Winners and Losers S01E01 Review

I normally approach a new Australian drama or comedy with trepidation. As do most people. And who would disagree? It's true that as of late, the track-record for Australian dramas and comedies hasn't exactly been that shabby.

Rake? Tick!

Packed to the Rafters? Tick!

Rush? Tick!

Offspring? Tick!

The Librarians? Tick!

And so on...

However, when Australian shows fail, they fail badly. Think Canal Road, The Strip, Cops LAC...

But this new offering from Seven was interesting for a number of reasons...

1. Packed to the Rafters has been a monumental success, how would Winners and Losers fare (ratings and quality-wise)?

2. Would Seven commission a carbon copy of Packed to the Rafters?

Before I answer these questions, let's take a look at the superficial aspect of the show.

It is interesting to observe any pilot, mainly for the techniques it employs to grab the viewers' increasingly fleeting and fickle attention.

In this case, the lives of the four main characters were shown to us. And the character-types are fairly stock-standard, so not much exposition is needed. There's the flirty (or slutty, depending on your point-of-view) one, Melanie Vallejo as Sophie, the nerdy one, Melissa Bergland as Jenny,  Zoe Tuckwell-Smith as Rebecca, the career-driven one [SHE WORKS SO HARD SHE FALLS ASLEEP AT HER DESK], Virginia Gay as Frances James, and Zoe Tuckwell-Smith as Rebecca Gilbert, seemingly the one in a stable relationship.

Probably the most recognisable of the bunch would be Virginia Gay, of All Saints fame. And I guess observant viewers would recognise Vallejo as home-wrecker Mel from Packed to the Rafters.

[Just a side note, for fans of the US version of The Office and Parks and Recreation, Vallejo has kind of done a "Rashida Jones" here, if you get my drift]

I had a tiny problem with the way their names were plastered on screen as they went about their everyday business. It isn't a big deal, and most likely will seem to be a novel way of introducing characters, but really it is just laziness.

Anyway, on to the meatier scenes... so to speak.

In relation to the question about being a copy of the Rafters, well... it ain't.

This was pretty evident from the opening scenes- and it's clear the writers wanted us to know.

Cue Melanie Vallejo... er, riding a bloke.

Then um, Melissa Bergland is cleaning up a woman's lower regions...

Throughout the course of the episode we are also treated with an F-bomb, and a "BS".

This isn't a criticism, but it is certainly a touch surprising, as you'd imagine that families with children under 16 expecting another family-friendly dramedy like the Rafters would find this a squirmy experience, to say the least.

I'm surprised that Seven risked alienating a large proportion of Rafters viewers by airing such risqué scenes, yet it rated well (1.6m), so who am I to criticise?

This is not to say it's Australia's answer to Californication, or even as saucy as Underbelly, but I can say that we aren't in Kansas anymore.

Another obvious difference to Packed to the Rafters was the amount of bloody characters (or actors) introduced in episode 1 compared to Packed to the Rafters. Now, I know that many extras pop up in TV shows, but when you have such recognisable faces as Scott McGregor (from Neighbours, Temptation), it implicitly demands viewers to sit up and take notice of them. Aside from Scott, there's also

(Temptation)

Francis Greenslade

But despite all the differences, it seems as if the show will be somewhat centred around a family... that of Jenny Gross. However, with the dynamic of the four girls, it will be interesting to see which group will be the central, or base one.

Most likely it will be the four girls, yet I thought that Denise Scott and Francis Greenslade were particularly good as the Jenny's parents.

So let's have a look at all the characters introduced, and you can place your bets on who will stick around, and who won't.

So there's the four main actors;

Virginia Gay

Zoe Tuckwell-Smith

Melissa Bergland

Melanie Vallejo

their partners and family, played by;

Francis Greenslade

Jack Pearson (Jenny's brother)

Sarah Grace (Jenny's sister)

Denise Scott

Blair McDonough

friends:

Damien Bodie (Frances' assistant)

Tom Wren

the antagonist

Michala Banas

... and once I work out who everyone else is they will be added too...

like Lawrence Mooney, who for some reason was in the show. Hopefully we see more of him but there isn't a character page for him on the official site so who knows?

There has also been a lot of discussion about it being labelled by Seven as a comedy. Yes, it is true that there aren't a great deal of gags, and some fairly weighty issues are brought up, such as bullying (which, incidentally, was a very prominent issue in the week), so a "dramedy" would be most fitting. SMH refers to it as a "light drama", which is also not a bad little label.

Overall, would I watch it next week? Yes.

Is it as good as Packed to the Rafters? No, but no-one expected it to be (yet), surely.

Will it match this week's ratings of 1.6m? No, because it isn't Packed to the Rafters... yet.

Will it ever match Packed to the Rafters in terms of ratings? Probably not, but it is a worthy effort. For a first episode of an Australian show (well any show, these days), it is an achievement in itself to have dialogue which is natural and lines which don't clunk, and it certainly did that.

As long as it keeps it natural; the characters and issues relatable, and the plots interesting, I will keep watching. But the real question is, will you?

Ben Elton Live From Planet Earth Review S01E02: Any Better?

UPDATED: Well, here we are. Are we witnessing television history in the form of Ben Elton's last show? Or, are we witnessing yet another great Australian come-from-behind win, a Stephen Bradbury, even? Yes, that's the type of humour that is still hanging around the show.

[caption id="attachment_185" align="alignnone" width="590" caption="Hey! I'm Ben "Young Ones" Elton. You're actually meant to be laughing NOW. And if you're not, you don't understand COMEDY. But don't tweet about it if you don't understand my humour, U ID"][/caption]

Anyway, the big question was, will Elton actually change his style of humour dramatically in response to his critics (read: everyone on Planet Earth)?

And the answer is: well, not really.

He opened with some "satire"- which he pointed out to us, just after the sketch finished- of Julia Gillard. Yes, the impression was good. But then came the references to "moving forward", etc. It would've been funny if it came maybe, say, around November last year. But what do I know?



Hey, at least it was something we hadn't seen last week. Right?

But what ruined the show for mine, came only in the first segment.

It was Ben Elton responding to critics.

Not by stating he would be changing his act, but by attacking the people who criticised him.

He called tweeters "twats", because apparently, the opinion of plebs doesn't really matter, and if it does, we don't know anything. We also don't know what's funny. And Elton does. So just sit back and LAUGH, DAMMIT!

It became clear that he wasn't going to change his style of humour, but defend it to the very end. I was ready to give him another go, but it was obvious that he didn't want to take any criticism on board. So don't expect any goodwill from anyone. But I will still comment objectively... well, you be the judge.

He also went on another rant against the people who criticised his naughty language, or rather the idea of naughty language. He just came off like an indignant little kid, not wanting to go to the naughty corner.

[caption id="attachment_187" align="alignnone" width="590" caption="BACK BY POPULAR DEMAND"][/caption]

Oh, and just in case you thought that things had changed from last week, they haven't. The schoolgirls are still there. So are the chardonnay-sippers. And this time, the didn't make the audience laugh once. Once.

OK, so to be fair, there were a few things that were different. Elaine Front was brought to the front of the show. And it was still pretty good- yep, so not much had changed. Even the joke about her name being pronounced EEE-laine Front.

Some things also got the chop from Week 1, like the female... Male bodybuilder and the offensive public school teacher. Remember them? Me neither... (Well I do, it's kind of hard to forget, but you know).

They were seemingly shafted to make way for the new Julia Gillard and big miner tax; while they were a step up from some of last week's stuff, they still don't quite cut it.

But, they were slightly better nevertheless. So it makes you wonder why they didn't just go all out and press refresh on the entire show- try all new characters (save for maybe, Elaine Front).

[caption id="attachment_188" align="alignnone" width="590" caption="HE'S A RAPPER RAPPERS SAY WORDS LIKE BIZZLE THAT'S WHY IT SAYS BIZZLE BEHIND HIM. Oh you don't get it, do you?"][/caption]

There was also a female singer who spewed words like "FUCKING" and a male rapper (who was played by a woman) who spewed words like "pussy". Yep, Elton was persisting with smut, that was for sure. I didn't find it funny, but what do I know- I'm just a tweeter.

[caption id="attachment_191" align="alignnone" width="590" caption="In case you missed it last week, let me explain this sketch to you. OK, so that's Amy Winehouse. She likes drugs..."][/caption]

OK, then there's Girl Flat. There was yet another parody of Amy Winehouse's "Rehab". Yep, even the song was the same.



Hey, but this time she said "JIHAD". The characters are still one-dimensional. Like a proper journalist, here's a proper quote and that to prove it. "Beyonce" sings "My bootylicious booty" and my "booty is so bootylicious" to her song "Single Ladies".

There was also Fiona O'Loughlin who was quite good. And the inimitable Tim Minchin. However, and here's some real criticism. They actually bring the show down. Because they are so good that they make the rest of the show seem crap... or crapper.

(I have been informed by commenter "Sophie" that Tim Minchin's song he performed was called "Lullaby".)



But once again, I have to compliment the performers, who, I still believe rise above the dated material. And Ben Elton is still good as a host. If only he didn't keep saying "Live comedy"... if you still need the novelty of it being "Live" to prop up your show, then you may be in a touch of trouble. Yes, the live factor is great, but at the end of the day, it isn't going to save it from being trite.

Then, there was some more "gentle satire", labelled for us, once again. It was a "big miner". It seemed more like a serious pundit on A Current Affair- especially since he used words like "UnAustralian" and "Fair go", without any laughs in the background to prove it was actually meant to be funny. The "joke" came in the form of a play on "Fair go"; apparently "big miners" want to "Fair bugger up the country, then go". Don't expect any more laughs if there's only one joke in a sketch.



But Elton might say, look at Minchin, his song isn't peppered with gags. Yes, true. But his song was utterly entrancing, actually controversial, and actually funny.

So, after all that talk of altering the show, it didn't seem all that different at all. Myself and many more people were generous enough to give it another shot, only to be insulted by more of the same stuff that had people turning off in droves last week.

And then his attacking of Twitter came across as merely a bitter man unwilling to face up to his mistakes. The idea of him taking on criticism was at odds with him criticising his critics. And then, what really took the cake at the end of the show, was seemingly a complete backflip, and he began to beg for approval: "Why not give us a friendly tweet?"

Um, no thanks Ben.



So, what did you think? Any better?