Mirren And The Usual Suspects Are Prime Examples Of Their Art
Sydney Morning Herald
Wednesday November 29, 2006
INDEPENDENT AMERICA 8.30pm, SBS: Remember driveway service? Broken biscuits at the corner shop, milkmen and bakers who home delivered? Local hardware stores and churches? The dubious democracy that attends the big-is-better mantra has changed many things, but some links with past generations linger to sustain the small-is-better philosophy. Despite national preoccupation with sentimentality in the US, honeywarm nostalgia is harder to find since mass consumption fell under the control of corporate entities with instantly recognisable logos but zero personality. Instead there are chain restaurants, franchised grab-food joints and impersonal malls where transnational and transglobal brands dominate and where levels of service are determined by soulless, faceless graduates from the Harvard School of Herd Instinct and Apathy. But people aren't as comfortably numb as this regime of conformity would suggest. A backlash against lowest common denominators is under way with boycotts, anti-chain legislation and insistence on economic freedom turning shopping into a political act. This doco follows a journalist couple on a 55-day trip across America predicated on their quest to avoid stereotyped, one-size-fits-all chains all the way. Can they survive on goods and services provided in a one-on-one fashion? Can they complete their journey through 32 states without succumbing to franchised stores, hotels and restaurants? Is the alternative network still viable in the age of Wal-Mart? Is anything free in the home of the brave? Perhaps a stopover at the Bates Motel might offer an opportunity to ponder the contradictions.
THE GLASS HOUSE AWARDS FOR EKSALINCE 9pm, ABC: The obvious winner for eksalince when it comes to turning a blind eye to the bleeding obvious is the Federal Government. A large bucket of whitewash, spun to perfection, is on hand as the lambs of AWB are led to slaughter. Which, if they have any residual guts, they will resist to the bitter end and take down with them as many liars and dissemblers as possible when the floor eventually opens beneath them. Meanwhile - in their swansong - Will, Corinne and Dave are joined by an illustrious group of circus performers to gazump tomorrow evening's Walkley Awards and offer gongs to all and sundry. Guests include Adam Spencer, Liz Ellis, Merv Hughes, Georgie Parker and Kerri-Anne "Carry On" Kennerley.THE NEW INVENTORS: GRAND FINAL 8pm, ABC: A black-tie job with five finalists, from 123 entrants, vying to shake the Governor-General's hand. Sad that he as been reduced to this while the PM hogs the more incandescent pools of limelight. PRIME SUSPECT VII: THE FINAL ACT 8.30pm, Seven: Helen Mirren is with us one last time as Detective Superintendent Jane Tennison, a brittle and driven woman who manages to suppress her demons and overcome her problems sufficiently to sort out criminal matters. Mirren invests her character with an engaging blend of tenacity and fatalism - far more credible than most of the legions of blow-waved and svelte detectives performing similar work across the Atlantic. Investigations into the brutal murder of a 14-year-old girl pit Tennison against a desperate and dangerous suspect in the now-familiar race against time. A top cast, a good script and acting that offers the beguilement that Mirren forbids in her character - an unsmiling, taciturn woman with a sure sense of her body language and of the negative repercussions in letting it show.
© 2006 Sydney Morning Herald