TV3 Widens Amazing HD Race

In the second official week of the new TV season, starting February 12, the 1080i content gap between TV2 and TV3 again will widen after TVNZ started the year with a big hike in HD hours.

Next week, fewer than two hours will separate the rivals but in the following week TV3 will pull well ahead with 25 hours of 6pm-midnight HD versus TV2’s 19.5 hours.

However, TV3’s tally will be boosted by same-week repeats of The Almighty Johnsons and Hawaii Five-O, and the three-hour movie, Australia.

TV2, meanwhile, will have the free-to-air premiere of Twilight that week and also will be adding to its HD line-up The Amazing Race, Friends spin-off Joey and Pretty Little Liars.

The New York Post labelled Pretty Little Liars, which will air 5.30pm Sundays, “a glamorous, spooky, adolescent fantasy” about four teenagers who make a pact not to discuss the mysterious disappearance of their friend a year earlier.

Observed The Hollywood Reporter of the pilot: “Sure, there’s a lot here that sustains more eye-rolling than interested stares, but a little patience might be warranted.

“Only with future episodes can Liars prove whether it’s Desperate Housewives for tweens or just another trashy, pretty little error.”

In the meantime, TV One will continue to be the poor HD relative of TV2, with only five hours of post-6pm HD content scheduled for that week, including the premieres of North and The Politically Incorrect Guide to Teenagers. (Since originally posting this, TV One has confirmed the Waitangi Day Sunday Theatre drama, Waitangi – What Really Happened, will air in HD; the network also screens HD eps of City Homicide at 11pm on Mondays.)