A week on the box: November 24-30

Reviewer James Croot checks out the best shows and films on New Zealand television screens for the week of Tuesday, November 24 to Monday, November 30.

Tuesday, November 24

International Cricket: NZ v Pakistan 1st Test
10.30am, Sky Sport 1
Fresh from their one-day and Twenty20 series in Dubai, these two middle-ranked test nations continue their rivalry in the five-day arena. These three matches are an entrée for a mixed summer of cricket in New Zealand, with Bangladesh and Australia also headed for our shores.

River Cottage: Summer’s Here
7.30pm, Prime
Real-food campaigner Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall returns with a new series where he whips up seasonal delights in the River Cottage kitchen, while also seeking out the finest edible goodies from the garden, hedgerow, river and stream. Delights to look forward to include Goat’s Cheesecake with Gooseberries, Roast Potato Gnocchi and Satayed Slugs.

Mission Impossible 3
8.30pm, TV2
Although Tom Cruise’s off-screen antics - especially the couch jumping - threatened to overshadow this blockbusting action yarn on its release in 2006, audiences were won over by an excellent supporting cast, including Keri Russell, Philip Seymour Hoffmann, Simon Pegg, Michelle Monaghan, and the sure hand of JJ Abrams (TV's Lost) behind the scenes.

Real Life: World's Smallest Muscleman
9.30pm, TV1
Twenty-year-old Romeo Dev from India is jut two-feet-nine-inches tall and weighs the same as the average one-year-old child. This documentary shows how he became a rising star and follows him and his parents as they travel to America to see if his talents could bring him global success.

Wednesday, November 25

Coronation Street
7.30pm, TV1
Fans of the long-running UK soap, which celebrates its 49th birthday next month, will be delighted to see this return of a third episode to the TV1 line-up each week. We’re still well behind though. This week, Ken and Deirdre get back on track, while Steve and Michelle are at loggerheads again.

Celebrity Masterchef Austalia
8.30pm, Prime
INXS’s Kirk Pengilly, cricketer Simon Katich, former Wallaby Peter Fitzsimons and Queensland Premier Anna Bligh are just some of the 18 contestants lining up for a shot at $50,000 for their favourite charity. No doubt a Kiwi version is in the pipeline, especially after the cancellation of Dancing With The Stars.

Dude, Where’s My Car?
8.30pm, C4
The film that launched Ashton Kutcher and bizarrely Jennifer Garner’s careers and cemented Sean William Scott’s place as the most typecast actor of his generation. Danny Leiner’s 2000 film is essentially a dry run for the superior Harold and Kumar Go To White Castle.

Inside New Zealand: How to Spot a Cult
9.30pm, TV3
This first of a two-part documentary promises to give viewers an intimate view of what life is like inside ‘cult like’ groups and examines the similarities between the Exclusive Brethren, Scientology, Centrepoint, Avatar and the International Church of Christ.

Thursday, November 26

English Premier League: Fulham v Blackburn
8.55am, Sky Sport 2
When not being the All Whites’ own Captain Marvel, Ryan Nelsen has a day job with former Premier League champions Blackburn. Currently languishing near the foot of the table, his side can expect few favours from the the notoriously nuggety West Londoners at their small Craven Cottage ground.

International Cricket: Australia v West Indies 1st Test
12.30pm, Sky Sport 2
Despite the fact that both sides are currently in rebuilding phases, these clashes are never anything less than full-blooded. Unfortunately, such is the waning popularity of the Caribbean side that they’ve only been invited to play three tests this year, instead of the usual five, starting with this game in Brisbane.

IOUSA
8.30pm, Rialto
Like Michael Moore’s Capitalism: A Love Story, currently screening in cinemas, this 2008 documentary examines America’s rapidly growing national debt and its consequences for the country and its citizens. "If they handed out an Academy Award for Most Gripping Graphs and Charts, this film would take it," wrote Entertainment Weekly.
Top Chef
8.30pm, TV3
Hollywood royalty appears on the show this week in the form of Star Wars' own Queen Amadala, Natalie Portman. The strictly vegan actress challenges the remaining chefs to create a culinary spread for Portman and her posse at Top Chef head judge Tom Colicchio’s Las Vegas restaurant.

Friday, November 27

Robin Hood
8.30pm, Prime
Putting it one step ahead of the much-loved 1980s series Robin of Sherwood, the noughties take on the Merry Men opens its third and, currently, final series with the outlaws in disarray. Marian is dead and Robin has split up the gang and launched a solo mission to avenge her and kill Gisborne.

Australian Idol
8.30pm, TV2
The Sydney Opera House hosts the grand finale of the current series of the still-popular Ocker singing fest. Former winner Guy Sebastian, jazz sensation Michael Buble and flamboyant British pop star Mika join the festivities. Part of TVNZ’s all-Aussie invasion evening which also includes the two-hour finale of Master Chef Australia from 7.30pm on TV1.

Red Dwarf: Back To Earth
8.30pm, UKTV
Nine years after their last episode, the comedic crew of the eponomous mining ship return for three specials. As the title suggests it focuses on the ship’s return to Lister’s (Coronation St’s Craig Charles) home planet.  Played on consecutive nights in the UK over Easter, it will be shown on Fridays here.

Multiplicity
8.30pm, Vibe
Remember when science provided the basis for humour and Michael Keaton was a star? The time was 1996 and while Harold Ramis’s follow up to Groundhog Day was something of a disappointment, there’s a lot to like about this cloning comedy which inspired a particularly great Simpsons Treehouse of Horror episode – Send in the Clones.

Saturday, November 28

The Spongebob Spongebash Weekend
From 9.45am, Nickleodeon
Fans of the residents of Bikini Bottom will be in aqua-heaven with wall-to-wall Spongebob. As well as an all new premiere episode, there’s also classics revisited (including the first even episode), celebrity picks, and a one-hour documentary chronicling the show journey to international pop culture icon status.

Don’t Die Young
7pm, Prime
The penultimate episode of this excellent BBC series puts the body’s largest organ under the microscope. Host Dr Alice Roberts, 36, puts her own outer layer through a series of tests, weathering temperature extremes and running her face through a computer programme, which ages her until she looks like an 80-year-old.

The Children of Huang Shi
8.30pm, Sky Movies
Boasting everything from seemingly impossible journeys to the transformation of young lives, it’s easy to see why English journalist George Hogg’s life was prime fodder for a cinematic makeover. But unfortunately, director Roger Spottiswoode’s (Tomorrow Never Dies) take is a choppily edited, overly contrived and tonally schizophrenic film that also neglects the contribution of New Zealander Rewi Alley to the story.

Once Upon a Time in the West
8.30pm, MGM
Sergio Leone’s hugely influential 1968 Western stars Henry Fonda, Claudia Cardinale, Charles Bronson and Jason Robards. It’s the tale of a woman who returns to her ranch only to find her husband has been killed by a band of outlaws. Named as one of Time magazine’s Top 100 Movies in 2005.

Sunday, November 29

International Rugby: NZ v France
Sky Sport 1, 8.30am
The All Blacks’ first game against their bête noires in France since 2006 is something of a revenge mission. Not only did Les Blues kick Graham Henry’s men out of the 2007 World Cup, they also stole off with the Dave Gallaher Trophy on points difference during June’s shared series.

Twelve Angry Men
6.45pm, Rialto
Rightly or wrongly an inspiration to potential jurors everywhere, Sidney Lumet’s 1957 classic pits voice-of-reason Henry Fonda against eleven others baying for the blood of a man charged with killing his father. Followed by Lumet’s equally impressive newsroom-drama Network.

Dr Who: The Waters of Mars
Prime, 7.30pm
Just a fortnight after its debut in the UK, Kiwi audiences get to sample one of David Tennant’s final outings in the Tardis. Set on the red planet in the year 2059, this has the Doctor battling an infection with the help of former Flying Doctor Peter O’Brien. Get your hankies ready fans, only two more Tennant outings to go.

Dawn of the Dead
8.30pm, C4
Rookie director Zack Snyder had a lot to live up to with this 2004 remake. George Romero’s 1978 apocalyptic horror of the same name is still revered by horror fans world wide. Wisely choosing to reimagine and contemporise the film, Snyder replaces Romero’s lobotomized lumberers, with an "infected"’ possessing determination and rage inspired by 28 Days Later. Plus you get the best singleted heroine (Sarah Polley) since Terminator 2’s Linda Hamilton.

Monday, November 30

Code 46
1.15am, TV2
Tim Robbins and Samantha Morton star in this uneven Gattaca-style 2003 sci-fi love story. The pair play lovers whose romance is doomed due to genetic incompatability. "Code 46 has a noirish fatalism that renders it a close cousin to Blade Runner," Entertainment Weekly wrote of eclectic director Michael Winterbottom’s (24 Hour Party People) film.

English Premier League: Everton v Liverpool
2.25am, Sky Sport
The 210th Meryside Derby headlines the best footballing double bill of the year. With both sides somewhat off their best form many will consider this game just a curtain-raiser for the top-of-the-table clash between London giants Arsenal and Chelsea which kicks off at 5am.

How to Live to 101
8.30pm, Documentary
The quest to live longer has been one of humanity’s oldest dreams, but while scientists have been searching, a few isolated communities have stumbled across the answer. Part of the BBC’s award-winning Horizon series, this programme follows a number of characters, looking into their genes, lifestyle and diet to reveal what makes them different

True Stories: Britain’s Worst Teeth
8.30pm, Prime
If anything inspires you to make that long-delayed Dentist appointment it will be this. Four British 20-somethings have teeth so bad it affects every aspect of their lives. They are in pain, embarrassed to go out, find eating and speaking difficult and unsurprisingly find it hard to attract partners.

- © Fairfax NZ News