TV08:Australian Comedy

As you probably are already aware, 2007 was a great year for Aussie comedy. The big five were Kath and Kim, Thank God You're Here, Summer Heights High, the Chaser and Spicks and Specks. They were all ratings successes and were all very funny. It revived Australian comedy, which had been struggling a bit the past few years (with the exception of Kath and Kim of course).

This year is a different story. Of the '07 hits; There is no Kath and Kim (except maybe a movie), Thank God You're Here, Summer Heights High and no Chaser for the first half of the year. We only have Spicks and Specks, which is also part gameshow.

Of the new shows, we have Out of the Question, which is also part game-show, hosted by Glenn Robbins. This looks promising, and could be very successful if Channel Seven doesn't try too hard and over-structure the show. If they give our top comedians such as Glenn Robbins and Ed Kavalee (if he is on the show), some room to breathe, it could be very funny. If it turns out to be live it could be even better and some impromptu comedy "youtube" moments could be created.

There is also Good News Week, which we already have seen before, but with Paul McDermott hosting you know it is bound to be funny. It just depends whether enough people will watch it, with the previous GNW and its re-incarnation The Glass House not exactly rating fantastically and McDermott's The Sideshow being axed due to poor ratings.

Monster House is Nine's attempt at comedy. With no comedy successes in '07, it will be hard to establish a unique sense of humour but it will try again with this. In '07 Suprise Suprise Gotcha not suprisingly didn't work. This was not due to Matt Tilley, whose great talents were wasted on this show, in which Channel Nine tried to cash in on his "Gotcha" call success in Melbourne. It was due to the unintelligent set-ups and constant repeats of "Classic" suprise suprise set-ups.
Oh, and it was also up against Mr. Somers.
Monster House looks like another Suprise Suprise Gotcha only with non-famous people getting stung, not celebrities. It is also Channel Nine trying to use the moderately popular Rebel Wilson; who is moderately popular from the terrible The Wedge, Fat Pizza and a couple of appearances on Thank God You're Here (which these days earns people radio jobs- Akmal Saleh, Dancing with the Stars Appearances- Fifi Box, and leading roles in TV shows- Rebel Wilson).
Anyway, based on the success of Suprise, this show won't be the most popular show in the world, but it might create some funny characters, and it could use these characters to find some success.

Rove is back... which Channel Ten probably says "Thank God" to. If he would have moved to America permanently, it would leave a big hole in Australian TV, but people obviously don't realise this when they voted him Most Annoying TV Personality, but you can read more about that in the Cranky Corner post.
Rove and his "gang" will continue to entertain.

Packed to the Rafters looks to be a sort of "dramedy". Probably will be a good family show and with Rebecca Gibney and Michael Caton, who are quite popular, will probably be successful.

Of course Spicks and the Chaser will be popular again.

Kenny's World Tour of Toilets sees Shane Jacobson reprise his role as Kenny to travel the world. If this doesn't work, it will tarnish the Kenny brand but I don't see any reason why it won't. But you only have to look at the My Big Fat Greek Wedding TV spin-off to be a bit scared.

Friday Night Download can hardly be called comedy but I guess that is what they are trying to achieve. All I will say about it is that if you ever have a thought to watch it, log on to a little thing called YouTube.

If I have forgotten anything or if you have an opinion on any of these shows, post a comment.