Headland

It started off a bit slow, even though the ads were like, 'Find out what happened that night,' and 'best show this summer.' But it will get better, as there are good story lines coming up. Go to the website, and you can read the stuff there. Its actually quite good. The characters are great, and the cast is great as well. Most of them have been on All Saints or Home and Away, so they're pretty good actors/actresses. I hope it does get better, as it seems like a nice show, and they've already filmed 52 episodes. Let's hope it doesn't turn out like all the other Aussie shows such as The Alice or Last Man Standing, which were put on later and then axed.

I can't sit through more than 2 minutes of this show without thinking that Aussie drama is getting worse. "Neighbours" and "Home and Away" are works of art compared to this (and I can't stand either of these shows). This show is being shown at 7pm four nights a week as I write this and at the same time they are repeating this same show a 3pm four nights a week and the show isn't even 2 weeks old. I flicked the TV on and saw one particular scene where a bloke riding a motorbike drives up to a house then we cut to a "point of view" shot of this bloke, only to see (in the front window of this house) that he has changed into a ute carrying a camera. It is this kind of film school production value (dont get me started on how bad the acting is either) that has really turned me off Aussie drama and being an Aussie that is saying a lot. I really hope that this show gets cancelled before it can ruin the reputation of the already struggling Aussie drama industry.

"Headland" is a badly scripted, badly acted and badly directed piece of fluff that involves a group of not-even-that-attractive non-actors struggling to deliver substandard lines while the camera rolls and pitches all around the frame.

I saw the second episode the other night. The only reason I stayed watching it until the end was because I was depressed and hadn't had a good laugh in a while. The show had the potential to put me in two moods - furiously angry at the fact that lazy management at Seven has led to this being commissioned, and choking on my own laughter as the next revelation is delivered with the subtlety of an ice-pick to the head.

At least "Home and Away" has the decency to be only half an hour long.

I watched and taped every episode (as I have no life) hoping against hope that at last there would be something Aussie and watchable on regularly. I saw Rachael Taylor - Sasha - display moments of great power when the script gave her a chance to show her potential. The stereotyped bitch role she plays is mostly predictable - it is much better when she is ambiguous - but the sometimes pedestrian script lets her and the others down. But at times, she absolutely fires. Her passion and anger when it hits home lift the show out of its is smug Australian 'she'll be right' sleepy complacency and cliché. She has presence and she is quite strikingly beautiful - gorgeous in fact - if the strange camera angles and lighting let you see her properly. Rachael has a bright future if she can get some serious parts. There are some other characters and plot lines that are also original and appealing. And some dags too. But the script wanders all over the place and wastes so much time on blind alleys and vacuity. One episode there will be a good writer (or team) and it lifts, the next it stumbles or flounders again. Much of it is unbelievable. The cast is overall pretty good. The script is the key. The script is this show's downfall.

For any of you who have studied film and television in any form, do you find the camera work/angles/shots of headland just a disgrace? Either the company have lost their tripod or their camera workers have far to much caffeine in their system. Micellaneous shots are seen all over the place; when someone is ending a conversation by walking out there door we don't need a split second close up of their hand grabbing their keys to know they have picked them up. We can see them in their hand when they unlock the door. The lighting is artificial and washed out, not exactly the best choice for actors who want to look good on screen. We already have enough dodgy soap operas, we don't need another Home and Away. Next thing you know we'll be hearing about the up and coming cyclone that will hit the university head on and blow their mid-term exam notes away...while having some shaky handy cam work attempt to make it look action packed and exciting...