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TV PROGRAM CANCELLED
K. Viola, of Clayfield, Queensland, notes the latest crushing of freedom:
How absolutely appalling to hear The Glass House is being axed. One of the last vestiges of free speech is disappearing. If anyone thinks we live in a democracy they are in a dream world. Our rights are being eroded with barely a whimper from the masses.
She’s serious, I think.
Even the braindead are entitled to freedom of expression- this is nothing short of a cynical ploy to deprive of freedom of speech to those who’ve already been deprived of oxygen, and also to crush access to the media by the humour-challenged. A sheltered workshop no more, out ABC, meanwhile legions of utterly unfunny leftards roam the blighted inner city, living in skips and ekeing out a miserable existence* between comedy festivals.
What’s more, i had the contract to supply nitrous oxide to Gore Hill, so I’m quids out of pocket- thanks heaps, evil RWDB stacked board!
*Should be a wealth of material in that adversity, chums!
That “barely a whimper from the masses” is a dead giveaway: she’s serious, all right!
I’d bet that reruns of The Two Ronnies would outrate the Glass House by several orders of magnitude.Posted by SwinishCapitalist on 2006 11 03 at 12:42 AM • permalinkThere’s another thread here on the same subject, with plenty of bedwetters and pantywaisters to poke fun at. Enjoy!
BTW, some loser has started a petition to keep the fuck-awful mess on the air, but it seems to have already been compromised- many of the 32 signatures seem to be a little hostile.
Did anyone know that the Glass House had a team of 10 or 12 staff writers? Shit, even if you hook up chimps to typewriters, provided there’s enough of them you’ll eventually get something worthwhile; how could a dozen supposed pros come up with such a pile of dreck, dross and fart jokes that Benny Hill would be ashamed to deliver, week in week out?
These people are the Taliban of comedy.
A surefire winner would be to torture these pricks in a different style for an hour each weak. The audience then votes and we have a live “elimination” the next evening.
Posted by Infidel Tiger on 2006 11 03 at 12:53 AM • permalinkI’ve never watched it, debi L, but let’s run a few likely descriptions up the flagpole and see who salutes:
Puerile
Self-satisfied
Stale
Predictable
Half-bakedAm I on the money here, people?
Posted by SwinishCapitalist on 2006 11 03 at 12:54 AM • permalink#7 Bunch of Lefties basically masturbating about how smart lefties are on TV. Not missing much I promise.
Posted by curious george on 2006 11 03 at 12:54 AM • permalink#1, I have to agree. Ronnie Johns is also one of the few shows on TV to include jokes about Islam. Last night’s sketch with the reconciliation between the suicide bomber and his wife wasn’t bad:
You jihad me at hello
#6, thanks for the link to the petition. Seymour Butts and Hugh Janus have already signed up.Posted by Art Vandelay on 2006 11 03 at 12:57 AM • permalinkI’ve got more laughs out of 2 days worth of moonbat delusion over the show’s axing than I ever did actually watching it.
Hey I’ve got an idea for a new show…Posted by Rachel Corrie's Flatmate on 2006 11 03 at 01:03 AM • permalinkGood grief… The lefties are discussing ‘wit’ and the lack thereof from the Right, in this thread, comments still open!
That petition is a laugh. It would have been a much better laugh though, if Mavis Bramston of TV Heaven had been allowed to register…
Posted by SwinishCapitalist on 2006 11 03 at 01:06 AM • permalink#7- their wacky website might give you an inkling of what their hilarious material entails George bush is stupid….John Howard is short, with big eyebrows…...whoops, I just farted!!
I’ve just penned the last four years scripts.
I’m enjoying trolling the threads pissing and moaning about the shows demise, licking up the tears of loss like Eric Cartman.
BTW, some of the threads show an astonishingly poor grasp of commercial reality, even by moonbat standards- there’s been heaps of mongs saying things like show the ABC, go to Channel 10 and get a big salary! Igores the fact that if it had any potential it would have been swiped by 10 years ago- they’ve got form for grabbing anythin that rates, even from the ABC, and no matter how Godawful; dropping about 700,000 viewers from the previous crap show would not make TGH an attractive proposition to any programming manager, even at a public broadcaster.
Agree that Ronnie Johns is the only thing I’ve seen to poke fun at Islam, and the Chopper Read sketches are usually a hoot.
I’d like to see a show involving the Glass House cast, Chopper, several slabs of VB, many loaded weapons, a set of boltcutters, an oxyacetelyne kit and a woodchipper.
Now there’s ratings gold.
Pfeh, good riddance to THAT mess. If it’s relevant humor people want, Doctor Who has actually managed the occasional political jab without being obnoxious. Plus, you get aliens.
Looked up Wil Anderson on Wikipedia. Got about halfway through the list of tired “wil” jokes before clicking back. Sounds pretty dreadful, to be honest.
Posted by Tungsten Monk on 2006 11 03 at 01:12 AM • permalinkThis video on Youtube represents the “Highlights of the 2005 season of ABC-TV’s “The Glass House”, mashed-up and remixed by Glass House writers Warwick Holt and Mat Blackwell.” and also appears on the Glasshouse homepage.
Anybody who hasn’t watched the show and has no preconceptions, feel free to view the video and let us know whether it leaves you gagging for more.
Meanwhile, Glasshouse star Dave Hughes ad-libs on how to improve television. He may have a future yet.
I bet this is not a serious letter…
...but damn it really leaves you unsure, which would make it a very skillfully balanced prank if indeed it is one.
Either way, speaks volumes.
Posted by closeapproximation on 2006 11 03 at 01:15 AM • permalinkIs this the same K. Viola of Queensland who feeds apples to her vacuum cleaner (scroll down), and wins prizes in Home and Garden and Famous Weekly contests? Surely viewers of The Glass House wouldn’t stoop so low as to indulge in the cultural artefacts of the masses…
Habib, this is one of the best Chopper sketches:
I’d love to see the reaction if the ABC showed something like this…
(for non-Australians, Chopper is a former criminal turned author played by Eric Bana in a movie loosely based on his life.)
Posted by Art Vandelay on 2006 11 03 at 01:30 AM • permalinkFor non-Australians, Chopper Read got his nickname for cutting people’s toes off with wire cutters. I guess that’s one one of getting them to tell you where the loot is! He did lots of time but has now turned it into club act and tours the clubs (with side cutters in back pocket just for laughs…) What we call in Australia, a ‘real charmer’.
#27 - He’s also more full of shit than a Bombay sewer after a curry festival.
Posted by Infidel Tiger on 2006 11 03 at 01:48 AM • permalink#26 - not only were they destroyed by the evil conservative putsch at the ABC but they were brave and courageous too. Yeah. Their humour was courageous. All lefty’s are courageous when on the ABC or Fairfax preaching to the converted. Very, very courageous!
Speaking of people in glass houses. I’m sure the irony would be lost on these moonbats, but there is one famous night called “Crystal nacht”... The night of broken glass…. Hooligans with the Nazi Party’s encouragement smashed every shop and home window of every Jewish family in Berlin.. The Nazi Jewish persecution began with this.
I really liked the Glass House and (some of) the readers at Larvatus Prodeo shared my opinion:
http://larvatusprodeo.net/2006/11/01/glasshouse-rocked/#comments
There’s even an online petition linked to in the comments.
#27, 28, thanks for the extra information. I was planning to add more but clicked ‘submit’ instead of ‘preview’!
Posted by Art Vandelay on 2006 11 03 at 02:02 AM • permalinkWil Anderson’s Myspace page carries the headline:
Dick jokes for cash
Later comments include:
Those fuckers at the ABC should be shot!
axing the glass house is the worst fuckin idea in the history of the world!!!!!!!
I love the glass house, it is the higlight of my wednesday night.
dont know what i’ll do without it.
everyone needs to take a stand and stop this tragic event from happening.and
my little brother is planning to poo in a paper bag, set it alight and put it on the ABCs front doorstep, ring the doorbell and run. i just sent angry emails to the ABC and to newspapers
See? Who said the Left haven’t got a killer sense of humour?
The program (Spicks&Specks;) screening immediately before The Glass House managed a audience of about 1,200,000.The Glass House managed to retain about half of that lead-in.Now we have all been told that the ABC “is not about ratings” but it would seem that the new Managing Director might believe that that tired old excuse for failure is out of date.
I will pay one gag in Anderson’s FAQ:
For anyone using this information for a school assignment, I studied at the University of Canberra, which used to be called Canberra University until they realised the Canberra University Netball Team had a really unfortunate acronym. (As did the ANU Students.)
Although on reflection, I’m not even sure he wrote it…
And, he’s a vegetarian!
All this complaining by the people of the Left. This Glass house was a very poor excuse at trying to copy The Panel. Much better show and from what I hear many fewer writers.
Posted by The Big Fish on 2006 11 03 at 03:06 AM • permalinkAny station that inflicts that god awful, unfunny, snooty, thick snob, Corrine Grant, on an audience deserves all of the derision we’re able to muster - after we’ve taken a box of Panadol to deal with the pain of thinking about the humourless trollop.
Posted by Jack Lacton on 2006 11 03 at 03:06 AM • permalinkMy favourite moment on the glasshouse was when they’d finished rolling around laughing about Iraq: Dave Hughes retold the story of his Iraqi taxi driver who’d been jailed for turning off his television when Saddam appeared on it. Out of the mouths of babes.
Some fan in the Aus asked,
“How much does it cost to employ three hosts?”
Yes, how much did it cost to employ those three?
E Norton of Perth, WA said,
“The quality of the content in this show has no relation to the issue.”
It doesn’t?
Christopher said,
“The axing of the Glass House is but one example of Australia’s diminishing democracy which ordinarily challenges those currently in power. When the ALP was in government, they also complained incessantly about ABC bias…”
I recall at a recent book launch Keating boasted about his threats to have the Federal Police stop Fairfax trucks.
I used to catch the glass house occasionally when a significant other wanted to sit down and watch it. There was the occasionally funny line but if they had 12 writers then you’d hope some gems would turn up. Dave Hughes always struck me as an annoying twerp who thought that speaking in a whiny voice and shouting at the punchline equated to humour. Like most shows it depended a lot on the guests. Ross Noble was usually good value.
As soon as I heard it was cancelled i knew some loons would try to pin it on Howard’s suppression of dissent. Why he’d wait until the 5th year of the show in his 11th year of government to do so was one question that occurred to me. But one thing i’ve found with loons - sensible questions never occur to them.
Just sent an email to Lil Willy Anderson:
How about a few Islam jokes? Or would that involve speaking a little too much truth to a little too much power.
I guess it’s a but more difficult than hurling lame gutless insults, at people who will never hurt you, in front of an audience full of intellectually challenged dullards and cowards.
Have fun earning a living which isn’t derived at the point of a gun.People in glass houses should not throw rotten jokes.
Posted by mr creosote on 2006 11 03 at 06:28 AM • permalinkHah! The response of Glass House fans to the news of its axing is funnier than any gag that was cracked on that dismally humourless show.
Posted by James Waterton on 2006 11 03 at 06:30 AM • permalinkI always figured that it only rated as well as it did because people couldn’t be arsed to turn the telly over after Spicks and Specks. Anyone that lazy deserves to sit through that crap. Me, if I even see the ads for that idiotic excuse for “witty satire”, I’m the worse for it.
So this “axing” - was it govt. sponsored, as suggested by the whingers, or just a normal management decision?
Posted by AlburyShifton on 2006 11 03 at 07:08 AM • permalink#47 - Murph, the well known sexologist, Dr Ophelia Dick has just signed the petition. I’ll wait to see if she makes it.
Posted by Whale Spinor on 2006 11 03 at 07:24 AM • permalink#47 I wonder how long Naughtious Maximus, Robert Mugabe, OBL and Saddam get a run.
Didn’t see J Howard or Bush
Posted by curious george on 2006 11 03 at 07:27 AM • permalinkOk Howards there now. I can sleep well. (But I think it was Bush who did it using a dodgy address)
Posted by curious george on 2006 11 03 at 07:31 AM • permalinkInteresting thing about The Glass House. People either hated it or loved it, as evidenced by the comments linked here.
I hated it. Ever since that smug prick on the left made some slimy crack about how “the Americans will never understand blastback” about a week after 9/11.
Or maybe it was that slimy prick on the right. Whatever.
I remember that snitty, snide, ignorant, little remark to this day. It made me ashamed that I shared the same nationality.
Farewell, you miserable pair of talentless losers. That one moment I can never forgive. May you rot in meaningless despair and unemployment for the rest of time your hides show signs of life on this planet.
#56 - Bugger! I’ll try Coreen Munt and hope they haven’t heard of Prof Spooner
Posted by Whale Spinor on 2006 11 03 at 08:06 AM • permalinkHeh. I see Messers Schicklgruber and Dzhugashvili agree on the need to keep The Glass House on the air. I think it’s the first time they’ve agreed since June of 1941.
Posted by Warmongering Lunatic on 2006 11 03 at 08:15 AM • permalinkHello, “loser” author of the petition here.
A few points:
1. I’m no moonbat. In NZ I actively worked against the Labour Party and in Australia I have worked for, amongst others, the re-election campaign of Graham Kierath in WA.
2.I don’t think for a moment the evil right wing conspiracy is behind this. I just think the ABC’s commitment to local production sucks and it’s hell-bent on becoming BBC 5 *.
3. I’d love to see a right-leaning show to lampoon the left in Australia. I’ve even responded to comments on the petition on the SMH site nominating Tim as host of such a show (and that was before I discovered this thread, so ingratation wasn’t the motive, though I’m not saying I wouldn’t have given it a try…). I’ve been a regular reader of this site for yonks, along with my friend David Farrar’s Kiwiblog. Tim’s living rebuttal of the left’s proposition that right wing thought can’t be funny.
4. Sadly, the bogus signatories are doing their best to bolster that argument. “Osama bin Laden” a dozen times? Fidel Castro? I did get a laugh out of “A. Gitprop” - but it was the only effort that caused any mirth. Based on the quality of most of these efforts, the right would substitute “Beazley’s fat” for “Bush is stupid”.
5. The Glass House was always biased and often juvenile. But a healthy democracy depends on satirisation of the government or whatever hue. With The Glasshouse gone, it’s left to Brian Dawe and my countryman John Clarke.
The ABC badly needs to produce more local satire, not less, and to have satire that reflects a broader range of viewpoints.
The Glass House rated about the same numbers as “Rove Live”. Now there’s a show with no redeeming qualities.
* Disclosure: I’m now a producer of independent televison. None of it appears on the ABC and all of it is paid for by commercial clients.
I agree with K.V.
Canada’s been nothing but a fascist hole since the corporate fatcat exploiters of NBC cancelled SCTV while leaving the excerable Saturday Night Live on back in, what?, 1986. That’s bloody imperialism, that’s what that is.
Posted by andycanuck on 2006 11 03 at 09:31 AM • permalinkBut a healthy democracy depends on satirisation of the government or whatever hue
Satire?
You’ve got to be kidding. If you think shouting at the TV in a pre-pubescent tone and laughing hysterically like a 12 year old class clown at scripted lame jokes read of a teleprompt is satire, then we’re on different planets.
The funniest thing about the Glass House has the ridiculous reaction to its demise (eg K Viola, Clayfield, Queensland). It’s beyond satirical. You can’t write comedy like that.
Here’s my two bob’s worth (showing my age)
My partner, being an avid bleeding heart lefty just loved the Glasshouse and he’s devastated
He has taken to bed in mourning now - probably won’t get out of it until Labor wins the Fed elections which could be a while now
I had to watch this tripe being a devoted partner - but Corinne Grant must be the most annoying female ever set on this earth-and I will be very happy never to see her face on telly again
Listening to her speak was like listening to Mariah Carey sing or Bob Brown pontificate
I would gladly give up my offspring to guarantee that she never returns to annoy me again
Posted by aussiemagpie on 2006 11 03 at 10:07 AM • permalinkAnd another thing
A few years ago we went off to the ABC studios to see Backberner - loved it
Now that was a truly professional and funny show
Did Mr Howard get rid of this too? Can’t remember any protests or petitions then
Posted by aussiemagpie on 2006 11 03 at 10:11 AM • permalinkThe Glass House - not as funny as Channel 31’s Salaam Cafe (there’s a riot for you).
Wil Anderson - has a kind of vegetable magnetism I suppose but is not very funny at all, Dave Hughes - boganoid, and spectacularly overrated, Corrine Grunt - an annoying whine with a face like a slapped puffin and about as funny as algebra - well, whaddaya expect from a Rove cast-off? The Chaser was cringingly unfunny too.
I prefer Islamic comedy shows like My 33 Sons, Husseinfeld, Wheel of Terror, Everyone Loves Habib, Whose Qur’an Is It Anyway?, Just Shoot Everyone, Camel 54, Where Are You?, Taqiyya Mockingbird and Curb Your Supremacism.Sorry, but I have to say I thought Backberner sucked the balls, too.
Posted by James Waterton on 2006 11 03 at 10:19 AM • permalinkFrontline, great show. Late Show, great show. Hell, Thank God You’re Here can be really funny (although it’s a bit patchy).
It’s the D Gen in their various incarnations - they’re the comedic kings and queens of Australian comedy.
Posted by James Waterton on 2006 11 03 at 10:21 AM • permalink#64, 1. I’m no moonbat. In NZ I actively worked against the Labour Party and in Australia I have worked for, amongst others, the re-election campaign of Graham Kierath in WA.
That would make you…
I need to wash my hands…
Posted by heethcliff on 2006 11 03 at 10:40 AM • permalink#73 James Waterton
I think it was actually being in the Backberner studio which made it a great experience - the warm up bloke was really good
And the show we saw was actually really good - in my honest righty opinion mind you
Had the lefty partner tried to drag me along to the Glasshouse show I think I would have had a bad enough headache - one to prevent me going to the ABC - but it was a Melbourne effort I think - out of the question then
Posted by aussiemagpie on 2006 11 03 at 10:53 AM • permalink#75 - Yes, that’d be me. But for a more up-to-date rendering of that story, I suggest you take a look at this.
Unfortunately the media are never as good at exonerating as they are at accusing, especially when the target of a smear has been an annoyance to the powers that be in Helengrad.
Now you can go wash out your mouth…
#78 - Nope, not all, it was because she admitted she lied, the whole thing was a fallacy. The story makes that absolutely plain so I can’t see how you’d read that into it.
Perhaps there’s something in the left’s fear for balance and accuracy in reporting in right wing media if your synposis talents are any indication…
Thank you. It’s a legitimate question, but I get tired of answering it. If the media had gone into a frenzy of equivalent proportions when the lie was admitted as they did when it was told, I wouldn’t have to. Aplogy gladly accepted.
Though I expect Andrea is about to awaken and blast us both to hell for thread hijacking :-/
#86 RexW
Though I expect Andrea is about to awaken and blast us both to hell for thread hijacking :-/
Exactly
What the hell are you two on about? I know it’s late and I have had a chardy or two - hell it is Friday night - but I’m missing something here I think - and it’s not my brain cells killed off tonight by some Margaret River chardy
All I can say is you have killed this thread
Posted by aussiemagpie on 2006 11 03 at 12:31 PM • permalink#88 RexW
Ok You are redeemed for hijacking the thread
As long as I get freebies to the show - for me and assorted rellies and friends
Love freebies and I will support anything that is not the Glasshouse
Posted by aussiemagpie on 2006 11 03 at 12:48 PM • permalinkOh for crying out loud. Not another writer/producer/whatever. Between them and the soldiers hanging around here, I don’t feel very adequate.
(strongly worries about that zoominfo thingy, wonders if it has anything listed about Japanese weather machine, or that Russian lake mishap, or the unauthorized mead trips, or the killer squirrels)
Posted by wronwright on 2006 11 03 at 01:24 PM • permalinkI think a show called “Mental Floss” would pique interest…
Posted by MentalFloss on 2006 11 03 at 04:30 PM • permalinkwonwright - you’re an attorney, or something like that, and you feel inadequate?
Ha. You don’t know the meaning of the word.
Go here and look at the pathetic tricks I have to employ to maintain my sense of adequacy.
(Yes, it is me, I move about the cyberworld in a variety of disguises.)Posted by SwinishCapitalist on 2006 11 03 at 06:51 PM • permalinkThough I expect Andrea is about to awaken and blast us both to hell for thread hijacking :-/
Yes I am. Back on topic, fellas, or I’ll have to send the bees over. (They’re my new weapon. Ask wronnie.)
Posted by Andrea Harris, Administrator on 2006 11 03 at 07:02 PM • permalink#92 CS -
Yes, I’m an attorney. And wait, a CPA. And you know what? Big fucking deal. I walk in to Tim’s place wearing my Brooks Brothers suit and Johnston Murphy loafers. I’m carrying my cordovan leather briefcase, even though it’s only carrying the Wall Street Journal and the preview issue for college basketball. And the GI’s walk in, wearing cammies and military boots, all covered in mud. They take off their overshirts, peeling down to undershirts, and I couldn’t get the attention of any women if I twirled plates on a stick while riding a unicycle.
Yes, I feel a bit inadequate. I’m trying to get Rumsfeld to bar any soldiers accessing Tim’s blog due to issues of national security. Plan 2 is to simply get them to say Jon Carry waz rite! My plan’s not working so well with The Real Jeff S and Texas Bob, being that they’re literate. But I have high hopes with that new guy, crusader.
(For the record, I hate telling people here I’m an attorney, it’s pretentious and meaningless. And for the most part, I’m way over my head in discussions with many people here starting with MentalFloss, Tim Blair, paco, and a zillion others. crittenden I think I’m ok with. He’s a reporter).
Posted by wronwright on 2006 11 03 at 11:32 PM • permalinkLet me see if I’ve got this straight ...
Lefties had a tv show which they used to throw mockery at the right ... and they named it “Glass House?” Themselves? Voluntarily?
Either they’re possessed of a level of self-deprecating wit hitherto unglimpsed or there’s a RWDB somewhere due a Golden Shoelaces medal.
Yes, I’m an attorney. And wait, a CPA. And you know what? Big fucking deal.
Y’know, this is a funny thing. So am I. Except I’m also a Chartered Accountant who in this country usually consider themselves a cut above your ordinary everyday run of the mill CPA.
And you know what? Big fucking deal.
It’s pretentious and meaningless. And for the most part, I’m way over my head in discussions with many people here including wronwright.
Bull shit geoff. You put out good cogent discussions. You’re one of the better ones here. I look for your stuff.
Posted by wronwright on 2006 11 04 at 09:07 AM • permalinkHow old are these people?! How many TV shows you like will be cancelled every year?
K. Viola—Just grow up, you silly baggage. Or if it’s too late for that, at least act your age.
Posted by richard mcenroe on 2006 11 04 at 06:39 PM • permalink
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On occassion I have watched the Glass House and while the audience laughs and laughs, I would often not even smile in amusement the entire show.
I prefer the Ronnie Johns Half Hour anyway.