Opinion Fact,fiction and news

The interesting catch in Person of Interest is that the snoop machine also predicts ordinary crimes,which is where Finch and Reese intervene. It’s a good thriller with enough blood and fisticuffs to make it quite violent,but it’s the surveillance,the eavesdropping on any and everyone that is fascinating,and in the light of Snowden’s current disclosures,really spooky. Talk about fact and fiction…

Something else disconcerting happened on AXN. Tried watching The Godfather on Saturday for the forgotten-how-many-times-before time,but it wasn’t much fun because the subtitles were running behind the spoken dialogue. And try as you might to ignore the subtitles,it’s just impossible. By the way,when the characters lapsed into Italian during certain scenes,the subtitles simply gave up: “Foreign language”,they announced,and left it to us to read everyone’s lips!

Anchors ahoy! That call that went out to our leading news channel personalities on the weekends during the last month. After five days of gruelling jabberwocky every week,they must look forward to a weekend off the air to rest their vocal chords,gargle or do whatever it is they do to pamper their voice boxes for the week ahead of shouting.

But no such luck,after the Delhi Police detained S. Sreesanth in the middle of May for alleged spot-fixing during the IPL. Since then,every weekend has seen news developments on a Saturday or Sunday,which the top news anchors feel are important enough to require their mediation. First,it was ball-spotting with cricketers,then it was blame-fixing N. Srinivasan,the BCCI chief. Next came promoting Narendra Modi to the top of the BJP and dropping L.K. Advani — down the order. Followed by Nitish Kumar finding himself in a fix of the BJP’s making (or so he claims),and the JD(U) now withdrawing from Team NDA.

It is as though everyone who wants to make news has decided that the weekend is the best time to do it: viewers are at home all day (free to watch TV?) and governments are on holiday,leaving time and space for the newsmakers to hog the limelight — and the attention of our top news channel anchors. Rajdeep Sardesai and Sagarika Ghose (CNN-IBN),Barkha Dutt (NDTV 24×7) and Arnab Goswami (Times Now) have done duty most weekends. Give them a break guys,instead of breaking news on them.

Masterchef India (Star Plus) concluded last weekend,but on a strange note. The finale saw group dances to Bollywood numbers before each finalist appeared from their midst and shook a leg or two. The judges sat in the wings to applaud. There was no aroma of good food or the sight of anything that looked remotely like the Masterchef kitchen. The winner,Ripu Daman Handa,was ceremoniously announced with the same fanfare that greets Bigg Boss winners. A very odd way to end a cookery talent contest. None of the others — Masterchef Australia,Masterchef USA — end on a stage with confetti. What a song and dance about food.

You are far better off watching Masterchef: The Professionals (Star World). It is really,well,professional. No time is wasted on flummery or anything unconnected with food. Matt Preston and chef Marco Pierre White are in charge of the kitchen and they are splendid. The show is pacy and competitive and at the end of it you see (but alas,cannot taste) some delicious food.

shailaja.bajpai@expressindia.com