TV Picks: 30 Rock, Ja'mie, Borgen and Vampire Diaries' spin-off The Originals

CRISIS point for Ja'mie, the end of 30 Rock, the start of Borgen and the Vampire Diaries spin-off. Worthwhile staying home tonight. TV Picks.

IT'S time to find where the remote control is and if you have kids put them to bed early. There's lots of good viewing on TV tonight. Welcome to TV Picks.

Ja'mie, ABC1, 9pm 3 and a half stars

Girls rule ... (From left) Madison, Olivia, Alex, Morgan and Ja'mie confront the Hillford boarders. Picture: Supplied

Ja'mie King's actually going to kill herself. Several times. The last few days have literally been the worst days of her whole entire 17 years of her life. Like seriously she's been so devo it's not funny. Life's just not worth living anymore and can you pass me my Marie Claire, I want to show you a dress ... This last bit's to Cody who's in her room trying to make her feel better. He's there and so's Kwami. Kwami's exceedingly attentive. Exceedingly. What's the big catastrophe? That her father's maybe not going to buy her a BMW? No. Something much much worse. She's also got her dance recital tonight. Plus she sings. It's mortifying to watch. In a good way. There's one point, where Ja'mie's in kind of sporty slash sleep wear standing on her bed, I swear I forgot he was a 39-year-old man. It was kind of disturbing. This is the level of Chris Lilley's talent. And wardrobe. Even though you can kind of see Ja'mie's beardy stubble.

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Borgen, SBS One, 9.30pm 4 stars

Yes, Prime Minister ... Sidse Babett Knudsen stars as Birgitte in . Picture: Supplied

Season two. I love SBS, no mucking around hoarding shows til next year, they're getting this on while our crush on Denmark is still hot and heavy. Reminds me: you're worried you're never going to see Birgitte's husband ever again. Remember how that all ended up? Birgitte's the prime minister, he was sexy as hell, a lecturer with access to pretty young women, and he had a bit of a tantrum because boo hoo his wife was powerful and, I'm sorry, busy running a country. Anyway, I won't get into it because what's going to happen here is you would've discovered this show recently and decided you need to watch season one and you'll be recording this tonight. But just in case you're across it all, Birgitte's got problems with Afghanistan - this would explain that unflattering outfit you can see, she goes there in this episode - but she's still got Kasper, her fabulous adviser/mouthpiece, and Katrine, the journalist is still on the scene but she's got a new job. I love this show, it's fantastic - just the right amount of politics, bit of soap, tension, and we can all relax into this knowing there's another season to come.

30 Rock, Channel 7, 11.30pm 4 stars

30 Rock's last episode ... Ice-T as himself, Richard Belzer as himself and Jane Krakowski as Jenna Maroney. Picture: Ali Goldstein/NBC

And since you're up anyway, you'll be needing to watch the last episode of 30 Rock, Alec Baldwin's greatest role. Do I mean that? I think so. Although he was incredible in Glengarry Glen Ross for those 10 minutes. You Tube that if you've never seen it. But I have to say he is almost eclipsed tonight by Jane Krakowski as neurotic loon Jenna Maroney. Her song tonight ... all I'll say is Rural Juror. Which will mean nothing to you unless you've been watching this show from the start. And if you haven't, SBS2 are running it weeknights at 7. No excuse.

The Originals, GO, 8.30pm 3 and a half stars

Vampire Dairies spin-off ... Phoebe Tonkin as Hayley in . Picture: Supplied

I love a vampire, I love a werewolf, logic says I should love The Originals. This is the Vampire Diaries spin-off the world's been gagging for. Elijah - the nice vampire - Klaus - the handful brother - and their sister Rebekah (bored with both) arrive on a boat in the Mississippi 300 years ago. They've had to leave Europe. And then leave New Orleans too apparently, because it's suddenly the present day and the family's moving back after a long break. Why? We get the full story tonight, because this is one of those shows where everyone speaks in large blocks of explanatory dialogue throughout the entire first episode for our benefit because we're so stupid we wouldn't be able to figure out what was going on otherwise. It's annoying but it saves time I guess. I just kept waiting for Elijah to turn to Rebekah and ask her why the hell she was telling him their father hunted them out of New Orleans 300 years ago, it's not like he doesn't already know this, he's not a f***ing idiot. But that never happens on TV. So here's the hook: a girl called Hayley, who's pregnant with a werewolf-vampire baby. A first, I believe. And here's the problem: Marcel, who's been running New Orleans, and who I think was made by Klaus. Look, this isn't True Blood. It's totally in the vein of Vampire Diaries, ie no sex, not much blood either, which seems crazy for a show about vampires and werewolves. But the story's involving enough, and everyone's fairly gorgeous. And Hayley, if you want a local angle, is that girl from Sydney Phoebe Tonkin. I think I interviewed her for H20 Just Add Water but I can't be certain. She's been around for ages but she's getting a lot of traction with this. If traction's the word.

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Follow Dianne Butler on Twitter: @DiOnTelevision

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