THE ELLEN DEGENERES SHOW (Fri Oct 26, Nine-1pm)
She’s baa-aack! The woman who arguably single-handedly paved the way for gays and lesbians on prime-time TV and voiced Dory, the funniest sea creature this side of Ian Thorpe after a few too many Tequila shots, returns to television with this affable mix of talk-show and comedy routine. It’s especially neat as it still manages to slip in a few poignant moments of gay rights talk (Rosie O’Donnell talking about her marriage to her girlfriend, TORCHWOOD’s Jack Barrowman talking about his, to his boyfriend) amidst the hilarity. DeGeneres remains genuinely funny and utterly adorable; Anne Heche must have been nuts to let her go!
INCREDIBLE JOURNEYS WITH STEVE LEONARD (Sun Oct 28, ABC-7:30pm)
Steve Leonard, formerly of the interesting fly-on-the-wall documentary about several veterinary students hoping to pass their final exams and becoming veterinarians (the cunningly titled VET SCHOOL), has now become a roving Natural Historian, like Sir David Attenborough, only minus the knighthood and with a much nicer bum (sorry, Sir David!). JOURNEYS sees the voluptuous veterinarian zipping about all over the place examining the behaviour of huge and spectacular creatures like grey whales, polar bears, and elephants and makes sure to pick places in which he tends to get very hot or soaked, so that he has to take his shirt off at least five times an episode. Some fine specimens on display in this show – and the animals are quite nice too.
