Top TV shows to watch this week: SNL comedy gold, and a moving, timely Holocaust documentary
A terrific new documentary explains how Saturday Night Live shaped the modern comedy world and another marks the sombre 80th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz.
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We’ve sifted through the latest offerings from TV and streaming platforms to find the best shows you should be watching this week.
SNL 50: BEYOND SATURDAY NIGHT
BINGE
Although Saturday Night Live, which turns 50 this year, didn’t have anywhere near the cultural impact in Australia as it did in its native US, there’s no denying the outsized influence it has had on comedy more broadly through alumni from Bill Murray to Well Ferrell and Kristen Wiig to Heidi Gardner.
This fascinating four-part documentary not just showcases the talent it unearthed but also goes behind the scenes to show the high-pressure, high-stakes environment that forced the comedians to constantly be on top of their game and which served them well with their future comedy careers in some of the funniest movies ever made.
The first episode spotlights the audition process, with luminaries such as Amy Poehler, Tracy Morgan, Bill Hader and Jimmy Fallon reliving their five-minute window to impress creator Lorne Michael and his fellow judges (as well as hopefuls who didn’t get the gig including Jennifer Coolidge and Kevin Hart).
There’s also a revealing looking into writers’ room and the chaotic process by which the material is crafted and honed each week, and whole episode devoted to Ferrell’s legendary – and still hilarious – More Cowbell sketch.
STREET FOOD NOMAD: KOLKATA
WEDNESDAY, 9PM, SBS FOOD
Scottish chef Will Meyrick’s love of street food is a perfect fit for the melting pot of Kolkata, whose position at the mouth of the Ganges River made it a crossroads of Asian and Middle Eastern culture and cuisine.
With a local guide in tow, Meyrick throws himself into the bustling markets and mazy backstreets in search of the freshest produce, the stories behind the dishes and low-key vendors with the sage advice that if the food is hot and the joint is bustling with locals, it’s probably a winner.
There’s also mouth-wateringly easy-to-follow instructions on how to rustle up Kolkata specialties such as eggplant curry, prawn curry and aloo poori with perfectly fried luchi.
DIDDY: MAKING OF A BAD BOY
BINGE
The revelations and ongoing court cases involving rapper and producer Sean “Diddy” Combs, and charges of federal sex trafficking and sexual abuse, made for some of the most alarming and unpleasant headlines of 2024 – and no doubt there is more to come when his trial begins in May.
This documentary – featuring former friends, colleagues and associates – goes right back to Combs’ childhood growing up as a rich bullied kid in an oversexualized house and an absent father to try to explain his behaviour as an even richer, entitled and predatory adult.
There’s also glimpses into his infamous “white parties”, his involvement in promoting a charity boxing match that was oversold and left nine people dead, and claims of shocking behaviour from former employees.
OUTBACK ADVENTURES IN WESTERN AUSTRALIA
THURSDAY, 7.35PM, SBS
Although this documentary is made for a German audience, it’s also an eye-opening insight into regions that all too few Australians will visit. It makes a pretty decent fist of compiling a greatest hits version of the state that makes up a third of the country and is one of the most remote places in the world.
First up there is a visit to the spectacular Windjana Gorge in the Kimberley region, where attempts are being made to educate freshwater crocs not to munch on the encroaching cane toads. There’s also a lesson in Indigenous backburning techniques, a visit to the vast Yarrie Station to meet a woman thriving in the male-dominated cattle industry, and a bunch of boffins looking for the origins of life in some of the oldest rocks on the planet.
DIVIDED WE STAND
THURSDAY 10.55PM, SBS
Loosely based on true events, this German crime thriller follows a group of cops from West Germany sent to Berlin shortly after the country’s reunification as part of a new investigations unit called ZERV. Charged with looking into crimes of the former East German communist regime, they also bring with them a superior attitude and certain disdain for their new colleagues and their crappy resources.
When a senior official who oversaw the disbanding of the East German army and its 80 billion marks worth of weapons is found hanging from a tree – seemingly as a warning to potential whistleblowers – uptight ZERV officer Peter Simon is forced to work with no-nonsense local homicide cop Karo Schubert to find out who’s responsible.
ROAR
FRIDAY, 7+
Although it’s mostly remembered for being the show that introduced the late, great Heath Ledger to the wider world – and also provided early eye-catching roles for Vera Farmiga and Felicity Russell – this fantasy adventure from 1997 still stacks up as a fun romp in the vein of the more celebrated (and longer lasting) Hercules and Xena.
The young Aussie swashes his buckle as an orphan Irish prince in the year 400 who is determined to boot the Roman oppressors out by uniting the Celtic clans. Cue some malarkey about wizards and magic spears, evil spirits and a slightly confusing mishmash of legends and cultures but, with a good looking cast and engaging action, no one is tuning in for a history lesson.
HIGH POTENTIAL
FRIDAY, DISNEY+
Sitting somewhere between Good Will Hunting and The Mentalist, this body-of-the-week police procedural based on a French series is easygoing fun.
Kaitlin Olson (Hacks, It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia) plays single mother Morgan, who has an IQ of 160 but won’t call it a gift. Alongside the photographic memory and amazing powers of deduction come an obsessive nature and prickly personality that make her personal and professional lives a challenge. That’s why she’s working as a night cleaner for the LAPD, where she stumbles on some photos of a crime scene and can’t help but make some connections the cops can’t see.
Once they realise her gifts, she’s reluctantly partnered with a by-the-book detective who is initially sceptical of her abilities, but soon appreciates their crime-solving value.
PERTH SEVENS
FRIDAY, STAN SPORT
In last year’s inaugural Australian Sevens event in Perth, both the home men’s and women’s teams came agonisingly close, losing in the finals to Argentina and Ireland respectively. Both will be determined to go one better when 12 of the world’s best teams face off in the most fast and furious form of rugby.
The action gets underway on Friday with men taking on Argentina at 5.01pm (AEST) and South Africa at 7.52pm, and the women playing China at 5.45pm and Spain at 11.36pm.
The business end of the tournament will play out on Australia Day with the men’s final at 10.35pm and the women closing out the event at 11.11pm.
AUSTRALIA DAY LIVE
SUNDAY, 7.30PM, ABC
No matter what your view on Australia Day, this live spectacular staged on land and water around Sydney Harbour is designed to bring everyone together in the spirit of entertainment.
Hosted by John Foreman, Jeremy Fernandez and Megan Burslem as the sun sets over the spectacular backdrop of the Opera House and Harbour Bridge, there will live music choreographed to a flotilla of yachts and watercraft and featuring artists including Dragon, Ben Lee, Sheppard, James Morrison, Emma Pask and Paulini, as well as the Aussie Pops Orchestra and the NSW Public Schools Choir.
THE TATTOOIST’S SON: JOURNEY TO AUSCHWITZ
TUESDAY, STAN
Next Monday marks the 80th anniversary of the liberation of extermination camp Auschwitz, when the Soviet Red Army finally revealed to the world the industrial scale and unspeakable evil of the Nazis in their genocidal quest to exterminate the Jews.
Author Heather Morris told an astounding story of love among the horror in her 2018 novel The Tattooist of Auschwitz and this documentary follows the son of its protagonists, Lale and Gita, as he overcomes his own fears to finally visit the site of their trauma and unlikely meeting.
Gary Sokolov says he learned more from the book and miniseries than he did from his own parents and he’s understandably nervous to dig into their past, but his experiences in visiting their birth places and the camp itself are not just uplifting, they are also a timely reminder to never forget the past.
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