Talking Aussie
3rd Edition

Aussie TV. Well, what do we know about it? When we subscribed to Astro back in late 1996, the only glimpse of Aussie TV I ever got was Home and Away on Star World, from God knows how many zillion years ago. And guess what? I liked it. Never missed an episode of it until I left home for the Centre of the Universe (we all know where that is!). Well, that's a lie actually, not that I liked it so much to watch it almost everyday, only that it coincidentally came on TV every time I turn the tube on, and COINCIDENTALLY at the same time everyday. What can I say? Life is full of coincidence.

In my first year in Melbourne, I barely watched any TV. Can't remember much of what I did back then. Apart from the 12 contact hours I have every week, life pretty much just passed me by unnoticed. Probably spent much of my time sleeping, hooked onto the net or just cooking Indomie in the pantry (and I must say, we have more choices of flavours back home in Malaysia, but the ORIGINAL Indomie's bumbu sauce is still much better here). Oh, and a lot of talking rubbish too. Can't forget that.

Home and Away is still an ongoing series here in Oz. So is Neighbours. But they are a mere speck of what Aussie TV is like. Ever since moving out of Vic Hall, leaving all that rubbish talk and Indomie cooking behind (I'm out to set a record for not having touched a single packet of Indomie the whole of this year, and the record setting is definitely looking good.), my tube consumption has increased significantly. I just came from watching the year's final Rove Live on Channel Ten, feeling all fired up and inspired to share some Aussie TV experience with everyone, and it seems pretty obvious that Rove Live is probably top on my list of favourite Aussie TV programmes of all times. What can I say? The guy is hilarious, has an incredible line up of guests, brilliant ideas (though they are not all his, but being the producer of the show, I would say most of the laughs in the show actually do come from him) and did I say hilarious? Well, he is. Watching Rove and his "What The…?" is just about the highlight of my Tuesday nights and I have to hand it to him, the guy has a knack for running a live show (even though he overshoots the time limit most of the time, putting Sandra Sully on hold for the Ten's Late News which follows after. But being the sweet Rove that he is, he sent a bouquet of flowers over to her on the news set as an apology for a year of delaying the news!), and get this, even the credits at the end of the show is spiced up with his humour, every week, without fail! In between the names of the production crew, he never fails to slip in a smart-ass comment or two. And they are often killer punch lines to leave you eagerly anticipating for the coming show. Well, okay, maybe not eagerly anticipating, but it definitely is a credible show and worth every minute of your life. By the way, that's the rule of thumb for selecting my TV shows, whether it is worth the minutes of my life.

Speaking of the minutes of life, the Aussie made series The Secret Life of Us is probably worth watching as well. Set and shot in St. Kilda here in Melbourne, it's good fun to watch. And I understand that it is currently being aired over UK TV as well, so I won't say much as to spoil the end of the season for you. The new season of The Secret Life of Us is starting next week on Channel Ten (my, Ten does have a good line up of shows I must say), and I guess my summer nights will be spent biting nails in front of the TV watching Evan, Alex and everyone else. The Aussie accent is probably too daunting for the POMEs but wait, accent? What accent? Kangaroos on the top paddock? I stand corrected.

There are a lot of other pretty good shows on Aussie TV. A Current Affair, Sixty Minutes, Melbourne Today Tonight, these are pretty good documentaries and I used to sit glued to the tube every weekday evening at 6.30 p.m. watching Naomi Robson on Melbourne Today Tonight. Life just got too busy after that when I acquired my kitchenhand lifestyle. SBS has an interesting line up of foreign films. Albeit slightly weird. Channel Nine doesn't catch my fancy, so I don't know what really goes on on Channel Nine. Don't watch much of ABC as well, except when they show documentaries dissing Malaysian government (I'm not a closet government fan, so all you anti-government gits, piss off. I'll tell you if I change my mind.). Ten is probably the most watched on my list, followed by Seven. But the rest of Australia doesn't get Seven because Seven is a local station, just like how Perth has their Channel Six and NSW has their own thing yada yada yada.

Well, guess that is pretty much it. I actually wanted to write about summer in this edition but I figured that could wait, we have summer twice a year anyway, technically speaking. Heck, it's summer almost every month of the year! Okay, maybe except during the colder winter months of June and July. But fear not, you'll be hearing from me pretty soon and pretty often come the next four months or so. I can just hear all you POMEs going, "Damn it!". Ha, tough luck mate!