Green Guides Critical View
The Age
Thursday March 31, 2011
FREE TO AIRTHE GOOD WIFEChannel Ten, 8.30pmIT AIN'T The West Wing. But brilliant casting, a taut, witty script and a clever blend of law, politics and the personal raise this drama well above the pack. And without relinquishing its original premise the politician's wife betrayed The Good Wife has both acknowledged that dealing with such a betrayal is a long-term project and used it as a springboard for a whole world of drama: how a disgraced politician might make a comeback; how a kept wife might re-create herself as a professional woman; even how a mid-tier law firm might negotiate rivalry, ego and ethics and still turn a profit. There is always a cracking legal conundrum every week (tonight, an internet company which is not Google is being sued for disclosing user information to the Chinese government). MELINDA HOUSTONPAY TVYOU HAVE BEEN WATCHINGComedy Channel, 9.30pmHOST Peter Berner sets out to skewer macho TV with the aid of comedian guests Felicity Ward, Ryan Shelton and Eddie Ifft. You'd think that the antics of Bear Grylls in Man vs Wild, Brady Barr in Dangerous Encounters and Chuck Norris in Walker, Texas Ranger would provide plenty of good fodder but somehow it winds up being a bit light on spontaneity and laughs. Part of the problem is that the guests don't seem to interact much. It might help if they all sat together on a big couch. BRAD NEWSOMEMOVIETHE CORE (2003)Showtime Action (Foxtel), 6.10pmFor sheer ludicrousness and waste of economic and cultural resources, nothing can top The Core, a staggeringly daft sci-fi flick that unfolds with Identikit ease as a world-threatening crisis is identified and a team of the best the US has to offer is put together to save the day. Jon Amiel's movie turns on the Earth's core falling still, creating electromagnetic disasters on the surface (pacemakers fail and famous buildings are destroyed with digital effects). Hilary Swank and Aaron Eckhart are the astronauts who must save the day.CRAIG MATHIESON
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