This is a show I never thought I'd have liked. It's a fairly droll period soap opera set in 1950s Australia. I've mainly been watching it with my family and while it's far from appointment television, it's weirdly enjoyable and I am confounded that I can't really explain why. I guess its main appeal is that it's just interesting enough while also being very down-to-earth and relaxing. There's something about the overall atmosphere and scenic setting that's soothing to take in. The show delves into darker territory fairly often, namely with how it presents casual antisemitism, homophobia and other religious intolerance that ran rampant in the era it's set in, but it never becomes overbearingly grim like many soaps. Contrasting these relevant issues against a sunny '50s backdrop in fact enhances how normalised these prejudices were... and, in many places, still are.
I was never huge on Downton Abbey but this show gives an Australian take on a similar premise as we follow the Blighs, an upper class family tackling their upper class struggles. Some enjoyable characters include Regina (Jenni Baird), an almost comically evil, manipulative and melodramatic vamp, and the stern house matriarch Elizabeth (Noni Hazelhurst).
It may not sound like much in this era of "Quality Television" productions, but I'd say give it a chance. Considering how much of a dark horse hit this show has proven to be all over the world, there ought to be at least some truth in there.
Relaxing daytime/quarantine telly
This is a show I never thought I'd have liked. It's a fairly droll period soap opera set in 1950s Australia. I've mainly been watching it with my family and while it's far from appointment television, it's weirdly enjoyable and I am confounded that I can't really explain why. I guess its main appeal is that it's just interesting enough while also being very down-to-earth and relaxing. There's something about the overall atmosphere and scenic setting that's soothing to take in. The show delves into darker territory fairly often, namely with how it presents casual antisemitism, homophobia and other religious intolerance that ran rampant in the era it's set in, but it never becomes overbearingly grim like many soaps. Contrasting these relevant issues against a sunny '50s backdrop in fact enhances how normalised these prejudices were... and, in many places, still are.
I was never huge on Downton Abbey but this show gives an Australian take on a similar premise as we follow the Blighs, an upper class family tackling their upper class struggles. Some enjoyable characters include Regina (Jenni Baird), an almost comically evil, manipulative and melodramatic vamp, and the stern house matriarch Elizabeth (Noni Hazelhurst).
It may not sound like much in this era of "Quality Television" productions, but I'd say give it a chance. Considering how much of a dark horse hit this show has proven to be all over the world, there ought to be at least some truth in there.