God I hate elections. They’re like boxing matches; you just wish the punching was over and you knew who the winner was. Plus, on election night, it will be hours and hours and hours before a real result is known. Last time, I recall Chris Trotter confidently predicting (again) the demise of the Labour Party on the strength of, oh, about five percent of votes counted.
Just so you can organise your travel plans, campaign advertising starts August 17. Here’s how the Electoral Commission makes its decision about how much money parties get for advertising. It doesn’t seem like a level playing field, but then again, $1.1 million worth of New Zealand First advertising would probably give us all brain aneurysms.
But on to more interesting things. Veronica Mars is so fulfilling my need to see a teenage girl hero, with or without superpowers. Anyway, being unbelievably cool is kind of like having a superpower isn’t it? Tick them off: she’s an outsider; she’s got mad skills; she’s got a dog called Backup (as in “Take Backup.” Heh); she has Buffy-level verbal comebacks. Veronica is also as slick as her dad’s shiny bald head, unlike The O.C., which clunked along and is only saved by Adam Brody (Seth) and Rachel Bilson (Summer). Also, a show that has Paris Hilton playing a rich bitch who is boffing a local Latino hood on the side and who is ultimately undone by a cellphone call is well worth an hour on Friday night. Here’s an excellent interview on salon.com with Veronica creator Rob Thomas. Heather Havrilesky also loved the show.
At the conclusion of the pretty excellent Huff a couple of weeks back, a naughty little continuity announcer on TV1 claimed that the producers hadn’t made any decisions on whether another series would be made. A friend has pointed out that it would have taken, oh, maybe two seconds to discover that another series was going ahead, and that US cable network Showtime has announced that Sharon Stone is going to be guest starring. Of course, whether TV1’s announcement had anything to do with the fact that Prime has bought the second series of Huff and will be screening it next year, I couldn’t possibly say. Prime’s foray into local drama, Interrogation is starting in September.
It may surprise you to know that a comedy initiative is, as we speak, going on at TV2. I shit you not. They’re one-off comedies and started with the Back of the Y’s Bogan’s Heroes, which I totally forgot to tape. This could be something to do with the fact that the programmes are on at around 11.30 on a Wednesday night. Peter Cox, creator of the excellent Insiders Guide, has emailed with plugging pleas – his comedy is called Talent, and is about depressed children’s party entertainers. It’s on Wednesday night at 11.25pm. Please – support local comedy. Buy a VCR.
Really liking Desperate Housewives, principally because I didn’t think it would be so funny. Also, they’re not overdoing the slapstick, which is very easy to do for no good reason. Even the naked Susan in a bush thing was okay, because it moved along the storyline with Mike the plumber who is probably not a plumber. Sadly, no more Deadwood on a Monday night, but it has been replaced by Shameless, the Paul Abbott drama that looks brilliant. A bit like Outrageous Fortune if it was on a working-class estate near Manchester. Although I don’t think anyone’s trying to go straight. So not like Outrageous Fortune at all. Here’s an interview with Abbott that explains a lot.
Fantastic interview with Joss Whedon here which is fascinating about the writing process and the processing of writers in Hollywood too. There’s a new Serenity trailer here.