Pick of the day
Party Of Five
SET
5pm
**
During a decade when the glitz and glamour of Beverly Hills 90210 was every teenager's paradigm, the tormented Salinger clan and their endless sombre tribulations scarcely stood a chance on the popularity scales. And the actors themselves didn't help matters much.
Neve Campbell was positively galling as the hiccup-dialogued Julia, Bailey's (Scott Wolf) knack for getting himself into stupid situations left you with a sense of wanting to "slap him silly", while Lacey Chabert's portrayal of the self-indulgent, sanctimonious musical prodigy, Claudia, made the prospect of having your nails ripped out sound appealing.
The show's singular saving grace was big brother Charlie (Matthew Fox, now of Lost fame) - but only because his character was somewhat more plausible than that of his on-screen siblings.
Still, the series had something of a cult following among a small selection of audiences and it's these people who will likely be jumping at the opportunity to relive their favourite Party of Five moments, thanks to SET's series reruns.
Showbiz
Heath Ledger THS
E!Entertainment
9pm
***
Heath Ledger's posthumous triumph (only the second such accolade in the Academy's history) for Best Supporting Actor at this year's Oscars, left certain people divided on whether he should have won.
That his portrayal of the Joker in The Dark Knight was simply inspired is not the point of contention. Rather, industry pundits question whether the career of an actor who's "still with us" wouldn't have been better served by such a tribute. THS examines these and other elements relating to Ledger's life.
Film
Ferris Bueller's Day Off
M-net Stars
11:30pm
****
Mention this movie to any child of the 80s, and you'll immediately be met with grins of glee, which will no doubt be accompanied by anecdotes on "the good old days" A time when an appalling fashion sense akin to Madonna's (circa her Like a Virgin album) and permed hair made you the height of popularity.
Sigh. Matthew Broderick is Bueller, a streetwise "cool" kid who casually skips school and indulges in tomfoolery for a day.
The best bit? He gets away with it!
Talkshow
Oprah
SABC 3
5:45pm
***
FINALLY! Oprah is shifting her love yourself and each
other arcane grandstanding to a topic that everyone
knows sells: sex!
The longreigning queen of the small screen takes viewers
behind closed doors, to determine what really goes on
in people's boudoirs.
And it ain't pretty. Turns out most Americans aren't exactly giddy about the state of their sex lives, which may explain why one in two marriages in the US end in divorce...