ScreenScribe

TV One will premiere in HD at Queen’s Birthday Weekend the visually stunning Victorian drama, The Crimson Petal and the White. Nominated for a best mini-series BAFTA in 2012, it was adapted from Michael Faber’s 2002 novel and will screen in four 90-minute episodes 10.30 Sundays from June 2. The psychological thriller’s exceptional cast includes [...]

Three top indie titles bow this week on Blu-ray with HD fidelity not guaranteed. “Safety Not Guaranteed was shot in HD with the Sony CineAlta PMW-F3 at XDCAM (4:2:2) resolution and arrives in a 1080p/24 AVC encodement. “It’s a relatively solid transfer given the source, but some digital issues can be spotted from time to [...]

Trekkies and True Blood fans will be over the (full) moon about this week’s TV-on-Blu-ray premieres. To coincide with Star Trek Into Darkness’ box office run — it grossed the third highest opening week of the year here – Paramount is releasing three enterprising collections. They range from Star Trek Stardate Collection: I – X, a [...]

One of the best reasons to subscribe to SoHo starts 8.30 tonight on Sky’s premium HD drama channel: season five of Breaking Bad. After years of lagging behind the US, NZ fans of this Emmy-winning sensation about a chemistry teacher who becomes a P dealer are poised to catch up. When season five ends, SoHo [...]

TV3’s rescheduling of Monday night’s X Factor NZ paid off, with the ratings up sharply on the previous week’s season low. The first live results show averaged 9.6% – 10.3% of the major demographics compared to 6.8% – 8.5% a week earlier. Although this was no match for My Kitchen Rules (15.9% – 23.6%), with [...]

Sunday’s MasterChef NZ and the first live X Factor NZ split the key demographics but TV2 won the rest of the night with its network HD premiere of Red Riding Hood. MasterChef averaged 10.2% – 13.7%, which was up on the previous week’s 8.1% – 12.0%, and X Factor, over its two-hour broadcast, 11.2% – 14.4%, [...]

NZ’s definitive guide to what’s airing nightly in 1080i on the networks:   Saturday Trade Zone Gone Fishin’ (TV3, 5.00) ITM Fishing Show (TV3, 5.30) Country Calendar (TV One, 7.00) MasterChef MasterClass (TV One, 7.30) Network Movie Premiere: Tron: Legacy (TV2, 7.00, 5.1) CSI: Crime Scene Investigation (TV3, 8.30, 5.1) CSI: New York (TV3, 9.30, 5.1) Law & Order: Los Angeles (TV3, 11.30, [...]

SoHo will screen the eighth and final season of Dexter only hours after its US broadcast but True Blood again will air first on Prime. Sky’s premium HD drama channel has just announced its July highlights, which are headed by Dexter, and seasons two of Magic City and The Newsroom. But there’s no sign of True [...]

New HD drawcards for the last week of May are limited to the fifth season premiere of Castle and the network premiere of Tron: Legacy. Castle will return to its 9.30 Monday slot on TV One, picking up from where the fourth season left off. It opens the morning after Richard Castle and Kate Beckett’s [...]

Episode two of TV3’s widely acclaimed HD commission Harry was skewered by episode two of TV2’s new HD hit, Arrow. The latter delivered spectacular ratings for the 9.30 hour, averaging 9.2% – 12.2% of the major demographics. That was 2-3 times the viewership of Harry, which averaged only 4.0% – 4.9% compared to 4.1% – [...]