The hilarious Fisk (Wednesdays on ABC) is back for a second series and it would appear that every Aussie comedian will now get a guest role – not that there’s anything wrong with that! The first episode includes Marg Downey, Denise Scott and Harley Breen, and then it’s Geraldine Hickey, Glenn Robbins, Rob Sitch and Anne Edmonds.
If Fisk were a New Zealand comedy, it would be totally buried on Australian TV. No matter how good they are, no Kiwi series ever gets any love here. They watch our shows, but we won’t even try theirs.
Kitty Flanagan in Fisk
For example, The Pact is a six-part drama-comedy about dementia and euthanasia. It’s funny and timely, but is hard to find on SBS On Demand. It is screening on NITV on Thursday but it should get a run on SBS too.
How crazy is it that Inside The Sydney Opera House (Sunday on ABC) is the first time cameras have been allowed into this iconic building? Narrated by Marta Dusseldorp, there is a lot going on in the first episode with Covid, New Year’s Eve and abseilers dangling off the sails to check its million white tiles.
The Stranger (Netflix) is a controversial new movie about a real-life undercover police operation to catch a child killer. The victim’s name has been changed, but not Queensland’s Glasshouse Mountains location. It’s got great actors like Joel Edgerton and Jada Alberts but it’s pretty bleak.
Two productions that have been Amazon Prime exclusives are now able to be watched on TV. Hot on the heels of Nine Perfect Strangers (SBS On Demand), which was originally made for Hulu, comes The Very Very Excellent Mr Dundee (Wednesday on Nine), which was made for cinemas but turned up on Amazon due to covid lockdowns.
Nine now has every movie in the Croc franchise, except for Crocodile Dundee in Los Angeles, and that is no great loss. The Very Excellent Mr Dundee also features the final film appearance from Olivia Newton-John, and her performance with Hoges is a real highlight.
Read more Mercado on TV columns here.
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