Mick Celebrates Nine Shows with Nothing New

I know, what would this blog be if it weren't for Mick Molloy and his shambolic show The Nation to write about?

But stuff it, it's my blog and if I choose to dissect his latest foray into late, or should I say late-late night television, I will.

With a brief shift into half-decent entertainment last week, The Nation slipped firmly back into mediocrity last night. You probably missed it so I'll give you the juice here:

• Secret Women's Business returned with Amanda Keller and Julia Zemiro. I love Julia Zemiro - she's a sharp cool/daggy mix all bundled up into an extremely appealing package. Amanda Keller has quite a few fans, she can think on her feet and brandishes a whip-smart motormouth, she's not my cup of ginger zinger with a dash of honey but she knows how to work it. Unfortunately these two couldn't save Mick's show. What is it with the whole 'Secret Women's Business' angle and the kitschy graphic of 1950's housewives anyway?
• Last week Kate Langbroek appeared in a sketch and later as a guest. Even though she chatted with Mick about having three kids and putting her rock and liquor-loving husband on a curfew - she didn't have to be introduced under the guise of revealing 'Secret Women's Business'. Mind you, she worked brilliantly with Mick, asking him about still being single and laughing good-naturedly at her own expense. It really drove home the two very important lessons that Mick and his brothers should learn - casting and chemistry.
• It appears that Akmal and Jackie O now alternate their spot at the desk each week. Hmmm one week vapid celeb goss (with credibility-raising laptop prop) at least two days past its use-by date and the next...current affairs with a comedic twist. Apparently you can see that connection from the moon.
• It seems that Nikki Osborne has left the building. No-one noticed. Maybe she's out trying to find a third k to put into her name? Will she reappear as one of the chicks on Aerobics Oz Style? Mick's already put it on record that nailing one of those beauties is one of his things to do before he dies.
• Dave O'Neil was a guest, talking up his new book 'Everything Tastes Better Crumbed' and appearing as a slobby Tour de France racer. I love Dave, and quite frankly I think he's onto something with his crumbing adventure. I mean even eggplant, which I despise, is edible once dipped in crumbs and dripping in saturated fat.
• Tiffany Cherry really is very good. But must we intersperse her sporting segments with pervy bikini shots from Natalie Gulbis' latest FHM spread?

It looks like The Nation is going to be allowed to see out its run of eleven or twelve shows. I doubt it will get renewed but it serves as a great case study into how to make good television.

I'm not going to bang on about casting, chemistry, instincts, forethought or good writing. I'm not going to waffle on about getting more funny women on our small screens. I'm not going to open the window and scream out "Mick you're not a host! Produce by all means, but don't make yourself a star." Why would I?

If not Nikki Osborne - then who?

Every since I wrote that post lamenting the lack of women on Australian television shows I have been inundated with emails and phone calls. Alright, most of the emails have been spam and the phone calls have usually been from my mum. But that's not to say that this hasn't struck a nerve with someone somewhere. There is a lot of talk about this in the industry and I hope there will be a lot more grumbling in the various media outlets soon.

Last Monday Meshel Laurie had Nikki Osborne as her guest on the Nova Breakfast radio show in Brisbane. Meshel asked Nikki about her role in Mick Molloy's new show, The Nation and the fact that all the guys are comedians and the girls, well...aren't. Nikki went on to chat about her 'acting ability' and that she is heavily involved in the sketch element of the show. Listen to it here.

On the fist episode of The Nation Nikki Osborne did pretty much nothing except a pathetic Paris Hilton imitation so if that's what she deems as 'heavily involved' then don't blink or you could miss the rest of her extensive body of work.

It's easy to see why Nikki Osborne would take the role. What a great opportunity for someone whose been soliciting text messages from late-night pervy viewers to jump into a prime-time show with some experienced players. It's not her fault she was born drop-dead gorgeous. But it does tell us a lot about the thinking behind the Molloy Boy production team.

OK, so I'm not happy with Nikki or Jackie O.

So who are re: soundings favourite women we would love to see on television? Below I've listed some favourite personalities/broadcasters/writers/comedians and other chicks we dig.

• Denise Scott


• Judith Lucy


• Kate McLennan


• Julie McCrossin


• Sam Lane


• Catherine Deveny


• Jennifer Byrne


• Meshel Laurie


• Fee Bamford-Bracher


• Kate Langbroek


• George McEncroe


• Bev Killick


• Kim Hope


• Myf Warhurst


• Sonia Kruger


• Fiona O'Loughlin


• Libbi Gorr


• Cal Wilson

I have searched high and low to try and find some footage of Libbi Gorr in her Elle Mcfeast role from the Live and Sweaty days but alas no joy. Instead I'll leave you with this youtube clip of Max Sharam performing on Elle McFeast's show in 1998. More live music on tv will be addressed in another post.

NB: re: soundings will be returning to radio/streaming/podcasting reviewing very soon

Hughesy & Kate Nova 100

If you've been living under a rock for the past ten years you might not know that Hughesy and Kate on Nova 100 are Dave Hughes and Kate Langbroek. These two got their flying miles up over on community radio station Triple R with former team member Dave O'Neil. All three had a brief stint on Triple M before heading over to launch the station and their brekky show in 2001. Dave has since jumped to sister station Vega and quite a lot has happened since this show began. There have been proposals, marriages, babies and a huge increase in their profiles. So six years on how are they holding up? Not too shabby actually.

OK, I don't like the music on Nova and there have been quite a few disappointing moments when Kate and Hughesy have appeared to be completely sucked into the commercial radio vortex, (the girly liplock photo comp springs to mind there), but these two have got a good thing going. Their breakfast show still has that rare feeling of spontaneity that we used to be able to get from genuine live television. It takes a pretty unique team to harness the kookiness of guests like Australian Idol judge Mark Holden and make his on-air appearances so refreshingly enjoyable.

Take last Friday's show, Holden came on air at around 8.45am to talk up the Melbourne weekend auditions of Idol. The talk very quickly turned to The Logies and Hughes' dig at Kyle Sandilands. Holden revealed that Sandilands had confided in him about the incident, telling Holden that the head honcho of Nova, Paul Thompson, had called Sandilands and apologised for Hughes' behaviour. Apparently Sandilands also claimed that Thompson thinks Sandilands has the best breakfast show in Australia. Now apart from the obvious fact that the only 'best' Sandilands can claim to have is 'head for kicking in' let's not let the truth get in the way of great opportunity. And this is where the Nova team shine. They got Thompson on the line and he was quick to set the record straight - he has never met or spoken to Sandilands. Nothing could make Sandilands look like a bigger tool or provide an opportunity for Hughesy and Kate to show their ability to fly by the seats of their pants and follow through for the laugh.

It is interesting that Nova's largest audience is in the 18-24 bracket but the breakfast show is hosted by a 41 year old mother of three and a dentally challenged 36 year old.
Obviously genuine funny works, no matter what the age. In the last ratings survey Nova's breakfast dropped slightly, putting them in third place for the FM stations behind Fox and Gold but there's still a lot of love in the air for these two.