Darkness falls across the land…
Look everyone! A press release from Channel Seven!
Channel Seven today announced Tim Ross will make his solo television hosting debut on the new comedy series, Australia Versus.
Australia Versus sees national pride at stake with our leading comedians taking on their international counterparts to prove that Australia is the best country in the world bar none.
England, Ireland and the United States are in the firing line as Australia fights for global supremacy in anything from sport to movies, food to music, and who’s sexiest!
In each episode, it’s a fun battle of wits as the featured comedians patriotically argue and sledge their way through a series of subject rounds, while contemporary and historical archive clips back up their arguments.
An independent international judging panel determines a winner of each round and the overall winning country is announced at the end of the episode.
The roll call of comedians includes Peter Helliar, Rebel Wilson, Anh Do, Fiona O’Loughlin, Corinne Grant, Peter Berner, Julia Morris, Heath Franklin, Dave Thornton, Greig Pickhaver and newcomer Joel Creasey for Australia , while the likes of Hale & Pace, Pauly Shore , John Moloney, Tim Brooke-Taylor and Des Bishop represent the internationals.
“I’m very excited about Australia Versus and I’m very proud to be hosting this show which features some very, very funny comedians,” Ross said today. “Obviously I see this as the first of many projects at Seven and expect to be co-hosting the Australian Open in 2011.”
Australia Versus – hosted by Tim Ross – is coming soon.
Because I know when I cast my eye across the TV schedules, the glaring omission that leaps out at me is the lack of a regular series of those crap GNW debates from the late 1990s. At least the title will provide headline writers with plenty of options when / if it follows every other Seven comedy project this century down the Dick Ritter. “Australia Versus Disinterest”; “Australia Versus Boredom” ; “Australia Versus the execs at Seven that greenlit this doomed pile of re-heated turds”. Yeah, let’s go with that one.
Seriously though, wouldn’t it be nice to occasionally see the announcement of an Australian comedy series that sounded like it was actively trying to be more than just pointless background noise?
Can we get a like button? More tea-snorting gems here, Schoolyards.
Hale & Pace? The UK is truly f*cked!
I can’t wait to see if we’re the best in the world at a show we created. Thrilling. And the best US comedian they could get is Pauley Fucking Shore? Really?
Here’s some behind the scenes info on this, courtesy of The Goodies Rule – OK! website:
“Tim [Brooke-Taylor] explained that his brief appearance in the show was filmed ‘in a cellar in the UK’, where he was interviewed by some nice Brits. Tim said he answered questions and ‘batted for Britain’; as he hasn’t seen what the other comedians said he doesn’t know who ‘won’. Guess he’ll have to wait for the finished show like the rest of us to see how he did (we’ll be rooting for you, Tim!).”
Now, that’s even worse than I thought it would be – which is people sitting around behind a desk arguing. This is presumably some kind of 20 to 1-type thing.
…wait what? So basically they are going to ask a question then cut to clips of comedians answering it. This is best case scenario going to be a 20 to 1 thing. Can’t they just show 30 minutes of static?
Bean, you should really let him out of your cellar now…
Ho ho!