Utopia

I work in a very similar environment, and this show is a pitch perfect satire of my job. It makes me feel uncomfortable in the way a fantastic satire should. The writing is spot on, and the performances, especially from Rob Sitch, Kitty Flanagan, Celia Pacquola, and Dave Lawson bring it to life in such an incredible way. It truly realizes the absurdities of government life in a Westminster-style government in a way many shows don't grasp and truly demonstrates in its best moments the conflict between good policy and political realities without leaning on any one character too heavily to point out the absurdities.

That being said, I don't know how much all of it would resonate with someone outside of the climate of government. Some of the episodes are pretty universal - there's a season 2 episode with an HR rep that probably would resonate with most office environments, but I fear that some of the more clever moments may be lost on some viewers.

What a beaut series. The grotesque day to day idiocy of office life set against the biggest stuff we dare to dream or connive. A wincing joy to watch. Thanks

It is surprising that the Australian government allowed the Working Dog team to film in a department headquarters for so long and obtain such candid reactions from their staff. The small group of employees are responsible for developing nationally significant infrastructure (a.k.a. "nation-building"). Clearly, most government departments work the same way as this department reminded me so much of the one in which I used to work. Logical decisions are constantly over-ridden by politics. Long-term planning is defeated by short-term political imperatives. Media advisers outrank experts in the field. The main purpose of the department is smothered by peripheral workplace issues such as occupational health and safety, IT upgrades and social events. The second series is a great improvement on the first. Perhaps the employees were a little nervous in front of cameras for the first time but, in the second series, their true characters are much better defined. All these people would make excellent actors if they ever wanted to give up working for the public service. Kitty Flanagan would certainly make a great stand-up comedian. Some of the projects proposed are very exciting. I am looking forward to the unveiling of the solar-powered train. Also, now that Stage 2 has been "launched", I can't wait for Stage 3, hoping then to have some idea what it is! This is among the best pieces of writing that Australian television has produced.

Quite a few people, while they are highly amused by this series, seem to assume that there is a degree of "poetic license" involved, and that the episodes of bureaucratic ineptitude have been "enhanced for dramatic effect."

Having worked for a very large Australian retail chain who have recently fallen on difficult times, (you know who they are :-) I can assure them that the level of HR dingbat-ery, IT ineptitude and over-the-top Political Correctness used as a ploy to mask the incompetence of lower- echelon staff, are actually very close to the mark.

I would love to be on their writing team; I could probably provide them with enough fresh material to keep them going for years!

Utopia/Dreamland's fast paced jokes-within-jokes are all equally well written and fit in without the pretension or awkwardness of a "made-for-intellectuals-witty-banter" type program. In retrospect, after watching a clip or episode I realize how well put together and incredibly thought out and ...."planned" the comedy is.

The dialogue and characters somehow embody the ridiculous types of comments, initiatives and people we all encounter in daily life. Those characters then somehow solidify the vague, annoying and counterproductive things we see in work and life into succinct dialogue that almost feels like the satisfying feeling one gets when you finally remember that word that was on the tip of your tongue.

A viewer could start at any episode as if it were a pilot and still find the laughs and totally follow the premise - because even though as many commenters have noted, the media market is quite saturated with The Office like mockumentary series's, I think Dreamland/Utopia is still worth whatever risk a viewer or a studio takes in starting "just another "The Office" government office faux-comedy". It's contemporary, relatable to people who work in conceivably any industry. The subject matter is a perfect blend of creative professions, business, government, and even students working on a group project.

In shorter words, yeah, you've seen shows that pioneered the genre of the workplace comedy, but that takes nothing away from the quietly hilarious and engineered show.