TVNZ 2 Writes Off Watson, Welcomes Taskmaster Early
September 8, 2025 
7 Comments
TVNZ 2 is relegating Watson to late-night and bringing forward the next season of Taskmaster UK as part of a Thursday night shake-up.
New episodes of the Sherlock Holmes-inspired procedural will now screen 10.40 Sundays, where same-week repeats previously aired.
Dashcam special Motorway: Hell on the Highway will replace it this Thursday at 8.50.
From September 18, Australian Survivor: Australia vs the World will switch from 7.30 Thursdays to 8.30, so season 20 of Taskmaster UK can anchor the night in its slot.
Survivor’s new lead-out at 10.00 will be Caught on Dashcam.
TVNZ 2 will broadcast Taskmaster a week after its UK airing. For the first time, US fans of the series will be able to stream it on YouTube the same day as its UK broadcast.
I see a rebooted Big Brother Australia is launching in November promising to go back to its original roots. Is TVNZ or Sky picking this up for the NZ market? — Leo.
TVNZ+ streams an earlier season but TVNZ says it’s “too early to confirm plans” for the Ten reboot.
Given the last couple (from memory) got bumped out of primetime into graveyard slots here, it would seem like a brave programmer to try it again … — Clint.
Thanks, Philip, for asking TVNZ. I guess all those other attempts at making it a hit here don’t bode well for a future pick up. Hopefully one of the streamers or Neon is interested. — Leo.
I reckon it will be a perfect fit for Neon like it had when used to have the rights to Love Island Australia. — Sheldon.
I absolutely love Big Brother Australia, but I know it hasn’t done well in NZ ratings-wise across various time slots. I’d be quickly addicted to it again though if any broadcaster did pick it up here! — Dave.
When TVNZ did have the rights to the original Network Ten iteration between 2001-2005 it was a bit of a mixed bag. First, it was closer to possible to Australian broadcasts then they botched it leading to dropping it. TVNZ also treated a Seven Network’s iteration shabbily — it was put into a TVNZ 2’s 5pm slot in 2022 usually occupied by ancient sitcom episodes but ended up a ratings disaster and they dumped it on Duke weeks later, so highly unlikely that TVNZ will be getting a second Network 10 iteration, fingers crossed for Neon. — Sheldon.