SERIES WATCH
Exploring Northwest China.
Home, 9.30pm
From the infotainment production team who brought us the excellent series Stories From Afar, Exploring North West China is a travelogue/cultural programme that searches out the wild, wild, west of the mainland. Four ATV camera crews embark on the Silk Road which takes them across the Shaanxi (above), Ningxia, Gansu, Qinghai and Xinjiang provinces. According to the show's producer Wan Siu-kwong, the filming involved co-operating with more than 10 local TV stations in China and the production teams spent more than 150 days shooting the 65 half-hour-episode series. The west/northwest regions of China have always fascinated globetrotters, not only because here you find the doorways to the West, with the Silk Road serving as the main trading route, but many of these remote provinces are peppered with various ethnic minorities, each with its own distinctive culture, history, dialect, religious practices and even economy.
The production teams venture into territories (with the approval of the local authorities) where no overseas camera crews have entered before, with breathtaking results. Narrated by a host of celebrity presenters, the programme aims to be as entertaining as it is informative. Guests include Y Y Chang, Jacqueline Chu, Ho Sou-sun, Allen Lee Peng-fei, Wong Mei and Ngan Fok-wai. It would be great if the network could have this series subtitled and shown on its English channel.
The Practice
World, 10pm
Tempers flare over a particularly tough case. Bobby Donnell (Dylan McDermott) defends drug dealer Eddie Wick (Mark A Sheppard) who is accused of stabbing an addict seven times. Wick claims self-defence but Helen Gamble (Lara Flynn Boyle, above) brings the coroner to testify that it wasn't. Instead of taking Donnell's advice to accept the prosecution's
voluntary manslaughter offer, Wick attacks Gamble to try to force the judge into a mistrial. Donnell, unwisely, has a heated exchange with the presiding judge.
Survivor 2: The Australian Outback.
AXN, 2pm
AXN has obtained the broadcasting rights in Asia to air Survivor 2: The Australian Outback, the much-hyped follow-up to last year's smash hit Survivor, today Each of the 12 episodes of Survivor 2 will air within hours of CBS's broadcast in the US. Created by Eco-Challenge founder Mark Burnett, Survivor 2 is a reality show that chronicles the lives of 16 strangers stranded hundreds of kilometres from any form of civilisation, in the remote Queensland desert. Facing dangers like extreme heat and humidity, wild pigs and horses, lizards and venomous snakes, the 'tribemates' will build shelters, catch food and establish a new desert society. All participants will be forced to use their physical endurance and wits to survive. Those who have watched Survivor will be familiar with this format. The last remaining survivor will walk away with US$1 million (HK$7.79 million) in cash.
Frasier
Star World, 9.30pm
Hurrah! Frasier returns. In tonight's third season (1995)
opener, a new station manager takes over and disagrees from the beginning with with Dr Frasier Crane (Kelsey Grammer). When Frasier refuses to implement her ideas, she banishes his
programme to the graveyard shift. This episode also features the voices of Matthew Broderick and Carrie Fisher.
