ScreenScribe

Friends (TV2, 6.30, R) Joey becomes convinced that Monica’s having an affair; Rachel gives her phone number to a guy at a bar; Ross and Mike find they have nothing to talk about. ✫✫✫ Shortland Street (TV2, 7.00) Maxwell puts temptation at arm’s length; Sarah reaches out; Gabrielle’s operation fails to have the desired effect. ✫✫✫ Underbelly: [...]

New Zealand’s definitive free-to-air guide to what’s airing nightly in 1080i   Saturday Get Fresh With Al Brown (TV One, 7.00) Movie: Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End (TV2, 7.30, R) Hamish & Andy’s Gap Year (TV3, 7.30) Sunday Hellcats (TV2, 5.30) Rugby World Cup (TV One, 7.00/TV3, 8.30, 5.1) Mike & Molly (TV2, 7.30) The Middle (TV2, 8.00) Monday Friends (TV2, 6.30, [...]

Science-fiction and fact abound on Blu-ray this week, with season one of V launching into shops the same day as Into the Universe With Stephen Hawking and season two of The Universe. TV2 aired V in HD but both documentary series have had only SD exposure on Sky, along with two more of Wednesday’s TV-on-Blu-ray releases, [...]

After weeks of tolerating absurdly low ratings for Tuesday night repeats of The Mentalist, TV2 at last is dumping the HD drama for movies — with Fringe becoming collateral damage. The spooky HD sensation will screen for the last time next week, at the later time of 10.15pm, with a network spokesman only able to say, “It’ll [...]

Last night’s HD dramatisation of the Baby Kahu case, Stolen, dwarfed the competition. The two-hour telemovie drew 11.4% of TV3′s target audience, 18-49 year-olds, compared with V’s 6.1%, Castle’s 7.3% and Real Life’s 5.9%. It was even more popular with 25-54 year-olds (12.4%) and household shoppers with kids (17.4%); even with 18-39 year-olds, it rated [...]

TV3′s HD crime hit, Underbelly: The Golden Mile, last night went out with a bang. The final episode drew 15.5% of the network’s key demo, 18-49 year-olds, 14.3% of 18-39 and 16.4% of 25-54, crushing TV2′s V, which could only rate 5.4%-5.6% in these demos. The result helped TV3 to win one of its few [...]

The complete first seasons of the musical comedy, Glee (which airs 8.30 tonight on TV3), and the groundbreaking gangster drama, The Sopranos, are among the TV-on-Blu-ray releases scheduled for between next month and the end of the year. Dates have still to be confirmed but expect both to go on sale in October, along with [...]

V didn’t stand for victory last night when TV2 relaunched the sci-fi re-make, V, with the first of four HD double-episodes. It opened with 8.7% of the channel’s target market, 18-39 year-olds, down from the 13.5% Cougar Town delivered, dipped as low as 7% and averaged 7.4% over the two hours — light years away [...]

In an astonishing programming move that seems even more bizarre in the wake of the record-high ratings for last night’s Outrageous Fortune, TV2 is to screen HD re-runs of The Mentalist opposite the Westie juggernaut. TV3 confirmed in a press release this afternoon that the season-six premiere of Outrageous Fortune notched up the highest overall [...]

In a surprise but savvy HD counter-programming move, TV2 is bringing forward the new season of Fringe to screen 9.30pm Tuesdays, opposite TV3′s Nurse Jackie. The premiere will air after the season finale of Grey’s Anatomy, on July 20, in an oddly-matched double-bill. It will be fascinating to see which series becomes Fringe’s lead-in the [...]