Prats in the ranks: Darradong Local Council
Darradong Local Council is technically an all-new series but you could slap the titles for Housos on it and no one would spot the... Read More »
Comedy TV
The World of Tomorrow
“We are all interested in the future,” someone once said, “because that is where we shall be spending the rest of our lives”. But what if the future looks really shit? Welcome to the magical world of Australian television’s plans for 2024. In recent weeks the commercial networks and streaming services have been holding their... Read More »
A Question of Timing
Question Everything made its triumphant return to the ABC for a third season this week. A third season? Of a show that still can’t figure out how to make its core concept – fake news but comedy! – work? Good thing it’s not our tax dollars paying for this crap oh wait. Having it back... Read More »
The End of an Era (we hope)
Earlier this week this not-exactly-news-type-news was announced: the days of Daryl Somers hosting Seven’s Dancing with the Stars are no more: “Seven let me know recently that they have signed Chris Brown to the network full-time and amongst his commitments he will be hosting DWTS.” Not only was it a case of “you know that... Read More »
Vale Mother and Son
The biggest single problem Mother and Son is that so much about the way it’s been made seems to be working against it being comedy... Read More »
WTFAQuestion Time
For some reason or another the ABC is currently running ads featuring Dr Karl. You know, the guy who answers all your science questions? Only if you actually listen to his answers, he often doesn’t answer your questions – he just throws out a bunch of quirky facts that are kind of adjacent to whatever... Read More »
C*A*U*G*H*T-ing laughs
Stan’s new comedy C*A*U*G*H*T is the sort of show no one expected in 2023. It’s a pure comedy which just wants to make you... Read More »
Vale Thank God You’re Here 2023
We can’t blame Working Dog for taking an “if it ain’t broke” approach to their revival of Thank God You’re Here. The original run was much loved and fondly remembered… though not by us, which is why fans of the show might want to skip what comes next. Glad you enjoyed it, it’ll probably be... Read More »
Thank God You’re Back… Again
The opportunities for Australian comedians on local television have been shrinking for the last [insert depressingly long stretch of time here]. After a while, it becomes a vicious circle: no jobs for comedians means less comedians means less comedy on television means no jobs for comedians. Want proof? Time to open the blue door to... Read More »
Some Mothers Do ‘Ave ‘Em
There’s a lot of reasons why remakes and revivals and adaptations take place [you mean beyond money? – ed.]. The celebrity driven ones – where someone famous says “I want to do this” and they’re famous enough to make it happen – aren’t always the worst, but they’re rarely the best. The problem is that... Read More »