The Strange Ways Of Joe And And Maude, A 20-year Affair
Sydney Morning Herald
Friday October 17, 2008
DR PHIL Midday, Ten: In A Husband's Shocking Confessions Pt 1, Dr Phil meets a couple in trouble. It seems that Maude's husband Joe is happy, faithful and as much in love with her today as he was when they met 20 years ago. Shock! Horror! Probe! You can actually hear the massed sharp intake of breath as the audience takes in this news - nothing that has gone before on this upmarket Jerry Springer clone prepared them for that. And talking of breath, don't hold yours because the devil only knows when A Husband's Shocking Confessions Pt 2 might run; Ten seems to throw episodes of Dr Phil at a wall to see what sticks. Monday's episode is Nasty Neighbours Pt 86 or some such. You'll have to wait to hear Joe's latest shocking confession; booking a second honeymoon behind Maude's back and, in doing so, making us all look bad. The bastard.
AS IT HAPPENED: THE SS - THE STRUGGLE FOR POWER 8.30pm, SBS: Another outing for this six-part series about the rise to power of the Schutzstaffel (protective squadron), or SS as it came to be infamously known. The SS was Hitler's praetorian guard, a bunch of racist animals who, under the leadership of Reichsfuhrer Heinrich Himmler, were responsible for many crimes against humanity in World War II.It was the SS - supposed Aryan supermen - who were chosen to carry out the "Final Solution", and set about it with such gusto that they exterminated something like 12 million Jews, gypsies, homosexuals, the mentally and physically handicapped, members of labour organisations, political opponents, clergymen, Jehovah's Witnesses, Freemasons, communists, and members of the John Farnham Fan Club (who, let's be honest, deserved it). Those who know the story would do well to remind themselves of it. Those who don't know the story should watch it in order not to be condemned to repeat it, or allow it to be repeated.FOR THE WEEKENDNO DIRECTION HOME - BOB DYLAN 10pm (Sat), SBS: Director Martin Scorsese's documentary chronicled Bob Dylan as he morphed from reedy-voiced folk singer to the "voice of a generation rock star" from 1961 to 1966. Masterful stuff from Scorsese, as you would expect. but let's be honest; Bob Dylan might write sublime songs with lyrics that are pure poetry but then goes and spoils it all by singing them himself. Why can't he take a leaf out of Burt Bacharach's book and keep, mostly, schtum?THE LONG FIRM 8.30pm (Sun), ABC1: One of the best things on TV this weekend (with the possible exception of the appearance of Eric Cantona as the star in Sunday's SBS movie The Over-Eater at 11.10pm - though that's more in a weird and wacky it's-a-car-crash-but-I-can't-look-away vein). Set in the supposedly swinging sixties, Mark Strong is excellent as East End Kray-style villain Harry Starks and Derek Jacobi positively shines as Lord Teddy Thursby, a decaying Tory lord who is drawn into Starks' orbit because of his penchant for young men. The second half of the story is told from the point of view of former movie star Ruby Ryder (Lena Heady). Excellent stuff.RADIOOCKHAM'S RAZOR 8.45am (Sun), Radio National: Robyn Williams delves into arithmetic for adults in the wake of news that 70 per cent of Australian adults don't adequately understand numbers. Given that my brain closes down when it sees more than one number on a page, I'll be tuning in (if I can understand the numbers on the dial).REAR VISION 1pm (Sun), Radio National: Politics Of The Pelvis - The Religious Right In The US. Hmm, sex and religion; a mighty combination. Incense and abstinence? God, Mammon and mammaries? Creationism and copulation - never the twain and all that. As the US election approaches the votes of evangelical Christians will be critical. This is a look at the history of the religious right and its role in US political life. Praise de Lord, save the zygote and endorse state execution?Doug Anderson is on leave.
© 2008 Sydney Morning Herald
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