Thursday, February 10 - Critic's view

The Age

Thursday February 3, 2011

mark ellis

ZumboSBS One, 7.30pmPURPORTING to be an observational documentary, this six-part series on dessert-meister Adriano Zumbo (he of the dastardly MasterChef challenges, including the eight-layered V8 vanilla cake) is more advertorial than dispassionate analysis. In fact, at times it almost borders on hagiography as the female narrator breathlessly makes declarations about the man and his work ("He's gone from master patissier to rock-star chef") without any third-party endorsement from experts, just a few customers and gushing staff. This episode follows the five-day build-up to Macaron Day, a marketing masterstroke designed to showcase 60 out-there flavours of the crunchy-soft, cream-filled morsels, such as tobacco, hamburger and pig's blood mixed with chocolate, that supposedly have fans queuing around the corner from the early hours (hearsay only, no visual evidence presented). Some of the process in creating the flavours is insightful, as is Zumbo's Willy Wonka tattoo (get it? he's a modern-day Wonka) but this first episode would have benefited from a little restraint. All this saccharine might make your teeth hurt.Ashes to AshesABC1, 8.35pmWHEN watching this police procedural, you sometimes have to remind yourself that policewoman Alex Drake (Keeley Hawes) is in a science-fiction time warp, as yet unexplained, because references to this larger storyline are sometimes few and far between. Take tonight's episode, for example, where the only spooky event is one character witnessing a night sky filled with stars so brilliant he swears he's on the edge of a galaxy. But it doesn't really matter because your 50 minutes is filled with one complete story each time. DCI Gene Hunt (Philip Glenister) is surprised when some former colleagues arrive on his patch in pursuit of a faded comedian. But all is not as it seems and Drake and Hunt are determined to find out the real reason. It's all wonderfully politically incorrect with characters smoking in the office, policewomen referred to as "love" and "darling" while they make cups of tea for the men and where old-time policing rules (i.e. beatings, kickings and fitting up crims). Hawes manages to wear jodhpurs and blue eye shadow without looking silly, the sets are stylish and the snatches of New Romantic synth pop are pleasing.Grey's AnatomyChannel Seven, 8.30pmAFFAIRS of the heart ��� literal and metaphorical ��� are front and centre tonight with inter-surgeon relationships in hyperdrive, a risky heart operation and a college football team struck by lightning adding some humour and yet more metaphors, hammered home in desk-calendar platitudes by the omnipresent voice over. The ever-escalating plot turns from comedy to drama on the head of a pin in a heady mix of one part laughing gas to two parts adrenalin as couples, friends and colleagues come together, push each other apart and analyse their motivations at breakneck speed in a swirling mess of neuroses to rival a Woody Allen movie. The aftershock (cue lightning metaphor) of last season's shooting is still being felt, with Dr Cristina Yang (Sandra Oh) suffering the most.The Good WifeChannel Ten, 8.30pmIS ANYONE else loving private investigator Kalinda Sharma (Archie Panjabi) as she skulks around digging up dirt in her knee-high leather boots? Tonight, she goes behind the scenes to find out the real story behind a pharmacy robbery. The young man under arrest is the son of one of the law firm's big clients and his girlfriend accomplice initially gets the rough end of the deal as Alicia (Julianna Margulies) and co. fly perilously close to the edge of legality. The bubbling company coup being orchestrated by Diane (Christine Baranski) reaches its denouement and an unexpected visit from Alicia's brother adds a touch of tenderness in this always-compelling legal drama.

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