Outrageous Fortune is one of the most popular and indeed seminal shows of New Zealand television. A comedy drama about the Wests, a family of New Zealand criminals trying to go straight under the leadership of their mother, Cheryl, while dad Wolf is in prison, it lasted six seasons and 107 episodes, making it the longest running drama series in New Zealand TV history. Without it, the New Zealand TV industry wouldn’t be what it is today as it launched the careers of many both in front of and behind the camera, and shows like The Almighty Johnsons, The Brokenwood Mysteries and The Blue Rose wouldn’t have been made at all.
In fact, the US TV industry would look a little different, too, as not only was there a US remake, Scoundrels*, but Banshee star Antony Starr got his big break in Outrageous Fortune as identical twins Jethro and Van West.
The show finished in 2010 but coming soon to its original home, TV3, is a prequel set in the 70s called Westside. Starting in 1974 and progressing to 1977, the six-part series will tell the story of safecracking granddad, Ted West, and his wife Rita – played again by The Blue Rose’s Antonia Prebble, who played both Rita and Rita’s granddaughter Loretta in the original series – as well as their son Wolf.
And here’s the first trailer! Fans of the original series might spot a few familiar faces, albeit with some fancy moustaches.
* In the UK, Sky Living aired the original series and ITV remade it as Honest, with Amanda Redman.
It’s “What have you been watching?”, my chance to tell you what movies and TV I’ve been watching recently that I haven’t already reviewed and your chance to recommend things to everyone else (and me) in case I’ve missed them.
The usual “TMINE recommends” page features links to reviews of all the shows I’ve ever recommended, and there’s also the Reviews A-Z, for when you want to check more or less anything I’ve reviewed ever. And if you want to know when any of these shows are on in your area, there’s Locate TV – they’ll even email you a weekly schedule.
It’s May Day weekend here in the UK this week, so given the usual Bank Holiday weather, I imagine lots of you have some TV binging to do.
Would Sir or Madam care for some recommendations? I’ve already reviewed Avengers: Age of Ultron elsewhere and after the jump, I’ll be looking at my regular TV viewing: American Crime,American Odyssey,Arrow, The Blacklist, Community,The Flash,Marvel’s Agents of SHIELD and Silicon Valley.
But first, a newbie.
8MMM Aboriginal Radio (Australia: ABC)
8MMM is an Aboriginal-owned radio station in the middle of nowhere that needs a vital influx of training, so a bunch of white people turn up to pass on the benefit of their wisdom to the existing Aboriginal and white staff. Some of the white people are a bit racist, some of them are very earnest and trying very hard not to be racist, some of them want to have sex with Aboriginal people and some of them actually want to be Aboriginal. The Aboriginal people? Well, what a bunch of stereotype-busters they are.
A lot of this is going to be impenetrable to anyone who isn’t well versed in Australian culture – as well as references to Bogans, lots of other bits of Australian slang and disparaging graffiti about Canberra, the warning at the beginning to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island peoples that the show contains images and videos of dead people is also standard enough that I wasn’t sure if 8MMM was taking the piss out of it, given it’s supposed to be a comedy, it’s fictional and there aren’t any dead people in it, or it was supposed to be a genuine warning. Or both.
If it was a joke, it was about the funniest part of the show, though, which was a relatively lifeless affair redeemed only by a diverse cast (most of whom, unfortunately, can’t act) and the occasional bit of comedy, such as a cursed chair in the radio station and a joke about the ’stolen generations’, that poked fun at the show’s own earnest attempts to prove its credentials.
