If you’re making a sitcom that’s of a consistently high standard each week, that means you’re doing a good job, right? And Utopia is doing a good job; every episode it makes valid points about how government works (or doesn’t work) and it usually raises a few laughs along the way. So why, after... Read More »
If there’s a utopia for Australian comedy, it’s not Utopia series 3. The third series of a sitcom should build on past successes – and Utopia’s previous series were largely successful – but also give us, the audience, something new. Based on last night’s episode of Utopia, there’s nothing new for us to see here.... Read More »
Remember when Australian comedy used to appear on networks that weren’t the ABC? The Family Law? Here Come the Habibs? Weren’t they meant to be back on air by now? Eh, they’ll show up eventually: so long as we’ve got the ABC and their rock-solid commitment to Australian television comedy there’s nothing to worry about.... Read More »
Press release time! ABC reveals strong Australian slate for 2017 & announces unprecedented investment in digital programming Wednesday, November 2, 2016 Stellar Australian actors and presenters, including Claudia Karvan, Hugo Weaving, Miranda Tapsell, Xavier Samuel, Ian Thorpe, Anh Do and Rob Collins are just a few of the stars that will grace the screens of... 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 »
The second season of Utopia saw it evolve from a sitcom which was mainly about how difficult it is to build infrastructure in this country, to a sitcom about an office in which people find it difficult to build infrastructure in this country…hey check out that subplot about the overzealous plant hire guy! This change... Read More »
In the first episode of the new series of Utopia the team at the Nation Building Authority are back after the holidays…and nothing much has... Read More »
Australian comedy in 2014 did pretty much what it was expected to do: not all that much. The days of any local comedy connecting with a mass audience seem to have ended with the mass audience realising Chris Lilley only ever had one idea, while the ABC’s other crowd-pleasing mainstays either tossed off a half-arsed... Read More »
The fact that the final episode of Utopia involved the Nation Building Authority missing out at an awards night was yet another might big clue that whatever Working Dog were seeking to achieve with this sitcom, a bluntly realistic look at the infrastructure management of this once-great nation probably wasn’t it. (ok, sure; there probably... 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 »