Utopia

This is yet another masterpiece from the team of Santo (Snatto), Gliesner and Sitch, the people who brought you the brilliant political satire "The Hollowmen".

Those who don't work within the Public Service of Australia will likely look at this and wonder what is going on, but for those of us on the "inside", the humour can be found.

The basic premise revolves around a Government office (Nat. Building Authority), with its incompetent low-grade staff, it's time-wasting managers, pushy marketing department, and the piles of red tape our "hero" (Sitch) has to wade through to get even the most simple things done.

Like 'Hollowmen', the humour here is very dry, and while there are still the sight gags and silliness we expected from a show like that, there's a lot of subtlety that will be lost on those not familiar with what it's like working in the APS.

To those who enjoyed 'Hollowmen', I would highly recommend this show. It's not quite as good as that show in my opinion, as the 'lead' characters aren't as fully developed (Tony, Nat and Hugh are marvellous though), and at times some of the characters irritate me to no end (Rhonda, oh how I hate you). Although thinking about it, that's probably the whole idea, because aside from the moronic PA, these people would not seem out of place at all in any government department.

The acting (c'mon, it's a small Aussie show, we're not expecting A-listers) for the most part is very good. Sitch, Pacquola, McGregor, Wilson and yes, even Kitty Flanagan do a wonderful job of portraying "Pubes". The small-part characters are also quite memorable, particularly the guy from the iSelect ads. Sadly, some like Lawson, Truslove and even Lehman, just seem to be phoning it in (Lawson's character Scott also feels entirely pointless).

Kudos to these guys for producing yet another Australian gem. The first episode is a little slow (and seemed like it needed an "Intro"), but by episode 2, everything was looking great. Except Rhonda...

A great satire of the inside workings of government public service. It is not in your face obvious humour but rather intelligent sharp witted and subtle. It seems like an updated Australian version of "Yes Minister" The major drawback for the show is the "mocumentary" handycam filming style which can become annoying. But overall a great effort and worth watching.

An easy to watch, cringe inducing comedy from Working Dog. Anyone who has ever worked for the public service, or for a major organisation for that matter, will feel right at home with this series. It is in some instances almost difficult to watch - it is that spot on. Some of the jokes fall flat in the first season, but it picks up towards the end and is on fire in the second. A commentator above has suggested it is a poor hybrid of The Thick of It and The Office. I think that's a misunderstanding of the show; it certainly has elements of both, but it stand on its own as well thought out and delivered. The series is obviously directed at an Australian audience, but I imagine the that the trials and tribulations of these poor public servants would resonate across borders.

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.

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!