Last week, Sam Pang Tonight’s mid-series renewal had a few people scratching their heads. After several decades of networks cancelling new shows of this type after just a couple of episodes (especially shows which annoyed people online and had been dipping in the ratings) it got renewed. Huh?! What’s with the programmers not shitting the... Read More »
In their wisdom, the ABC are now showing this year’s Fresh Blood winners on the free-to-air channel as well as iView. Well, two of them at least. While we’re getting Urvi Went to an All Girls School and Westeners, the third of the pilots – Going Under – is nowhere to be seen. The press... Read More »
Taskmaster is back for season… four? Five? Three? Let’s say four. And you know what that means: proof positive that the format doesn’t require comedians at all wait what? Taskmaster has traditionally featured comedians and Julia Morris because parts of the format – mostly the part where they sit around in a studio while Tom... Read More »
There is no possible way to make a successful tonight show in Australia in 2025. It just can’t be done. Tonight shows rely on items we just don’t have in mass quantities here. Interesting celebrities, comedy writers, that kind of thing. Throw in the fact that time is no longer on your side – tonight... Read More »
The Weekly is back and who gives a fuck. Maybe someone somewhere outside the upper levels of ABC management is excited about the return – for an eleventh season – of “Bitchy News”. We seriously doubt it. Have you ever heard anyone discuss anything they’ve seen on The Weekly? We haven’t, and we know people... Read More »
Yesterday’s episode of Australian Story focusing on Dave Hughes was business as usual. This kind of show – at one point Hughes was driving around Warnambool pointing out his old haunts like an episode of Julia Zemerio’s unlamented Home Delivery – is all about promoting a certain image of the celebrity involved. Is Dave Hughes... Read More »
Just as Optics, a sitcom about a PR company which finds it has some problems close to home, finishes up on the ABC, Troy Kinne has released Full Story, a sitcom about a PR company which finds it has some problems close to home. Which means we’re one sitcom about a PR company which finds... Read More »
We’ve complained about the way comedy is used as a marketing tool for a long time now. Your new drama is a bit of a dud? Your panel show is a chore? Your game show just plain sucks? Call it a comedy! People love comedy! And when they realise there’s no laughs to be found?... Read More »
Optics is the ABC’s big sitcom for 2025. If you’re thinking “hang on, that can’t be right”, we agree. Now point out what else they have to offer this year. The return of Mother and Son? A bunch of imports? Nothing else? Sure, the usual unfunny dramedies are no doubt soon to surface, but as... Read More »
There are a lot of questions around Question Everything. Fortunately, most of them have pretty obvious answers. Well, except for the big one, but we’ll get to that. Question one: did they deliberately set out to make a show this shit? Well, no: originally Question Everything was clearly an attempt at something akin to Gruen... Read More »