Verdict on Jenna Ortega in Wednesday's new season as the terrifying Alien: Earth delivers a new phobia
ONE SHOW. TWO VIEWS
NEW EPISODES WEDNESDAYS, DISNEY+
So effective was the terrifying, slavering, jaw-snapping, chest-bursting Xenomorph in Ridley Scott's first Alien film that of the many sequels in the 46 years since, even the bad ones are still pretty good (we don't talk about the two Predator-adjacent abominations of the early 2000s). But by last year's not-half-bad Alien: Romulus, they were starting to feel a little repetitive. In the franchise's first foray on to the small screen – set two years before the events of the first film – creator Noah Hawley has come up with something that feels both familiar and fresh and adds depth and nuance to the world in a similar fashion to what Andor did for the Star Wars universe. Yes, there's plenty of acid blood, spiked tails and gory dismemberment after a stricken space freighter oaded with deadly cargo crash-lands in a city, but there are also new creatures to make your skin crawl, androids and other augmented humans that resonate with the current big questions about artificial intelligence and amoral tech giants who will make viewers wonder who the true enemy is.
JAMES WIGNEY
I have never quite recovered from seeing a blood-soaked alien burst forth from John Hurt's chest in the original 1979 film. The iconic scene introduced cinema goers to the killer creature (while also serving to reinforce my distaste for canteens). While plenty of folk relish jump scares, they have never been my thing and usually just result in nightmares or planting seeds for another phobia (case in point being It fostering a hatred of clowns and Misery making me deeply suspicious of jovial older ladies). This is why – despite my immense respect for Sigourney Weaver's groundbreaking performance as Ripley – I have tended to avoid anything to do with Alien. Until now. Like its predecessors, this prequel is scary stuff. But perhaps not for the same reasons. Set in 2120, in a time when the world is now ruled by corporations and egotistical trillionaires are experimenting with merging humans with machines, the problems created by humankind feel almost as scary as the murderous extraterrestrials. Worse yet, this future feels frighteningly possible. Cue new phobia.
SIOBHAN DUCK
WEDNESDAY
NETFLIX
It was always going to be a big ask for Tim Burton to recreate the magic of the gothic black comedy's first season, with its visually stunning take on the ooky, kooky Addamses, the cracked version of Hogwarts that is Nevermore Academy and the rogues gallery of Outcasts that populated its halls. But there's still plenty to like in the first four episodes of the follow-up season – with the second half due to drop next month. Jenna Ortega's title character is back at school trying to hone her psychic powers, much to the consternation of her mother, while also juggling a stalker, another murder mystery and new-found notoriety. Among the fresh faces leading up to a cracking cliffhanger are Steve Buscemi as the new principal, Billie Piper as a mysterious music teacher and Joanne Lumley absolutely revelling in the role of Wednesday's filthy rich, no-nonsense grandmother.
AFL WOMEN
THURSDAY, 7.15PM, CHANNEL 7, 7MATE, FOX FOOTY, KAYO
This year's milestone tenth season will get underway where last year's wrapped up with North Melbourne's dominant showing against Brisbane at Melbourne's Princes Park to secure their first flag. Traditional powerhouse rivals Carlton and Collingwood, both of whom are yet to win the competition, will face off tomorrow night, followed by the West Coast Eagles hosting the Gold Coast Suns. Friday will see Sydney at home against Richmond and on Saturday it's Geelong v North Melbourne, GWS v Essendon and Western Bulldogs v Melbourne. On Sunday there's Brisbane V Hawthorn, St Kilda v Adelaide and then Port Adelaide taking on Fremantle to close out the opening round.
PLAYING GRACIE DARLING
THURSDAY, PARAMOUNT+
It's a foundational principle for horror that any time a Ouija board appears on screen – let alone when it's being used in a creepy abandoned building in the middle of the night – nothing good is going to happen. And so it proves in this intriguing new Aussie mystery thriller when a bunch of teenagers do just that, leading to the disappearance and presumed death of the title character. Years later Gracie's bestie and fellow seance enthusiast Joanie, who is now working at as a psychologist in a youth detention centre and still haunted by the terrifying experience, gets word that another member of the Darling family has disappeared under similar circumstances. Throw in some disgruntled small-town locals, dead birds and burning effigies and it all adds up to plenty of atmospheric and foreboding fun.
PROFESSOR T
FRIDAY, 8.30PM, ABC
Hot on the heels in the same timeslot of autistic sleuth Patience Evans, comes another unconventional, neurodivergent detective in the form of Ben Miller's Professor Jasper Tempest. Punctual, meticulous, germ-phobic, prone to flights of fancy and living with obsessive-compulsive disorder, he's also a brilliant criminologist at Cambridge University who assists the police – sometimes reluctantly – in their investigations. When the spectre of a serial rapist appears in the uni's hallowed halls, a police officer who knew one of the victims and is a former student of Jasper, enlists his help in making connections that no one else can see to find the perpetrator.
THE RAINMAKER
SATURDAY, STAN
Relative newcomer Milo Callaghan follows in the footsteps of Matt Damon for this pacy and more-ish ten-part adaptation of John Grisham's legal page-turner. He plays aspiring lawyer Rudy Baylor, who gets fired from his job at a prestigious firm on his first day for turning up late and bloody and mouthing off at his cocky boss. Turned down by every other firm in town Rudy signs on to a small, ambulance chasing outfit and proves to be a natural Rainmaker – someone who can drum up money-spinning clients. But in taking on a wrongful death case of a man who died in hospital, he finds himself not just pitted against his former employer (John Slattery putting an evil spin on his Mad Man character), but also his girlfriend, who still works for the firm.
SURVIVOR: AUSTRALIA V THE WORLD
SUNDAY, 7PM, CHANNEL 10
It's the last hurrah for veteran Survivor host Jonathan La Paglia – but he's going out in style with an action-packed, truncated season featuring the some of the best players from Australia's ten seasons facing off against greats of the game from the US, South Africa, New Zealand, Canada and Finland. With 16 days rather than 50-odd and 14 players instead of 24, moves have to be made fast and Aussies David 'Golden God' Genat and George 'King of Bankstown' Mladenov (sporting some alarming Speedos) waste no time getting in the heads of their fellow players. On the World side, American Parvati 'Black Widow' Shallow is gunning for record number of days played while hulking South African Rob is not afraid to call the shots early.
THE ROOKIE
MONDAY, 8.55PM, CHANNEL 7
It's literally an all-guns-blazing start for the seventh season of the much loved police procedural, with Nathan Fillion's John Nolan (back on deck after a bullet in the bum) and the gang backing up a SWAT team to take down a heavily armed house while on the hunt for last season's fugitives Jason and Oscar. As is his wont, Nolan's working smarter not harder in the ensuing chase, but his sporadic self-doubt in not being able to take shot that could save a life leaves him wondering whether he's come back to work too soon, especially with the looming threat of a stolen nuke. And of course there's a couple of new rookies – a cocky cowboy from Texas who wants to be the best and a by-the-book greenhorn who wants to help – setting up a fun rivalry between their two handlers.
TRENDING – BRAD PITT
As Brad Pitt pulls on his blonde wig for a second time to reprise his Oscar-winning performance as stuntman Cliff Booth in the upcoming spin-off to Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, let's travel back to a time before Pitt was one of Tinseltown's top leading men. This 1991 film, made the same year as Pitt's breakout role as a conman with chiselled abs in Thelma and Louise, has the father-of-six starring alongside NYPD Blue star Rick Schroeder. Pitt plays a straight-a student whose well-planned future is thrown into disarray by the return of his troubled younger brother (Schroeder). While the film itself is predictable stuff, it offers a great glimpse at a star in the making.
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