Press release time! Screen Australia has announced almost $750,000 of Story Development funding for nine feature films, 11 television series and two online projects. And then there’s a lot of stuff of only marginal interest to anyone reading this, so let’s cut to the good bits – who got the big bucks: Butch: A six-part... Read More »
So this stirred things up a little over the weekend: Between Hannah Gadsby’s Emmys win, Becky Lucas and Rhys Nicholson landing stand-up spots on the US show Late Night with Conan O’Brien and Demi Lardner’s Best Show nomination at the Edinburgh Festival in August, Australian comedy is having a world-class moment. Not that you’d know... Read More »
TV Tonight’s recent article on the all-time best Australian TV comedies got us thinking…what are the all-time worst Australian TV comedies? Having been blogging about this for more than a decade, we think we have the answers. First up…sketch shows! If you grew up pre the late-90s, sketch shows were something you saw on TV... Read More »
It’s that most wonderful time of the year – a time where the TV networks look to the future and say “more of the same, thanks”. So big props to SBS for actually making a change that makes sense for 2018: they’re filing The Family Law under drama: The drama slate includes the previously announced... Read More »
It’s been a long time coming, but that Working Dog animated series announced back in 2014 is finally within sight – especially if you’re the kind of person who’s okay with illegal downloads (and we don’t mean the Get This CD): Netflix is amping up its animated slate with a new comedy, “Pacific Heat,” hailing from... Read More »
If you thought the Australian television comedy scene was dead at the moment, well, sometimes dead is better: Get patriotic on the Aussie comedy day with Open Slather (Seasons 1 & 2), Just for Laughs Australia 2015, Best of the Sydney Comedy Fest 2016, and Melbourne Comedy Festival’s Big Three-Oh! 2016. If you missed Open... Read More »
The first episode from Comedy Showroom, the ABC’s new pilot showcase, Ronny Chieng International Student, aired last night and all six episodes of the series are now available on iView. In this blog we review the first three episodes; tomorrow, we’ll look at the final three programs. Ronny Chieng International Student Who’s Involved? Stand-up Ronny Chieng (The Daily... Read More »
In a week when the only comedy on TV has been the try-hard satire of The Weekly, the only-funny-if-you’re-the-sort-of-arsehole-who-laughs-at-the-inadequacy-of-others Luke Warm Sex, the brilliant-but-short Clarke & Dawe and You’re Back In The Room hosted by Daryl Somers, there’s only one way to cap things off: this year’s comedy Logies nominations. Best Entertainment Program Family Feud... Read More »
Ever get the feeling you’re running in place? That was Australian television comedy in 2015. Not just in the usual “the only way forward is to bring back Fast Forward” sense either, even though once again hundreds of thousands of dollars were spent in the firm belief that the only comedy “mainstream Australia” will embrace... Read More »
As part of a long-standing policy clearly designed to avoid the Team Tumbleweeds critical blowtorch, SBS has once again released pretty much all of their Australian comedy content during the non-ratings period – and more importantly, during the period when we’re traditionally slaving away putting together the Tumbleweed Awards (out Australia Day! Tell your friends!).... Read More »