On the news that Hey Hey We’re 50 is coming, Daryl Somers said: “I was absolutely delighted when Seven suggested a 50th anniversary Hey Hey special.” So am I, because that means Seven must have re-discovered nostalgia, and with a Channel Nine show too.
Amanda Keller once hosted a 30th anniversary special about The Mavis Bramston Show, a groundbreaking sketch comedy series made by Seven. When its 50th anniversary came round, they totally ignored it.
Similarly, when Home and Away had its 20th anniversary, Seven went all out to celebrate. When it turned 30 in 2018, they downplayed it for fear it would make Summer Bay look old.
Well done to Daryl Somers for being so ego-free not to mention it first. If Seven is looking for more shows from other networks to honour, next year is the 50th anniversary of Number 96 (Ten) and The Aunty Jack Show (ABC).
Many of the viewer comments about Hey Hey coming back are about how it isn’t on TV anymore because of political correctness. So, not because it was on TV for 28 years and wore out its welcome? What about networks refusing to pay the huge costs for weekend variety shows anymore?
Three of the creative team on All My Friends Are Racist: Enoch Mailangi, Bjorn Stewart, Kodie Bedford
If you think political correctness has killed Aussie comedy, then you don’t watch Aussie comedy today. The ABC is still giving a platform to emerging new comedians and now there is an outrageous queer black comedy that is as politically incorrect as they come.
All My Friends Are Racist (iview) has dialogue like “Serving revenge with a lovable side of c*nt is my absolute forte” and sight gags like a law firm called Spears, Aguilera & Associates. If only all those ABC bashers would focus on a new outrage like this, rather than their same old topic of Four Corners (Monday on ABC).
Reservation Dogs
Taika Waititi has co-created and written Reservation Dogs (Binge) which is the first TV series to have all Indigenous writers and directors, and a mostly Indigenous cast and production team too. The results are wildly funny and slightly reminiscent of the equally brilliant teen Aboriginal series Robbie Hood (SBS On Demand).
Kevin Can F**k Himself (Amazon Prime) starts off as a traditional sitcom with canned laughter, as hopeless husband Kevin (Eric Petersen) behaves like a moron in the tradition of lame Kevin James sitcoms.
However, when bedraggled wife Allison (Schitts Creek’s Annie Murphy) walks away from the lounge room “set”, Kevin Can F**k Himself reveals itself to be a much darker show. There is no more laughter as she walks past closed down businesses in her broken town. One to watch.
See other Mercado on TV columns here.