Culture Vulture

Why go out?

Tonight, the cultured, respected and esteemed readers of this blog will of course be watching the second half of that thing about Bob Dylan, because it's classy television, and you, my friends, are classy people.

Many people, however, will not watch it. I'm in two minds, myself; I mean, I did quite a lot of hoovering at the weekend, my partner has quite a tuneful wheezy chest, the next door neighbour has an ailing cat, and I occasionally trip over the old guitar lying around in the living room, so I'm thinking - what can Mr Scorsese offer me that I can't get in the comfort of my own home?

Actually, there are a few treats to be had; even if you don't care for iconic, tuneless egotists or the usual weeknight fare of dull soaps and property disasters, there's love, death, tantrums and aliens. Just another night on Hollyoaks, then. I am of course kidding - find out what's really worth watching, with the picks of tonight's TV from this week's Guide...

Love Soup 9pm, BBC1 After Green Wing and Black Books, it's difficult to think of anyone who more deserves a chance at proper mainstream stardom than Tamsin Greig. Seeing as this comedy-drama is from One Foot In The Grave creator David Renwick, it might be expected to do the job. The central idea is neat: two soulmates — Greig's store-worker Alice and American writer Gil (Michael Landes) — live parallel lives but haven't yet met. The first episode, though, is curiously forced, a mix of Manhattan references, ironic set-pieces and, dread word, quirkiness. Still, there's enough to make you think that better lies ahead.
Jonathan Wright

The Unteachables 9pm, C4 Award-winning teacher Phil Beadle takes on 16 Gripper Stebsons and Vicky Pollards to turn them into "good citizens". Kids like Grace, who was offered anger-management counselling, but says the thought of it just makes her angry. It's like the League Against Tedium meets Scum. Before long he's teaching them games called "Dickhead" and "Kung-Fu Punctuation". He's either brilliant, or an idiot. Find out next week whether it's working.
Ali Catterall

The Closer 10pm, C4 Kyra "one degree of separation from Kevin Bacon" Sedgwick enters into the crowded world of US crime solving. If you can get over the idea that she's supposed to have had a back-story fling with boss JK Simmons (aka Oz Nazi Schillinger/Spider-Man's JJ Jameson), there's plenty to enjoy here. A southern belle transplanted to head a new high-profile murder squad in LA, she steps on toes, gets the job done etc, all while dithering over the obligatory doughnut. Should please Cagney And Lacey fans.
Richard Vine

Little Angels: The Craven Family 8pm, BBC3 New series of cognitive therapy hit, but the engaging and perceptive Dr Tanya Byron is sadly nowhere in sight. Child psychotherapist Rachel Morris takes the helm in the Craven household which is sinking because of little Jamie Lee's tantrums. The familiar narrative of success and transformation rings a bit thin this time. It's true that young mum Kelly isn't being slapped in the face every two minutes by the end, but it's less clear what changes exactly have taken place. "Vaguely better" doesn't make for great TV, but neither does a forced epiphany.
Clare Birchall

The 4400 8pm, Sky One The return of the returnees. To recap: in the last series 4400 missing people beamed back to earth in a mysterious flash of light, and were soon discovered to have acquired some handy powers — telekinesis, precognition, super-strength —the usual stuff. Then our federal Mulder and Scullys Joel Gretsch and Jacqueline McKenzie learned that it wasn't an alien plot, but future humans who've sent them all back to save the world. Funny how it's only Americans who ever get abducted. Anyhow, now they've got a 4400 new agey-cult on the rise, a 4400 baby, and Summer Glau reprising her Firefly/Serenity "kooky girl who may know something" role. Presumably there's another 4390-odd episodes to go before we find out what's really going on. Which at least suggests confidence.
Richard Vine

The Bridges Of Madison County (Clint Eastwood, 1995) 8.05pm, FilmFour Clint swaps guns for a camera in this Brief Encounter-style romance between his National Geographic photographer Robert Kincaid and Meryl Streep as rancher's wife Francesca Johnson. It's told in flashback, after Johnson has died, leaving a diary of the affair that is discovered by her son and daughter: a real weepie, made with poise and clarity, Eastwood admirably slow on the draw when it comes to sentimentality.
Phil Howlett


And then of course there's Medium (BBC1, 11.05). I don't care if the rest of the world says it's sloppy tosh hastily constructed from the festering remains of a dozen other crime shows with an unhealthy dash of Most Haunted: I Like It. So there.