2020-02-29 New Zealand Listener

FEBRUARY 29 2020 LISTENER 57

SATURDAY FEBRUARY 29

Mad About You (TVNZ

OnDemand). The revival no

one thought they wanted:

Mad About You, which ended

in 1999, was always the

television equivalent of white

bread, and it risks looking

even less relevant in 2020.

Paul and Jamie Buchman

(Paul Reiser and Helen Hunt)

are now facing an empty

nest when their daughter

Mabel (Abby Quinn), who

had just been born when

the series finished, goes off

to college. Time was not

convinced: it feels “like a relic

of a more innocent, easily

amused time”, said critic Judy

Berman, and it’s a show that

“has stayed the same amid

a television landscape that

keeps changing”.

Best Home

Cook (TVNZ 1,

8.30pm).

Sexual

misconduct

allegations

on Britain’s Best

Home Cook? What?

Is nowhere safe, not even

the most wholesome of

shows, created by the BBC

to fill the yawning gap left

by Bake Off? Judge Dan

Doherty has departed after

a story in the Sun about his

behaviour at a gastro pub

and the new judge for season

two is Angela Hartnett,

known for her sophisticated

yet simple Italian-inspired

cooking, according to the

BBC website. The show has

the advantage of being able

to focus on more than just

baking, and

each week

Mary Berry

challenges

the amateurs

to create a

dish for a special

occasion, while

Chris Bavin sets a “rustle

up” task. In the first episode,

it’s a pasta dinner and a

dish based around a piece of

fruit. In other cooking-show-

competition news, Zumbo’s

Just Desserts (Three, Thursday,

7. 3 0 p m) ends with a death
   match between student
   Catherine and concreter
   Simon.

SUNDAY MARCH 1

Veronica Mars (Box Sets, Sky

009, 7.30pm). It was never

going to be like it was back

a psychological study. So, in

Grantchester and in Deadwater

Fell, we’re looking behind the

tragedies to the truth, what

causes these events.”

Tennant is, naturally, the

MVP of the show. For the guy

who was once a lively Doctor

Who and a sad-sack cop, he

can also be menacing and

enigmatic.

“The moment we got him, it

was clear it was always David

Tennant’s role. He brings so

much to the part and the series

as a whole,” says Coulam. The

village of Dunlop in Ayrshire,

which stands in for the

fictional Kirkdarroch, is also a

character. “It’s stunning, but

there’s something symbolic

about it. The idyllic look of

it hides something more

sinister.” l

Best Home Cook,

Saturday.

The Best of the Week

Television by FIONA RAE

Goo

d^ for

a

La

ug

h!

ANT^ &

DEC’S

SATU

RDAY

NIGH

T^ TAK

EAWA

Y

TVNZ^

1 ,^ Satu

rday,

7.^00 p

m