DISQUS

Hey,

This seems like something that the boxcutters family would be into.

http://www.abc.net.au/corp/haveyoursay/

They are after opinions that they will probably ignore about digital media / new technology, the ABC future etc

How totally cool was the special letter to boxcutters this week? I won't say too much about it for those who haven't listened yet but it has made me love Middleman even more. I've had a a scout around and it isn't available yet on DVD - Amazon doesn't have a listing for it so we may not see it before Christmas. They usually have stuff available for pre-order for at least 4-8 weeks but nothing yet.

Snaps for Jill Singer. I had totally forgotten that she did that. And that she collapsed in some kind of stroke/pay negotiation deal.

Bye Ross - you've been an excellent boxcutter and will be deeply missed. I get the feeling that Josh will be fighting the good fight for reality tv alone without you there so I hope you will occasionally phone in with special guest comments. As a side note, I have never had any trouble telling you and Brett apart but struggled a bit this episode with you and James. I think I could always tell you from Brett by whether Josh yelled at the person after they spoke.

A big welcome to John as an official part of the boxcutters family. I was digging you a lot until the whole "I love to spoil tv plots and kick over kids sandcastles" thing. You also maligned someone that I love a bit but I can't remember who so the wound must not have been too deep. That aside, I remain glad you are now on board full time.

If you get Ray back in, I would be interested to hear about how different it was making TV when the network wasn't looking at ratings the next day.

So sad.

Hey, good idea Bolden.
I'm going to do the same and suggest that all Boxcutters listeners who are RRR subscribers do the same or at least mention Boxcutters. Maybe you can subscribe to a show and Boxcutters - kind of like dual nationality.

I couldn't agree more with Daniel Boxcutter - what a great ep. I love that this episode followed directly after the one with Adam Richard - talk about compare and contrast. Both episodes were super entertaining but really come from different ends of the TV spectrum.

Hi Guys - great episode.
What a wonderful nerd-fest - John really stepped the geek quota up and I was glad to hear that Josh and Brett could keep pace.

It's interesting cause I seem to have heard a different discussion from the Boxcutters about Tivo than Iann and scalpel4hire. What I heard them express is frustration at such a great device being neutered in the Australian market. It's for all the cool reasons that are outlined above that they want a proper, fully functioning Tivo to be sold here, instead of some overly expensive box without all the functionality.
Man, I want Tivo so badly - I have ever since I first saw an ad about it in an American magazine about ten years ago. I'm just not sure I want the Tivo that 7 is offering to us.

Another great ep guys.
Entertainment Weekly have put together a list of the 100 best shows of the past 25 years. Reading the top ten reminded me of the Golden Age of Television but the further down you get, the looser the definition of best seems to become. Anyone here want to go in to bat that Miami Vice was better than The Larry Sanders Show?
After a point it reads like the 100 shows whose names we could remember. Here is is:
http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,20207076_202073...

Great ep guys. Good to hear Nelly back on.
I don't want to give any Boxcutters spoilers so I will simply say how much I enjoyed the surprise phone call.
Also, I wonder if Big Brother is just as awful now as it ever was but that as we get older, we move further away from the age of the contestants and therefore further away from the target demographic. Maybe we only liked it when we could see some of ourselves reflected in the contestants and the gap between us and 19 year olds is just too big. Or maybe it is just crap.

Having not seen the story, I wonder if TT has anything in place to stop the pensioners getting ripped off or taken advantage of? Although, TT and ACA do love a story about someone "callously taking advantage of an old age pensioner who fought in the war for you son" so maybe it is just about feeding back more stories to itself.

@ Westivan. Big-noting. Really? I don't get that at all. I get show-biz trooper who is constitutionally unable to not entertain. Like Shane Bourne or Burt Newton. I love hearing stories like Wilburs. I don't even care if I don't really know the people involved. I'll be like, please tell me more above Alison Durban. And then tell me who she is.

@ billodowd. That's some passionate response. Generally if I don't like someone I might just think, "gee blah blah doesn't know shit" and mentally glaze over their bit of the paper or just never click through. I do agree with you on one point though, I think Josh Kinal would be a great addition to The Age TV review pool.
@ Gem - I hadn't seen that so thanks for posting up the link. The whole idea makes me feel funny as I love Mitch Hurwitz & the cast rocks but it's like a kid you grew up with getting famous and everyone suddenly thinking that they are fantastic when you remember that they wet the bed til they were nine. You are excited for them, but can't quite buy the public image.

I think that Jim must a full time side-line in letting students interview him as I did the same thing when writing for Lot's Wife at Monash. He was lovely and generous with his time then too.
I've listened to the first hour of the show (which gets us just about to the end of the news!)and am highly entertained by this episode.

It's great that someone who is as passionate as Jim is in a position to reach so many people. I'm sure there is an inclination for Age readers to take the "I only watch the ABC" high road, so to have someone who clearly loves TV in all its forms championing the medium is very valuable.

But I really want Lost of have a natural and fulfilling conclusion...
Part of the joy of watching it is trying to figure out how they will possibly bring it all together.
Great episode guys - I've been enjoying all the guest hosts but am looking forward to Ross coming back. The guest hosts just don't gang up on Brett the same way.

Good show guys - Wilbur was fantastic.
One of the great disappointments in my life is that I will never get to try and catch money in a clear perspex box. I remember devoting hours to discussing the best strategy for holding on to the most money. I largely involved shoving cash between your knees and under your chin.

I'm totally with Rob and Josh on In Treatment.
I initially found the concept fascinating but I knew I was invested in the characters by how tense I got whenever Paul and Laura were in the room together.
Even the giant horse teeth on Melissa George couldn't take me out of really caring about whether Paul would do the right thing.

@ James - Did you get a chance to see Keating! on any of your trips back here?

Great special episode guys - I wanted it to go on much longer. I loved the stuff about being in the studio with Bros - that kind of information is so fascinating and an experience unique to so few people.
I would love to have heard about how much of that popularity/TV week stuff is driven by the show or network and how much comes from a grass roots level. I remember watching Henderson Kids 2 and all my friends crushed out on Alex - I know he was the "leading man" but something about him stood out amongst all the characters in all the shows we were watching at the time.
I'm not sure that kind of x-factor goes away - I think that Australian networks get afraid of using someone who was so popular just in case they are a bit daggy. It's a real shame - it means that we don't get to see good actors who start young develop on our screens. It's as someone (Josh?) said during the show, that they need to go away or go overseas before we can see them working in Australia again.

@ fulltimecasual

Snap! I logged on to post about the The American Life newsroom story.

As always, you make a very good point Josh.

I misheard Brett as he initially spoke and thought he said that the new Nine slogan was "We are TV". I immediately thought about the promo possibilities - We are drama - then showing a clip from all their drama shows, We are crime - a montage of all the CSI type shows, We are comedy - showing Mary Louise Parker getting fucked on the bonnet of her car etc
They still get to claim a leadership position this way without all the unpleasantness about not actually being number one in the ratings anymore.

@ Ross.
I'm sorry to hear that your marriage is in so much trouble that you have started smoking the crack. I figure that must be the case cause I can't think of another reason why you wouldn't like Carpoolers. I know it's not going to change the way we think about TV but I think it's funny, charming & makes my teeth hurt less than any new sitcom I have seen for a while.
@ Confessions of a Call Girl - I'm not surprised it is crappy if it is based on the Belle de Jour. I wonder if it feels as fake as the blog did - it read like it was written by a middle age man.

AFI Nominations

As I have declared here before, All Saints is my secret TV shame. It was great to see that Mark Priestly received an AFI best supporting actor nomination for his role in the show.

Also nominated are:
Mark Priestley – All Saints (Seven Network)
Justin Smith – Bastard Boys (ABC)
Jack Thompson – Bastard Boys (ABC)
David Ngoombujarra – The Circuit (SBS)

I know he won't win as I am sure that the AFI voters are constitutionally unable to vote for a All Saints actor against Jack Thompson (who was awful in Bastard Boys) or someone from SBS, however I think it is great to see him acknowledged in this way. He really does a great job on that show.
To further my point into a rant, I believe that the AFI awards tend to champion losers - that the least popular/good show will always win over something that has had some popular support.

Also, glad to see the return of what Deirdre says.