TVNZ Marvels at Agents of Slate for 2014

TVNZ tonight released highlights of its new-season line-up for 2014, with two of the most anticipated newcomers being Broadchurch on TV One and Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D on TV2.

But both series should already have gone to air — Broadchurch screened in the UK at the start of this year and S.H.I.E.L.D boasts the kind of buzz factor that demands fresh-from-the-US fast-tracking, like The Walking Dead.

TV One is digging back further into the past for another of its dramas, the Australian-made Rake, which already has screened in SD on the Rialto Channel and hopefully will get a free-to-air HD transmission.

The fact TV One is picking up Rake three years after its Australian premiere may have more to do with spoiling TV3’s US remake than the channel’s commitment to quality drama.

TV2 has picked up the new Karl Urban sensation, Almost Human, another Kiwi, Rose McIver, stars in the Once Upon a Time spin-off, Wonderland, Manu Bennett becomes a regular in Arrow, and Robyn Malcolm, who also returns next year as Agent Anna, will be seen in another Australian series bound for TV One, Upper Middle Bogan.

Other TV2 newcomers include the dramas The Tomorrow People (from the creator of Arrow), Trophy Wife and Intelligence (which is soon to bow in the US), and the singles comedies Mixology and Undateable.

Here’s the full press release:

TVNZ ANNOUNCES NEW SEASON LINE-UP

Television New Zealand has unveiled its exciting primetime plans for New Zealand’s most watched channels in 2014.

TVNZ Head of Television, Jeff Latch, says: “There’s so much to love about our 2014 line-up. TV ONE and TV2 have a sensational new slate of programming that we hope viewers will take to their hearts.”

Latch says the year ahead showcases the depth and breadth of TVNZ’s local and international programming.

“Mark my words: 2014 is going to be a standout year for local content. TVNZ will put to air more than $100 million of local programming. We’re proud to continue to champion our nation’s stories with a strong focus on quality New Zealand drama, comedy, news and factual programming. Combined with our unparalleled access to hit international shows, our viewers will be spoilt for choice.”

With more than 4,000 hours of New Zealand content broadcast on TV ONE and TV2 each year, TVNZ is New Zealand’s home of local content, and in 2014 the company will continue to offer the most first-run local programming in the country, with the support of NZ on Air.

Latch says TVNZ’s relationship with Hollywood heavyweights Disney and Warner – along with ITV, Sony Pictures and Roadshow – provides TVNZ critical depth of international content across its schedules.

“It’s no accident that the top performing channels here and across the Tasman have output deals with studios,” he says.

News and current affairs will continue to be the lynchpin of the TV ONE schedule.

“TVNZ has the country’s number one rating news, ONE News at Six; the number one current affairs programme, Sunday; the number one morning news show, Breakfast; and this year it broke new ground with the launch of Seven Sharp, which redefined the weeknight 7pm timeslot, where it is second only in ratings to the juggernaut that is Shortland Street.

TVNZ plans to build on its on-air news leadership and up its game online; delivering more video news stories, faster, on onenews.co.nz.”

NEW TO TV ONE

On TV ONE, David Tennant will lead the cast of Broadchurch, the gripping, highly-acclaimed British whodunit, which explores the ripple effects of the murder of a local schoolboy on a small, seaside town in Dorset.

Stylish and compelling, the brand new drama Breathless has been hailed as a cross between Downton Abbey and Call the Midwife. Set in the early 1960s, it sees secrets, lies and passions smouldering beneath the surface of the lives of the doctors and nurses of a London gynaecological hospital (“the best looking British drama since The Hour” – The Times).

Six-part thriller, Secrets and Lies, starring Martin Henderson, is a nerve-wracking plunge behind the curtains of Brisbane suburbia, exposing the dark secrets that lurk inside the house next door.

The outrageous and self-destructive antics of barrister Cleaver Greene are chronicled in the Australian drama series, Rake. Defending cannibals, bigamists, and racist shock jocks are all in a day’s work for the hapless Greene, played by Richard Roxburgh.

Robyn Malcolm joins an all-star cast in Aussie comedy, Upper Middle Bogan, where Sydney’s upper middleclass suburbanites clash with drag racing Westies.

In 2014, all-new Sunday Theatres will be telling some of New Zealand’s most dramatic stories with the very best of local writers, actors and directors at the helm.

Field Punishment No.1 introduces the heroes many of us have never heard of – the Kiwi conscientious objectors who were shipped off to France during WWI; Pirates of the Airways looks back at the 1960s, when the good ship Tiri made radio history for Radio Hauraki; the story of the recovery operation following the tragic Erebus air disaster is told for the first time in Operation Overdue; secrets, betrayal, love and survival are examined in Project L, the story of Louise Nicholas’ quest for justice; and the extreme adventure and intrigue of one of the Gestapo’s most wanted – Kiwi WWII heroine Nancy Wake – is unravelled in The Nancy Wake Story.

The comedy Cover Band looks at life’s disappointments through the eyes of aspiring musicians, The Silhouettes. The band nearly made it with their original material. Now they’re on the bottom rung of a very shonky ladder to nowhere special, stuck in a rut playing other people’s music.

Remember what John Clarke did with the Fred Dagg interviews in the mid-1970s? In Short Poppies, Rhys Darby lovingly pays homage to one of his comedic heroes and the genre of the spoof-interview, teaming up with David Farrier  to present in each episode a day in the life of an ‘ordinary’ New Zealander.

With advertisers looking for greater integration opportunities to showcase their brands, TVNZ is collaborating with commercial partners to support the making of great local content.

TVNZ’s first show from its million dollar, branded content initiative, Purina Pound Pups to Dog Stars, will screen next year. The heart-warming reality series will follow the astonishing journey of rescue dogs given a new lease on life with top animal trainer Mark Vette and his team.

Returning

The fifth season of MasterChef New Zealand will tempt taste buds and serve up another sizzling series of New Zealand’s favourite local cooking show, but with a new multi-night format, double the contestants and twice the spice.

Viewers will also welcome all-new episodes of Agent Anna, Offspring, The Following, House Husbands, A Place to Call Home, Mr Selfridge, Person of Interest, Scandal, and Call the Midwife.

NEW TO TV2

The television event of 2014, the brand-new action drama, Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D, sees Clark Gregg reprise his role of Agent Phil Coulson from the Marvel feature films, as he puts together a small, highly select team of agents from the worldwide law-enforcement organisation known as S.H.I.E.L.D. Together they investigate the new, the strange and the unknown secrets of our world, protecting the ordinary from the extraordinary, and proving that not all heroes are super.

The highly anticipated fantasy series, Resurrection, sees the people of Arcadia, Missouri changed forever when their deceased loved ones suddenly start to return.

The biggest new story in local programming will be Step Dave. Dave is a twenty-something slacker whose life is turned upside down when he meets the woman of his dreams, 35-year-old Cara, who comes complete with three kids and mortgage, in this rollicking new Kiwi comedy-drama.

Rebel Wilson’s new comedy series, Super Fun Night, follows three quirky female friends in their 20s on their “fun-comfortable” quest to have fun every Friday night – even if it kills them.

Anna Faris and Allison Janney make dysfunctional families funny in their roles as mother and daughter recovering addicts in Mom.

In TV2’s Nabbed, the men and women of the Road Crime, Traffic Alcohol and Road Policing Teams need patience and a sense of humour to deal with Auckland drivers who drive everyone else to distraction.

Returning

2014 sees the return of popular primetime series Wentworth, Arrow, Revenge, The Big Bang Theory and Once Upon A Time.

And the line-up wouldn’t be complete without all-new episodes of New Zealand’s favourite soaps, Home and Away and Shortland Street – now in its 22nd year, it continues to dominate the 7pm weeknight timeslot.

Ramping up trans-Tasman rivalry, The Amazing Race Australia will for the first time include Kiwi teams. And telly’s multi-night titan, My Kitchen Rules, will also be back.

TVNZ Ondemand

Online viewing has gone through the roof in 2013 – Kiwis now watch more than a million streams on TVNZ Ondemand each week. Almost all TV ONE and TV2 shows are streamed on TVNZ Ondemand, and in the new year TVNZ will continue to fast-track selected new programmes online first, for fans who can’t bear to wait.

In 2014, TVNZ will completely rebuild and rejuvenate TVNZ Ondemand so viewers can look forward to the launch of a host of innovative new features that will make it even easier to see their favourite shows on the widest choice of screens.

For more details of TVNZ’s 2014 New Season Launch, go to www.2014tvnz.co.nz.