The Hollowmen

I've watched this series so many times and it still makes me laugh. Another fly on the wall faux documentary from the Working Dog team. Almost a scary look at Australian politics and how it's more about appearance than actually serving the Australian public. This should be more worrying to the viewer, but it is too spot on to not laugh. My favourite characters have to be Philip and Warren, who are totally blind to populist opinion and almost derail every headline grabbing idea the Policy Unit come up with. It's almost a Mr Burns/Smithers style relationship. There's been much criticism of the casting of Merrick Watts, but I find him to fit nicely into his role. Lachie Hulme is the much needed straight man in the picture. Seemingly the only person in the whole department with an ounce of common sense. Mel, the PM's PR queen, is always having her leash tugged, desperate to leak info to the press at any given opportunity. The real star, not surprisingly is Rob Sitch as Tony, the link between the policy unit and the PM's office. As much slapstick as he is intelligent humour, he is the central character that all others revolve around. The PM is unseen, which I think is a great move, as you can imagine him as the real thing, and it's also symbolic of the fact that none of these ideas supposedly coming from the PM are really coming from the PM.

Giving a rating out of 10 seems silly, as I've only seen the first episode, but this show does look promising.

The style of The Hollowmen is very similar to Frontline, being shot in a candid documentary style. Also like Frontline, it is satire covering important issues. basically the theme is: A government only cares about how they are perceived, rather than caring about any real issue itself.

A nice guitar rift breaks up the action, and a great opening credit sequence brought me right in to the action. As far as the cast, it seems first rate. Never seeing the Primeminister is something that has been done before, but it does add a certain realism to the show, by saving The Hollowmen from using a fictional person as our leader. I've never really found Merrick Watts all that funny, but I guess time will tell on his character.

Rob Sitch's character is hilarious, constantly writing down and repeating buzz-worded nothings and talking a lot of hot air, whilst Lachy Hume's character, though possibly as spineless as Sitch's, does seem to have things to say. I'm sure a strong and interesting dynamic will develop.

I look forward to future episodes.

This is a well written, researched, filmed and acted comedy series. It is a cross between Frontline and Yes Prime Minister with an interesting twist. As seen from a Political Advisers point of view in trying to appease and negotiate around shallow minded, short term, popularity seeking politicians. In short, the Prime Minister.

Directed and staring Rob Stich who is as great as he was in Frontline. Also Santo Calaudo as the Market researcher is as naturally funny as his Geoff Saunters character in Frontline. Brilliant production, it could have gone so far if it weren't for the mistake of Casting's, Jane Kennedy (who is usually so good in this department) of fronting the show with the two political advisers as Merrick Watts and Lachy Hulme. Lachy Hulme is a fantastic actor, but too intense and serious to be casted in this role. It should have been given to someone more in the genera of Martin Stastisto's character from Frontline. If they just tweak and readjust his character and make him just more of a regular guy (which by the end of the first series we have seen they have) then he suits the show well. On the other hand, Merrick Watts is a classless entity, who is popular in Australia for his toilet humor. Being fair he might have crossed the medium to Working Dog's sharp, high quality, politically satirical productions as some have in the past, but sadly no. He portrays the same docile, humorless persona that he does in his Merrick & Rosso act. In simple, he's not likable. A smart choice instead of this fellow would have been an actor like Daniel Wyllie. Australian, smart and quick but without the puerile precociousness.

Apart from this, it is a very intelligent and witty watch. The rest of the cast are well picked and are of A1 quality. Phillip & Warren (David James & Stephen Hall) are brilliantly fantastic as the two senior public servants. They in their own quirky but interesting way are very reminiscence of the Frasier/Niles style of comic paring. Excellent.

As someone working in the Australian government policy environment, it was very good start and a scarily accurate portrayal of dealing with political advisers. The one negative is the Prime Minister and Cabinet guys are totally wrong, at least for ones so senior. However, they do seem to have a resemble a few junior staff in PM&C that I've dealt with.

Everything else is so close to the mark, it could almost be a documentary! The use of the market research team by the advisers is a real frustration for those of us who try to develop "frank and fearless" advice to our beloved ministers.

Although reminiscent of Frontline, and The Games, this series, after two episodes seems to be missing a main ingredient the other two series offered. Likable characters. It's well written, topical, and seems to be off to a good start.

Obviously after two episodes it's too early to reach a conclusion. Unfortuneatly our North American TV usually cans a series if it's not a hit overnight. That's why we see so much Deck on the network channels, and the migration of viewers to the more independent channels, like HBO, the Comedy Channel etc. If anybody's ever seen the classic Yes Minister British series they can see a perfect example of this type of format. It's amazingly well written, bitingly funny, and as watchable now as it was when first aired.

For Australia The Games will remain a classic and could play every four years ad infinitum, for as long as we have the Olympics. Frontline was great too, leaving the viewer wishing there'd been more to come.

If this series remembers it's important to have somebody to root for, and manages to balance its cleverness with the personal touch, it could be a great addition as well.