It’s that time again!
More fun with Australian culture! I’ll give you the name of an actual Aussie television program, and you guess what the show’s about. (As usual, those of you Down Under are disqualified.) Guess away!
- McLeod’s Daughters
- White Collar Blue
- Young Lions
- Kath & Kim
- All Saints
- The Secret Life of Us
I reckon some of you Brits have probably seen the last one, so don’t ruin it! The others should be all safely unknown. Whoever gets the most right (or makes me laugh the hardest) shall be the winner and will be awarded with my recommendation if you ever apply to be a TV executive. 🙂
khay
August 5, 2002 — 1:44 pm
I’m Australian and have only viewed one of the shows listed.
Bill
August 5, 2002 — 4:02 pm
1. Talk show starring the foul-mouthed children of the current prime minister.
2. Low-budget Sex and the City rip-off about a bookkeeper who has sexy adventures.
3. Very bad daytime soap opera shenanigans of young rugby players and the women who love them.
4. Mary Kate and Ashley, except Aussie.
5. Reality show about the creator of Nad’s.
6. Queer as Folk for straight people.
What do I win?
Kris
August 5, 2002 — 6:12 pm
Khay – I’m not a regular viewer of any of them either (except for “Kath & Kim”, which I caught faithfully).
Bill – Very hilarious – except for #6, which is pretty damn accurate. (Have you heard of it before??) You’re the man to beat!
Claire
August 5, 2002 — 6:19 pm
Bill’s #4 is freakin’ classic!
TD
August 6, 2002 — 12:12 am
Bill, my favorite is #2 – bookkeeper with sexy adventures? Oh, I’d watch that, but here, it’d be on Skin-e-max.
Kris
August 8, 2002 — 1:06 am
Bill’s guesses have intimidated everyone else into not playing, so he is naturally therefore the winner! Well done. Other than “Kath & Kim”, I’d rather watch your versions of the shows than the crappy real versions. 🙂
The answers:
1) “McLeod’s Daughters” is a drama about a family of girls who run a ranch out in the bush (i.e. country). I caught one episode that was about a scourge of “brumbies”, which are feral horses. *yawn* The sisters’ love lives do play quite a central role, though.
2) “White Collar Blue” is some new cop show they’ve been promoting 24/7. It appears to be a group of young, impossibly beautiful people who solve crimes and yell at criminals a lot.
3) “Young Lions” is exactly the same as “White Collar Blue”, just on another network. Seriously.
4) “Kath & Kim” was a hilarious comedy about a “daggy” mother and daughter, written and performed by two of Australia’s best comediennes. (“Daggy” sorta means uncool, lacking in taste and sophistication.) We’re talking, like, “Absolutely Fabulous” level stuff here.
5) “All Saints” is the Australian version of “E.R.”, which I stopped watching five years ago.
6) “The Secret Life Of Us” is pretty much exactly as Bill described. It’s “Queer as Folk” for straight people. It’s a drama about a group of twentysomething friends in Melbourne.
So Bill, if you ever apply to work at a network, I’ll happily write you a letter of recommendation. 🙂
Bill
August 8, 2002 — 2:46 am
Yay! I think I’ve seen a CD for “The Secret Life of Us”, and the artwork was what made the “Queer as Folk” connection. (Besides, it just has the ring of a “thirtysomething”/”My So-Called Life” type show, doesn’t it?)
But the real “Kath and Kim” sounds fantastic.
Kris
August 8, 2002 — 8:16 am
Actually I didn’t mention, but “Secret Life” does have a few gays on it. In fact, I think one major storyline had a guy divorcing his wife after coming out. A gay couple I know in Sydney are obsessed with the show and apparently went to Melbourne to do the “Secret Life Tour”. So it’s QAF for straight people who like their gays non-threatening, I guess.
Anonymous
January 26, 2003 — 12:57 am
White Collar Blue, a police drama set in Cronullar near Sydney is one of the best things produced for a long time. It took a while for the Aussies to get into to it, but it now seems to have found a good audience. Pity the distributors over here haven’t been quick enough to pick it up to show over here in the UK. Fortunately I’ve got a friend in Aus whose good at videoing! Can’t wait for series 2. From A “mad on Peter O’Brien” fan! Congratulations to Peter on his marriage to Miranda Otto – all the best to them both. She’s a lucky lady!!
Kris
January 27, 2003 — 9:14 am
It gets harder and harder to tell legitimate (yet random) fan comments from astroturfing.
Vicci
September 12, 2003 — 5:21 pm
my brother send me over the video of kath and kim and we cant get enough. We all love series 1 and 2…..its soooooo fantastic.
Savvy
September 21, 2003 — 2:01 am
Vicci, series 2 of Kath & Kim started in Australia last Thursday night, so you can’t have seen it. You’re talking out of your arse!
Bill (formerly of mermaniac)
July 1, 2006 — 4:17 pm
The Sundance Channel here in the states has just started airing Kath and Kim, and I’m completely addicted. I thought I’d dig through your archives, and not only did I find a reference, but damned if I didn’t comment on it (gulp) four years ago!
I keep hoping they’ll release DVDs of Kath & Kim, because otherwise I’m going to have to buy an all-region DVD player.
Kris
July 3, 2006 — 10:09 am
Crap! I wish I’d known; I’d have saved all my recorded ones and burnt you a CD! Definitely go for an all-region if you can find one. Our is actually a “hackable” one that the Snook researched online. You just enter a certain sequence with the remote and then you can reprogram it to a different zone. Then I can send you one from here! 🙂