TVNZ 2 Halts Not-So-Amazing Race

TVNZ 2 has dropped its Sunday instalment of The Amazing Race Australia.

It’s being replaced by an earlier screening of the movie, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 2, which will air at 7.00 instead of 8.00.

Another movie is being added to the schedule: a re-run of Hancock at 9.30.

To accommodate Hancock, the scheduled 10.30 episode of Paranormal Caught on Camera has been removed and Blade II will now air at 11.15.

And on May 3, TVNZ 2 will double-bill Thor: Ragnarok at 7.00 with War for the Planet of the Apes at 9.25.

I haven’t seen the ratings for The Amazing Race Australia but presumably the season, which was made last year, isn’t proving to be a Sunday night front-runner against Three’s kid-friendly movies.

The 2020 season of Race is due to shoot mid-year but, because of COVID-19 logistics, will be based in Australia. Said a Ten spokesperson:

Due to the current cautions around international travel due to the COVID-19 outbreak, a domestic route has proven the safest option for the upcoming season of The Amazing Race Australia, which begins production in June this year. The welfare of cast and crew is of the upmost importance and all necessary measures will be taken to ensure their protection.

From tropical rainforests, to the arid, red desert of the outback and the cool mountainous hinterlands, we are confident that the sheer vastness and contrasting environment of Australia will create a unique and challenging backdrop to the most amazing race on earth.

CBS already has halted the current US season because of travel concerns.

Because dropping Sunday’s Race means only two episodes will repeat on the afternoon of May 2, TVNZ 2’s adding a re-run of the movie The Next Karate Kid, which also will pre-empt Make You Laugh Out Loud at 1.05pm.

In other scheduling news, TVNZ 2 is replacing Naked Attraction for the next two Thursdays with Renters (9.30) and a same-night repeat of You Got This! (9.55), presumably to maximise sampling of the latter, which will run for eight weeks at 7.00 on Thursdays.

From Tuesday, Leigh Hart’s Big Isolation Lockdown and First Dates NZ will swap slots, with the former now airing from 9.25.

And from Monday, TVNZ 2 will add a 3.00 repeat of Les Mills Born to Move; Home and Away re-runs will shift to 2.00 and Shortland Street re-runs to 2.30.