MASTERS OF SEX
Series return ****
Thursday July 31 9.30pm, SBS One
From its grainy Super 8 styling to its clever conversational script, it’s hard to fault this fabulous drama based around the lives of William Masters and Virginia Johnson, authors of the famous (and infamous) studies into the sex lives of humans. Last season took us from the earliest days of the research project and the burgeoning relationship between its directors to the scandal – personal and professional – that erupted following its release. Tonight we rejoin the action as Masters, Johnson, and assorted loved ones and colleagues, attempt to pick up the pieces. It’s a testament to the series – and a reflection of the attitude of Masters and Johnson themselves – that despite this being all about sex, pretty much all of the time, there’s nothing prurient about it. The drama, like the research, is most keenly interested in not the how but the what and the why of sexual relations, including its deepest psychological motivations and repercussions. Some of the most moving moments tonight come from Masters’ mentor, Barton Scully and his wife Margaret (played by Beau Bridges and Allison Janney). Last season Scully came out (to a select few) as gay; now he’s trying to “cure” himself, according to the wisdom of the day. The complexities of the situation are handled with great intelligence, and the result is absolutely gut-wrenching. There’s a great supporting cast here – Bridges and Janney, of course, but also Caitlin Fitzgerald as Masters’ wife and Julianne Nicholson as Johnson’s new boss – and it’s always wonderful to see so many interesting, three-dimensional women on prime time telly, especially in a 1950s context. But it is also undoubtedly our two protagonists – Michael Sheen as Masters and Lizzy Caplan as Johnson – who drive the drama and make the absolute most of that excellent script. Wonderful stuff.
THE AMAZING RACE AUSTRALIA
Series return ***1/2
Monday, July 28, Seven
This underrated series returns for a third season tonight, bursting with energy. The “twist” this year (there has to be one) is that along with team competing against team, we also have four Australian teams going up against four New Zealand teams. The competitors are the usual mix of the adorable, the intriguing and the immensely irritating, and already we’re seeing national pride giving way to personal allegiance as they make their way through a delirious set of challenges. Animal lovers may be a little concerned at the rough treatment of sheep during one of them but otherwise this is good hi-octane fun from beginning to end.
LIFE AT NINE
Series return ****
Tuesday July 29 8.30pm, ABC
There’s not really anything else like it on television: hugely entertaining, educational, and with a life well beyond the small screen. The documentary series run by early childhood experts started with a diverse group of kids at one year old and has been tracking their development steadfastly over the subsequent eight years, periodically popping up to share the findings. As the title suggests, our babies are now nine years old and beginning to spread their wings. How to help them do so is the crux of this intriguing and thoroughly charming episode.
BROOKLYN NINE-NINE
New series ***1/2
Monday July 28 9.30m, SBS2
A great scripted comedy doesn’t just provide laughs. The really good ones – whether that’s Modern Family or Will and Grace (or I Love Lucy) – also give us characters we can relate to, relationships that mean something, and space to deliver something more than the occasional laugh out loud. And that’s the tantalising promise held out by this new series set in a low-rent New York police station. It’s certainly funny, but it also has the potential to be emotionally engaging.
THE STRAIN
New series ***1/2
Wednesday July 30 8.30pm, Fox8
Unfortunately previews weren’t available of this new fantasy/horror/ drama from Guillermo del Toro and Chuck Hogan, but early notices from the United States have been positive. A plane lands at John F. Kennedy airport with the lights off and the doors sealed. Inside a specialist from the Centre for Disease Control finds 200 corpses – and four survivors. And things just get weirder from there. Del Toro has long had a fascination with fairy tales as parables for the human condition - and with scary monsters. I think we can expect plenty of both here.
DISCOVERING QUEEN
***
Tuesday July 29 7.30pm, Bio
One day I suppose I’ll get sick of watching docos and retrospectives on Queen and Freddie Mercury. But not yet. Not just yet... And if you’re not a Queen tragic, you’ll get even more value from this tidy primer on one of the 20th centuries more unusual bands. In it a range of British music writers clearly elucidate all the many things that made Queen special – up to and including Freddie Mercury appearing in a music video in drag and a handle-bar moustache, decades before Conchita Wurst wowed Eurovision.
DEEP FRIED MASTERS
**1/2
Saturday August 2 8.30pm, TLC
What’s weird is not that there’s a cooking show devoted entirely to deep-frying. It's that there’s more than one of them. Less weird is that most seem to take place in Texas, in this episode in San Antonio where the State Fair attracts millions of people eating tonnes and tonnes of greasy goodness. Our competitors are drawn from those concession stands and manage to produce some truly extraordinary “food” including deep-fried cheeseburger sliders on a stick; and deep-fried lemonade.
