The Chaser and Seven’s The Unbelievable Truth goes into production this week
The Chaser team and Channel Seven will go into production on their new show this week.
The Unbelievable Truth is produced by The Chaser team’s Giant Dwarf productions and adapted from the BBC Radio4 show of the same name, co-created by The Goodies’ Graeme Garden – who gets a ‘co-creator’ title on this new version.
A panel style show, the program will feature comedians trying to trick each other into believing lies “while smuggling unbelievable but true facts past each other”.
Hosted by The Chaser’s Craig Reucassel, Julian Morrow and Andrew Hansen will be team captains.
We went to the first record last night, and the Unbelievable Truth was that is wasn’t too bad.
Graeme Garden chatted to the audience at the start of things and kept a fatherly watch over the proceedings, while Julian Morrow did his best EP impression and Craig Reucassel was as unflappable as usual. Andrew Hanson stole the show in a reprise of the Alan Davies role from QI (which this show seems to borrow a lot of the set-up & interaction from). Guest comedians, Cal Wilson, Scott Dooley performed commenably & Toby Truslove gave a suprising comedic turn co-starring with chickens.
Nonetheless, for a first-up outing it went well and surprisiongly smoothly, with the irony that the best and most genuinely funny bits will end up in the AVID recycle bin, according to Craig’s numerous assertations that this is, after all, going to air on Channel 7.
Well done boys, thanks for spreading the love around & taking some money from 7, which might leave some budget at the ABC for other up & comers.
Love to hear a positive review Pagent! I admit that I was at first quite sceptical of this format in Australia, and worried about the over-saturation of the Chaser boys (does anyone else do Comedy in Australia?)
However your review is all good news. Will be interesting to see what makes the air and what doesn’t. I guess a lot will depend on timeslot…will 7 try and force this as primetime entertainment at 8pm? Or perhaps let it be a bit naughtier at 9pm?
As far as comedy goes we’ve decided that Working Dog and The Chaser are our comedy reps for the entire country..its great isn’t it..really really diverse and innovative?
Too be fair Doug, I’ve been trying to get some new comedy going in Australia for a year now. It’s much harder that you’d think, since most broadcast hours for local content are reserved for reality TV these days.
The return of a skit show like Big Bite, or some great unique scripted comedy – it’s all I want. But it’s hard. So until then, I’m happy with the Chaser and Working Dog, at least they are pretty consistent in their quality (unlike Ben Elton),
I’m not doubting the quality of the Chaser or Working Dog at all, they both have a good track record, you could release Frontline tomorrow and it would be cutting edge TV. Its just that we don’t throw the net very wide with regard to comedy. Note to all aspiring people trying to get something going on TV, build and audience online first, TV hasn’t got the money nor are they interested in innovation, so don’t waste your time. There’s a massive shift going on right across the world in terms of how we view content and free to air TV, unless you come through the same old channels of development aren’t the least bit interested in your concepts. Sounds dire..but in fact means that you have more control over your career than you think. Good luck!
As an aspiring producer with a bucketful of NEW (yes NEW) formats/ideas (only one could be called Comedy) I take on board your comments Doug with a mixture of hope and apprehension. FTA networks are throwing s**tloads of $ at OLD formats that crowd the genre (The Renovators & Excess Baggage to name a few) and are surprised they don’t rate?? A paint -by-numbers approach to programming will always result in mediocrity. Isn’t it better (and easier now with digital side channels) to throw just a few $ at something new & unseen from someone new & untried, and if it flies – gret result & big kudos all round, and if it fails – no big $ lost & damage mitigated to a side show.
Isit just me or does anyone else think that’s a far smarter (albeit rikier in the first instance) way to go?