Thanksgiving weekend, it is. A welcome pause in the hurly-burly of life, election campaigns, recession fears and the recent general madness. Time to be thankful, but for what? Well, hockey's back on Saturday nights and during the week, too. That pleases so many Canadians. In general though, I give thanks for the sheer variety of entertainment on offer, this or any other weekend. Drama, docs, comedy, satire and the salacious, if you want it. Let's give thanks for never being bored. Thanks, TV racket.
Easy Money (Sunday, CW, CITY-TV, 9 p.m.) This might well be the most wacky and weirdly clever new show of this TV season. Demented, actually. It's about a family running a payday loan business in the U.S. Southwest and is a blend of Southern Gothic and satiric silliness. The middle son in this family is called Morgan Stanley, for instance. At one point he says to his mother (Laurie Metcalf, from Roseanne), “Are we just modern-day Shylocks?” Mom, the force behind the loan business and the show, replies, “Oh, I hate that word. It's so racist and so unfair. We help people, Morgan, people the banks don't think are good enough. They come to us in their hours of need and we help them.” There follows some nifty madcap comedy that is, under the surface, very pointed on the issues of greed, class and money in the USA.
I Was Bitten (Sunday, Discovery, 9 p.m.) Shiver your timbers. Be scared. This entertaining pop-science special looks at the science behind various insect and animal bites. Top venom researchers explain it all and you are introduced to some very scary critters found in various countries. Learn to beware spitting cobras and black mambas. Find out how scientists working in this field are slowly beginning to understand rare venoms. Be scared but rest assured that men and women in white coats, working in labs, are working to make the world safer. Hear one of those scientists explain her own painful experience being stung by a box jellyfish a few years ago. If this is your bag, also check out Colossal Squid (Discovery, 8 p.m.), about the capture of an enormous squid off the coast of Antarctica, and the science that went into finding one of the ocean's most elusive creatures.
Desperate Housewives (Sunday, ABC, CTV, 9 p.m.) The show has certainly been given a jolt of energy this season, with the leap five years into the future. It's extremely clever storytelling, with the mystery of what transpired over those years being slowly answered. It's also not only amusing but good, deft satire to turn glamourpuss Gaby (Eva Longoria) into a put-upon mom who doesn't look half as sleek as she once did. That's an unsubtle commentary on the importance of being model-thin in the American culture today. Obviously. This week, Bree's estranged daughter, Danielle, returns to Wisteria Lane, while Gaby and Susan get into a catfight brought on by an altercation between their kids. Always, layers of deception and betrayal seethe in that pleasant neighbourhood, Wisteria Lane.
