What's on TV with Dianne Butler

DIANNE Butler reviews your evening television for Wednesday and Thursday.

switched roberts

DIANNE Butler reviews your evening television for Wednesday and Thursday.

Wednesday
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IT'S hard to believe Forest Whitaker is the best guy to be heading an FBI unit. Safe to say attention to detail needs to be at the top of a criminal profiler's skill set.

Historically, Whitaker's screen alter ego has let the odd small, or big, detail slip through his fingers.

Remember, this is a guy who fell in love with a girl who turned out to be a boy.

Most men would twitch at the sight of the Adam's apple. It's impossible to think a trained observer would need to discover "she" is, in fact, a "he" in a more intimate setting.

So if Whitaker missed that twist in The Crying Game, what else is he missing?

Let's say most serial killers would welcome him investigating their crimes.

That said, I'm a fan of his work, and of this show. It's a much better spin-off than, say, CSI: New York or CSI: Miami.

You could almost argue Criminal Minds: Suspect Behaviour fits into that very small group of sequels, or spin-offs, that betters the original.

This is an exclusive list that, among others, includes The Empire Strikes Back and Weekend at Bernie's II on the silver screen. In TV land we're limited to Suspect Behaviour, the 21 Jump Street spin-off Booker and the Dallas spin-off Knots Landing.

Eric Roberts, brother of Julia, guest stars in this episode, and of all the less famous siblings of movie stars such as Joey Travolta or Frank Stallone he's by far the best actor.

That's the strength of this show. Whitaker has a brilliant presence, the rest of the cast are great, and guest stars such as Roberts add to the already high level of performances.

Tonight's episode sees Whitaker's character, Sam, revisiting an old case as a convicted serial killer tries to land a retrial.

It all goes pear-shaped when her MO pops up again, and the rest of the team are brought in to handle the current threat.

Criminal Minds: Suspect Behaviour
Channel 7, 8.30pm
Rating: 4 Stars

Thursday
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IT takes some doing getting to the bottom of tonight's inaugural Unforgettable homicide. Especially given how little there is in the way of forensic evidence. Just some effective (for television) smears of blood on the walls the dead girl left behind on her way out the door to die.

The police can count themselves very lucky those walls are in the same building where Carrie Wells (Poppy Montgomery) now lives. She has moved to New York from Syracuse where she used to be a detective - "the youngest detective in the department's history" - with a wildly impressive clearance rate.

This is explained to one of the detectives at the crime scene by her old boyfriend Al (Dylan Walsh), who has also relocated from upstate to the big smoke.

They haven't seen each other for ages, but plainly have Unresolved History, which will now get set to high simmer because Al - also a cop - has a new girlfriend, but has decided to bring Carrie in as a consultant on the case. "Just this one time," he tells Mike, the boss.

About those amazing clearance rates - Carrie has somewhat more at her disposal than just good solid policing. Al describes her special talent to Mike as "great memory".

Mike's like, yeah well my aunt Jackie remembers every birthday. Sure, but does she have hyperthymesia? No. Didn't think so. Only "five or six" people in the whole country have it, Al tells Mike. Facts, patterns, crime scenes, witness testimony ... "Once she's got 'em, she's got 'em. She can't forget anything."

It sounds horrifying, and probably would be in any situation other than a TV show. But as it is, the police just watch as Carrie lifts up a grate and produces the murder weapon. They are stupefied because there is no logical explanation. Nor is there one for the tiny amount of time Carrie spends inside a casino.

Unforgettable
Channel 9, 8.30pm
Rating: 3 Stars