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NewsNovember 14, 2014

The Week in News: Broads, Brothers and Broadchurch

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downloadGoodbye Sweet Dawg
After 13 seasons, 400 cheesecutter hats and just as many peace signs – judge Randy Jackson is moving on from American Idol. He leaves Ryan Seacrest as the only remaining original cast member, to join Simon Cowell and Paula Abdul in some sort of Coca-Cola Mecca. The judges for the upcoming season will be Jennifer Lopez, Harry Connick Jr and Keith Urban. Earlier this week he confirmed that the is excited to move on to “the next chapter.” Looks like the old dawg got some new tricks up his sleeve.

So Much Confetti, So Much Content
The biggest television news in New Zealand this week was the launch of TVNZ’s 2015 season. Next year promises plenty of local programming, plenty of reality and plenty of exciting-yet-predictable international shows. Basically, txt your Mum because Broadchurch is back. We took the liberty of recapping the launch experience, and also put 2015’s biggest shows head to head in a television smackdown. All we know for sure is that next year is going to be an incredible year for NZ TV.

just won't die
just won’t die

Evil Dead TV Remake
Hit-and-miss channel Starz, home of Outlander, is working on a reboot of the 80s splatterific franchise The Evil Dead. Executive producer of the films Sam Raimi has been confirmed for the series, as has the cult star Bruce Campbell. The ongoing trend of horror TV such as AHS and The Walking Dead has created fertile ground for these types of reboots, so hopefully this won’t be a total bomb. If the 2013 remake is anything to go by though, sometimes it’s better to just let sleeping zombies lie.

Shaking the Nolan Foundations
Behind the blinding Interstellar lights of Christopher Nolan is his genius writer brother, Jonathon. The brain behind shows such as Person of Interest and Westworld, Nolan is set to adapt author Isaac Asimov’s cult sci-fi series Foundations for HBO. The stories follow Hari Seldon, a mathematician who has seen the future through maths. The verdict? It’s not looking good. Faced with 30,000 years of Dark Ages pending, he sets about preserving the knowledge of humanity. It’s a premise with Nolan written all over it, and with the might of HBO looks like one to watch.

the powerful family
the powerful family

Ozzy Ozzy Ozzy!
There is no denying the The Osbournes was a bit of a gamechanger, setting the precedent for Keeping Up With the Kardashians, Gene Simmons Family Jewels and almost any other celebrity reality franchise that has ever been. You may recall the endless dog poop, endless fights, and endless bumbling sentences from Ozzy, all creating a shambolic mess of great TV. Guess what? It’s coming back. On a show called Loose Women this week Sharon confirmed the reboot of the series in 2015. Interestingly, Ozzy instigated the return, “he said for the three years we did [the show] he was drunk the whole time and he’d like to be sober.” I will definitely be watching, sober or not.

The Broads Are Back in Town
We saved the best till last. The Broad City gals released their latest season two trailer, set to be released in January 2015. Cats! Chips! Seth Rogen! Can’t wait:

Have a happy and safe weekend!

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