ScreenScribe

US critics are in an effusive frenzy over season three of Game of Thrones, which premieres here Monday (SoHo, 8.30) within three-and-a-half hours hours of its HBO debut. This is the medieval fantasy’s fastest turnaround yet on NZ TV — although Australia’s Foxtel will screen it even earlier. Foxtel’s Showtime will premiere the first of [...]

Don Draper may never have looked more dapper than in the season-five Blu-ray of Mad Men. “Mad Men: Season Five moves from the Super-35 format of the previous seasons to a native high definition production captured on Arri Alexa cameras with Panavision Primo lenses at ProRes 4:4:4 (1080p/24) resolution. “It arrives on Blu-ray in a [...]

Having proved there is an audience for blue-chip natural history documentaries in primetime with Frozen Planet, let’s hope the next batch TVNZ buys from the BBC are in HD. Anyone who compares the Blu-ray of Frozen Planet, which went on sale today, with the SD broadcast won’t regret their purchase. As well as superior resolution [...]

Heading this week’s TV releases is Downton Abbey: Season 2, which only ended its SD run last night to high ratings on Prime. Universal Pictures is releasing it as a stand-alone set on Blu-ray and DVD and as a DVD-only box set with season one (the NZ season-one Blu-ray included an extra disc of extras not on [...]

Bones at last gets Blu-ray exposure here with this week’s release of season six on the format. Seasons four and five are on Blu-ray in the US but only have DVD distribution in NZ. “If you watched these in HD on television, you can look forward a nice bump up over what already looked quite [...]

Of all the back catalogue classics tumbling on to Blu-ray, The Big Lebowski probably will have HD dudes the most excited. It was one of the first HD titles to be released when Universal backed the rival Blu-ray format, HD DVD, in 2007. It’s belatedly bowing this week on Blu-ray here and in the US, [...]

Prime has just announced a renewal of its BBC Worldwide deal that will see the network continue to screen Top Gear first in this territory. The agreement also includes first-run episodes of international versions of Top Gear Australia and Top Gear US. But with no timetable in place for Prime’s conversion to HD, Jeremy Clarkson [...]

Two top TV series belatedly make their seasonal Blu-ray debuts this week months after their release in the US and Australia. Seasons two of Fringe and five of Supernatural were delayed because of broadcaster holdbacks. In other words, Warner Bros couldn’t release them here until they had completed their runs on TVNZ (with which WB [...]

Blistering barnacles! The first Adventures of Tintin 3D poster has been officially released for publication. The Secret of the Unicorn is the first in a planned Peter Jackson-Steven Spielberg produced trilogy; it was directed by Spielberg and will open here on Boxing Day, with the Blu-ray release a good bet for Easter. The screenplay was [...]

Friends (TV2, 6.30, R) Joey and Chandler’s competition with Rachel and Monica escalates; Phoebe goes to the doctor to get the embryos implanted in her uterus. Shortland Street (TV2. 7.00) Daniel stands up to the man; Rachel and Callum become pawns in Shane’s cruel game; Jill falls into a well-laid trap. Glee (TV3, 7.30) Sue [...]