Big Brother Begins Again

Big Brother 08 begins this week on Channel Ten across Australia.

Will I be watching?

Well, to quote the overused advertising campaign …

I DON’T THINK SO.

I’ve only ever seen a few minutes of the programme across all the years it’s been running. I believe that the premise of the show is monumentally immoral and I refuse to be part of such awful television.

I don’t just mean immoral from the voyeuristic nature of the show but more the way that the participants, and for that case the audience, is manipulated by the producers for the simple aim of making money for shareholders. It’s the modern day equivalent of throwing Christians to the lions for the entertainment of the masses.

It’s not good television, it’s not clever television. Big Brother doesn’t strive to show humans at their best but at their worst. It’s nasty television.



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It Takes Who?

Channel 7’s It Takes Two is set to hit our screens again soon with Grant Denyer returning as the host and the 2008 line up has just been announced.

The programme pairs professional singers with celebrities in yet another vote ’em off television show. The singers mentor the celebrities, helping them to realise their dreams of becoming rock stars. Each week the couples sing duets and then lets the audience vote via SMS to decide who’ll return the following week.

I will admit to have spent a bit of time in front of the telly when the show’s been on in past years but I’m wondering whether the concept should now be put out to pasture.

Maybe I’m just not part of the target audience but when I read through the list of contestants this year I was left scratching my head wondering who these people are.

Paul O’Brien – Home and Away actor
Chloe Maxwell – Presenter/ mum
Scott Draper – Professional golfer/ tennis player
Virginia Gay – All Saints actor
Julia Morris – Actor/presenter/writer
John Mangos – Sky News anchor
Sara Groen – Channel Seven weather presenter
Mark Wilson – Dancing with the Stars judge
Candice Falzon – Ironwoman
Russell Robertson – AFL football player

OK … I’ll admit I do know a few of those names but there’s not really anyone there who would have me glued to the screen over several weeks.

As for the mentors, most are returning from last year with a few new names.

Rachael Beck – Star of stage and screen
David Hobson – Opera singer
Jade MacRae – Pop princess
Wendy Matthews – Australian singing legend
Kate Ceberano – Multi award winning singer
Anthony Callea – Australia’s record breaking pop star
David Campbell – Swing sensation
Ian Moss – Australian rock icon
Ricki-Lee Coulter – Pop superstar
Adam Harvey – Country singer

Of course it’s just possible that I’ll take a quick look at the first episode and get hooked anyway.



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Eurobeat

I had a wonderful time on Thursday chatting to Julia Zemiro. We recorded an interview which I’ll be putting to air tomorrow morning during my radio programme on 98.5 Sonshine FM.

You can listen to the interview by clicking play on the audio player at the bottom of this post.

Many people will know Julia Zemiro from the SBS show, Rockwiz. She was also a regular on the comedy Totally Full Frontal and she was the winner of Channel 10‘s show Australia’s Brainiest TV Star in February this year.

Julia is in Perth for Eurobeat, a very funny musical stage show which parodies the Eurovision Song Contest.

During the show competitors from 12 countries compete for the big prize. Audience members are assigned to one of the 12 countries and are given the honour of voting for their favourite performers. In the spirit of Eurovision you can’t vote for your own country.

After the interval there’s the half time Bosnian spectacular, featuring Julia as her character, Bronya, singing “I’m Sarajevo, taste me”. Then, once all the votes are counted, they are added to the tally country by country.

Pauline and I went to the show on Thursday night and really enjoyed it. It’s well put together and very funny. The performers are brilliant. There is a cast of around 20 so most performers are involved in more than one act making for some very quick changes throughout the night. I would, however, point out that there is some material in the show that some may find a bit coarse.

After the show we briefly caught up with Julia. One of the other cast members took the photo of Pauline and me with Julia.

I talked to Julia about much more than her current project and our interview is certainly one of my all time favourites. I hope you enjoy it and I look forward to your comments.



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