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The Star Online: Entertainment: TV & Radio

Posted: 27 Feb 2013 02:46 AM PST

Dating woes, leggy models and dead people – just a regular week on TV.

NOW that awards season – and Chinese New Year – is over, let's get back to watching TV.

A number of new shows have cropped up in the schedule over the past few weeks. This includes The Mindy Project, Go On (both on Diva Universal), Bunheads, Ben And Kate (both on Star World), Catfish (MTV), American Colony: Meet The Hutterites (National Geographic Channel), Outlaw Empires (Discovery Channel) and Nashville (premieres today on beTV). Meanwhile, new seasons of award-winning and popular series like Sons Of Anarchy (FX), The Walking Dead (Fox Movies Premium), All On The Line (Li) and Hell On Wheels (Sundance) are now showing.

The best thing about TV these days, though, is the fact that we no longer have to hear US supermodel/TV host and producer Tyra Banks talk about how gorgeous the Asian cheekbones are in the cringe-worthy promotional clip of Asia's Next Top Model (previously on Star World). The competition was won by 27-year-old Bangkok University student Jessica Amornkuldilok, who is of German-Thai parentage.

However, the end of Asia's Next Top Model sees the beginning of another possible nightmare – America's Next Top Model season 19, aka College Edition (Star World). From the few promotional clips that have been shown so far, one can assume that this is a show strictly for those who can handle over-the-top, diva-esque drama among 30 young college students.

At the other end of that spectrum is an interesting documentary called American Colony: Meet The Hutterites. The Hutterites is a religious colony originating from Europe, who can now be found mostly in North America. Much like the Amish, the Hutterites have strict rules and don't exactly welcome modern technologies and ideas. They make their living through farming and ranching, and their first language is German. Last year, leaders of a Hutterite colony featured in this documentary, demanded an apology from the National Geographic Channel for misrepresenting the colony's way of life, and damaging their reputation. Watch the show to find out more about these fascinating folks.

If you're not into documentaries, then perhaps some comedies might make your days – or nights – better. Forget flighty shows like New Girl (ugh, does anyone actually watch this pretentious show that's currently on Star World and Ntv7?), According To Jim on FX HD (this old show may be silly, but at least it doesn't pretend to be smart or sophisticated) and The Millionaire Matchmaker on beTV (OK, it's not a comedy, but it has such a foolish premise that it's hilarious).

Instead, get a taste of Go On, a series about a sports jock who is forced to go to group therapy sessions by the station manager Steven – who is also his best friend – to deal with the death of his wife. The show has some pretty erratic characters, especially those in Ryan's therapy group, and it is slowly turning out to be quite an endearing comedy. It stars Matthew Perry, and you can see traces of his Friends character Chandler Bing in Go On's Ryan King (even their last names rhyme!).

Last week on the show, Ryan pretends to not know his therapy group friends, because he doesn't want his workmates (apart from his assistant Carrie and Steven) to know that he's having problems and that he is attending these sessions. There's a sweet and poignant moment in the episode where Ryan's dead wife's gardener, who just found out about her death, installs and plays a musical fountain in Ryan's backyard.

Expect to see another Friends alum, Courteney Cox, appear in Go On over the next few episodes where she plays a love interest. Incidentally, the show's creator is Scott Silveri, who worked his way up from being a story editor to an executive producer on Friends.

Another show that's high on everyone's radar is The Mindy Project, created by and starring Mindy Kaling, formerly of the US version of The Office. It trails the life of the hopelessly romantic Dr Mindy Lahiri, one of those women who would probably include the hashtag #ForeverAlone in their Facebook status or Twitter update, thanks to her many disastrous dates and hook-ups. In last week's episode In The Club, Mindy and her colleagues hit up a fancy nightclub where pro-basketball players hang out. The best thing about the episode? When Mindy got real-life NBA players Amar'e Stoudemire, Danny Granger and Baron Davis to talk about their favourite romantic comedies.

"Splash," says Baron on the show.

Speaking of athletes, the new season of The Amazing Race (AXN) has just started. That's good news for fans of the show, but not so much for those of us who are just no longer amazed by it all.

Also on the same channel is CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, which recently returned with its 13th season. It kicked off with an episode where the usually calm and collected DB Russell (Ted Danson) goes mental trying to find the people who kidnapped his granddaughter (the cliffhanger from season 12). Last week's Wild Flowers episode trailed the story of a runaway sex slave, whose tongue had been cut off to prevent her from revealing the bad guys. You would think that there would be some intense moments in an episode like this, but unfortunately, the whole thing fell short of interesting.

A heads up to CSI: NY fans: In a season cross-over, Mac Taylor (Gary Sinise) turns up at the office of CSI: Crime Scene Investigation towards the end of the season in search of his missing girlfriend.

While we're on the topic of girlfriends, check out the new reality-based documentary series Catfish, which takes a closer look at the exciting world of ... online dating. A "catfish" is basically a person who creates fake online profiles in order to attract the attention of, well, strangers. In this documentary, by MTV no less, hosts Nev Schulman and Max Joseph help online couples who have never met but are totally enamoured with one another, to meet in real life. Their mission is simple: To find out if these couples' relationships are in fact real, or have they been "catfish-ed"?

It seems a little weird (and a bit creepy) at first, but the programme does drive home the important point that many people still seem to ignore – danger lurks in the online world, too, so it pays to be cautious and wary of sharing any personal information on the web.

Tweet us at @MyStarTwo if you have any TV shows that you want us to check out.

Digging minis to the max

Posted: 27 Feb 2013 02:48 AM PST

Grand in scope, rich in entertainment value, the miniseries as 'event television' is ripe for a comeback.

THE first miniseries I ever watched was Roots, which was based on Alex Haley's novel of the same name, about the slave trade in America in the 18th century.

Haley's story focused on Kunta Kinte (Levar Burton), a young African boy who was captured by slave traders and shipped to America where he was then sold as a slave.

The series horrified me. It was the first time I had heard of the slave trade in America and watching how they were treated, or rather mistreated, was just shocking. It was heartbreaking. Young or old, men or women, these slaves were whipped and beaten for no valid reason (Kunta Kinte, for example, was beaten brutally for refusing to answer to his slave name of "Toby"). The women were raped and abused. It was a chilling account of human cruelty and suffering and I was glued to the TV set.

The story followed Kunta Kinte's life – his capture, his attempts at escaping and his journey to adulthood – and carried on through the lives of his children, grandchildren and finally, his great-grandson who was the first free man of the family.

Roots became one of the most watched TV series at the time (with 100 million viewers tuning in nightly) and remains the third highest-rated US TV show of all time.

In the 1980s and 90s, miniseries were all the rage. They often comprised one grand story that was told, in detail, over a limited number of episodes (often six or 12).

Their stories usually spanned decades or centuries and the productions were huge, much bigger than any regular TV series and sometimes even movies.

Apart from Roots (which was actually made in 1977 but only aired on RTM in the early 1980s), there was North And South, a 1985 miniseries based on John Jakes' American Civil War trilogy about the iron-making Hazards of Pennsylvania and the slave-owning Mains of South Carolina. The series aired in three parts, representing the trilogy: the second part (1986) was called Love And War and the final part (1994), Heaven And Hell. The saga spanned the periods before, during and immediately after the American Civil War.

The story focused on the friendship between Orry Main (Patrick Swayze) of South Carolina and George Hazard (James Read) of Pennsylvania, who meet while training at the West Point Military Academy and later find themselves on opposite sides in the war.

It was a story of friendship, romance, war; a mix of drama and melodrama; the perfect recipe for compelling TV (although I found the third part less interesting than the first two).

I found myself hooked on the genre: I watched Thorn Birds (1983), a romantic miniseries about the forbidden love between Meggie Cleary and Father Ralph de Bricassart, a young, good-looking priest; Anne Of Green Gables (1985), a series based on the novel of the same name by Canadian author Lucy Maud Montgomery, about a precocious orphan girl; and The Jewel In The Crown, a British miniseries about the final days of the British Raj in India during World War II, based upon the novels by Paul Scott (I watched this with my mother, who loved it).

Oh, there was also Tenko, a short series about British, Australian and Dutch women who were captured by Japanese soldiers after the fall of Singapore in 1942. The story depicted the struggles of these women in concentration camps where they lived in appalling conditions.

The popularity of miniseries kind of dwindled in the 1990s and early 2000s – there were only a few to speak of such as the 1995 production of Pride And Prejudice starring the drool-worthy Colin Firth and Band Of Brothers (2001) with Homeland's Damian Lewis.

These days, though, there seems to be a resurgence with series like The Pacific (2009), Mildred Pierce (2011), The Kennedys (2011) and Hatfields & McCoys (2012) earning accolades in addition to being popular. I have to admit that the lull in the 1990s and early 2000s must have affected my sensibilities as I find myself favouring episodic drama series over miniseries. But now is as good a time as any, I guess: I borrowed a copy of Mildred Pierce from a colleague many months ago and I hear it calling. – SI

A RECENT article on Jeremy Irons in Beautiful Creatures reminded me of one of my earliest television memories of the austere actor with that inimitable voice. Strangely, I'd forgotten all about the miniseries, until last week when Indra and I were discussing what to write about.

The series, Brideshead Revisited (which originally screened in Britain in 1981) must have come to our shores in the mid-1980s as I remember being in secondary school then. It is only a hazy memory for me now but when I Googled it, I learned that the series is ranked 10th on the list of 100 Greatest British Television Programmes compiled by the British Film Institute, and that Time has called it one of the 100 best TV shows of all time.

I was also amused to find it being compared to Downton Abbey quite a bit, and coming out tops to boot.

Based on the 1945 novel Brideshead Revisited, The Sacred & Profane Memories Of Captain Charles Ryder, by British writer Evelyn Waugh, the miniseries (it's called a series, but I believe it was a miniseries as there only ever was one season, and the story was told in full. The tale centred on Army captain Charles Ryder (Irons) who moves to a new Brigade Headquarters at Brideshead, once home to the Marchmain family.

The story is told in narration by Ryder and features the entire Marchmain family, including Sebastian Flyte (my favourite character, played Anthony Andrews). The cast reads like a veritable Who's Who, with the likes of Laurence Olivier and John Gielgud appearing.

I remember being enamoured by the beautiful setting, the wealth and privilege of British aristocracy, being amused by how foppish and flamboyant the men were sometimes portrayed, being enthralled by the discussions on religion (the series had a central theme of the family's devotion to Catholicism), the elegant language that was used.

It was a tale of innocence and experience and I remember being wholly mesmerised. I think I should buy the series and watch it again now that I've whetted my appetite with bite-sized nuggets from YouTube.

Other miniseries which come to mind are Roots, of course (I remember the whole family congregating to watch that one – it was like an event itself), and also Centennial, Twin Peaks and Angels In America.

I'm not sure if Battlestar Galactica and V qualify as miniseries, I believe they began as minis, and then spun off into fully fledged series. All very different in genre but they made for riveting viewing nonetheless.

As did Lace, a US miniseries based on a novel by Shirley Conran, which was albeit somewhat trashy and fluffy (the world may cringe to see me writing about Brideshead Revisited and Lace in the same article … *chuckle*).

The 1984 series traces the search by sex symbol Lili (Phoebe Cates) for her natural mother, who gave her up for adoption when she was born. Lili boils down her search to three likely candidates, best friends Pagan Trelawney (Brooke Adams), Judy Hale (Bess Armstrong) and Maxine Pascal (Arielle Dombasle). My cousin Shereen and I still quote a line from the miniseries, where the three best friends promise friendship "through sick and sin".

The great thing about miniseries, I think, is that they offer closure. They don't go on indefinitely (Indra, I'm referring to The Bold And The Beautiful here) and just rob you of your half your life.

Miniseries are carefully planned tales that span only about 13 episodes or so, are easy to digest, excite you for just about the right amount of time, leave you with thought-provoking ideas and lasting memories. Bring them back, I say! – AMC

Kredit: www.thestar.com.my

Selasa, 26 Februari 2013