Tasty Spuds!
SPIRIT STONES (Thurs July 9, ABC- 9pm) -Brilliant, eerie, local documentary about the plight of Perth’s Nyoongar aboriginal people- from several eerie events when they were forced by developers to log their own bushland (a strange rain of slow-falling stones that lasted for days and which penetrated walls and ceiling without damage) to horrible racism- routinely being arrested for congregating in groups of more than two, for example. One elder recounts how, since Nyoongar women were not allowed to give birth in Perth hospitals in the 1960’s, his mother had to give birth to him *in the morgue*. HIGHLIGHT OF THE WEEK
FUTURAMA (Sun July 12, Ten- 6:30pm) -Good news, everyone! Not only is this hilarious animated sci-fi spoof still bloody funny even in repeat, thanks to the success of a recent series of 4 straight-to-dvd movies, America’s Comedy Central network has commissioned a new series of 26 episodes!
BEAUTIFUL PEOPLE (Thurs July 23, ABC2- 9pm) -Superb Queer sitcom from the creators of GIMME GIMME GIMME. Based on the real life of…well, real life fashion guru Simon Doonan as both a thirteen year old boy (Luke Ward-Wilson) in London, with a best mate called Kyle (Layton Williams) who is obsessed with La Minogue and insists his name be pronounced ‘Kylie’; and as an adult man (Samuel Barnett) in New York.
Stale Chips!
THE SIMPSONS (Wed July 29, Ten-8pm) -The newly revamped credits are a hoot, but the show itself is just a pale yellow imitation of the series that used to be the funniest thing on television. The ratio of jokes now closely matches Mister Burn’s heartbeat- only one really good one every episode.
Spuds in Space!
TORCHWOOD (Fri July 31, ABC2-9:30pm) -The first successful spinoff from DOCTOR WHO (K9 AND COMPANY gave it a valiant try in 1981, but the little tin dog tried to hump the head of the BBC’s favourite toaster and it got cancelled), TORCHWOOD continues to be a wildly uneven (great script one episode, script written by an insane dalek the next) but always watchable sci-fi show that also happens to be one of the Gayest TV shows on telly right now. Torchwood- a ‘secret’ government organization (that everyone and their robot dog seems to know about) dedicated to eliminating alien threats to Earth- and nicking any alien technology they find to keep Britain Great (or at least stop Prince Charles from talking to plants when there’s a camera crew around)- seems to require that all of its staff be a] under 35 and b] raging bisexuals. So far ABC2 is still in the thick of repeating season 2, but there’s new episodes on the horizon- a 5 part TORCHWOOD special called ‘Children of Earth’ in which the Torchwood team recruits two new members and faces a classic DOCTOR WHO monster again setting its mind on taking over Earth In between all the lasers, tentacles and shouting matches, Torchwood leader Captain Jack Harkness (gorgeous Gay actor John Barrowman) and boyfriend Ianto Jones (Gareth David-Lloyd) continue to indulge in the sweetest, hottest and romantic gay relationship in televised science fiction that isn’t a slash fiction …
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