Tag Archives: Australian Television

C*A*U*G*H*T: Season 1 – TV Review

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TL;DR – While it never truly commits to its absurdist premise, there are moments when it shines.

Rating: 3 out of 5.

Disclosure – I paid for the Stan service that viewed this film.

The Hostages.

C*A*U*G*H*T Review –

There is a version of Australian comedy that takes a very irreverential look at power structures. Where no one is immune from the castigation, it is within this space that we find ourselves today, delving into a geo-political quagmire that only Australia could do.   

So to set the scene, we open on a hostage video in progress as four captured Australian soldiers, Rowdy Gaines (Ben O’Toole), Albhanis Mouawad (Lincon Younes), Phil Choi (Alexander England), and Dylan Fox (Kick Gurry), on the island nation of Behati-Prinsloo plead for their lives. It is heartbreaking as the prisoners are attacked on camera when they don’t follow the script, even more so for the Australian government, which officially states that it has no armed forces in the region. It is a simple call for help … help to survive … help not to be murdered … until the cameras cut, and the four celebrate how good the take was. Now from here, we will be looking at the season as a whole, so there will be some [SPOILERS] ahead.    

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Neighbours (Neighbours: A New Chapter) – S41 Ep. 8904 – TV Review

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TL;DR – This was a fascinating jolt of nostalgia, but I am not sure it has the sticking power to be more than that.  

Rating: 3.5 out of 5.

Disclosure – I watched this on 10 Play.

Neighbours Review –

If there is an Australian that has made it big overseas, there is a more than reasonable chance that they spent some time on Neighbours [or Home and Away, but we are not talking about that today]. Guy Pearce, Luke Hemsworth, Cleopatra Coleman, Russell Crowe, Ben Mendelsohn, Liam Hemsworth, Margot Robbie, Natalie Imbruglia, Jesse Spencer, Dichen Lachman, Alan Dale, Daniel MacPherson, and Kylie Minogue, just to name few. So, it was a bit sad when the show came to a somewhat sudden stop last year. In the way that seeing an old cornerstone come to an end, you’ll understand when they finally put Simpsons to rest. But a year later, life has sprung back to Ramsey Street, and it is time to see if this is a rebirth or a lumbering zombie.

So to set the scene, it has been two years since we last checked in to the gang on Ramsey Street, a small cul-de-sac in the suburb of Erinsborough, Melbourne. When we last left the street, everyone was putting on a wedding. Well, time is nothing but a circle because as we meet everyone again, we discover them all getting ready for the next nuptials. Karl (Alan Fletcher) and Susan Kennedy (Jackie Woodburne) are letting their old friend Harold Bishop (Ian Smith) crash at their house. But if there is one thing that sums up Ramsey Street, the more it stays the same, the more it changes as a new family moves in and a mysterious woman, Reece Sinclair (Mischa Barton), arrives at the local hotel. Now from here, we will be looking at the episode as a whole, so there will be some [SPOILERS] ahead.  

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Deadloch: Season 1 – TV Review

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TL;DR – This might be one of the most absurdly fascinating, profane, and profound shows I have watched.

Rating: 4 out of 5.

Disclosure – I paid for the Amazon Prime service that viewed this series.

Looking down at a murdered body.

Deadloch Review –

I always wonder how profoundly Australian things translate to a more global audience. Can you make the jump across the ocean without getting hacked to pieces? Well, anything is possible in the era of Bluey, but today might be the biggest test yet.

So to set the scene, Deadloch is a small coastal town on the tip of Tasmania in Australia. Once the purview of loggers and fishing, it is going through a sort of renaissance as those from the big cities look for a country escape. There, two teens, Miranda Hoskins (Kartanya Maynard) and Tammy Hampson (Leonie Whyman) stumble across a naked body missing a tongue washed up on the beach. The Mayor/Doctor Aleyna Rahme (Susie Youssef), is upset because the Winter Festival is about to start, and Phil McGangus (Shaun Martindale) and the old guard are upset that a good-old-boy is dead. The local police force Senior Sergeant Dulcie Collins (Kate Box), Abby Matsuda (Nina Oyama), and Sven Alderman (Tom Ballard) are stuck in the middle, made even worse when the brass sends in detective Eddie Redcliffe (Madeleine Sami) from Darwin who just wants to close it and leave. It is a recipe for disaster, which is when a second body appears. Now we will be looking at the season as a whole, so there may be some [SPOILERS] ahead.

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Aunty Donna’s Coffee Café: Season 1 – TV Review

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TL;DR – It is a glorious, joyful symphony of comedic talent when it lands.

Rating: 3.5 out of 5.

Disclosure – I watched this on the ABC iView service

Morning Brown Coffee Café

Aunty Donna’s Coffee Café Review –

Back in 2020, the local absurdist Australian comedy troupe Aunty Donna who pioneered being a ‘Chuffed Dad’ and how to do a ‘Roll Call’ struck out from the local scene and made their way to Hollywood with Aunty Donna’s Big Ol’ House of Fun. Coming back to Australia, I was interested to see what they would do next, and the answer to that question seems to be opening a café in Melbourne. 

So to set the scene, it is Stephanie’s (Gaby Seow) first day on the job at the new café in town called Morning Brown. But this café does not have just one boss. It has three. Broden (Broden Kelly) is a pretty cool f-ing boss. Zach (Zachary Ruane) is the more classic professional boss, and Mark (Mark Bonanno) is the goofy one around here. It feels like an average trendy, overpriced Melbourne café. However, unlike the rest of the cafés, they don’t have a hook. Every café has a hook. You need to find a hook, just as long as that hook is not heritage-listed wasps. Now from here, we will be looking at the series as a whole, so there will be some [SPOILERS] ahead.  

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Heartbreak High (2022): Season 1 – TV Review

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TL;DR – Heartbreak High crafted an interesting narrative with compelling characters in a setting that does not get the coverage that it should

Rating: 4 out of 5.

Disclosure – I paid for the Netflix service that viewed this series.

Warning – Contains scenes that may cause distress

The "Map"

Heartbreak High Review –

Ever since Sex Education blasted onto the scene, there has been a big push by networks to jump back into the world of teen coming-of-age series, but written with a level of maturity. While there have been a lot of pretenders, I have yet to see anything come close to capturing that level of honesty in a show, well, that is until today. Today we are looking at a show that feels like a breath of fresh air while also being a call back to an Australian classic set at Hartley High School in Sydney, Australia.

So to set the scene, Amerie (Ayesha Madon) and Harper (Asher Yasbincek) are besties who spend their lives inseparable and then fighting hard. But after a music festival, Harper ghosted Amerie and completely changed her appearance. Amerie is trying to find out why all hell breaks loose when they get into a fistfight. Because all last year, Amerie and Harper spent their time in the abandoned stairwell making a map of all the different sexual encounters their grade had engaged in. So on the day that Amerie losses her best friend, the map is discovered, and Amerie goes from being Amerie to becoming ‘Map Bitch’ before being sequestered away in a sexual literacy tutorial with everyone else on the map, including Darren (James Majoos), Quinni (Chloe Hayden), Malakai (Thomas Weatherall), Ca$h (Will McDonald), Dusty (Joshua Heuston), Sasha (Gemma Chua-Tran), Spider (Bryn Chapman-Parish), Missy (Sherry-Lee Watson), and Ant (Brodie Townsend). Now from here, we will be looking at the season as a whole, so there will be some [SPOILERS] ahead.     

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The Bridge Australia: Season One – TV Review

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TL;DR – This has an intriguing premise and a clear visual style but struggles in areas like how it represents some of the conflicts.  

Rating: 3.5 out of 5.

Disclosure – I paid for the Paramount+ service that viewed this series.

Day 3 - 306 metres to go

The Bridge Australia Review –

Regarding competition television shows, they can capture my heart like Survivor and make me watch season after season. Or I bounce off quicker than that time they tried to do Survivor but on a pirate ship. However, I am always looking for something new in this area which is where I found gems like Lego Masters. Today, I am looking at the first three episodes of The Bridge Australia to see which side of the coin it will land. Will it suck me in, or will it end up on the bottom of a Tasmanian river?   

So to set the scene, there is a river deep in the wilderness of Tasmania, and in that river is a $250,000 prize sitting on an island beckoning them to claim it. All the twelve participants must do is work together and build the titular 330-meter bridge from the materials around them. They have 17 days to work together to get across the island while a guardian blinks with its red light and tempts those making the trip.

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Chopsticks Or Fork?: Season One – TV Review

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TL;DR – This is a delightful documentary exploring a world that hits a deep nostalgic note for me.

Rating: 4 out of 5.

Disclosure – I watched this on ABC IView

Chopsticks Or Fork? Image Credit: ABC TV.

Chopsticks Or Fork? Review –

Tonight I was looking for something to watch as I ate my dinner, and in a world of streaming where you have so much choice, it is almost paralysing at times just to pick one thing. But as I sat there with all those windows open, there was this moment when a documentary series about rural Chinese restaurants in Australia appeared, and it intrigued me. Now that I have watched every episode, I can tell you that this was the right choice.

So to set the scene, the premise of this show is that presenter Jennifer Wong and the crew, including director Lin Jie Kong, travel to rural towns in Australia to look at the Chinese Restaurants that take up a focal point in these communities. Here we get a show that is a part travel show, part food exploration, and part look at the intersections of culture these restaurants make. We get these stories and more as we meet six different families from restaurants across Australia from The New Bo Wa in Moree, Raymond’s at Malua Bay, Oriental Palace in Hervey Bay, Pagoda Chinese Restaurant in Atherton, Gawler Palace & Happy Garden in Darwin.  

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Aunty Donna’s Big Ol’ House of Fun: Season 1 – TV Review

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TL;DR – This is an absurd joyous mess, which I just mainlined all at once, and now have questions about life the universe, and what happened to that dishwasher?  

Rating: 4 out of 5.
Aunty Donna’s Big Ol’ House of Fun: Season 1. Image Credit: Netflix.

Aunty Donna’s Big Ol’ House of Fun Review –

I am not sure I could put in words how excited I was when I heard that Aunty Donna was getting a Netflix series, well I mean it is my job so I will get it a good college try. Aunty Donna is a sketch comedy troop from Australia that swerves into the absurd while still being deeply Australian. My first introduction to them was when my brother asked the question is there ‘Always Room for Christmas Pud’ from then I learned what it was to be a ‘Chuffed Dad’, and how to do a ‘Roll Call’. Seeing that chaos on a Netflix series, well sign me up. 

So to set the scene, Mark (Mark Samual Bonanno), Broden (Broden Kelly), and Zach (Zachary Ruane) all live in a house in Los Angeles. Everything is going well in their lives because they have discovered that Everything is Drum, that is until they found the one thing that was not a drum, but then thankfully it actually was a drum and Zach was just hitting it wrong. It is all fine and dandy until the Dishwasher (Kristen Schaal) decided that it should pay less rent because it washes all the dishes. Okay, time to find a new housemate, which is when the chaos starts. Now from here, we will be looking at the season as a whole, so there will be some [SPOILERS] ahead.

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Help! My Kid Is A Gamer: Season 2 – TV Review

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TL;DR – This is an excellent resource for parents wanting to know more about video games to help understand and engage with their kids on the issue

Rating: 4 out of 5.
Help! My Kid Is A Gamer: Season 2. Image Credit: ABC TV.

Help! My Kid Is A Gamer! Review –

Last year, I got a chance to see a documentary series that was as informative as it was entertaining. Help! My Kid Is A Gamer! was very much as the title suggested. It explored the world of Video Games for parents that might not have a firm grasp on it. In my review, I found the show to be exciting, but there were some areas that I thought they had missed. Well, Season 2 is here, and those topics and more have been addressed, which is great to see.

So to set the scene, Help! My Kid Is A Gamer! is a show that explores the realm of video games for parents and caregivers, and not just video games but the surrounding ecosystem that supports and thrives around it. This season, we get topics that run the gamut from Online Safety to potential careers in Esports. All of these topics are important for parents and other care providers for giving them insight into a rapidly changing but also influential world. They are also presented in an easy to understand manner, with experts that can walk you through the issues, and an excellent summary at the end to give you strategy to engage with the issue at hand.  

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Love, Guns & Level Ups – YouTube Review

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TL;DR – A series that charts the course of a relationship from the online to the IRL  

Rating: 4 out of 5.
Love, Guns & Level Ups. Image Credit: Fury Fingers.

Love, Guns & Level Ups Review –

We live in a big weird connected world. I have good friends that I have never met in the real or only one time. I also have nemeses that I have never met in the real … you know who you are. This oddity, thanks to the internet, is a concept that I have seen a couple of attempts to explore. Still, it is usually from people who don’t understand the medium of video games and the relationships that can form because of them. Today we get to look at a series that    

So to set the scene, we open in on a chat log as two friends hop online to play Go-Go Soldier, a popular Battle Royale game. Amongst all the carnage of power-ups, dance bonuses, and just general chaos, two players Elliot or Mad_Martigan (Eduard Geyl) and Bree or GG_Gun (Lisa Fanto) eye the same bonus, a bow with a dynamite arrow. They get beaten to the bow by another player, but through some quiet communication, they choose to help take down the goon before a falling stick of dynamite separates them. They are pulled apart, but there is an instant connection which leads to some clear gun flirting a little later. Now from here, we will be looking at the season as a whole, so there will be some [SPOILERS] ahead. 

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