ScreenScribe

The return of the Auckland-based Zoo on Sunday walloped TV3′s Aussie variation, Wildlife at the Zoo. The season premiere averaged 6.3% – 11.2% of the key demographics compared to the competition’s 3.3% – 6.1%. The Zoo preceded the two-hour semi-final of  NZ’s Got Talent, which averaged an untouchable 10.9% – 18.8%. Saturday’s HD premiere of [...]

NZ’s definitive free-to-air guide to what’s airing nightly in 1080i on the networks: Saturday NZ’s Got Talent (TV One, 4.55, R) Gone Fishin’ (TV3, 5.30) Annabel Langbein The Free Range Cook: Simple Pleasures (TV One, 7.00) On the Grill (TV3, 7.00) The Voice (TV2, 7.30) CSI: New York (TV3, 8.30, 5.1) CSI: Miami (TV3 9.30, 5.1) New series: Pan Am (TV One, [...]

Launching a new drama series, even one with an Outrageous Fortune identity and Packed to the Rafters appeal, can be a tricky business.  As TV3 learned when its HD premiere of Tricky Business on Tuesday rated as poorly as repeats of NCIS in the previous weeks. The new vehicle for Kiwi actor Antony Starr averaged [...]

Sky Movies Premiere: Cowboys & Aliens (Sky 20, 8.30, 5.1) The weirdest western since 1966’s Billy the Kid vs Dracula and Jesse James Meets Frankenstein’s Daughter is also the real McCoy. The fantastical plot may revolve around an ET conspiracy to plunder gold from the Wild West. But everything else, from the rugged New Mexico [...]

TV3’s HD re-run of Transporter 3 on Monday largely won its two-hour slot opposite TV2’s Grey’s Anatomy and Private Practice double-bill. The action thriller averaged 8.6% – 10.6% of the key demographics, compared to Grey’s 10.2% – 11.4% and Practice’s 5.2%- 8.1%. With TV3’s target audience, 25-54 year-olds, Grey won the first quarter hour but [...]

Sky Movies Premiere: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 (Sky 20, 8.30, 5.1) They saved the best boy wizard adventure for last. As The Hollywood Reporter declared: “Fully justifying the decision, once thought purely mercenary, of splitting JK Rowling’s final book into two parts, this is an exciting and, to put it mildly, massively [...]

Sky Movies Premiere: Rise of the Planet of the Apes (Sky 20, 8.30, 5.1) The rise and rise of Weta Digital is behind the success of this movie’s phenomenally realistic visual effects. For the first time in the history of the 40-year-old sci-fi franchise, apes weren’t played by actors in costumes but were created through groundbreaking motion [...]

Monday’s HD re-run of Star Trek wasn’t enterprising enough to be the real ratings McCoy. It won the slot with TV3′s target audience, 25-54 year-olds (8.1%), but was out-rated by TV2′s The Proposal in the other key demographics (4.0% – 7.4%). The popularity of the Olympic Games on Prime seems to have hit TV One hardest, [...]

Sky Movies Premiere: Friends With Benefits (Sky 20, 8.30, 5.1) Can friends be uncomplicated lovers, too? Easy A’s Will Gluck directs Mila Kunis and Justin Timberlake. “This coasts along just fine thanks to charm and comical interludes,” said Empire “but it fails to deliver the sassy story it promises” While The Hollywood Reporter thought it “goes a [...]

Sunday’s HD premiere of The Zoo finished behind The Big Bang Theory but ahead of Modern Family. It averaged 7.1% – 10.1 of the key demographics compared to Bang’s 9.3% – 12.5% and Family’s 4.3% – 6.3%. Predictably, TV One’s repeat of the Katherine Mansfield drama, Bliss, averaged only 2.7% – 4.3% against movies on [...]