Grimm (TV3+, Mon 22:00) has an interesting premise, if little else. It’s a bit like The Da Vinci Code, but instead of Jesus, the main character, a cop from Portland, Oregon, is descended from the Brothers Grimm and accordingly has to solve a whole load of murders that mirror the fairy tales, which is handy when it comes to solving them, although he looks a bit lost in the ones the brothers didn’t write. The show debuted in October 2011 and has been more popular with viewers than critics.
The same was always true of The Jerry Springer Show, and he’s back with more populist tosh, this time a dating show, The Baggage (TV2 Zulu, Sat 20:05), in which the contestants (the rules make you think Jerry is making it up as he goes along) all bare their souls as the contents of their suitcases – think skeletons in the closet – are revealed.
No doubt the closets of the schoolchildren stars of the British reality TV show Educating Essex (SV2, Sun 20:00) are already full, but that’s standard form for the country’s loudest region. While it has a certain charm, it’s galling to watch youngsters whose main aspiration in life is to appear on The Only Way is Essex.
In a strong week for docs, The Interrupters (DR2, Sat 16:00 & SV1, Tue 22:00) looks at how three former criminals try to protect the Chicago streets they once terrorised; the title of acclaimed two-parter Cinema’s Exiles: From Hitler to Hollywood (DR K, ep 1: Fri 00:55 & Tue 15:45, ep 2: Thu 21:00) pretty much speaks for itself; Let Them Talk – A Celebration of New Orleans Blues (SV2, Sat 19:00 & Tue 23:30) sees Hugh Laurie share his enthusiasm for the music of the Deep South; and Electric Dream (DR K, Sun 17:00) follows how a modern family survives on the domestic gadgetry of the 1970s, very badly indeed.
Elsewhere, we’ve got a truckload of season openers, some old, some new: the fourth season of Big Love (SV2, Fri 22:45); the third season of The Wire (SV2, Fri 23:40); the third season of Lark Rise to Candleford (SV1, Wed 16:10), which is about the plebs but aimed at the toffs; and the first ever episode of quirky Alaska-based series Northern Exposure (SV1, Thu 23:35), way back from 1989.
