New to View: June 6 – 12

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

Sunday

➢ A Love Yarn TVNZ 1, 8.30/TVNZ OnDemand

Kiwi Anna Hutchison plays a Canuck who inherits her grandmother’s knitting shop in this NZ-Canadian co-production. Set in small-town NZ, it co-stars Westside’s Simon Arblaster, Annie Whittle and 800 Words’ Olivia Tennet.

Monday

➢ Spotlight: Craig McLachlan TVNZ 1, 7.00

Pre-empting Seven Sharp, Fair Go and Highway Cops is this 90-minute “tell all” interview with Craig McLachlan that aired two weeks ago in Australia. The actor’s first interview since being acquitted of 13 serious indecent assault and common law assault charges, in which he claims he was made to look like “some dirty pedophile”, topped the ratings but was “swiftly met with backlash online“.

➢ MasterChef Australia TVNZ 2, 7.30

After struggling with the low-rating Popstars for weeks and weeks, TVNZ 2 gets the jump on next week’s return of Three’s The Block NZ by stripping the latest season of this cooking challenge Sunday-Monday. “This might’ve been the ‘toughest year ever‘, but MasterChef kept chugging through COVID-19 like the well-oiled machine that it is. It was tweaked, adapted, upgraded and sanitised, and it kept rolling along.” — Sydney Morning Herald.

➢ Bump Vibe, 9.30

Stan commission about about the consequences of a teenager’s pregnancy for two Australian families. “The 10-part Bump is a joy … Presents an array of decent people muddling along, trying their best, sometimes stuffing-up and apologising. As a bonus, there’s a beautifully developed, topsy-turvy love story.” — The Age.

➢ Domina Neon

“Situated largely in a sex-saturated Rome where everyone has a British accent and Julius Caesar has just been assassinated, Domina (dominus being Latin for lord and/or master) finds the Roman Republic in tatters … Viewers might want to break out the XXL togas, because Domina does run a bit hot, and certainly fierce.” — Wall Street Journal.

➢ Burden of Truth TVNZ 1, midnight

Free-to-air premiere of a four-season Canadian take on the movie A Civil Action that’s already streaming on TVNZ OnDemand, about a big-city lawyer who represents Big Pharma in a small town where teenage girls are suffering seizures. “A so-so character-driven legal drama with just enough on its mind … like Damages with fewer ethical complications or like a really padded, Julia Roberts-free version of Erin Brockovich.” — The Hollywood Reporter.

Wednesday

➢ Loki Disney+

In this six-part spin-off, Tom Hiddleston returns as the “God of Mischief”, aka Thor’s traitorous brother, following his theft of the Tesseract in Avengers: Endgame. “Owen Wilson, Wunmi Moskau and Gugu Mbatha-Raw are part of a strong cast for this intriguing, mind-scrambling addition to the Marvel universe.” — The Times.

➢ Intelligence Neon

David Schwimmer plays a US spy out of his depth in London working for the UK’s cybercrimes centre. “Favours schtick over character development, leaving its capable cast stranded in a sea of one liners in search of some character development.” — Rotten Tomatoes.

Friday

➢ Clarkson’s Farm  Amazon Prime Video

“I hate to admit it, but Jeremy Clarkson’s farming show is really good TV. The polarising car fetishist takes to agriculture in a series that is surprisingly fun to watch.” — The Guardian.

➢ Lupin Part 2 Netflix