‘This show will have you thanking God you’re not American’
Painkiller proves the fascination and horror the US opioid crisis induces is as strong as ever. But you might need sedating after watching Matthew Broderick ham it up this badly.
Television
The Yorkshireman who refused to ‘go native’
Michael Parkinson hated snobbery about his background, as he revealed in a meeting of two Yorkshiremen over lobster thermidor and a perfectly chilled Chablis Premier Cru ’94.
![PIRATE: DECEMBER 2003 : Actors [L-R] Benjamin McKenzie, Mischa Barton and Peter Gallagher of the TV show](https://content.api.news/v3/images/bin/bf35b465b7dcb50e4a5e400d24ca59fd?width=650)
The OC remains a Californian classic
I am not shy to admit that I love trash – television that is – and it turns out the classics are sustainable elements of entertainment.
Gunslinging hero delivers justice on mean streets of Detroit
Crime novelist Elmore Leonard’s US Marshal Raylan Givens is granted permission to inhabit another TV series. The results are stellar in Justified: City Primeval.
Porn stars and pork miso soup
Midnight Diner is the ultimate comfort viewing. Part food show, part melodrama, this Japanese anthology series takes place in a late-night restaurant, open only from midnight till 7am.
Star Trek as you’ve never seen it
Since childhood Anson Mount was driven to take his place in the captain’s chair.
The singular life of Sinead O’Connor
The documentary, Nothing Compares, which charts the meteoric rise of a young, abused Dublin woman who was thrust into stardom as swiftly as she was condemned to exile.
MeToo tennis drama never feels predictable
While tennis stars are generally boring, don’t let that put you off Fifteen-Love – this series has all the ingredients of a gripping drama.
‘If you saw what we see, you’d never go back in the water’
The resurgence of great white sharks has forced communities to deal with a new kind of violence.
‘Immensely talented’ Euphoria star dead at 25
Angus Cloud, the American actor best known for his role as Fezco in the HBO teen hit series Euphoria, had recently lost his father.
Sonia Kruger wins Gold Logie
Sonia Kruger has taken out the top prize at the 2023 Logie Awards. ‘I have to compose myself, I’m not used to being on TV,’ the star quipped | FULL WINNERS LIST
Aussie actors back Hollywood strikes
Australian stars have backed the Hollywood strikes, warning the historic picket line assault on the big studios will have a trickle-down effect on Australian film and TV productions.
Weaver a powerhouse in new Aussie drama … ignore the accent
Thank heavens we can get the likes of Sigourney Weaver to star in huge Australian productions. She just needed to watch a few more episodes of Home and Away first.
Strike postpones Emmy Awards
The ceremony, originally scheduled to take place on September 18, could now be pushed as far back as January next year.
Meryl Streep enters the murder building
Only Murders in the Building returns for a third season, plus a forgotten gem from the writer of Happy Valley.
‘My first TV gig was a comedy sketch as a heron addict – I was addicted to birds’
Presenter Julia Zemiro on Andrew Denton’s surprising role for her on The Money or the Gun in the 1980s.
The Lincoln Lawyer excels in courtroom but bombs in love
The hit series inspired by US crime journalist Michael Connelly’s novels rolls through the hipster streets of LA for a second season.
‘I’m not The Nanny’: Hollywood’s fiery activist gears up for a long fight
With her star power, middle-class roots and, of course, that voice, 90s sitcom celebrity Fran Drescher’s blunt appeals are galvanising the actors’ union in its labor battle.
Crime drama Dark Winds taps the spell of the desert
This beguiling Western thriller told from the perspective of Indigenous people is based on Tony Hillerman’s mystery series about two Navajo cops.
Famous faces the PR weapon in Hollywood war
With star power on their side, writers and actors seem to be winning, for now, in the epic tinseltown divide over ‘generative AI’ and money.
Arnie’s antidote to toxic masculinity
You couldn’t get more different ‘blokes’ than singer George Michael and Arnold Schwarzenegger, but as their new TV shows highlight they approach life in a similar way.
New Aussie series is Ozark meets Fargo and Schitt’s Creek
Marta Dusseldorp plays a woman who is uprooted from her life with her two children and hidden in a mysterious place as two Russian killers hunt her down in Tasmanian series Bay of Fires.
Major Aussie productions shut down as actors strike
The first combined Hollywood actors’ and writers’ strike in nearly 60 years covers all American commissioned work, regardless of where the production is being filmed.
Thankfully, some more gore graces our screens
From a vampire hit to a nailbiting hijack and a fresh spin on Sweeney Todd, we are welcoming a surprising new wave of scary television.
Oppenheimer stars leave UK premiere to join actors’ strike
The big names ‘left to write their picket signs’ once film and TV actors voted to join screenwriters in their first simultaneous strike in over 60 years.
Hollywood actors to join writers’ strike
A prolonged strike involving writers and actors could mean Hollywood’s pipeline of fresh shows and movies will thin.
Hated The Idol? Watch this instead
Unlike the smug, self-congratulatory, depressing slog that was The Idol, I Hate Suzie is smart and excruciating fun.
Australian faces in the spotlight as Emmy nominations unveiled
The final season of Succession dominated with 27 nods, but an ongoing writers’ strike and potential actors’ strike are casting doubt over the event itself | FULL LIST
Nic spies yet another hit with CIA drama
Kidman will star as a senior CIA supervisor in Yellowstone producer Taylor Sheridan’s upcoming espionage thriller.
Together again: Abbott, Credlin reunite in podcast
Tony Abbott and Peta Credlin will join forces in a new Sky venture, eight years after Credlin last served as the former PM’s chief of staff.
Original URL: https://www.theaustralian.com.au/arts/television/page/15