Kiwi shows coming your way next year

TVNZ is upping the ante in 2019 with a slate of new shows — and some old faves

TVNZ HAS

just announced its lineup for 2019 and there’s a lot to be excited about.

There’s an impressive range of international content, including

The Luminaries, The War of the Worlds, The Dead Lands TV series and David Attenborough’s

Dynasties.

And on top of that, the network has also managed to scoop some of the year’s major live sporting and entertainment events — including the Oscars which hasn’t played on TVNZ for more than 10 years.

TVNZ’s director of content, Cate Slater says its aim is to make that major content accessible to all fans and deliver the “events that make the nation stop and watch“.

They’re also going big on local content, saying “it’s in our DNA. It resonates strongly with New Zealand viewers, who want to see their own stories reflected on screen.”

Which means we are in for some brand new dramas, some Kiwi-as comedy, and some new reality TV goodness. Here are just a few of the highlights we’re most excited to see in the New Year:

ALL THE EVENTS

If you’re into sports, TVNZ will be the place to be. The network’s pulled off a massive win getting not only the Rugby World Cup but the America’s Cup and the Paralympics too — all free for you to enjoy without having to go to a mate’s house to mooch off their Sky subscription. Similarly, they got the Oscars back for the first time in more than a decade, and they’ll have the Grammy Awards too, so if you don’t care about sport, you can get your celeb fix instead.

CELEBRITY TREASURE ISLAND

That’s right. All your wildest reality TV dreams have come true: Celebrity Treasure Island is back. The original show ran for nine seasons and featured some Kiwi TV gold, but now it’s back the only question worth asking is: Who will be on the island? Thanks to us having more reality TV than you can shake a stick at these days, New Zealand has a whole new slew of potential celebs to throw out of the frying pan. Naz from The Bachelor? Brett and Angel from MAFS? Perhaps Clarke Gayford could return to the island for sweet, sweet vengeance. Either way, we can’t wait to see how CTI 2019 pans out.

ALL THE OTHER REALITY TV

TVNZ has confirmed the return of its most popular reality shows: Project Runway, The Great Kiwi Bake Off and the trashy guilty pleasure that is Heartbreak Island — all will return for a second season of reality goodness. Not only that, but there’s some new reality on the horizon too. Our pick is the upcoming OnDemand series House of Drag which sounds like it could be New Zealand’s answer to RuPaul’s Drag Race as a group of queens move in together and battle it out in a series of challenges for their right to stay in the house. Tens across the board!

KIWI HITS REVISITED

One of New Zealand’s greatest and most underrated shows, The Casketeers is returning for a second season and we can’t wait. It follows the staff of Tipene Funerals and is a great insight into a new world with a whole heap of aroha. Not only that, but the hilarious What We Do In The Shadows spin-off, Wellington Paranormal, is returning, and we’ll also get the chance to revisit Maori action flick The Dead Lands, when it returns as a TV series. Sign us up.

A HUGE SELECTION OF FRESH MEAT

There is a tonne of brand new local offerings. Some of our top picks include TVNZ1’s new psychological thriller The Bad Seed, based on the books by award-winning New Zealand author Charlotte Grimshaw; Straight Forward, which follows a woman as she tries to leave her criminal past behind by taking refuge in Queenstown; black comedy Fresh Eggs, which stars Claire Chitham, Cohen Holloway, Danielle Cormack, John Rhys-Davies and Dave Fane; Jackie van Beek’s new comedy series Educators; and That’s A Bit Racist, in which experts and average Kiwis look at why racism is still alive and well.