Top 10 TV picks: September 16-22

LATE NIGHT: Gossip Girl is being moved to a late night time slot.

Relevant offers

TV

Freeview adds new channel A Sheep's Show How many chances for Once Upon a Time? Entertainment Quiz 10/2 House to end after current season Rescued dog bites TV host during broadcast DeGeneres hits back at haters Curb or Seinfeld: which is better? More claims about PM's man and doco funding Excuse me, I was just wondering ...

Television critic Philip Wakefield chooses the 10 best shows on the box this week, for Tuesday, September 16 to Monday, September 22.

1. 2008 Primetime Emmy Awards: Live coverage starts from 8am, with the Red Carpet curtain-raiser on E!, while frontrunners to win include Mad Men, with 16 nominations, and Flight of the Conchords, with four.
Vibe, midday Monday (delayed full coverage from 10pm on Prime).

2. The Pretender: The political satire about a Kiwi MP that aired on TV3 three years ago returns to the primetime hustings on the eve of the next general election.
TV One, 10pm Sunday.

3. Leaders on 7: Freeview’s Election ’08 coverage starts with the first of four programmes, made in partnership with Victoria University, in which Marae’s Shane Taurima interviews party leaders in-depth.
TVNZ 7, 9.10pm Thursday.

4. This Is Your Life: New night for a tarnished franchise that desperately needs a subject more befitting of the honour than has been the sporting norm in its latest incarnation.
TV One, 8.30pm Sunday.

5. The Big Bang Theory: The doyen of US TV critics, The Washington Post’s Tom Shales, dubbed this comedy from the creator of Two and a Half Men, about two flatmates who are nuts over Star Trek and quantum physics, "the funniest new sitcom of the season".
TV2, 8pm Wednesday.

6. The Way We Live Now: Belated free-to-air premiere of the outstanding costume drama for those who missed it on UK TV. This award-winning, 2001 Andrew Davies dramatisation of the Anthony Trollope novel stars David Suchet, Matthew Macfadyen and Shirley Henderson.
TV One, 10.30pm Saturday.

7. Inside NZ: Just a Little Mad? Mental health documentary that focuses on a 32-year-old who believes he can control the weather. This week’s other docos of note include Identical Triples (TV One, 9.35pm Wednesday) and The Boy Who Lived Before (Prime, 9.35pm Friday).
TV3, 9.30pm Thursday.

8. Flashpoint: United States critics were lukewarm about this new Canadian cop drama but the show has been such a hit with American audiences that US networks are looking north to Alaska for more of the same.
TV2, 8.30pm Wednesday.

9. Gossip Girl: Moment of truth - as of next week, Gossip Girl is being dumped, to late night.
TV2, 8.30pm Friday.

10. Rescue Me: Fourth-season premiere of the fire station drama that reportedly will recruit Michael J Fox as a season-five love rival to star Dennis Leary.
TV One, 11pm Monday.

- © Fairfax NZ News