Tue Jan 30

[Seven/8:30pm] 24 – The New Beginning. New Series. 6:00 A.M. – 8:00 A.M. In the thrilling, two hour movie length season premiere, terror grips the nation as weeks of horrific terrorist attacks continue with two bombings in Los Angeles. With nearly 1,000 people dead and the public’s fear mounting, the new President and CTU are forced to make some difficult decisions, including whether to sacrifice the life of Jack Bauer. Starring KIEFER SUTHERLAND, MARY LYNN RAJSKUB, DB WOODSIDE, JAMES MORRISON, JAYNE ATKINSON, PETER MACNICOL and ERIC BALFOUR. After last year’s ripping, Emmy winning series, get set for another year of Jack Bauer in two double instalments this week. It starts out a little slow, but by the end of Thursday is gripping stuff.

[Seven/10:20pm] Cold Feet. New Series. Pete and Jo find their honeymoon is soon over when Pete’s mum comes to live with them. Adam feels left out by Rachel’s doting love of baby. David and Karen commence divorce proceedings. Starring JAMES NESBITT, HELEN BAXENDALE, JOHN THOMSON, ROBERT BATHURST, HERMIONE NORRIS, KIMBERLEY JOSEPH, JACEY SALLES and SEAN PERTWEE.

[SBS/7:30pm] Blue Eyed: Indecently Exposed – This film challenges the racial attitudes held by some Canadians towards Native Canadians with anti-racism expert Jane Elliott. With cameras rolling, she divides the suspecting participants by eye colour, blue-eyes in one group, brown-eyes (many of them native Canadian) in the other. Elliott turns the tables on the participants treating the blue eyes as “persons of colour”, confronting and brow-beating them, while the “brown eyes” get treated with respect. Filmed in Regina, Saskatchewan, this documentary illustrates and exposes how systemic racism continues to thrive in Canada today. While there has been other films featuring Elliott’s workshops, this is the first time Elliott has brought her controversial workshop to Canada, and unlike the others, this film focuses its attention on the individual Canadian participants who have ‘exposed’ themselves to her confrontational and highly effective techniques. These insights into the personal lives of the participants, combined with the intensity of the workshop experience, creates an emotional and psychological drama that plays out as the blue eyes learn what it is like to be targets of discrimination. (From Canada, in English) (Documentary) PG CC WS

[SBS/8:35pm] Cutting Edge: Iraq’s Missing Billions – This documentary reveals what has happened to the billions of dollars of Iraqi reconstruction money entrusted to the American Coalition. In just fourteen months, the CPA burned its way through nearly $20 billion. But no one can account for where it all went. Iraq’s infrastructure is worse than ever before. Operating theatres are flooded with sewage. New-born babies are dying for lack of basic equipment. In this investigation, Iraqi doctor Ali Fadhil goes in search of the missing money. He uncovers a horrific story of fraud, incompetence and corruption. As word spread of the kind of money that could be made in Iraq, foreign contractors flocked in. According to this documentary, companies like Custer Battles billed for work they hadn’t done and charged the CPA a 1000% mark up for their expenses. While dodgy contractors were making millions, the Iraqi people were left paying the price. According to the United States’ own figures, Iraq’s essential services are worse than before the war. (From the UK, in English and Arabic, English subtitles) M CC WS

[ABC/10:30pm] M2F: A Journey In Gender Identity
Through interviews this program looks at male-to-female transsexual women.
In this compelling film, m2F profiles a handful of individuals who have contended with gender identity disorder. From Georgina Beyer of New Zealand (the world’s first transsexual Member of Parliament) to an Australian Navy ship’s captain, their journeys through despair, rejection, and hope are conveyed with intelligence and compassion. The stories of these transgendered people and their families are interwoven with insights by top professional minds from around the world, along with opinions from the clergy, police, parents, and family members. As the film makes clear through brief remarks from the often intolerant public, these individuals continue to face hostility. However, as they allow themselves to live as who they are — rather than how society has forced them to live — each has emerged with a far greater sense of happiness and peace.Along with the 52-minute documentary, this landmark production includes additional programs that feature individual profiles of transsexuals.

[Nine/11:15pm] Penn & Teller: BS. Fen Shui / Bottled Water

[Ten/8:30pm] NCIS “Escaped” Gibbs is forced to come back out of his retirement to help Fornell, who is being threatened by a convict that escaped from prison. The NCIS team re-open the convict’s old robbery case and the investigation leads the NCIS team to a surprising discovery. Guest: Hal Holbrook.

[Ten/9:30pm] The O.C.

[Fox8/8:30pm] Dangerous.