Summer whine

PBS should make the popular worthwhile and the worthwhile popular" is a sentence after my own heart (something like "never let a fool kiss you or a kiss fool you"). I filched it straight from the Programme Statement of Intent published on the Website of the Station of the Nation; although let it be said that the adage ought to be writ in the proverbial words of gold in frames of silver at the entrance to the buildings of each medium the world over.

This week, for instance, I saw a (very) watered down imitation of the interrogation sequence from Skartocc in Mur Saqqi; the sequence was supposed to be humorous, but it sat badly with the rest of the brilliant production.

Meanwhile, One's Anonimi appears to have been a hit both with its viewers and with TV critics, including this one; as from January, this programme will be transmitted on Sundays at 9.30 p.m. There will however be some changes in the format of the programme, which will now include a local slant to the usual well-researched documentaries.

It has always been One's policy to give newcomers a go at their 15 minutes of fame - and that is why we have seen a good number of new faces in the talents section of this programme.

However, earlier than that, on Sundays at 12.45 p.m., Ruth Frendo will be co-hosting another programme: Hazzzard (sic), with Tonio Camilleri, Kurt Cassar and Steven Axisa.

Twelve contestants will be out on a treasure hunt (if they can guess the clues) - joined by the special guest on the programme, who will inevitably be grilled in another of those 'different' interviews. Spot surprises are to be provided by the quaintly-named quintet She 2s.

Another series of unusual interviews will be "scene" on Net TV in Jean Claude Micallef's Espresso (the name is obviously an upgrade of Caffe he used to present on Super One some three years ago). It will air every day at around 6.30 p.m.

It has been billed as a ten-minute philosophical chat over the eponymous beverage (which would have gone stone cold by the end unless it is sipped during the talking). Each interview will be different, since it is the guests, idiosyncrasies that will call the shots. So be prepared for the emotional, the controversial, and the quirky.

Net Television will be broadcasting the first ever English-language sitcom based (in a manner of speaking) in Malta. The Inheritance will air on Tuesdays at 10.30 p.m. and my moles, who happened to be in London when some of the scenes were shot, tell me it is "good, quite good" - but I shall have to judge for myself.

Speaking of drama - apparently, Eileen Montesin has some more pertinent social examples up her sleeve.

I read somewhere that (the American) PBS had asked viewers to play programming executive, by passing their e-vote for the science show they would most like to watch.

This, apparently, is one genre that fails to attract viewers; so by letting potential viewers choose between Wired Science, Science Investigators and 22nd Century, the winner is to continue as a ten-week series. This indicates an assumption, however, that everyone has access to the Net. Or at least that it is only people who do, who have a right to select programmes for viewing.

There was a time when similar "voting documents" were presented in Catholic Digest. In Malta, SMS voting seems to be the order of the day; but this, again, is not available to everyone. Perhaps not everyone would be willing to purchase a printed medium in order to vote, either; and anyway we all know what happens when beauty contests come around and the newspapers and magazines sell out when the mug shots appear.

I rarely sit through a whole film; but TVM's broadcast of a (very) contemporary version of the Dickens classic A Christmas Carol had my undivided attention.

The premise is that Ebenezer's father was the Ghost of Christmas Past; Marley was, in a way, set up for murder by Scrooge (Ross Kemp) himself - and the Ghost of Christmas Future was the son he would one day have.

This evening, TVM will screen What We Did On Our Holiday, which was filmed in Malta this summer, and shown on ITV only last month.

Starring Pauline Collins (City of God and Shirley Valentine), one of my favourite actresses (not because she shares my birthday) as well as Shane Richie with a British and Maltese cast, the plot centres around a former RAF Luqa officer who visits Malta for the last time, in order to seek out his long-lost Maltese son.

List compilers are at their best towards the end of the year - and this one is no exception. Someone has actually sat through hundreds of hours of television, picking up "catchphrases" across the years.

Among those that anyone just this side of 50 will recall are: "I love it when a plan comes together" (Hannibal, The A-Team); "You've got spunk..." (Lou Grant, The Mary Taylor Moore Show); "Would you believe?" (Maxwell Smart, Get Smart); "De plane! De plane!" (Tattoo, Fantasy Island); "Aaay" (Fonzie, Happy Days); "Book 'em, Danno" (Steve McGarrett, Hawaii Five-O); "I know nothing!" (Sgt Schultz, Hogan's Heroes); "You rang?" (Lurch, The Addams Family); "Never assume ..." (Felix Unger, The Odd Couple); "Who loves you, baby?" (Kojak, Kojak); "Yabba dabba do!" (Fred Flintstone, The Flintstones); and the cult "Live long and prosper" (Spock, Star Trek).