Ep 173: Wilbur Wilde, Anne-Marie Peard, Flight Of The Conchords, musical TV shows

All singing! All dancing! Repeated sax offender Wilbur Wilde is our guest co-host, aussietheatre.com‘s Anne-Marie Peard talks about TV shows that sing (warning: Buffy), we review season 2 of HBO’s Flight Of The Conchords, reminisce about Aussie rock shows and Josh Kinal shows his mad teleportation skills. Oddly, no-one mentions Sweet & Sour (except here).

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    12 Comments

    1. On the sad Humphrey news, I thought I'd check up on where things had been left when Eddie was in charge at 9. This is what The Age or SMH wrote back on Feb 13, 2007:

      Nine is about to exhaust its limit of repeats – the end is just weeks away should it start broadcasting the show each day – and is yet to commission a new series from Adelaide's Banksia Productions, the owner of the international Humphrey B. Bear franchise.

      That has left the door open for Nine's rivals, particularly Seven, to swoop on Humphrey.

      Contacted about Humphrey's demise at the network (where he first appeared as “Bear Bear” on May 24, 1965 on Adelaide's NWS Channel Nine), Mr McGuire said “we don't negotiate through The Age. We are in a production break at the moment and we'll discuss Humphrey in due course.”

      Attempts by Nine to cancel the show in 2000 met protests, including one from the Prime Minister, and the network swiftly backed down.

      Pushed further on Humphrey's possible departure, Mr McGuire expressed surprise at the interest: “You're ringing me about Here's Humphrey, mate. You're ringing me about Humphrey. I'm just not in a position to discuss Here's Humphrey at the moment.”

      So a bit over two years ago, Eddie refused to make any commitment on the show but ran the risk of another network picking it up. Am I being too much of conspiro-nut to think that, by winding up the production company, they're trying to ensure no one else gets him? Here's a precis on what's happening in the SA courts at the moment from Adelaide's only newspaper, The Advertiser:

      CHANNEL 9 has taken the company behind children's TV icon Here's Humphrey to court in a bid to wind up its operations.

      An application in the Supreme Court centres around an alleged $50,102 debt Banksia Productions owes to Channel 9 South Australia.

      An application was also made to appoint a liquidator.

      Court documents reveal that the claimed debt is for “rentals and goods and services” but they do not disclose their exact nature.

    2. ActualChad says:

      Just as a clarification, the poster was designed back in 2003 to resemble the original style Stephen (or Shepard?) Fairey poster style:

      http://bigchase.files.wordpress.com/2007/01/obe

      rather than the newer, more colourful Obama style:

      http://laughingsquid.com/wp-content/uploads/obe

      Old School!

    3. Chad, that special delivery was awesome. My single-bit description was a reference to the colour/no-colour quality of the poster but John just kept barreling along with his Obama comparison. I think I'm a little more connected to the form, knowing some stencil and graf-art practitioners around Melbourne. I just figured it wasn't worth the time to explain on the show as it was almost past.

      There's something about your signoff that reminds me of Ed from Scrubs and his valediction of “Syphilis!”

      I did also mean to mention that my little message to the robots (and humans) of 200 years hence was taken directly from Stephen Colbert's I Am America and So Can You. That man is an extraordinary comic talent and you should buy his book. Even better, buy his audio book as well… he reads it himself.

    4. On Flight of the Conchords, I tend to agree, the songs in season 2 are weak, but the storylines are as entertaining as ever. The Aus vs NZ episode was golden, I don't know how/if it translated to an american audience. It has the best 2 lines ever in it, 1. did you use protection (when sleeping with the australian girl) – “yes, but only on my p*n!s” and Dave talking about interracial love….. I needn't say more.

    5. I mentioned my theory about Humphrey to an “industry insider” who said it wouldn't be a surprise. Greg Evans, at the peak of his popularity as host of channel 10's Perfect Match, was made a better offer by 9 and made the jump. The promise was a late afternoon show of his own which was continually delayed. It eventually went to air but didn't last very long. By that time, 9's strategy had done its work by tying Evans up in contract and prevent him from continuing his winning form on Perfect Match. The only downside for 9 was that 10 came up with Cameron Daddo who was just as popular with the viewers and launched the careers of a thousand Daddoes.

    6. Anne-Marie says:

      How could we have forgotten Sweet and Sour?

    7. @ Brett
      + @ Actual Chad-

      …Chads signoff reminds me more of the (RRR podcast) 'All over the Sho'p signoff – highly recommended, even if living up to it's name in format. The point BEING *erm* instead of saying goodbye with “Bonjour”
      “see you all next week and- Bon Jovi, everyone!”

      Anyway… considering how *hot* Greg Evans was, he's completely a forgotten TV relic these days. Why hasn't a 'Getaway' or whomever grabbed him? Not a fan, just curious how you can go from hero to zero in an industry (admittedly over 20+ years) where Richard Wilkins OMIGOD MY EYES – still gets a go. Let alone the Wilkins-in-waiting: Dermot Brereton.
      And how many female co-hosts has Karl Steffanovic out-lasted on the morning show now, with zero discernable change to ratings? But yes Nine, it's the chicky that's the problem…
      *ahem*
      Why

    8. I've seen Greg Evans out and about and it seems he's lost a neck and had the back of his head squished… it's quite odd. I think he's been doing radio for a long time.

      I've got NO idea why Wilkins is still polluting Australian TV. I thought he was done when they hammered the final nail into MTV on 9.

    9. Vale BSG, Vale…

      …you will be missed.

      (I was going to say with it's passing the TV world is a darker place, but really – as wonderfully depressing as the show was, I think the average brightness just went up-! Let alone, in the current market, in the TV climate, there will probably never be another big cast, big budget sci fi show like it. Perhaps for a decade or more. It's the logical end of a run that began with the 'New' Star Trek, to be improved on by Babylon 5, via Serenity and everything else since-

      – and yet it still never made the Boxcutter Golden Age of Television list. Bastards πŸ™‚

    10. kittiecatd says:

      enjoyed πŸ˜€

    11. Vale BSG, Vale…

      …you will be missed.

      (I was going to say with it's passing the TV world is a darker place, but really – as wonderfully depressing as the show was, I think the average brightness just went up-! Let alone, in the current market, in the TV climate, there will probably never be another big cast, big budget sci fi show like it. Perhaps for a decade or more. It's the logical end of a run that began with the 'New' Star Trek, to be improved on by Babylon 5, via Serenity and everything else since-

      – and yet it still never made the Boxcutter Golden Age of Television list. Bastards πŸ™‚

    12. kittiecatd says:

      enjoyed πŸ˜€

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