Scott Kara's week of it

A scene is shown from 'Toy Story: Hawaiian Vacation.' Woody the cowboy, Buzz Lightyear and their 'Toy Story' pals are back on the big-screen in a new adventure. Photo / AP

TV
Replacing Downton Abbey this week is British medical drama Monroe (Prime, Tuesday, 8.35pm), with Hobbit star James Nesbitt as neurosurgeon Gabriel Monroe.

Elsewhere it's the final of First Life with Sir David Attenborough (Prime, Sunday, 8.30pm), it's also the final of No Ordinary Family (TV2, Thursday, 8.30pm), and on Tuesday The Stones In Exile documents the making of 1972 album Exile On Main Street (Prime, 9.40pm).

MOVIES
The coolest thing about Cars 2, which starts today and is possibly better than the 2006 original, is the short film Hawaiian Vacation that screens before it, telling the story of what happened to the Toy Story characters after Toy Story 3.

Meanwhile, if Cameron Diaz's new role as a teacher makes you think of Van Halen's Hot For Teacher then think again, because in Bad Teacher her character is hard living and foul-mouthed. Sounds like fun.

MUSIC
Celebrate Matariki with one final hurrah, and some music from the likes of Stan Walker, Adeaze, Ardijah, the Nathan Haines Band, Tama Waipara, Maisy Rika, and more, at the Tiramarama concert tomorrow night at ASB Theatre; for some late night action on Saturday, Cassette's Sick Disco features stealth dance dynamo Scratch 22, whose album Distance From View is one of my records of the year so far; and in an encore performance tonight the Topp Twins hook back up with the Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra at the Civic.

OR...
Take a stroll way back in time to when T-Rex wasn't just a glam rock band. In Walking With Dinosaurs, from next Wednesday, 15 life-sized creatures meander and stomp their way around Vector Arena. Though it's fun for all the family, apparently the little ones could freak out when the Brachiosaurus dips its head into the audience for a little bit of cross species interaction. So hold on to them. And though I haven't seen the show, a reliable source tells me the attention to detail on these beasts is incredible. So they're not just some papier mache playthings - these big fellas are as close as you're ever likely to get to the real prehistoric thing.

-TimeOut