Tag Archives: abc

The Pointlessness of Tweeting at the TV.

One of the most annoying things about living in a sharehouse was trying to sit through the television news with my tedious housemates. How much fun it was to hear their very considered commentary about “the media this, the conspiracy that, I was reading in Pilger’s blah blah the other day…” Manufacturing consent? Here’s some consent. It’s Monday. I’ll let you take this $4.50 and go watch that Polish agridrama at the Nova. I need quiet couch time to watch Married With Children*.

Years later, and the Smug People of the Land Of Smug and their idiot cousins have broken into my lounge room through their twitter accounts.

Continue reading “The Pointlessness of Tweeting at the TV.” »

Ep 274: Franklin & Bash, ABC Cuts

Finally we get to episode 274 and to reward you for your long wait we give you 20% more Boxcutters. Or something. It’s long. That’s what we’re saying.

Franklin & Bash is a show from the US about frat-style lawyers.

We take a deeper look at last week’s announcements of ABC cuts and discuss the positives and negatives.

[audio:http://www.podtrac.com/pts/redirect.mp3/media.boxcutters.net/BCep274.mp3|titles=Episode 274|artists=Boxcutters] Continue reading “Ep 274: Franklin & Bash, ABC Cuts” »

Ep 273: Falling Skies, Phoenix

You wanted us to review Falling Skies so we did. It’s a humans versus aliens war and we have to work out whether it’s worth watching.

Courteney’s been watching some Australian classic television. She talks about Phoenix in Things You May Have Missed and it causes us to reminisce a bit about the good Australian TV of the past.

Then, while we’re in the mood, we take a look back at Angry Boys and try to work out whether or not it was successful.

[audio:http://www.podtrac.com/pts/redirect.mp3/media.boxcutters.net/BCep273.mp3|titles=Episode 273|artists=Boxcutters]

Continue reading “Ep 273: Falling Skies, Phoenix” »

Ep 271: Crownies, Four Corners

After a short break we return with a review of the ABC’s new sexy legal drama, Crownies. Did we like it? You’ll have to listen to the episode to find out. If we told you here, that would spoil things.

Sue Spencer is the Executive Producer of the long-running investigative journalism programme, Four Corners. Josh spoke her to find out if people still want investigative reporting. Do they? You’ll find out by listening to the episode. That’s how this thing works.

There’s some news in which we’re flippant about death, there’s some hating on MasterChef and religious figures, there’s some things to watch if you were going to.

[audio:http://www.podtrac.com/pts/redirect.mp3/media.boxcutters.net/BCep271.mp3|titles=Episode 271|artists=Boxcutters] Continue reading “Ep 271: Crownies, Four Corners” »

TV Manufacturers Put on a Brave Face

This week’s episode of Radio National’s Background Briefing programme is all about the battle for the lounge room and speaks to our question of how to define television.

They do a great job (much better than we’ve done) of explaining how simultaneously simple and complex the concepts are. People really have no idea what is going on around them and yet technology companies keep pushing out new products.

It’s interesting to hear people say things like: “ Perhaps you’ll just do [internet banking] while you’re sitting around in the lounge room. And you won’t get up and go and get your laptop out and connect to the internet.” It’s a solution for a problem that doesn’t exist.

The attempts by the companies that make television sets to stay relevant in a culture that is moving towards constant and portable access to everything seems so transparent and shallow. There’s the stench of desperation around it. They’re trying to make it sound like convenience but it really just comes across as being ill-conceived and reactionary.

Have a listen for yourself or read the transcript.

[audio:http://mpegmedia.abc.net.au/rn/podcast/2011/06/bbg_20110626.mp3|titles=Background Briefing: Digital convergence, connection and confusion|artists=Radio National]

Ep 261: Marc Fennell, Disabled Characters

Marc Fennell - One Hungry BeastWith co-host Courteney Hocking we take you on a magical journey through site, sound and cat noises.

Marc Fennell, star of Hungry Beast and the Circle talks to us about the not so surprise third season of Hungry Beast.

Sophie Geffros gives us an insider’s view of what the whole controversy over non-disabled actors playing disabled characters on TV. She fails to mention Ironside but we don’t hold that against her.

Then there’s Toby Halligan’s Trotters and a whole bunch of news and a wonderful email that will bring tears to your throat, or something.

Eat it with your hands:

Continue reading “Ep 261: Marc Fennell, Disabled Characters” »

Ep 244: US Fall Season 2010, Pre-production

Brett has some Crap TVs that he needs to offload on us all. The fact that one of them may have been a misnamed Raywatch will go without saying because it doesn’t change the episode really. And who actually understands the definitions of these segment titles anyway? We may as well call the whole show Bucket of TV and be done with it.

Also, reaching into the bucket, I pull out some very brief descriptions of new shows with bad titles from the US Fall Season including Blue Bloods, Raising Hope and The Whole Truth.

John Richards arrives right near the end of the show (retrospective spoiler alert) and tells us what it means to have a show in “pre-production”.

Then Brett spends some time trying to cut 10 minutes out of the show because we can see no reason for anyone to listen to us reach into the Bucket of TV for almost an hour and a half. You won’t hear that bit in the show because we cut it out.  One thing Brett can tell you is that no one is going to hear about Grand Final after parties nor the suggestion that the L in AFL stands for Libel.

Enjoy the fruits of our waffle.:

And then, please, let us know what you think and should we change the title?

Ep 243: Grand Final, Strictly Speaking

Is 3D ruining our sports coverage? We take a look at Channel 7’s coverage of the AFL Grand Final and wonder what has changed.

Toby gives us a rundown on what Strictly Speaking is all about.

There’s also some Letters to Boxcutters and an I Don’t Buy It to sink your teeth into (or sync your teeth with if you have those new “smart teeth” that also work as a personal organiser and can download apps etc).

Listen to it here:

And then, please, let us know what you think.

blackcopwhitecopTo top off what has already been a really busy week full of too much information, we bring in Claire Hooper from Good News Week to talk about the election night coverage.

Remember the extreme game show / early reality series The Mole? Well, Brooke Marshall was the winner of series 2 of that show and she comes in to give us a bit of a 10 year retrospective on what reality was like back then.

There’s a whole bunch of news and some pork as well so get into it.

We might not have a government but we do have episode 238 of Boxcutters.

Send us an email about all the things we asked you to this week.

This episode is supported by IceTV, giving Boxcutters listeners three special offers, including 30% off a 12 month subscription. Find out more at icetv.com.au/boxcutters

PeteRowsthorn.jpgAre you sad, alone, or just generally unhappy with your life? Then you need the LATEST EPISODE OF BOXCUTTERS!

Star of Kath & Kim, Comedy Company, Let the Blood Run Free and, most recently Can We Help, Peter Rowsthorn joins us in the studio to discuss his extensive career.

We also get a chance to talk to him about one of the nominees for Greatest TV Character of All Time, Matron Dorothy Conniving Bitch.

It will make your life better!

Send us an email about all the things we asked you to this week.

This episode is supported by IceTV, giving Boxcutters listeners three special offers, including 30% off a 12 month subscription. Find out more at icetv.com.au/boxcutters

Continue reading “Ep 237: Peter Rowsthorn, Let the Blood Run Free” »