Abc

Are you shocked that tomorrow night’s episode of At Home with Julia shows ‘Prime Minister Julia Gillard’ tabling her man in Parliament*, with a post-coital cuddle under the Australian flag?

Monarchist David Flint was – he says it shows a lack of respect. Not to the PM, but to the flag. An ABC spokesman defended the skit, and said the flag was a “symbol of love” draped over the PM.

Ms Gillard, unsurprisingly, declined to comment. Here’s The Punch team’s take. What’s yours?

Continue reading "Punch team: Flagging the PM as a sexual being" »

The Canadian media theorist Marshall McLuhan said that the medium is the message. I’m not really sure what it means but it seems a suitably pretentious way to start a column about the condition of pretentiousness; that is, the state of being up one’s self, a show pony, a poseur.

The particular class of poseurs I would like to discuss today belong to a group called the Friends of the ABC. I used to live among their number while a resident of the People’s Republic of Leichhardt, in Sydney’s groovy and organic inner west. It’s a terrific part of Australia, marred only by the presence of an old Volvo on every street bearing bumper stickers saying “No Aircraft Noise”, “The Goddess is Dancing” and “Hands off our ABC.”  So that people didn’t think less of me, at neighbourhood barbecues I would tell folks that I worked in a laboratory rubbing cheap cosmetics into the eyes of bunny rabbits, rather than admitting to editing The Daily Telegraph.

You can understand why people don’t like aircraft noise and support dancing goddesses but I am buggered if I can see why people will develop an impassioned lifelong commitment to an organisation which like any organisation does some things extremely well and some things really badly.

Continue reading "Bourgeois wankerdom and Friends of the ABC" »

When The Chaser had an epic humour fail with their Make a Realistic Wish Foundation skit, the consensus was that they missed the mark because good satire picks a target worthy of lampooning. Sick kids and the charities which raise money for them didn’t come close to that.

On that score, Australia’s 27th Prime Minister Julia Gillard should be a prime target for satire. If you can’t have a good old fashioned crack at a Prime Minister who has stumbled from disaster to disaster, who can you have a crack at?

Heh heh. We just said “crack”. Geddit? Cos, you know, the PM’s a woman? Excuse the puerile sexual innuendo. Mind you, anyone who laboured through the satirical show At Home With Julia on the ABC last night had to tolerate much, much worse.

Continue reading "Why is the ABC screening this crap?" »

Perhaps the most damaging outcome of all the dysfunction wrought by the Gillard Government is the shocking loss of respect for the office of Prime Minister itself.

If the headlines of “Dead Woman Walking” and the litany of ridicule in the weekend papers wasn’t enough to convince you that respect is lost, then tonight the ABC launches At Home with Julia - a sitcom, mockumentary, call it what you will, about the private life of Gillard and her partner Tim Mathieson.

Of course, I haven’t seen it - it may well be a touching tribute. Just as Spinal Tap was an erudite tribute to those much misunderstood rockers. Point is, it’s playing for laughs.

Continue reading "At home with a PM who’s lost all of Australia’s respect" »

Mainstream media holds a mirror up to society. If we take a look into that mirror, we see what is preoccupying our attention.

On a deeper level, we can gain significant insight into the way we tend to investigate and argue. Monday’s Q and A episode provided great insight into the superficial way we tend to approach philosophical and ethical topics.

The fast paced program is geared towards political discussion, but for this episode, the topic was God, Religion and Ethics. Disappointingly, There was a focus on sound bites, concrete current affairs and controversy, and as a result, many of us went away no more enlightened on the topics than before.

Continue reading "Q&A is the equivalent of intellectual McNuggets" »

As soon as a mainstream, watermelon-wearing, faux lesbian-curious, pop starlet with abysmal spelling declared her vacant-eyed love for Chris Lilley, you knew he was in trouble.

Not only did Katy Perry go all schoolgirl-giggly on Lilley at the Logies, but last night she tweeted her mad enthusiasm for him before the start of his new show, Angry Boys.

As did a colossal number of semi-literate Twits, making Angry Boys the top trender in Australia before the show even began. And it hit the top worldwide once it started. For Twitnoramuses, that means it was the most talked about subject IN THE WORLD (forgive caps) on Twitter.

Continue reading "Lilley’s old stuff’s (much) better than his new stuff" »

The Palace is not amused. A royal edict, delivered not by chariot with unfurled parchment, but via grey-suits and sneaky lawyer speak, has decreed there shall be no Chaser royal wedding coverage. Oh, well. No big loss.

Let’s face it, you were either going to salivate over every second of the straight Royal Wedding coverage, or you were going to act like someone with a life and ignore it completely. The Chaser’s coverage, despite this week’s massive publicity blitz, was always going to be of minimal interest to the masses.

That’s not to say The Chaser’s take wouldn’t have been a laugh. Without doubt, it would have been an amusing enough diversion from the obsessive fussing over the length of the bride’s train, Beckham’s wedding hairdo and other minutiae. But there’s no way it would’ve been must-see TV, and there’s a very simple reason why.

Continue reading "Aborted Chaser coverage is no great loss" »

The ABC mini-mini-series Paper Giants has been a great hit. Funky footage blended with some brilliant performances, fabulous frocks, and an intriguing behind-the-scenes look at the creation of women’s mag, Cleo. On a smaller scale, it did for the magazine industry what Mad Men did for the advertising industry.

Here at The Punch, it made us wonder: What’s next? What else could benefit from this historical dramatisation?

The ABC is reportedly looking at other Cleo-related or Packer family-related options - but we reckon there’s much broader scope in the genre. Anyway, see below for our thoughts on Paper Giants, and share your own thoughts below.

Continue reading "What should get the Paper Giants treatment next?" »

Here’s a simple statistic that TV executives are happy you didn’t know. Back in the 1980s the population of Australia was about 14 million. A good TV show would rate about 5 million viewers. Fast forward to 2011. Australia’s population has grown to 20 million and TV execs are dancing on their mini-bars if their show attracts over 1.2 million viewers.

The population has doubled, the viewers have halved. The maths is not good. “Masterchef” peaked last year with over 3.5 million viewers. Proportionally, based on 1980’s viewing habits, Masterchef should have rated nine million viewers.

The velocity of the decline is increasing. For an industry that was once a sizable chunk of the life and breath of Australian culture, the Australian free TV industry is “circling the drain”. That’s cop show talk for dying.

Continue reading "The once mighty medium of television is on its last legs" »

Commercial television’s breakfast programs aren’t for everyone. It’s not compulsory to watch and there are plenty of alternatives.

But the facts are that they connect with their viewers in a more powerful way than their traditional television news formats.

Stop. Don’t start commenting yet. Hear me out and then go your hardest… I’ve broad shoulders (and a sense of humour, check out the clip above).

Continue reading "Like it or not, breakfast TV has an important role" »

Tonight marks the swansong for Kerry O’Brien on the 7:30 Report. It’s a sad day for us all.

The 7.30 Report is quintessential viewing for anyone with a remote interest in current affairs.

It’s the last bastion of a genre that’s been bludgeoned to death and is long past its halcyon days of 60 Minutes (the Jana Wendt era) and A Current Affair (the Jana Wendt era).

Continue reading "There’s something about Kerry (O’Brien)" »

The entrepreneurial risk-taking winemaker versus the greedy, money grubbing corporation.

It’s a perfect narrative begging to be told, and particularly suited to television. An emotive story which was played out this week on the ABC’s Family Confidential. The story of a man who triumphed over early adversity, only to be brought undone by an unfeeling bank.

It’s heady stuff. It’s also a disappointing hagiography masquerading as a documentary.

Continue reading "ABC whitewashing of a colourful family history" »

Why didn’t the Q&A shoe‑thrower Peter Gray toss former Prime Minister John Howard a lamington instead?

Taking his cue from an Iraqi journalist, turned footwear rejecter, who flung his possessions at then‑US President George W Bush, Gray in one unoriginal act exposed the limitations of the Q&A program as an uninhibited experiment in deliberative democracy.

According to the program’s website, Q&A aims to place punters, pollies and pundits together to ‘thrash out’ the hot issues of the week. Think of it as the political equivalent of a WWE steel cage match.

Continue reading "It’s better to take Q&A as a comment, not democracy" »

There was a moment in last night’s brilliant episode of 4 Corners that might have undermined Tony Windsor and Rob Oakeshott’s argument the whole filming exercise was about posterity.

As the deliberations over the hung parliament arrived at absolute crunch time Bob Katter got uncomfortable with the ABC camera and said he would rather the crew left the office where he was meeting with his fellow regional independents.

But Windsor and Oakeshott had other ideas. You can watch the whole episode here.

Continue reading "Recording a moment in history or self indulgence?" »

There’s a hilarious saga going on over an empty chair on tonight’s Q and A panel.

The ABC last week booked ALP powerbroker Mark Arbib for tonight’s show, but this evening Julia Gillard’s office pulled the NSW Senator from the show, and offered up backbencher David Bradbury instead.

The Q and A producers politely but indignantly told the PM’s office to bugger off. In the grand scheme of things it’s worth remembering it’s just a TV show, but in the absence of any concrete details out of Canberra tonight it’s set off a bit of a storm.

Continue reading "The empty chair missing its faceless man" »

Really simple: say in the comments what you think the ABC should be spending its money on. Links below if you want some background and various points of view.

Continue reading "The ABC should spend its money on ..." »

In recent weeks there has been a lot of debate about the conflict between the expansion of the ABC and other media providers, including subscription television and potential online subscription services.

Jonathan Holmes in The Drum called it ‘the showdown over Australia’s new media landscape’, and correctly observed that the conflict derives from the foray of the publicly funded Aunty into markets that need to make money in order to survive.

The temptation is to portray this as another public-interest-versus-private-interest argument. But it’s not. Holmes’ article refreshingly didn’t fall into this trap, although he accurately set out the revenue implications for companies like FOXTEL of the ABC’s planned new services. As a businessman, this hurts—as does the long list of anti-competitive and wasteful subsidies and protections given to Seven, Nine and Ten. But it also hurts as someone with a passion for television and someone who believes in the potential of television to be more than just wires and lights in a box—as the Ed Murrow character in the movie Good Night and Good Luck put it.

Continue reading "The ABC’s waste of money on nothing new or original" »

Sunday morning television can be a riot of fun.

First we had Ross Garnaut on Meet the Press confirming that his modelling for climate change predictions was done on the balance of probabilities, surely when one is giving support to the ETS, the big tax on everything, it should be on the basis of beyond reasonable doubt. But with all the fudged modelling of the IPCC, I suppose we shouldn’t be surprised, just alarmed.

Next we had the spectacle of David Marr – who writes for Fairfax beating up on Piers Akerman who writes for News Limited because Marr did not like the way ‘the Australian’ reports the news.

Continue reading "Sunday morning slugfest" »

I don’t know how it happened. It could be higher levels of blue-rinse in the water. Maybe it’s a spike in the sales of model trains. Or a sudden surge in the demand for lamingtons. But 2009 is unofficially shaping up to be The Year Of The Wowser.

With almost German precision (if I am permitted to use nationality as the basis of my point), the chorus of shrill voices responding to controversy in comedy has been oscillating at a rock solid bi-weekly frequency in recent months.

While you have to admire the sheer energy these biddies have - you can’t grant them any real depth of understanding when it comes to the art form. (And yes. It is an art form.)

Continue reading "Are cantankerous codgers winning the war on comedy?" »

It’s less than a fortnight since Mark Scott made his annual trip to Canberra for his annual dust-up with conservative politicians at Senate Estimates hearings. This gives him a full 50 weeks to prepare for next year’s breathless interrogation as to why the national broadcaster used taxpayer funds to fly John Safran to Israel so he could masturbate on television.

This at least will be the puritanical take on what unfolded on our screens at 9.30 last night in the debut of Safran’s mega-hyped new series Race Relations.

As part of his exploration of interracial relationships and attraction, Safran flew to Israel where he arranged for a Palestinian man to donate sperm which he then took to an Israeli fertility clinic. In return, the Jewish Safran donated sperm to a Palestinian fertility clinic, using a photograph of Barack Obama to arouse himself.

Continue reading "Is John Safran the funniest wanker on television?" »

It’s been one of the most hyped shows of the year, sparking complaints before it even aired, and an extraordinary pre-emptive plea on The Punch today by ABC director of television Kim Dalton for conservative viewers to switch off. Join our live blog here at 9.30pm tonight to discuss John Safran’s new show, and tell us what you think.

Live tonight: The Punch team will blog here tonight during John Safran’s show. Join us from 9.30pm

I have some blunt advice for some of the people who will be reading this article on The Punch. And it is not the kind of advice you would expect from the ABC’s Director of Television.

My message is this: think carefully before you settle into the couch tonight for the 9.30pm premiere of John Safran’s comedy-documentary Race Relations. If you think you are going to be offended or outraged (or want to be offended or outraged) then don’t tune in.

This ABC program is not for everyone. It was not designed to be. By scheduling the series at 9.30pm and attaching an M warning the ABC is signalling that this is challenging fare. John Safran’s Race Relations contains material that some viewers will disagree with or find distasteful.

Continue reading "ABC’s Safran warning: if you don’t like it, don’t tune in" »

Note: ABC Breakfast host Virginia Trioli made this “you’re crazy” hand twirling gesture after interviewing Senator Barnaby Joyce on the issue of the ETS. Trioli obviously didn’t realise the cameras were still on. She later rang Senator Joyce to apologise, he quipped to the Punch that he couldn’t quite hear because he had been placed in an asylum.

Apparently some television commentators think that I’m the insane one.

Maybe that explains the place where I work.

Obviously, if I’m not me who am I?

Continue reading "If you think I’m crazy, have a look at the ETS" »

When viewers offer feedback about interviews on Lateline, easily the most common complaint is about politicians not answering questions. Nothing irritates people more.

So that I don’t embarrass any particular Member of Parliament – since many are offenders – here’s a little manufactured dialogue to illustrate what I mean.

Me: Minister, what did you have for breakfast?
Minister: For lunch, I had a salad sandwich and then for dinner …
Me: I’m afraid that’s not the question, the question is what you had for breakfast.

Continue reading "Well read-head: Just answer the question" »

“News on the Radio”, said the American consultant breezily, “can never be more than a headline service”.

The speaker was billed as a radio ‘guru’ – a description which reminded me of the writer Francis Wheen’s definition of ‘guru’: a useful short word for people who can’t spell ‘charlatan’.

This guru had introduced herself to the seminar room by saying that she really appreciated the editions of AM, The World Today and PM that she had listened to.

But could she have listened to them at all?

Continue reading "Why radio current affairs has a long, bright future" »

Until last week, I thought the silliest casualty of modern warfare was the word “bomb”, which in many news reports had become known by the acronym IED, or improvised explosive device.

IED might be a handy term for military strategists needing to distinguish between a mortar fired from a well-equipped conventional unit of soldiers and a bucket full of fertiliser and nails left by an anonymous freelancer in a car on a crowded street in Baghdad, but to the media, any explosive device whose detonation imperils those in the immediate vicinity should, provided it’s not Barry Hall after giving away a couple of 50s, be simply referred to as what it is: a bomb.

To do otherwise simply buries the true horror of the incident under a comforting layer of jargon.

Continue reading "ABC drops the F-bomb" »

UPDATE: The ABC has just issued an apology to the Make a Wish Foundation

The worst thing about The Chaser’s sick kids skit last night was that it was the only funny thing on the show. If you missed the team’s “Make a Realistic Wish Foundation” parody you can see the whole show here.

I thought Chris Taylor’s hospital sketch was hilarious. Either I’m alone in this or am the only one prepared to admit it.

While this morning radio is going off about how “sick” the skit was, no doubt making the Chaser boys’ marketing department very very pleased with themselves, last night online the team got a far more damning reaction - luke warm, half-hearted indifference.

Continue reading "The Chaser’s War on Funny" »