This was published 8 years ago
TV reviews: documentary series Gogglebox Australia is a funny and insightful show
By Craig Mathieson
As a television viewer it's common to have high expectations of a forthcoming program only to be disappointed by the shortcomings or outright failure of the actual show.
What's less common is when a series you write off in advance turns out be a new favourite. That's been my experience with Gogglebox Australia, the observational documentary series that essentially watches people watching television. My expectations were for trite, minor, and tone-deaf viewing, but the result has been engaging, funny, and insightful.
Footy crowd loud: Anastasia and Faye on Gogglebox Australia.Credit: Peter Green
Replicating a British format that debuted in 2013, Gogglebox Australia has run two truncated seasons this year that aired on both Channel Ten and Foxtel's The Lifestyle Channel. Cameras in 10 different lounge rooms present us with a version of ourselves: people on the couch at the end of the day looking for something good to watch. Children squeeze in, pets demand attention, and everyone talks about what's on.
The format is deceptively simple to the point of elegance. It reminds us that watching television remains a welcome communal experience, and that nearly everyone yells at the screen at some point, and not just because The Verdict is somehow still on the air. The concept sounds like a means of scientific research, but the actual show is immensely likable.
The Delpechitra family on Gogglebox Australia.Credit: Nick Wilson
The casting has been exemplary, too. The 10 participants cover a wide but familiar range: Angie and Yvie are friends and housemates, as are tertiary students Symon and Adam, while there's a spread of families, from the sprawling Jackson clan with six kids (I think it's six kids, the younger ones tend to backflip off the couch if they get bored and disappear) to the Daltons with their two teenage daughters.
The watchers are inclusive in terms of age (septuagenarian art dealers Mick and Di have been married for almost 50 years), sexuality (gay couple Tom and Wayne), and race (Delpechitra family parents Patrick and Tracey arrived from Sri Lanka a quarter-century ago). Thankfully no grouping is present because they needed to be ticked off – first and foremost they're vocal with their opinions, have good instincts, and share a healthy sense of humour
Di might be desert dry with her disapproval while Anastasia – who watches with her fellow Greek-Australian friend Faye – is raucous and footy crowd loud, but they both get off good lines. Bad shows get mauled on Gogglebox Australia, as a vacuous segment on A Current Affair demonstrated, but interesting, unusual or just well-executed escapism is appreciated as well as it is dissected.
Gogglebox Australia is handy because if you suspect that The Celebrity Apprentice Australia or Kitchen Nightmares are only worth two minutes of your time, then that's how long their clips run for. The series is a catch-up mechanism that not only hasn't outstayed its welcome, it's noticeably improved from the first run of episodes to the second: the intercutting between participants is sharper, any vestiges of self-consciousness have disappeared, and the depth of discussions provoked are sometimes telling.
The exchanges after watching domestic violence campaigner Rosie Batty on The Project were moving, not just for their sympathy but their identification and advocacy for education. Suburban husband Keith recalled to his wife Lee his father beating his mother when he was just a toddler, while Stacey Jackson reminded her sons of the lessons they'd hopefully learnt about respect from how their father handled any disagreements with her.
The show is a good litmus test for measuring the national mood. Tony Abbott was on the nose as PM months before he was rolled, and his successor Malcolm Turnbull was judged via an Australian Story repeat where he spoke of his love for his wife Lucy. "You want a man to talk about you like that, don't you," said Yvie, to which Angie replied, "You want your Prime Minister to talk about women like that, also."
More than anything, Gogglebox Australia is reassuring. In trying times, when it's easy to be swayed by inflamed headlines, this cross-section of Australians display more common sense and composure than the shrill cowboys of the commentariat. These average citizens may disagree about the worth of The Block and Doctor Who, but they're also a reminder that this country has true worth. Who knew watching people on television watch television could be a patriotic experience?