Television
The Best of the Week
SUNDAY FEBRUARY 12
Country Calendar (TVNZ 1, 7.00pm). Hold the front page – Country Calendar is moving to Sunday nights. The new season begins with a visit to a large farm in North Canterbury to survey post-earthquake conditions.
There are a lot of returnees this week, including everyone’s favourite consumer champions, Fair Go (TVNZ 1, Monday, 7.30pm), and current affairs show Sunday (TVNZ 1, Sunday, 7.30pm). More frivolously, season 28 of The Simpsons begins on Sunday (TVNZ 2, 7.00pm); Lethal Weapon returns on Tuesday (TVNZ 2, 9.45pm); The Big Bang Theory and Mom are back on Wednesday (TVNZ 2, 8.30 and 9.00pm); and homilies-are-us weepfest This Is Us is also back on Wednesday (TVNZ 2, 9.30pm). Fans of The Walking Dead have at it on Monday (TVNZ 2, 9.45pm).
Death in Paradise (Prime, 8.30pm). Hands up anyone who can remember who actually dunnit 10 minutes after an episode of Death in Paradise. It’s like slipping on a pair of comfy pants; it’s as if they’ve always been there. So pop on your cosiest elasticwaisted trousers for the new season in which Humphrey (Kris Marshall) … oh, it doesn’t matter.
Elementary (Prime, 9.35pm). The Sherlock Holmes-inspired series has stuck around longer than anyone, possibly even Holmes himself, could have predicted: here’s season five, and it is about to hit its 100th episode. The season begins with the introduction of Shinwell Johnson, a former crim who helps Watson with an investigation. True Blood fans may recognise Nelsan Ellis, although he is playing a quite different character from Lafayette. Shinwell “Porky”