ScreenScribe

TV3’s re-run of Johnny English proved to be effective counter-programming against NZ’s Got Talent on Sunday. The TV One talent quest won the 7.30 hour but the Rowan Atkinson comedy was more than competitive. It out-rated NZGT among adults 18-39 and 18-49, and the two were neck-and-neck with adults 25-54 – the demographic both channels […]

Chat show king Graham Norton flexed his muscles on Friday when TV2 launched its movie slot with the network HD premiere of beefcake blockbuster The Expendables. Sylvester Stallone’s geezers-with-guns hit averaged 6.0% – 6.5% of the key demographics (adults 18-39,18-49, 25-54 and household shoppers with kids). But it was no match for the combined firepower […]

The crowdpleasing appeal of NZ’s Got Talent is helping to turn Aussie period drama A Place to Call Home into a Sunday drawcard for TV One. This weekend’s episode averaged 4.4% – 9.3% of the major demographics and won its slot with household shoppers. With TV2’s HD premiere of Just Go With It (6.2% – […]

NZ’s definitive guide to what’s airing nightly in 1080i on the networks: Saturday Gone Fishin’ (TV3, 5.00) The ITM Fishing Show (TV3, 5.30) Country Calendar (TV One, 7.00, F) Duck Dynasty (TV2, 7.00) This Town (TV One, 7.30) Season Premiere: Survivor (TV3, 7.30, 5.1) Miss Fisher’s Murder Mysteries (TV One, 8.30) Movie: Time Machine (TV2, 8.30, 5.12, R) Blue Bloods (TV3, 10.00, 5.1) […]

TV2’s 666 Park Avenue’s days could be numbered after Friday’s premiere was out-rated by TV3’s Graham Norton Show. The supernatural newcomer averaged 4.5% – 5.1% of the key demographics compared to Norton’s 5.9% – 8.6%. Even among TV2’s core viewers, the British chat show was more popular: 5.9% vs 4.7%. TV One’s Dallas was no […]

SoHo Premiere: The Promise (Sky 10, 8.30, 5.1) In part one of four, an 18-year-old travels to Israel to discover first-hand the struggle her grandfather faced when he was a British peacekeeper in 1940s Palestine.  As The Guardian said: “It’s hard to think of a more politically sensitive subject for a primetime TV series, and Peter Kosminsky’s […]

Network Premiere: Endeavour (TV One, 8.30) A young Detective Inspector Morse plans to leave the force, only to be pulled back in to work on the case that changed everything. As The Guardian said: “Post-Morse has been pretty much bled dry with Lewis, so now we’re going back to before, and a young detective on his first posting in […]

SoHo Cinema: Hemingway & Gellhorn (Sky 10, 8.30, 5.1) The Hollywood Reporter hailed this HBO dramatisation of Ernest Hemingway’s relationship with his third wife, war correspondent Martha Gellhorn, as “a dynamic, vivid, well-acted look at two major 20th century writers who shared wars on the battlefront and at home”. Entertainment Weekly was equally enthusiastic (“maddeningly, irresistibly […]

SoHo Premiere: The Gathering Storm (Sky 10, 8.30, 5.1) The first volume of Winston Churchill’s Second World War memoirs was first dramatised for TV nearly 40 years ago and starred Richard Burton. But that production couldn’t muster any of this Storm’s multiple Emmys, Baftas and Golden Globes. It opens in 1934 and chronicles Churchill’s return […]

SoHo Highlight: How to Die in Oregon (Sky 10, 8.30, 5.1) Physician-assisted suicide has been a legalised practice in Oregon since 1997. This award-winning HBO documentary focuses on the emotional experiences of the individuals who intend to use the law, and those who help them through the process. The Hollywood Reporter said director Peter Richardson’s “clear-eyed, compassionate documentary […]