WICKED WEDGES!
WAKING THE DEAD: ENDGAME (Fri Oct 8, ABC- 8:30pm)
Fairly naff British CSI rip-off becomes the latest in a long line of programs to present homosexuality as a sign of derangement, as the team are taunted by an incarcerated, genius lesbian serial killer (she’s Hannibal Lecter with Oestrogen) who plays mind games with the team and ultimately presents them with the choice of saving an ‘innocent’ life or killing her girlfriend- the program manages to have both a gay villain and a gay victim in the same scene. I wonder if, in 10-20 years when gay and lesbian heroes are commonplace in film and television, anyone will look back on shows like this and shudder?
LAST CHANCE TO SEE (Sun Oct 10, ABC- 8:30pm)
Brilliant documentary series based on an idea by the late Douglas Adams, author of THE HITCH-HIKER’S GUIDE TO THE GALAXY series and keen natural history buff, who in 1985 joined naturalist Mark Carwardine in the ambitious task of capturing for the world on film as many endangered animals as he could before they became extinct. Alas, Adams himself became extinct before the project could be completed, and so into his shoes steps the only man who could possibly fill them- gay wit, writer, actor and the closest thing we have to Oscar Wilde re-incarnated, Stephen Fry. Fry and Carwardine travel the world and film species on the brink of extinction, hopefully therefore inspiring people to help the creatures stay alive. Tonight they travel to the Amazon in search of the Amazonian Manatee, and then jet over to New Zealand in search of the Kakapo, the world’s rarest parrot (less than 100 remain).
CSI: CRIME SCENE INVESTIGATION (Sun Oct 10, Nine-8:30pm)
Eleven seasons in and this is still the first and best of the veritable police line-up of forensic-based television shows. The cast seems to change more often than they change the sheets on the CSI morgue table, but Detectives Nick Stokes (George Eads) and Dr. Greg Saunders (Eric Szmanda) are still bringing homoerotic subtext to every scene they’re in after all this time (and are allegedly still a couple off screen!)
STALE CHIPS
PARENTHOOD (Sun Oct 26, Seven- 9:30pm)
Pretty bad series version of the early nineties movie directed by Mr-Middle-of-the-Road, Ron Howard, before he cast Tom Hanks in everything. The series has all of the saccharine schmaltz of the movie (you’ll need to see a dentist after viewing) but little of the charm and humour, and none of the Keanu Reeves in Nothing But Underwear that kept me entertained during the film’s boring bits. It also has none of the star power of the film- Craig T. Nelson is not exactly Jason Robards (which is probably for the best for Nelson as Robards has been dead for some time now).
JUICY JACKETS!
TALKIN’ BOUT YOUR GENERATION (Wed Oct 27, Ten- 7:30pm)
Fairly amusing gameshow that hopes to mine the generation gap for rich veins of hilarity each week. The basic format is simple- three teams representing a different decade’s worth of Australia people: The Baby Boomers (Captain Amanda Keller); Generation X (Charlie Pickering); and Generation Y (Josh Thomas) and their respectively-aged guest panellists battle it out for supremacy regarding their knowledge of their own and each other’s generational quirks, pop culture, and history, presided over by the hilarious and under-rated Shaun Micallef. Micallef is a snooty hoot as the host, and the three team Captains are equally great. Amanda Keller still looks as though she could get a career as a professional Julian Clary impersonator (the resemblance is eerie- she just needs some glitter foundation and an obscenely primary-coloured eyeshadow). Charlie Pickering is cute and funny and looks frankly relieved to have better material and co-stars to work with than on the dire 7PM PROJECT; and the out gay comedian Josh Thomas is a revelation- cute, sweet, vulnerable one moment and then with a sharper tongue than the Queen Xenomorph from ALIENS the next!
Benn Dorrington
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