THE terrestrial channels have got it wrong. What the general viewing public wants to see on television is sex.
Playboy Night, which I have not seen because it is on cable, and I am not wired, has already 'broken all ratings records' for Wharf Cable. This is according to Wharf Cable, but is not an earth-shattering claim for a station that has only been on air a few months and offers viewers of its movie channel gems such as Qiu Jin: A Revolutionary and Albert Wendt: Flying Fox in a Freedom Tree.
Hardly surprising then that last Wednesday (again according to a Wharf Cable spokesman) cable viewers were falling over themselves for an innovative glimpse of flesh. There is not much of it about in Hong Kong; ATV and TVB cannot even show animals fornicating without being taken to task for it.
But many cable viewers missed the bums and boobs in features such as Eden and Playmate of the Year 1994 because the booking lines were so busy. For tonight's episode of Eden, which is presented in an unmarked, brown paper bag, book now.
There is further good news for the sad and the bored. Wharf Cable has been so encouraged by the popularity of Playboy Night it is considering developing and producing its own adult programmes in the near future.
WHICH brings us to Khartoum (World, 9.35pm), which has more stars in it than Playboy Night and a slightly superior plot, but is still boring.
Charlton Heston is more impressive than he usually is as that mystical British general Sir Charles 'Chinese' Gordon, who died in 1885 at the hands of fanatical Sudanese tribesmen under the leadership of a religious zealot. The Sudanese had overrun Khartoum after a 317-day siege. Gordon was a paradoxical creature, both realist and idealist, and Heston somehow - by accident or design - manages to capture this.