15 August 2010

Offspring on Channel 10

I must be in the minority because I love Australian movies and television drama programs. Hell, I even like some Australian comedy, particularly of the ABC ilk. Not many people I know enjoy, or admit to enjoying Australian made film and television.

Little Fish is one of my favourite movies of all time. So is Candy and Looking for Alibrandi. And Look Both Ways is pretty good, too. I have the post September 11 telemovie Marking Time on DVD. Surburban Mayhem. Noise. The Black Balloon. Clubland. I could go on... But it's tiring searching then hyperlinking.

I like family shows like Packed to the Rafters and Always Greener. And Seachange, as reminded by Jen.

You know my thoughts about Secret Life of Us. Adored it back in the day. I watched the first series again recently and loved it. Especially Claudia Karvan, Sam Johnson and Deb Mailman.

I've been watching Heartbreak High on ABC3.
The younger Callan Mulvey melts my heart. As does the present day Callan.

I watched five episodes of season 1 of Underbelly. Mainly because of Callan Mulvey. See below.
I stopped because Callan's character died and I needed time to recover from seeing his wonderful acting in the coffin, and the excessive violence and sex. I don't know if I've recovered yet – I might just perpetually watch the first five episodes.

Rush is wonderful. It's fast paced, full of action, a little romance, and funny. You know that I think the men of Rush, or the Sunnyboys, as I refer to them in my tweets, are the hottest ever.

And I regard Love My Way as the best TV show of all time.
I once watched the entire first season of Love My Way on DVD one New Years Eve. Alone. I bawled my eyes out. Because I was alone on New Years Eve and because I was exhausted from the drama. I was once again in love with Claudia Karvan because of Love My Way. Love love love this!


I want to watch Tangle and Spirited but these are on pay TV. And I don't have enough time or money for that. I will wait for the DVDs.

So when Offspring was advertised on Channel 10, I was excited. I loved Asher Keddie in Love My Way, and in Rush. And I loved her dress in the Offspring ad (I have searched and searched on Google but can't find it for your reference.

The show looked quirky. Like Secret Life of Us. Only grown up. I especially love TV shows set in Melbourne. And this one is. I find something identifiable about shows set in Melbourne – not only the setting, but the way the characters live. I think in these shows, you see characters similar to people you really know.

The cast is good looking. Extremely good looking.

I was super excited about Offspring until last week when my excitement levels dropped lower than a rapper's jeans. It was because it was advertised EVERY FRIGGIN' FIVE MINUTES. Seriously, Ten. Every friggin five minutes. I was seriously thinking that I wouldn't need to watch the show with the amount of advertising Channel 10 was throwing at me.

So I was delighted to find that I could download the episode for free from iTunes yesterday, so I could watch it ahead of time, without ads – I actually feared Channel 10 would advertise Offspring DURING Offspring. The advertising was that damn excessive. It was on par with the election campaign.

My expectations of Offspring were met. It was quirky. Funny. Well written. A great cast. And I loved Asher's clothes. She is gorgeous.

Asher plays slightly neurotic Nina. A lot less neurotic than Julia in Love My Way. Waaaay less. But still neurotic.Offspring also stars Don Hany as Dr Chris (niiiiice), Deb Mailman as Cherie (love) and Kat Stewart as Billie (beautiful and versatile).

Nina is a successful obstetrician who has a lot of self doubt. The story revolves around her slightly dysfunctional family - though I expect most families are like hers. All three adult children have not achieved in certain areas of their life.

I enjoyed the music, especially the bits performed by Eddie Perfect's character.

The setting was not instantly recognisable as Melbourne though. And there was excessive use of the iPhone ring tone. It's the xylophone one. That shitted me. There was too much ringing of the iPhone. Me, I prefer the harp. There was also quite a bit of Apple placement. Macbooks galore. I saw at least two, and an iPod too.

I also thought it was far less sexual than the ads insinuated. The sexual innuendo in the ads was probably to sell the program to women and men.

I can see a few openings for some good storylines in Offspring. Cherie's situation with Darcy, her baby's unexpected father. Chris's missing wife. Billie and Mick's on-again-off-again thing may get repetitive though.

As a whole, I enjoyed Offspring. I don't think it will match Love My Way, and I don't think I can hope for another Secret Life. But I think I will enjoy it.

Read a proper review at The Age.
(Click on all pictures for their source.)

13 comments:

  1. Seachange. Best Aussie show ever. Every Sunday night we sat down as a family and watched it.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Thanks Jen, post amended! I forgot about Seachange - my family did the same!

    ReplyDelete
  3. dear Carly just wanted to say hello as I have been behind with lots of the blogs I follow and am playing catch up, hope all well with you; I love TV too, have now got a TV in the bedroom which is delicious yet disastrous! have got a dvd from library of US series called Drop Dead Diva, have you ever heard of it, I never had, but it is fun, model girl dies and comes back in body of woman lawyer, only 11 hours more to watch!!..Bx

    ReplyDelete
  4. Dating the enemy is one of my favourite movies and an Aussie movie. I'm with you I love Aussie TV shows and movies. I can't believe I forgot offspring was on tonight (all that advertising didn't do t's job, lol) looks like I will be downloading it from itunes

    ReplyDelete
  5. Hi Carly.
    I like a lot of the same shows/movies as you. Love my Way was outstanding - Just brilliant.
    I have watched the first series of Tangle - fantastic.
    Rush - well we all love Rush don't we?
    I am looking forward to Spirited ... am hoping it lives up to all my expectations.
    And last night I really enjoyed Offspring but then I am a fan of Asher Keddie. And I liked Eddie Perfect much more than I thought that I would. Yay for Aussie TV.

    ReplyDelete
  6. OMG this post has brought back so many memories...

    - My Year Without Sex - aussie movie - great with Matt Day. Tis very funny.

    - Tangle - you. have. to. see. it. It's my favourite Australian drama. It is excellent. You can get season 1 on DVD.

    I too love Secret Life of Us and Love My Way and cannot wait to see Spirited. In fact I'm a bit of a Claudia groupie. Remember when she was in Paperback Hero (with Hugh) and the Heartbreak Kid and The Big Steal (which I just loved!).

    Great post Carly!

    ReplyDelete
  7. i loved loved offspring.

    completely agree with the over use of the tv ads! come on ten!

    i also mostly agree with asher's clothing altho sometimes she wore these like hippy outfits i wasnt too fond of.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Off topic, but how's your lamb??? xx PS I hate and loathe ads! I watch far too much tv!

    ReplyDelete
  9. Oh man, re-watching Heartbreak High every night is the highlight of my days at the moment. I was so impatient waiting for Drazic to finally come into it when it first started airing! I love him and Anita together, haha.

    I loved Offspring. Now I really want to re-watch my Love My Way DVDs!

    ReplyDelete
  10. I forgot to watch Offspring but I feel that same way about tv shows set/filmed in Melbourne!

    ReplyDelete
  11. I must be totally missing out, I've never seen Secret Life, Love My Way or Rush, oh for shame. And with all that eye candy, too. I'll put them on the dvd list. I love Australian film/tv - it's brilliant! And that's coming from a kiwi ;p

    You're winning me over to your way of thinking with all these Callan Mulvey pic's, Carly :) Mmmm...

    ReplyDelete
  12. I am agreeing on this way too late but you are so right on Love My Way brilliant brilliant show
    India

    ReplyDelete
  13. I watched the entire first season of love my way when I sprained my ankle (first time) a long time ago and it was so awesome! Became a huge Brendan Cowell fan because of it. I also have loved Claudia Carven since Secret Life days! I try and watch anything she's been in.

    ReplyDelete

Thank you for reading my blog. I love receiving comments :)
I really appreciate the time you've taken to write to me, and to share something about yourself.

LinkWithin

Related Posts with Thumbnails