Upper Middle Bogan

Classic Aussie comedy. Would love to see more. Not a weak character in the show.

Holy $hit this show is hilarious. I've gone back and rewatched many episodes. Admittedly I had to turn the CC on once or twice, as the accents are hefty. Didn't bother me one bit though, was happy to do it and rewatch the scene. This show was cast perfectly. It's dry humor and you have to have the delivery for this type humor. It's all about the mannerisms and facial expressions. I'm really glad I ran across this show, it's really funny.

I am an American and fell in love with this show instantly with the first episode. I am a professional by trade but had a father who owned a construction company that employed numerous "Bogans," and while it is more correct to call them red-necks in the states, other pejorative terms are becoming more popular since they adopted rap music (think Eminem). The humor in it comes from the clash of values and also from a recognition that things aren't really that different between the classes, as much as each class thinks and wants it to be that way. The setups are extremely good, sort of like Seinfeld, where an innocuous comment at the start often grows into the focal point by the end. The themes are universal and if Hollywood discovers it, I'm sure they'll make a poorer version for the States (its just what they do) hot off their failure with Rake, which I also really enjoyed. In some ways, it is very similar to The Beverly Hillbillies, albeit with more modern and cruder humor. I'd only seen Robyn in Rake so to me all the actors "are" the characters that they play and I think the casting was excellent, with parallel members in each family. It is truly a series that will make you laugh and cry at the same time.

The term 'bogan' is peculiar to Australia but its origins are unclear. I first heard the term when visiting Parkes NSW in the late 1970s when my friend reported that residents of the town referred to Bogan weather (originating from the west near Bogan Gate). The term slipped from meaning poor weather to meaning second-rate people. This was popularised by the comedienne Mary-Anne Fahey in her schoolgirl character Kylie Mole in the 1980s. The TV series "Upper Middle Bogan" is a sit-com. An upper-middle-class doctor discovers that she was adopted as a baby and finds that her birth parents are "westies" or "bogans". (Non-Australians might have been told that Australia is a classless society but the very essence of the comedy of this show demonstrates the opposite). The comedy develops from the comparison of the values and activities of the "latte set" with those of the showy, superficial, populist bogans. I wonder how people from outside Australia will take this series. There are surely parallels in other societies so not much of the humour is likely to be lost (except on Americans as some of the humour is subtle). The writing is excellent, though a couple of the later episodes were not as strong as the earlier ones. The cast is outstanding, featuring some of Australia's best actors, including a rare TV performance from "royalty" of stage acting, Robyn Nevin. Ms Nevin proves once again what a fine comedy actress she is (remember "A Toast to Melba"?). The visual humour of her calisthenics is wonderful, (even if she didn't intend it to be humorous). The actors portraying members of the Wheeler family of drag racers (the bogans) are very convincing, to the extent that the viewer could believe that they are bogans in real life (which is possibly the case as 80% of Australians are bogans to a greater or lesser degree). This is a refreshing production, showing that Australia can still produce top quality shows despite the budget limitations.

Ok I loved it. Funny and entertaining, I just loved it. Although in the first season it seemed the camera was noticably jerky in the scenes, but was filmed smoother in the second and third season.

Kudos to the actors for bringing the writers characters to life. Each actor truly brought uniqueness to their characters persona. I liked how each episode had it's own story, with just a little of the history of the relationships between the family members filtering along without it saturating the next episode. Its a very entertaining and funny show. I'm glad I watched it.

Worth the watch, if you like comedy.