THE MACHINERY
From Thursday, SBS On Demand
To be honest, I'm not the greatest fan of movies and TV shows with subtitles.
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I'm not a philistine, mind you. I just have a preference for watching shows and not reading them.
It's gotten worse in the smartphone era because I can be prone to flicking through my phone while half-listening to the TV.
You can't do that with a subtitled show, where you have to read what's going on.
But The Machinery is worth putting my subtitle objection to one side.
The Norwegian-Swedish thriller series does come with words at the bottom of the screen, but the story is so compelling that I didn't care.
It's one of those shows that throws you in halfway through and you have to work out what's going on. That's okay because the main character - family man Olle Hulten - doesn't know what's happening either.
At the start of the series he wakes up in a car on a ferry, with a bloody shirt and a bag full of cash. The police are on his tail, but he really doesn't know what he's done.
And the way the series is structured is that us and him find out what's going on at the same time.
The series is available on demand, and it's truly worth binge-watching.
THE VOICE
Sunday, 7pm, PrimeSeven
If you've watched the Olympic coverage for any longer than a half-hour, you'll know this show is coming.
That's because the network - like any other channel that has the Games' rights - takes the opportunity to beat us over the head with whatever shows are coming up after the Olympics.
Is it worth watching? Well, it's a singing show - it's kind of hard to add a new wrinkle to things. They still do the long-winded lead-in to each contestant, which implies that having a sob story is just as important as being able to sing if you want to appear on the show.
There are apparently some changes to what the judges can do but I think the network doesn't want people to blab about them ahead of time. Suffice to say, I didn't find it much of a game-changer.
At the end of the day, if you watched The Voice before, you'll like it. If not, I doubt the saturation bombing ad campaign will make you change your mind.
BLISS
Tuesday, 9.15pm, ABC
Sometimes suspension of disbelief is crucial when it comes to watching a TV show. Sure, your rational mind tells you the concept is ridiculous but you ignore that and go with it.
The downside is when the disbelief can no longer be suspended, the whole show falls into a screaming heap.
That's the case with Bliss - a comedy about a bigamist who is juggling two wives and kids. He's a travel writer, which apparently gives him the excuses he needs to leave one family and see the other for a while.
But the extremes he goes to in order to hide one family from the other quickly become unbelievable.
One example of many - because he doesn't actually travel anyway, he writes all his pieces by using information he found on Google.
Another one? Somehow a freelance travel writer can earn enough money to support two families.