Underbelly - is it one of the best Australian dramas in recent years??

[PlainSimpleJoel]

So tonight, is Wednesday night, and that means it's the night for Underbelly. Over the last few weeks, there has always been something which has left me stunned. Not sure what will happen tonight, but I feel something will happen.

Also, how do people think it's rates against other Australian dramas, as I can't remember an Australian drama, that has made me interested in watching it, as most of dramas suck (eg Neighbours, Home & Away, etc)

 

[Orac Zen]

Re: Underbelly - is it one of the best Australian dramas in recent yea

It's by a vast distance the best Australian show in years.

Usually our "dramas" are cringeworthy, particularly on commercial TV - drivel like All Saints and the completely ludicrous Blue Heelers (a small town in rural Victoria coming across as the centre of all crime on the planet), and pathetic soapy crap like Neighbours and Home and Away are just embarrassing and present our capacity to produce watchable television in a very poor light. Underbelly is extraordinary for one simple reason: Unless the viewer has been living under a rock (or in another country) for the past decade or so s/he basically knows everything that is going to happen in this show...and yet when those things do happen, the impact is stunning. It's utterly compelling in a way few, if any, Australian shows have ever been.

I very, very rarely find myself agreeing with critics but this is one show where they're spot-on. Hopefully Underbelly will make its way overseas and demonstrate that Australia can produce top-shelf television.

Edit: Info about the show.

 

[Darth Picardous]

Re: Underbelly - is it one of the best Australian dramas in recent yea

Well we have to wait until that stupid trial ends until we can see it on TV-officially.

 

[firehawk12]

Re: Underbelly - is it one of the best Australian dramas in recent yea

How does it compare to the only other Australian drama that I'm aware of, McLeod's Daughters?

 

[Orac Zen]

Re: Underbelly - is it one of the best Australian dramas in recent yea

McLeod's Daughters isn't a drama. It's a soapy fantasy that bears no resemblance whatsoever to the real world it claims to be set in.

Basically, there's no comparison whatsoever.

 

[PlainSimpleJoel]

Re: Underbelly - is it one of the best Australian dramas in recent yea

I could never understand the popularity behind McLeod's Daughters. It was more like a soap, in a rural setting.

 

[firehawk12]

Re: Underbelly - is it one of the best Australian dramas in recent yea

Four sisters... on a farm... with funny accents! What's not to like?

 

[Mitty]

Re: Underbelly - is it one of the best Australian dramas in recent yea

Well we have to wait until that stupid trial ends until we can see it on TV-officially.

Yep, sadly I'm in Melbourne. But that hasn't stopped me travelling up to Tocumwal to see the entire 13 episodes in my TARDIS

It's great, but technical problems aplenty, from modern day trams somehow magically appearing in scenes set in 1999 and buildings in the background that weren't even built back then.

But apart from that it was pretty good. A guy a work with was an extra in some of the Purana office scenes.

 

[firehawk12]

Re: Underbelly - is it one of the best Australian dramas in recent yea

Oh, so wait, this is just a dramatisation of a real story?

 

[Candlelight]

Re: Underbelly - is it one of the best Australian dramas in recent yea

It's certainly one of the Australian dramas in recent years.

Yeah, I missed a word out, big whoop, wanna fight about it?

 

[Darth Picardous]

Re: Underbelly - is it one of the best Australian dramas in recent yea

Well we have to wait until that stupid trial ends until we can see it on TV-officially.

Yep, sadly I'm in Melbourne. But that hasn't stopped me travelling up to Tocumwal to see the entire 13 episodes in my TARDIS

It's great, but technical problems aplenty, from modern day trams somehow magically appearing in scenes set in 1999 and buildings in the background that weren't even built back then.

But apart from that it was pretty good. A guy a work with was an extra in some of the Purana office scenes.

Tocumwal eh? I was there last week and asked how Underbelly was going to a few locals, and they said they don't get to see it either due to the broadcatser being in Cobram!!!!! An everyone else only has the first 10 episodes on DVD, dont know where the last 3 have gone.

 

[PlainSimpleJoel]

Re: Underbelly - is it one of the best Australian dramas in recent yea

Oh, so wait, this is just a dramatisation of a real story?

Absolutely ... that is why some names can't be mentioned on the show like Mr T and Mr L. I saw the other day a book that Judith Moran (Jason's mother) wrote.

 

[StarMan]

Re: Underbelly - is it one of the best Australian dramas in recent yea

Nothing beats FIRE.

 

[NCC1701]

Re: Underbelly - is it one of the best Australian dramas in recent yea

I haven't seen Underbelly, but it was cancelled because of low viewership after 3 episodes here. Fox, is that you?

 

[firehawk12]

Re: Underbelly - is it one of the best Australian dramas in recent yea

Wikipedia says they brought it back after fan outcry in NZ.?