Satisfaction

As someone who has worked in a similar type establishment, I was really curious to see how this portrayal of sex workers and their client in a legal Melbourne brothel would pan out. There is a long history of sex workers being portrayed in film and television as victims. I know that there are women in the industry who have had horrible experiences, but there are a lot of women in every day life who have also had these kind of experiences, but prostitutes are usually disproportionately portrayed as having being sexually abused, being drug dependent or being abused by men.

I was so pleased with Satisfaction. Although it is a television drama, (and it does look like one) with gorgeous characters in gorgeous clothes living in gorgeous homes, what it succeeds so well at is its portrayal of the workers as complex women from different backgrounds, working in a well run industry for their own reasons. It is interesting that there is a focus on sexual fantasy type bookings, which is not the general brothel experience, but I guess it is the most interesting for television! The sex scenes are realistic, and not tacky, and the clients are also more than the usual one dimensional 'john'. This is really great Australian television! And for those Australian women (and few men) who have never set foot in an Australian brothel, this is about as close as television/film gets to portraying something close to the real thing. 10/10.

I think that, after all these years after watching this for the first time, i am still in love with Peta Sergeant. Lovely woman.

Satisfaction is an Australian television series set in a high class brothel in Melbourne. I had high expectations for the series after catching glimpses of the previews on showcase however I received rather mixed feelings.

For starters there has never been a show quite like this on Australian television. With the rise of networks such as HBO and AMC the quality of television has risen substantially. Programs such as Entourage and Dexter paved the way for other series to adopt a similar format, Satisfaction is no exception. The ambition for this show was rather high. I had a clear view on what the creators of this series were trying to do. However the execution had the show lacking in certain areas. The use of nudity certainly pushed the envelope for what has been seen on Australian television but it is not something we haven't already seen with other shows from America or even England and full frontal female nudity is not "ground breaking" which is a term I have heard used to describe this show, which I obviously disagree with.

The main problems with this show start with the script. Some of the dialogue is laughable at best and there is far too much exposition through dialogue. Another problem lies with the actors. Some decent performances come through but some of the supporting characters feel flat and over acted. The main selling point of this series relies on heavy sex scenes which are well acted but at times feel routine.

I'd recommend this series to some people but I wouldn't tell them to expect much.

How wonderful that Australian drama takes a few risks. Certainly since the U.S influence of HBO series such as The Sopranos, Six Feet Under, Deadwood and Oz, Australians are demanding richer experiences from the small screen. In Satisfaction they surely get just that. With the advent of pay TV production houses, in this case Showtime, we get to experience the lives of people in the work place. This time the work place is unconventional. Its a brothel and while many would envisage sleaze as an undertow, sleaze it definitely isn't.

The acting pool in this country is indeed deep and the performances of these particular professionals as they deal with topics and scenes that mere mortals would find very uncomfortable is captivating. With few exceptions every scene in this series is convincing and we believe in the view we get of this slice of Australian life.

For those still not convinced they could take this home to either their wife or husband; my experience may be of interest. On placing the series on the kitchen bench in front of my wife she did comment on my choice being a little male orientated,that she wasn't surprised and that it really didn't appeal to her. I suggested she give it 15 minutes; if there was no interest then so be it. We finished the series in a week. I've not heard a word about typical male behaviors since.

The first two episodes are directed by Ken Cameron. This Australian director has, in my opinion, always been underrated. His work on this series is compelling and forms the platform by which this series builds the momentum which allows it to succeed. Don't be shy. Ask your DVD shop to get it in. Tell them it will rent like crazy. I did and it does.

All I can say it bring it back please! Loved this show so much probably one of the best shows Australia ever come out with!