SeaChange

Not a lot to add to the other comments. This series which, lamentably, is little known outside Australia, was compulsive viewing. Sunday nights were never the same again after the end! Yes it was right to go out on a high rather than peter out a la Northern Exposure.

Escapist and full of strange characters, you can only wish you lived somewhere the people were so strange (in a good way!). The series is as good on re-viewing and I have acquired all the DVDs. The series has little for action junkies. You come to know and like the characters - no real baddies, just a few scallywags, nothing major ever happens, but that does not give you the sense of the twinkle, the merriment of the little things that happen in everyday life, and the magic of living in Pearl Bay. I wish I did.

I'll admit it. I got hooked watching this last year. Yes I became a lounge lizard, while staying with my dad, over the course of a couple of weeks, watching this daily. I loved the show and it's settings, I so much wanted to be part of the atmosphere of this sleepy town, Pearl Bay, aka: Barwon Heads. The stories are well thought out and interesting. I had watched Sea Change a few Friday nights a year before last, and got into the show, but really got to appreciate it last year. Every actor is so good, no performance lacks. I did miss David's Wenham's departure, his smart alecky talking character was one of my favourites. I know if you started watching this show, it would grow on you. The father and son talk at the end of each show was an ingenious touch, but it's also funny, then leaving you with a small afterthought to ponder over for a few tics. You might also notice a younger Wolf Creek face, pre-backpacker victim. Sigrid Thornton as the town lawyer is very strong too. Like I said, every actor's wonderful rocks. I love the theme song too. It's a winner, like the show.

I've watched three episodes of the new Sea Change and I'm enjoying it in its own context, and not relating it back twenty years and attempting to see a seamless connection. The connection is there but time has interrupted the flow. Some original characters and there but older, while some have gone and others have grown up to be played by new actors. It's wonderful to see Sigrid Thornton, John Howard, Kerri Armstrong and Kevin Harrington still bumbling around Pearl Bay, and the addition of the talented Brooke Satchwell, Kate Lister, and a number of others, has injected new blood into the narrative and it has worked very well. I can't see Season 4 sweeping all the television awards handed out every year, but for me it hits the spot and the absence of serial killers, drug addicts and chronic depression are omissions from the plot I'm enjoying while I can.

Set in a small coast side town of Eastern Australia, Seachange follows Laura Gibson and her strange family... well, they seem that way, but they are more truthful than a strange interpretation of the Aussie family... Performances to look for are Sigrid Thorton and David Wehnam in the lead roles and in the supporting cast, I loved the ditsy, but kind hearted couple of Angus (Tom Long) and Karen (Kate Atkinson) and their lines such as "We're on a break from our break." Phrani was great too. "You are like the great god ganisha, except you don't have the head of an elephant and the body of fat little indian man" Hilarious stuff!!

I love good films and good television. It seems harder and harder to find quality in a television show these days. Or maybe I'm just picky. But especially when it comes to Australian television, I'd love to see more quality. That's not to say there is none, there is. But there can always be MORE.

"If my milk dries up because of this, or my baby becomes psychologically disturbed later on in life, I'm going to blame you."

SeaChange is my all time favourite Australian television show. I know that is saying a lot, but whenever a new Australian show starts up, I try and watch at least once to see what it is like because I believe in supporting the talent and industry in this country. I've watched as many Australian shows that I can, and SeaChange is still my favourite.

Everything about it is absolutely wonderful. As a show, it's hilarious, touching, warm, light, sad, happy and everything in between. The characters are emotionally real and you can't help but fall in love with them, even Bob Jelly. And the actors amaze me every time I watch an episode. Especially Sigrid Thornton and John Howard who can make the simplest dialogue or action so funny I end up in tears.

I have brought every series of the show on DVD and I never tire of watching the show... it can be enjoyed again and again.

My stepmother was the first person to mention the show to me. I was fifteen at the time. She said it was good and that I'd enjoy it. Since we have a similar sense of humour, I took her up on her recommendation. The first episode I ever saw was "Broken Hearts and Crustaceans" in series two. Yes, I am deeply ashamed to admit I wasn't one of those people who watched from the very first episode the first time it originally aired. As a teenage viewer at the time, I just didn't tune into the ABC channel very often.

But that first episode that I saw had me hooked instantly and blindly. I fell in love with the show. It made me laugh harder than I could remember from watching a television show. There were times I literally cried with how hard I laughed. I went back and watched every episode as the ABC repeated the series, and again on cable.

The show presented some great messages as well, I thought. Overall I believe the message/ theme of the show was that life never turns out as you might expect, but often it turns out better if you just stop and learn to look at it a certain way. That if you want things to change, often you have to seek out that change yourself and be willing to see where it takes you. I also liked the message of that if you look close enough, the people you think you have nothing in common with, are more similar to you than you realise.

SeaChange is definitely a show I'd recommend. It does have a unique sense of humour that I've been told is very Australian (whatever that means), so maybe some people won't see it as hilariously funny as I do. But it's extremely well written and acted, and most importantly, it's a blast to watch. It's fun. It's entertaining. It's quality television.

Thank you Deb Cox and Andrew Knight for creating such a wonderful, unique, funny and memorable Australian show. I'll be forever grateful :)