Television
The Best of the Week
SATURDAY NOVEMBER 10
Pose (SoHo2, Sky 210, 8.30pm). This new series from Glee creator Ryan Murphy is something the trans community has never had before – a romantic family drama. Pose is set amid the drag ball culture of 1980s New York, while the Aids plague still raged and queer society faced constant establishment hostility. The producers have been bold enough to make one lead storyline that of a young white executive at the Trump Organisation who forms a complicated relationship with a transgender sex worker named Angel. Unlike this year’s cinematic clunker Stonewall, the show has won near-universal acclaim from gay media, even as it explores sensitive subjects such as transphobia in the gay community. More than 30 years after Madonna introduced the concept of voguing to the mainstream, Pose is a story from the inside.
Amy Schumer Presents … Sam Morril: Positive Influence (Comedy Central, Sky 011, 9.00pm). The third of Schumer’s productions for emerging stand-up comics features Morril, who could barely be more of a hip New York Jewish comedian if he tried. Expect it to be edgy and to the point, with plenty of punchlines.
TUESDAY NOVEMBER 13
Roast Battle: UK (Comedy Central, Sky 011, 7.30pm). The comedy roast format has a long history in the US, but it was a novelty in Britain when Roast Battle debuted this year. It appears to have hit the mark, with this second season following swiftly – and a third one already commissioned. Jimmy Carr returns as the host and Katherine Ryan is back as a judge, while Jonathan Ross takes over from Russell Brand in the other judge’s seat. Look out for the controversial duel between Rose Matafeo and Naz Osmanoglu.
WEDNESDAY NOVEMBER 14
Eric Clapton: Life in 12 Bars
(Prime, 8.30pm). Lili Fini Zanuck’s biographical documentary about the guitarist they once called “God” is thorough and quite intimate without ever really catching fire. But it does tell the story of Clapton’s personal struggles – a traumatic childhood, a long battle with drug and alcohol addiction – and musical influence. It features extensive interviews with Clapton, along with his family, friends, musical collaborators, contemporaries and heroes – including music icons BB King, Jimi Hendrix and George Harrison.
Mars 2 (National Geographic, Sky 072, 9.30pm). This second season of Nat Geo’s Ron Howard/Brian Grazer docudrama jumps ahead from where the first six episodes left off. It’s now 2043 and there are more than 300 settlers on Mars, most of them engaged in mining. There are no laws, no government and no police – and there’s emerging tension between scientists and the profit-driven mining companies. The premise – that corporate interests will get humans to Mars before governments do – is based on real-life assessments of the capabilities of private programmes such as Elon Musk’s SpaceX. Musk himself is featured as a commentator on the story, along with historian Susan Wise Bauer, The Martian author Andy Weir, physicist Neil DeGrasse Tyson, Bill Nye and others.
THURSDAY NOVEMBER 15
Jono and Ben (Three, Thursday, 7.30pm). After seven years and more than 200 shows, Jono Pryor and Ben Boyce are calling it a day. In that time, they’ve moved from the
late-night wilds to 7.30pm prime time, flown in Vanilla Ice for a show and sailed a bouncy castle across Lake Taupo. They’ve also become a key part of the local comedy ecosystem. Guy Williams and Rose Matafeo have been co-hosts and they and a slew of other comics have worked as writers on the show. At the same time, the show became a platform for Media Works’ brand, with the pair also teaming up as hosts on the company’s radio stations. So they’ve carried a lot of weight, seemingly without taking any of it too seriously. We can only imagine what they’ll do on their way out.
House of Drag (TVNZ On Demand). Kita Mean and Anita Wigl’it have been the hosts of the Karangahape Rd live drag queen showdown Drag Wars for three
years this month – and in the best possible sort of birthday celebration, it turns up in a made-for-TV version this week as House of Drag. Nine top queens compete in outrageous challenges throughout the day to keep their place in the stunning House of Dragmansion. The first two episodes stream from this week and contestants are progressively eliminated until the ultimate Drag Diva is anointed. It’s not the only LGBTQ content arriving at On Demand this week – see Online for more.
The Russell Howard Hour (TVNZ Duke, 9.30pm). Howard’s first season of current affairs talk and comedy was a breakout hit for Sky UK, and now he’s back on our screens (only a week after airing in Britain) with more experts and celebrity guests. This season features a new strand, Live Forever, in which Howard teams up with comedy friends to explore a different allegedly life-prolonging activity each week. Rose Matafeo will turn up at some point (again!) to join the host in participating in something called plastination.
Babies: Their Wonderful World (Choice TV, 8.30pm). This threepart co-production with the Wellcome Trust was commissioned by the BBC and brings together dozens of real families and child development specialists to explore questions about how babies grow, learn and perceive the world. Infants are observed and analysed in their homes and in a specially designed “baby lab” in a bid to learn how and when temperament emerges, how language acquisition influences future academic success, when awareness of gender emerges and whether babies can control their emotions. On top of that, the producers also recruited 2500 families to answer questionnaires and shoot their own videos to try to shed light on what babies’ first words are and what makes them laugh.
Sweetbitter (SoHo2, Sky 210, 8.00pm). We’ve had – most notably via Anthony Bourdain’s Kitchen Confidential
– various versions of the chaotic life behind the swinging restaurant doors. Sweetbitter, based on the novel of the same name by Stephanie Danler, tells the story from the perspective of Tess, a 22-yearold English major who lands in New York and gets a job at a prestigious restaurant. A wild new life begins.