Agenda (Sunday, noon and repeated at 10.35 p.m., TV3) looks back on a turbulent year in money and politics with Damien Kiberd, former editor of the Sunday Business Post; Senator Shane Ross; Fran Rooney, former Baltimore chief executive; and the Minister for Finance, Mr McCreevy.
There is also an interview with social theorist and Harvard professor, Robert Putnam, author of Bowling Alone, which deals with the decline of "social capital". Prof Putnam explains why he believes the loss of social capital is having devastating effect, not only on the US economy, but on its democracy.
Who really shaped modern Ireland asks Portrait of the Irish Artist (Sunday, 10.20 p.m., RT╔1). While some Irish artists are cultural icons and often used as public images by the tourist board, national airline and commercial enterprises, behind the success, the programme claims, lies a complex often sour story that dominated the relationship of the Irish artist to the State for decades.
Alvin Hall comes to the rescue at this most fiscally challenging time of the year on Your Money Or Your Life - Christmas Special (Tuesday, 7.30 p.m., BBC2). He asks does it have to be a time of family arguments and heavy debt. Mr Hall shows a family in the grips of a financial crisis how to face their situation, talk honestly about money and plan for their future.
The logic behind celebrity endorsement is simple: stars give brands identity and help to sell more products. With access to the celebrities and the deal makers, The Money Programme - Celebrity Sells (Wednesday, 7.30 p.m., BBC2) throws the spotlight on the endorsement trade and asks if celebrities are worth the money? It goes behind the scenes of one of the most successful celebrity ad campaigns of recent years - Gary Lineker's tie-up with Walkers crisps. The master of the endorsement business is sport management giant IMG, which boasts clients including Tiger Woods and supermodel Giselle.
However, there are signs society's obsession with celebrity may be reaching saturation point. The Money Programme asks what this will mean for the stars and the lucrative endorsement business.
In this final episode New York (Saturday, 4 p.m., Channel 4) looks at the post-war economic boom, the rise of consumer culture and the birth of mass-media industries, which fuel the convergence of an incredible array of human and cultural energies ending with the crash of 1929 and the construction of the Empire State Building.
sokelly@irish-times.ie
