Frontline on ABC again. And what about comedy these days?

W-A-Y back in 1994 / 95, I first got into this world of video via a contract I picked up with a company called Computer Television in Perth, Western Australia, to write video tutorial scripts for Microsoft.

The internet had recently launched commercially, Windows 95 was just around the corner as was Office 95, and tutorials on videotape were urgently needed. I loved the job and was there for a few years before making the big move to Sydney.

Also at the time, a breakthrough TV program appeared on our screens (still CRT based in those days too! Affordable plasma / LCD was a good 5 years away).

This program was called Frontline, put together by the company we now know as Working Dog (The Castle, The Dish etc) and starred Rob Sitch, Jane Kennedy, Tiriel Mora, Steve Bisley and Santo Cilauro among its cast.

In simple terms, it was a satirical take on the current crop of current affairs shows that ran at that time, particularly A Current Affair, and whilst very, very funny, it was also extremely biting with very clever scripts mimicking the news of the day.

Sometimes it was downright savage. I particularly remember one about a siege that didn’t end well, and certainly caused a certain Mr Willesee to squirm a LOT.

Not unlike the UK program Drop the Donkey, Frontline was very much must watch TV for anyone even remotely interested in the broadcasting or video / film making business.

Over the weekend I heard that the ABC has re-mastered / released the series on iView, and I urge anyone who has an interest in this area to watch it, not just because of its humour and writing which will still stand up today, but to also see what can be achieved with fluorescent lighting and Hi-8 cameras (I kid you not!)

Which leads me to a quote or two I saw over the weekend; one from no less a luminary than John Cleese. To paraphrase, he suggested that there was nothing worth watching on TV these days; comedy just didn’t – or couldn’t – exist anymore. I seem to recall Billy Connelly saying much the same thing a while back.

Another quote from a name I cannot remember lamented the fact that it was now even impossible to make a joke about someone’s grey hair – political correctness has simply taken over and consigned comedy to history.

Probably the top of the pile of politically incorrect TV shows was Till Death Us Do Part, with Warren Mitchell as the inimitable bigot Alf Garnett. This show, along with ones like Love Thy Neighbour, simply cannot be shown today which is sad in a way. Warren Mitchell went to great pains to explain the program wasn’t just meant to be funny (for the times), but it was also to point out how bad and wrong bigotry and racism were, by actually highlighting them, shoving them right under our noses and making us feel uncomfortable.

And it did that very well.

Of course, as is their wont, the Americans tried to mimic Till Death Us Do part (along with other programs such as Steptoe and Son, Man About the House and Porridge) and as predictably, they were all awful. British humour does not translate to the American vernacular it seems.

And I admit to being very hard pressed to actually find any decent US humour if I’m honest. I abhor Seinfeld, never found Friends, Frasier or the Big Bang Theory even vaguely amusing and far prefer the UK Office to the US one. The only two things that spring to mind that I would watch are The Simpsons and Futurama (which are not sitcoms anyway). And maybe Third Rock from the Sun. Maybe.

What are your thoughts? Should making fun of other people’s foibles, habits and characteristics be forever out of bounds, or is it okay to poke a bit of fun, as along as its not malicious or nasty?

Has scriptwriting for comedy died, or just taken a weird turn?

What are / were your favourite comedy shows?

Let us know in the comments, but please keep it civil!