Wendy's Week of TV: Part 19

Sunday: The Einstein Factor

The Einstein Factor is really heating up now with the grand final for the year tomorrow night. Sadly, the contestant with Insane Clown Posse as his special subject didn't get through, but his hair was entertaining nonetheless. Please, please, please let Barry Jones be on the brains trust. Please, please, please don't let Jennifer Byrne be on the brains trust. That's all.



Who do you think you are?

Carol Vorderman, not particularly well known in Australia I would imagine, but still an interesting subject given that she knew nothing about the Dutch side of her family. Apparently, one of her ancestors was a potential Nobel Prize recipient, something about discovering vitamins, which as we all know are very important.


Tuesday: Father Ted

Distinguished by an appearance from a younger Graham Norton as a crazed, singing, guitar playing, youth-group leading priest. Ted, Dougal and Jack find themselves sharing a tiny caravan with him and his followers as they try to have their yearly holiday. Hi-jinks galore.



Hamish Macbeth: Isobel has a makeover, Alex becomes even more annoying and the villagers think for a brief moment that they have won the lottery. Thanks to Lachie snr losing the ticket while trying to fix the village bus they haven't. Oh, and something about an evil car manufacturer testing cars in the Highlands woven in there as well. All very satisfying.



Wednesday: This was the night of the Andre Rieu marathon (6-9:15 with no breaks). Schmalzy is an understatement. Sure the guy plays the violin very nicely and his orchestra plays some jolly popular classics and well known show tunes. But do we really need this set against the backdrop of an actual fairytale castle, complete with clowns, dwarves, elephants and all manner of other bizarre props and costumes. Also, note to Andre: less with the narration about how life is a fairytale and just get on with the music. This was especially annoying when the subtitles stopped working and for the last hour we had to guess what the Dutch might be meaning. Please let's never mention this evening again. Ever.


Thursday: The Amazing Race

Gosh it was touch and go there for Ken and Tina.. They really should have chosen the Indian laundry challenge rather than the money necklace at the Indian wedding. Trust Nick and Starr to have gloves in their bags to cope with the heat of he coal fired irons. I do like how the divorcees (whose names still escape me) have started calling frat boys Dan and Andrew "Dandrew". Lucky for Ken and Tina this was a non-elimination round. Phew!



Friday: A mish-mash.

The last half hour of an SBS documentary on the Summer of Love in San Francisco was very interesting and made me wish I'd realised it was on earlier and seen the first half hour. Instead, I was watching Stateline on the storms. I've had it with news of storms (even though it looks promising for one later today here). I then saw Fast Ed and Johanna Griggs make three salads that looked easy and edible (unusual for TV cooking shows). Hmmmm...I might have to buy that edition of Better Homes and Gardens. Later, Harry Potter ate some kind of weed recommended to him by Neville Longbottom (?) and turned into a fish while searching for something in a lake. Then I went to bed. Goodness knows what happened next because I haven't read the book or seen that movie before.