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Parky’s Favourite Australians: April 22

Grainy footage that probably belongs on YouTube -yet there's something oddly compelling about this clip show.

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I’m not really sure what to make of Parky’s Favourite Australians.

Parky, now in his 80s, reflects on interviews he made (mostly) on Parkinson Down Under, filmed in the 1980s for TEN. These two specials feature select clips and have a rather quaint feel about them: the fashion, the colloquial language, and some genuinely Australian characters.

Tonight there’s Cliff Young, Clive James, Dame Edna Everage, Garry McDonald, Paul Hogan, Jack Fingleton, Bob Hawke, Sir Les Patterson.

There’s Kerry Packer smoking during a “Live” TV interview, there’s a frank Shane Warne (pre-makeover) admitting to indiscretions and the actual inspiration for Crocodile Dundee, Rod Ansell.

Some of the real curiosities are the other guests sitting beside the featured guests: Look closely and you will see Jacki Weaver, Barry Jones, Gwen Plumb, Ross Higgins, Oliva Newton John, Kate Fitzpatrick, Maggie Tabberer, John Waters -and I never thought I’d see Gloria Swanson make an appearance on primetime Australian TV in this day and age, but there she is.

These two specials feel like TEN has had two hours to fill because it can’t launch MasterChef until MKR ends (why not just commission two new Parky interviews?). I worry that if networks are delving into the video vault for grainy clips that are probably better served via YouTube then Free to Air is in a much darker place than any of us realise.

But there are parts of this special that are so bizarrely compelling, you might not be able to look away either….

7:30pm tonight on TEN.

One Response

  1. I prefer his “Parky’s Picks” DVD that my local library has. 19 interviews, some of which, like Joan Rivers, are worth seeing again. No doubt many under-’50s will be saying “who the hell is he/she? ” more than once.

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