By Vickii Byram
Ladies in Black
Seven Network, October 3, 9.40pm
It is always a pleasure to watch understated acting, and in this Australian movie directed by the highly respected Bruce Beresford, much of the acting is superbly understated.
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Adapted from the bestselling novel by Madeleine St John, Ladies in Black is a tender-hearted coming of age dramedy about the lives of a group of store employees at an upper class department store in 1959 in Sydney.
Julia Ormond is the exotic Hungarian immigrant Magda who manages the model fashion department and takes Angourie Rice's naive character Lesley (later being called Lisa as she blossoms) under her wing. Noni Hazelhurst is the strict ladies department co-manager Miss Cartwright, who is really a softy at heart, and co-manager Nicholas Hammond (yes he was Friedrich in The Sound of Music).
Rachel Taylor's Fey at first appears shallow, but as we learn more about her and watch as she falls for Magda's much more worldly compatriot Rudi (Ryan Corr), she becomes infinitely more likeable. Shane Jacobson as Lesley's dad shows a sensitive side which is endearing as he watches his daughter becoming a woman.
SAS Australia: Pressure
Seven Network and 7 plus, October 3, 7.31pm
If they haven't been under pressure already, I don't know what you call the screaming into their faces, constant berating and ridiculously horrendous tasks the celebrity recruits have been enduring since episode 1 of reality show SAS Australia. One by one the "pressure" has become too much for the likes of Brynne Edelsten, Alicia Molik, Bonnie Anderson, Manu Feildel, Kerri Pottharst, Pete Murray, Emma Husar, and Erin Holland, have succumbed. Who will be next?
There are just two remaining challenge days - Attack and Determination - for the recruits to hold their own in to make it to the final episode where those survivors will be debriefed and learn if they would be accepted into the special forces program.
Hard Quiz
ABC TV and iview, October 6, 8pm
You have to wonder how Tom Gleeson and Aunty ABC TV get away with the double entendre and general smuttiness on this quiz show.
The name Hard Quiz is really a misnomer. I mean, surely if you enter a quiz show picking your own topic, you should have a leg up on your fellow contestants if you do your homework.
On this week's quiz, senior compliance agent Tim bumbles his way through to the final play-off, against seeker of fame Debs, seemingly knowing very little about his chosen subject of money laundering.
Surprisingly, the first to be told to "get out" by Gleeson is physiotherapist Chris, whose category is children's book series Grug.
Offering little in the way of grist for Gleeson's mill is contestant Shelby, whose subject is Meghan Markle.
However, the quick-witted host does manage to come up with "Meghan did a 'megsit' now Shelby does a shegsit", when she is next to "get out".
In each episode of Hard Quiz we learn what is arguably the most embarrassing moment in each contestant's life.
For Chris it is "having a stack" on his wedding day. We discover Tim "eats weird s**t" - (i.e. a tarantula), while Debs, who seems to be auditioning for a comic role or is an impressionist wannabe, shat herself in Macy's, New York - a fact Gleeson gleefully brings up during the show.
Debs get five from five correct for her chosen field of the musical Les Miserables, but neither she nor Tim get any of the first play-off questions on their subject correct.
Host Gleeson even asks the question: "Are either of you going to get anything right?".
Tim does correctly answer his next question but in response to Gleeson saying "get this right and you are the next Hard Quiz champion", he says "I didn't see that coming". Quick as a whip Gleeson replies "nobody did". As the pair continue to stumble through their chosen categories, Gleeson remarks: "I can't believe these two losers get a tiebreak". Harsh, but true. You have to laugh.