There's an awful lot to like about Ben and Kate.
FREE TO AIR
Ben and Kate, Channel Ten, 8pm
BEN and Kate wasn't exactly a hit when it made its premiere on Channel Ten (hence the summer timeslot) and it's not exactly breaking new comedy territory, but there's an awful lot to like about it; mainly, every member of the cast. In an ensemble where some care has been taken with the secondary characters, everyone's exhibiting the delivery and timing necessary to lift an ordinary sort of script to the next level. Dakota Johnson is suitably sweet as Kate and it's her job simply to be a foil for those that surround her: wastrel brother Ben (Nat Faxon), slutty bestie BJ (Lucy Punch) and Ben's long-time wing man, Tommy (Echo Kellum). These guys do a lot with a little in terms of material, making this not exactly laugh a minute but always bright, breezy and charming.
The Amazing Race, Channel Seven, 9.30pm
WHAT an interesting race it's been so far, and now, with only five teams remaining, the collegiate vibe of this season demonstrates its downside. It's the nature of the competition that friendships extend only as far as second-last place. Then it's every man for himself. Not only does one crew suffer disastrously bad luck tonight, but there's also a diabolical double U-turn, which not only shakes up the action in unexpected ways, but also delivers some surprisingly moving moments.
Louis Theroux: Return to the Most Hated Family, ABC2, 8.30pm
IT'S hard to imagine anyone but Louis Theroux so successfully broaching a subject like this, calmly but persistently confronting the most virulently bonkers religious sect in America. As we rejoin America's Most Hated Family - aka the Westboro Baptist Church - anyone with a shred of humanity or even sanity has quit the clan, leaving only the most deranged to carry on. We knew they thought soldiers deserved to die because the armed forces accepted gays. They've since expanded their brief to include the following: Jews deserved the Holocaust; women with breast cancer deserve to die; Obama is the Antichrist; and Armageddon is around the corner. As always, Theroux is measured in his conduct and conclusions, but this is an hour that leaves you wanting to take a long, hot shower.
SCU: Serious Crash Unit, Channel Seven, 8pm
AT LEAST one episode of this simple New Zealand series should be required viewing for anyone getting behind the wheel this summer. Tonight's ep focuses on a horrendous collision involving multiple vehicles, injuries and fatalities, and watching the team painstakingly figure out what happened is compelling. This is reasonably graphic but it's not sensational. The grief of the victims is touched on but not exploited.
The New Normal, Channel Ten, 9pm
I APPRECIATE the impulse here: to celebrate gay couples and gay parenthood. It's just a shame Ryan Murphy and Ali Adler have made such a balls-up of it. Murphy has always had a tendency to panto and melodrama and that's the case here, with all the characters tending woodenly to two dimensions, an overdose of sentimentality and too much speechifying. On the upside, Murphy's also capable of magnificent speechifying, and tonight's ep (in which Goldie's mother has her first orgasm and David's mother comes to visit) delivers some beauties.
MELINDA HOUSTON
PAY TV
Lyndey's Cracking Christmas, LifeStyle Food, 8.30pm
AUSTRALIAN foodie Lyndey Milan strikes a good balance in this first episode of her Christmas two-parter. The big centrepieces - the glazed ham and the turkey with sausage-meat stuffing - look easy enough for anyone to make. But there are also some more labour-intensive bits and pieces for those who have the time and the inclination. The first of these is an entree of smoked-trout mousse. Then there's a cranberry and apple relish and a concoction of mustard and glaced fruits to go with the ham. For sweets there's white chocolate rocky road and mini Christmas cakes with egg-nog-flavoured buttercream icing. Milan is an appealing, unpretentious presenter who provides plenty of good tips, such as warming up the ham in the oven to make it easier to pull the skin off. Next week is seafood and duck.
Bunheads, Fox8, 7.30pm
OUT of tragedy comes a thoroughly enjoyable episode filled with witty repartee and the occasional touching moment. Last week, Las Vegas showgirl Michelle (Tony-winner Sutton Foster) married her dorky suitor, Hubbell, and moved to his sleepy home town, only for Hubbell to die in a car accident. Tonight, Michelle finds herself adrift in the kooky, close-knit community (which now includes Little Shop of Horrors' Ellen Greene), while Hubbell's mother, Fanny (Gilmore Girls' Kelly Bishop), loses the plot as she tries to come to terms with her loss. Series co-creator Amy Sherman-Palladino keeps the dialogue crackling.
Meow Meow's Little Match Girl, Studio, 9.30pm
The Australian cabaret artist's triumphant show in the Spiegeltent at this year's Sydney Festival.
Secret Brazil, Nat Geo Wild, 7.30pm
The first episode of the new documentary series heads into jaguar territory.
Secret Millionaire UK, LifeStyle, 8.30pm
Invariably moving series in which rich folk go undercover and help the needy with large cheques.
BRAD NEWSOME
MOVIES
Dirty Rotten Scoundrels (1988), GO!, 8.30pm
EVER since the sleepy Cote d'Azur became a wealthy playground, the Riviera has attracted those with money and time - and the odd con artist too. One is the moustachioed Lawrence Jamieson (Michael Caine), who works with the local police chief (Anton Rodgers) to fleece the affluent visitors to Beaumont-sur-Mer. Lawrence cares little about the women he defrauds but does worry about a loud-mouthed American, Freddy Benson (Steve Martin), who muscles in on his territory and seems to be fighting a one-man war against 1980s feminism. Despite the potential for laughs in exploiting cultural, sex and class differences - in an approved PC way - director Frank Oz goes for ham acting and slapstick comedy, which worked better in its day than now. But it remains mildly amusing, all the same.
Howards End (1992), TCM (pay TV), 6.05pm
A SUPERB adaptation of E.M. Forster's novel about Edwardian England by the writer-director team of Ruth Prawer Jhabvala and James Ivory. The cast is exemplary, but none more so than Anthony Hopkins and Emma Thompson, who would re-team a year later in The Remains of the Day.
SCOTT MURRAY
No comments:
Post a Comment