Programming, Reviews, Top Stories Archive:
24: Redemption
Clocking in at just two, rather than twenty-four hours, this adventure takes place between the hours of 3pm and 5pm. “All events take place in real time” says the Kiefer Sutherland voice-over.
The telemovie (to air in the US this Sunday), is positioned to tantalise viewers before the delayed premiere of the seventh season next January. It’s certainly exhilarating to have Jack Bauer back on our screens, but given we’ve been waiting a year it’s odd to think they went to all this trouble when the real thing is now only two …
Out of the Blue
If it isn’t already well-known that this new soap opera has been made to order for the UK market, it’s certainly obvious from looking at it.
It has a dash of Neighbours, spoonfuls of Home and Away, hints of Echo Point -maybe even a sprinkling of Fast Forward’s parody ‘Dumb Street.’ Like a slice of glorious suburban Australiana, all the ingredients for which Aussie soaps have become famous in the UK are here: a pretty, young, whitebread cast, a slim budget impossibly stretched (there are quite a few location scenes), pedestrian dialogue, …
The Informant
But what does it all meeeeeean?
TEN’s telemovie The Informant is a contemporary drama with a dash of action in which William McInnes plays a suburban father, Richard Button, woven into a world of crime and intelligence.
He tells everyone he is a furniture importer and gives out the outward appearance of being a doting dad and dedicated husband to Christine (Anita Hegh). He appears to have a good life with a sleek, modern home. Except he can’t help but look suspiciously at dubious faces around him. He eventually contacts the Australian Serious …
Searching 4 Sandeep
The video diary that is Searching 4 Sandeep is an essay on several levels. It’s a story of coming out, long distance romance, internet dating and diminishing social options for same-sex singles.
It’s also one of the few occasions lesbians get a bit of prime time coverage, on anything other than SBS.
Poppy Stockell lives in Sydney, but at the age of 28 finds herself single and with few options of meeting prospective beaus (in the heart of a ‘gay capital’, that’s a story in itself, surely?). So she turns to the internet, …
Comedy Slapdown
Ever since Theatresports was franchised in the 80s, improvisation found a new home in popular culture.
The ABC used to screen such games from a theatre in Sydney. Many years later, along came Whose Line is it Anyway? from both the US and UK. Working Dog’s variation Thank God You’re Here has been ripping fun for its scarce seasons.
Now the Comedy Channel revisits the format, set in a wrestling ring for Comedy Slapdown.
With two teams of celebrities, a referee / host, judge and wrestling ring supports, it’s pitched as a no-holds barred …
Mr. Firth Goes to Washington
Charles Firth was one of the founding members of The Chaser comedy team, appearing on CNNNN on the ABC. But he later moved to the USA with occasional appearances on The Chaser’s War on Everything.
In Mr Firth Goes to Washington (a title parody on the 1939 James Stewart film Mr Smith Goes to Washington) he sets about de-bunking the Bush Administration. As if it hadn’t managed to do that all on its ownsome anyway.
Now on SBS, Firth likens the Bush presidency to a Hollywood movie. And it’s not a bad analogy.
According …
Navy Divers
I don’t know about you, but I’m as good as done with all these factual series. They’ve forced their way into our primetime schedules and taken over the party like a boorish gatecrasher. Just about everybody else on the guest list has made polite apologies and gone home early. Except for Charlie Sheen, he just refuses to leave.
There was also a time when factual series used to be called documentaries. That’s when they were made by filmmakers, who actually had a statement to make and raised ethical questions and proffered conclusions …
Swift & Shift Couriers
Let’s face it. You probably already know whether you like to comedy style of Paul Fenech or not. His raucous comic style as seen in Pizza isn’t everyone’s cup of tea, but it has its fans. As he moves into a new series, Swift and Shift Couriers, he is more empowered to follow the path he has charted –or possibly the road he has a delivery.
Set in a courier delivery company, the characters of this service are as inept as any you have ever encountered. Whether it’s the manager, the call …
The Long Firm
In the first two minutes of The Long Firm, it’s clear this miniseries isn’t about to shy away from frank subjects and candid depictions.
A silent Sir Derek Jacobi can be seen partaking of mutual masturbation with another man in a toilet. It’s but one of his overt scenes as Lord Teddy Thursby, a fictional Tory Lord in 1960s London. Thursby is a cash-strapped politician with a penchant for young men, whose needs see him entwine with the dirty dealings of a charismatic underworld crim, Harry Starks.
Starks, played menacingly by Mark Strong, …
John Adams
Ahh the period miniseries, we love it so.
It’s such a meeting of television and film, with its romantic settings, elaborate costumes, hundreds of extras and grand themes. Shows like Roots, Against the Wind, Water Under the Bridge, Jessica, and The Thorn Birds were marvels of the small screen.
We used to do them so well in Australia, too. With the exception of Underbelly, the miniseries barely sees the light of day anymore here, unless you count those that try to pass themselves off as a miniseries, purely to abet funding.
But America can …
Criminal Minds
I must admit I always preferred this series when Mandy Patinkin was leading this troupe. He just seemed so damned classy, and that lilting voice belied a commanding presence.
The FBI Behavioural Team may be facing grisly, dastardly serial killers, arsonists, murderers, sadomasochists and cannibals but they lead a glamorous life -flying from state to state in a lear jet.
For my money Silence of the Lambs turned a corner in serial killer storytelling. We love to know what makes them tick, watch how they can outsmart the good guys, and shrink …
Bogan Pride
Rebel Wilson is easily recognisable from her work in everything from early parody commercials for Australian Idol, to boisterous performances in Pizza, The Wedge and Monster House. So far her persona has been fairly synonymous with loud, cynical, mostly simple, working class characters. It remains to be seen whether there’s more depth behind her cheesy grin.
Now, thanks to her own self-devised series, Wilson has the time and freedom to prove herself.
On the surface, her character in Bogan Pride is another western suburbs underdog. Jennifer Cragg is an overweight teenager, the target …