TV3's new season line-up: Paul Henry's new show confirmed

Paul Henry is returning to New Zealand TV screens five nights a week.

A new weeknight show featuring controversial broadcaster Paul Henry has been confirmed to screen on TV3 shortly.

The Paul Henry Show was announced in TV3's new season line-up, launched in Auckland last night.

Details like length, timeslot, launch date and format weren't included in the announcement, with the network saying only that the show "brings the irrepressible broadcaster back to New Zealand screens five nights a week".

Henry left NZ TV screens in disgrace in 2010 after a series of outlandish comments on TV One's Breakfast show, including asking if the Governor-General, Sir Anand Satyanand, was "even a New Zealander" and laughing at the surname of New Delhi's chief minister Sheila Dikshit.

Since then, he had a short-lived stint on Australian breakfast TV, filmed a yet-to-be-seen movie in the US, and starred in an ad for Snickers chocolate bars.

Other local shows included on TV3's new line-up included a third season of the top-rating show The Block NZ, as well as new shows Cadbury Dream Factory and The Great Food Race.

As was rumoured yesterday by TimeOut, Homeland's third season was not included on the list. Neither was a second season of The X Factor, the channel's hit primetime talent show from earlier this year, and there wasn't a mention of a fourth season of The Almighty Johnsons.

Hosted by Brooke Howard-Smith, Jesse Griffin, Kimberley Crossman, Walter Neilands and Guy Montgomery, Cadbury Dream Factory is described as a show that "brings to life dreams of all shapes and sizes, from incredible life-changing surprises, to random acts of kindness".

The Great Food Race is a new twist on Come Dine With Me, as eight couples "who believe they can provide a world class home dining experience are put to the test in a race against the clock". It will be hosted by Zoe Marshall, and judges include restaurateur brothers Leonardo and Lorenzo Bresolin.

A season season of controversial reality show The GC is also being made, while Gaylene Preston's highly anticipated Christchurch-based drama Hope & Wire will screen on TV3. The Secret Lives of Dancers and House Rules will also screen.

New show Back to the Source was announced, which plucks five 20-something Kiwis who love to shop from their comfortable lives and sends them to Asia to experience the human cost involved in making their favourite products,.

Friday night comedy shows 7 Days and Jono and Ben at Ten will also return, as will news shows Campbell Live, 3rd Degree and 3 News.

Overseas shows coming to the network include James Spader's The Blacklist, Emmy Award-winning drama House of Cards, The Michael J Fox Show, plus brand new shows from Kevin McCloud, Jamie Oliver, Gordon Ramsay, and Richard Hammond.

- nzherald.co.nz