TV & Radio Tuesday October 18

Coro begins its early-evening timeslot, and Edwardian blockbuster Downton Abbey begins its second season.

TV

Downton Abbey

Coronation Street (TV1, 5.25pm). It seems that John Key’s offer to “talk to someone important” about Corrie’s new timeslot has not borne fruit – because ministers of the crown should totally be making programming decisions for TVNZ – here begins the early-evening regime of the soap with the most. On the upside: half-an-hour more soap suds each week; on the downside: you might have to get one of those newfangled recording devices, or your whole evening is going to be messed around.

The Celebrity Apprentice (TV2, 8.30pm). A new season, starring Meat Loaf’s massive meltdown, which has been on the internet since April. It’s not until episode five that Meat throws his little tanty at fellow celebrity – and we use that word advisedly – Gary Busey, but the whole thing is a sad spectacle. Other contestants include Dionne Warwick (why, we don’t know), La Toya Jackson, Marlee Matlin and David Cassidy, who will always be Keith Partridge to us.

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Downton Abbey (Prime, 8.35pm). There’s always change coming to Downton Abbey; we know this because someone always says, “Change is coming, you know.” In the first episode of the second season, it’s up to new maid Ethel to say it. She has big dreams. We know this, because she says, “You’ve got to have dreams!” This is before Miss O’Brien puts her through a kind of maid-hazing to put her in her place. Ah, Edwardian blockbuster Downton (as the Telegraph described it), where the more things change, the more they try to keep them the same. The new series begins with a special effects bang in the muddy trenches of the Somme, although nothing is ever as spectacular as the abbey, a special effect all by itself. Mr Carson the butler is steadfastly trying to keep up standards even though there’s a war on. Meanwhile, change rages around him: Lady Edith is learning to drive in case the chauffeur is called up; Lady Sybil is learning to make a cup of tea so she can volunteer at the hospital; and the dowager countess (Maggie Smith, at her imperious best) has been forced out of bed early to help with the war effort. “War makes early risers of us all,” she does declare. Downton Abbey is outrageously popular in the UK, and in the US, too: it won a slew of Emmys in September and you can bet there’ll be Baftas on Julian Fellowes’s mantelpiece before long. Full credit, as they say, to Fellowes for writing something original. After that dire version of Emma starring Romola Garai, it looked to be all over for the costume drama, but Fellowes is Marc Cherry in an Edwardian suit, throwing in sex, intrigue, backstabbing and melodrama. How perfectly wonderful.

NCIS: Los Angeles (TV3, 9.25pm). A season spent eking out details of Chris O’Donnell’s character, the mysteriously named “G Callen”, comes to fruition in tonight’s season two finale. The search for Hetty Lange (Linda Hunt) leads the team to Prague, where G’s link to an Eastern European crime family is revealed. Don’t worry – you won’t have to wait a whole year for the new season; TV3 rolls into it next week.

Cops with Cameras (TV1, 9.40pm). “Excuse me, I have to go. Somewhere there is a crime happening …” The UK’s Robocops return with their specially designed body cameras, their body armour and the newest high-tech addition to the force: the Lantern device, which immediately identifies fingerprints. Welcome to the future of policing: it’s not pretty.

The Late Show with David Letterman (Prime, 11.35pm). Tonight, comedian and radio show host Artie Lange; comedian Eddie Brill; and music from Beirut.

FILM

Is Anybody There? (Rialto, Sky 025, 6.55pm). One of those small-scale comedy dramas that the British are so good at – probably through an accident of budget than by some clever design, mind you. It’s a coming-of-age story about a morose lad (Bill Milner) whose parents (Anne-Marie Duff and Michael Morrissey) run an old folks’ home. That the residents include legendary British actors Leslie Phillips and Sylvia Syms doesn’t seem to impress him, nor does Michael Caine’s embittered magician; he is obsessed with finding out if there is life after death. The movie works only to a certain extent, as it can’t help wading in the sugary waters of sentimentality. (2008) 5

Jackass: The Movie (Four, 8.30pm). The first of five in the canon, although Ryan Dunn jackassed his way to the Pearly Gates in June, so there ain’t gonna be any more quite like this. Strange, painful and often humiliating. And that’s just for the viewer. (2002) 5 – Diana Balham

Salt (Sky Movies, Sky 020, 8.30pm). Philip Noyce takes a role originally intended for Tom Cruise and gives it to a girl – results are … basically the same. Angelina Jolie is the Energizer Bunny who can never slow down because she’s on the run from her own people. When a Russian defector announces that CIA agent Evelyn Salt is a Russian sleeper spy, off she goes on an increasingly more ridiculous stuntfest but, says Salon’s Andrew O’Hehir, at least Noyce doesn’t waste anyone’s time. A slick night in. (2010) 6

RADIO

Nine to Noon with Kathryn Ryan (Radio New Zealand National, 9.06am). Ryan’s feature guest at 10.05am today is Australian laureate fellow and acclaimed astronomer Bryan Gaensler, who is going to answer many baffling questions about the extremes of the universe. Gaensler is internationally known for his work on dying stars, cosmic explosions and interstellar magnets.

Sound Lounge (Radio New Zealand Concert, 8.00pm). Tonight, the first of four programmes from the Musica Electronica Nova, the festival where classical, electro-acoustic, pop, and alternative music meet.