Ja'mie: Private School Girl

before I begin, I have to say something. I live on the North Shore of Sydney, right in the heart of the private school culture of where Ja'mie is set. And I have to say, Chris Lilley is 100% spot on in this role.

Everyone I know who lives in this area of Sydney finds Ja'mie hilarious because it is just so accurate. It isn't exaggerating at all. Lilley went to a private school and modeled the character off the girls there. he gets the character so right! The humor is very vulgar in parts and the mockumentary style isn't for everyone, but this show is the best portrayal of a Sydney private school I have ever seen and if you understand the culture, you'll be on the floor with tears of laughter.

I find that generally Americans don't "get" the humour as much, but Aussies will definitely enjoy it.

I have seen some ordinary reviews for Ja'mie ( added the apostrophe in year 8 ) - but guess they must be from people who take the whole set-up seriously and can't get their head round a middle aged comedian doing a wonderful job as an over-the-top snobby head girl ! Benny Hill did some similar skits years ago ; that likewise were very funny ; Ja'mie is a combination of slap-stick - Dame Edna, over-the-top great Aussie humour taking a wonderful swipe at many of the US college type shows were the spiteful blonde beauty loses her boyfriend to the plain new girl who turns out to be a glamour. This is a show that aging dad ( me ) and teen daughter both love and has us both cracking up in parts. e.g. The flat chested Ja'mie on being targeted by some more developed 'borders' at the school ; "Why don't you go cook your dinner, I bet your having Lesbianese"

These spinoffs from the Summer Heights High TV show feature one of the characters in depth rather than switching between them. This gives us more focus but at the expense of wearing the material thin. I think I liked the original format more because it kept things fresh. Still, I think that Ja'mie had a better spinoff than Jonah as she is more interesting and there is more that can be done with her character.

After watching We Can Be Heroes and Summer Heights High I was thrilled to hear that Chris Lilley decided to make a TV show based around Ja'mie King! So far the show has not disappointed me one bit and I cannot wait to see what Lilley has in store for us later on in the series! We are introduced to Ja'mie's family life as well as her school one. The show battles many of the issues facing current teenagers with humour. Lilley has even invented his own slang terms like "Quiche" which means hotter than hot and "box gap" which is the gap between the top of your thighs. The show already has a large cult audience with teenagers all over the world admiring Ja'mie. The show quickly spread its following due to social media sites like 'Twitter' and 'Tumblr', which Ja'mie has accounts on. I can see this show becoming the new 'Freaks and Geeks' with it's cult audience. 10/10

Ah, the horrible Miss King returns bigger than ever! To clear this up for many of you, yes, it is Chris Lilley dressed as a teenage girl. This in itself isn't meant to be funny, what is hilarious is that he perfectly nails the nasty, self-obsessed, delusional teenage girls that many of us have encountered at one point and time in our lives. So much so, that his mannerisms and affect are flawless.

This series is a masterpiece of observation, is meant to be self-deprecating and like much of Aussie and Brit humour walks the fine line between hilarity and cringe worthiness. The creepy skype scene between Jam'ie and her grandfather is one such example.

My only disappointment with this series are the unnecessary cut scenes that seem like padding. Kind of reminiscent of an old 90210 episode! Other than, supporting cast are terrific and really expand on the small segments of Jam'ie's life that we have seen in other Lilley series such as We Can Be Heroes and Summer Heights High. Would highly recommend though not for those who find the run of the mill American sitcoms amusing.