I've never been one of those people who can watch television at all hours of the day.
I have friends who casually browse the daytime content, don't mind tuning in for a late afternoon TV hit, and can watch all four hours of morning tele interrupted.
Perhaps it's a hangover from a childhood where television didn't reign supreme, but I tend to only watch television - i.e. when I actually settle down to watch it
recreationally, not what I watch for work on DVD or the computer - "at the end of the day".
TV was always a treat for me, something you did after dinner, and after homework.
So, despite my occasional clandestine viewings of
Neighbours and/or
Home & Away, I've been missing some of the best tele around, all because it still falls within my working day hours.
I speak of the drool-inducing ABC double-shot on Wednesdays,
Cheese Slices and
Poh's Kitchen.
The former (Wednesdays, ABC1, 6pm) is an absolute hoot; the sort of show that elevates "niche programming" to a kind of transcendence.
In short, it's about cheese. Cheese, cheese, cheese. How it's made, where it's come from, passionate debate about the politics of cheese-making and inter-country clashes about cheese procedures, etc.
If you don't like cheese, the show would be tantamount to water torture. But if you do, then it's heaven. A half hour of CHEESE:
The host, the improbably named Will Studd, is a Master of Cheese. A Master of Cheese!!
It's half an hour of total (if low key) madness.
What follows is a show I'm surprised I've taken so long to check out, considering how much I liked her on last year's
MasterChef (ROBBED),
Poh's Kitchen (Wednesdays, ABC1, 6.30pm).
Perhaps taking cues from the show that discovered her,
Poh's Kitchen is an easygoing mix of travelogue, how-to, cookery and hints and tips.
Ling Yeow is relaxed, engaging and real. She gets about South East Asian markets in a daggy singlet and sarong, with a yellow flower tucked behind her ear, and jokes good-naturedly with the various guests and interviewees.
The show allows her to be both teacher and student; showing off her arsenal of cookery knowledge (as above) but just as happy to stand back and learn about local cuisine or the perfect way to cook a particular dish.
It's a winning combination; so often, food shows talk at the viewer, who is stupefied into inaction, unable to imagine ever being able to concoct whatever's happening onscreen.
Poh's Kitchen, on the other hand - even with its exotic locations and shiny test kitchen - makes cookery feel accessible.
It's not about the wackiest recipe or the most spectacular "plating up", but about how fun it can be to learn and experiment in the kitchen - something that can be lost amidst the competitive showdown of the MasterChef kitchen.
Both shows combine to create an hour of blissful viewing that is well worth sitting down to each week, the perfect way to get yourself through the midweek slump.
You can finish your homework afterwards, anyway.