It’s been a long time since local comedy had a future on Australian free-to-air television. Watching comedy – well, the trends in comedy – is a great way to figure out where television is going in general: it’s a niche product on the sharp edge of production, so whatever’s happening there will eventually happen everywhere.... Read More »
If you were a newcomer to Australia’s shores, you might be puzzled about – well, about a lot of things really, but let’s stick with panel shows. Why don’t we have more of them? They’re cheap to make, don’t require a whole lot of effort, and didn’t we kinda sorta invent the prime time version... Read More »
For those of you eagerly anticipating the Australian version of Whose Line Is It Anyway?, big news! New Foxtel series Whose Line Is It Anyway? Australia announces its ensemble cast of seven exciting and talented performers. Comedy superstar Rhys Darby is joined by comedy festival favourites Cal Wilson, Tegan Higginbotham and Susie Youssef, along with... Read More »
Viewers of Wednesday Night Fever, The Elegant Gentleman’s Guide to Knife Fighting and The Roast could easily be forgiven for thinking that we, Australians, just can’t do sketch comedy any more. Not relatively young Australians... Read More »
For a few years now – well, it feels like years at least – we’ve been complaining / warning that Australian television likes everything about comedy but the making-people-laugh stuff. Of course, who listens to what we have to say? And so it has come to pass that in a few short weeks (July 25th)... Read More »
Well, there ain’t no getting around it now*; after three weeks, the much-hyped Australian comedy film Any Questions For Ben is a flop: Roadshow’s latest local comedy Any Questions For Ben? had a 66 per cent fall on last weekend, grossing $103,030 from 146 screens. After opening on February 9, it has taken $1.4 million... Read More »
Remember that story last year about how Britain's Channel 4 were working on a supposed rip-off of The Gruen Transfer called The Mad Bad Ads Show? If you don't, we blogged about it here. Either way, it went to air on Friday night and we've managed to see... Read More »
We were going to talk about a review of Outland, but… ah, what the hell, let’s start with that. In The Age‘s Green Guide television supplement for Feb 16th, Jim Schembri had this to say about Outland: “The problem with this stab at a hip, savvy sitcom is that it is too gay”. Considering the... Read More »
“Bogans! Scum of the Earth or YOU!! Find out tonight!” (and now that we have your attention…) There’s been a long-term trend in program making over the last half decade or so of taking the risk out of live (or the more common, “live-on-tape”) television. In much the same way that Thank God You’re Here... Read More »
Panel games in this country are generally slanted more towards the game than the panel. Giving funny answers to questions isn't exactly frowned upon, but it's not the point of the show either – the point is the game.... Read More »