What you should be watching on streaming platforms and TV this week
From a gripping documentary on tennis champion Roger Federer to a romantic comedy filmed in Australia, these are the shows worth watching this week.
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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.
FEDERER: 12 FINAL DAYS
THURSDAY, PRIME VIDEO
There’s an adage that says professional sports people die twice – once when they retire and once when they shuffle off this mortal coil. This gripping documentary serves as a fitting first eulogy to one of the very best to ever pick up a racquet, tracing the final 12 days from when Roger Federer announced his retirement in 2022 at age of 41, to his final appearance alongside his great on-court nemesis and off-court friend Rafael Nadal at the Laver Cup that he helped create. Asif Kapadia, the man behind gold-standard documentaries on Ayrton Senna, Diego Maradona and Amy Winehouse, was granted extraordinary access to Team Federer as he prepared to say goodbye to a career that netted 20 majors and 310 weeks as world No.1. There’s touching moments with Federer’s family as he grapples with his past injuries and uncertain future, tributes from players past and present as they converge on London for his swan song, and, most satisfyingly, a spotlight on the mutual respect and regard between Roger and Rafa that created one of sport’s greatest ever rivalries.
DANCE MOMS EPIC SHOWDOWN
WEDNESDAY, BINGE
If there was ever a show that delivers exactly what it says on the tin, this is it, and if the prospect of reliving “the moments that are so unhinged that the police had to step in” on the long-running US reality TV show sound appealing, then bust out the popcorn and step right up. Hosted by original cast Dance Mom Christi Lukasiak and going all the way back to the first season in 2011, it’s a jaw-dropping roll-call of finger jabbing, screaming matches, wild accusations, over the top responses, name-calling, blaring sirens, threats of violence and actual punch-ons. And if there’s any takeaway from the whole over-the-top enterprise it’s to never mess with studio owner Abby Lee Miller, who seems to have 911 on speed dial.
GUILLAUME’S FRENCH ATLANTIC
THURSDAY, 7.30PM, SBS FOOD
He may be a little biased but French-born, Sydney-based chef Guillaume Brahimi believes that the 1500km of Atlantic shores in his homeland make up the greatest coastline in the world. And to prove his case from a culinary perspective he’s travelling through its five different regions – Normandy, Brittany, Pays de la Loire, Bordeaux and Pays Basque – to explore their produce and specialist dishes, while putting his own spin on what he finds with mouth-watering cooking demonstrations. His first stop is picture perfect Normandy, starting in ritzy Deauville, where hungry Parisians flock every weekend to scoff mussels and chips, before heading down the Rue Du Fromage to the village of Camembert (population 169). From there it’s a stopover in Calvados to try the syrupy brandy made from apples and on to 1000-year-old Honfleur at the mouth of the Seine and home to the Impressionist movement.
EXPOSURE
THURSDAY, STAN
Lucy Coleman, creator and writer of this homegrown, six-part series, was inspired by her own traumatic assault at the age of 22 while backpacking overseas – as well as gritty dramas covering similar themes such as I May Destroy You. Alice Englert (Dangerous Liaisons, Top of the Lake), stars as Jacs, a 20-something aspiring photographer in Sydney whose best friend commits suicide, and leaves behind series of mysterious messages and calls on her phone. Stricken by grief and trauma – and using booze and hook-ups to try to cope – she returns to the grim coastal town where they both grew up to try to find answers. It’s often not easy viewing and many of the damaged and flawed characters are hard to like, but their rawness and authenticity makes it hard to look away.
EURO 2024
FRIDAY 2AM, OPTUS SPORT
It’s an absolute cracking morning of football for the sport’s second biggest tournament behind the World Cup. First up is Euro favourite England – a team absolutely brimming with Premier League talent and desperate for a big trophy after a 58-year drought – against the sentimental favourites from 2020, Denmark. Then at 4am, there’s a battle between two of the global superpowers in three-time Euro winners Spain and defending champs Italy. Both got off to impressive starts with 3-0 and 2-1 wins respectively on the weekend, but will be keen to dominate one of the toughest groups in the tournament.
ANYONE BUT YOU
FRIDAY, BINGE
Ever since he seemingly arrived fully formed as the cocky Hangman in Top Gun: Maverick, Glen Powell has been everywhere. He proved his versatility in this hugely appealing rom-com, which was one of the few movies to exceed expectations in cinemas this year and looks just as good on the small screen. He plays one half of an on-again, off-again American couple who head Down Under for a destination wedding. Both Sydneys – Sweeney and the Harbour City – have never looked better and there’s also a top-notch local support cast including Rachel Griffith and Bryan Brown. And for a weekend double-header, check out Powell’s work in the just-released Netflix action rom-com Hitman, which is even better.
THE EIFFEL TOWER: BUILDING THE IMPOSSIBLE
SUNDAY, 7.30PM SBS
Especially with the Paris Olympics coming up, we are so used to seeing the global icon that is the Eiffel Tower that it’s easy to forget just what a stunning achievement its construction was 135 years ago. Led by the visionary engineer and canny businessman Gustav Eiffel, it was built in just two years, two months and five days, in time for 1889 World Fair – and originally only designed to stand for 20 years. This French documentary examines how Eiffel’s previous projects such rail viaducts, money-spinning portable bridges in Vietnam and the Statue of Liberty helped him prepare for what would overtake the Washington Monument as the tallest structure in the world, how the whole project was basically a massive flex for the government of the time, as well as his sometimes scandal-plagued life. It’s a very deep dive that gets a little nerdy at times, but it’s a fascinating story.
MASTERCHEF
SUNDAY, 7.30PM, CHANNEL 10
It’s getting towards the pointy end of the MasterChef season this week, so what better time to head to Hong Kong, one of the culinary capitals of the world – home to 70 Michelin stars and an astonishing array of food from street vendors to fine dining. And it’s a big deal for the remaining competitors too – for Josh the Tassie butcher, it’s his first time out of the country and for Hong Kong raised Mimi, a chance to pay homage to her upbringing and influences. Proceedings kick off with a Mystery Box challenge, cooking outdoors with an array of local produce, including flower crabs and pork belly, with the spectacular Victoria Harbour as the backdrop. With the top three progressing for a shot at immunity, some bold choices are made. Not all of them pay off, but the ones that do are absolutely mouth-watering.
LIMITLESS WITH CHRIS HEMSWORTH
MONDAY, 9PM, CHANNEL 9
In his six-part docuseries, the Aussie Thor actor is on a mission to live better for longer by subjecting himself to extreme conditions to examine the physiology of a range of tests from strength to memory and stress to fasting. In this episode he heads to the Norwegian Arctic to see how extreme cold – and heat – can potentially turbocharge the immune system and ward off cardiovascular disease and dementia. Coming along for the ride are brothers Luke and Liam, who seem to mostly be there as a sibling peanut gallery as Chris prepares for a 250m swim in water that’s just above freezing wearing only his boardshorts, and hits the frigid waves with three-time surfing world champ Mick Fanning.
MEGAFAUNA: WHAT KILLED AUSTRALIA’S GIANTS
TUESDAY, 8PM, ABC
It’s astonishing to think that once upon a time in Australia, a marsupial as big as a family SUV roamed the countryside. But the mighty 2m tall and 3.5m long Diprotodon was just one of the many species of megafauna that dominated the landscape for millions of years before mostly disappearing in the blink of an eye (in planetary terms) about 40,000 years ago. This two-part documentary – gravely narrated by Hugh Jackman – enlists the help of palaeontologist, paleo-ecologists and assorted other boffins, as well as CGI recreations, to try to understand why. They travel the land from the parched outback to the coastal wetlands to discover what happened to the giant snub-nosed kangaroos, wombats and lizards – and how that knowledge might prevent other species from going extinct.
Best of TV and streaming this week
From a fun family remake of a 1980s classic to a documentary featuring Stormy Daniels’ account of her tryst with Donald Trump, these are the shows that you don’t want to miss this week.
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