The Sydney Morning Herald - 28 October 2011
Okay, someone clarify this for me, because I feel like I'm only getting half the message: The Hamster Wheel is meant to be funny, right? I mean, it's made by the Chaser team, who - correct me if I'm wrong - have made comedic/satirical political commentary their game since the early days of CNNNN. Yes, I believe The Hamster Wheel is meant to be something you laugh at.
Because if Wednesday night's edition is any indication, something is seriously amiss.
Take the following segment, Politics With Cats - The War On Terror:
Is this really at the forefront of Australian political satire? A "funny" cat video?
Or, take the Hungry Beast parody, also from last night, in which they sent up the HB street vox pops format:
Is the bottom of the barrel really so scraped dry that they need to resort to in-jokey lampooning of another moderately-viewed ABC show? Hungry Beast hasn't been on air for some time, so how does this amount to current media commentary?
I will admit that I was glued to the screen throughout Wednesday night's episode of The Hamster Wheel, but not because it was compelling - because I wanted to see how bad it could get. And, as it turned out, every time I thought it was bad, it got worse.
Look, I know that part of the appeal of the Chaser crew has always been their essentially undergrad humour - when they're really firing, it's like watching a particularly good law revue - but the majority of The Hamster Wheel is just limp LOL-mongering. I mean, cats as politicians? Really? The Goodies did The Rabid Frost Program (dogs with peanut butter in their mouths dressed as commentators and special guests) back in the '70s and they were pushing their luck even then.
I'd sooner shoot myself than become one of those Herald Sun commenters who complains about what the ABC is doing with Our Taxpayers' Money™, but I did find myself thinking thoughts to that effect while watching Hamster Wheel last night.
I mean, look at twentysomething - a terrific show, from fresh new talent, that probably cost next to nothing. For the money the ABC have likely injected into the last few rounds of lukewarm Chaser shows, they could have made another four equivalents to twentysomething.
The problem with the Australian entertainment industry has always been that its old-hands don't know when to step out of the spotlight and let a new generation come to the fore (witness the unstoppable Rebecca Gibney, or the reanimated Hey Hey).
In the case of this dunderheaded, boring show, isn't it time the Chaser team got out of their own hamster wheel and let a new generation of political satirists step up?
