What we really want ...

Here is an important thing to remember about television.

What is really, really popular is not the show that takes the boundaries of creative brilliance one step further into the boundless unknown of genius.

Here is another important thing to remember.

What is really, really funny to most people is not comedy of such absurd and exceptional skill your mind is taken on a journey to God-knows-where and back.

What's popular is neither of those.

What is really, really popular is The Bachelor New Zealand and Jono and Ben.

That's what's popular.

I know this, because I was spinning round Moray Pl the other day to pick up a chicken chow mein at The Asian, and I saw a line of people opposite First Church.

That line snaked down to Princes St, down to the Octagon, and all the way round the to Regent Theatre to see what are clearly two of the funniest men in New Zealand.

That was after hundreds lined up from 3.30am outside the Hallensteins clothing store for a free ticket to the show.

At the Regent, the pair made a joke the show was actually a sting for StudyLink.

Then they made a joke about Game of Thrones.

It was this: ‘‘Who needs a fridge when winter is coming?''

They had done their research and knew people made fun of Mosgiel.

Fellow comedian Guy Williams said this: ‘‘My dad grew up in Mosgiel. He married his cousin.''

Jono and Ben is on TV3 at 7.30pm on Friday nights, and is hugely popular.

I had the pleasure recently to meet the last Bachelor New Zealand Art Green when he was in Dunedin with his TV show-winning lady chum Matilda Rice for iD Dunedin Fashion Week.

He seemed like a genuinely nice fellow.

Also, proving the show's popularity, everybody -and I mean everybody- knew who he was, apart from me.

The Bachelor New Zealand is television people like.

There you go.

Episode 14 of series two, by the way, is on TV3 tonight.

If these shows do not take your fancy, perhaps a couple of satires out there might.

UnREAL, on Lightbox, follows the goings-on at fictional dating show Everlasting, and I'm reliably informed by colleagues of the very best taste that it is good.

The American dark comedy-drama series stars Shiri Appleby as a young reality television producer pushed by her unscrupulous boss (Constance Zimmer) to swallow her integrity and do anything it takes to drum up salacious show content.

Also look out for Burning Love, a Bachelor satire by Ben Stiller, which was released on the web, picked up by television and nominated for an Emmy.

It will be out there somewhere.

-By Charles Loughrey 

Add a Comment