Tv Previews

Sydney Morning Herald

Monday November 19, 2007

Michael Idato

Beckham

ABC, 9.20pm

The first thing to be said here is that this really is an engaging documentary. The second thing you need to keep in mind is that it takes its subject far too seriously. David Beckham, the squeaky-voiced cut-out who has become the posterboy for modern celebrity, is venerated here in a manner that is entirely off the mark for a documentary.

Lines such as "his life reads like a Hollywood script where he has been both hero and villain" are enough to make you laugh out loud, which is a shame because when the show gets down to basics - glimpses of his real life and interviews with the people who have influenced him - it hits its stride.

At times the treatment seems overspun, such as the declaration that in joining LA Galaxy he is "on the brink of greatness", while anyone with a serious understanding of soccer knows his best years are behind him and, fighting injury, he's financing his eventual retirement. The real issue with Beckham is that he's just not that interesting - he's a good-looking but fairly bland guy whose celebrity is out of proportion to his complexity, the issue being that one naturally feeds on the other.

Living On The Coast

TVS, 7.30pm

Despite its patchy production values and its ignorance of a few rules of thumb in television - one of which, broken in the first story, is never open a travel and lifestyle program with an indoor interview with a man in a suit - this program has a natural charm that is enhanced by its frayed edges.

Once it's under way, the stories are solid, including a lovely segment on the Nowra community sending hospital beds to Samoa, an interview with 2UE's Glenn Wheeler and a wildlife segment with Nicholas Schilko, who comes across as a Steve Irwin-lite. At a time when TV networks have virtually abandoned regional Australia, this is refreshing and tasty.

Cutting Edge:

War Of Ideas

SBS, 8.30pm

There is little doubt that as the current chapter of the Middle East conflict unfolded over the past decade, one of the most intriguing figures in the mix was not a person but a television channel. Al Jazeera, the so-called CNN of the Middle East, has become a complex and unpredictable beast - praised on the one hand for its modern touches and its insight into the many layers of the issues affecting the region, and at the same time perceived in some ways as a mouthpiece for terrorism, with a tendency to air material that more conservative Western media outfits consider inappropriate.

Greg Barker tackles the issue on the ground, walking a path through the station's newsrooms and speaking to the key figures in its life. The result is fantastic. The documentary is a little patchy in parts but the tone suits it well - presenting more as an extended story filmed for a news broadcast, rather than a polished, antiseptic examination of the issues.

Who Killed Harold Holt?

Nine, 9.35pm

In Australian folklore Harold Holt has become an intriguing figure, like the bunyip or Rose Hancock. Forty years after his disappearance - a swim in the sea of conspiracy-fuelled simplicity - there is still much debate about where he might have gone ("Simon, Tahiti looks nice") or what might have befallen him.

Why would he swim in such rough surf? Why would he swim alone? These and other compelling questions get a fairly straightforward treatment, with Nine's venerable current affairs figurehead Ray Martin along to lend an air of something or other. Nine would say gravitas but in 2007 the effect is something more like camphor. It's a stylish touch but somehow it feels out of season.

© 2007 Sydney Morning Herald

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