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SLiDE

An Aussie Skins? Bris-Vegas offers a little more hope and sunshine than bleak Bristol in FOX8's new teen drama.

There are times we can be grateful for being behind international trends.

In London the kids burn homes, loot shops, attack police and turn on their own communities. In Brisbane the worst you can do is go on a drinking binge, throw a wild hotel party, insult your parents and damage school property. That is, according to FOX8’s new teen drama SLiDE.

Built around the notion of ‘sliding’ from youth into adulthood, the 5 Brisbane-based characters are aged 17, leaving high school, embarking on sexual exploits, and at a point where there are opportunities to drive, drink, leave home and enter the world of employment (or unemployment).

In the premiere episode Ed (Ben Schumann) is having his 17th birthday party. His plan for a rage in a hotel room is detoured firstly by his very-square parents throwing a surprise party, complete with relatives and charades, and secondly by his friends being evicted from the hotel venue after running out of control.

The hotel is managed by Scarlett’s (Emily Iris Robins) obnoxious father (Ben Oxenbould). He has no time for his ungrateful daughter. Friends Luke (Brenton Thwaites) and Tammy (Gracie Gilbert) are also thrown out on their ear. Emo-gal Eva (Adele Perovic) is the fifth member of the gang, whose rebellious nature in school detention has shades of Breakfast Club.

But Ed’s big night becomes a chain of misadventures and delinquency that sees them wind up before the police. Each episode, we are told, will take place over 24 hours and involve a ‘group heist’ and first-time life experiences.

The 2 boys and 3 girls interact as a mix of best friends, platonic friends, unresolved sexual tension, and middle-class upbringing. They are big on SMS, social media and fashion.

With its ensemble characters, recklessness and coming of age it is hard not to pigeon-hole the show as an ‘Australian Skins.’ But this is lighter in tone, if less emotional. Bris-Vegas offers a little more hope and sunshine than bleak Bristol, but in its first outing there isn’t as much character either -perhaps it will come.

Foxtel is to be commended for setting the series in Brisbane, with too many dramas opting for Sydney and Melbourne.

The young cast are very good with Ben Schumann and Adele Perovic as early standouts. Brenton Thwaites is distractingly good-looking.

As if to instil an “us and them” canyon, adult roles here are incidental, too easily depicted as ignorant, cantankerous, dim and abusing their authority. It’s an easy by-product of the genre. If only they could see the world through the eyes of our kids….

To drive the energy, Director Shawn Seet makes the most of filming with hand-held cameras. The soundtrack’s rock and indie score and some nifty on-screen graphics add to its youthful feel.

But for all the tricks and teases everything still rests upon story, and the first episode spends a little too much time on self-centred Gen Y at the expense of establishing sympathetic characters.

With a little growing up this could yet develop into something very engaging.

SLiDE airs 7:30pm Tuesdays on FOX8.

32 Responses

  1. I don’t kno why are people comparing this show to skins, but I quite enjoyed it… Matta of fact watched it twice cuz I missed sum bits of the first time. I personally like both shows I mean skins too… I just appreciate that it is portrayed in the media what life difficulties, problems n things we go thru b4 starting our lives @whateva afta hi-skool… 😉 mmm hehe great show luved it giv it 6/10

  2. SLiDE is actually a really good show…I’m not saying this just as a fangirl/boy. I actually think it is really funny, the characters make me laugh and I actually do care about them. It’s a great show and I think it deserves a much greater viewership…maybe if they syndicate it to a free-to-air channel it would pick up with kids that relate more to the characters?

  3. I enjoyed it. It was a breath of fresh air. it was hilarious and once the first episode finished, I Wanted to see the next one.
    I liked it because you find the characters very relatable. Each character reminded me of my mates. It was heaps good.
    Stop hating and start supporting. I liked it because I’m proud of being aussie, and saw a lot of the same situations my mates and I get ourselves into on television.
    Please don’t cancel it because I want to know what happens in Eps 4!!!

  4. I think the show was light hearted and hilarious. It’s a good Aussie drama with some exciting up and coming talented stars to hit our screens. The actors portray their characters well particularly Ed, who is a real standout and immediately connects with his audience. Looking forward to seeing the rest of the series.

  5. Come on people! Why does this show have to be compared to Skins? Although I’m pretty sure Skins wasn’t an over night international sensation.

    The characters were interesting, the actors beautiful, soundtrack great, and Brisbane finally given the chance to show itself for what it is.

    I’m looking forward to episode 2, and 3, maybe 4, before I make any snap decisions about this Aussie teen drama

  6. I’m about 10 minutes in, and I’ve already seen a few plot flaws and poor production… if you’re going to show kids being taken away in the back of a divvy van, make sure that the scenery outside the window actually moves as you shake the camera to simulate movement…

    And if you drop a kid off for school, and they ask for lunch money, why would you pick them up at 12?

  7. There’s definitely not enough Brisbane content on australian television. Sydney has shows like Packed to the Rafters and MasterChef Australia to show off their city and Melbourne has shows like Winners and Losers and The Block to show off their city. The free-to-air networks should create some aussie drama or base a new reality show format in Brisbane. It’s not like we can drive into our city and sit in on an episode of Can of Worms, AGT, X Factor, Funniest Home Videos, Top Gear Australia, The Footy Show AFL and NRL, Spicks and Specks, The Gruen Transfer or Your Gen.

  8. they need to bring this to GO!, 7mate or ELEVEN for free to air viewers. If it goes to the primary channels it will just suffer, but it would be a massive boost in demographic ratings and viewers on the new multi channels

  9. It doesn’t look like it has the heart in it that Skins does and the actors are just to old looking to look real I think ed is the exception, I don’t have high hopes for it, it looks a bit corny and a rip off of skins and once I saw one of the characters has a Myspace it just made it seem like it was old writers trying to write stories about young kids.

  10. Please don’t use that totally ridiculous name for Brisbane, as it has nothing to do with Vegas, other than Las Vegas being a literal city in the desert and Brisbane being a cultural desert.

  11. Saw this last week… I dunno, it felt so, so, so dumb. “Finally, a girl in this town with some kick in her arse” has to be the worst dialogue ever written for a teenager Ever.

  12. I want to like this, I really do. It’s so freshing to see a show for teenagers made in Australia. But I can’t help think this looks a lot like Skins. Will def tune in, just hope it’s worth it…

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