The week's best television

PREVIEWED: Conquest of Everest, Is Everything We Know About the Universe Wrong?, Underbelly: Razor, Fake or Fortune, Robert Blecker Wants Me Dead, True Blood.

Underbelly: Razor

PREVIEWED: The Wildest Dream: Conquest of Everest, Is Everything We Know About the Universe Wrong?, Underbelly: Razor, Fake or Fortune, Robert Blecker Wants Me Dead, True Blood.

The Wildest Dream: Conquest of Everest
Sunday, 8.30pm, ABC1
In 1999, mountaineer Conrad Anker found the body of George Mallory, the explorer who had disappeared 75 years earlier. Mallory not only gave the world the expression "because it's there" but there is also the question of whether he might have conquered the top of Everest a couple of decades before Edmund Hillary did (the difference being that Everest clearly conquered him back). Narrated by Liam Neeson, this looks at Mallory's expedition and the golden age of exploration.

Is Everything We Know About the Universe Wrong?
Sunday, 9.30pm, SBS One
In a word, no. But there are some things in our universe that are not satisfactorily explained by the big bang -- dark matter, for one -- and it's enough to generate debate among people who know what they're talking about. That title is irritating because it feeds into this distrust of science leading to controversies such as evolution v intelligent design, but the show itself is an interesting exploration of where the actual uncertainties lie.

Underbelly: Razor
Sunday, 8.30pm, Nine
The late 1920s were a fascinating period in Sydney history. So, really, it would be hard to go wrong with this miniseries following the exploits of the razor gangs. Underbelly is a series that rarely makes a mis-step, so even though this is the first season not to be based on a book by John Silvester and Andrew Rule, it's the usual criminal goodness.

Fake or Fortune
Tuesday, 8.30pm, ABC1
Journalist Fiona Bruce and art expert Philip Mould help people in their quest to authenticate paintings they believe are by the greats, starting off with the lovely David Joel, who may have paid pound stg. 40,000 ($63,000) for a Monet. The entertaining sleuthing series highlights the technology that can be used to analyse paintings and also exposes the infuriating eccentricities of the art world.

Robert Blecker Wants Me Dead
Wednesday, 9.30pm, ABC2
A unique documentary following Robert Blecker, a professor at New York Law School and advocate for the death penalty. Blecker has a quirky perspective on the matter, weighing up whether executions warrant a painful or painless death and why people should be put to death. This show follows him as he strikes up an odd relationship with a man on death row for killing his children, and the documentary-maker, Ted Schillinger, lets the story unfold without judgment.

True Blood
Thursday, 8.30pm (AEST), Showcase
Alan Ball's lush series returned last week for its fourth series. In that return Sookie (Anna Paquin) was transported to the fairy world and returned to find that a year had passed and a lot had changed in Bon Temps. Bill (Stephen Moyer) is now vampire king of Louisiana and fellow vampire Eric (Alexander Skarsgard) has bought Sookie's house and regards her as part of the deal. The narrative is now so convoluted that it's no place for newbies, but fans should enjoy it.