Back in October, we started a campaign to get Shaun Micallef’s wonderful news parody Newstopia onto UK screens, with the most likely homes for it being BBC Four, More4 or Paramount. Flicking through our EPG today, what do we find making up one half of a BBC Four colonial comedy double bill (alongside Flight of the Conchords)? Could it possibly be? Dare we dream?
Doooh. So near, yet so far. Still, it’s a start. And if it went down really well in the ratings, maybe it could lead to Newstopia maybe reaching our screens. Hopefully. Even though the Powers That Be would deem the topical jokes therein too dated to broadcast now, they’d be overruled by the BBC Trust. And it’d be part of a Comedy Shows We Should Have Picked Up Years Ago strand, along with Mr Show. Look, just leave us along with our wishes, okay?
As for Chaser’s War…, we can only assume these’ll be compilations from past series, and not the brand new series which has come in for a Rossbrandsachs-sized shitstorm from the Australian media after their “Make a realistic wish” sketch “mocked dying kids” (i.e. copied an idea from an old Mr Show sketch, only without the wit, panache and talent). Here’s the sketch in question:
Not very good, is it? Despite that, from what we’ve seen of The Chasers, they are capable of some proper Saturday Night Armistice-style comedy*, and the BBC Four shows will certainly be worth a look. Hopefully most of the material making the BBC Four shows will be along the lines of this.
(*Though to be more accurate, CWOE is more along the lines of “Fantasy Football League given a broader remit, with a dash of Beadles About” than Saturday Night Armistice, but it doesn’t sound as snappy.)
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