The ABC

Excellent range of Australian children's programmes, documentaries, dramas, comedies, news and current affairs shows. No commercials.
Click here for TV Guide

Wombat TV  Hit Picks
The Hollowmen, 9.30pm. Wednesday.

If you're suffering political satire withdrawal symptoms after The Chaser team decided to take a break from their incredibly successful outings on ABC1, The Hollowmen could be just the tonic. 

Created by the team behind Thank God You're Here, The Panel, The Late Show and movies like The Castle, Working Dog has been at it again and this time it has chosen to use the Australian Prime Ministers inner sanctum as its canvas.

This satirical drama depicts the inner workings of the Prime Ministers office, with Rob Sitch, Santo Cilauro and Tom Gleisner behind the new show.

If you liked Frontline, you'll love this. It's well made TV with a sense of irony that is rarely achieved in local programming. 

The characters are also very amusing. Rob Sitch plays Tony, the private secretary to the PM, a man who derives intense pleasure from seeing a perfectly worded press release alter the course of the major 6.00pm news bulletins.

Senior political adviser 'Murph' (Lachy Hulme) also plays a major role in the new 6-part comedy series as he dispenses sagely advice to the highest levels of government, but it's interesting to not that The Hollowmen never shows who the Prime Minister actually is. Whether he is left leaning or right, Liberal or Labor is also left unanswered, as the creators aim was not to lampoon a particular party but to show how the modern political machine works.

It's unlikely that Kevin Rudd will watching - he'll probably be laughing/cyring at how close to reality some scenes are. This is top quality entertainment; hugely amusing and well worth checking out.

- Frankie J.

Wombat TV  Hit Picks
The Gruen Transfer, 9.00pm. Wednesdays.

I like this program even more now. Will Anderson isn't annoying as he could be as the host of this show, which looks at marketing and advertising and how it is intended to provoke or entice viewers. But when upset advertising big wigs angrily sound off about how the show is "demeaning" a multi-billion dollar and very serious industry, you can assume it has come very close to unearthing the truth.

- Frankie J.

Channel 7

Strong on Australian drama, lifestyle shows, popularist news and current affairs, game shows. Commercials.

Wombat TV Hit Picks
Gladiators : Grand Final, 6:30pm. Sundays.

Who would have guessed that a revamped camp TV show from the early '90s would make such a successful comeback?

After a blazing start (with well over 1.5 Million viewers a week), things have slowed down slightly for the Seven juggernaut - but not enough to call it a failure. In fact, it's made Kouta The Greek God a star again!

This week we reach the inevitable final episode. It is the Grand Final. The final four challengers compete to be the one male and one female winner and drive away with a grand prize of $50,000 cash and a big bastard car.

It seems people will do anything for their 15 Minutes of Fame - that includes getting into some mighty tight spandex. It's kind of worrying when you think about it, and we will only have to wait and see if the "Idiots-Doing-Physical-Challenges" appeal carries over to the much talked about Wipe Out and Hole In The Wall on Channel Nine.

Gladiators... Ready!

- David Lennox.

Wombat TV Hit Picks
City Homicide, 8:30pm. Mondays.

Last year, it was without doubt one of Australian TV's biggest hits. And who are we to question what the public want? Maybe that's all TV drama needed - to simply repackage Blue Heelers with a darker, more sinister backdrop (whether the overhaul was worth the extra 300,000 viewers more is still up for discussion).

The series return is by no means ground breaking, but it is very much a watchable TV program. And maybe that's what Seven are striving for - nothing amazing... just something that is easy to watch.

The only negative to come from City Homicide's success is, in no uncertain terms, Shane Bourne. The guy is a talentless hack, yet the ratings of this show and Thank God you're Here seem convey the notion that he is a man in demand.

When the truth is - he was just in the right place at the right time.

- David Lennox.

Channel 9

Lifestyle shows, popularist news and current affairs, game shows, reality TV. French Open tennis. Rugby League State of Origin. Commercials.

Wombat TV Hit Picks
Wipeout, 7:30pm. Tuesdays.

For those who can't wait until the next season of Gladiators, or for people who simply like to see idiots get hurt - then Wipeout just might be the show you've been waiting for!

There has been a lot of talk around the industry regarding the monster success of Wipeout's premiere in the USA. So it's no surprise a network has latched onto it here.

A mixture of It's A Knockout and Gladiators, this is the sort of show that is usually watched by bored folk scouring obscure Japanese game shows on YouTube. The big questions are, can Wipeout:

A) Find a large audience from the get-go?

or

B) Hold onto an audience once the novelty factor wears off?

I think we can all safely guess my opinion on this - but that said - Australians have tuned into Funniest Home Videos for almost two decades. So nothing surprises me anymore....

Wombat TV Hit Picks
Fire 000, 7:30pm. Wednesdays.

Reality TV can be hit and miss, and though Fire 000 doesn't really appeal this TV lover all that much, it is an interesting look into what it is firefighters actually do.

Yes, they fight fires, but more often than not they're called out to car accidents, heart attack victims and people who are locked in lifts or have wedged their arm down a drain. And yes, cats stuck in trees. Always the cats...

Firefighters are an amazing breed of human, but I'm not sure this show really works in its current state. What would be more appealing would have been in-depth interviews with the firefighters after certain events; the stress and anxiety they go through after hauling mangled, bloodied bodies out of twisted car wrecks. That would be true reality TV.

Channel 10

Programmed for a younger audience, US chat shows, lifestyle shows, popularist news and current affairs, reality TV. Commercials.

Wombat TV Hit Picks
The Oprah Winfrey Show, 1:00pm. Weekdays.

For the unemployed, Oprah is a God-send.

However, in the last few years, things have slowly changed. YouTube is now the 'King of the Lazy' - so it kind of makes sense that Oprah would opt to join forces with the brains behind the Internet craze that has swept the globe.

On Tuesday's edition of Oprah, the big 'O' looks over some of the biggest YouTube video hits with it's multi-billionaire creators.

What could be better than watching three of the most stupidly rich people in the world watching videos made by people who have nothing better to do with their time than dress cats up as Hitler and film it?

- David Lennox.

Wombat TV Hit Picks
Big Brother : Pamela Anderson Enters The House, 7:30pm. Wednesday.

There is a term in the TV industry called "Jumping The Shark". It is usually thrown around when a TV or film series hits a point where they just do something completely stupid or crazy because the potential decent storylines dried up a season or two prior.

It happened in Happy Days, and now it's hit Big Brother.

Just when you thought the show couldn't hit anymore low points - in comes a big breasted blonde who was famous about 10 years before Paris Hilton had even heard of the phrase "Sex Tape".

What Pamela Anderson will actually do in the house remains to be seen (and let's be honest, we all wanted to see Nobbi's reaction anyway... and he's gone... so whats the point?) and without a BB Uncut show this year - even if anything was seen... it still wouldn't be seen.

Sure, that last paragraph makes no sense - but neither does the idea of Pammy going to visit the house mates.

The world of TV has officially hit a new low point.

- David Lennox.

SBS

Excellent range of non-English speaking programmers, strong coverage of soccer, terrific overseas news, documentaries and foreign movies. Limited commercials.
Click here for TV Guide

Wombat TV Hit Picks
Car Of The Future, 8:30pm. Sunday.

If you can't get enough from Top Gear, then perhaps this one is for you.

Radio Car Show host Tom Magliozzi has a problem. He needs to replace his beloved 1952 MG roadster. But in today's car market, where should he turn?

Is new technology about to transform the way we drive?

Tom and his brother Ray hit the road in this program for a light-hearted but shrewd take on America's four-wheeled future. With a quarter of all the oil ever consumed guzzled up in the last decade and oil supplies being drawn down faster every day, the brothers' automotive odyssey doubles as a serious environmental wake-up call.

Tom and Ray explore everything from the glitzy, high-octane North American International Auto Show in Detroit to the earnest do-it-yourselfers of the AltWheels Festival in Boston, where the brothers squeeze into a tiny three-wheeler that, even at 100 miles per gallon, isn't quite ready for the rush-hour commute - it can't go in reverse.

With Tom and Ray, we learn that hydrogen fuel cells are the touchstone of zero emissions, since all the waste they produce is water vapor. But they require a new infrastructure for tanking up with hydrogen gas, which, as Tom and Ray note with a nod to the notorious Hindenburg zeppelin accident, is highly flammable.

Must see for car fans.

- David Lennox.

Wombat TV Hit Picks
Tour De France, 6:00pm. Weekdays.

If you are a fan of this already, there is really no need to remind you when and where you should be tuning in.

For mine, watching people ride a bike up a hill is about as entertaining as watching paint dry or watching F1 Cars driving around a track endlessly. It serves no real purpose other than having that odd notion that you kind of know how to speak French.

Watch it or don't watch it - it's up to you.

- David Lennox.

The Return of Maxwell Smart

It seems the only thing that you can rely on in Hollywood these days is that there is no such thing as an old idea. In fact, taking a look at the worldwide Box Office - you'd be hard pressed to find a single film based on an original idea.

From the slew of Comic Book adaptions (The Incredible Hulk, Iron Man, The Dark Knight) to books (Chronicles of Narnia, Harry Potter, Horton Hears A Who), old facourites (Rocky, Rambo, Indiana Jones) to old cartoons and TV series (Speed Racer, Sex And The City... and now Get Smart).

It seems audiences just can't get enough of nostalgia. But is it new? No - in fact, the entertainment industry has been mining nostalgia for years... it's just it's taken this long for them to actually get it right. Looking back over the years, nostalgia based programs were usually woeful TV movies based on Gilligans Island or The Brady Bunch - now we have A List celebs lining up to get their hands on old property (Steve Carrell with Get Smart or George Clooney in Oceans 11).

So what better time to take a look back at the good, the bad and the downright ugly. Below we have sample from the original 1965 series of Get Smart. From there, we have a scene from the Box Office flop Maxwell Smart movie "The Nude Bomb" from the 80s. Then, to finish up, the woeful 1995 remake of the TV Series starring.... Andy Dick... need we say more?

Enjoy.

Got a classic leader moment we missed, or want to see another Rare TV Show? Let us know - write to us here: Web Wombat.