KEY POINTS:
CALIFORNICATION
9.30pm, TV3
With this series, David Duchovny seems determined to exorcise the ghosts of his career-defining role as smooth agent Fox Mulder in The X-Files.
Here, as the title of the show suggests, Duchovny plays a womaniser - paunchy and dissolute writer Hank Moody who moves from New York to Los Angeles.
The move certainly hasn't made him any happier and he's not writing anymore because he's too busy with drink, drugs and women. Hank is Moody by name and nature and while he can be charming, he has a terrible habit of saying what he thinks.
His temper hasn't been improved by the fact that his bestseller, God Hates Us All, has been turned into a fluffy Hollywood movie titled A Crazy Little Thing Called Love starring Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes.
This trivialisation of Hank's work is the source of many jokes in the first episode and is at the heart of his malaise and why he claims to have writer's block.
Despite all the self-destructive behaviour, he's a firm believer in family values and wants to re-unite with his ex-girlfriend Karen (Natascha McElhone) and their 13-year-old daughter Becca (Madeleine Martin).
Karen, though, has become sick and tired of his immaturity and has landed herself a sensible bloke called Bill (Damian Young). The cast is rounded out by Mia (Madeline Zima), Bill's sexually aware teenage daughter, and Charlie (Evan Handler), Hank's friend and agent.
Not only is Duchovny looking seedy but the show also portrays a less glamorous LA than the one we usually see.
In among all the bonking that goes on there is a story about a man filled with self-loathing trying to find redemption.
7.30PM TV2
SUPERNANNY
It's a miracle anyone has kids after watching these familial car wrecks. Tonight, Jo attempts to pour oil on the stormy seas created by four brats who are on the brink of tearing their parents' marriage apart. Put 'em down the mines.
8:30PM TV3
SURVIVOR: CHINA
The adventures of a rag-tag bunch of skinny Americans trapped behind the bamboo curtain continue, and not a panda in sight. Just for kicks, the dastardly Jeff Probst pulls yet another switcheroo on his hapless subjects.
9.30PM TV3
CALIFORNICATION
David "Slightly Creepy Agent Mulder" Duchovny has given away chasing aliens in favour of writing, sex, drugs and booze. He kicks the series off with a one-night stand, which means he stands up his daughter and upsets his ex. Start as you mean to go on, then Dave? See TV picks, page 23. 9.30PM TV ONE
THE F WORD
Potty-mouthed Gordon gets to grips with a flash tart and a choccie mousse, before schooling a pair of midwiving twins on how to whip up the perfect chook. Yummy.
MOVIES
8.30PM, SKY MOVIES
Herald rating: * * *
STAY
Ewan McGregor plays a psychiatrist who sees supposedly dead people. Stay is a twisted psychological thriller with a measure of influence from David Lynch's films. Also starring Naomi Watts and Ryan Gosling, and directed by Marc Forster (Monster's Ball, Stranger Than Fiction). (2005)
8.30PM, SKY MOVIES GREATS
Herald rating: * * *
THE PEACEMAKER
After a train carrying several nuclear warheads crashes in Russia, a White House nukes expert (Nicole Kidman) and a US Army Colonel (George Clooney) must get to the bottom of a conspiracy. (1997)
10.10PM, SKY MOVIES
Herald rating: * * *
THE HILLS HAVE EYES
Remake of the cult horror classic about a family on a trailer holiday who are ambushed and besieged by cannibalistic mutant hillbillies. Succeeds in being extremely unsettling, until the black comedy of the drooling mutant leader kicks in. (2006)
SPORT
8PM, MAORI; 8PM (FRIDAY) SKY SPORT 2
NBL: BREAKERS V SLINGERS
The Singapore side come to Auckland without an away win this season, and the Breakers should be good enough to keep it that way.
10PM, SKY SPORT 1 LIVE
CRICKET: NEW ZEALAND V SOUTH AFRICA
New Zealand's top cricket team the Black Caps play two tests against South Africa, and their awful record in the Republic suggests they'll get their tails soundly thrashed.
