridge, does better by its smart romantic leads than its twists and turns.” — Variety.

Finding Joy | Acorn TV

“A merry Irish sitcom that makes use of the modern trends of vlogging and new age ‘wellness’ to pep up the ancient comedic premise of ‘person with perfect life must cope with it falling dramatically to pieces’’. The titular Joy – conveniently named for purposes of thematic titling – has her life under control until an unwanted promotion tips her headlong into a world she’d rather not get to grips with. Joy’s OCD clashes with her sudden unasked-for immersion in the human race.” — The Age.

Killing Eve (S3) | TVNZ OnDemand

“Killing Eve isn’t a bad show now, but it’s a different show, in depressing ways — less vital, more ordinary. It is still shocking here and there but largely devoid of surprise. A mordant and sexy comic thriller edged with terror has become a competent psychodrama bordered with sentimentality. The air has gone out of it.” — New York Times.

Prison Girls: Life Inside | TVNZ 2, 8.35

New four-part series that’s billed as “a raw, intimate and in-depth look into the extreme lives of women incarcerated in an American jail, as they seek love and family while facing the realities of violence and crime”. It spawned a second top-rating Channel 5 season and coincides with TVNZ 2 re-running S7 Wentworth late-night Tuesdays ahead of S8’s mid-year premiere.

Inside Cadbury: Chocolate Secrets Unwrapped | Three, 9.40

Behind-the-scenes documentary that sounds like an Easter weekend treat but was panned for being “sickeningly dull” (Birmingham Mail) and packaging “the dreariest selection of talking heads ever pushed before a camera” (The Guardian). Kudos to Three for double-billing it with the original Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory but true chocoholics would have been better served by the “slow TV” special that aired Saturday on SBS, The Chocolate Factory: Inside Cadbury Australia.

Grey’s Anatomy  | TVNZ 2, 9.30

Season 16 premieres within days of its run being cut short due to COVID-19 complications. It ended Thursday in the US, “with the 21st of what was planned to be a 25-episode season,” The Hollywood Reporter says. “The series, starring Ellen Pompeo, will not resume production to complete those remaining episodes.”

TUESDAY

David Lomas Investigates | Three, 7.30

The Lost & Found investigator tries to solves perplexing Kiwi mysteries that span the globe, from Italy, Spain, England and Bulgaria to South Africa, Zimbabwe, Sierra Leone, China and Australia. Expect it to be a top-rating trek.

NCIS: New Orleans (S6) | Prime, 8.30

“I think that the show’s going to be different in Season 6,” star Scott Bakula told TV Insider. ” I think it’s going to be a little bit less of the Apollyon kind of stories and more about getting back to the more local, more personal stories, and I think along with that, I’m hoping Pride will relax a little bit more in his life. That’s his bucket list.”