Booth and Bones together is actually not the kiss of death, and Pam from True Blood sighted in Once Upon a Time.
TV
Bones
Once Upon a Time (TV2, 8.30pm). The throwdown between the evil queen and Emma Swan continues, with Mayor Regina in Storybrooke trying to force Emma out of town – like she can leave anyway. In fairy tale land, or whatever it’s called, we see how the queen procured the curse from Maleficent (it’s Pam from True Blood!) Not sure about this series yet, but willing to stick with it for a few more episodes. Robert Carlyle is there as Rumpelstiltskin, after all.
Bones (TV3, 8.40pm). Usually characters finally getting into a relationship is famously the kiss of death for a series, but the baby-first way that Bones and Booth have gotten into it, and Bones’ Asperger’s-like inability to understand people have opened up a whole new avenue of misunderstanding and reconciliation between them. For example tonight, Tempie discovers the sex of the baby, typically by going to the ultrasound alone and then announcing to Booth: “The baby growing inside my uterus? It has [spoiler!] genitalia.” Hilarious. The murder tonight involves a competitive eating contestant. Get ready for the effects teams to have gone to town. Ew.
Project Runway (TV3, 9.40pm). We love the unconventional materials challenge – tonight, materials from a pet store. Miaow! Sorry. Couldn’t resist.
FILM
Unstoppable (Sky Movies, Sky 020, 8.30pm). Tony Scott is a little like the British Michael Bay: he’s good at the action stuff, but don’t expect anything approaching deep and meaningful. Never mind, in Unstoppable there’s a runaway train full of some dangerous shit or other and only Denzel Washington and Chris Pine (Star Trek) to stop it. Salon’s Andrew O’Hehir compares the similarities to Scott’s previous train movie, the remake of The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3, here. (2010)
Charlie Wilson’s War (Movies Greats, Sky 022, 8.30pm). The true story, apparently, of how one hard-drinking, coke-snorting Texan Democrat brought about the end of the Cold War, even though Ronald Reagan got all the credit. Charlie Wilson (Tom Hanks), the hard-drinking Dem, teams up with conservative socialite Joanne Herring (Julia Roberts), who would like the Commies to leave the poor Afghans alone. The solution? A labyrinthine scheme to get weapons to Afghanistan, which, in the hands of West Wing writer Aaron Sorkin, is both less complicated and funnier than it sounds. Said Variety, “Smart, sophisticated entertainment for grown-ups.” Wilson died in 2010 at the age of 76; his New York Times obituary cited a local mayor remembering him as a “rascal, but he was our rascal”. (2007) 8 – Diana Balham
RADIO
Appointment (Radio New Zealand Concert, 7.00pm). What possibly started out as a bit of a lark for half a dozen chaps at King’s College, Cambridge, during the 1960s has matured into one of the world’s most enduring and celebrated singing ensembles. In The King’s Singers, Tim Dodd talks to Brian Kay, the original bass in the all-male a cappella group. Known as much for their delightfully British sense of humour as for their perfect intonation, vocal blend and impeccable timing, the King’s Singers cross a wide range of genres but have always maintained a commitment to works by contemporary composers, including Richard Rodney Bennett, Luciano Berio, Peter Maxwell Davies, György Ligeti, Gian Carlo Menotti, Krzysztof Penderecki, Ned Rorem, John Rutter, Toru Takemitsu, and John Tavener. They are performing in Auckland on February 25. – Diana Balham