Well, that was weird, I remarked to Mrs Chook as the credits rolled. I didn’t laugh. I couldn’t see the point of the show. The arguments about why it should never have been made are funnier. The outrage at how disrespectful this show is to the office of Prime Minister is especially laughable given the disrespect the Prime Minister showed to the office when she knocked Kevin Rudd out of it without so much as a thank you for trusting me and giving me all those portfolios and making me your deputy. No, all he got was, it’s time for you to shove off now, tosser, I’m taking over.
I don’t know that we’ve got much respect for the office of Prime Minister in this country, unlike the Americans who insist that no matter what idiocies are performed by the incumbents, the office of President is still deserving of their respect. No matter how inept, immoral and inane a President might be, the office is above all that and remains untainted by the antics of the mortal. It’s a nice idea, but what’s the point of it?
The cast of At home with Julia looked as if they were imitating marionettes. You could almost see the strings lifting their limbs, and manipulating their facial expressions. It was like one of those children’s movies where humans are filmed and then made to look like cartoon figures. The only convincing sentient being was the dog. Perhaps this was intentional: a clever comment on…something or other that happens in Canberra.
It’s a mystery to me how anybody could expect to make anything funny and interesting out of Julia Gillard’s private life. I mean, hello. As a friend of mine said the other day if they had to knock off Kevin, couldn’t they at least have replaced him with someone with a bit of charisma? Well, not unless they brought in someone from overseas, they’re a bit light on charisma in the Labor Party at the moment. No charisma at all, but on the other hand, what good did a charismatic politician ever do anybody?
Right now I’d settle for some signs of intelligent life.
It did occur to me that it’s interesting how when Kevin was thrown out, everybody complained about how awful he was to work with but we the general population were unaware of that fact and were very surprised to be told of his intolerable idiosyncracies and foul mouth. Now the general population is overwhelmingly disappointed with Julia, and everybody in the government is telling us how marvelous she is to work with and how warm and funny she can be at dinner parties.
Whatever happened to the rubbery figures? Now that worked. Can we get them back, Auntie?
Related articles
- Gentle on Julia, tough on Tim, beef for Bill (theage.com.au)
No Place For Sheep 
I don’t think respect or not for the PM was at fault. The show just didn’t work. It lacked creativity. Badly written and no amount of respect or not would have made an iota of difference. It wasn’t even the material or the plot. Good ‘comedy’ needs guts and verve, taking risks and dare to go to new places.
Compare that with Chris Lilley’s work.
We stayed for ten minutes and switched it off.
Of course something funny could have been made out of Julia and her life. It’s not that or the subject matter that was at fault. Almost anything and everything lends itself to humor, it just needs a group of creative people and above all a good script to make it work in a TV comedy.
LikeLike
It would have worked as satire, but they avoided that genre for some reason. You’re right, satire could have been very funny.
LikeLike
A good lot of us want the rubberies back.
it’s a bit pathetic though that anyone would expect us to respect Gillard and her dogtrumpet.
LikeLike
I find the real PM much more interesting than the one that portrayed her last night.
LikeLike
I’ve never seen the real PM – has she decided who the real one is?
LikeLike
Why does that prattling moron Matt Brown at ABC continue to put lives at risk by interviewing refugees in Indonesia and making some pretence that refugees are not allowed to come here by boat.
It’s perfectly legal and it is not smuggling
LikeLike
You might as well ask why does the sun set in the west every damn day. There’s no reason, it just is.
LikeLike
The show was the funniest thing I’ve seen in ages. It lacked gravitas, & had the feel of something made by a high school drama class.
But it was ever so funny!
LikeLike
You are easily amused, SATP! That is a great character trait and good for those around you!
LikeLike
Well it’s been very useful to read everyone’s review of the show so that I won’t have to watch it.
And while we’re on bringing back the rubbery figures, why not go the whole hog and bring back Bob Hawke?? For some reason his rubbery little face never fails to crack me up, and I’m sure he’d do a much better job than any of the current mob.
LikeLike
Oh and Jennifer, where do you get all the pictures that you use in your articles? They’re fabulous!
LikeLike
If I told you I’d have to kill you, Sam.
LikeLike
Oooohhhhwwww, but I suppose we all have to die some day. Amazing really when you think about it!
LikeLike
Fantastic. The ABC should start filming a follow – up series. We should all be able to look at ourselves and laugh.
LikeLike
Admittedly I thought the first episode was mildly amusing. The protester with the “Bring back Latham” sign was good. The second episode was really, really strange. The public showing up to see Tim Mathieson cut the Prime Minister hair? Gave up after 10 minutes. Plus no one should be exposed to the sight of a bare chested Craig McLachlan. Even “That’s My Bush!” was funnier than this. I think the show is more demeaning to Mathieson than it is to Gillard. It’s disappointing that the ABC sticks something as brilliant as “The Thick of It” on ABC2 late on a Thursday night as well as dumping “Review with Myles Barlow” there as well. Both deserve to be on 1.
LikeLike