House Husbands

Like many Australian soaps, this one represents the nationality as locals who often black out from alcoholism, and, when not drunk like to behave in a manner that defines the term 'cheesy'.

They've ticked some other boxes as well, for example:

** Build up of a newlywed female character who secretes kindness, love, fairy dust and angelic unicorns. Then kill her in some sort of accident. As predictable as it becomes — if I'm being honest, it's effective on my tear ducts every time.

** Children that wander off and create a frantic reaction from the adults, but are always found.

** A token hunky male character featured in a variety of situations obviously written to include he appear shirtless, other less attractive male characters remained clothed. The Australian-soap token hunks often volunteer as strippers for local charity events. Sometimes they need to make money quickly and do a one-off modeling bikini underwear bottoms.

** Other hunky male characters, usually featured in story-arcs spanning 3 to 4 episodes. These characters are almost always first introduced with a towel wrapped torso and still dripping wet from an interrupted shower, camera down low, looking up with the groin area center-screen.

** Token gays. As a general rule, gays aren't hunks but they sometimes hook up with a guest-hunk. If they do, it doesn't usually last longer than 1 or 2 episodes.

House Husbands is watchable, but as the series progresses, the title doesn't make much sense. I guess they had to call it something, and "Australian Soap" was already taken. I prefer my prime-time soaps with a good vixen, apparently something Australian producers avoid. There's a difference between a bitchy female and a manipulative vixen ;-)

It's OK, at least until season 4 -- by then it becomes a bit annoying and repetitive. If you want to see a truly engaging Australian series, watch the first few episodes of Wentworth Prison, but start early in the day. If like me you start episode 1 in the evening, you'll be watching Wentworth through sunrise ;-)

Channel Nine is not renowned for making the best television drama in Australia. That title goes to ABC and SBS, the two non-commercial stations (battling to stay commercial against pressure from the current Federal government that wants to see the stations commercialised, so that EVERYTHING will be the same). However, House Husbands brings together a terrific cast who together explore a range of contemporary family structures and the challenges they face, both universal and specific.

One of my reasons for writing this review is to counter the review by IMDb user "fitnessspm" who accuses House Husbands of "destroying families".

If only we could accuse the media of being that powerful! This one thing television can certainly be accused of is stealing people's time and keeping them from doing far more creative and fulfilling things with it. In any case. this reviewer has not taken into account that House Husbands has not been rating well despite its quality. Nevertheless it does not stop him from spouting the "magic bullet" theory from the 1930s that asserts that screen images enter the mind of the viewer unfiltered. Apparently images just go in and that's that. And yet this guy disproves the theory himself by demonstrating that he has watched the series with his own set of interpretive biases firmly in place.

Obviously fitnessspm is a male reviewer, for if you look at his other reviews (and I encourage you to) there is a consistently aggressive misogynistic message that blames women for all that is wrong with Western culture - suggesting this guy has either gone through a bad breakup or doesn't cope around strong women, or both.

So this guy blames television dramas that don't portray traditional family values for high divorce rates and wants to see a return to "normal" and "traditional" family structures - something he says has existed for 1000s of years, despite the nuclear family being a modern invention that superseded extended families during the latter half of the 1800s among bourgeois families and spread to working class families in the first part of the twentieth century. As for his claims about the influence of television and the need to portray a narrow set of traditional values ... were he to look at the sociological impact of a show like The Brady Bunch on a generation, in which a large nuclear family exists in harmony with only slight ripples occurring that are ironed out by attentive bounded parents and submissive children, things might start to look a little different. He might see that the very popular family sitcom precipitated a wave of unhappiness in many a home because that's just not how families in reality work. I am certainly part of that generation that wished I was a member of the Brady family and occasionally resented that my own home life paled in comparison, as did many of my friends.

Why do I write this? Firstly this guy's comments have just plain gotten up my nose. Secondly his use of IMDb as a platform for spreading misogynistic hate is just so inappropriate - thus I counter with my own perspective in an effort to balance things out. Thirdly I think that IMDb user comments should really stay on topic.

Thus, in the spirit of staying on topic, I'd like to say that House Husbands is a good idea executed really well. At it's heart this is a soap opera in which a group of married family men must address their own feelings of inadequacy and find meaning and fulfilment in work that is not financially rewarded yet profoundly satisfying. Despite the lack of credibility in the show's premise, it makes the situation work, drawing from headlines that have reported on the rise of husbands becoming primary caregivers and nurturers in families. The great thing about Channel 9's approach is that, despite all the melodrama, there are some really terrific underlying issues that surface and are handled with complex realism - then of course simplified for the sake of good storytelling. In any case, this is a series worth checking out that adds to the discourse on gender and roles in some intelligent ways - a nice change of pace for Channel 9.

'House Husbands' is an Australian drama set in Melbourne, revolving around four families where the men are the main caregivers of their children.

Justin, Mark, Lewis and Kane all have children attending Nepean South Primary school. These dads connect over their love of their children and the school. Over the course of the five seasons, the dads get involved in everything from a school quiz night, talent quests, spelling bees, building a school petting zoo and running the school canteen. The child actors all do a great job in their roles and the endless activities at the school allow occasions for the dads and their extended family to hang out and discuss everything from issues with their children, relationships and careers. This series also has several laugh out loud moments.

While the four 'house husbands' are the heart of the show, the supporting characters like the partners, wives and extended family of the male leads all do an excellent job in complementing each other. There is an easy chemistry between the cast making the dynamics of friends and family believable. 'House Husbands' is a solid Australian drama with a great sense of camaraderie, and is a great addition to your viewing list!

Personally I took a little while to connect with this series and enjoy it to a bingeworthy level. By the third season I felt connected to the characters and the drama increased to a level that continued throughout the remainder of the series. A heartwarming watch.

It has interesting storylines and shows a bit of Aussie life

House Husbands is set in Melbourne, Victoria and tells the story of 4 diverse, interconnected families where the husband has become the stay at home dad. Its story lines tell the day to day issues they face as parents as well as partners and friends, and the interplay between the adults and children is wonderful. It's not of the highest caliber in terms of script writing or acting and it's certainly not up to the standard of the other new Australian, Melbourne based family show, Offspring, but it's a good escape and the characters are endearing and it's fun to see what situations they're going to get themselves into each episode.

The four families are diverse and face quite different issues, but the development of the relationships between them and how they help and support each other through their crises is lovely to watch.

It swings between comedy and drama - so I suppose you could classify it as a family dramedy - and I do love the quality of TV we're currently producing in Australia, including this one.