WEEK 52: Saturday 26 December - Friday 1 January 2010

TV2 starts the week off with a Boxing Day Double Feature. At 2pm, Alaska follows the search of two girls, and a rescued polar bear, to find their father after his plane crashes in the Alaskan mountains. Starring Thora Birch (American Beauty) and Charlton Heston (True Lies).

At 4.10pm, the animated family movie, Happily N'ever After, sees an alliance of evil-doers looking to take over Fairy Tale Land. When Ella (voiced by Sarah Michelle Gellar, Buffy The Vampire Slayer) realises her stepmother is out to ruin her storybook existence, she takes a dramatic turn and blossoms into the leader of the resistance effort. Don't miss Celebrity Friends, screening weekdays at 7pm. Catch up with your favourite Central Perkers, and some special friends of their own. Guest stars include Brad Pitt (Ocean's 11), Chris Isaak (Eyes Wide Shut), Brooke Shields (The Blue Lagoon), Julia Roberts (Notting Hill), Bruce Willis (Die Hard) and Sean Penn (Mystic River).

Local Reality - One Night Only, Saturday 26 December, 7.30pm: Tonight on TV2, a special Christmas episode of One Night Only sees Stewart Island teaming up against Hawkes Bay in a festive sing-off.

Hosts Clinton Randell (Just The Job) and Jordan Vandermade (The Singing Bee) get into the holiday spirit with a special Christmas edition of the singing extravaganza. This week, a team from Stewart Island Search and Rescue answer the call against a group of health workers from the Hawkes Bay. Who will prevail as the groups are thrust into the limelight to sing in front of a LIVE studio audience? Judges Iain Stables (NZ Idol), classical singer Elizabeth Marvelly and David Wikaira-Paul (Shortland Street) are on hand to give their professional opinions on the performances - but the teams need to impress the audience to win the big cash prize for a much-loved community cause. As the show gets into the Yuletide spirit, co-host Clinton Randell is full of admiration for the heart-warming charities and causes the teams are competing to win money for. "The best thing is that everyday New Zealanders get a chance to take to the stage, not for fame or for a recording contract, but to raise money for a cause that they think is worthwhile enough to embarrass themselves in front of the entire nation for. There are some performances that just might surprise you as well." Randell also loves the Kiwi characters that the show has discovered from around New Zealand. "There are some greats - and then there are a few that have obviously been roped into it, which I love. There's nothing like watching someone whose idea it obviously wasn't to get up on stage, dancing around with two left feet." The Just The Job host is having a great time working on the show, and reveals the practical jokes of the notorious rascal Stables is one of his highlights. "I am having a ball. We have an amazing crew, Jordan is a great dude, and the judges and I get on like a house on fire."

Reality - I'm A Celebrity Get Me Out Of Here, Weekdays, 5pm: This week on TV2, a group of celebrities are dropped into the Costa Rican jungle for the challenge of a lifetime, in I'm A Celebrity Get Me Out Of Here.

Based on the hit British format, this American version pits well-known faces against each other in a series of trials that will push the stars to the limit. Each day, the celebrities are given funny, daunting and occasionally disgusting challenges to win food, supplies and luxury items for the camp. The last remaining star will be crowned King or Queen of the Jungle, winning a substantial cash prize for their favourite charity. Some of the stars heading into the jungle to compete are actor Stephen Baldwin (The Usual Suspects), loud-mouthed supermodel Janice Dickinson (America's Next Top Model), actor Lou Diamond Phillips (La Bamba), former American Idol contestant Sanjaya Malakar, and Spencer and Heidi Pratt (The Hills). As the celebrities prepare for their arrival in the sparse camp that will be their home for three weeks, Spencer Pratt has a clear reason for wanting to take part. "My goal is to make the public realise that I'm the next level of super-villain," Pratt says, stressing that he's in it to win. "I'd rather live in the jungle with the monkeys than go back to America as a loser. I'm not the kind of person who has friends. I have one person in my life, that's my wife." His wife, Heidi, however, doesn't fully grasp the challenges that lie ahead in the gruelling competition - a misapprehension that will come back to haunt her when the reality TV star arrives at the camp. "I know nothing about the jungle I'm heading into, but I have my husband to take care of me," she says. "I'm really excited to get a tan and to be working-out in there - so it's kind of like a spa vacation, without the spa." Lou Diamond Phillips is more level-headed about the experience. "I'm looking forward to it, I know it's going to be fun, but at the same time, I'm under no illusion that it's going to be tough. There are going to be moments of sheer terror." Who will survive the shocks, twists and terrifying trials to be crowned King or Queen of the jungle?

Movie - National Treasure, Wednesday 30 December, 8.30pm: Nicolas Cage (Lord Of War) stars as a treasure hunter who must steal the most revered and best guarded document in American history, before it falls into the wrong hands, in TV2's Wednesday Movie, National Treasure.

Benjamin Franklin Gates (Cage) is a third generation treasure hunter. His whole life, he has been searching for the legendary Knight's Templar treasure. At last, he knows where the ultimate hint to the treasure's location lies: a hidden map on the back of the Declaration of Independence. As knowledge of the map spreads to his arch-rival (Sean Bean, Lord Of The Rings), Gates is faced with a terrible dilemma. Either he must be first to steal America's most sacred document - one guarded by the most sophisticated security in the world - or let it fall into dangerous hands. In a race against time, his rivals and the authorities, Gates teams with his tech-whiz friend Riley (Justin Bartha, Failure To Launch)) and the alluring National Archives conservator, Abigail Chase (Diane Kruger, Troy), to protect the Declaration of Independence and the treasure. Producer Jerry Bruckheimer says a film like this has long been on his radar. "I have always wanted to make a smart treasure hunt movie filled with secret codes, puzzles, heroes, villains and plenty of twists. Everyone loves a good mystery - and this one is especially exciting because it is steeped in real American history. When you add to that the audacious idea of planning a heist to steal the Declaration of Independence, the fun really begins." Bruckheimer went straight to Nicolas Cage for the role of Gates, knowing immediately the actor could embody this sharp, action-oriented, complex character. Bruckheimer gave Cage his very first action hero role in The Rock - and the two subsequently worked together on Bruckheimer's Con Air and Gone In 60 Seconds. Cage was pleased to reunite with Bruckheimer. "He always seems to add something unusual or new to his stories, and yet he has incredible commercial sensibilities. It's a wonderful combination, so I'm always happy to work with him." Cage also liked the character of Ben Gates. "What's interesting about Ben is that he has several equally huge motivations to find this treasure: there's his passion for history and restoring things to their right places in the world; there's the fact that the treasure is going to be worth a completely unfathomable amount of money; and there's the fact that he's been searching for this treasure his entire life. There's also his relationship with his father, and his drive to return his family's good name. In the course of the film, he is tested and has to really figure out which of these is most important and what he really wants."

Movies - New Years Eve Movies, Thursday 31 December, from 7.30pm: TV2 presents an exciting and fun-filled movie line-up to see in the New Year. First off the block is Hairspray, a remake of the cult classic, featuring an all-star cast including John Travolta (Pulp Fiction), Michelle Pfeiffer (Dangerous Minds), Christopher Walken (Wedding Crashers), and Queen Latifah (Taxi).

Tracy Turnblad (Nikki Blonsky) a big girl with big hair and an even bigger heart, has only one passion - dancing. Her dream is to appear on 'The Corny Collins Show', Baltimore's hippest dance party on TV, but there seems to be a problem - she doesn't fit in. Her plus-sized figure has always set her apart from the cool crowd, which she is reminded of by her loving but overly protective plus-sized mother, Edna (Travolta). That doesn't stop Tracy, if there is one thing that this girl knows, it's that she was born to dance. After wowing Corny Collins (James Marsden, Superman Returns) at her high school dance, Tracy wins a spot on his show and becomes an instant on-air sensation, much to the chagrin of the show's reigning princess, Amber Von Tussle (Brittany Snow, The Pacifier), and her scheming mother, Velma (Pfeiffer), who runs television station WYZT. This dance party gets personal and a bitter feud erupts between the girls as they compete for the coveted 'Miss Teenage Hairspray' crown. Meanwhile, Tracy starts another more important battle; campaigning racial equality. Arrested and put on home detention, has Tracy's luck finally run out? Creator of Hairspray, John Waters says of his classic: "I think my movie resonated with people because it was really funny but socially redeeming without being preachy. The biggest difference, no pun intended, was that on the real Buddy Deane Show, there was never a fat girl. So that's where the character of Tracy came from. To me, Tracy, the fat girl, basically represented every outsider, and her dream to dance on 'The Corny Collins Show' represented the dreams of anyone facing discrimination of any kind." New-comer Nikki Blonsky says it was megastar John Travolta who made her feel at home on the movie. "The day I met John Travolta is a day I'll never forget. When we hugged, I felt like I was hugging my real mum. He made me feel so comfortable and loved and protected, which is just what mums are supposed to do." Travolta has no doubts about the talent of Blonsky. "A star has definitely been born. I don't think I'll ever have to eat my words about that. Once you see Nikki perform it will be quite evident that she has a presence, talent and charisma not unlike a young Barbra Streisand or Bette Midler. She is as unique in her abilities as those two women are in theirs." When big hair meets big dreams anything can happen - and does - in this high-energy comedy that proves you don't have to fit in to win. Following on at 9.50pm, Jane Austen's Pride And Prejudice gets the Bollywood treatment in Bride And Prejudice, a modern take on the classic, in which a mother tries to find husbands for her four unmarried daughters. Starring new-comer Aishwarya Rai and New Zealanders Martin Henderson (The Ring, Little Fish) and Daniel Gillies (Spiderman II). Just after midnight, at 12.05am, TV2 sees in the New Year with Dream Girls, a musical drama that sees a trio of black female soul singers cross over to the pop charts in the early 1960s. Starring Jamie Foxx (Ray), Beyonc Knowles (The Pink Panther), Eddie Murphy (Beverly Hills Cop), Jennifer Hudson (American Idol), and Danny Glover (Be Kind Rewind).