David Tennant and Michael Sheen spark their host Graham Norton up nicely on Friday night.
COMMENT:
It is a most perplexing land to visit and explore, this land called Television.
It can be quite a journey, if you've got no real plans in place.
Like wandering a strange land without a map looking for somewhere to go.
Somewhere interesting that may hold your attention for a time.
A lot of people, while holidaying with the small screen, go to familiar and predictable sites because they kind of know what they're going to get.
I have heard of people who effectively schedule any outings or other commitments around a show they refuse to miss... usually a long-running serial type thing like Shortland Street or Coronation Street.
Personally I'd rather go for a wander down the street.
Others just go where it takes them.
Nothing like a surprise.
I will occasionally veer off the beaten track because the beaten track can often become too... familiar and predictable.
It's a case of "never know what you'll see".
I do, however, get hooked on the occasional familiar track but it is a track that also possesses the component of unpredictability.
While five each way on game shows I'm all 10 on The Chase because it sparks, and that is down to the unique human ingredient of a remarkable (and occasionally unpredictable) host and a line-up of frighteningly knowledgeable characters for the competitors to take on.
Check out a couple of online pieces featuring out-takes from The Chase.
It makes you wonder how they ever get the show completed.
I've also caught out-takes from Graham Norton's chatty outings and again, you wonder how they actually ever get to wrap it in 50 minutes.
The human angle is, like well-managed game shows, the selling pint of a chat show, and Norton is a fine salesman.
He also clearly has the clout to draw in some very interesting guests, and this Friday on TV3 he lines up David Tennant, Michael Sheen and Gloria Estefan.
So there's a potentially enlightening and entertaining spot to visit.
Old chums Tennant and Sheen will quickly fire things up.
As is the imaginative landscape of George Clarke's visits through the land of television, which in turn creates a colourful spot for we on the other side of the screen to holiday at... for an hour.
His stints are appropriately labelled as "amazing spaces" and yep, they are.
While some may step back and suspect George Clarke's Amazing Spaces is just another travel and check out other peoples' homes series he steps it all up a few more notches.
I will likely stop by for a visit on Thursday at 7.30pm in the land of TV1 to check George out for the simple reason that a couple of places he checks out are far from the average spots to visit.
Like a restaurant at the very top of a very big mountain and which has been designed to resemble a spaceship.
Okey dokey.
And a very oddly disguised ski lodge which kind of fits into the landscape...so well some may wander by it.
It is built in the guise of a gigantic boulder.
I guess it's called a point of difference.
It's also called iffy timing.
For as can often happen on a holiday, when time is tight and there are a couple of things you want to see before departure, decisions need to be made.
You see, bunny rabbits intrigue and fascinate me.
I think I should explain (that's a very good idea).
Halfway through George's escapades of architectural discovery TV2 steps up at 8 with the final issue of Highway Patrol and as is often the case with highway patrols, a chase is embarked upon.
In this case, the officers on the front line end up chasing a runaway.
A runaway rabbit.
It's okay, no spikes were used in the making of this episode.
So go exploring the channelways because you never know what will emerge.
Television often gets canned for showing "the same old stuff" but hey, there are some entertaining little brief holiday spots out there.
ON THE BOX
Borderforce USA, Prime at 9.30pm Thursday: For the crews who run the border patrols and border checks along the expansive American borders force does come into the equation occasionally.
There has been plenty of background material unleashed over the past year or so to the tune of overseeing the border with Mexico.
That's the not-so-legal crossing of the line, although the legal version also throws up confrontations because so many people cross it... and the more people crossing means the greater potential for dodgy situations.
Been some interesting ones thus far, and this episode sees a case of mistaken identity as an innocent person is nabbed with officers picking him as a wanted man.
Agnetha - ABBA and After, Choice at 8.30pm Thursday: It would be the reunion concert to top all reunion concerts.
Benny, Bjorn, Anni-Frid and Agnetha deciding that yeah, okay, we'll just do one final ABBA gig for old time's sake.
But where would you hold such a show which which draw rather a lot of global attention?
You'd have to hire the state of Nevada to get everyone in.
She set off on her musical journey in the 60s as a 15-year-old and after the ABBA years, she took up seclusion and still kind of does, living on a private island in Swedish waters.
But as you'll see, the music never went away.
At 63 she recorded her comeback album.
'The younger ones are quite likely to be more militant about it.'