Pretty fly for a white guy: The Girls next Door
Genre: Reality | Posted January 27, 2008

Article by Joe Bitz

I will not make fun of the ladies on The Girls Next Door, the show that follows the hilarious highs and dizzying lows of Hugh Hefner's girlfriends, because after spending two episodes with Hugh's three girlfriends I couldn't feel better about myself.  I have always resented celebrities to some degree for their unbalanced and undeserved fortunes, but it is fantastic to know that I am neither 34 with a 9 pm curfew or 23 with an 80+ partner (and am still waiting for the two other girlfriends ahead of me to age out before I can share the main bed).

The only real tragedy of The Girls Next Door is that it wrecks every 15-yr old boy masturbatory fantasy when the girls talk, with lines like, "People assume, because I'm Hef's girlfriend, that I'm a Bunny and I'm a Playmate and I'm a centerfold, but they're different things".  It is sort of like listening to The Offspring circa 2000, in that you know it's not going to be great, but you're just hoping for a glimpse of Come Out and Play to make the experience worth it. Instead, it's Pretty Fly for an hour, and no amount of girls showering together is going to change the wrist-cutting and diary-writing sadness which that brings.

Where Eagles Dare: Flight of the Conchords
Genre: Kiwi Comedy | Posted January 28, 2008

Article by Greg White

Let’s take a squizz at Flight of the Conchords,  an understated, ace comedy which follows the exploits of ''New Zealand's fourth most popular folk parody duo”. The show is executive-produced by James Bobin from Da Ali G Show and has , “The Office”, doco style production .
I was as mad as a cut snake that there wasn’t any campy referrences to bands like the Hoodoo Gurus, Midnight Oil, INXS or Silverchair but then again I have to keep reminding myself that they are not from Australia. This won’t stop me from using Australian slang referrences in this article, besides the main mates in the show, Bret McKenzie and Jemaine Clement are continuously mistaken as Ozzies. Holy Dooley!
Brett and Jermain, are harmless, awkward and polite, so obviously they are very hard to dislike, even if they are a couple of ridgy didge galahs in Op shop apparel without a brass razoo to their names.
Knockers have given the show a gobful  likening it to a one joke, Saturday Night Like sketch stretched into a season long sitcom. Come now, there’s no reason to spit the dummy. I”ll admit it’s not as much fun as having a naughty with a bluey but I would encourage all you blokes and sheilas to give it a fair go even if the humour is as dry as a dead Dingo’s donger. The spontaneous musical numbers in MTV video design are generally hysterical, given lyrics like, ''You're so beautiful...Like a tree, or a high-class prostitute...You could be a part-time model...But you'd probably still have to keep your normal job.''
I may have a few kangaroos loose in the top paddock  but “Conchords” is full on. For now, Hooroo as some Westie, nicked me VB from the boot of my Holden.
*translations for Australian slang can be found at http://www.koalanet.com.au/australian-slang.html

Where do the boys go?: The Hills
Genre: Reality | Posted January 28, 2008

Article by Laura Ryan

What’s so real and what’s so wrong with The Hills, a season one retrospective.

Please keep in mind, this assessment is completely biased by my middle class, and blue collar sensibilities.  There is just no denying the salaciousness of the lives of those overly indulged and mysteriously upwardly mobile under-agers found on the Hills.

Let’s start with the backdrop and the obvious, that is if we are to believe that L.C. of Laguna Beach (fame?) is out of the burbs and into the parallel universe of Los Angeles, accompanied by her band of beautiful and trust funded cronies. 

Frankly, I am impressed by the fact that L.C. and Whitney seem to be balancing the triple ‘realities’ of full-time students, part-time interns, and reality show ‘actresses.’ They are further strategically positioned as the models of morality and maturity within the context of the group (cast). Heidi’s emergence from fashion school dropout to PR executive is frighteningly one of the more realistic characterizations, while hard-working Audrina, sits comfortably in her largely drama-free vacuum, operating in contrast to the others. However, my genuine regard runs thin from here. This series is contradictions a plenty.  

Just how does a girl score such a seemingly lucrative internship at Teen Vogue, and then through her days of apparel steaming, folding, IM-ing, gossiping, and swag bag stuffing, develop the skill and credibility to pitch, organize and pull off  what I am to believe is a relatively high profile fashion show?  Does anyone find this odd? It is definitely odd and unlikely without an army of experts.

Their professional credibility is head-shakingly beyond their age and experience but their emotional maturity is completely en pointe, respective to the age and stage of each cast member. 

L.C. ditches a summer internship in Paris for a self-absorbed dick in a beach house.  Yep, typical dumb-girl decision for someone who is 18 or 25 or ahem, 31…whatever. Single sucks sometimes.

Whitney capitalizes on L.C.’s foolishly squandered opportunity in Paris while Heidi fools around with her own self absorbed dick and plans a summer of skanky dirt-baggery, er, serial monogamy with Audrina.  Meh.  

Eighteen year olds fumbling through love, life, and career choices? I love it!  Will there be real repercussions for those real-life choices?  Ummm, I hope so and suspect that if there wasn’t a list of scores of support staff listed in the end credits, then yes there would be! I dare say there may be a wee bit of real tweaking and real supportive manipulation involved as the real drama of season two unfolds.