0/5

The Weekly is off and running

It's a good first effort from Charlie Pickering with a mix of comedy, news, commentary and conversation.

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Charlie Pickering unveiled The Weekly last night, a mix of comedy, news, comment and conversation.

The first episode tackled such topics as Online Piracy, whether Tony Abbott is ‘manly,’ the Speaker of the House, Star Wars, and immunisation. Pickering handled the punchlines and wry opinion with confidence.

First guest was Sam Neill discussing his documentary Why ANZAC? Despite it airing the night before, this was the strongest part of the show. Pickering is at his best bouncing off guests and Neill was a charming guest, never in need of a punchline.

The show was technically also very smooth, recorded on Tuesday night and edited for Wednesday before it eventually records ‘As Live” on the day of broadcast.

There were hints of similar shows, here and there, but it’s early days and needs time to find its voice. I’d like to see the show play with more anger and greater sense of the silly. But the first effort was an encouraging start.

Online there were reactions by those who liked what they saw…

https://twitter.com/GeorgeDonikian/status/590833863208800257

Those who didn’t….

https://twitter.com/LaurenceRosen/status/590832585053327361

https://twitter.com/RolandJamez/status/590830976021868544

 

Those who were undecided….

https://twitter.com/kateburford/status/590845360542584833

 

And even those missing Shaun Micallef….

https://twitter.com/AshGhebranious/status/590832809503109120

https://twitter.com/Rowans_Graffiti/status/590827309311004673

19 Responses

  1. Oh the irony. The first episode has a story on piracy and the show itself is a rip off of LWT. If you don’t want to be compared to Stewart or Oliver then don’t make a copy of their shows.

  2. I agree with you David, a good start. Over the weeks it will get sharper. I have to disagree though about having a guest on the show maybe it was just the structure of the show – it seemed out of place, maybe because it was sort of sandwiched in the middle. Tom and Kitty’s segments were great. I had the impression they would be on for the whole show as a panel, obviously I was wrong

  3. I liked it, but HBO’s lawyers might be calling ABC in future weeks. It was very much Last Week Tonight with John Oliver in look and substance for the most part.

    1. Yes, there were whole lines and even mannerisms lifted from Oliver’s show. It’s like the good old days of Steve Vizard ripping off Letterman.

  4. I thought that it was a pretty decent first effort. Tom Gleeson and Kitty Flanagan need to be better integrated somehow because I felt that they interrupted what I was watching and temporarily took me to another show before returning to The Weekly. Interview was great, altho’ brief, but that’s prob as much down to Sam Neill as Charlie. Time will tell. Early days yet.

  5. I liked it. And re Sam Neills “Why Anzac” doco, thankyou David Knox for recommending this in a comment a few days ago, as I watched it and thought it was the best Anzac doco I have ever seen. Looking forward to more of The Weekly.

  6. Interesting Charlie P got 120,000 more than if he had been on the Project. However I tuned in out of curiosity, but unfortunately I will not return. Just not funny enough and not in same league as Shaun M.

  7. Count me in the negative camp I’m afraid. For a man who wants to be a comedian, not a newsreader, he needs to be funny. Whatever the numbers were, I’m predicting plenty of people jumping off. I’ll call it now, sight-unseen, put 8MMM on at 8:30pm, and run the Weekly at 9:30pm.

  8. David, is there going to be a repeat, maybe on ABC2? My in-laws house flooded last night (in Sydney Stormageddon lol) and I spent the night shovelling water and dirt – I’m so annoyed I missed it!!

  9. David, interesting that you read this as a negative comment.
    ‘Charlie Pickering’s jokes aren’t much better than breakfast TV #TheWeekly’

    1. You lasted longer than me – I was just now watching it on iView, but bailed after the start of Kitty Flanagan’s segment. I find her schtick pretty tiresome, but thought I could sit it out. I was wrong.

      Up until then I was happy to give it a go, even though it’d started looking like a very average MAH-Project mashup.

      I didn’t think it was bad per se – but it really needs to find its own feet to have any chance.

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