Soho – Too Big to Fail?

October 12, 2011 0 Comments

If SoHo’s first-week highlights are any measure, than Sky’s new premium drama channel looks like being too big on quality to fail.

Game of Thrones is the biggest drawcard but Emmy-winning or nominated movies like Too Big to Fail and Temple Grandin are none too shabby, either.

Launch week also will see the NZ premiere of Weeds’ sixth season and Rescue Me’s fifth, both of which also will air here for the first time in HD.

The fact that Rescue Me S5 bowed two years ago in the US, and Weeds S6 more than a year ago, reflects the impoverished state of primetime drama in this market, be it free-to-air or pay-TV.

Indeed, it’s unlikely series such as The Sopranos and Six Feet Under, which SoHo will re-run in its first week, now would even find peak-hour slots on the FTA channels that originally screened them.

SoHo’s opening week also includes the first NZ HD airings of True Blood, Mad Men and Entourage, all from season one (Mad Men will screen 6.40pm Monday-Friday).

There’s also the chance to see a pre-True Blood Anna Paquin in the 2007 winner of six Emmy Awards, Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee.

Other first-week highlights include the movies, PU-239 and Taking Chance, the documentary, Superheroes, and the premiere of the 2010 comedy series, How to Make It in America.

Disappointingly, Soho’s premiere week doesn’t include the latest seasons of Boardwalk Empire or Dexter but expect these to debut before the end of the first month’s free trial for all Sky subscribers.

In the meantime, here’s the primetime line-up Sky’s announced for the first week: