We tend to bang on a bit here about the way the ABC seem to be keen to promote every comedy they can as the most shocking and controversial thing since… well, the last time The Chaser / Chris Lilley made fun of dead people. Partly that’s because we’re simply interested in the behind-the-scenes goings... Read More »
As we often point out 'round these parts, we Australians don't make much sketch comedy. Particularly the sort of “pure” sketch comedy shows associated with British television, programs like That Mitchell and Webb Look or The Armstrong and Miller Show, or if you're old enough to remember them, A Bit of Fry & Laurie, Smith & Jones and French and... Read More »
The reason why television executives are generally held in such low regard is because their main job related skill involves treating their job as one big test then spending all their time looking over other peoples’ shoulders to try and find out the answers – or as they used to call it back at school,... Read More »
The Chaser are back – as a proper team this time, not just various members hosting one-off arts specials and short-lived attempts to make public speaking thrilling – and it’s like they never went away. No, we don’t mean they’re such an important and vital part of our national consciousness that they never left our... Read More »
Yesterday we saw this story in The Age, largely based on this story from UK newspaper The Independent, indicating that At Home with Julia is being re-made by a British broadcaster. Or it did if you didn't delve too deeply into either article, because both of them word things very carefully whilst hyping what there is of a story to high... Read More »
So… they didn’t get axed. Lasted the full ten weeks. Yep. … Okay, while that’s hardly the best thing that can be said about Hamish & Andy’s Gap Year, the fact remains that they’re the first new comedy series screened on a commercial network in a prime-time slot to go the distance in a long... Read More »
This week sees stage two of ABC2’s attempt to rebrand itself as the place where all the cool kids go to hang out and laugh with the arrival of The Bazura Project. Like the persistantly impressive Twentysomething, it’s another comedy series that started out as a DIY project on community station Channel 31… and that’s... Read More »
Today has seen a variety of submissions being made to the Senate committee inquiry into ABC television internal programming cuts that have… kinda… zzz… Wait, what? Did someone mention The Chaser? Community and Public Sector Union ABC section secretary Graeme Thomson said on Monday there needed to be a full and open inquiry into the... Read More »
A few days ago TV Tonight reported the not terribly surprising news that Good News World has been bumped to 10.30pm. TV Tonight have since speculatedthat the show won't be around for much longer, even in that timeslot, which seems a reasonable assumption when you take into account the program's ratings, the cost of the production and Ten's current... Read More »
Ever get the feeling large swathes of Australian society aren’t actually alive? Oh sure, they walk and talk and seem human, but bring up one of any number of obvious hot-button issues and they spew out the same clockwork preprogrammed responses time and time again. Some might say this kind of dehumanising imagery is the... Read More »