TV3 Tries to Get House in Order

TV3 will clean house in the week starting September 24 with a new-look like-up that includes the return of Grand Designs NZ and the premiere of a series you would have expected to see on TV One, George Clarke’s Old House New Home.

Grand Designs NZ will air 8.30 Sundays opposite TV2’s premiere of Lethal Weapon and where TV One will screen a Sunday Theatre season of NZ dramas from October 2.

This will be the first time in recent memory that TV2 and TV3 have gone head-to-head with series programming on Sunday nights, with neither running a movie in primetime.

Whereas TV2 has opted for a movie-themed double-bill in Lethal Weapon and The Exorcist, TV3 has elected to pair Grand Designs NZ with the return of Michael McIntyre’s Big Show, even though it’s so far failed to bed in a light-ent hour on Sunday nights.

Fridays remain the bedrock for this genre, with TV3’s current line-up going gangbusters and likely to be even more popular when new episodes of The Graham Norton Show resume from October 7.

They will face off against TV2’s The Voice, which it’s fast-tracking from the US, and lead into 7 Days and its new stablemate, season two of Funny Girls, from September 30.

Meanwhile, the latest renovation series from Restoration Man Clarke will air 7.30 Thursdays in the slot that used to be the stamping ground for the presenter on TV One before it was usurped by MasterChef Australia.

Said The Express: “George Clarke’s been wowing audiences with his incredible home renovations on new Channel 4 series Old House, New Home. So much so, he’s even been hailed as a younger Kevin McCloud – presenter of Grand Designs.”

Old House will lead into Married At First Sight Australia, which TV3 will be hoping fares better here than the ratings disaster that was the US version.

And while TV3 may not be fast-tracking primetime dramas like The Blacklist here, fans of New Girl (2.55 Saturday) and The Goldbergs (3.25 Saturdays) can look forward to their 2016/17 seasons premiering on September 24.

The same day it will screen resurrect Africa (4.55 Saturday) while Bob’s Burgers will resume 11.05 Friday the same week.