SaturdayLet The Fire Burn

NITV, 8.35pm

An intriguing documentary about a revolutionary/separatist/Black Power/ terrorist organisation/cult that blossomed in Philadelphia in the 1970s and '80s. A large part of the intrigue is deciding exactly which of those descriptions best fit MOVE, the collective founded by John Africa in 1972. But it's also fascinating to see the way its tendrils reach forward into the present. John Africa's insistence on strict vegetarianism and raw food, for instance, would be SOP in most Byron Bay retreats. Equally and tragically unsurprising is the local police decision to (a) fire bomb MOVE headquarters while families were still inside and (b) make no attempt to extinguish the conflagration to let the fire burn.

Damian Lewis presents Spy Wars.Credit:Pip

Ten, 7.30pm

One of the pleasures of this season of Junior Masterchef is the way the familiar gameplay has been adjusted to suit smaller humans without being in any way patronising. There's a real sense of fun, and plenty of positivity, but no condescension. The kids get genuine feedback. The cooking challenges have been legit and all the contestants have risen to those challenges in a remarkable way. So it's going to be very interesting to see what transpires in tonight's semi final when Kirsten Tibballs arrives to set a pressure test for the final five: a very modern lemon meringue tart, and 150 minutes to complete it.

Seven, 7pm

There have been times in the history of Australian television when quiz shows were serious prime-time viewing, occupying a choice position in the schedule and drawing millions of viewers. That's no longer the case but The Chase, Seven's lively offering anchoring the 5pm timeslot, is a strong performer and this super-sized version is bound to be a crowd pleaser. It's essentially the same as the Monday-to-Friday format but this time quiz superbrains face off against (potentially) all four Chasers at once. It's fast, fun, good natured, and packed with a nice combination of amazing "Who knew?" facts and solid guess-at-home stuff.

The Wonderful World of Chocolate.

Seven, 8.30pm

American broadcast networks are always going to make police procedurals, but if they're going to star Nathan Fillion who quipped his way through too few episodes of Firefly and too many of Castle instead of David Caruso and the dramatic removal of his sunglasses, then there's a chance of some entertainment. Fillion stars at John Nolan, a 45-year-old construction company boss from Pennsylvania who, after getting divorced, shutters his business and relocates to Los Angeles to join the police department.

Short of physical conditioning but carrying plenty of life experience, John sits at a tricky tonal intersection: flippancy and self-deprecation come naturally to both the character and actor, but the crimes he's dealing with on street patrol can quickly rise to the serious (or occasionally the absurd). Rookie has a sprawling supporting cast, with most of the characters having personal lives whose quandaries neatly fold into professional storylines, and if it struggles to avoid feeling contrived then at least there's the consolation of a leading man who's more than willing to be in on the joke.

SBS, 8.30pm

"A lot of people do try to make out that pregnancy is this full of rainbows and magic, and it is not," says 22-year-old Ashleigh, arriving at the maternity ward of the Birmingham Children's Hospital with partner Luke for the delivery of her second child. The first episode of this British observational documentary series soon validates her opinion, with a long and deeply stressful sequence where Ashleigh's newborn has trouble breathing and requires the assistance of the midwife.

The production's handheld intimacy gets you close enough to sense the edge of fear that shadows the moment, and there are further worries with a separate birth that is eight weeks premature. The show isn't trying to deliberately scare audiences, but the realities it depicts even if they're matter-of-fact for the staff make the subsequent glow of a new life being underway all the more affecting.

ABC, 8.30pm

With cricket as the lens, the past, the present and the future of Australia's Indigenous peoples comes to the fore in this neatly constructed documentary that ties together two cricket tours: the little known 1868 tour of Britain by a team of Aboriginal cricketers from Victoria, which was the first overseas tour by an Australian team, and the 150th anniversary tour of Britain in 2018 by the men's and women's National Indigenous cricket teams.

Ben Carpenter-Nwanyanwu's documentary is a study of pride, commitment, and overcoming adversity, spotlighting several young players from today and how playing representative cricket has let them draw more from their family and communities. It is occasionally a touch quick to embrace stirring sentiment, but it's also easy to see some welcome progress for today's young hopefuls when you learn about the circumstances that loomed over the

1868 players. This is much more than a sporting story.

SBS Viceland, 9.25pm

Attuned to the rhythms both emotional and physical of its adolescent leads, the eight-part television debut of Italian filmmaker Luca Guadagnino (Call Me by Your Name, A Bigger Splash) continues to unfold with unhurried storytelling and a keen eye for detail. Set on a US Army base in Italy in 2016, the third and fourth episodes solidify the bond between army brats Caitlin (Jordan Kristine Seamon) and Fraser (Jack Dylan Grazer), who in an environment of order and repetition are tentatively searching for their individual identities. This is tender, impressionistic storytelling, but never directionless.

10Play

You wouldn't be alone in thinking that this animated series sounds like an artful conceit. BoJack Horseman is an animated Hollywood satire about a bitter former sitcom star set in a parallel reality where anthropomorphic animals and humans interact. It is literally a loopy world, complete with surreal visual gags and askew digressions, but the emotion that takes hold over the course of the sometimes tentative first season and only deepens afterwards is deeply realistic and, while often funny, can also be genuinely illuminating. Created by Raphael Bob-Waksberg, the show's titular lead lives in a mansion and on the memory of his past success, a life given sharp insight by the consistently inspired voice work by Will Arnett.

It's a chronicle of how unhappiness can seep into a life that folds in a supporting cast that includes BoJack's feline manager, Princess Carolyn (Amy Sedaris), a ghost-writer for his biography who becomes his conscience, Diane (Alison Brie), and a cheerfully indolent permanent houseguest, Todd (Aaron Paul), who discovers his own identity. It digs into self-loathing, depression, and familial grief, all with an accompanying strain of Californian lunacy and Hollywood meta-commentary. 10Play has the first of the six seasons Netflix aired to widespread acclaim, so get started and keep any eye out for the next batch.

ABC, 8.30pm

Joanna Lumley adding "travel documentary host" to her already varied screen CV over the last decade has been a definite plus for television audiences. The 74-year-old actor brings a touch of her signature role, the flamboyant Patsy Stone from Absolutely Fabulous, to these geographic excursions, ensuring that dourness never takes hold. Lumley's enthusiasm can be gauged by the sheer number of locales she's journeyed to with a camera crew in tow, and her enthusiasm for the wider world, with a self-mocking touch of English decorum, is one of the qualities that shine through.

This series has her travelling the fabled trade routes that tied China to Europe, and after stops in Venice and Iran, her eastwards momentum takes Lumley to the central Asian nations of Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan in this episode. The episodic narrative spans the architectural delights of Tashkent's subway system to eagle hunting in the desert, and whatever the segment there's a welcome sense of demystification to her explorations. The world she shows is diverse and exotic, but never merely picture book pretty.

9Now

Homeland and Billions star Damian Lewis provides what could be described as "enhanced hosting duties" for this docuseries about the crucial spies and terror plots that define the covert struggles of the past 40 years. Looking MI5-ready, Lewis glares at files and strides through deserted buildings while providing introductory notes for each episode before his voice-over kicks in.

The individual subjects of these eight episodes include moles within the Soviet security apparatus, the infiltration of thwarted 21st century terror plots, and the exfiltration of American embassy officials hiding in revolutionary Iran if the later sounds familiar, it's because Ben Affleck's Academy Award-winning drama Argo already recreated it.

The tone is briskly informative, although depth of insight is lacking; the same can be said for the numerous recreations and dramatic sequences that pepper the stories, complete with brief but overly expressive performances. Lewis is the only great actor at work here.

View original post here:
What's on TV: Friday, November 6 to Thursday, November 12 - Sydney Morning Herald