Pay Tv - Friday, September 22

The Age

Thursday September 21, 2006

BARBARA HOOKS

PAY TELEVISION REVIEWS: The Last Mogul, Ovation, 8.30pm; The Hairy Bikers' Cookbook, Lifestyle Food, 9.30pm; Food Jammers, Lifestyle Food, 10pm

The Last Mogul, Ovation, 8.30pm

As movie moguls go, Lew Wasserman (pictured) was not a household name like Louis B. Mayer or Sam Goldman. But in the screen arts, he pioneered more than both of them combined, including the telemovie, the miniseries and the studio tour. He was also the first to secure the perks stars take for granted today, including a percentage of the profits. The son of Russian immigrants, Wasserman grew up rough and tough in a dirt-poor neighbourhood. He began his career booking bands for the company that handled entertainment for Al Capone's clubs. He moved into talent management at MCA and became the most commanding agent in Hollywood. He made a shyster business respectable, although he had influential friends on both sides of the law and politics who helped him build and diversify the business that made him rich and powerful beyond his dreams. It's a juicy story, well-told by friends and cohorts.

The Hairy Bikers' Cookbook, Lifestyle Food, 9.30pm

Hairy bikers Si and Dave are such sweeties - like the Auf Wiedersehen Pets with taste buds. Tonight they're in Vietnam, which they discover to their delight is a nation of bikers. But by the end of the episode, one of them will be on two wheels of quite a different and unwelcome kind. In the meantime, there is much to see, hear and taste. Especially taste. After a couple of bad napalm jokes, they set off to sample Saigon's famous street food. With little kitchens everywhere, the city is known as "the stomach of Vietnam". After a visit to the scrupulously clean and sweet-smelling fish markets, the lads set up their own kitchenette to cook for the locals. Sobering reminders of the Vietnam War are everywhere, including menus that reflect a time when people had to utilise everything at their disposal - even scorpions and worms.

Food Jammers, Lifestyle Food, 10pm

Tonight, the jammers are into UFOs - Unusual Frying Objects - making doughnut, fish croquettes and avocado-infused corn muffins, with the help of a homemade deep fryer and a ventilation hood fashioned out of an old Mustang.

© 2006 The Age

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