Presenting Friendly NewKev : The 2010 Edition

Australian panel TV shows where comedians allegedly show their razor sharp wit are notoriously scripted and rehearsed.

So how many times did prime minister Kevin Rudd run through the questions he was thrown on Good News Week last night, with his staff? I'd say, at least ten times. Probably a few times with his image handlers as well, just to get the nuances of Friendly NewKev just about right :



Has a laugh track been added to enhance the crowd reaction?

Rudd had to change his public image, he was moving dangerously close in real life to the impersonation by Anthony Ackroyd :



UPDATE : 2UE political correspondent Latika Bourke reports the prime minister's office has confirmed Rudd had plenty of time to rehearse :

"(GNW) producers volunteered the seven comedy quiz questions to the Prime Minister in advance...'

I wonder what would have happened had they changed those questions on the night, without letting Rudd or his people know?

You just don't get that kind of anarchic behaviour in Australian TV comedy anymore.

It's all so safe.

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Rude Words Cause Boring MoralOutrage! Alert

900,000 Australian TV viewers had no problem with the most recent episode of Good News Week. Some viewers, however, who need to keep themselves in the headlines, didn't :

Crude language, sex and violence on the box has a family group claiming TV is becoming nothing more than a septic tank of dirt and garbage.

In Monday's Good News Week, bad language was rife -with the f-word dropped once every 10 minutes. The popular satire program also featured jokes about masturbation, child molesting, erections and sex with dogs.

The usual suspects are involved in these fresh yelps of MoralOutrage!

Family Council of Victoria spokesman Bill Muehlenberg said GNW was just one of a proliferation of "cheap, bottom of the barrel" shows.

"It used to be about coming up with good ideas and talent to entertain people; now, it's all about scraping the bottom of the barrel to be more shocking than the last guy," he said. "It's like diving into a septic tank. There's just too much gratuitous sex and violence on television. The networks should be held accountable.

"Not everyone can afford cable television, so poor people like us are stuck with whatever the networks dish up to us."

Must not have any good books worth reading. Or any thick books based on myths written in the 4th century, and rewritten in the 15th century worthy, of another flick through. Are there no Christian video games yet?

Some viewers"It's not acceptable, particularly on the ABC and SBS because our tax dollars subsidise them."

900,000 other Australians didn't have a problem with that Good News Week. But who cares what they think?

Minority opinions are far more important.