Tv Comedy Articles (General)

[*J_e_s_i_k_a*]

Countdown to 2003

It’s bleak times on telly over summer, but the good news is that the networks have an exciting line-up of new shows to win us back to the box in 2003, writes GILLIAN CUMMING

Thirsty for something decent to watch on the box? The annual drought in summer television viewing is almost over, so prepare yourself to switch on to the networks’ cache of new and exciting shows for 2003 – a year which is already looking like a bit of a giggle, what with all the networks planning programs to make us laugh.

NETWORK 10
The network’s head of drama Sue Masters has used her $30 million budget to produce the biggest and arguably the most ineresting slate of all the networks’ new shows to whet our appetite.
“My job is to get the best creative team, to get the best ideas, to work with the programmer, find the most viable timeslots, work towards getting the financing in place, attract international partnerships,” Masters says.
“you synchronise things and find a time when the audience can most appreciate it, taking into account the traffic of the domestic product as well as the best from the US.”
Ten’s big hopes for 2003 include:
After the Deluge: A two-part miniseries that looks at the lives of three brothers – one who is separating from his wife, another who is a musical prodigy suffering a mid-life crisis, and the third whose wife is trying to have a child. Their war-damaged father has Alzheimer’s. It stars Hugo Weaving, David Wenham, Samuel Johnson, Ray Barrett, Aden Young, Rachel Griffiths and Kate Beahan.
CrahBurn: Intended for launch in 2002, this Deb Cox-Andrew Knight (Sea Change) innovative 13-part drama series covers a year in the break-up of a relationship, with each hou-long episode tackling events from both a male and female perspective. Production starts in the New Year.
BlackJack: Colin Friels stars as whistleblower Jack Kempson, a cop banished by his peers after informing on a drug-dealing colleague. Sent to sort out computer files, he finds himself investigating another crime. A telemovie, scripted by Gary McCaffrie and Shaun Micallef, that may lead to a series. Co-stars Kate Beahan, Victoria Longley and Russell Dykstra.
Temptation: Unconventional romantic comedy about young chefs and two warring restaurants. A sort of Romeo and Juliet series that Sue Masters says is “kind of fresh and tasty”. Written by Sue Smith, it stars Colin Friels as the father of one of the young chefs.
Life: Held-over from this year, this 90-minute telemovie from Melbourne producers Roger Simpson and Roger Le Mesurier is set in a small criminal law practice. The film, which stars Vince Colosimo and Genevieve O’Reilly, opens in the moments before the death of one character. Life was considered for series, but Masters deemed it too much competition from Ten’s overseas dramas such as the Law & Order franchise and The Guardian.
Balmain Boys: Private detective series set in Balmain and starring Jeremy Sims and Paul Gleason. Gleason is a football-playing cop injured while working. He is unable to play again and, because of the way he's treated by the police force, sets himself up in a detective agency with best mate and lawyer Jeremy Sims.
Jessica: Miniseries based on Bryce Courtenay's story of a young woman's battle for justice in rural Australia.
Chameleon: Miniseries based on a true story of a woman who assumed the identity of the people she murdered. A joint production with UK producers of Playing the Field and The Vicar of Dibley.
The Fixer: Thriller miniseries co-production written by British author Murray Smith. There's also talk of a miniseries, about hairdressing salons, from the writer of Footballers' Wives.
Sketchy at Best(working title): Ten has commissioned 13 episodes of this sketch comedy show from Rove McManus' Roving Enterprises. Now in production in Melbourne, the series premieres early 2003. McManus will not appear in the show, however, Rove Live cast members Peter Helliar and Corinne Grant will join the team, along with many others.
The best offerings from Ten's US schedule are the Emmy award-winning cop drama The Shield and sitcom My Big Greek Family, a spinoff from the film My Big Fat Greek Wedding, and the second series of The Osbournes.
The network is expecting the third series of Big Brother to again be the undisputed king of Ten's ratings. Other local success stories such as the writer-driven The Secret Life of Us and sassy cop drama White Collar Blue will also return.

NINE NETWORK
Market leader Nine will show us some testing times in 2003, starting with spinoffs of 2002 ratings topper National IQ Test in the form of the National Memory Test and the National Driving Test.
Its big new hope localy will be a tonight live-stye variety show to be hosted by man-of-the-moment Shaun Micallef and possibly called Micallef Tonight. Then there's an upmarket soapie in the SeaChange vein called The Coast (still in pilot form) and a soon-to-premiere comedy sketch show caled Comedy Inc.
Then there's another huge dose of reality/lifestyle, with the Leah McDonald-hosted The Real Full Monty, which plans to uncover Australia's finest male strippes; Blockbusters, about making-over a block of units; and DIY Rescue, about fixing up home renovation disasters. Game show Marry Me will possibly be repackaged as Love is in the Air.
On the import front, Nine has the hotly anticipated CSI spinoff, CSI Miami, starring David Caruso; Anthony LaPaglia's new drama Without a Trace (about the FBI Missing Persons Squad); Presidio Med (from the makers of ER); Treat Williams' starting-over family drama Everwood; the Batman-inspired spinoff Birds of Prey, Good Morning Miami, Queen Supreme and sci-fi crime drama John Doe, starring Aussie Dominic Purcell.
Returning US hits include what may be the final series of Friends as well as ER, Sex and the City, Malcom in the Middle, Smallville, Gilmore Girls, Six Feet Under and The West Wing.
Then there's local drama success stories McLeod's Daughters and Stingers.
A smaller slate of local production compared to Ten, but the recent axing of drama chief Kris Noble, who has been replaced by the inimitable Posie Graeme-Evans (the powerhouse behind Hi-5 and McLeod's), means that we can expect more from Nine in 2004.

ABC & SBS
You've got to laugh, particularly if you're a fan of the ABC, which has lined up a comedy feast for 2003. Andrew Denton has been signed to host a new comedy/interview show, but first off the ranks in Februray will be Shaun Micallef's Welcher and Welcher lawyer comedy series (also starring Santo Cilauro) and co-written by Micallef's long-term associate Gary McCaffrie. Micallef playes Quentin Welcher, a pompous, accident-prone QC.
The ABC has also signed Sydney chef Kylie Kwong for a new cooking series and comedian Jonathan Biggins as host of the Sunday afternoon arts program and a new series about "ideas" called Critical Mass.
Medico-legal drama MDA will return, along with a second series of Grass Roots in the new year.
New local dramas include John Doyle's four-part series about xenophobia called Marketing Time and the three-part series The Shark Net, based on Robert Drewe's memoir.
Overseas shows include Hornblower and Nigella Lawson's cooking series Forever Summer.
Returning are Kath and Kim, The Fat, The Glass House, CNNNN and news spoof The Chasers.
SBS's big local offering is a comedy series parodying the news called The Weekly Daily Show, which starts January 18, the 10-part doco series If Only, a third series of Pizza, a new series of A Fork in the Road and a new series with John Safran.

SEVEN NETWORK
Seven, too, is planning a comedy sketch show, along the lines of Fast Foward, currently with the working title Sketch Comedy. It also plans a lifestyle show called Your Life on the Lawn, in which families dump their belongings on the front lawn and ruthlessly cull them, and a reality program for young singles called The Love Shack.
It's new US shows include Boomtown, a drama that depicts crime from five points of view; MDs, a series about renegade doctors starring John Hannah (Sliding Doors); nostalgic drama American Dreams, set in the 60s; Firefly, set 500 years in the future in the wake of civil war (from the creators of Buffy); Miracles, about a seminarian assigned to investigate modern-day miracles; and Mister Sterling, about an independant US senator.
Comedies include Life With Bonnie, about Bonnie Hunt juggling the roles of wife, mum and talk-show host; Hidden Hills, about the adventures of two couples in suburbia; dark comedy It's the Pitts; Lost at Home, about the misadventures of a workaholic adman; and Still Standing, about a blue-collar couple raising their family.
Returning US series include Kiefer Sutherland's 24, (series two airs in February), Alias and the final series of Buffy, the Vampire Slayer. Popular local dramas All Saints, Blue Heelers and Always Greener return, but the jury is still out on Lisa McCune's Marshall Law.


Sorry about any typing mistakes, it took me ages and I kinda blanked out after 15 minutes.

[op shop girl]

Yay for sketch-shows a-plenty!
Yay for the Chaser boys!
Yay for the Glasshouse!
Yay for John Saffron!

And Yay for anything else I missed!

[sooty]

*does a major dance of joy* :bouncera: wow!!!! thats great!!!!!!!! ooooh im so excited about the new line ups!!!! and big congrats to the net works for actually paying attention to the LOCAL talent!!! that after the deluge one has pretty damned good actors in it! heres to a great tv viewing year!

[Maylin]

Hey everyone,

TV week has an article on the Am I Good In Bed thing, short interview wif Paul. Also a short interview wif Wil.

[Rock Angel]

Cool. Thanks for letting us know. I'll have to raid it from my nan when the week is through *g*

can someone please type out the interview with wil, thanku

[Sam]

Ok I'll ask for the Paul one, cos there's gotta be a balance.

[Spoofy]

I'll scan them when I get home, if no one else has

[Munchkin]

My scanner blew up :frustrat:

[Spoofy]

well stop scanning all those rude pictures!!!!

okay I will do it when I get home then

[Munchkin]

Pillow talk

Are you good in bed? Paul McDermott will ask audience members and viewers to bareall in the name of research when he hosts Am I Good in Bed? The Ultimate Sex Test on FOX* this Tuesday (April 1) at 7.30pm.
Will you answer the question - are you good in bed?
No... don't make me answer it!
Celebrity guests including Mikey Robins and Warwick Capper will appear on the show. Are we going to find out about their sex lives?
I don't think you'd want to find out about Warwick's sex life! People saw enough of that in Celebrity Big Brother. I don't think we'll be able to hold him back. That's the trouble.
This show is live, isn't it?
Yeah, that's the scary thing. We also have pre-recorded vox pops of people in the street. There's this old fella who comes along - he was in his seventies or something - and I said to him, "When was the last time you had sex?" He looked to the heavens, we were all thinking, you know, 1942, and he went, "Five days ago." You're doing better than most of us, mate!

[Spoofy]

Click on the picture to get the BIG one

Paul Article






Wil Article




well the damn pictures won't show for me, but if you click on the x the larger picture does load *grumbles*

[Spoofy]

Munchkin....couldn't wait another minute could you?

[Stripes]

Originally Posted by Wil

And obviously I will sing "Throw Your Arms Around Me" every episode.

cheeky Wil!
*pokes Paul with a music stick*

[Munchkin]

Don't suppose you wanna scan the Foxtel guide article before I start typing that one