Trends and zeitgeists come and go in the television world: one minute it's all about rustic home renovation, then it's modelling, then it's hidden camera shows, then everyone's jumping through giant, moving holes in walls.

Currently it seems the networks are basking in a post-coital glow following MasterChef's highest ratings in the history of the universe, so naturally all the other programming departments are following suit. I hear Ten is working up Celebrity MasterChef, series two of MasterChef, kids' MasterChef, and Extreme MasterChef (where contestants must create an appealing platter of crudites while plummeting headfirst down a waterfall).

One of those may be untrue (you guessed it, Celebrity MasterChef. What a drag!) but you get my drift.

Throughout it all, however, there are certain constants in the television landscape: Question Time, Home & Away, and At The Movies with Margaret Pomeranz and David Stratton.

There is no greater pleasure, regardless of the flicks on offer, than sitting down for an all-too-brief half an hour or so with television's most lovable odd couple. David will sit with his pigeon-toed shiny shoes and his hands in his lap, and Margaret will rock Dinosaur Designs and groovy draping while gesticulating wildly. It's a recipe for sustained, delightful success.

They've been on the tele for over 20 years now (and I bet SBS spend many minutes of the day regretting giving them the boot over into the loving arms of Aunty) and have been a constant in our lives.

Growing up, my brother and I would amuse ourselves with imagined David and Margaret conversations (in the voices, of course): "David, I thought it was wonderful!" "Well, Margaret, I hated it."

Because while it's wonderful when the two old friends combine their powers to either praise or pan a film, I'm particularly fond of the times when their assessments of a film vary wildly.

Take Friday Night Lights: four stars from Margaret, half from David! Or Sex And The City:

MARGARET: I don't know that this is a great film but I really loved it, and I'm giving it four stars.

DAVID: I thought it was truly dreadful. I'm giving it one.

There's something rewarding about their positions as television stalwarts: grumpy, ultra-smart David and his love of Singin' In The Rain, and the feisty, passionate Margaret, getting dragged away from anti-censorship protests and scoring multiple bonus points for non-Livinia-Nixon women on the box. Any other station would have turfed them long ago or tried a newer, younger formula.

They realised this recently in the States, where seasoned film critics Roger Ebert and Richard Roeper (himself Gene Siskel's replacement) of ABC America's At The Movies were done in for younger (and less cineaste-y) models Ben Lyons (from E!) and Ben Mankiewicz (Turner Classic Movies). The new team tanked, so they've now hired New York Times critic A.O. Scott and the Chicago Tribune's Michael Phillips in an effort to reclaim some critical oompf.

We all know what happened when SBS pulled the same trick on David and Margaret - there was nearly rioting in the streets, horrified rumblings of the kind of magnitude that exploded when ABC threatened to "freshen up" the Rage theme music. In short, it can't be done. The new, young and hip Movie Show died a slow death.

Because why go for young and hip when you can have wise and spectacularly well-read? (Or, in this case, perhaps well-viewed.) While the sizzle of At The Movies comes from David and Margaret's snappy interactions, what gives the show its majesty is the sheer magnitude of each critic's film knowledge. They'll reference an obscure Iranian flick from 1972 as though they were discussing the weather.

I also loved them just that little bit more, at this year's (largely dreadful) Logies, for this:



(Although, if I may digress for a moment, someone needs to have a word to Gyton's agent as he's in danger of taking the Samuel Johnson route to Over-exposed-ville. He was last spotted propping up the couch on the frankly bizarre and vapid Commercial Breakdown. Dude, you've got an AFI award; have some self respect.)

There's no real way to sum this up neatly; I could wax lyrical about the pair until the cows come home (thanks, Groucho). So, in closing, I give them both five stars. I hope they never stop.