Ah, it’s been a big week on Australian television. Well, not really. But I’ll say it is, because this is my new column and what I say goes. This time, it’s Monk, Alias, Doctor Who and Six Feet Under.

This week’s premiere was Monk (Ten, 7.30pm Sunday), an american detective show with an obsessive compulsive hero consulting the police force that he was kicked out from. Tony Shalhoub gave a heartfelt performance, but could do with just a little more personality showing through in places. When his nurse, Sharona, was ready to quit, so was I. But the dialogue between the two leads was good, and made the show worth watching. The actual mystery felt a bit obvious from the middle of the episode. Still, I’ll be watching this again next week. I’ve always been a sucker for shows with near-impossibly clever heroes. It must be a viewer identification thing.

I was desperate to watch Alias (Seven, 8.30pm Mon) this week after the series-shaking events of last week. It was something of a disappointment not to see Dixon or Marshall’s reactions to the SD-6 takedown, but that was made up for by an appearance from the latest in a long line of film stars with dwindling careers — Ethan Hawke. An awfully shocking opening led into a decent episode, though Mr Hawke was actually very good, and helped create a very tense story indeed. It remains to be seen what the show will replace it’s double-agent intrigue with. I’m thinking… triple-agents! It sounds like a guaranteed success to me.

Thank goodness for shows completely changing their stripes though. This year I suffered through one of the most painful reminders of what can happen if this doesn’t occur regularly — Buffy the Vampire Slayer‘s season seven. It doesn’t look like Alias will be taking the same road. Or, for that matter, Angel — but I’ll have more to say about that next week. Another good example of a show that was happy to change itself completely is of course the currently repeating Doctor Who (ABC, 6pm Mon-Thurs). Although today’s episode was aptly named ‘The Ordeal’ and was a huge pile of padding — the highlight being when a character gripping a rocky cliff ripped off a part of it to reveal white polystyrene, and had to go on with the scene. Probably best if everyone waits a few months before watching this one. Though it has become apparent that any special effect looks better in black and white. I must remember this for the next NTGF film…

Finally, Six Feet Under this week saw the return of Rachel Griffiths as Brenda — Nate’s attractive, world-weary and until recently, sex-obsessed ex-fiancee. Which was good. Sadly, it also featured young adults who should know better really ballsing up their chances at relationships. Which is realistic, but irritating to watch sadly. I enjoy it more when it’s someone like Xander Harris having relationship problems. Claire’s new artist friend looks like the suicidal type, however, and he’s making me nervous.

Anyhow, see you next week, when I’ll come up with an hilarious catchphrase to sign these columns off with.

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This entry was posted by the illustrious Tom Charman on Sunday, October 5th, 2003. It concerns such pressing issues as . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.