Television
The Best of the Week
SATURDAY DECEMBER 7
Reprisal (TVNZ OnDemand). The trailer suggests a Tarantino-esque/Robert Rodriguez/grindhouse feel to this revenge story, although we won’t know until it arrives at around the same time as it is launched on US streaming platform Hulu. Abigail Spencer, who was so good in Rectify (and was also in Suits), plays a woman left for dead by her brother and his gearhead gang who sets out on a path of retribution. If there’s one thing that marks the golden age of television, it’s moral ambiguity, and at a panel at the Television Critics Association, creator and showrunner Josh Corbin said, “I want the audience to say to themselves, ‘I don’t know how I feel about that.’” Warning: contains graphic violence.
Class Act (TVNZ 1, 9.30pm). Here come the next generation of musical-theatre nerds. A series created by actor
Cliff Curtis and hosted by singer-songwriter Jason Kerrison in which students, staff, parents and communities are challenged to create a stage extravaganza. There are helping hands in the form of stars Hollie Smith, Keisha Castle-Hughes and Stan Walker. The only question we have is why is it on so late? In a slightly similar vein, Stand Up Stand Out 19 (Māori TV, Wednesday, 5.00pm) features highlights of the Auckland youth music and dance competition held in September.
SUNDAY DECEMBER 8
A Very English Scandal (Box Sets, Sky 009, 7.30pm). All the gongs went to Ben Whishaw for his performance as Norman Scott, the lover of Jeremy Thorpe MP, in this