13 schoolyards, Author at Australian Tumbleweeds - Page 81 of 115
Vale Jonah from Tonga pt 1: Behind the Scenes
Was there ever a television series more utterly unnecessary than Jonah from Tonga? Even in the darkest days of Ja’mie: Private School Girl at least we knew that Ja’mie was always going to cruise through life, an eternal and unchanging sitcom character where what little laughs there were came from dropping her in different situations.... Read More »
Speech! Speech!
So last week we went to see the Working Dog play The Speechmaker, and just to make it clear from the start: we’re not regular theatre-goers. Sure, we occasionally visit the theatre district to check out a live performance – usually featuring Shaun Micallef – but it’s fair to say that our knowledge of theatre... Read More »
Jonah Week 5: Caged Heat
Oh look, it’s the episode of Jonah where Chris Lilley reuses all the “Gran” stuff from Angry Boys rather than reusing the “Jonah” stuff from Summer Heights High. A few years ago Lilley opening an episode with two non-Lilley characters talking to camera for an extended period would have been hailed by us as a... Read More »
Another One Bites The Dust
Can we blame the dead weight that is Jonah from Tonga for this one? Retro TV music quiz show Spicks and Specks got its name from a Bee Gees song and just like the lyrics of the top 10 hit, “it is dead, it is dead”. The ABC on Friday confirmed the reboot of the... Read More »
Jonah Week 4: The Sound of Silence
Hey, where’d everybody go? Two weeks ago we could pad these reviews out with loads of quotes from various articles denouncing Jonah as racist tripe or praising it as cutting edge comedy from Australia’s favourite satirist, and now… nothing. What gives? Oh, that’s right: Chris Lilley’s career is over. Actually, it was over a couple... Read More »
Jonah Week 3: Running in Place
So, exactly how much of this week’s episode of Jonah from Tonga was just a bunch of schoolboy dickheads running around hiding from authority figures? We’re not saying that kind of thing can’t be funny; we are saying that when you’re Chris Lilley and the only string you have to your comedy bow is your... Read More »
In Comedy, Timing Is Everything
Press release time! ABC TELEVISION HEAD OF ONLINE AND MULTIPLATFORM MOVES ON Arul Baskaran, Head of Online and Multiplatform has advised that he is leaving the ABC to pursue new opportunities in digital media. Baskaran was instrumental in launching iview, Australia’s first on-line TV catch-up service which remains the country’s leading video-on-demand platform to... Read More »
Jonah Week 2: Slip Sliding Away
Wow, Jonah really is stirring up some serious shit: A new Australian television comedy about a rebellious Tongan teenager has been condemned as “self indulgent” and “deeply offensive” to Pacific Islanders. Chris Lilley’s six-part ABC TV comedy series Jonah From Tonga follows the life of a 14-year-old schoolboy and his run-ins with family, friends and... Read More »
Centrifugal Spin: The Second Cycle
We don’t always talk up upcoming shows unless they fill us with a sense of dread but this one snuck up on us: Dirty Laundry Live is back! Yes, the only survivor (to date) from the 2013 round of panel shows returns tomorrow night on ABC2 to deliver the same mix of celebrity gossip and... Read More »