Best shows to watch: money and marriage in The Gilded Age; sexy reality TV dating double

From period dramas and reality TV dating shows to travelogues and Oscar-winning movies, there's something for everyone on TV and streaming this week.
THE GILDED AGE
Monday, Paramount+
Fittingly for a period drama set in an era of immense social and economic change, this third season opens with sisters Ada and Agnes (Cynthia Nixon and Christine Baranski) struggling to accept their new roles in society and in their own home. After years of being her wealthy socialite sister's plus one at events, the recently widowed Ada now finds herself the one with the invitations and the clout. For Agnes – whose sense of self and purpose is tied to her status – being forced down the pecking order is a shock to the system. On the other side of the street, the new moneyed Bertha (Carrie Coon) continues her ambitious ascent with a plot to marry off her daughter to a cash-strapped duke. Unfortunately for Bertha, her daughter has her heart set on marrying for love and not social climbing. Much like Julian Fellowes' other beloved franchise, Downton Abbey, this series is an addictive glimpse at a bygone time that offers bitingly current social commentary.
JOANNA LUMLEY'S DANUBE
Thursday, 8pm ABC
With a voice as soothing as it is joyful and the inquisitive and courageous spirit of a great explorer, Joanna Lumley takes viewers on yet another globetrotting adventure. This time she's traversing along the Danube. While she may be best known as the beehived, chain-smoking Patsy, the real Lumley is far more down-to-earth than her iconic Absolutely Fabulous alter ego and, at 79 years of age, she remains youthfully eager to learn and take on new experiences. Dressed in sensible trousers and shoes, Lumley tours Germany, sharing historical insights and learning about cuckoo-clock-making with genuine wonder. Just like David Attenborough, Lumley is an inspirational tour guide.
WE WERE LIARS
Prime Video
Just like Revenge, Sirens and the Perfect Couple before it, this thriller unfolds in the summer playground of a wealthy family where, beneath their seemingly glossy lifestyle there is a nasty rot of dysfunction. Here we have the tight-knit foursome of Cadence, Gat, Johnny and Mirren (Emily Alyn Lind, Shubham Maheshwari, Joseph Zada and Esther McGreggor) who have always enjoyed carefree family vacations together at on the family island until one terrible summer when Cadence is found washed up on the beach. With no memory of how she wound up in the ocean, Cadence slowly begins to piece together what happened.
MOONBIRD
Thursday, 8.30PM, NITV & SBS On Demand
The untamed beauty of Tassie certainly seems to be taking centre stage in many productions these days. Used as a backdrop for the Netflix mystery The Survivors and the ABC drama Bay of Fires, Tasmania's windswept countryside is also used to stunning effect in this film about an estranged father and son (Kyle Morrisson and Lennox Monaghan) trying to reconnect on a weekend away. Recently sober, the father is eager to bond with his son while doing some traditional mutton-birding on a remote Tasmanian Island. Upon discovering the island's native fauna is all but gone it reopens old wounds and bad habits, derailing plans for an idyllic reunion.
THE SURFER
Stan
Twenty odd years ago Nicolas Cage arrived in Australia to film one of the first and lesser-known Marvel films, Ghost Rider. Back then the Oscar-winner was still a bankable box office star. When Cage returned to our shores this time to film this psychological thriller, he, much like the man he portrays, isn't quite the guy he used to be. About to get divorced, Cage's character returns to the small town where he grew up looking to reclaim his lost youth (and the family he neglected in order to further his career). Far from it being a happy homecoming, the man goes to war with a group of local yobbos and their creepy leader (Julian McMahon) and slowly begins to unravel.
STRANDED ON HONEYMOON ISLAND
Monday, 7.30pm, Channel 7
'Somewhere, in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, 12 Aussie singles are leaving the toxic world of modern dating behind,' we are told by Jackie O in her opening narration. Instead, professionally-matched participants are marooned (in full wedding finery) with a stranger for 21 days. There are no phones. No luxuries. No support network of family or friends. Only each other … and the cameras. Jackie promises that this new reality show will be an 'experience unlike any other' but essentially it is a strangely compelling mash-up of Married At First Sight and Survivor. Together in the tropics, the pressure of getting to know one another is magnified. And for the bigger personalities of the group – Amy and Mike – that leads to inevitable power struggles.
OPEN HOUSE: THE GREAT SEX EXPERIMENT
Streaming Tuesday, 6pm, 7Plus
There's a lot more to being polyamorous than throwing your car keys in a bowl for a night of frolicking between the sheets with like-minded folk. At a luxury retreat housing a swag of swinging singles, couples flirting with opening their relationships decide (with some expert advice from clinical psychologist Lori Beth Bisbey as well as poolside cocktails and some saucy party games) whether to invite a third – or even fourth – person into their bed. It's a big decision. And not one that everyone can handle. A cocktail of Love Island and MAFS, this British reality series puts monogamy to the ultimate test and features some larger-than-life personalities.
AUSTRALIA'S MOST IDENTICAL
Tuesday, 7.30pm, Channel 9
After Bridgette and Paula Powers, 51, became viral internet sensations for their unintentionally hilarious interview about a Sunshine Coast carjacking, comes this search for Australia's most identical set of twins. You'd think (after seeing Powers sisters speaking in unison and wearing matching garb) that search is already over because the in-synch pair would have this title in the bag. But this series proves that there's a lot of other matching duos who look – and talk – alike. So, what sets one set apart from the rest? Gold Logie winner Scotty Cam and Olympian Jana Pittman (who are each parents of twins themselves) join experts to put 100 pairs of twins through their paces. First up, a game of 'would you rather?' to see how aligned they are in their core values.
ANORA
Streaming, Binge
Even If, like me, you still feel Hollywood OG Demi Moore was robbed of her Oscar by up-and-comer Mikey Madison (which was sort of like life imitating art for The Substance star), this film is worth a look. Madison plays the titular Anora 'Ani' Mikheeva. Ani is a New York stripper who is coerced into a quickie marriage by a wealthy client while on a bender with him in Vegas. Believing the man's feelings for her are sincere and hoping the marriage will provide an exit strategy from the daily bump and grind, she says 'I do'. Far from being her happily ever after, Ani finds herself facing off with her playboy husband's family who are powerful figures in the Russian underworld.
MASTERCHEF AUSTRALIA
Tuesday, 7.30PM, Channel 10 & 10 Play
Hot on the heels of Nornie Bero's visit to the kitchen on Monday (where she shared some of her wisdom about cooking with Indigenous ingredients before setting a Pressure Test drawing on the lessons she imparted), comes Curtis Stone. Now based in the US with his Beverly Hills 90210 wife Lindsay Price, Stone has jetted back to Australia to put the latest batch of contestants through their paces with his signature (easygoing but laser-focused) approach to cooking. The laid-back chef challenges four contestants to recreate his Herb Ricotta Raviolo with Braised Lamb. And yes, it's as tricky as it sounds. The person whose dish looks (and tastes) the least like Stone's original dish will be sent packing.
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT …
In a recent interview with Vanity Fair, Scarlett Johansson confessed that making this movie with Bill Murray wasn't easy. 'Everybody was on tenterhooks around him, including our director and the full crew, because he was dealing with his … stuff' the star divulged. Director Sofia Coppola wrote the character of Bob (a movie star having a midlife crisis) specifically for Murray and spent a year lobbying the reclusive Ghostbusters star into doing it. Loosely inspired by Coppola's feelings of displacement while working in Japan in her 20s, the film explores a platonic romance between Bob and a disenchanted student (Johansson) while they are both at loose ends in Tokyo. Despite his negativity on set, Murray was nominated for an Oscar for his performance while Coppola won for her screenplay.

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