Surprisingly – or not, depending on how closely you’ve been paying attention – for a news satire the final episode of Shaun Micallef’s Mad as Hell contained a lot of swipes at other comedy shows. And well deserved swipes at that, whether the targets were lazy ABC “comedy” panel shows (the ‘Blather’ sketch even contained... Read More »
True story: when this week’s episode of The Chaser’s Media Circus came on, one of us got up from their seat, walked out the back door, walked up the driveway to the street, and then stood there for a full minute wondering exactly what it was they were doing. We’re not saying Media Circus is... Read More »
We all knew this day was coming, and it seems “this day” is this Wednesday: Did you notice? No, not that ABC2 is repeating Mad as Hell – too much Micallef is never enough in our book – but that the Wednesday night ABC1 comedy night is no more. Yes, there’s a repeat of QI... Read More »
Good news, everyone! Spicks and Specks is back! In fact, it seems to be on every night of the week at 7pm on ABC2 and… oh wait, that’s the old version. Sorry. Easy mistake to make. This was going to be a regular old “Vale Spicks and Specks” until we realised that when you’re trying... Read More »
Can we blame the dead weight that is Jonah from Tonga for this one? Retro TV music quiz show Spicks and Specks got its name from a Bee Gees song and just like the lyrics of the top 10 hit, “it is dead, it is dead”. The ABC on Friday confirmed the reboot of the... Read More »
One of the more unusual book cover quotes you’ll see is this one from Tony Martin: “I’m 33 and ready for my first cardigan yet whenever I read a paper I feel like I’m back in short pants. Let go of the wheel you old farts, and let someone else have a drive” It’s not... Read More »
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 »
You may not have noticed, what with that whole “death of print media” thing going on even though we still seem to be getting loads of junk mail in our letterbox every day and what is print media but a couple of news stories stuck on the front of a Target catalogue anyway? We digress:... Read More »
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 »
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 »