TVNZ Announces ETA for New Season Shows

One of TV One’s HD high-flyers for 2012, Pan Am, heralds an influx of US drama on the network.

Others include Alcatraz, which stars Sam Neill in a new Lost-like mystery from JJ Abrams, Unforgettable (ex-detective with “the memory of an elephant” goes back on the beat) and Person of Interest (ex-FBI agent becomes a Big Brother crimestopper).

They were among the shows TVNZ executives this afternoon unveiled to ad agencies and media at their 2012 new season launch.

Along with returning HD hits Harry’s Law, Criminal Minds and Castle, they will significantly increase the number of US drama hours on a channel that this year has strengthened its 25-54 base with a widely scorned mix of cooking shows, reality fare and light drama.

It is not yet clear how many of these series will be in HD but among the confirmations are:

• Pan Am, a ‘60s-based drama about the airline’s flight crew that’s won more praise for its lush production values and swing soundtrack than its storylines
• The Politically Incorrect Guide to Adults, the latest in the franchise from Nigel Latta (who also will front another season of Beyond the Darklands)
• Nothing Trivial, season two of the South Pacific Pictures comedy/drama about pub quiz romantics
• The Food Truck, season two of the chef-hits-the-highway hit starring Michael Van Elzen
• Radar’s Pacific, in which Te Radar explores our own backyard
• More NZ-made Sunday Theatre dramas
• Another 26-week run of Country Calendar
• The latest series of Intrepid Journeys

Screening in HD on TV2 next year will be season four of Go Girls, Shortland Street’s 20th anniversary, another series of Rescue One and hopefully most, if not all, of the network’s new US acquisitions, including:

• Revenge, woman assumes a new identity to wreak retribution on a flash neighbourhood
• Once Upon a Time, fairy tale characters come to life with alternate identities in the modern world
• Dallas, a next-generation reboot with some of the original cast
• Missing, Cliff Curtis as a CIA agent in his first TV drama since Trauma
• GCB, a Desperate Housewives in Dallas
• The River, supernatural thriller set in the Amazon
• 2 Broke Girls, female Odd Couple that’s said to be both raunchy and smart
• Happily Divorced, new Fran (The Nanny) Drescher comedy about a divorcee who starts dating again
• Man Up!, bromance comedy with Hangover aspirations
• I Hate My Teenage Daughter, two mothers discover their teenage daughters are the kind of “mean girls” who made their high school years hell
• Suburgatory, comedy that’s touted as a cross between Juno and Father Knows Best
• Chelsea Straight Up, new sitcom for That ‘70s Show’s Laura Prepon loosely based on stand-up comedienne Chelsea Handler’s life.