KEY POINTS:
8.30PM, TV2
GREY'S ANATOMY
Meredith is keeping Derek from getting a good night's kip; George's father is moving from one surgery to another and a patient has a nasty attitude resulting from her condition and all the surgeries it requires.
9.30PM, TV ONE
HOTEL BABYLON
Prominent MP Theresa Evans is forced to hide in the hotel, following the news her husband has had an affair. Theresa and Rebecca bond over drinks in the hotel bar.
9.30PM, TV3
STANDOFF
Following in the footsteps of the Bruce Willis-Cybill Shepherd vehicle Moonlighting, this series about two romantically linked hostage negotiators produces a sometimes uncomfortable mix of comedy and action.
Just as in Moonlighting, the two are opposites and there are rapid-fire exchanges between Matt Flannery (Ron Livingston) and partner Emily Lehman (Rosemarie DeWitt).
He's the spontaneous, wacky one while she's clinical and reserved. The two agree to keep their affair secret from colleagues but Matt, in a desperate bid to build empathy with a hostage-taker, reveals the romance with the rest of the FBI's Crisis Negotiation Unit listening in.
Of course, their boss Cheryl Carrera (Gina Torres) is unimpressed, but they are too valuable as a team to split up so continue working together. The irony that underlies the series is that while the two are professional communicators, they can't express their feelings to each other.
MOVIES
6.40PM, RIALTO SKY DIGITAL
Herald rating: * * * *
HUSBANDS AND WIVES
Sydney Pollack and Judy Davis play a couple who shock their friends Gabe (Woody Allen) and Judy (Mia Farrow) when they announce their break-up. Then cracks begin to show in Gabe and Judy's relationship. One of Woody Allen's best relationship comedies, it also stars Liam Neeson and Juliette Lewis. (1992)
8.30PM, SKY MOVIES 1
Herald rating: * * * *
SYRIANA
The Middle Eastern thriller that George Clooney executive-produced and in which he stars as a CIA agent witnessing the manipulative grip of the big oil companies. From writer-director Stephen Gaghan, who wrote the screenplay to Stephen Soderbergh's Traffic. (2005)
10.35PM, SKY MOVIES 1
Herald rating: * * * *
ASYLUM
Natasha Richardson plays the wife of the superintendent at a prison hospital for the criminally insane. She develops a relationship with one of the trusted inmates, played by Martin Csokas. Dark and compelling, with an outstanding performance from Csokas. (2005)
SPORT
11.40PM, TV ONE LIVE
YACHTING: LOUIS VUITTON CUP
Weather permitting, look out for more match-racing during the Louis Vuitton Cup tournament in Valencia, Spain, each night throughout the week at about 11.30pm as Team New Zealand bid to challenge for the America's Cup.
