Is Frontline Australia’s all-time best comedy? Of course not: why would you even suggest such a crazy thing? Oh wait: The critics have spoken. Frontline is Australia’s all-time best TV comedy. TV Tonight has asked some of the nation’s top TV critics to choose their favourite Australian comedies* -either sitcoms or sketch- with Working Dog’s... Read More »
Has anyone put together a program to randomly generate Utopia episodes yet? It shouldn’t be all that hard, going by this list of discussion points we just whipped up: *Malfunctioning office equipment / computer (VERY IMPORTANT) *Interchangeable dialogue for the two ditzy office assistants (though their running jokes don’t overlap – if one is struggling... Read More »
The word “utopia” is defined as "an imagined place or state of things in which everything is perfect"…and, obviously, in the case of Utopia that’s not quite how things are for the main... Read More »
In Sydney? Free next Wednesday night? Why not pop down to the Belvoir Theatre and check this... Read More »
With Angry Boys debuting in the UK this week, the usual gushing waves of praise re: the genius of Chris Lilley have broken on a new shore. In Australia too, the fans have been fighting back against the dwindling ratings and general feel that this time out Lilley's gone off the... Read More »
One of the more impressive contortion acts on offer at the moment is watching various Australian television columnists and reviewers trying to talk up Laid without using the word “funny”. That’s because, despite its good points – and it does have some – actually being funny is not one of them. By a long, long... Read More »
Back in 2002 Shaun Micallef made a sitcom called Welcher & Welcher. And it’s hilarious. So why is it only now coming out on DVD with no fanfarte whatsoever? Why isn’t it hailed as the comedy classic that it is instead of a minor footnote in the career of an increasingly popular game show host? What, in short, the fuck went... Read More »
With Wilfred drawing to a close on SBS, and Lowdown just started on the ABC, Adam Zwar seems to be the dominant force in sitcoms right now. But at least with Lowdown he's produced something which isn't too bad; this is not like Wilfred – all atmosphere, no laughs - but a more conventional sitcom, with running jokes, over-the-top performances and farcical... Read More »
ADbc is back on SBS, and can’t you just feel the excitement in the air? Ok, maybe not: as merely the latest in a long, long, long line of failed comedy panel shows, the return of ADbc means only one... Read More »
Maybe it's because to my generation Don Lane was a guy who'd clearly been famous once, but for what we weren't sure. His appearance on The Late Show was fun, and he presented American football on the ABC and turned up in the odd special, but that was it: he was just some old has-been in embarrassing trousers. So why am I about to launch into a heartfelt tribute to the Lanky Yank? Because, to paraphrase his theme song, he made it so... Read More »