Comedy TV

Have You Been Paying Attention (double take edition)

Working Dog’s much-loved (by us) comedy game show Have You Been Paying Attention? (or HYBPA) tried something a little different last night: they went to air at the usual time (6pm) with the usual episode, then at 10.30pm they ran an extended “after dark” version that was around ten minutes longer. Has society gone mad?... Read More »

Knox Knox Knoxing on Heaven’s Door

Respected entertainment reporter – yes, there really are such things – David Knox wonders why we don’t make sitcoms in Australia. He wonders this a lot. He wondered it in November 2013: Will anybody ever take the kind of risk necessary to achieve one, or are our writers simply not interested? Then it turned out... Read More »

Raking through the leaves of bad dramedy

Dramedy has killed comedy. Where once we made out-and-proud sitcoms which aimed for laughs, now we make dramedies where the potential for comedy is sacrificed to ensure there’s room for moving bits, or tense bits, or realistic... Read More »

Sometimes You’ve Got To Take What You Can Get

Most of our objections to the state of modern Australian comedy can be boiled down to two points: most of it isn’t even trying to be funny, and it’s not even any good at whatever it is trying to do. So we’re actually kind of pleased to see both The Checkout and Have You Been... Read More »

Little sketches of horror(s)

This is Littleton is a new four-part sketch show set in the municipal offices of the fictional City of Littleton. It treads well-worn ground in TV sketch in that it features recurring characters and is set in the... Read More »

What’s The Matter With Kids These Days?

Well, guess we all knew this day was coming: PRODUCTION STARTS ON SEASON TWO OF JOSH THOMAS’ PLEASE LIKE ME New cast announced as season one wins AACTA and receives GLAAD nomination. Production is underway in Melbourne on the highly anticipated second season of Josh Thomas’ award-winning comedy drama Please Like Me. Created, written by... Read More »

Come on, entertain us!

Yesterday it was announced that Jon Casimir, currently an executive producer at Cordell Jigsaw Zapruder, will start work as the ABC’s Head of Entertainment in... Read More »

Mad About The Boy

Hey, the cast are in the opening credits now! Micallef doesn’t have the beard he was sporting in all the promos! There’s the Micallef Tonight sign! And a bunch of political observations that are actually funny! Yes, Mad as Hell is back and it continues to be good. Oh sure, there are always quibbles to... Read More »

Vale Before The Game

This one kind of passed us by, happening as it did during the off season and coming as more of a “hey, guess what’s not coming back in 2014” announcement: Before the Game is no more. The popular and long-running sports… wait, “sports”? Why are we mentioning it? Oh yeah: despite being AFL-focused it featured... Read More »

Picking Up the Pieces

So… what if the ABC’s revival of Spicks and Specks doesn’t work? Obviously it’s too soon to tell either way*: great ratings could come from interested passers-by stopping by to check it once before deciding never to return, while poor ratings could be turned around by word-of-mouth and a big promotional effort. Sure, that second... Read More »