PICKS OF THE WEEK
Sarah Graham’s Food Safari
M-Net, Channel 101, Today, 18:00
I know, I know, it’s another cooking show, but what do you want? If they keep making them, it means people must be watching them. This one will be presented by food writer Sarah Graham (pictured below), who grew up on a game reserve in Zimbabwe and has as much passion for the flora and fauna of Africa as she does for its people and, of course, its food.
Her previous show focused mostly on the food of Cape Town and the peckish peeps there, but this one will head deeper into Africa for a look at how people cook there. The trailer showed stunning scenery, along with flowery narration about how beautiful Africa is and how food can bring people together, blah blah. You know, rustic cooking show boilerplate.
Still, some dishes looked yummy. I don’t know what they were, but I wouldn’t mind finding out.
The Astronaut Wives Club
M-Net, Channel 101, Monday, 19:30
This drama series sounds like it could have been interesting, but judging by its cancellation and some of the US reviews I read, it sounds like it would have been better off if it were a bit less dramatic and a bit more dry and historic.
It’s based on the novel of the same name by Lily Koppel, which tells the story of the wives of the Mercury Seven, the US’s first crew of astronauts who went on space missions between 1961 and 1963. Their wives were frequently the target of media attention. Having to be ready for the press at all times can apparently be taxing, so the women formed a club to support each other through the stress.
Some opinions say it seems more like the drama is holding up the history than the other way round.
Racing Extinction
Discovery Channel, Channel 121, Wednesday, 21:00
Here’s a scary documentary created by documentary filmmaker Louie Psihoyos, who won an Oscar for his previous one, The Cove. This one focuses on how the wildlife trade, especially in relation to woo-woo medicine, is pushing various species to the brink of extinction at an alarmingly rapid rate. The focus is also on carbon emissions and the acidifying of our oceans, which is not good for marine life, to put it mildly. The explanations were quite technical.
Naked and Afraid XL
Discovery Channel, Channel 121, Tuesday, 22:00
Near as I can tell, the selling point of this survival reality contest is simply the novelty of watching a bunch of people struggling to get by on an uninhabited island and bitching about it — oh, and they’ve got to do so with their bits out. This brings to mind a joke I heard in primary school about sand and butt cracks, but I can’t remember how it goes.
I’m not sure what the XL in the title refers to, but it doesn’t seem to be to the waist size of contestants or we would hardly need the mosaic censoring.
Copycat
e.tv, Channel 194, Thursday, 23:10
I remember this movie. It was a favourite of mine back in the 1990s and one of the better serial killertype crime thrillers I’ve seen.
It stars Sigourney Weaver as Helen Hudson, a criminal psychologist who is almost killed by psycho Daryl Lee Cullum (Harry Connick Jnr) after she testifies at his trial.
As a result of this, she becomes a housebound agoraphobic. However, when a series of seemingly unrelated killings start to occur, she helps police detective MJ Monahan (Holly Hunter) to determine that they are all the work of one person, in homage to the notorious serial killers who went before. A copycat, basically.
What makes this movie fun is the twisted idea that Helen has become a sort of poster-girl for the incarcerated prison community. For instance, her would-be killer Daryl is a really slimy Buffalo Bill-type with whom she has to communicate for clues.
Daryl only agrees to help her in exchange for a pair of her unmentionables, which he calls a collector’s item.
The main villain is such a geek that it is hard to believe he is the one. But if you look at real serial killers, most of them are disarmingly unthreatening. It’s good, dark fun.