The Librarians
There will be spoilers in this post, if you missed the first episode of The Librarians you can watch it in on the ABC website.
I have been waiting for this show since I saw the original promo clips and as always with an Australian comedy series I was thinking, 'Please Don't Stuff It Up!'. For every Summer Heights High, there are several Comedy Inc's, so the odds are against us getting the yucks we so desperately deserve. The Librarians is following The Chaser's War on Everything and is replacing the incandescent Summer Heights High, it almost seems unfair to drop an untried show into this slot. I wanted to like it, and in the main I did. My viewing was somewhat marred by the lovely company I was in, they were all rather against the show within a few minutes (several glasses of wine and a corresponding rise in chat volume really didn't help) and were suggesting ways it could be improved. All improvements revolved around ripping off either The Office or Summer Heights High. I have just watched it again on the teeny tiny screen on the ABC website and now know exactly what I missed.
Set in Middleton Interactive Learning Centre (Library) it follows the uptight Head Librarian Frances O'Brien and her staff. Frances is just about every kind of 'ist' you can imagine, conveniently her staff fit nicely into the stereotypes that she finds so difficult to deal with (Muslim, ex-Offender, gay, Asian, Gay-sian, disabled, slut, dyslexic, would-be poet etc). An intruder (the slut) clips into Frances' not so idyllic life in the form of her high school bestie who ditched her for a better option back in uni. Frances is forced to hire her as the Children's Librarian when Neil (the ex-Offender) blackmails her with some rather ghoulish intel.
The hand held camera avoids nausea inducing movement, to give a fly on the wall atmosphere that works well - particularly when Frances' big secret is revealed by Neil. The performances from all of the secondary characters are excellent, understated and realistic. The characters are given back story via flash backs and none of them are one dimensional stereotypes (unless viewed through Frances' eyes). The biggest problem with the show at this stage is Robyn Butler (also the Co-writer/producer) as Frances. The character has plenty of reality to her on the page, but she is being played like a caricature. I really hope this aspect settles down next week, because at this point it is rather tricky to get past her very arch delivery of her lines.
I promised spoiler's didn't I? The big secret that Neil is lauding over Frances is that she is responsible for Dawn being a paraplegic. Frances was so enraptured by the view of Lachlan's (dyslexic) jean-clad arse during a team-building ropes course she didn't hang on to the rope, leading to Dawn's accident. Only Neil and Frances know this. It's actually pretty dark when you think about it. This could be very, very interesting.
I have been waiting for this show since I saw the original promo clips and as always with an Australian comedy series I was thinking, 'Please Don't Stuff It Up!'. For every Summer Heights High, there are several Comedy Inc's, so the odds are against us getting the yucks we so desperately deserve. The Librarians is following The Chaser's War on Everything and is replacing the incandescent Summer Heights High, it almost seems unfair to drop an untried show into this slot. I wanted to like it, and in the main I did. My viewing was somewhat marred by the lovely company I was in, they were all rather against the show within a few minutes (several glasses of wine and a corresponding rise in chat volume really didn't help) and were suggesting ways it could be improved. All improvements revolved around ripping off either The Office or Summer Heights High. I have just watched it again on the teeny tiny screen on the ABC website and now know exactly what I missed.
Set in Middleton Interactive Learning Centre (Library) it follows the uptight Head Librarian Frances O'Brien and her staff. Frances is just about every kind of 'ist' you can imagine, conveniently her staff fit nicely into the stereotypes that she finds so difficult to deal with (Muslim, ex-Offender, gay, Asian, Gay-sian, disabled, slut, dyslexic, would-be poet etc). An intruder (the slut) clips into Frances' not so idyllic life in the form of her high school bestie who ditched her for a better option back in uni. Frances is forced to hire her as the Children's Librarian when Neil (the ex-Offender) blackmails her with some rather ghoulish intel.
The hand held camera avoids nausea inducing movement, to give a fly on the wall atmosphere that works well - particularly when Frances' big secret is revealed by Neil. The performances from all of the secondary characters are excellent, understated and realistic. The characters are given back story via flash backs and none of them are one dimensional stereotypes (unless viewed through Frances' eyes). The biggest problem with the show at this stage is Robyn Butler (also the Co-writer/producer) as Frances. The character has plenty of reality to her on the page, but she is being played like a caricature. I really hope this aspect settles down next week, because at this point it is rather tricky to get past her very arch delivery of her lines.
I promised spoiler's didn't I? The big secret that Neil is lauding over Frances is that she is responsible for Dawn being a paraplegic. Frances was so enraptured by the view of Lachlan's (dyslexic) jean-clad arse during a team-building ropes course she didn't hang on to the rope, leading to Dawn's accident. Only Neil and Frances know this. It's actually pretty dark when you think about it. This could be very, very interesting.
posted by Nai at
1:15 am
7 Comments:
I missed it last night, but just watched it on the ABC website.
Your right about Frances being overplayed (Oh my god! She's appalling!), but I think the show will grow on me. Then again, I'd watch anything with Bob Franklin in it.
I suspect I will like it even more as it progresses. I wonder if we can look forward (is that the phrase I'm looking for?) to a Jimoin cameo? Most of his crew are involved (the oddly sexy Franklin, the not at all sexy Wayne Hope). Maybe he could pose as yet another stereotype, the drunk Irish priest. Frances would love him.
Oooh. I missed it, but it sounds awesome. 'Cept for the being on too late thing. But I do love our ABC!
If you can deal with the teeny tiny screen, I recommend having alook on the website, the whole episode is downloadable. Plus there are some amusing tidbits on the site. I particularly loved Lachlan the Sexy Dyslexic's self-written staff file card.
I snuck a peak at it while I was meant to be working, and it seemed a bit low on laughs. Maybe this will be rectified as the series progresses, but there was lots of 'our country, our rules' type jokes that seem a little too try-hard unPC to be really funny.
I miss Summer Heights High.
It could definitely have done with being a little more subtle. The sheer number of jokes based around the 'laugh at the bigot' premise rendered them incredibly unfunny. That, and the ABC solely relying on this material in the promos did halt any shock value that they may have had. I was ready to say 'blah' until the stuff about Dawn's accident came up at the end. Ah well, one way or another I will watch and blog the whole show.
The scene with Bob Franklin threatening Robyn Butler with blackmail was ridiculous. It was his word against hers and there was nothing criminal about what she did. So it was hard to believe he had any leverage against her.
A real person in her situation would've called his parole officer and got rid of him.
The show sucked!
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