SeaChange

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 :)

SeaChange is a rare and wonderful show that takes the viewer into the fictional, yet oddly familiar, town of Pearl Bay, where once you are there you never want to leave. The characters in the show are very real and are not unlike people you would meet in your everyday life. This is due to the fantastic casting of each of the characters, especially the leads, (Sigrid Thornton, David Wenham and William McInnes). With each new problem, and it always is a problem with Laura, Thornton plays the part wonderfully with alternating waves of pure joy and crippling sadness. McInnes also does a fabulous job as Max. Although I doubted whether McInnes and the character of Max would be anywhere near as good as Diver Dan, I am happy to say however, that my doubts were not at all an issue. He was fantastic! McInnes was a delight to watch whilst acting Max's character with his skeptic, hard exterior to his very soft and caring interior. Diver Dan however, played by Wenham, was a perfect character who was terribly hard not to fall in love with. From his great humour to raw emotional scenes Wenham is extremely compelling as the laid-back Diver Dan.

The brilliance of SeaChange however is owed to the excellent and flawless writing, principally by Andrew Knight and Deb Cox. With memorable lines in every episode to the exciting and hilarious structure of each episode, SeaChange makes for incredibly enjoyable viewing. The Kevin and Trevor scenes are often so ridiculous they are funny. This is especially the case in the Season 3 episode with Kevin's anecdote about his fear of ping-pong balls. It sent me into fits of uncontrollable laughter. The magic of the writing in SeaChange is also evident in many episodes when the character story relates to the court case Laura is currently judging.

SeaChange has a mysterious quality that makes the viewer feel as if they are part of the abstract town and that also it matters to them what is going on with Laura's relationships with Dan and Max.

The best TV-show ever made in Australia and it is highly likely nothing will ever rival this absolute golden series.

As I'm not an Australia native, I was unable to watch this series when it originally aired and only found out about it after checking out some of David Wenham's work. On a hunch, I purchased the first season (series 1) - mostly to drool over Mr. Wenham.

What I hadn't anticipated was that 'SeaChange' was much more than Diver Dan.

After viewing the first episode, I knew I had to have the rest of the series. While Mr. Wenham's character was (and still is) my favorite, I absolutely adored the rest of the quirky townspeople - even Bob Jelly.

The series had a number of interesting episodes which, while bordering on the fantastic, conveyed some down-to-earth truths, with a moral to each story. All in all, a wonderful series for everyone to enjoy.

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!!

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.