Reviews by Andrew Mercado.
Westside
9.30pm on GEM
Here we go again … an excellent drama from New Zealand, only airing because it counts as local drama points for Nine, being treated as shabbily as possible for those Australian viewers struggling to watch it all. This prequel to Outrageous Fortune, one of the greatest TV dramas of all time, aired six episodes for its first series, with each one set in a different year in the 1970’s. Now it’s back for a second season of episodes all set in 1981 against the backdrop of the racially-charged Springbok football tour and starring NZ/Aussie actor Reef Ireland (Puberty Blues and Wentworth) as a young Wolf (Grant Bowler in the original). Whilst it is good Olympic counter-programming, the burn-off of all episodes is all over the place – two episodes tonight, one episode tomorrow, one on Wednesday at 10.30pm, one each on Thursday and Friday at 10pm and two on Saturday from 9.30pm. Sigh.
A Girl Walks Home Alone At Night
8.30pm on SBS2
Another alternative to the Olympics is vampire movies from around the world. Tonight it kicks off with a critically acclaimed, black and white feature from Iran. Tomorrow it’s We Are The Night (Germany), Wednesday it’s Night Watch and then Day Watch (Russia), Thursday it’s Let The Right One In (Sweden) and Friday is Fright Night, the cheesy 1985 movie from Hollywood. Nice programming before next week features horror movies with animals.