OK, so I watched the George Negus current affairs show for the first time this evening (as it is appeared to be less vacuous than either ACA or Today Tonight, and I was curious to give it try) and half way through he did a cross to Charlie Pickering on the set of the 7 PM Project. I took it to be parody, but perhaps wasn’t. I watched the first five minutes or so of the 7 PM Project but couldn’t get past the facile earnestness, and wasn’t sure whether or not it was meant to be a piss-take, or for real. I can’t look at Pickering without seeing Rob Sitch as Mike Moore from Frontline, hair and all. So Aussie Dopers, is this meant to be a parody, or is it for reals? And is Pickering being serious, or is he playing a character. Or am I just too old to get it?
No it’s actually news just done by people who don’t do news normally. Hughes and Pickering are stand-up comedians, although Charlie was first a lawyer.
The 7PM Project is a slightly less serious approach to the news that younger people can relate to. It discusses the big topics, usually superficially due to lack of time, but from an angle that isn’t being addressed in the other news programmes, with a sense of humour, and they also attempt to be more balanced than the nonsense on the commercial networks.
My only problem with the show is Dave Hughes. Otherwise I think it’s a good show for those of us who can’t take the biased crap everyone else dishes up.
It’s funny you know. Dave Hughes stand-up slays me but years ago I saw him interviewed. He was talking about the first comedy gigs he did. He died on stage and didn’t know if he could go on. He was talking to a mate about it and his mate said, “What did you expect Dave? You’re not a funny guy.” I couldn’t tell whether it was meant to be a joke but assumed it was and that really he was always funny.
But the 7PM Project makes me think he may have been telling the truth. I’ve known a few comedians over the years and some are hopeless conversationalists. Same thing applies to writers I guess, they can be anything on the page, but dull as dishwater in real life.
I tried to watch it a few times, and you’re right - “facile earnestness” is a spot-on description. I have more of a problem with Dave Hughes, though. He doesn’t strike me as an upstanding type, but always seems a little judgmental on that show. Ok, he’s a comedian, but a lot of what he says is “I wouldn’t let my kids do that”, “my wife wouldn’t let me do that.”
To me, they’re the equivalent of FM radio drive-time announcers, ya know, like Fifi and Jules, Kyle and Jackie O etc, yakking it up about news pieces, being earnest when they think they ought to be, and throwing in plenty of references to their children/babies/whatever. *yawn
Ugh, ACA and Today Tonight, and even the news - I cannot bear to see even one second of those people sitting at their desks, dragging out every snippet of useless information until the next ad.
I am so happy with the internet 
*oh yeah, and maybe we’re both just too old.
ETA Oh, Don’t Ask, we were posting at the same time, and it looks like we’re on the same page too!
I agree.I generally like him on things like Good News Week, or when he was on Rove, but when all he does is tortuous segues and weak interview questions, it’s just an embarrassment. It’s great when he has time off and is replaced by someone actually funny like Denise Scott.