Outrageous Fortune

I am binging on this show. Of course I am ashamed of constant watching of TV when I could be reading all of the great books I have ignored these many years. The inventiveness and the freshness of the show mixing comedy and drama is amazing. I'm on episode 80 or 81 and it has turned dark and Shakespearian. I have never seen a comedy/drama show that didn't pale after 10 episodes. The acting is excellent and the enormous cast, each of whom are pitch perfect gives a base of characters to wrap ever new story lines around. The female characters are such a great blend of evil and wit, smart and amazingly thick. I welcome the variety and nuance in the women of the cast. Thanks New Zealand.

We are lucky in the Solomon Islands to have Outrageous Fortune broadcast here on Australia Network on Monday evenings. This has become one of my favourite shows. This is the type of show that one either loves or loathes. It reminds me of what the late American/International film reviewer Pauline Kael would have fallen in love with. It is fresh and ultimately realistic comedy/drama. Realistic not in the moronic sense of a "reality show", not even in the not-lifelike continual effing. It is realistic in that the characters are deeply flawed human beings. Each one of the them bears deep scars from society, from family, from themselves. Everyone from Granpa to Loretta. This is so unlike most programes where the Good practically wear white hats and the Bad black. The director lets this paradox of the good in the bad show forth by centreing the show around the criminal Wolf and his wife Cheryl, their twin sons, one smart and one stupid--viewer has to decide who is the smart son and who the stupid (played by a look-a-like of a young David Cassidy), and two very lovely daughters, one acutely intelligent and one acutely sexually earthy. Again, the view has to decide who is who. In Outrageous Fortune, hasty character judgements are bound to leave the judge with egg on the face.

The Wests are a family of criminals, adulterers, whoremongers, safe-crackers, deceivers--just like you and me. They are the least judgmental TV family I have seen portrayed, and in my time I have seen many. They indeed are a model for every family. Again, first judgements can be deceiving.

This show borders on the theatre of the absurd, borders on isn't. I don't think they've come up with a name for this genre. It is bound to radically disappoint viewers who think TV should stay at the level of All Saints or Friends.

And not the least best parts of the show is that they producers and actors are outstanding in that they make middle aged people absolutely sexy! The characters of Cheryl, Wolf, Judd are brimming with sexuality, a rarity on television for motherly and fatherly characters. Most directors assume interest in sex stops around around age 30. Outrageous Fortune shows it doesn't. Happy viewing!

This is undoubtedly one of the greatest Kiwi drama's ever created.

The acting is brilliant with a "who's who" of Kiwi actors (Robyn Malcolm, Frank Whitten) and also some great newcomers (Siobhan Marshall, Antony Starr) This show lets Kiwi's laugh at themselves, it's something that we can all relate to. An old 70's style house. A funeral party with a BBQ and heavy drinking.

Although it's hard to determine whether some parts of the show are comedy or drama, it's fairly easy and enjoyable to watch.

Thankfully it's been commissioned for a second season, a rare thing that happens with New Zealand TV. TV3 has finally seen that people enjoy homegrown shows, lets hope TVNZ does the same and would STOP CANCELLING ALL HOMEGROWN SHOWS! Overall - 9.5/10

Re-watching this show makes me appreciate why it was such a hit in New Zealand and makes me wonder why it hasn't been more heavily promoted in the U.S. Binge watchable for sure.

All the cast is just perfectly cast.

A few of the main actors in the show have gone on to U.S. productions, like Antony Starr (Banshee, American Gothic), or Grant Bowler (Ugly Betty, Defiance), but leading lady Robyn Malcolm, has unfortunately not made the jump across the ocean.

There are about... 6 TV shows I value very, very highly. Of those, Outrageous Fortune is the only one I started watching again, from scratch, as soon as the last episode of season 5 was over. I've done that about 3 times now, and I'm not planning to stop at 4. It amazes me I don't get tired or bored of it. Nor do I ever start feeling like my initial "wow" reaction was misplaced. It really is as brilliantly written as I thought the moment I first laid eyes on it, which was 2 years ago.

I translate TV series and movies for a living, and as such, a lot of crap has gone through my hands. Outragous Fortune is solid gold. It comes once in a few decades, if that. It follows the lives, tribulations and evolving personalities of a family of career criminals, a handful of their friends, and a cop who falls in love with the strong, stubborn, ever caring matriarch, Sheryl West. I'd say the show falls into the comedy-drama (dramedy?) genre, and even though it's deliberately over the top at times, it feels amazingly true to life.

The writing is very brave, not only in its bluntness and razor-sharp wit, but in its treatment of social norms we've been struggling to alter for years. For example, I've yet to see another show where people in their late 40s and 60s are represented not just as somebody's parents /grandparents, but as human beings with sex lives of their own (which are going splendidly well, too).

The male characters are beautifully multifaceted, each and every one of them (which men in television and real life are rarely allowed to be). The female characters also break taboos about how women "are supposed and expected to be" by being independent and tough as nails, each in her very own way. (Check out the magnificent Ngaire Munroe who's plain fierce.)

The acting is superb, and it's a pity that because of US's hegemony in every cultural sphere, audiences worldwide (minus Nz and Oz) aren't already familiar with these actors. We should have all known who some of them are long before the show aired. Many are no spring chickens, and are certainly brilliant enough to deserve the international recognition American stars get so easily, including those that are objectively mediocre.

With that said, it's the writers' work and specifically the character development that's the spark of genius making the show one of a kind. There's no flatness, no predictability, personalities grow and change, revealing sides the viewer was previously unaware of - some good, some terrible. Same as in real life, which is exactly where many writes fail (in books, too). To date, all story lines have been worth following and every single episode has been memorable, some to the point they shook me and stayed with me for days. I pray that Outrageous Fortune won't stop at 6 seasons. If it does, I'll try to move to New Zealand in hopes of living to see the day Kiwi television produces another gem like that.