mike_cable

This is a comedy in the tradition of Airport (Flying High) and Police Squad (or The Naked Gun), where a group of scientists are gathered to investigate the goings on at a haunted house in the country woods of Britain. Kenny Everett is the star of this film, pulling from characters developed from his various video shows to create his main character, with a good backup of other actors making up the rest of the group. The slapstick comedy (played seriously) comes frequently right from the start of the film but then tends to fall a little flat in the second half, but is still very enjoyable if you're a fan of Everett. Vincent Price's name might be a surprise for such a film, but he plays his role with the usual strength he carries. Pamela Stephenson has a memorable scene which re-energises the film, while subtle humour in other scenes carry it to the end. Check it out if you enjoy British humour.

Q&A is one of Australia's live television institutions for people who care about what's happening in the country. Every Monday night on ABC a panel of carefully-picked members from various organisations and communities are put together on a panel to discuss and debate current affairs relating to Australia and the world. Quite often, two politicians from opposing parties are put on the panel, leading to fireworks in the studio as one puts down the efforts or policies of the other party. The panel members are given questions from the public and politicians squirm as they try their best to choose their words carefully and answer the question without committing to introducing any policies to fix any problems in society or give any estimates on when something might be fixed. With Twitter feeds constantly popping up on the screen, we get to see what other members of the audience are feeling about what is happening, and quite often we end up wishing that a particular politician, who is willing to come on the live debate show and connect with us, should be our new leader. Tony Jones does a commendable job at controlling the members of the panel when they get out of hand, especially when opposing politicians start verbally fighting. This is always entertaining for the viewer but unfortunately its one-hour duration sometimes leaves some topics without a proper conclusion.

The Swedes have achieved something unique with this show. Real Humans is about a reality where human-like robots are commonplace in today's world and perform such roles as home assistants, companions to lonely souls, workers of all types and, of course, sex toys. The show follows a selection of different people as they live in this world, from the family with the curious teenage boy, to an old man needing home assistance, and a lonely man who's job is threatened by them, and a woman in love with one. It also follows a group of obsolete and disowned "hubots" who are a quest to avoid being scrapped and recycled. The day-to-day coexistence between humans and hubots provides often amusing situations but there's also a darker side in each episode which makes you feel for them. I'm not ashamed to admit it's a soap, but a very intelligent one, and a very open one. Strictly for older kids and adults.