“After a great hook, Robert De Niro’s Zero Day quickly loses its pace, trying to stuff too many character plotlines into just six episodes, eventually drowning out what audiences came for: the conspiracy,” writes streaming columnist NICK OVERALL.

The leading man behind some of the most influential films of the last half-century has turned his talents to streaming television for the first time.

Star of Taxi Driver, Goodfellas, Casino, Heat and many more classics Robert De Niro is up front and centre for the new drama series Zero Day.

Who gets to cash in on De Niro’s mega star power for this TV series debut? Netflix, of course.

In this show he’s George Mullen, a former US president who is brought back into public service after a massive cyber terrorist attack plunges America’s computers into chaos and results in the deaths of more than 3000 people.

Mullen is tasked by the current president with running a commission that investigates the attack but he soon uncovers a conspiracy far more disturbing than he ever could have thought.

Sounds good, right?

The gravitas of De Niro’s casting works well for the role of a former president and in an era of heightened anxiety about the future of cyber security, Zero Day has all the pieces ready to form a compelling drama puzzle.

Does it successfully put them together though? Not quite.

Zero Day’s premise is strong but jumbled writing sadly stops it from reaching its full potential.

After a great hook, the show quickly loses its pace, trying to stuff too many character plotlines into just six episodes, eventually drowning out what audiences came for: the conspiracy.

De Niro is interesting to watch, but I couldn’t help but feel this was all paint-by-numbers for him.

It’s a shame that his first leading role in a TV series isn’t up to scratch with the prestige of his career.

RECENTLY wrapping up its third and final season on ABC iView is the excellent Aussie drama series The Newsreader.

This one is set in the 1980s and mixes its compelling character with the real world events that shaped news four decades ago.

It’s this seamless blending of history that is the most intriguing thing about The Newsreader.

Season three includes a glimpse at the Lockerbie air disaster, the Exxon Valdez oil spill and the Tiananmen Square Massacre among a slew of significant events that entered the global consciousness.

Anna Torv gives the standout performance, playing the tenacious reporter Helen Norville who is on a mission to put her new investigative show on the Australian air waves.

She’s pitted against her former news co-anchor Dale Jennings (Sam Reid) in a battle for ratings in TV’s most coveted spot, pushing their friendship to breaking point. A step above your standard Aussie drama that’s well worth the hype.

IN other news about Aussie drama, Neighbours has been cancelled for the second time.

Amazon Prime Video revived the show only two years ago in a bid to cash in on the popularity of the long-running soap but it seems this was not as much of a second wind as was first hoped.

The show originally ended in 2022 after being on the air for almost 40 years, an Australian record.

Amazon then threw the series a lifeline with a major revamp, no doubt hoping they would be able to secure a few more decades worth of content, but have now pulled the plug.

“Forty years is an incredible milestone and we are proud that Amazon MGM Studios was able to have a small part of bringing further episodes to Freevee and Prime Video customers over the last two years, spanning over 400 episodes,” the platform said in a statement.

Those 400 episodes bring the show’s total to more than 9000 and even then it seems the producers still don’t want it to be over.

“We value how much the fans love Neighbours and we believe there are more stories of the residents of Ramsay Street to tell in the future,” executive producer Jason Herbison wrote.

He also said the show will be “resting” from December 2025.

Will anyone want to wake it up though?