November 15: SBS Viceland launches! + Louis Theroux does Scientology

TV critic Andrew Mercado’s rundown on what to watch on the box tonight

SBS Viceland

SBS2 becomes Viceland tonight from 8.30pm with the debut of its first new show, Gaycation. It’s a gay travel show with actress Ellen Page who will visit Japan, Brazil, Jamaica and USA during the first four episodes while exploring LGBTI options in all the countries. Then it’s the fruity cooking show F*ck That’s Delicious with rapper chef Action Bronson, Black Market with The Wire’s Michael K Williams as he investigates illicit trading, Noisey: Bompton with Kendrick Lamar and finally doco series Balls Deep: Ramadan. It’s a fascinating lineup for the new channel which will hopefully do better here than in the UK where it has launched to virtually zero ratings. Fingers crossed, guys.

Louis Theroux: My Scientology Movie 8.30pm on BBC Knowledge

Anyone who watches daytime television may have noticed advertisements for the Church of Scientology and that’s no surprise given the avalanche of negative publicity it has been getting from former members spilling the beans. Now it’s the turn of the great British documentary filmmaker Louis Theroux and after all his requests for interviews have been turned down, he takes the unconventional route of hiring actors to play Tom Cruise and David Miscavige to recreate some key (disturbing) moments. It’s not entirely successful and this doco just gives us more of the same thing, as Scientology heavies lie about public property in an attempt to get Theroux to stop filming (while they film him). If you are really interested in this subject you would probably be better off checking out HBO’s great doco from last year, Going Clear.

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