TV Week
by Sarah Barnett
SATURDAY February 11
Maddigan’s Quest (TV3, 7.00pm). This is your new Saturday night family event. Gather the children and hunker down with a big plate of cheese scones, just like we used to do for Children of the Dog Star, because this local epic, from the brain of Margaret Mahy, looks wicked. The children of Maddigan’s Fantasia (now a book of the same name, also by Mahy), a circus troupe, journey around a very lush, post-apocalyptic world in search of a solar device to keep their home fires burning. The big-bud-get co-production (South Pacific Pictures/TV3, Nine Network Australia and Burberry/CBBC), has a British and New Zealand cast, with plenty of talent on the rise among the kids – and no waning talent among the adults: grown-ups include Hori Ahipene, Dani-elle Cormack, Tim Balme and Michael Hurst.
Frontseat (TV1, Sunday, 10.25pm) cameras followed Mahy in the year leading up to her 70th birthday as part of their new season, in which they’ll also hunt out New Zealand’s greatest painting.
The OC (TV2, 7.30pm). So, like, Marissa shot Trey to defend Ryan, but Seth and Summer didn’t show up in time to witness it and, with Ryan’s track record, it is so not looking good, not to mention the fact that Kirsten’s in rehab with a suspicious new friend who might be after Sandy, and Julie Cooper is on the loose now that Caleb’s dead, so maybe she’ll get back with Jimmy, but she needs to get Caleb’s money first, but how will Marissa deal and what is up with the new school dean?
Malcolm in the Middle (TV3, 8.00pm). Introducing a baby to a sitcom is usually a sure sign that it’s in its final throes. The sitcom, not the baby. Little Jamie joined the household-with-no-surname at the end of the fourth season, so Malcolm hasn’t done too badly, but the axe has fallen. The seventh and final season starts tonight.
SUNDAY February 12
Nauru After the Bonanza (Maori, 8.30pm). Nauru was once one of the richest countries in the developing world, thanks to its abundant reserves of phosphorus. Now, not only is 90 percent of its land unusable because of strip-mining, but also its efforts to revive itself as a tax haven have been shut down and mismanagement has emptied the coffers. And the national sport is Aussie Rules. This doco was made in 1973, and as part of the He Raranga Korero archival series, Tainui Stephens offers a then-and-now perspective.
CSI: Crime Scene Investigation (TV3, 8.30pm). Six seasons and two spin-offs. Excuse us while we whimper in a quiet corner. Criminal Intent (TV3, 9.30pm) follows.
MONDAY February 13
Desperate Housewives (TV2, 8.30pm) Tonight’s episode is actually the second in the new season – we’re so ashamed about being out of the loop and missing the highlightiest of highlights with last week’s premiere. Blame it on the network wars: they’re playing their new shows so close to their chests that they won’t even trust us – journalists! – with the info in advance, preferring to slip it into the billings unnoticed. Sneaky beggars. How about that “juicy” promo, though? Get these guys on the 5+ a Day campaign and our apple growers will be laughing.
In more shows-that-started-last-week news, Grey’s Anatomy (TV2, 9.30pm) also returned, and Commander in Chief (TV2, Thursday, 8.30pm) stars Geena Davis as the first female US President – and she’s an independent who isn’t elected, but steps up from her VP role when the Prez has a coronary. So, bets firmly hedged, ABC got itself a lady in the Oval Office, a First Gentleman in the White House kitchen and a big, shiny hit. Davis picked up a Golden Globe for her role, meaning that, with Hugh Laurie’s for House, they had a matching set for the Stuart Little household. Joey (TV2, Wednesday, 8.00pm) is back, up against My Name Is Earl on TV3, and doesn’t have a snowball’s, if US ratings are anything to go by. The competition is no less fierce during the day: TV3 brought back Dr Phil and Oprah (weekdays, 1.00pm and 2.00pm), while Ellen (TV1, weekdays, 1.00pm), Ellen Degeneres’s reinvention as a talkshow host, recently garnered her five daytime Emmys. TV1 promises to be only a few days behind the episodes’ original airings in the US.
TUESDAY February 14
Shortland Street (TV2, 7.00pm). Valentine’s Day in Ferndale means frocks-a-go-go as Maia and Jay finally get their chance to threaten heterosexual marriages every-where. Frankly, we’re more worried that over on Coronation Street (TV1, 7.30pm) Ken would marry Deirdre and her crazy neck a second time round.
Shock Treatment (TV2, 7.30pm). Mikey Havoc, Louise Wallace and the word “enemas” all in the same publicity paragraph. Goodness.
FRIDAY February 17
55th Say When Halberg Awards (TV1, 8.30pm). We love the idea of a glitzy awards show sponsored by an alcohol-awareness campaign. Hosted by Bernadine Oliver Kirby and screening live, it’ll be virgin marys all round for the athletes who are still in training.
