h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

There's so magnificent TV Shows from Australia. I am going to list quite a few and a little about each one, so bear with me!

The Comedys -
There are many aussie comedies that may or may not have been aired elsewhere in the world but few can surpass these;

Hey Dad! (sitcom about a widowed architect and his family. He works from home, has an incredibly ditsy secretary and his family of three children; post teen son, teen daughter and preteen daughter are great. (Teen daughter was portayed by Simone Buchanan at one time who was at one point quite a credible theatre actress...I think)

The D-Generation (a sketch show broadcast on ABC television featured uni students Rob Sitch, Jane Kennedy, Mick Molloy, Tony Martin, Madga Subanski, Santo Cilauro and Jason Stephens. These members later went on to bigger and better things including;

The D-Gen Late Show - The main reason most people didn't actually go out on a Friday night. Includeed regluars such as muckrakin, piss-weak world, Graham and the Colonel and the stunt team of Robby and Mick. Par Excellence! Spinoffs include Bargearse and the Olden Days voice overs of aussie TV dramas Bluey and Rush.

Frontline - Make believe satire on a current affairs programme.

Movies - The Castle and The Dish

Some of the original D-Generation also went on to produce sketch show Fast Forward (still amusing but not a patch on the Late Show)

Doug Anthony Allstars and DAAS Kapital - comedy trio DAAS made a name for themselves at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival a while back and appeared on the ABC briefly before being given the liberty to produce DAAS Kapital. The premise was that Tim (the pretty one) Richard (the not so pretty one who could play guitar) and Paul (the short ugly one who could sing) were crew of the Titantic 2 some time in the future, a ship that held all the priceless artifacts of human culture in case of nuclear devastation. Unbeknownst to them the ship was sunk on purpose and now they spend their days at the bottom of the sea amusing each other. Purile, funny and over the top. Fantastic stuff. Songs like I F**k Dogs and I wanna Spill the Blood of a Hippy originated here.

The Dramas -
Here's where things start to get a bit dicey, although there are some decent aussie dramas, namely;
Police Rescue - the name says it all. Series about the Police Rescue team.
Water Rats - another police drama. this time about the water police in Sydney.
Patrol Boat - an older series that I remember as a kid, but know nothing about now!
Prisoner - Cell Block H - a cult classic about the girls in a womans prison! corny but class.

Now we come to the not so great;
A Country Practice - soap about a country doctors practice.
The Sullivans - I'm too young to remember this, but I've seen a few repeats...
The Flying Doctors - a soap about...well, flying doctors. not doctors with wings, the flying doctors are doctors who go to remote outback places in austrlaia by air to aid and assist sick people.
Sons and Daughters - australias take on days of our lives.
Sylvanian Waters - A reality show about a family in the suburb of Sylvania Waters in Sydney. Terrible. :-S

Kids Shows -

Round the Twist - Childrens TV Show based on the writings of Paul Jennings. Wonderfully produced and acted, even the kids. Laughs a minute even for the adults.

Mr Squiggle - PreSchool fun with the man from the moon who had a pencil for a nose. Miss Jane, Miss Jane! Other characters included Gus the Snail, Blackboard and Bill SteamShovel. Wonderful.

There's so much more, but those are some of my favourite Excellent shows and favourite all time clangers too!
PGHF

The most enjoyable Aussie offering of all time is, in my opinion, The Magic Boomerang.
The series ran in the 1960's. It told the story of a boomerang which had the ability to freeze time. The opening credits explained: "When thrown, all time will stand still."
I recall it was given to its' young male star by an aborigine.
The show was revived, I think, in the 1970's but lacked the enthusiasm portrayed in its' earlier guise.

I cannot agree with the previous poster's view about The Sullivans. It was the best soap opera to come from our antipodean cousins. I could watch all the episodes again. (HOW SAD IS THAT?)

My favourite comedy was The Paul Hogan Show. More recently the sitcom directed and co written by Caroline Ahearne, Dosser and Joe, was quite good. It starred Anne Charleston of Neighbours fame and Michael Caton who was Uncle Harry in The Sullivans.

It's true, I can't comment on the Sullivans as I never really viewed any episodes, but my parents were always moaning about it. I used to LOVE the Aunty Jack Show. " I'll rip yer arms off! " Brilliant!
PGHF

Round the Twist! I love that programme!

Just remembered a few more!

The Mcalliff Show - Sketch show starring Sean Mcalliff. A riot!

Kath and Kim - satirical/cum-reality show about mother daughter team Kath and Kim and there aussie suburban lives...

The Big Gig - 80s programme with stand up, music and sketch shows. amusing but more a launchpad for comics and later programmes like DAAS, Acropolis Now and the Comedy Company.

Earthwatch - late 70s early 80s Blue Peter style show focussing on environmental matters. I was an Earthwatch Volunteer!

Another offereing from the D-Gen crew is The Panel - a talk show kind of thing about current media events. Amusing and better than A current Affair and Hey Hey It's Saturday.

But I'm fully aware that many of these programmes would never have made it anywhere else in the world, they're just ones I remember and loved.
PGHF