Good News Week
Encyclopedia
Good News Week is an Australian satirical
panel game
show hosted by Paul McDermott
that initially aired from 19 April 1996 to 27 May 2000, and resumed on 11 February 2008 to 9 May 2011. The show aired first on ABC TV
before it was bought by Network Ten
in 1999. On 17 January 2008, the programme was renewed for a new run on Network Ten starting with a sixth season after the 2007–2008 Writers Guild of America strike
caused many of Ten's imported US programmes to cease production. The show had since been renewed for four further seasons.
Good News Week draws its comedy and satire from recent news stories, political figures, media organizations, and often, aspects of the show itself
. The show typically opens with a long monologue from Paul McDermott relating to recent headlines. Afterwards, two teams, with two permanent captains and four guests, compete in recurring segments to answer questions.
The show has spawned two short-lived spin-off
series, the ABC's Good News Weekend (1998) and Ten's GNW Night Lite (1999). A third spin-off titled, Good News World, premiered on 5 September 2011 on Network Ten.
, although host Paul McDermott says that the idea behind the show, "of looking at the news in a satirical way, the week's events, 'this is the week that was
', goes back to early radio programmes." Executive producer Ted Robinson has said that the show's humour is usually less genteel than Have I Got News For You as the British series is aimed at an older, over-fifty audience whereas Good News Week is most popular among the 18 to 39 age group. "We are at the rabid mongrel end of the market," he says.
in which he dissects newsworthy events in a humorous manner. He concludes by declaring, "and that's the good news!" and throwing his newspaper clippings in the air, after which an air cannon expels more newspaper clippings all over the stage. The episode's six panellists, divided into two teams, are then introduced. Teams are captained by the two regular panellists, radio comedian Mikey Robins
and stand-up comedian Claire Hooper
. The four guest panellists consist of a combination of comedians, media personalities and occasionally politicians.
The series premiered on the ABC
on 12 April 1996, with an initial order of 50 episodes. The ABC was initially apprehensive about executive producer Ted Robinson's choice of Paul McDermott for host. He had dreadlocks
at the time, and was best known for the crude, aggressive "bad boy" character he had played in the Doug Anthony All Stars
. In addition, it was doubted that he was capable of ad libbing and speaking well, as in past interviews he had usually allowed his fellow band members to do most of the talking. McDermott cut off his dreadlocks for the show and succeeded in broadening his appeal by showing a gentler, more charming side as host. He has said that although he feels there are still elements of his more aggressive character in Good News Week, they are "toned down... I've got to be the generous host now, spin-the-wheel sort of thing. I'm basing myself on Mike Brady
now. I'm the disciplinarian." Mikey Robins was a part of the series from its beginning as one of the team captains. Both Judith Lucy
and Anthony Ackroyd
briefly participated as the second team captain before Julie McCrossin
took on the role.
The show initially struggled to gain a following, and McDermott admits that the early shows were "a little wobbly" and that he was not quite sure of the role he was supposed to be playing. "After only six episodes the critics said we were goners," says Robins. "In fact, the first publicity we got said we were axed." In late 1996, while facing budget cuts, the ABC announced the cancellation of Good News Week, but later reversed the decision. The series grew in popularity and by 1997 was attracting an average of 750,000 viewers nationally, occasionally beating commercial stations in the ratings.
In 1999, Network Ten purchased the rights to Good News Week in a reported $6 million deal after outbidding the Seven Network
, the Nine Network
and the ABC. The show's move to commercial television sparked outrage among some fans, who felt that this was a 'sell-out', but the show's staff expressed optimism about the change, describing it as a new challenge and a chance to reinvent themselves. Robins has described ABC as a channel that allows new talent to find their feet, and argued that as Good News Week had achieved this it was time to move on and make way for other performers. He added that Ten had allowed the writers great artistic freedom, perhaps even more than the ABC had permitted. "We can be even crueller about the Government without getting messages from on high," he said. The show retained all of its stars and the majority of writers and technical staff after the transition.
Among the show's guest panellists were Adam Spencer
, Margaret Scott, Peter Berner
, Amanda Keller
, Tanya Bulmer, Anthony Morgan, Rod Quantock
, Rove McManus
, Johanna Griggs
and Hugh Jackman
, as well as several political figures such as Democrat
senator Natasha Stott Despoja
, then-Minister for Justice and Customs Amanda Vanstone
and Deputy Prime Minister of Australia
Tim Fischer
. Amanda Keller, a frequent panellist, advised guests of the show to "talk, no matter what... Err on the side of verbal diarrhoea because they can always cut things out."
Ten cancelled the series in 2000, but early in 2001 announced that it had struck a deal for a limited series of Good News Week specials and debates.
had initially intended only to bring back Good News Week as a one-off special, the short supply of US shows resulting from the 2007–2008 Writers Guild of America strike
caused the network to take an interest in developing more local programmes and the show returned as a weekly series. The revived series premiered on 11 February 2008 with McDermott reprising his role as host. Robins returned as a team captain and comedian Claire Hooper replaced McCrossin as the opposing captain.
Many segments from the show's initial run, such as "What's the Story?", "Strange But True", "Magazine Mastermind", "Buzzers of Death" and "Warren", are largely unchanged, while others have been updated or renamed such as "So You Think You Can Mime?" (formerly "Bad Street Theatre") and "Blow Up Your Pants (formerly "Scattergories"). New segments include "Couch Potato" and "Dirty Sexy Fast Money", the show's weekly final challenge.
The programme is available for streaming via the Ten website, and also available for download as a vodcast. The main differences between the broadcast version and the vodcast are the presence of a larger Ten watermark in the lower right corner, and the use of generic opening music instead of the original theme song used in the broadcast version.
On 10 November 2008, Network Ten announced that a new season of Good News Week would be produced and aired in 2009. In the 2009 season the final round "Dirty Sexy Fast Money" changed its name to "Kevin Rudd
's Fast Money". A new season premiered on 1 February.
On 14 September 2010, Network Ten announced that a ninth season of Good News Week would be produced and aired in 2011.
, who were away working in Britain at the time. The show was hosted by McDermott and featured regular team captains Robins and McCrossin. Unlike the weekly show, Good News Weekend was focussed more strongly on popular culture than the news and frequently featured musical guests and stand-up performers. The shows were broadcast live, with the exception of a few prerecorded sketches.
and The Sandman. Like Good News Weekend, it was focussed on music and variety and games tended to relate to popular culture rather than current events. There would also generally be a musical act and Flacco and The Sandman would perform humorous monologues and dialogues between segments. McDermott describes the show as having been "a fairly radical departure" and says that they initially struggled with it, but by 2000 had found a combination with which they were comfortable.
announced on 11 August 2011, that they would be resting Good News Week and introducing a new spin-off titled, Good News World. The series premiered on 5 September 2011. Paul McDermott, Mikey Robins and Claire Hooper returned. The spin-off series is reportedly "more skit-based series [than Good News Week]."
in the category of Comedy – Sketch or Light Entertainment (script) in 2009 and 2010.
Satire
Satire is primarily a literary genre or form, although in practice it can also be found in the graphic and performing arts. In satire, vices, follies, abuses, and shortcomings are held up to ridicule, ideally with the intent of shaming individuals, and society itself, into improvement...
panel game
Panel game
A panel game or panel show is a radio or television game show in which a panel of celebrities participates. Panelists may compete with each other, such as on The News Quiz; facilitate play by guest contestants, such as on Match Game/Blankety Blank; or do both, such as on Wait Wait.....
show hosted by Paul McDermott
Paul McDermott (comedian)
Paul McDermott is an Australian comedian, actor, writer, director, singer, artist and television host. He currently hosts the satirical news-based 'Good News World' a follow up to quiz show Good News Week which airs in Australia on Network Ten...
that initially aired from 19 April 1996 to 27 May 2000, and resumed on 11 February 2008 to 9 May 2011. The show aired first on ABC TV
ABC1
ABC1 was a United Kingdom based television channel from Disney using the branding of the Disney owned American network, ABC.The channel initially launched exclusively on the British digital terrestrial television platform Freeview on 27 September 2004. On 10 December 2004 it was launched on...
before it was bought by Network Ten
Network Ten
Network Ten , is one of Australia's three major commercial television networks. Owned-and-operated stations can be found in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide and Perth, while affiliates extend the network to cover most of the country...
in 1999. On 17 January 2008, the programme was renewed for a new run on Network Ten starting with a sixth season after the 2007–2008 Writers Guild of America strike
2007–2008 Writers Guild of America strike
The 2007–2008 Writers Guild of America strike, more commonly referred to as simply the Writers' Strike, was a strike by the Writers Guild of America, East and the Writers Guild of America, West ....
caused many of Ten's imported US programmes to cease production. The show had since been renewed for four further seasons.
Good News Week draws its comedy and satire from recent news stories, political figures, media organizations, and often, aspects of the show itself
Self-referential humor
Self-referential humor or self-reflexive humor is a type of comedic expression that—either directed toward some other subject, or openly directed toward itself—intentionally alludes to the very person who is expressing the humor in a comedic fashion, or to some specific aspect of that...
. The show typically opens with a long monologue from Paul McDermott relating to recent headlines. Afterwards, two teams, with two permanent captains and four guests, compete in recurring segments to answer questions.
The show has spawned two short-lived spin-off
Spin-off (media)
In media, a spin-off is a radio program, television program, video game, or any narrative work, derived from one or more already existing works, that focuses, in particular, in more detail on one aspect of that original work...
series, the ABC's Good News Weekend (1998) and Ten's GNW Night Lite (1999). A third spin-off titled, Good News World, premiered on 5 September 2011 on Network Ten.
Format
Good News Weeks format is based on that of the British programme Have I Got News For YouHave I Got News for You
Have I Got News for You is a British television panel show produced by Hat Trick Productions for the BBC. It is based loosely on the BBC Radio 4 show The News Quiz, and has been broadcast since 1990, currently the BBC's longest-ever running television panel show...
, although host Paul McDermott says that the idea behind the show, "of looking at the news in a satirical way, the week's events, 'this is the week that was
That Was The Week That Was
That Was The Week That Was, also known as TW3, is a satirical television comedy programme that was shown on BBC Television in 1962 and 1963. It was devised, produced and directed by Ned Sherrin and presented by David Frost...
', goes back to early radio programmes." Executive producer Ted Robinson has said that the show's humour is usually less genteel than Have I Got News For You as the British series is aimed at an older, over-fifty audience whereas Good News Week is most popular among the 18 to 39 age group. "We are at the rabid mongrel end of the market," he says.
Monologue
McDermott opens each show with a scripted monologueMonologue
In theatre, a monologue is a speech presented by a single character, most often to express their thoughts aloud, though sometimes also to directly address another character or the audience. Monologues are common across the range of dramatic media...
in which he dissects newsworthy events in a humorous manner. He concludes by declaring, "and that's the good news!" and throwing his newspaper clippings in the air, after which an air cannon expels more newspaper clippings all over the stage. The episode's six panellists, divided into two teams, are then introduced. Teams are captained by the two regular panellists, radio comedian Mikey Robins
Mikey Robins
Mikel Mason "Mikey" Robins is an Australian media personality, comedian and writer. He is best-known for the satirical game show Good News Week, which ran on the ABC and Network Ten between 1996 and 2000, and returned again when the series was resurrected in February 2008.-Personal life/health...
and stand-up comedian Claire Hooper
Claire Hooper
Claire Hooper is an Australian stand-up comedian and writer. She appeared as a team captain on the 2008 revival of Good News Week on Network Ten and previously was a regular on The Sideshow, appearing with Paul McDermott...
. The four guest panellists consist of a combination of comedians, media personalities and occasionally politicians.
Recurring segments
The monologue is followed by a number of recurring segments. Over a series of rounds, the competing teams attempt to score points by participating in games relating to the news of the week. However, McDermott often allocates additional points such as for flattery, particularly witty comments, creative incorrect answers or to orchestrate the defeat of Robins' team; similarly, he may confiscate them such as for heckling, misbehaviour or poor, “dad joke” type humour. Each segment is concluded with a short monologue by McDermott about the news story of game, and the whole show concluded by a monologue discussing “the good news for the week ahead”. Other than McDermott’s monologues, the show is entirely unscripted although some parts of the show require rehearsal when using certain types of props. Each episode usually features four to six different games in addition to the regular segment “Strange But True”.Initial run (1996–2000)
ABC1
ABC1 was a United Kingdom based television channel from Disney using the branding of the Disney owned American network, ABC.The channel initially launched exclusively on the British digital terrestrial television platform Freeview on 27 September 2004. On 10 December 2004 it was launched on...
on 12 April 1996, with an initial order of 50 episodes. The ABC was initially apprehensive about executive producer Ted Robinson's choice of Paul McDermott for host. He had dreadlocks
Dreadlocks
Dreadlocks, also called locks, a ras, dreads, "rasta" or Jata , are matted coils of hair. Dreadlocks are usually intentionally formed; because of the variety of different hair textures, various methods are used to encourage the formation of locks such as backcombing...
at the time, and was best known for the crude, aggressive "bad boy" character he had played in the Doug Anthony All Stars
Doug Anthony All Stars
The Doug Anthony All Stars were an Australian musical comedy group who performed together between 1984 and 1994. The band was an acoustic trio comprising Paul McDermott and Tim Ferguson on main vocals and Richard Fidler on guitar and backing vocals...
. In addition, it was doubted that he was capable of ad libbing and speaking well, as in past interviews he had usually allowed his fellow band members to do most of the talking. McDermott cut off his dreadlocks for the show and succeeded in broadening his appeal by showing a gentler, more charming side as host. He has said that although he feels there are still elements of his more aggressive character in Good News Week, they are "toned down... I've got to be the generous host now, spin-the-wheel sort of thing. I'm basing myself on Mike Brady
Mike Brady
Michael Brady may refer to:* Michael Brady, retired U.S.-English soccer player, coach of the American University women’s soccer team* Mike Brady , American professional golfer* Mike Brady , Australian musician...
now. I'm the disciplinarian." Mikey Robins was a part of the series from its beginning as one of the team captains. Both Judith Lucy
Judith Lucy
Judith Mary Lucy is an Australian comedian, known primarily for her stand-up comedy. She has toured Australia with several highly successful one-woman shows, including No Waiter I Ordered the Avocado , King Of The Road , An Impossible Dream , The Show , The Show 2 , Colour Me Judith...
and Anthony Ackroyd
Anthony Ackroyd
Anthony Ackroyd is an Australian comedian, speaker and writer. He is currently a cast member of the ABC radio comedy show "Thank God It's Friday!"...
briefly participated as the second team captain before Julie McCrossin
Julie McCrossin
Julie McCrossin is an Australian radio broadcaster, journalist, comedian and campaigner for women's and gay rights. She is best known for her role as a team captain on the news-based comedy quiz show Good News Week between 1996 and 2000....
took on the role.
The show initially struggled to gain a following, and McDermott admits that the early shows were "a little wobbly" and that he was not quite sure of the role he was supposed to be playing. "After only six episodes the critics said we were goners," says Robins. "In fact, the first publicity we got said we were axed." In late 1996, while facing budget cuts, the ABC announced the cancellation of Good News Week, but later reversed the decision. The series grew in popularity and by 1997 was attracting an average of 750,000 viewers nationally, occasionally beating commercial stations in the ratings.
In 1999, Network Ten purchased the rights to Good News Week in a reported $6 million deal after outbidding the Seven Network
Seven Network
The Seven Network is an Australian television network owned by Seven West Media Limited. It dates back to 4 November 1956, when the first stations on the VHF7 frequency were established in Melbourne and Sydney.It is currently the second largest network in the country in terms of population reach...
, the Nine Network
Nine Network
The Nine Network , is an Australian television network with headquarters based in Willoughby, a suburb located on the North Shore of Sydney. For 50 years since television's inception in Australia, between 1956 and 2006, it was the most watched television network in Australia...
and the ABC. The show's move to commercial television sparked outrage among some fans, who felt that this was a 'sell-out', but the show's staff expressed optimism about the change, describing it as a new challenge and a chance to reinvent themselves. Robins has described ABC as a channel that allows new talent to find their feet, and argued that as Good News Week had achieved this it was time to move on and make way for other performers. He added that Ten had allowed the writers great artistic freedom, perhaps even more than the ABC had permitted. "We can be even crueller about the Government without getting messages from on high," he said. The show retained all of its stars and the majority of writers and technical staff after the transition.
Among the show's guest panellists were Adam Spencer
Adam Spencer
Adam Barrington Spencer is an Australian radio presenter, comedian, and media personality. He first came to fame when he won his round of the comedic talent search Raw Comedy in the mid-1990s...
, Margaret Scott, Peter Berner
Peter Berner
Peter Berner is an Australian comedian, radio and television presenter, probably best known as host of television's The Einstein Factor.-Comedy:He has been involved in the Australian comedy scene since the 1990s...
, Amanda Keller
Amanda Keller
Amanda Rose Keller is an Australian journalist, radio presenter, and media personality.-Education:Keller went to Carlingford High School, and then went on to study media and communications at Charles Sturt University as a contemporary of Andrew Denton...
, Tanya Bulmer, Anthony Morgan, Rod Quantock
Rod Quantock
Rod Quantock is an Australian stand-up comedian and writer. He is known for his peculiar style of stand-up comedy, which is often politically driven, as well as being the face of bed retailer Capt'n Snooze for many years...
, Rove McManus
Rove McManus
John Henry Michael "Rove" McManus is an Australian comedian, television presenter, producer and media personality. He was the host of the self-titled variety show Rove, and is the owner of the production company Roving Enterprises...
, Johanna Griggs
Johanna Griggs
Johanna Leigh Griggs is a former swimmer and current television presenter from Australia.-Swimming career:Griggs represented Australia at the Auckland Commonwealth Games in 1990—winning a bronze medal in the 100m backstroke event....
and Hugh Jackman
Hugh Jackman
Hugh Michael Jackman is an Australian actor and producer who is involved in film, musical theatre, and television.Jackman has won international recognition for his roles in major films, notably as action/superhero, period and romance characters...
, as well as several political figures such as Democrat
Australian Democrats
The Australian Democrats is an Australian political party espousing a socially liberal ideology. It was formed in 1977, by a merger of the Australia Party and the New LM, after principals of those minor parties secured the commitment of former Liberal minister Don Chipp, as a high profile leader...
senator Natasha Stott Despoja
Natasha Stott Despoja
Natasha Jessica Stott Despoja AM is an Australian former politician and former leader of the Australian Democrats. She was a Democrats senator for South Australia from 1995 to 2008...
, then-Minister for Justice and Customs Amanda Vanstone
Amanda Vanstone
Amanda Eloise Vanstone is a former Australian politician and a former Ambassador to Italy. She was a Liberal Senator for South Australia from 1984 to 2007, and held several ministerial portfolios in the Howard Government. After her resignation from the Senate in 2007, she served as the Australian...
and Deputy Prime Minister of Australia
Deputy Prime Minister of Australia
The Deputy Prime Minister of the Commonwealth of Australia is the second-most senior officer in the Government of Australia. The Deputy Prime Ministership has been a ministerial portfolio since 1968, and the Deputy Prime Minister is appointed by the Governor-General on the advice of the Prime...
Tim Fischer
Tim Fischer
Timothy Andrew Fischer, AC , is a former Australian politician. He served as Deputy Prime Minister in the Howard Government from 1996 before retiring from Cabinet in 1999...
. Amanda Keller, a frequent panellist, advised guests of the show to "talk, no matter what... Err on the side of verbal diarrhoea because they can always cut things out."
Ten cancelled the series in 2000, but early in 2001 announced that it had struck a deal for a limited series of Good News Week specials and debates.
Second run (2008–2011)
While Network TenNetwork Ten
Network Ten , is one of Australia's three major commercial television networks. Owned-and-operated stations can be found in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide and Perth, while affiliates extend the network to cover most of the country...
had initially intended only to bring back Good News Week as a one-off special, the short supply of US shows resulting from the 2007–2008 Writers Guild of America strike
2007–2008 Writers Guild of America strike
The 2007–2008 Writers Guild of America strike, more commonly referred to as simply the Writers' Strike, was a strike by the Writers Guild of America, East and the Writers Guild of America, West ....
caused the network to take an interest in developing more local programmes and the show returned as a weekly series. The revived series premiered on 11 February 2008 with McDermott reprising his role as host. Robins returned as a team captain and comedian Claire Hooper replaced McCrossin as the opposing captain.
Many segments from the show's initial run, such as "What's the Story?", "Strange But True", "Magazine Mastermind", "Buzzers of Death" and "Warren", are largely unchanged, while others have been updated or renamed such as "So You Think You Can Mime?" (formerly "Bad Street Theatre") and "Blow Up Your Pants (formerly "Scattergories"). New segments include "Couch Potato" and "Dirty Sexy Fast Money", the show's weekly final challenge.
The programme is available for streaming via the Ten website, and also available for download as a vodcast. The main differences between the broadcast version and the vodcast are the presence of a larger Ten watermark in the lower right corner, and the use of generic opening music instead of the original theme song used in the broadcast version.
On 10 November 2008, Network Ten announced that a new season of Good News Week would be produced and aired in 2009. In the 2009 season the final round "Dirty Sexy Fast Money" changed its name to "Kevin Rudd
Kevin Rudd
Kevin Michael Rudd is an Australian politician who was the 26th Prime Minister of Australia from 2007 to 2010. He has been Minister for Foreign Affairs since 2010...
's Fast Money". A new season premiered on 1 February.
On 14 September 2010, Network Ten announced that a ninth season of Good News Week would be produced and aired in 2011.
Good News Weekend (1998)
In 1998, a ten-week series entitled Good News Weekend aired on the ABC in the Saturday night time slot usually occupied by Roy and HGRoy and HG
Roy & HG is an Australian comedy duo, comprising Greig Pickhaver in the role of "H [Harry] G Nelson" and John Doyle as "'Rampaging' Roy Slaven". Their act is an affectionate but irreverent parody of Australia's obsession with sport. Their characters based on archetypes in sports journalism: Nelson...
, who were away working in Britain at the time. The show was hosted by McDermott and featured regular team captains Robins and McCrossin. Unlike the weekly show, Good News Weekend was focussed more strongly on popular culture than the news and frequently featured musical guests and stand-up performers. The shows were broadcast live, with the exception of a few prerecorded sketches.
GNW Night Lite (1999)
During 1999, a second spin-off was created for Network Ten. GNW Night Lite featured the regular cast, in addition to FlaccoFlacco
Flacco is a fictional character played by Australian author and political cartoonist Paul Livingston.Livingston created the character in 1985, when he got up on stage as part of a bet, and the audience mistook his nervousness for a comedic character...
and The Sandman. Like Good News Weekend, it was focussed on music and variety and games tended to relate to popular culture rather than current events. There would also generally be a musical act and Flacco and The Sandman would perform humorous monologues and dialogues between segments. McDermott describes the show as having been "a fairly radical departure" and says that they initially struggled with it, but by 2000 had found a combination with which they were comfortable.
Good News World (2011)
Network TenNetwork Ten
Network Ten , is one of Australia's three major commercial television networks. Owned-and-operated stations can be found in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide and Perth, while affiliates extend the network to cover most of the country...
announced on 11 August 2011, that they would be resting Good News Week and introducing a new spin-off titled, Good News World. The series premiered on 5 September 2011. Paul McDermott, Mikey Robins and Claire Hooper returned. The spin-off series is reportedly "more skit-based series [than Good News Week]."
Other media
Several items of merchandise were available from ABC stores including- Two books (Good News Week Book One, Good News Week Book Two)
- Two CDs (Paul McDermott Unplugged: The Good News Week Tapes Volume 1, and Live Songs from Good News Week: The Good News Week Tapes Volume 2)
- VHS video (Good News Week: Unseen and Obscene).
Awards
Between 1999 and 2000, Good News Week has been nominated for two Logie Awards in the categories of Most Popular Comedy Program and Most Outstanding Comedy Program. The show has also been awarded an AWGIE AwardsAWGIE Awards
The AWGIE Awards is an annual awards ceremony conducted by the Australian Writers' Guild, for excellence in screen, television, stage and radio writing. The awards began in 1967....
in the category of Comedy – Sketch or Light Entertainment (script) in 2009 and 2010.
See also
- List of Australian television series
- List of Good News Week episodes
- List of Good News Week spin-off series episodes