The Wedge

From the beginning till the end of each episode 'The Wedge' relies of cheap and often out dated humour which portrays Australians as a bunch of idiotic bogans. Further more producers feel it is necessary to add an obvious canned laughter track to make scenes funnier than they really are with very little effect. Even the actors appear to be embarrassed by the fact that they are starring in such a miserable show which puts their acting on par with the writing. Catherine Deveny has even given the show a bad review in an article in The Age despite the fact that she was actually one of the writers for the wedge claiming that the producers required the writers to "rewriting" and "blanding out" the script to appeal to a wider audience. To top of the negative reviews from the public and other professional critics alike the wedge has been criticised by Who Magazine and was awarded the "honour" of the fourth worst t.v. shows of 2006.

The Wedge is a sketch show which takes place in the non-existent Australian town of Wedgedale. Here we meet a variety of recurring characters, like the farmer, the local sports hero, the two gambling slags and the psycho teenage girl, who's stalking the college's heart throb.

Not much is sacred in this show, so if you're easily offended, steer well clear. On the other hand, if you enjoy shows which take the p**s and satirize things like local news reporting, sportsmen as role models and those awful British "documentaries" about people fighting e.g. fat, this show is for you.

Another plus is the fact that it's Australian - it makes a nice change from the usual US and UK sitcoms and comedy shows.

Watched a couple of episodes of the first season, it was terrible. Thought I would give the second season a chance as Cal Wilson has joined the cast, but even she can't lift this rubbish, Honest I can't believe it got a second season as it is the same unfunny pap as the first season. Many skits are repeated over and over e.g the Sandra sultry skit, it was almost funny the first time but went nowhere or the mental school girl with the web cam, Ahhhh not even slightly funny. One small benefit the skit of the sisters who joke about leaving their kids in the car while gambling seems to have been pulled, pity the whole show couldn't follow it!

In my opinion, The Wedge is one of those shows that start off good but starts to run out of ideas for skits. I like The Wedge unlike many other people I have heard about and seen on IMDb. Some of the jokes are lame, eg: A dancing act where a fat lady teaches a dance school. Then there are some good skits, eg: An athlete who is always in trouble with the law; a la Shane Warne, or two Indian telemarketers receiving phone calls about Aussie sayings and having to translate them into simple terms. The Wedge is good if you need a cheap laugh or two but if you want a really funny comedy program, I suggest you avoid this. My advice to haters of The Wedge is "If you don't like it, then don't watch it."

This show really is dreadful. The writing is banal, the performances are forced (the actors seem somewhat embarrassed) and the humour is so incredible infantile that you'll wonder how it got the green-light in the first place. There's been a lot of awful comedy on Australian television lately, with Peter Helliar and Corinne Grant running amok and lowering all our IQs with their ridiculous banter. This dreck steals the show however. It does not get much worse than The Wedge. What is most grating about this tosh is that they expect to hold on to our attention by showing the exact same gags over and over and over. The fact that this has a prime time spot on channel 10 while Chris Lilley's ingeniously created We Can Be Heroes went by practically unnoticed by the general public is a sad tragedy. Please do not watch this show, if the ratings drop enough maybe channel 10 will put it out of its misery and look for something decent to put on. There is honestly nothing about this program to praise.