ScreenScribe

After a scandalous 16-month delay, TVNZ is poised to launch the “latest” drama series from the creator of Grey’s Anatomy. But like The Carrie Diaries, it will be unveiled online before it goes to air on TV One in September. TVNZ Ondemand will release Scandal, which stars Kerry Washington as a Washington DC crisis management […]

Two series that specialise in giving people the third degree are about to screen in HD. One already has aired here in 1080i — The Closer — but the other hopefully signals a new HD era in news and current affairs coverage. The March 6 premiere of 3rd Degree (TV3, 8.30) follows the channel’s other […]

There’s good cop/bad cop show news for HD fans of the genre. The superlative Southland ends its late-night season-three run on October 30 but will be replaced by season six of The Closer. The latter isn’t as electrifying as Southland at its best but is a superior police drama that looks sensational in HD. It […]

Series Premiere: Kings Cross ER (TV3, 8.00)  Set in St Vincent’s Hospital in Sydney, this documentary series opens with a young man rushed to the Emergency Room after being stabbed in the heart at a nightclub in Potts Point. “This is what a hospital reality show should look like – interesting cases, clearly presented without sensationalism or emotional manipulation,” […]

Season Highlight: The Closer (TV One, 11.00, 5.1) The squad investigates the death of a 12-year-old boy whose father and brother are both gang members. The boy is found dead in a known gang party house, but soon the case includes two more bodies at a different house related to the same crime. Meanwhile, Fritz brings home a […]

Season Premiere: Hawaii Five-O (TV3, 9.30, 5.1) The reboot that bombed in different time slots last year returns to ride the ratings wave of NCIS. The second season opens with McGarrett in prison awaiting trial for the governor’s murder, with Kono suspended from the force pending an internal investigation. “What makes the show so much fun to […]

Season Finale: NCIS: Los Angeles (TV3, 9.3, 5.1, F)  The third season concludes with the team being drawn into a deadly mind game with a master criminal motivated by revenge that results in a fireball from hell. Executive producer Shane Brennan told Entertainment Weekly: “I’ve been doing this for 30 years and that explosion—in the world of blowing things […]

Season Highlight: NCIS (TV3, 8.30, 5.1) When a high-level security Navy reservist is found dead, Gibbs goes face-to-face with Dr Ryan of the PsyOps Division to uncover the truth behind the suicide. Jamie Lee Curtis guest stars and is why the episode works so well, argues TV Fanatic, dubbing Ryan “a uniquely formidable ‘brain gamer’ and an adversary […]

 Series HD Premiere: Yellowstone (TV One, 8.30) America’s best idea – creating the world’s first national park, Yellowstone – turns out to be one of the best the BBC’s had for a natural history series. Yellowstone’s mix of breathtaking high-definition photography and intelligent, thought-provoking storytelling, revolving around the impact of winter, summer and autumn on the volcanic […]

SoHo Highlight: Five Days (Sky 10, 8.30, 5.1) An off-duty police officer finds herself caught up in a strange sequence of events after a person falls in front of her train. The Independent praised the outstanding acting but said the story “moved from barely tolerable contrivance to flagrant implausibility” while the Telegraph thought “it trundled along frustratingly slowly for no apparent […]