SUMMER HEIGHTS HIGH (Wed Sept 19, ABC-9:30pm): Straight after THE CHASER, we’re moving on to Australian TV Comedy that’s not just painfully, embarrassingly unfunny, but also uncomfortably racist. The show chronicles several high-school characters, all played by Chris Lilley, who previously gave us the awful and over-rated WE CAN BE HEROES in which he donned buck teeth, skin toner and a sing-song accent to play a Chinese teen.. Here he plays HEROES’ bitchy schoolgirl Jaid’n again, along with two new characters – an egomaniacal drama teacher so stereotypically queeny he’d make Mr Humphries (may he rest in peace) split an inseam; and a Tongan character named Jonah, which means that Lilley once again adopts a ‘funny’ accent and, almost unbelievably, black-face and a curly wig. Did Australia get washed back to 1950’s Alabama, in the recent rains we’ve had?
THE NIGHT STALKER (Wed Sept 19, Seven- 11:45pm): Remake of the classic Seventies horror/sci-fi about Kolchak, a reporter investigating supernatural shenanigans and monstrous mysteries that made a household name of late cult actor Darren McGavin and spawned the seeds of the X-FILES 25 years later. Unfortunately, the remake starred Stuart Townsend as Kolchak, and although Townsend is pretty, he has misplaced his calling as an actor. Actually, he makes a really great desk lamp. There- I just solved The Mystery of the Sci-Fi/Horror Series Cancelled After Only 6 Episodes!
