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The Sunday Age
Sunday December 27, 2009
Rating: 4/5SURVIVOR SAMOATuesday, 7.30pm, NineRussell Hantz is an oil company executive who has made a tidy pile of cash from his ability to bend others to his will. The consummate boardroom shark, Hantz has been one of the most conniving, egomaniacal reality TV contestants we've seen in years. And that is what has made this latest season of Survivor utterly riveting television.While the rest of the contestants are still playing by the rules and struggling through the trials of life in the wild, Hantz has been wandering about in his shorts, belly hanging over the edge and a happy grin plastered on his face, causing chaos.Sledging the rest of the survivors as "my puppets", he's formed alliances with just about everyone, playing them off against each other then dropping them as soon as they're no longer useful. He has cheated, lied, sabotaged their water supply, burned their belongings and he's also been the first person in the show's 19 season history to have enough smarts to search for €” and find €” an immunity idol before any clues were given.In short, Big Russ is exactly the kind of contestant Charles Darwin would have predicted was coming. But this week we see the first signs that all his conniving might not be enough and it starts to come crashing down around him.When Laura receives a clue to the location of the immunity idol but can't find it, he's forced to admit that he might have it, and if she sticks with him he might lend it to her. Of course he makes the same offer to a few others, trying desperately to play them all off against each other while figuring out a way to get rid of her as fast as possible.Will it all work again or has he finally woven a web so convoluted he can only catch himself? No matter who wins this series, Hantz has changed the dynamic of the show forever.Rating: 3.5/5CASTLESunday, 9.40pm, SevenCastle (Nathan Fillion) and Beckett (Stana Katic) are called to a construction site where a woman's body has been found. Tests show she's been dead and on ice for years, leading them to a search through the past to find out who wanted her dead. Was it the cheating husband? His faithful but deluded best friend? Or a jealous rival? When they finally crack the crime, Beckett is faced with an even bigger problem €” should she pursue the killer to the end when it looks as if justice might have been served already? A beautifully convoluted tale of murder, but even better than the resolution to this mystery is the beginning of a much bigger one that will carry us through to the end of this season and change Castle and Beckett's relationship forever. It's the mystery of what happened to the detective's mother, murdered for no apparent reason years before. Beckett has given up hope of finding out what happened, but Castle has other plans. Without her knowing, he's stolen a look at the case file and is starting to formulate some theories. This is going to be fun!Rating: 3/5SHAUN MICALLEF'S NEW YEAR'S RAVEThursday, 10pm, TenIt's appropriate Micallef should host this look back through the best of 2009: this was, after all, the year Australian TV viewers finally caught on to how good he is. From the opening credits, where we are advised the evening's entertainment will be dedicated to "The memory of Michael Jackson . . . and the global economy", it's easy to see why. Micallef leads us through a range of guests reminiscing about the year that was. Most are genuinely funny (especially Patti Newton, who admits husband Bert would kill for hair like Micallef's) but, like the year itself, some fall a little flat. Still, there are inspired segments, such as replaying last year's fireworks early on so you can pack the kids off to bed.Rating: 3.5/5THE NATIONAL PARKS: AMERICA'S BEST IDEAFriday, 6.05pm, ABC1While the world's focus is on how we can save our planet from global warming, it's nice to be reminded that when people make an effort, we really can do some good. This award-winning series from documentary maker Ken Burns takes us into America's national parks, areas where the US government stopped development to let things stay as they are, to remind everyone how beautiful the country once was and to give wildlife a refuge. This week we're still in the early years of the parks, when the idea of preserving nature was there, but anyone with enough political pull could still pretty much do what they wanted. That was until wealthy businessman Stephen T. Mather took what he thought would be a year off work to take over running the parks. Using his own money, he hired staff, wooed the influential and set out on a PR campaign to make people realise what they were saving. With beautiful footage and the photos Burns is famed for, this is a moving testament to the good one motivated man can do.
© 2009 The Sunday Age
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