Marae Kai Masters hosts Nevak Rogers and Te Kohe Tuhaka.
Pick of the week: MARAE KAI MASTERS
There's more to this new series than producing a gourmet rotten corn dish and cooking up a succulent, melt-in-your-mouth boil-up. Although, no doubt there will be plenty of that as the eight-episode series unfolds in the kitchen at Te Mahurehure Marae in Pt Chevalier.
The competition - a mix of MasterChef and My Kitchen Rules set on the marae - pits eight teams from around the country against each other in a series of culinary challenges including creating twists on traditional marae-style food.
In the first episode the "old-school, hearty cooks" of Tu Teao from Te Teko in the Bay of Plenty are up against the fancy foodies of Kaipara's Whiti te Ra.
In team Tu Teao we meet 59-year-old truck driver and family man Gundy, who is always looking for creative and healthy ways to get his kids to eat their dinner; then there's head kohanga reo teacher Lolo, who keeps the team in line, and specialist cooks Phili (an expert carrot cake baker) and Gaynor (the team's all-important fried bread maker).
Meanwhile, Whiti te Ra, led by qualified chef Wiki, were brought up in "resource-rich" Kaipara and say their grandparents' homes were like restaurants so are accustomed to serving up duck, whitebait, scallops, with home-grown fruit and vegetables.
In the heat, the teams must recreate a sweet and savoury dish from Auckland's Ripe Deli and also come up with their own version of it.
Presented by chef Te Kohe Tuhaka, and Nevak Rogers, who was bossed around by her aunties in the marae kitchen when she was growing up, the show also features guest judges including Pip Wylie from Ripe, MasterChef winner Nadia Lim and wild food specialist Cameron Petley, also of MasterChef.
The 90-minute grand final, where they will cook for 200 invited guests, screens on September 12.
Rogers, who is also the show's associate producer with the catch-phrase "making kai that people remember", says as well as the delicious food, the series is about capturing the busy and bustling atmosphere of a wharekai and meeting some of the characters in the marae kitchens.
"We've been blown away by the grace and humility that the marae teams have brought to the series. "There's a lot of aroha and whanaungatanga between the teams and I can guarantee there won't be a dry eye in the house during this series," says Rogers.
An introductory episode screening tomorrow at 9.30pm backgrounds the eight teams and where they come from.
When: 7.30pm, Thursdays
Where: Maori Television
What: Marae-style My Kitchen Rules
Doco pick: BANGED UP ABROAD: THE REAL ARGO
Ben Affleck's Oscar-winning film Argo was riveting, tense and mostly on the mark, even if it did say New Zealand Embassy staff refused to help their American counterparts. However, The Real Argo reveals the director took some dramatic licence in key parts of the film. It tells the story through the eyes of Tony Mendez, the former CIA officer portrayed in the film by Affleck, and husband and wife, Mark and Cora Lijek, who were two of the six American diplomats in hiding following the sacking of the American Embassy in Tehran in 1979. Combining these first-person accounts, news footage from the day, and dramatised recreations, it shows the real events that led to the rescue of the diplomats. There are moments where it's just as tense and nerve-racking as the Hollywood version.
When: 7.30pm, Wednesday
Where: National Geographic
What: What really happened
Heist pick: DOORS OPEN
This feature-length adaptation of Ian Rankin's 2008 crime novel is a light-hearted, satisfying film in which an odd bunch of friends with a shared love of art, plan an elaborate heist to save a particular few pieces from falling into unworthy hands. Mike McKenzie (Douglas Henshall) has made his millions, and now with time on his hands, has become something of an art connoisseur. He becomes friends with Professor Gissing (Stephen Fry) who works for the Edinburgh College of Art. Another friend of Mike's, Allan, is a bank employee - at a bank with a large, and impressive collection of art. When they realise the collection is going to be sold off, they decide to commit the perfect crime - to steal or protect some of the most valuable paintings by swapping them with very convincing fakes.
When: Monday, 8.30pm
Where: UKTV
What: The Scottish Art Job
Comedy pick: WOULD I LIE TO YOU? UK
We had a go at it in New Zealand, with Paul Henry hosting, and teams led by Jesse Mulligan and Jon Bridges, but this week TV3 brings the much funnier original BBC series to our screens. Comedian Rob Bryden has been hosting the British show since 2009, and ably referees two teams, led by David Mitchell and Lee Mack, as the try to beat each other in a series of games, guessing which stories are lies and which are the truth. Audiences can expect bountiful laughs as guests such as Miranda Hart, Jimmy Carr, and Charlie Brooker tell stories about their imaginary childhood friends made out of toast, interviewing for MI5, and pretending to be partially deaf for six years, and try to keep the story sounding plausible, as the opposing team gives them the third degree.
When: Sunday 10pm
Where: TV3
What: Bountiful British laughs
Comedy pick: SUBURGATORY
Tessa has spent her summer in Manhattan with her grandmother, remembering how good city life was, and igniting her interest in her absentee mother. So returning to suburban Chatswin, she brings along her mother's guitar and a tape of her mother singing, in the hope of reconnecting with this mysterious woman, which initially leaves her doting dad George feeling a little threatened. But there's plenty of other drama in the suburbs to distract them too. Noah's new adventures in fatherhood lead him to decide that he really does want housekeeper Carmen back working for him, resulting in a hilarious all-out competition with the always competitive Dallas, over Carmen's services. And Dallas' daughter Dalia will stop at nothing to get her beloved Carmen back.
When: Monday, 8pm
Where: TV2
What: City vs suburbs
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- TimeOut
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