WEEK 43: Saturday 24 October - Friday 30 October 2009

TV2 starts the week off with a laugh with the new series of According To Jim, on Saturday at 5.30pm. Cheryl (Courtney Thorne-Smith) hates Jim's (James Belushi) plan to use the twins in a movie, but he does it anyway, only to have it back-fire when the producers cut the kids' hair. Guest starring Steve Guttenberg.

Tuesday signals the end for some and the beginning for one, in The Apprentice at 7.30pm. Donald Trump unfurls his firing finger one last time, in the tension-packed season finale. With four candidates remaining, and only one $250,000 job, the wannabe entrepreneurs give it everything they have, in a last-ditch effort to claw their way to victory.

On Thursday at 7.30pm, Police Ten 7 sees detectives in the Bay of Plenty bust a 'P' house, and Auckland police catch some brazen thieves in the act. Following on at 8pm in Motorway Patrol, a truck carrying high pressure gas bottles slams into a concrete bridge; we meet a speeder who thinks he knows better than the cops; and a Russian visitor proves too much of a distraction.

Movie - How To Lose A Guy In 10 Days, Sunday 25 October, 8.30pm: Kate Hudson (Bride Wars) and Matthew McConaughey (Failure To Launch) star in the hilarious TV2 Sunday Premiere Movie, How To Lose A Guy In 10 Days.

Andi Anderson (Hudson), Composure magazine's 'How-To' columnist, has a very unusual assignment and a quick deadline. She has to write a firsthand account of all the things that women do to inadvertently drive men away - and she has to do it in 10 days. Now she's on a mission to find a guy, get him to fall in love with her, then make all the classic dating mistakes so he'll dump her. Too bad Andie's target is the gorgeous advertising executive, Benjamin Barry (McConaughey), who has just made a high stakes bet with his boss that he can make a woman fall in love with him in 10 days. Director Donald Petrie says that besides the onscreen appeal of the two main stars, what he finds most endearing about How To Lose A Guy In 10 Days is its unpredictability. "My initial barometer for a funny script is, did it make me laugh out loud, and this one did," says Petrie. "It's filled with flip flops and unexpected curves, which really make it stand out from other films in the romantic comedy genre." Hudson agrees, "I thought the script was really special. It was clever and even a little edgy, and I liked the way it turns dating on its head. It was also wonderful having the chance to work with Matthew, who is as sweet as he is handsome." Producer Lynda Obst says the film is basically poking fun at the gender war. "All the plotting people do, all the schemes they create in order to win this battle between the sexes is just everyone's way of protecting themselves. Underneath it all, what everyone is really longing for is genuine affection, and they get so caught up in the game, they often forget that the object is connection not victory." Does a faux relationship based on deception stand a chance in a world where everyone says they are looking for honesty? You can bet on it.

Local Drama - Shortland Street, Weekdays, 7pm: Sparks fly between Maia Jeffries (Anna Jullienne) and new nurse Nicole Miller (Sally Martin) on Shortland Street this week, but this budding romance quickly encounters some hurdles, when cautious Maia fears that she may not be ready for love.

Maia has been through an enormous amount this year, and in an attempt to get her life back on track, has been pouring all of her energy into her family and job. So when beautiful Nicole starts working at the hospital, Maia does her best to ignore her attraction. "It's been a long time since Maia has felt romantically drawn to anyone, so it takes her by surprise when she feels drawn to Nicole," explains Jullienne. "Though she initially tries to fight it, it gets to a point where she can't ignore her feelings." When Nicole and Maia go out for a drink together, they soon find their mutual attraction too much to bear, sharing a passionate kiss. Maia is delighted that her feelings for Nicole are reciprocated, but her doubts quickly get in the way. "Maia feels really scared about getting involved with someone, after everything she's been through," says Jullienne. "So even though she wants to spend time with Nicole, she ends up giving her the cold shoulder." Given some time to think, Maia grows concerned that her troubled past will be an issue for Nicole. With Maia backing off even further, Nicole is left confused and unsettled by Maia's rejection. Shortland Street's longest standing female actress, Anna Jullienne has had her fair share of on-screen kisses, but it's always a different experience when it's someone new. "I was definitely a bit nervous as it's been such a long time since I've had to kiss someone," says Jullienne. "But Sally is great, and it's always easier once you've got the first one out of the way." Will Maia be able to let go of her insecurities and allow herself to fall in love again?

Drama - ER: The Final Season, Monday 26 October, 9.30pm: Doctor Corday (Alex Kingston) makes an appearance on tonight's special episode of ER: The Final Season, as we take a trip into the unconscious mind of Neela (Parminda Nagra).

Three outcomes to the same day are cleverly interwoven, as Neela finds herself having a recurring dream about trying to save a young girl with sickle cell anaemia. In each dream, she has conversations with Ray (Shane West), welcomes Brenner (David Lyons) back from Australia, and assists Gates (John Stamos) in trying to save a man who jumped out of a window during his sleep. But each time, it's the smallest action which affects the outcome in the most profound way. Elsewhere, as she goes for an attending interview at Duke, she is surprised to see Dr Elizabeth Corday as her interviewer. Kingston was in Scotland when she got the call asking her to come back. She had been reading in the newspaper that ER was coming to an end, and had heard rumours that they were bringing back some of the cast, but she says it never occurred to her that she would be asked back. "Then I got a call asking if I would, and I jumped on a plane." The experience has been incredibly positive for Kingston, who last appeared in the show back in 2004, when her character left Chicago to return to her native England. "I keep smiling and laughing - it feels so right to be back, it feels so normal," she says. "In fact [in the years since leaving], to drive past Warner Brothers and know that I'm not driving into the ER studio to go to work, that was weird for me. To be here again is really nice." The old team welcomed her back with open arms, according to her co-star, Parminder Nagra. "She's so pleased to see the old crew," Nagra says. "You hear these big whoops and hollers springing up from wherever she's seeing somebody again." Nagra was thrilled when she read the script for the episode and Corday's name appeared. "I just thought the storyline was great - it was such a lovely way to tie her back in, and give the character a life outside of all those seasons she was in," she explains. "You wonder, 'where did she go?' and here we see her in her new life."

Drama - Primeval, Wednesday 28 October, 11.30pm: The team face a race through time to stop Helen from destroying humanity, in the series finale of Primeval.

Helen (Juliet Aubrey) decides that the only way to halt the destruction of life on Earth is to stop human beings from ever evolving, so she travels back in time to the Pliocene period, intent on poisoning the first humans to have evolved in the Rift Valley in Africa. The team, determined to stop her at all costs, endure a harrowing journey through time, battling future predators, raptors and pterosaurs along the way, and one of them has a life-changing encounter with the earliest humans - hominids. Fans of the hit British show may have heard that this was to be the final ever episode, after the network decided that the programme (with its spectacular special effects sequences) was too expensive to produce. However, co-creator Tim Hines assures fans it is coming back for more seasons. "Fortunately, the series is very successful abroad and none of the producers wanted to see it finish. Essentially, the budget stays as a 1 million show, which is important, because we didn't want to come back with a cheap programme." The show has been re-commissioned for a fourth and fifth season, and Hines confirms that he's managed to sign up the full cast. "Yes, they're all coming back, which is fantastic. This is the longest run that's been commissioned. We started off getting six episodes, then seven and then ten. Now it's 13. So it's a long stint for them, but they've all signed up." As this series comes to an end, Hines has some definite highlights. "The airplane scenes with the Giganotosaurus in episode four!" He says. "Also, I thought that the Knight story was charming, and was different from what we had done before. And I found Cutter's demise in episode three particularly moving."

Local Drama - The Cult, Thursday 29 October, 8.30pm: With Nathan (Dwayne Cameron) and Jenni (Bodelle de Ronde) now free from Two Gardens, and both exhibiting signs of mistreatment, Annabelle's (Sara Wiseman) fears for her brother's safety intensify, this week on The Cult.

Annabelle examines Jenni, but is unable to determine what has happened to her. She concludes they need the doctor who experimented on Jenni so they can figure out how best to treat her. The Liberators decide there is only one thing they can do - kidnap Cynthia Ross (Danielle Cormack). A dangerous trap is set, but the ambush has some unexpected twists. As a trained medic, Annabelle is flummoxed by Jenni's condition, and Wiseman says her character is, frustratingly, no closer to finding out what is going on in Two Gardens. "Annabelle has not come across anything like this before. She recognises certain medical conditions, like the catatonic state, but the severity of the condition and the contradictory ailments have her completely perplexed." Having already witnessed Nathan's disturbing arrival at The Glen, Annabelle's fears about what Andy (Kip Chapman) might be going through in Two Gardens are rising by the minute. "There is a huge fear that due to her brother's fragile, easily influenced personality, Andy could be held up in a similar state inside Two Gardens" Wiseman explains. "Annabelle feels a huge amount of guilt for her part in him being there. Her first priority, above all else, is his safety." "Like the rest of the Liberators, Annabelle simply assumed she would be able to enter Two Gardens, have a potentially emotional, yet civilised conversation with her brother and convince him to leave with her, all past wrongs forgiven," Wiseman continues. "It seems almost ludicrous to her that the level of conspiracy now apparent is actually happening. It affects her more than she is willing to let on." Introduced to viewers as a very private character, who has a conflicted relationship with her brother's wife Gina (Kate Elliott), Annabelle has a lot going on inside, as Wiseman explains. "Annabelle keeps her private world very close to her chest. Professionally, she has excelled and has a great deal of control in that arena. Personally, due to her dysfunctional upbringing, she finds it very difficult to communicate with others, especially those she is developing feelings for. I think people will relate to that concept, not many people are comfortable with wearing their heart on their sleeve." Meanwhile, in the compound, a new electric fence is going up around the perimeter. Ryan (Gareth Reeves) and Andy are put in charge of the task and Ryan wonders whether this fence is to keep people out of Two Gardens, or to keep people in. Ryan lets the secret of Hannah's (Chelsie Preston-Crayford) pregnancy slip to Andy, expecting him to be understanding of their situation, but Ryan underestimates Andy's loyalty to Edward (Latham Gaines).