Prime TV's new-look season gets techy (+trailers)

The FBI gets a new outing in CSI: Cyber (left), Sean Bean returns to our screens in Legends and Scorpion is a high-octane drama focusing on high-tech threats.

In a week in which cyber security has been making worldwide headlines, Prime TV's high-tech new season line-up seems kind of timely.

Announced today, the channel's programme launch for the 2014/2015 TV season includes two shows that may heighten concerns about digital footprints and password protection.

The first is Scorpion, a high-concept show - about a group of socially awkward brainiacs commissioned to fight crime - that sits somewhere between Sherlock and The Big Bang Theory.

Headed by oddball genius Walter O'Brien (and played by rising star Elyes Gabel), the Scorpion group operates under Homeland Security and, in the first episode, is tasked with helping safely land passenger planes after a software hacking breach.

Secondly, there's something a little more familiar in CSI: Cyber. Yes, this is yet another spin-off of the crime investigation series, but this one - starring Medium's Patricia Arquette and Dawson's Creek's James Van Der Beek - promises to be a little darker.

That's thanks to Irish cyberpsychologist Mary Aiken, a producer on the show whose work on human trafficking and online profiling inspired some of the storylines.

Elsewhere on Prime's line-up, things get a little bit more Mission: Impossible.

There's Legends, a vehicle for Sean Bean who plays an undercover agent with the gift of passing himself off as someone else instantaneously.

This is the show that sparked an online petition to stop Bean from being killed off, after his untimely demise in 20 previous roles - including his beheading as Ned Stark in the first season of Game of Thrones.

And it could be worth a watch: reviewers say Legends starts off patchy but soon gathers momentum and even if there are some unlikely twists along the way, TV Guide says Bean is "always riveting".

If you like the sound of that, you'll probably want to investigate Fleming: The Man Who Would Be Bond, a drama series about Ian Fleming, the man behind the long-running James Bond series.

Other big titles include Madam Secretary, which stars Tea Leoni as an unlikely Secretary of State and judging by trailers appears to be a more serious version of Veep, and NCIS: New Orleans, which promises to be a more colourful take on the long-running police procedural drama series.

On the local front, Prime is offering The Brokenwood Mysteries, a small-town Kiwi murder story told across four two-hour instalments. More on that in a future issue.

Prime's also has several local documentary offerings, including The Student Radio Story, which charts the growth of budget radio and is hosted by former bFM host Jeremy "Newsboy" Wells; an inside look at Kiwi rockers Dragon; and Driving High, a look at the risks of driving under the influence of cannabis.

On the comedy front, there's sports sitcom The McCarthys and Matthew Perry vehicle The Odd Couple, while The Messengers - about five strangers given superpowers when an object crash-lands on Earth - will keep sci-fi buffs quiet.

Prime's returning shows include Sleepy Hollow, Reign, Elementary, The Millers, Bones, Modern Family, American Idol, Downton Abbey, Doctor Who and Game of Thrones.

For more, visit primetv.co.nz.

- TimeOut