Rat Bastards, A&E, 3.30pm
These days, nothing gets a cable executive reaching for the green light faster than an idea for a show about Louisiana swamp folk. This one follows big-bearded stereotypes with names such as Skeeter and Squirrel as they head out on the bayou to hunt the big, invasive South American rodents known as nutria. Nutria, which can weigh up to nine kilograms, were brought into Louisiana by fur ranchers in the 1930s. They began wreaking havoc by devouring vegetation that holds the wetlands together, enabling hurricanes to wash land away. With governments and landowners offering bounties of up to $15 a head, there’s money to be made in filling the varmints full of lead. Tonight, though, Squirrel and Shane have a trickier task – nutria are apparently a delicacy in South America, and a local chef wants them to bring him a passel of live ones. Elsewhere, Rigger decides to burn a bunch of the critters out of their hiding spots. One episode is plenty.
Ross Noble: Fizzy Logic, Comedy, 8.30pm
The energetic and improvisational Ross Noble is like a hyperactive hamster pedalling a bicycle across a tightrope – amazing to begin with but not necessarily something you'd choose to watch for twohours straight. Comedy is having something of a Friday night Noble month, starting with this special filmed in Canberra in 2007.
BRAD NEWSOME
Deadliest Tech, Discovery Science, 9.30pm
A look at fighter planes past, present and future.
Shortland Street, Arena, 5pm
Choice Kiwi hospital drama now airing just six weeks behind the ones airing in New Zealand.
