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Thursday, October 14
ROUGH CUTS: HOW TO BE A MODEL Cameras follow a supermodel-in-the-making for a year as she deserts the security of hometown Montreal for the runways of London, Paris and New York. 10 pm on Newsworld, repeated at 1 am, 4 am and Saturday at 10 pm and 1 am
Friday, October 15
ALEKSANDR NEVSKY (1938, dir Sergei Eisenstein, w/ Nikolai Okhlopkov and Nikolai Cherkasov) Ten years in the making, this Stalinist epic finds 13th-century cossacks fending off an invasion by marauding Germans during the Mongol occupation. With its rousing Sergei Prokofiev soundtrack, blatantly propagandistic plot and 300,000 Red Army soldiers sweeping across the steppes as extras, Eisenstein’s classic works best on a big-screen TV with the volume cranked. Russian w/ French subtitles. 9 pm on TFO, repeated Saturday at 12:30 am
Saturday, October 16
CHANGING ROOMS The original Trading Spaces, this Brit make-over show features designers far more outrageous than its U.S. counterparts, homeowners straight out of a Monty Python skit (one couple last season lived in a cave), and host Carol Smilie , she with the sexy Scottish burr. Bonus: they do it all in 30 minutes! 10 pm on HGTV, repeated at 1 am Y TU MAMÁ TAMBIÉN (2001, dir Alfonso Cuarón, w/ Gael García Bernal and Maribel Verdú) Two teen-aged boys make out with a sexually frustrated housewife and each other in a gritty morality tale set against class divides in contemporary Mexico. 11 pm on Showcase, repeated at 3:15 am
Sunday, October 17
THE GREATEST CANADIAN Viewers vote for the ultimate hoser. We predict winner Pierre Trudeau followed closely by Wayne Gretzky, Stompin’ Tom Connors, the members of Rush tied for fourth, Canadian Idol’s Ben Mulroney fifth and Juliette at number six. Can’t wait to see where Maggie Muggins, Margaret Atwood and Howard the Turtle place. 8 pm on CBC, continues Mondays and Wednesdays at 8 pm through November 29
Monday, October 18
CROSSING JORDAN Those recently hooked on the fourth season of Jill Hennessey ‘s medical crime drama airing Sundays (10 pm on NBC and Global) can catch it from the very beginning starting tonight when the arts net rebroadcasts the series pilot and subsequent episodes in chronological order. And, yes, that’s Prince proteges Wendy and Lisa providing the tunes. 11 pm on A&E, continues weeknights, Monday to Thursday
Tuesday, October 19
THE LATE SHOW WITH DAVID LETTERMAN Brit comedy sensation – and former manager of Suede (fact!) – Ricky Gervais discusses the imminent follow-up to his cult smash The Office, a naturalistic sitcom called The Extras set in the world of show-biz wannabes. 11:35 pm on CBS/Omni1
Wednesday, October 20
LOST From the creators of Alias, this surprise hit combines elements of Survivor, Gilligan’s Island and Knots Landing to addictive effect. Premise: glamorous survivors of an air crash try to escape a South Seas island paradise inhabited by killer polar bears. 8 pm on ABC
HUMAN EDGE: GARDEN Set in Tel Aviv’s red-light district, this doc examines the perilous lives of a 17-year-old Palestinian male prostitute and his 18-year-old Arab boyfriend. Their situation is further complicated by the Arab-Israeli conflict and both sides’ fundamentalist objection to homosexuality. 1:30 am on TVO
