A week on the box: February 2-8

Reviewer James Croot checks out the best shows and films on New Zealand television screens for the week of Tuesday, February 2 to Monday, February 8.

Tuesday, February 2

Flightplan
8.30pm, TV2

German director Robert Schwentke’s 2005 thriller soars to great heights during its take off, cruising effortlessly through the first two-thirds of its flight, establishing engaging characters, a foreboding mood and a fantastic degree of intrigue and suspense. Unfortunately, it rapidly changes course on its descent, with Jodie Foster in a grey fitted-T replicating Bruce Willis’s Die Hard antics.

Investigate: Pedigree Dogs Exposed
8.30pm, Documentary
2008 BBC documentary that lifts the lid on the  extent of health and welfare problems in pedigree dogs in the UK. Critical of the Kennel Club, it suggests many dogs are in serious trouble, plagued by genetic disease due to the decades of in breeding and suffering because of the showring’s emphasis on looks. It’s first screening led to public outrage and the Beeb ending their televising of Crufts.

Beyond the Darklands
9.25pm, TV One
The nation was captivated when Antonie Dixon turned up in court sporting a pudding bowl haircut and pulling strange faces in an attempt to look mad. Earlier, during a P-fuelled rampage in 2003, Dixon attacked two women with a samurai sword and then shot and killed a total stranger. Nigel Latta takes a look at Dixon's life, and attempts to understand what made him commit the crimes he did.

The Good Wife
9.30pm, TV3
Former ER nurse Julianna Margulies stars in America’s hottest new drama. She plays Alicia Florrick, a woman whose life becomes public property when his high-flying lawyer husband is implicated in a sex and corruption scandal. "“It promises to be that Holy Grail of television: a good criminal procedural that barely disguises the insightful, multilayered human drama," wrote the LA Times' Mary McNamara.

Wednesday, February 3

James May’s Toy Stories
7.30pm, TV3
Top Gear’s Captain Slow continues his quest for world television domination with this six-part series which aims to bring classic toys back to the attention of the Playstation-generation. Stunts include building a full-size Lego house, a Plasticine garden and, tonight,  the world’s biggest Airfix model.

Masterchef New Zealand
7.30pm, TV One
Having watched the immensely popular British and Australian versions, it’s now the turn of Kiwi amateur cooks to showcase their skills. At stake is the national title and more than $100,000 worth of prizes. Judging and taste testing the dishes are Simon Gault, Ross Burden and Ray McVinnie.

Packed to the Rafters
8.30pm, TV One
This top Aussie drama, headlined by two actors with Kiwi connections (Rebecca Gibney and Erik Thomson), returns for a second series. The pair play Julie and Dave Rafter who still can’t get time to themselves with two of their offspring at home, the third next door and a growing number of spouses inhabiting their surrounds.

Lie to Me
8.30pm, TV3
British actor Tim Roth returns as Cal Lightman for the second season of this unconventional cop show. The series opener has him strangling a client to extract information from one of her alternate personalities. "Roth makes for a tartly witty hero and the show makes the most of the weird dynamics of an office where the boss can ferret out everybody's secrets," wrote the Miami Herald’s Glenn Garvin.

Thursday, February 4

Pirates of the Caribbean
7.30pm, TV2

With the Black Pearl destroyed, and Captain Jack (Johnny Depp) having gone down with his ship, the outlook for piracy is glum in this 2007 trilogy ender. Loud, overlong and convoluted, the  movie grinds through the gears trying to engineer it’s shining light’s (Jack) return. Nevertheless, the last 50 minutes deliver enough to keep Pirates fans satisfied, leaving the door open to further adventures.

Leave Us Kids Alone
7.30pm, Prime
2007 BBC reality series where 12 opinionated teens get the opportunity to run a boarding school themselves. Under their care is a class 30 high-spirited 12-year-olds. In the first episode they even have to deal with a complaining parent. "Teen Big Brother meets Waterloo Road," wrote The Guardian’s Sam Wollaston.

The Cleveland Show
8pm, C4
Family Guy spinoff animated series that has the Griffin’s Afro-American neighbour up sticks and move to Stoolbend, Virginia. Expert more of the same slightly surreal but always anarchic comedy. "More conventional and warm-hearted (than Family Guy) - but only slightly," wrote Chicago Sun-Times’s Paige Wiser.

Nestle New Zealand’s Hottest Home Baker
8.30pm, TV3
Forget models, Colin Mathura-Jeffree is now searching for the country’s best muffin maker. Eight avid bakers compete for a grand prize of $20,000. Episodes are repeated on Mondays at 6.30pm on Food TV which also has additional coverage Tuesdays to Thursdays at 7pm. On TV3, the show is sandwiched between new series of Tabatha’s Salon Takeover (7.30pm) and Project Runway (9.30pm).

Friday, February 5

Rugby: International Sevens
From 12.30pm, TV One
Two days of live coverage of what TV One boasts is New Zealand’s biggest sporting party. Round three of the IRB Sevens World Series also promises some engrossing onfield action especially now that the home team have rediscovered their all-conquering form. But let’s be honest, it’s the costumes we really watch the coverage for. Coverage of the three section finals begins at 7pm on Saturday.

Glee
7.30pm, TV3
Part 1 of Season 1 (the last five episodes begin screening in the US in April) of this all-singing, all-dancing, all award-winning show finishes up with Sectionals looming and Quinn’s secret threatening to unravel the team. For those who prefer music with a harder edge, the Documentary Channel investigates Metallica’s Black Album at 11.30pm.

24
8.30pm, C4
Debuting just a couple of weeks after it did in the US, Season 8’s story arc involves Kiefer Sutherland’s Jack Bauer contending with assassination threats made during a peace conference between the US President and the President of Kamistan (a fictionalised version of Iran).

The Jonathan Ross Show
9.30pm, UKTV
With Parky and Rove now in retirement, fans of chat shows should seek out the acerbic Ross’s show before he packs it in later this year. These shows screen just weeks after their UK airing and guests scheduled to appear this season include Ray Winstone, Billie Piper, Catherine Tate and Alicia Keys.

Saturday, February 6

Waitangi Day 2010
From 7am, Maori TV
Maori TV’s award-winning coverage of our national day this year includes a three-hour live special from Waitangi and Auckland (7am), the Mike King-hosted Lost in Translation series (10am), a studio discussion on the changing face of Aotearoa (A Clash of Cultures, 4.30pm) and a 90-minute debate on immigration featuring John Campbell, Pio Terei and Irene Pink (8pm).

Models of the Runway
7pm, C4
You’ve seen them walk the walk, now see what happens behind the seams. A companion series to Project Runway Thursdays on sister channel TV3, this offers viewers a look at Runway from the models’ perspective. Sixteen women vie for a $25,000 cash prize and fashion spread in Marie Claire.

Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade
7.30pm, TV3

It’s back to the future for Spielberg and Lucas as they bring back the Nazis and the fun in this 1989 trilogy ending instalment. In some genius casting they got Sean Connery to play Indy’s Dad and the then hot teen talent of the moment River Phoenix to play the young Indy.

No Country For Old Men
8.30pm, Sky Movies

The Coen Brothers deservedly took home the Best Picture Oscar for this 2007 Western cum crime drama. Josh Brolin is the man on the run after he stumbles on some dead bodies, a stash of heroin and a load of cash. Amongst his pursuers is Javier Bardem’s Anton Chigurh – a stunning character who is the stuff of nightmares.

Sunday, February 7

The Golden Compass
7pm, TV2

Something of a curio because only American audiences prevented this 2007 film from being the first in a Lord of the Rings-esque franchise (it was a hit internationally). Instead this adaptation of part one of Philip Pullman’s His Dark Materials trilogy is the star-studded (Daniel Craig, Nicole Kidman), effects-laden fantasy that now ends bizarrely on a cliffhanger that will probably never be resolved on screen.

Doctor Who: The End of Time - Part 1
7.30pm, Prime
David Tennant’s final outing in the Tardis is a two-part story that sees him up against his psychotic nemesis the Master. With both determined to cheat death, the battle rages from London to the mysterious Immortality Gate. Part two screens next Sunday, get your tissues ready now.

Jaws
8.30pm, C4

Widely acknowledged as the film that established the words “movie blockbuster”. Steven Spielberg’s horror classic kept audiences out of the water and in movie theatres during the US summer of 1975, even if the central star looked a bit ropey. It’s 2008 equivalent, Twilight, screens on Sky Movies at the same time.

Don’t Move
8.30pm, Maori TV

Penelope Cruz stars in this 2004 Italian drama about a surgeon whose daughter’s motorcycling accident brings back memories about an old affair. "Nobody into lush melodramas dripping in sex should miss this pulsating film," wrote the San Francisco Chronicle’s Ruthe Stein.

Monday, February 8

Football: Chelsea v Arsenal
4.55am, Sky Sport 2
This all-London derby is also a potential title decider as Arsene Wenger’s slick-passing Arsenal side take on Carlo Ancelotti’s industrious Chelsea. A match always filled with plenty of incident and usually some spectacular goals it features plenty of potential matchwinners like Didier Drogba, Ces Fabregas and Andrei Arshavin.

American Football: Super Bowl XLIV
Midday, ESPN
The United States’ big day out this year comes to us live from Miami’s Dolphin Stadium as the highly fancied Indianapolis Colts (led by veteran quarterback Peyton Manning) take on the New Orleans Saints. The Who are this year’s half-time entertainment - pray there won’t be any wardrobe malfunctions.

Crossing the Ditch
7.30pm, TV3
Documentary which tells the incredible story of James Castrission, Justin Jones, a kayak and the conquest of the Tasman. With more than 2000 kilometres of treacherous seas, dangerously unpredictable weather and currents and the ever-present threat of sharks, it was little wonder no one had ever successfully made the crossing before.

NCIS: LA
9.30pm, TV3
Chris O'Donnell and LL Cool J headline this City of Angels spinoff of the popular crime drama series NCIS (which of course itself was a spinoff of the show JAG). The pair play an undercover specialist and ex-Navy Seal respectively. Follows the 10th season opener of the grand-daddy of the genre – CSI: Crime Scene Investigation (8.30pm).

- © Fairfax NZ News