Top 10 TV picks: October 13-19

NEW ROLE: Edie Falco, who played Carmela in The Sopranos, takes on the title role in Nurse Jackie.

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OPINION: Television critic Philip Wakefield chooses the best shows on the box this week, for Tuesday, October 13 to Monday, Ocotber 19.

1. Nurse Jackie: New dark comedy  starring The Sopranos' Edie Falco as  a head nurse surrounded by head  cases. One caveat: The Chicago  Tribune said the show's half-hour  format is perfect for its "character-based storytelling concentrated to  espresso strength", but TV3's cup  risks running over - it is screening double-episodes to fill Outrageous Fortune's slot. TV3, 9.30pm, Tuesday.

2. Inside the Actor's Studio: See how funny Julia Louis-Dreyfus is as herself in this entertaining 2007 interview where she recounts adventures old and new, including a chance encounter with Larry David that led to her being "crazier than a f... loon" on Seinfeld for nine years. Arts Channel, 8.30pm, Thursday.

3. The Take: The Guardian dubbed this brilliantly acted "gangster soap" based on the Martina Cole novel "essentially Scarface transplanted to the East End of London". TV One, 8.30pm, Sunday and Monday.

4. Dexter: It started unevenly, but season three is now on the cusp of a momentum that for the next two months will make Sundays the most suspenseful night of the week. The Box, 9.30pm, Sunday.

5. True Blood: After last week's shocking revelation about Bill's bloodthirsty past, see how he evolved into a kinder, gentler vampire. Prime, 9.30pm, Wednesday.

6. The Riches: Down the road from True Blood's Bon Temps, Eddie Izzard's troupe of tramps and thieves continues to live it up as a dead Louisiana clan in another deluxe cable-TV drama series. C4, 9.30pm, Monday.

7. Oceans: This Blue Planet-lite boasts sumptuous photography, but suffers from what The Independent calls a "vaguely [Enid] Blytonish" tone in which "a group of bright-eyed types have an adventure on our behalf". Documentary Channel, 9.30pm, Saturday.

8. Crimes That Shook the World: The final profiles the Vienna Strangler and screens opposite TV One's Killer in the Family, a British variation on Beyond the Darklands, about peculiar family murders. TV3, 9.30pm, Wednesday.

9. Earth's Evil Twin: Soon it may not only be women who are from Venus. Does the same fate await Earth that has turned its sister planet into a toxic hell? National Geographic, 9.30pm, Monday.

10. Secret Lives of Women: This two-hour documentary about "urban cougars" - middle-aged women who sexually prey on younger men - is recommended as a curious primer for the new Courteney Cox hit that TV2 will screen next year, Cougar Town. Prime, 10.35pm, Saturday.

- © Fairfax NZ News