TELEVISION
Clash of tycoons

They are two tycoons — one a self-made man, the other born into wealth. They both came into the world on the very same day.

Kane & Abel, beginning on Wednesday, February 28, on the History Channel at 9 pm is the story of Abel Rosnovski (Peter Strauss), the illegitimate son of a Polish baron, who is forced to fend for himself from childhood. Escaping from Siberia during World War I, he emigrates to America, where he builds a multimillion-dollar hotel empire.

The series is also the story of the Boston honcho Lowell Kane (Sam Neill) who is carefully groomed to take his place in both society and the financial world, succeeding on both counts in the banking business.

Though Abel and Kane might have become friends in any other circumstances, an accidental slight on Kane’s part earns him the undying enmity of a vengeful Abel. Thus begins a feud-driven power struggle that will consume both their lives for the next 25 years.

Crumbling family

Estranged brothers Mitch and Jody Crumb reunite in their small hometown to deal with their mother, Suzanne, who is being discharged from a psychiatric facility and has yet to discover that her ex-husband is about to have a baby with his new girlfriend. The family has major issues!

Crumbs, every Thursday at 10 pm on Star World is about two brothers: Mitch is the prodigal son, who is returning home after a failed Hollywood career, while Jody is the older brother who has stayed in the confines of their small New England town to run the family business. Together for the first time as adults, this family will have to stick by one another despite their combustible relationships.

Kenya’s melancholic and menacing beauty becomes the backdrop for bestselling author John Le Carre’s film adaptation of The Constant Gardner on February 27 at 9 pm on HBO. The film revolves around diplomat Justin Quayle and his activist wife Tessa who is untiringly devoted to the African people.

Justin Quayle (Ralph Fiennes—Harry Potter And Maid In Manhattan) is a lecturing British diplomat at a university when he meets fiery student Tessa (Rachel Weisz—The Fountain). The two decide to marry. They begin to know each other as the months go by, but how much of Tessa does Justin really know? When Tessa and her friend, Kenyan doctor Arnold Bluhm, are brutally murdered in mysterious circumstances, Justin’s quiet heartbreak soon turns into unrelenting rage.

As he digs deeper for truth, he uncovers other questions that beg answering: Did Tessa use his bureaucratic connections to expose a sinister pharmaceutical company and its criminal activities in Kenya? Was she faithful to him? Will her death rouse him out of his timidity and unknowing complicity with evil?

The year of the dog

Seven million revellers take to the streets of Hong Kong to join one of the biggest parties in the world. For the organisers it’s an undertaking of epic proportions. How do you throw the party of the century? Big Bang today at 10 pm on Star Gold, captures Hong Kong’s most anticipated day—the Chinese New Year celebrations when the streets fill with tourists hungry to be entertained by the world’s best party-planners. Over a half million tourists are expected to join the seven million Hong Kong residents to celebrate the Year of the Dog. Entertainers come from all over the world, 1,000 boats crowd Victoria Harbour and hundreds of highly-trained police officers oversee the masses to make sure the celebration goes off without a hitch. Find out exactly what goes on in the control rooms, on the floating powder kegs and beyond the stage doors of Hong Kong’s week-long celebrations. — NF

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