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The Sunday Age
Sunday June 28, 2009
SPORT 2.5/5FOOTBALL SUPERSTARSWednesday 7.30pm, Fox8The usual reality cliches are trotted out : "hungry" contestants claim "I'm here to win it!", and everyone's ensconced in the ubiquitous mansion. It actually sounds, and looks, a lot like Australia's Next Top Model, including proof that teenage boys can be every bit as bitchy as teenage girls. And by the end of every episode, someone's "journey" has come to an end. But this one comes to life when the would-be soccer stars hit the field.LIFESTYLE 3/5GOK WAN: TOO FAT, TOO YOUNGTuesday 7.30pm, Lifestyle Channel"F--- me!" Gok exclaims. "I was massive!" Indeed he was. The svelte and stylish host of the British version of How To Look Good Naked reveals some startling truths. Chiefly, that he was morbidly obese from about the age of eight until he was in his early 20s. Despite its flaws (sluggish pace, too much recapping) this is a brave and revealing journey back to Gok's miserable childhood as a fat, gay, bullied and badly dressed Asian kid. He then uses those experiences to explore the phenomenon of teenage obesity. A range of issues are canvassed thoroughly and sensitively, including the vexed issue of the way the obesity "epidemic" demonises fat teens, while loneliness and exclusion are often the reasons they over-eat in the first place.KIDS 4/5SMARTEENIESFriday 5.30pm, CBeebiesOne of those fab kids' programs that's as entertaining as it is edifying, and very much hands-on. In bright 15-minute bites, four presenters and a puppet dog called Doogy create home-made art designed to captivate preschoolers and encourage them to Try This At Home. Guaranteed to inspire viewers - and their children.DOCUMENTARY 3/5CITY OF DREAMSWednesday 7.20pm, OvationThe life of Marion Mahony - the first female registered architect in the world, collaborator with Frank Lloyd Wright and wife of Walter Burley Griffin - serves as the framework for a fascinating treatise on the laboured birth of Canberra, the couples' work in Australia and the evolution of 20th century architecture. The structure is simple, the re-enactments understated and the narration by Rachel Blake almost sotto voce: all the emphasis is firmly on the facts, and really, we don't need anything more. The story that unfolds is a compelling one which, among other things, proves that the more things change, the more they stay the same.REALITY 3/5TO BE OR NOT TO BEFriday 10.30pm, Movie ExtraAnother of the new-school reality shows that's all about talent, rather than ritual humiliation. Here we have the audition and rehearsal process as 10 troupes create, develop and ultimately perform one-act plays under the mentorship of Jeremy Sims. In due course their efforts are judged by a delightful panel of experts - Georgie Parker, Pia Miranda and Mark Morrisey - and we're guided through the whole process by Spencer McLaren (Secret Life of Us). There's nothing new in the format here and, as is so often the case, we get a bit too much of the journey, not enough of the actual plays. But it's entertaining for all that, and a great insight into the generally invisible process of bringing a performance to the stage.BY THE WAYIf you're one of half dozen or so people who missed it the first time round - or simply want to enjoy it all over again - Sex and the City: The Movie screens tonight at 8.30pm on MovieOne. Or if you like your lavish frocks and wild sex with a veneer of intellectual respectability, try The Tudors on Showcase. Season three starts Wednesday at 8.30pm. And one of the unexpected highlights of the week is a simple documentary simulcast on BBC Knowledge and BBC-HD at 8.30 tonight: Joanna Lumley in the Land of the North Lights. It turns out the Absolutely Fabulous one makes a fabulous tour guide as she travels to Norway and traverses the Arctic Circle in search of the aurora borealis. It's a knockout.DON'T MISSDRAMA 3.5/5BREAKING BADThursday 8.30pm, ShowcaseThe comparisons are irresistible, and instructive. In Weeds - in which a suburban mother grows marijuana on a massive scale in order to provide for her family - there's certainly a fair degree of tension. But the vibe is cruisy, funny, often warm. In Breaking Bad - in which a suburban father produces crystal meth on a massive scale in order to provide for his family - the situation is far bleaker.With its long silences, eerie incidental music and blasted landscapes, there's not much that's cruisy here and little that's warm. But perhaps that's as it should be. This is a man's show, about men, and most importantly about a particularly nasty drug. It's tougher all round. The family is more troubled: our anti-hero, Walter, has a wife unexpectedly pregnant, a son crippled by cerebral palsy and Walter himself is dying of lung cancer. There is humour, but it's strong and black.The parallels between the two series are impossible to ignore. For a start, both showcase superb mature talent in the form of 45-year-old Mary Louise Parker in Weeds and 53-year-old Bryan Cranston here. These guys are really hitting their straps, and Cranston is (fortunately) unrecognisable as Hal from Malcolm in the Middle. Grey, stubbled, craggy and ascetic; constantly teetering on the edge as he confronts his own mortality and the equally unstable hoods who buy his wares. In the first five minutes he barely says a word but manages to convey a kind of explosive stillness that's way more powerful than any amount of emoting.Both are beautifully scripted and constructed, always throwing up surprises.And they share the same vision of suburbia. With their sweeping shots of deserted streets and blank-faced houses, this is a world of isolation and dysfunction that looks perfect, but in which everything is not quite right.
© 2009 The Sunday Age
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