Desperate To Save The World

Newcastle Herald

Wednesday October 11, 2006

Michael Gadd

THE UNIT

9.30pm, Prime

Stick with it. You're going to watch this first episode and find it a hybrid of 24 anti-terrorist masterminds and Desperate Housewives with less plastic surgery. It should be sharper, from a Pulitzer Prize-winning author (David Mamet) and The Shield's creator (Shawn Ryan), but by the end, there's a very good chance you'll be hooked. "The Unit" is a covert special forces crew sent into grisly situations to save the world. When their wives signed their nuptials, little did they know they'd be holding secrets that could kill their husbands. And that is where this show attempts to find heart, with that contrast between the homefront and the frontline. Dennis Haybert from 24 is Jonas Blane, who leads the unit in the field. His wife is the matriarch of the wives back at base. New recruit Bob Brown (Scott Foley) and his wife spend episode one trying to fit in. But it appears in the final scenes that their issues are the tip of the iceberg.

RICK STEIN'S FRENCH ODYSSEY

6pm, ABC

Inoffensive English chef Rick Stein, best known as a seafood specialist and his Fruits of The Sea series, is travelling through France on a barge called Rosa. Tonight he reaches south-western France and joins up with local fisherman in search of freshwater pike. He also prepares a snazzy duck confit at a friend's restaurant. The scenery is inviting but when we're forced to witness the force-feeding of corn to geese for the purposes of local specialty foie gras, you may lose your appetite. Poor Rick misses his dog Chalky too old to travel so much that he places a picture of him on the bar to toast each night. He appears to be making the most of France's wine on this journey.

Michael Gadd

© 2006 Newcastle Herald

Back to News Index | Back to Home