ScreenScribe

➢➢ Amid the glut of New Year music special and movie repeats is a handful of highlights, including the season 12 premiere of Doctor Who. TVNZ OnDemand will stream it from 9am on January 2; TVNZ 2 will broadcast it at the same time and repeat it later in the day at 7.30. The two-part […]

The Queen’s granddaughter Zara Tindall and husband Mike go head-to-head in a royal showdown on Sunday’s Top Gear when they compete to go fastest in a red Toyota GT86 coupé (Duke, 8.30). Also, the team sets out to turn an old hearse into the ultimate family car and test the lightweight Dallara Stradale. Cars UK reports the latest series […]

   The Nicolas Cage relic, National Treasure, mined more viewers than Three’s FBI comedy The Heat on Sunday. But Three still won the night’s biggest shares of the core commercial demographics, thanks to a resurgent Newshub Live and the smoking hot The Block NZ: Firehouse. Newshub Live topped 1 News in the 18-49 demo, seesawed with it among […]

This week’s Real Time With Bill Maher (SoHo/2, various times) is the last new broadcast until August. According to Deadline, “The realpolitik host mocked, minimised, and maligned the Trump administration’s extraterrestrial ambitions while also taunting the ‘nerd’ citizenry who clutch to the space programme despite its exorbitant impracticality … Here’s an idea: instead of going […]

➢➢ Prime will spruce up primetime in the week starting May 5 with a slew of premieres, including a spectacular wildlife series, the return of Top Gear and two new comedies. Mountains – Life Above the Clouds (7.30 Sundays), is a three-part BBC series that uses breathtaking photography to explore the Rockies, the Andes and the […]

➢ Prime gets back into top gear when the return of the motoring show of the same name will help to launch a new line-up. The third season will screen 8.30 Mondays from May 7 and opens with a motorsports road trip across America’s Wild West in the new McLaren, Jaguar and Ford. Will it be third time’s a charm […]

New Zealand’s definitive guide to what’s airing nightly free-to-air in 1080i    Saturday  Extreme Road Rescue (TV1, 4.55, F) Movie: The Incredibles (TV2, 4.55, R) The Block NZ (TV3, 5.00, R) Ados Addicted to Fishing (Prime, 5.00) 1 News at 6pm (TV1, 6.00) Newshub Live at 6pm (TV3, 6.00) Flog It! (Prime, 6.00) Britain’s Got Talent (TV1, 7.00) Network Movie Premiere: Hotel Transylvania 2 (TV2, […]

Prime will premiere arguably the year’s most anticipated free-to-air event, Planet Earth II, eight months after it dazzled viewers and critics in the UK. The benchmark wildlife series — the first the BBC has filmed in 4K and apparently the world’s most watched — will screen 7.30 Sundays from July 9, ahead of another long-delayed […]

What’s wrong with Prime? The channel continues to make us wait for Planet Earth II and the latest series of Top Gear while littering its schedule with second-tier premieres and re-runs. Top Gear post-Clarkson & Co may be running on the smell of an oily rag but it still deserves priority over yet another Best of Top Gear retread, which will air […]

Prime is bringing back 60 Minutes in a new slot. The veteran newsmag, which last year aired 8.30 Mondays, will screen 9.40 Sundays from March 26. It will open with an inside look at the Broadway smash Hamilton and interview members and the maestro of the Pope’s Choir. Still no word on when the latest season of Top Gear or Planet […]